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[johnnystorm]

Sawyer is terrified from the moment she steps through the door right up to this moment when she's trying to set the door on fire. The only fortunate thing about the door refusing to burn (seriously, the paint doesn't even peel) is that it slowly transitions Sawyer from terrified to angry. She's more comfortable with angry (aren't most people or is she special in this?).

Her face is flushed with heat. She's pushed the sleeves of her sweatshirt (normal people scare me) up and she's grateful she's wearing cut-off shorts with a pair of black converse. She looks overheated because she is. Not only had she spent a good deal of time trying to set the door on fire, she'd created that fire and she's really not good or reliable at that right now. She expends too much energy far too quickly.

Finally, the feeling of wooziness and being entirely parched from the inside out drives Sawyer to the fountain, where she peels her socks and shoes off in favor of putting her feet in the water. She leans over her legs, placing her forehead against her knees as she dangles her hands in the water too.

She really doesn't care what she looks like. Besides, there's a fifty-fifty chance that this is some weirdo, wacky dream she's having. She's certainly had her fair share of them in the last few weeks.

Comments

[badboysupreme]

Every few days, Leo goes to find his door to home and see if it opens. He has no idea whether he actually wants to walk through it or not. Walking through it would mean finding out if he actually lives or dies back home after the battle with Gaea. Walking through it would also mean leaving Percy and Annabeth behind in a strange, unknown place, something he isn't sure he's willing to do, not to mention the friends he's made here, like Dean and Adam. It's a tough call.

That doesn't stop him from checking the door though, something about not liking being locked up in any sense of the words. Leo is absolutely opposed to it. And while this prison has everything (almost) a young demigod could want, it's still a prison that took him and his friends from his home. This is what has him scouting the doors today.

He's just checked his own door to find it locked when he sees a flash of light, the fire coming from the girl's hands. The doors don't burn. He's tried that. You can't pick their locks either. Leo has tried that too. But he can appreciate the effort! And he can appreciate the fact that this girl uses fire in almost the same way that he does.

He follows her back into town, just to make sure she gets there safely, he tells himself, then approaches when she pauses by the fountain. "Hola! Need a welcome wagon? I don't mind being a welcome wagon. I mean, it's not an official title or anything, I can just tell you're new and thought I'd say... welcome." He offers her one grease and soot covered hand. "I'm Leo! Leo Valdez. Tinkerer extraordinaire!"

[johnnystorm]

Sawyer would probably try lockpicking if she knew how to do that thing. Before she tried fire, she kicked the door. That was obviously ineffective. The fire had only happened when she'd gotten terrified about being locked up here. Yeah, her fire is tied to her emotions, or at least it is right now. Finn insists she'll be able to control it some day, but right now is not that day.

There are some key differences, but of course neither of them know that right now. After all, he's a demi-god and she's a fire elemental with a fragile human body. They both create fire though and on her good days, Sawyer is convinced she's a superhero in the making.

Sawyer is so wiped out by her attempt at escape that she doesn't notice anyone following her. She's focused on the biggest body of fresh water she can find at the moment because as long as she doesn't boil it, it should help her recover. At Leo's voice, Sawyer stops in the middle of taking one sock off. She hops a little, giving him a look of bewilderment, finally pulling her sock off and resting her bare foot on the ground. Still in a state of bewilderment, she shakes his hand. "Sawyer Thomas." Her skin is probably still near scalding heat levels.

"Where is here? Why can't I get the door open? I need to go back home. My mom is sick. She needs me."

[badboysupreme]

"Well, Sawyer Thomas, this is Itinere - land of wishes come true with the occasional nightmare thrown in, but only occasional. You know, for flavor, like a dash of salt in the chili pot." Which is really not a good comparison, Leo realizes, cause the dash of salt Itinere tosses in is sometimes deadly, according to his friends. Somehow though, resurrection is also a thing. This place just gets curiouser and curiouser, to quote a phrase from a popular book about a girl named Alice who may or may not have been tripping on some acid.

He hadn't really meant to inconvenience her all that much with the handshake. Maybe he should have held off on that until she'd had a chance to settle a bit. But with Leo Valdez, hindsight is always the name of the game. He tends to jump in head first and think about things later after the fact.

Sawyer's hand is very hot to the touch. That isn't surprising given the pyro display he'd just witnessed. He's quick to let go after the handshake so as not to be any more of a hindrance than he already has been.

"The doors only seem to open when they want to open. Trust a guy who's tried lots of different techniques to get them open. Some people's open every day. I'm not some people. Looks like you aren't either." He pauses, his heart feeling a little bit tight because moms are a touchy subject with him given the fact that he'd killed his, however inadvertently. "Sorry to hear about your mom. Although I hear time back where you're from will stand still while you're here. It doesn't move along without you, or maybe it just moves along at a much slower pace. I haven't figured out what I believe yet. Are you confused yet? This place is plenty confusing!"

[johnnystorm]

Sawyer is having a hard time keeping up. She blames the fact that her brain is heat-stroked (or something like that). She also blames the fact that she's had a lot of overload at home and now here. It's a crazy thing to process. She mostly just stares at Leo, her expression entirely boggled.

Oh! No. It toally wasn't an inconvenience and she appreciates that he's being friendly (shaking hands is totally part of being friendly). She's just having a little bit of a hard time with all of this and all of things back home.

See, she doesn't know that he witnessed any of that. However, she's glad that the heat doens't bother him (or hurt him).

She seems to wilt a little more at that. She wants to cry and scream and wail that she has to get home. If something happens to her mom while she's gone, she won't forgive herself. However, he gets her attention when he starts to talk about time pauses. She perks up, her eyes going wide, the corners of her mouth tugging up slightly. Without warning, she flings herself at him and hugs him tightly. "Really? Really really? Nothing will happen to my mom while I'm gone?"

[badboysupreme]

Boggled is perfectly natural for only just arriving. Maybe Leo had taken better to the change in venue because of the crazy stunts back home. He's used to things being crazy. He's used to the unexpected and the extraordinary. He's used to the world around him turning on a dime and his having to quickly adjust. Itinere is a walk in the park compared to a lot of Leo's life. In a way, he's actually kind of glad that his experiences have made him so willing to accept a shift in his own fate. It's made him a professional at rolling with the punches.

The hug is unexpected and it takes a moment for Leo to process that it's happening. He eventually gives in and hugs her back excitedly. The ladies love Leo, what can he say? "Yes, really! At least I think so, really. I haven't been back home yet to test it out but others have and it seems to hold true! So really!"

After the wilting, he's all too happy to have gotten a smile out of her. And when the hug separates he's wearing an impish sort of smile of his own. It's hard not to smile when a pretty girl is hugging you. A pretty girl who can make fire in her hands. Yeah, that needs to be addressed for full-disclosure's sake. "So, I saw the pyrokinetics at the door. Pretty impressive! Is it a magic spell or some kind of inherent ability? Inquiring minds want to know!"

[johnnystorm]

Possibly. Sawyer's life has been upside down the last few weeks, but before that, her life had been relatively normal. Sure, she'd been raised by a single mom that has been battling an illness for a while, but she'd gone to school, done her homework, occasionally played hooky or sneaked out past her curfew. She'd been hoping that her life would go back to her version of normal soon. That hope was dashed with her appearance here.

She's just so relieved that her mom won't miss her. More importantly, she won't miss anything important happening with her mom, like if she came home from the hospital.

The smile is nice and it's just the thing in this sort of situation. Sawyer bites her bottom lip hard at his question. "Uhm...no. It's not magic. It's..." she takes a deep breath and holds it a moment. "It's new-ish and I don't know a lot about it, but apparently I'm a fire elemental." She wrinkles her nose a bit. "I'm not very good at controlling it."

[badboysupreme]

There were several answers to his question that were on the docket as possibilities in regard to Sawyer's fire ability. Leo had been prepared for each one of them. Unfortunately, the answer she gives him is none of the ones he's prepared for, which is surprising, in a good way. It isn't all that often that Leo is surprised anymore. He's been through too much and seen to much -some of the most fantastical things - that surprise is a rarity. That rarity is now.

His brows lift, eyes going wide as he takes in that information. "A fire elemental? That's awesome! Are there water, air and earth elementals too? What about metals and various other textiles? Cause I could see it happening now that I know a fire elemental is a pretty girl - I mean a person! A person."

One hand lifts to rub the back of his neck. "So is the elemental inside of you or are you the elemental? And whichever one it is, how come it took so long for you to find out about it? Am I asking too many questions?"

[johnnystorm]

She'd feel smug about that, but she doesn't know enough about fire, elementals or other fire having abilities to know she's got reason to feel smug. The only comparative she has is Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four. Instead, she probably still looks confused and a little anxious about having laid all that out there in front of him.

"Yeah? I mean my mom is an air elemental. I didn't know that until like...two days ago or something but...As far as I know there are just the regular elementals? Or are you asking something else about metal and textiles? It would be sort of cool if there were a sneaker elemental. It would explain me not being able to find my shoes like half the time" She does catch his comment about pretty girl and it gives her just a moment to flush a little which makes her scowl at him. She doesn't appreciate being called pretty but that's mostly because it embarrasses her which makes her feel vulnerable and that scares her because vulnerable means you can get hurt and so on; also, it makes her blush. Really, as she gets more accustomed to Leo, he'll realize the scowl is her way of saying thanks.

"I--I think I'm possessed by Johnny Storm." It had been the first thing that had popped out of her mouth when Finn had tried to explain it back home. "Wait. No. That's just my coping mechanism. It's inside me? Something like that." She frowns a little about taking so long to find out. "It was kick started out of hibernation by massive emotional trauma. At least that's how it was explained to me. Probably also puberty because I've read YA books and that's how this always starts." She shakes her head at the last one. "No. Questions are okay. They keep me distracted."

[badboysupreme]

Luckily for her, Leo's world is just spectacular enough for him to accept what she is without question and move right along. Also lucky for her, and maybe unlucky for him, he's used to pretty girls scowling at him too. Calypso seems to do nothing but scowl at him... or she used to. She's not here. Now Sawyer is scowling at him. Almost makes a guy who should be dead right now homesick.

As accustomed as he is to scowls, he takes that with ease too. He just makes a conscious mental note to try not to let what he's thinking slip like that again. Easier said than done if you're Leo Valdez. "A sneaker elemental would probably be a rubber elemental, or a leather elemental, or a canvas elemental. But they're probably lesser elementals compared to the big four! So you're saying it's not a lineage thing? I figured a fire elemental would make fire elementals, water water, air air and the like. That's cool. Theoretically speaking you could have all four in the same family! Talk about covering all your bases..."

Leo quirks up an eyebrow as he looks at the now frowning Sawyer. "Massive emotional trauma." Leo knows all about that, having killed his mom and all. He doesn't think about that though, so he quickly pushes the thought to the side. He does wonder what massive emotional trauma Sawyer experienced, although he presses his lips together to keep himself from asking. First she's scowling, now she's frowning. Really, this isn't going very well at all.

"Well you're in luck! This place isn't so bad. I mean, I've seen and been to a lot worse places than this, trust me. There's plenty of food here. There's a roof to put over your head. Showers and mostly nice people from what I've seen so far." He pauses. "I could help you get to the apartments so you could settle in or..." How does he make this girl smile? "How can I help?"

[johnnystorm]

That is lucky because she's not entirely sure she could explain it any more thoroughly. Scowling is how she shows affection? No, honestly. Scowling just makes her feel more in control of a situation, which she definitely isn't now. Hence the scowling. Really, she should thank him for giving her something proper to scowl about (because yes, being told you're pretty is a good reason to scowl; whatever, Sawyer).

Awww, really. He shouldn't feel put upon to control his verbage. Sawyer certainly won't once she gets to know him a little better. "Techancalities," she waves him off. She takes a breath and holds it a moment. "Sort of a lineage thing? Like I don't think people without elementals in their family ever spontansouly have an elemental, but maybe it could happen? I'm pretty light on the information side of things. I just found out about it like a week ago. When I accidentally set some things on fire."

Honestly, it's going pretty well. He shouldn't be so hard on himself. She hasn't slapped him, tried to set him on fire (not that she could on purpose). Frowning is less frequent than scowling but it's common enough. She's good with using avoidance as a coping mechanism and she'll gleefully encourage him to do so as well.

"Not. So. Bad." She repeats the words as if she's skeptical about the whole thing (she is) but she's willing to give it a shot. Particularly if it's true that time is on pause back home. That means...that means that her mother isn't dying (well, she is but she's at the top of that downward slide, not rapidly sliding down). That means that she doesn't have to cope with this. That means..."Yes," she says quickly, not entirely sure what she's saying yes to. She was a little caught up in her own thoughts. "I mean...what?" Slowly, she catches up to what she was only half hearing. "I mean...yes. Please. That would--apartments would be good. If you'd show me where those are?"