abraxaslogs | [closed] stay green a little while

Inej has largely kept to very specific pieces of the Horizon belonging to herself or those close to her. Exploring it as a whole isn't something she generally feels the need to do much. It's all so... personal. These intricate pieces of people woven into the fabric of this place, so it feels...intrusive to simply wander into people's spaces without prior invitation.

However... the smoke in the distance is alarming, to say the least. She can't help let her feet wander in the direction of it, until she finds the blaze that the smoke had come from, and the boy that seemed to be at the center of it all.

"All Saints," she mutters, watching in awe. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were an Inferni." But she's too far into her time in this world to think every magic thing she lays witness to is at the hand of a Grisha, even if some of the acts people can accomplish ring so true to the power of them.

Wilhelm doesn't notice her approach, her footfall silent on the stone steps that lead down to the beach and his attention taken by the fire he's steadily growing. By now, the blaze is eating through several shocks of grass at once. When Inej speaks up, his shoulders jump and the flames sway as if breathed on by a rogue breeze. His gaze jerks her way.

"Jesus, where'd you come from?" he mutters, half to himself. Then louder but softened by uncertainty: "Is...that a good thing?"

The term is unfamiliar, but it sounds a lot like infernal. Which...on the whole is not associated with good things.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” which is sort of like an apology with the expression she wears and tone in her words, despite the distinct lack of the two most common apologetic words most people might interject at the start. “If it helps, you’re not the only person I’ve unintentionally startled before.” Is that a consolation or is it just creepier than she meant it to be? This boy’s personal interpretation will well, perhaps.

She muses at the question, head tipped to the side, hands folded and tucked behind her back— no threat found here, she looks nearly innocent like that— and lets a soft hum pass her lips. “I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing. There are people in my world who can control different elements— collectively, they’re called Grisha— the Inferni control fire.”

"It's fine," he's quick to reassure, dismissing her sort-of-apology with a shake of his head. Though, her comment about unintentionally startling untold masses does earn a slight raising of his eyebrows. He can see it — she's exceptionally light on her feet, as difficult to catch creeping up on you as your shadow.

"I only learned how to do this here." The whole fire thing, he means. "Well, not really learned. It just sort of...happened."

Like fire itself, sparking at just the right instigation. As they talk, the fire he's started in the grass continues without his input, climbing the stalks all the way up, until exhausted they bend. With a slight pushing motion and a measured exhalation, he can make the flame take to the next shock of grass. This part is easier than containing the fire or extinguishing it altogether. And maybe that should concern him.

She grins, and it's almost hard to think she could be that sneaky with a smile like sunlight.

"I understand," she nods a little as he explains about the ability he's found himself saddled with. "that seems to be the nature of many of the gifts we find ourselves blessed with here."

She watches the flame crawl along the grass, perhaps only not catching the entire field alight because... he doesn't will it, and between the way the magic here works, and the way The Horizon itself works, perhaps that is enough? She's unsure. "Do you create the fire, or do you need an activating agent first?" she asks curiously. Her own gifts, for the most part, have been more inwardly focused- better sight in the dark, absolute silence within a certain distance around her.

The girl calls it a gift, but he's not so sure. So far, the ability to spark fire from nothing has mostly served as another source of anxiety, another thing to get wrong. He just hopes he can get it under control tightly enough to make use of it. What sort of use, he's not sure of either — this magic seems best suited to destruction.

"I create it. I just have to concentrate for a few seconds, and it starts right in my hand."

To mimic the effect, he curls and uncurls his hand, wiggling his fingers. Then he cocks his head a bit, studying her. The way she'd said it makes him wonder...

"What about you? Any 'blessings' you've gotten?"

“That’s actually quite impressive,” more power than the Inferni of her world have— Grisha abilities, to the best of her knowledge, only effect the physical world around them. Parts unseen with the human eye, perhaps, but it comes from somewhere.

She smiles at the turn about. “Nothing so easily shown,” she admits. “I can see in total darkness, as though there’s some sort of light,” that’s the newest one, she’s practiced it a lot even in the short time since she received it— surely it will prove quite handy in a number of situations. “And I can make a small distance around me utterly silent, in which no sound penetrates inside or out.”

Useful, especially in her particular job.

Although he shrugs off her compliment, the flicker of his grin shows that it does mean something to him. He returns his gaze to the fire, making sure that it doesn't buck his control while he talks to Inej. Honestly, it adds a whole new layer of complexity to the mental strain of meeting a new person.

"That's cool."

Not what he expected, but... Even having known her for only a handful of minutes, he can see how such abilities fit her like a glove. She holds an air of mystery around her. Then, teasing:

"I bet it could help you intentionally startle people, if you wanted to."

That little flash of a grin on his face is worth hundreds. The fact that she, a total stranger, could pull something so bordering on the edge of pride speaks volumes.

"I think so," she says with a slight nod, lacing her hands behind her back, watching the flames as he keeps them reigned in enough not to be terribly destructive.

She laughs softly at the suggestion. "It could," she agrees. "though I'm not much in the business of scaring people."

"Well, if it was a business, you'd be rich."

This is meant to be a compliment, of course.

As he watches the fire chew through its fuel, he thinks about fanning it farther, in the spirit of the experiment he'd originally set out to do. But this is already the biggest fire he's built. He wasn't so worried about losing control of it when he was alone, but the girl's presence dampens his recklessness. He doesn't want her to get hurt.

"I'm Wilhelm." A by-the-way that also implies the question of her name in exchange. "I haven't seen you around the castle, so I'm guessing you're in one of the other factions."

Then he smiles with the sly secrecy of an inside joke.

"Unless you're just that good at hiding."

“Apparently,” she says with an amused tone and a quirk to one corner of her lips, like she’s referencing some inside joke. And in a way, she is. He isn’t the first, nor will he be the last, person she has scared however intentional or not.

She smiles properly this time, a thing bright as sunshine and genuine, “Inej,” she offers in kind. “And you wouldn’t, I’m in Cadens.”

[closed] stay green a little while

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