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Jul 15, 2016 21:48:44 GMT
Post by physis on Jul 15, 2016 21:48:44 GMT
Her therapist had told her to pick a hobby that involves going outside and meeting new people. If only she knew. Sophia didn't think much of the suggestion. She doesn't think much of anything these days.
She goes when the imagined ghosts inside of that house become unbearable.
Sophia arrived at the lot in a sundress and a wide brimmed hat. Everyone else came in a t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. Some of them looked like they just stepped off a junior soccer court. Most of them were much younger than she was. A week ago, she might have been flustered. Today, she's just listening to their small talk about the cheer team. She waits until they all walk past her, neatly sorted into their friend circles. Odds and evens, odds and evens.
(and then there was one)
She accepts the bag of tools from the volunteer with quiet thanks. Then she realizes that she doesn't know what to do with any of them. Okay, watering a plant is easy. It's just like taking care of the potted plants back home.
Her mind wanders. Home -- she always wants to go home. Now she doesn't know where that is anymore, but she still wants one. Far, far away until --
"What are you doing, idiot! You're drowning all our hard work!"
She jolts out of her reverie, and the water in the watering can freezes instantly. Sophia can't unfreeze it.
"Give me that thing before you flood the whole damn patch." A girl grabs her arm.
Absolute
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Jul 17, 2016 15:45:49 GMT
Post by Absolute on Jul 17, 2016 15:45:49 GMT
With all the destruction that happened in the world every day, it was nice to be to give something back and grow something, no matter how small. Like the begonias Jesse was currently tending to, cheerfully bright little flowers in a rainbow of hues, bobbing in the faint breeze. A contented smile curved his lips as he gave the most diminutive bud a gentle, affectionate pat, his youthful baritone brimming with encouragement as he said, "Don't worry, little guy, you'll grow up to be just as impressive as any other flower in here."
Any other person might have received a few strange looks and caustic comments from their high-school peers for talking to flowers, but the young people around him were well accustomed to his quirks. One of the closer boys remarked, "You're such a dork, Jesse.", though there was no malice in his tone or the laughter that followed, so Jesse simply beamed at them and turned back to his budding charges, only to pause as the sound of a familiar, feminine voice raised in anger reached his ears. He cocked his head to one side quizzically as his enhanced senses detected a rapid, localised drop in temperature, accompanied by the unmistakable crackling sound of water solidifying into ice.
He pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to the scene, eyes flicking between the older woman and the animated and very clearly irritated girl that was attempting to snatch the frozen pail from Ms. Sundress' hands. "Hey, hey, Liza, come on, there's no need for that. The lady made a mistake, that's all. We've all done something like that once in a while, right? Remember when I cut my petunia in half because I heard the ice cream truck?" He said in a pleasant tone of voice, eyes creasing as he favoured them with a sunny smile. As he talks, he maneouvered himself so that he is able to dip his hand into the pail, placing his palm upon the frozen surface and vibrating it with sufficient speed to excite the molecules enough that the ice melts back into water. All of this is done with speeds so great that even a particularly keen observer wouldn't be able to detect a thing, so he turned to the older woman and says, "Sorry about this, ma'am, Liza's just been working really hard on her patch for a while, is all, so she gets a bit tetchy when something happens."
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Jul 17, 2016 16:18:16 GMT
Post by physis on Jul 17, 2016 16:18:16 GMT
Liza's had a rough time in high school, but she never let it get her down. She can't stand people who give less than their best, and she certainly can't stand Jesse. His smile is annoying - it's like he's looking down on her for caring so much. Liza won't have any of it.
Teenage drama, man. She's shifted her focus from the woman to her classmate. It helps that the woman had not spoken a word, nor had she taken a single step.
"Don't apologize for me--" She's not the violent type - the honor roll wouldn't allow it. But that's not going to stop her from mouthing off when she's off-campus. "You think that just because you don't care about doing a good job, I shouldn't either?"
She won't stop talking, and the chatter needs to stop. Sophia barely notices when she slips into the mindset of Physis. Not feelings. Not hurt or pain. Just what needs to happen, and what she must do to get there.
She could freeze the entire patch. Crush her heart in one fell swoop. The girl has yet to realize that she still has more hope to lose. It's not yet the end of the line. If she froze the entire lot, then none of these people will be coming back tomorrow. She would be truly alone. If anyone touched her skin right now, then they would get frostbite instantly. Other than that possibility, the cold has yet to reach another person.
Absolute
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Jul 17, 2016 16:37:21 GMT
Post by Absolute on Jul 17, 2016 16:37:21 GMT
He sighed inwardly as Liza rounded on him, the acid in her tone washing over him harmlessly. It took more than someone being rude to hurt him, after all. He'd been hoping this could be smoothed over easily and that'd be that, but he should have known better. Liza could be prickly at the best of times, and it was never the best of times with Liza, particularly when someone had just accidentally unleashed a miniature version of the biblical flood on her patch. Still, better she focus on him than the poor woman who'd done nothing wrong. He raised a hand to rub at the back of his head, his free hand lowered with its palm facing Liza in a non-threatening gesture. "No, I don't think that. I think it's great that you try so hard and put so much effort into everything you do. I'm sorry for annoying you, but the lady made an honest mistake, and she's trying hard too, you know?"
As he spoke, he sensed the temperature in the immediate vicinity of the strange woman plummeting to worrying levels. A quick glance in her direction showed that she wasn't suffering from the incredible cold herself, which was good, but getting too close to something that cold could be dangerous, and with Liza's temper, it was possible she'd try to grab the woman, and that would be, well. Disastrous. Intervening could out his durability to the woman if he touched her and he didn't show any signs of suffering, but not intervening could lead to the woman herself being discovered, and give Liza a bad case of frostbite at that. Best just to try to calm Liza down and be ready in case something happened, then.
physis
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Post by physis on Jul 25, 2016 6:53:28 GMT
It's pretty hard to start a fight when the other side is actually willing to back down with an apology. Liza finds herself resenting him, just a little.
"Ugh, forget it. That square's a nutrient dead zone anyway." With that, she storms off to join her friends on the other side of the lot.
The yelling stops, and Sophia feels as if she's waking up from something else. The air accedes to a lazy summer's day. The sound of bird-song brings Sophia's mind to where it should be.
Her stomach plummets when she realizes what she had almost done. She sits down upon the ground. Slowly and gracefully, so that nobody can tell how wobbly her legs are.
There are still things that this world can take from her.
Absolute
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Jul 25, 2016 11:22:03 GMT
Post by Absolute on Jul 25, 2016 11:22:03 GMT
He knew Liza wouldn't go too far. Still, he breathed a faint sigh of relief as the human thundercloud gave up on berating the poor stranger. Plenty of people had short tempers, and were prone to lashing out without thinking about things,but they usually weren't bad people, so Jesse didn't mind folk like Liza so much. It was just a shame that their flares of temper tended to end up with people getting hurt. Speaking of which...
He turns to check on Ms Sundress, only to find that she'd taken an impromptu seat upon the ground, which was worrying. Was she ill? He hunkers down beside her, chewing on the inside corner of his lip as he waits patiently, giving her a few moments to collect herself. He doesn't know this woman, and she is very possibly dangerous given how the temperature fluctuated to such a degree around her, but...She seemed so sad.
Gently, he extends a hand to place his fingertips ever so lightly upon her upper arm, the warm touch accompanied by his soft, concerned tones. "Miss Sundress? Are you alright?"
physis
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Post by physis on Jul 28, 2016 4:57:05 GMT
The boy kills her with his kindness. She wants to ignore him, but that seems a disservice after what he had done.
There's no use denying what happened. His hand is wet. Sophia pulls out her silk handkerchief for him.
It occurs to Sophia that she's being comforted by a teenager. After she nearly endangered them both over a childish outburst.
(Or a small desire to be caught, a small desire to be punished.)
"No." She replies honestly. "Or else I wouldn't be here."
Absolute
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Post by Absolute on Aug 1, 2016 11:42:23 GMT
Jesse blinks at the handkerchief, momentarily taken aback by the gesture. He accepts it gingerly, very aware that this was the most expensive segment of cloth he'd ever handled in his life. He regards it much in the manner another man might an untrustworthy snake, and he makes no move to actually dry his hand off with it, for fear of soiling the fancy tissue...Thing. Instead, he wipes his hand on his hoodie to dry it off, dabs at the back of it lightly with the silk handkerchief, and hands it back to her. "Thank you, ma'am."
He regards her for a long moment, wondering what it was that had left this poor woman in such a state. He shifts, crossing his legs beneath him to sit before her, and he offers her his hand, palm-up. When he speaks, his voice is gentle, honest in his desire to put her at ease. "I won't pretend to know how to fix what's troubling you, Miss Sundress, but I can offer a friendly face, and I hear I'm pretty good at listening, if you want to talk about it."
physis
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Post by physis on Aug 7, 2016 6:44:30 GMT
"It's not poisoned, you know." She smiles wryly. Or maybe it was a valid concern. She's both a dangerous vigilante and a corporate snake.
It's something that she would have done at a different point of her life.
"You don't have to force yourself." She takes the handkerchief back. He was here first. He has every right to reject her.
There are two forms of kindness in this world: the kind that expects tenfold payment, or the kind that bleeds itself dry. Absolute
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