OTA - Village, House on Fire, Aftermath

[to_defend]

WHO: 7
WHERE: House 41
WHEN: Today all day
OPEN TO: OTA; Fire-learning about the village, house engulged, aftermath
WARNINGS: Fire/Panic

---

The thing about being human is that they felt things a little sharper - skin, muscles, nerves, she hadn't been unfeeling as a doll, but there seemed to be much more about the human body that was apt to go wrong or be injured. Since arriving she's been introduced to hunger, sleep deprivation, bruising, and ever so gradually the shift in weather towards a cooler clime.

That she hadn't quite been aware of until late, but a sudden, sharp introduction woke her up one morning as something skittered across her hand, and it suddenly felt hard, and cold, and heavy. She sits up, looking at her hand that is now encased in ice, for a moment entirely unable to connect with what she's actually staring at and just dimly aware on how uncomfortable it is, until there's a slight tingling in her hand and fingers, then a slight glow, and then the the ice melts and burns away and her hand returns to normal. She flexes it, wondering if she is somehow still dreaming, and eventually slides out of bed to make go about her day.

By the time she's arriving back at home in the evening, she's almost forgotten about the incident since it hadn't seemed to happen again, although there had been some strange incidents involving flames shooting from her hands. Trying to figure that out had kept her pretty busy, but she's arriving home with the understand that she's somehow developed the power to create and control (with some concentration) fire.

She makes herself some tea, then sets some wood in her fireplace, stands back to take a breath, and then makes a motion of punching her hand at it. The first attempt doesn't work, though she can feel the tingle in her palm and see some embers fall out. She concentrates for a moment, and with a sudden burst her hand erupts in flames. She looks at it, transfixed by the fact that it doesn't hurt, and then punches again at the fireplace. A ball of flames shoots out and ignites the wood and is immensely satisfying.

Fire started, she shakes her hand out and reaches for her tea, but ... it's gone cold and solid in a big mug of ice. She frowns at it, and then motion on the table catches her eyes and she looks at a little mouse, hanging onto her spear as it leans against the stable, tendrils of frost and ice starting to creep out from the little rodent's paws along the length of the shaft. She makes a grab at the mouse, but it's fast, and darts across the table, off a chair, and across the living room, leaving icy little footprints behind and encasing everything it touches in a thick coating of ice.

Following it, she slips on one of the icy patches and slams into the floor, a brief tingle in her hand as a firebolt shoots out into the wall. The mouse has stopped, sitting on her backpack (now in its own icy prison) and chitters are her. She throws her hand towards it, sending out another fireball that thaws the backpack, but the mouse has jumped off and moves on.

She chases it around the house, grabbing at it and trying to mitigate the wintry wonderland that it's trying to make of her home, until it slips into a hole and 7 scrabbles on the ground behind it, kneeling down and peering into the hole as she grumbles in annoyance. So far, she was not a fan of the cold, and she was not a fan of this creature trying to inundate her life with it.

But the mouse is now long gone, hidden somewhere in the walls of the house, and 7 sits back and huffs a sigh in order to think about what to do next. Beyond that, however, she becomes aware of a pleasant warmth and a soft glow; contrary to the icy palace the mouse was trying to convert this place into, it was warm and, maybe almost too hot?

Turning slowly, afraid of what she's going to find, 7 is treated to the truth that some of those little puffs of fireballs had found some very burnable purchases in the predominately wooden house. She's reminded suddenly of the fire in the cathedral, but they'd been able to make it out before it had gotten too big, but big it had gotten, and sitting here now she could see that it was spreading fast.

Fast rising, too, was that panic; the way her chest tightened and made it hard to breathe and her skin almost felt like it was alive. It wasn't long before the little blue light appeared, directing her out of the house and out of danger. She leapt to her feat and started to follow, then stopped and doubled back to grab her backpack and her spear, and then turn to follow the blue light again. The fire, though, where she passed close to the licking flames, hadn't seemed to effect her.

She runs her spear and backpack outside, pauses a moment, then runs back in to see if she could salvage any more of her human necessities. As she realizes the fire doesn't hurt her, the panic subsides, but even after thoroughly scouring the burning house she finds not everything else is as lucky. Of her bolas, only the rocks remained, plate-ware was cracked, utensils melted. The dagger's she'd inherited from Cael safe in her backpack so that wasn't a concern.

Finally admitting defeat, she settles down to sit in front of her house as it burns itself down to embers, watching as the sky is dotted with floating pieces of ash. Oh, did this bring back memories, and her shoulders slump. She wasn't quite as excited about the fire powers now.

[[Find her In the village playing with her fire powers, later that evening maybe try to convince her not to run back into a burning building, or catch her afterwards contemplating the embers.]]

Comments

No Running Into Burning Buildings!

[championofsnark]

A house on fire in general is a deep concern, especially when they live packed in slightly tight, although Hawke doubts the others would be set off easily. She does intend to go to help whoever it is, although she has no water to douse it out at hand, but it's the house location that starts to worry her. She's fairly aware of where everyone lives in the village, and once she puts it together, she's full out running toward the house.

Just in time to see 7 looking like she's going back into the building on fire, and she quickly runs up to her, grabbing her arm solidly. "7, love, are you crazy? Stay out of there!" Hawke has no idea how this happened. Possibly a fireplace gone wrong? She thinks it might be wise to go get some powers to deal with this if it gets out of hand.

[to_defend]

So focused on getting back in, and not expecting anyone to stop her, 7 wheels about when someone grabs her arm, her fits raised and igniting ready for a fight. Seeing that it's Hawke, though, she relaxes, slightly, but continues to try and pull towards her house.

"Hawke - no, don't worry, it's fine - just have to grab a few more things -"

Normally, things weren't a concern, but she'd come to learn humans really depending on certain things to survive and there's some worry about moving backwards in her attempt to survive in this strange body.

[championofsnark]

"It's not fine, your house is on fire." Hawke firmly grips her and digs her heels in for now, alarmed. "You could suffocate in there from the smoke, if you don't get burned to death." She glances toward the house. "Whatever's in there we can replace, alright? We'll find a way to replace it."

She has no idea what 7 even has that would mean this much to her, but it doesn't need to be much. Sometimes it's about having belongings in general. But they don't have anything from home to lose at least. Hawke hates fire, it makes her think about very unpleasant things that she has no interest in thinking about right then. "What happened?"

[to_defend]

She continues to pull for a few more moments, but it's not with a full strength and once she realizes Hawke isn't giving up, she sags in the grip, looking at the flames as they lick about the windowframes.

"I happened." She's never really been a woman of regret, but then there was never really time to dwell on things either. Now, she's got too much time to contemplate the mistakes she's made.

[championofsnark]

Hawke doesn't want to hold 7 back from anything, but in this case, it's definitely the right choice. She can't let her friend take a risk like that. She'd go herself if she could. If 7 insisted there were things in there she absolutely needed, maybe thy could try, but for now, no. They watch the house burn.

Her eyebrow raises at 7. "Oh, did you figure out your super power? The one people say we get when we're here, but I haven't seen a lick of." Hawke also hasn't tried much. She figures if she needs it, it'll kick in. Or apparently burn down a bloody building in the process. Maybe she should learn how to control it after all.

[to_defend]

She looks back at Hawke with a curious expression. "I don't know, can we have more than one? I have a - glowy line that shows up sometimes, but this - " She looks back at the fire, fidgets with the urge to dive back in, but for Hawke's sake resists. It's tough. "- this was something else entirely."

7 crosses her arms, gripping tightly as she watches. "It just spread so quickly ..."

[championofsnark]

"I have no idea. Maybe? I've only heard of the one. What do you mean glowy line?" Hawke is super curious about it. She does know a few people have already mentioned theirs. She should probably try to figure hers out sooner rather than later. Who knows when it'd come in handy. "Do you know how you set it off? I don't know where to start." She looks down at her hands like maybe she could will it to happen.

"Yeah, fire has a way of doing that. It could take out an entire block of houses in so short a time. It's good our houses aren't so close together." She pats 7's back gently. "There's still rooms at the inn, you could go there for a bit."

contemplating embers

[awall]

Squall hadn't been joking when he announced that he was going to be on the rounds trying to help the town with the ice mice and fire powers. He wasn't sure how many people had fire powers now, or if it were just him, but the sight of a lot of fire in the distance convinced him otherwise.

Of course, it could just be a cooking adventure gone very wrong.

He wasn't close, so he didn't make it there until the fire was already dying out of its own. He skidded to a halt and stood next to 7.

"Are you all right? What happened?"

[to_defend]

"Hey, Squall." She tries to smile, but it's a little more of grimace. "I'm fine, I'm alright. Apparently, I am immune to fire."

She looks back at the house, and shrugs her shoulders. "I know because I ah, caused that." Absently picks up a rock and chucks it at the rubble. "There was a mouse and it was turning things to ice, and I got careless."

It had certainly crossed her mind as she'd been sitting here, but actually voicing it tightened a little knot in her stomach.

[awall]

Squall still knelt next to her, looking around for any obvious wounds or burns. Thankfully, he didn't see anything, because he didn't get any cure spells with his fire.

The ice mice. Squall frowned at the mention, now looking around to see if any of the dangerous rodents could be spotted. But they were probably scared off by the falling house and had found somewhere else to nestle.

"It's impossible to control these powers without training," he assured. He frowned deeply. Why? Why were they getting these powers? Were they just going to keep getting abilities and destroy themselves?

After the sickness and now there, Squall was starting to question a lot about this world, and the fact that he was thinking was clear on his face.

[to_defend]

"I tried, but apparently I needed a little more practice." And, maybe not do it in the house, but there are a lot of things that are bothering her about this whole situation.

"Wait - do, you have powers too?" She looked over at him, curious and a tad confused. She could be entirely wrong, but there was something about his wording that made her suspect.

[awall]

He nodded. "I woke up with fire powers this morning. At first, I thought perhaps my own powers were back. In my world, I've had some training with magic, and I usually keep a supply of fire magic." He glanced back over to the ruined house. "But you and others must have gotten them. That seems...dangerous." More than dangerous. A lot of houses could burn down. People could be burned seriously.

What were their captors really thinking now?

"We can rebuild your house, though, once we get the supplies. And while these powers last, I can help you train more."

[to_defend]

If there's any greater proof that randomly giving impulsive people the gift of fire was a bad idea, 7 didn't want to see it. She does give Squall a hopeful look,

"You'll teach me? I promise, I'm not ready to burn down any more houses." If she could learn to control it, that would definitely give her a peace of mind going forward.

As the Fires Fade Out

[skyward_eyes]

There was a lot to this place, and after he'd dried off and changed into warmer clothes, Nida had found himself eager to get out there and learn things. Meet people. What he hadn't expected was fire. So much fire. Had he been there earlier he might have tried to do more, but with the thing so ruined, what could he even do, especially without magic to put it out?

What he found as he approached the fire was a woman there, sitting in the cold in front of the home. Almost immediately he shrugged out of his coat as he approached, draping it around her shoulders. Between the cold of the ground and seeing something like this, there's a good chance that she was in shock.

"Was there anyone in there?" Nida asked, crouching down next to 7.

Re: As the Fires Fade Out

[to_defend]

7 startles as she feels the coat settle on her shoulders, glancing sharply up at its donor, and takes a moment to calm herself down that it's not a thing of danger. She nods at him as she reaches to tug it closer. She had been cold, but somehow getting warmer hadn't been a priority.

"Just me. And a mouse, but frankly I don't care what happened to him." Likely, he vacated the premises far sooner than she did and was wreaking havoc in some other residence. "How is it these things spread so fast?"

[skyward_eyes]

Not the mice again. Nida winced at the very memory.

"Yeah, got acquainted with one when I first showed up. It froze my pack while I was still dripping from the fountain. Lots of fun."

But he considered the woman and frowned. She still didn't seem ready to move much. Clearly he was going to have to work her up to that part. Perhaps find someone who knew her and might help her get settled for the night. Still, the question might help her think about something else, so he supposed he had to come up with an answer.

"Well, where I'm from, mice sort of just do that. It's possible they were always here, but the cold brought them out. Or a spell of some sort gave normal mice this power and woke them from hibernating."

Clearly he didn't understand that she meant the fire.

[to_defend]

To be frank, she could have been clearer, but then she's not exactly thinking straight right now.

She does look over at him with an odd expression, for a moment unsure how the thread of the conversation has veered, but maybe knowing where these mice originated could help somehow in preventing incidents like this in the future.

Also, her learning not to be so impulsive, but that was unlikely the easier answer.

But then something else about his answer makes her turn to face him more fully. "You're new? Like, first day just crawled out of that awful fountain new?"

[skyward_eyes]

"Like climbed out of that awful fountain this morning new," Nida qualified further for her.

Good news, he's got her even more focused on him, and that has potential. If he could get her name he could send out a text from this wristband thing that he'd been told about, see if he couldn't find someone who knew her enough to make her comfortable for the night while they tried to get the last embers out and see what could be recovered. Better if he could get her to the inn in the meantime, somewhere that she could warm up and maybe someone could get her something to drink. Too much could would be bad. Maybe... he could use his newness to his advantage there? Ask her if she knew the way to the inn, for his sake? He'd already been, but did that matter right now?

[to_defend]

He'll soon find she's a stubborn one, and if she wants to sit on the cold ground in the oncoming winter contemplating the poor choices in her life, that's likely where she'd stay. She gives him a rueful smile.

"Welcome to the village. There are ice-making mice and spontaneous fire powers. The peacats make you feel happy and there's food in the Inn."

You can come and stay at my place.

[imareporter]

Eddie heard about the fire second-hand and had been ready to go down there. To help try and put it out, to help do something.

Then he thought maybe he shouldn't - he had a dream about her. About this mysterious girl 7, the one who'd called him 5, who had been so confused. She was chasing him through the forest with a spear.

Venom's words, while firm, were regretful. No Fire he swallows, ...Please?.

So he's late, wrapped in a coat when he spots her and jogs over. The concern is palpable and real and it surprises him. It's Venom and the concern spills out over into him as he wraps his arms around her without her permission.

"...Are you all right?"

Aw thanks dude :3

[to_defend]

There's a strangled sound of surprise and 7 tenses as arms suddenly wrap about her, a moment where she holds her breath without thinking until she realizes who it is, and slowly breathes out and sags into the embrace, before hugging back. She pulls back a moment later, feeling guilty as she looks at him.

"No, I'm fine. I'm alright. Sorry to make you worry." Seems she made a lot of people worry. "It was ... an accident."

[imareporter]

Where the hell is this coming from? Seriously she's... One hand pats her head before hugging her again. V? You want to tell me something? You said you wanted to eat her.

This is still viable but she is also useful.

Eddie tightens the hug, "What happened kid?"

[to_defend]

She reaches up to push her hair back, an excuse to look away, and focuses on the fire again. She pulls her legs up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, setting her chin on her knees.

"I woke up with fire powers today, and then there was a mouse making everything ice." Hopefully, that will be enough of an explanation to why her house was now a pile of ash.

[imareporter]

Fire Powers.

Eddie swallows and there's an edge in him then and there. That's not okay. Does she. Fire isn't good. Eddie this is a bad idea forget it I was wrong we were wrong.

Okay except. We're not wrong. he moves to sit beside her, hands folded, Relax. Relax.

"...What happened? Tell me and go slow. You have a place you can go? You can take a room at my place."

[to_defend]

She glances over at him, realizing that yes, she would need to live somewhere else. At least he was trusted, and it wasn't the Inn - there were too many people at the Inn.

Pulling in a breath, she tries to think back on how exactly it had happened. The whole thing had been fast and she'd been focused on chasing the mouse. "I woke up this morning and my hand was ice, literally frozen through and covered in it. But, as I looked at it, it ... heat up and the ice melted away and it was like nothing had ever happened. I thought maybe I was still seeing things, from the illness, and went about my day. When I got back, there was a mouse on my table, and everything it touched turned to ice; fresh mug of tea, my spear, chair, floor, backpack ..." She purses her lips. "I, ah, got a little carried away trying to take care of it. It disappeared in a hole and that's when I noticed the house was burning."

Oops. She gives him a little side-eye to gauge his reaction, and added quickly, "It hadn't harmed me at all, though. It didn't hurt. Is it supposed to hurt?"