The Beach, around noon

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie had her beach bag and cooler of water with her again, clinking and clanking little with the metal trivets. She set up a fire pit again, then went wading into the surf while waiting for Johnny and Turtle to show up.

The sun was high, and the day was gorgeous.

[for stocksgrrl and fantastic_torch, open to observers and anyone else on the beach too]

Comments

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny showed up, wearing his firesuit just in case he was needed to help protect the situation as called for.

"Hey, Charlie!" He waved at her, seeing her out in the water.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Johnny!" Charlie waved, then waded back out of the water, walking up to where she'd left her stuff. "Hi. Thanks for coming to help." She dimpled at him. "And you're wearing your best suit."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

He grinned and looked down at himself, "Why yes I am, thank you for noticing, Charlie." Winking at her, he said, "Think when we're done here, I might just go skinny dipping."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Meep." Charlie blinked, blushing, then grinned. "I won't stop you, but I'm not gonna join you. I don't want to get burned in all the wrong places." She sat down on the sand, and grinned up at him as she fished through her bag. "What do you want to see me do first?"

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny loved teasing girls; maaan, it was so much fun.

Kneeling down by her, he rested his palms on his thighs, "Well, what do you want to do first? I'm just glad you are practicing and that I get to help if I can."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie's blush faded as she pulled out the metal trivets she'd bought, a length of rope, and a bag of charcoal. "The main thing is, if the fire gets out of control I need you to douse it or absorb it or something. I can't concentrate if I get scared, and I can't just switch it off." She made a face. "I'm going to burn off some heat in the water, and then set fire to this rope, once it's wet, and try to direct which way it goes." She tilted an eyebrow at him. "Make sense?"

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Watching what she was pulling out, he listened and nodded, "Yeah, it makes sense and don't worry -- concentrate on what you want to happen and not what could happen. I'll take care of the fire if it gets out of control."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

A huge smile of relief, that Johnny seemed to think she was doing this okay; he did have more experience, after all. "Okay, be right back."

Charlie scampered down to the surf, and dragged the rope through the water, then stepped back. After two times previous with Isabel, she had a better handle on how to start her power, and direct it in front of her. Standing back from the water, she reached for the firestarting, and felt it still barrel out of her in a gush.

The water boiled in front of her, in a ten-foot swath; then spread out to about twenty feet, and slowly moved forward into deeper water. Fifteen feet, twenty, thirty, faster and faster. Fifty. A hundred. She tried to widen it, instead of pushing it out further, and it slowly spread to a fifty foot spread of bubbles and steam, moving further into the water.

After about five minutes, the pressure of the power eased off enough that she could shut it off easily, and she sighed, turning back to join Johnny at the firepit as the water slowly cooled back to normal.

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny stood, arms crossed in front of him and watched Charlie with an intense expression. What she was doing was not new to him as say to an observer who did not have or associate with someone with such abilities -- still, he was very much impressed with her and when she rejoined him he smiled down at her. "Awesome." He reached out to tweak her nose.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie grinned, wrinkling her nose as he tweaked it, and leaned against him for a second, glad for his presence. "It is kind of cool," she admitted, feeling a little guilty at how much she enjoyed the firestarting. "If I do that first, everything's easier, I noticed."

She sat down next to the firepit, and dropped the rope into it. "You ready?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

It was a nice day and a good day (ooooh, Friday the Thirteeeeeeenth, spooooky) and Turtle was in a bright mood and really excited to see this. And it was the beach, so she was in her swimsuit (one piece, of course), with a wrap, and flipflops, and a big floppy hat she'd found at the store in case just the sunglasses weren't enough to block the sun.

"Hey!" she called out, sipping her Squishie and waved...kind of. It was hard to wave when you were carrying a fire extinguisher with your other hand.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Charlie waved back madly, and pointed up to where she'd put her stuff next to the firepit. "Yay, you brought the extinguisher! Good planning."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Course I did!" Turtle called back, grinning as she shifted through the sand toward Charlie's stuff. "I had to offer something a little more than just legal liability viewpoint."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"And emotional support," Charlie pointed out, smiling gratefully as she joined Turtle, then retrieved a length of rope from her beach bag. "So thanks. Johnny can absorb the heat, too, but better safe than sorry." She held up the rope, "One second while I get this wet, and blow off steam. Heh."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Wait, what's the rope for?" Turtle asked; she thought she had an idea, but this whole powers thing was so hard for her to grasp, and she realized that she had almost no idea what Charlie's training entailed.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Oh! It gives me something to set fire to, and try to kind of push the fire along it. So it goes in one direction, and doesn't spread out all over the place," Charlie said, holding it up, then dunking the rope in the water. "Kind of like pushing beads on a string in one direction, and not another." She made a face. "I suck at that part."

She turned, and said, "Watch this!"

And then heated up the water in front of her, burning off the excess until it wasn't the huge, overpowering burst it usually was.

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Uhhh..." Turtle blinked a little at some of the steam coming up off of the water, and then laughed a little. "Maaaan...and this is probably warm up, like you haven't even gotten started or anything..."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Not really," Charlie admitted, still focusing most of her attention on the water. "It's really really strong. But since I can't turn it off, I have to let it slow down before I can work with it."

She hiked back up to the firepit, hugging Johnny, then settled in next to Turtle, five feet back from where she dropped the rope. "Okay. Fire extinguisher at the ready? The sand's good at smothering the fire, but if we get sparks, I don't want the fire taking off on its own." She bit her lip. "You can back off more, if you want to."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Mmmm," Turtle held up a finger as she got one last long drag from her Squishy before settling it in the sand and pushing up to her feet. "Nope! I'm good!" She took up the extinguisher with both hands. "Ready when you are, Charlie. But I'll warn you; I might be a little trigger happy if I see so much as what seems like a spark. It'll probably just be the stupid sun in my eyes, though, so no making fun of the spazzy girl with the fire extinguisher if that's what happens, okay?"

[turnthisfrown.livejournal.com]

St. John watched the small group from where he waited with the six-foot wooden badger. They seemed to be practicing something...or just setting fire to various things.

He recognized one of them as the Fiery Guy from a couple nights ago, but didn't think anything of it, since he wasn't burning anything.

The blonde girl, on the other hand, was, and she was doing so with her mind.

John felt the envy grow within him, but allowed a bit of smug pride to take place when it seemed she couldn't control the fire. Though, this smothered instantly, since he considered no power over the wonderous flames was worse than not being able to produce them....kinda.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie noticed the other guy in the distance, but for a while, was too busy concentrating to do more than wave.

At one point she took a break to walk into the ocean and get her breath back, tired from trying to concentrate.

[turnthisfrown.livejournal.com]

John, though still waiting for someone to show up, decided to kill some time and converse with this fellow pyrokinetic.

"G'day," he greeted casually at the shore's edge, consciously avoiding the tide. "Was that you doin' that, or is it hotter than I think?" He gestured over his shoulder back at the pit.

"I'm SinJun--er, John, by the way."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Hey. I'm Charlie," she said with a wave, digging her toes into the sand as the water rushed up to her ankles. "And yeah, that was me. I'm not very good at it," she admitted. "Turtle brought a fire extinguisher and Johnny's here to stop the fire if I lose my grip on it." She gave him an anxious look, hoping that wouldn't freak him out. "You're one of the newer kids, aren't you?"

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny recognized this guy from the other night when he yelled up at him. He thought to say hello today since he didn't pause in flying to visit.

"Hey, saw you the other night on the beach, didn't?"

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy might still be in a bit of a funk, but he was determined to get over it. The beach was good for that, there were often people there.

And now, so was Billy.