Evening Lights

[Aelita Ellsworth]

It had been only weeks since classes had begun, for the first time for Aelita Ellsworth, at Ashford Academy. She now knew that the term 'spring semester' was a misnomer everywhere - at home, it would've still very obviously been winter. Here, it never seemed to stop being the dog days of summer. The humidity was half-way to oppressive, most days. It had led to her preferring more and more the evening & night hours.

Thus, she had suggested this time of day when she somehow stumbled through a conversation to the ending of agreeing to share & practice her light manipulation abilities with another student in the woods. She wasn't the social type, so it wasn't as if she had offered... But her lack of social experience had also made it near enough impossible for her to guide the conversation away from that end. 'Best to make the best of it... And look, it's woods! Just like I always practiced in, though by myself. Maybe it would be alright to share them with someone, if they could do what I can do. Maybe this isn't 'me' time, it's 'light power' time.'She coached herself internally.

She'd been wandering through the woods, trying to remember the instructions she'd been given to a clearing. Apparently there was a very nice little pond if one walked for four minutes off the east end of the Courtyard, then turned right and stuck to the path naturally marked out by larger boulders...

She was certain she was close enough, at any rate.

[Issac Haxton]

        "They call this winter, eh? Reminds me of early summer back in Savannah... except a lot less friendly."

        It sure hadn't been long since Issac was "transferred" to Ashford, but as it stood, he had to be here. He knew better than probably anyone else that it was impossible to get off this island. Even if he could get to the mainland, which he was sure would be impossible for him, the agents there were probably on full alert 150% of the time. So, for now, Issac was somewhat left to his own devices on this prison of an island school. He had to find something to do while he was here, and it wasn't very long until he overheard and, by some manner of fate, was roped into a young lady's desire to practice her powers. Seems she had a form of light manipulation of her own, and being that he had his own skill in that kind of power, it was inevitable that he'd end up offering to help.

        As it stood, he had no knowledge of what exactly the girl could do, but given the most logical idea, he figured a nice open place would be best, and it just so happened that such a clearing could be found at the waterfall on the island. Nice, relaxing place, really. Should be perfect for that kind of training, or so he thought. So he brought the place up, gave the girl a couple solid directions for getting there, told her he'd be able to make it some time before noon, which would be the perfect conditions for training, if the presence of light was any kind of a factor.

        And so, everything went about as normal until then. When it came to be morning, Issac made sure to get up early and head out a few minutes ahead of when he'd need to. He had a habit of getting places later than he wanted, so he had wanted to be safe, rather than sorry. Turns out, he got there way ahead of schedule. Twenty minutes ahead to be exact, and there wasn't enough time to go back to get something, so he decided to do the next best thing and practiced a bit by himself. And boy, did he get into it. So much so that he hadn't noticed his to-be-training partner had waltzed up until she cleared her throat. Of course, as soon as she did, he immediately dispersed the blocks of light he had made, but just how long was she standing there? It wasn't a big deal, but it was something he was curious about. However, instead of indulging, he quietly brushed off his pants before looking to the girl, waving softly.

        "I see you made it. Sorry if I seem distracted. I was just keeping myself busy. At any rate, I suppose we should get started, shouldn't we?"

[Aelita Ellsworth]

Aelita stood fidgeting. She tugged at her sleeves and tapped the toe of her left boot on the ground behind her. None of her movements were theatrical or large - just small indications that at that moment she couldn't keep still. She was nervous; Isaac had seemed much more normal behaviorwise than Nathan had in the lunchroom awhile ago previous. And it still seemed like a welcome respite to once again practice her powers in the woods.

But it sure was far from anyone else out here. 'Stop it. This is ridiculous. Not everyone is going to... what... demand to play tag? ... like Nathan did. He was just weird, but he was harmless anyway. It's fine. It's fine,' she chided herself.

"Uhm, hi. Sure, that would be good. Were those three dimensional? All of my patterns are pretty flat. It's more like... threads of light for me, not blocks of it." Aelita said, taking a deep breath and speaking only a hair too quickly. One might even assume she was just a fast talker. She tried a smile. "...Do you want to see, since I saw yours?"

[Issac Haxton]

        This really had been a first for Issac. Sure, he had helped people in learning things before, but training for powers was something he had never done. Of course, it couldn't be too hard, could it? He sure hoped so, which is why he had been figuring out how exactly he should approach helping the young woman, Aelita, if he remembered her name correctly. As she talked, he remained calm and relatively motionless. She sure did talk fast, and if he hadn't seen the signs of nervousness in her voice and stance, she'd easily be mistaken for being a fast talker.

        The idea behind her light manipulation powers being only two-dimensional were rather interesting. He'd seen a couple minor light manipulators, but none ever really manipulated 'threads' of light. He really did need to understand more to be able to help her, so her timely offer to give an example of her power was perfect. He could still see the tension in her, though, and that wouldn't be good for her. Regardless of just how she formed her powers, nervousness was generally a key inhibitor, so he took the time to force a small smile. He really wasn't very good at talking with people, but he could at least focus himself enough to give her some instructions. Plopping onto the ground, he looked to her as comfortingly as he possibly could before nodding and speaking up.

        "That would be great. However, take a moment to relax first, take in a deep breath, whatever you need. Remember that I'm here to help, so if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask."

[Aelita Ellsworth]

"Okay, yeah." Aelita said, nodding repeatedly for a number of seconds. She took a few quick breaths and her nodding slowed, then stopped. In her mind, she was beating back the anxious thoughts. In their place, she cultured instead her special state. It wasn't as difficult as she expected to imagine that she was doing 'magic' in the woods, just with someone else. Hadn't every story her games had been based on eventually had the protagonist share their special gifts with someone else? 'It's just one more piece of the game.'

At that readjustment of the situation, a serene look passed over her face. She closed her eyes and pictured a spinning wheel of light around her. Tendrils appeared, twining themselves in a pattern reminiscent of Celtic knots. It whirled faster as it wove itself, then began to slow into a lazy spiral as it completed itself.

Aelita opened her eyes, but kept her fingers splayed out, arms a few inches away from her sides. It was far from the most interesting or complicated pattern she'd ever done, but she wasn't interested in making a mistake and letting it all wink out into nothingness the first time she tried.

"And that's... that's what I can do."