The Scoundrel and the Stick-in-the-Mud x2

Karis was sitting with one leg crossed over the other and had been staring out the window until Alec addressed her. She turned her attention to him, smiling when he asked about her power.

"Well, I'm not sure if there's a fancy word for it, but metal manipulation." She looked around the limo, not really wanting to damage anything, so she looked at Jayden to ask him a silent question. May as well hit two birds with one stone.

As he realized what she was asking, he swiftly moved his hand to hold it up, a small, round piece of iron materializing in his palm as he did so. Karis held her hands up, and the iron floated from Jayden's hand to in front of her, where she began bending it into a shape. The iron slowly turned into a little heart and she flicked her fingers, tossing it to Alec with a wink so he could look at it. The metal was very warm, but not too hot to touch, from being manipulated.

In the corner of her eye, she watched Jayden roll his eyes a bit.

She shrugged a bit, "You could almost say I'm a... very strong, walking magnet." I attract things, not all of which being metal.

While Nova was impressed by Jayden's power, the little that she'd seen of it, Alec's attention, predictably, was devoted to the little iron heart and the girl that had shaped it.

He caught the heart and felt it. Alec raised his eyes and met hers with his head still down. He gave her a side smile. "Is the heart inside you like this? Made of iron, but warm?" He kissed the heart lightly, then tossed it back. "I would keep it, but I don't think you're ready to give your heart to me... yet."

Nova made a noise of utmost disgust in the back of her throat and looked at Jayden, her eyes a little wide from effort to change the subject. "So, she has ferrokinesis. What about you? What else can you create out of nothing?"

Karis rolled her eyes at Alec with a smirk. She tossed the heart back to Jayden, who caught it. Though, when he opened his hand, the object was gone.

Then, Karis turned her head to Nova, "So there is a fancy name!"

Jayden smiled, "Well, it's a bit strange. I can create something from nothing, but also turn something into nothing." He tried to sound clever by repeating the words, but as it came out, he couldn't help but think it just sounded dumb. He turned his hand palm facing up, now holding a ball. He tossed it into the air, in which his dissipated going up, then reappeared coming back down and landed in his hand. "Just about anything you can imagine I could probably make. Not that I've ever tried anything bigger than my hands."

((MAN Karis is being stubborn!))

Nova and Alec looked impressed.

"Extraordinary," said Nova. "Are there any limits? Can you create something living?"

Alec eyed Karis. He had never had trouble like this before in winning a girl's heart. He wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.

((She's used to being the one to seduce them, playing hard to get and very teasing~))

Jayden shook his head, "No, I can't. I've tried, attempting to make a kitten, but all I get was a surprisingly realistic figurine." He paused, "I've never tried to destroy a living thing, though. I mean, what have those spiders ever done to you?"

Karis had her arms crossed again, watching Jayden as he spoke. She knew Alec was watching her. She'd definitely have some fun with him during all of this. Then she heard Jayden's last statement.

"Ahem, they're annoying, in my way, and creepier than I am."

"But they have feelings and a life to live, too!"

((well, it's not going to take a lot to seduce Alec. He already wants her like crazy. It's just going to be weird seeing who the dominate figure in their romance will be. Alec's used to being on top, obviously, but Karis seems like the kind of girl who won't accept that.))


Nova shrugged. "If you aren't able to create life then I suppose you wouldn't be able to end it. Ending life is easier to do than create it, but they fall under the same category.

"As for the spiders, biologically, the nervous system of all living creatures is built upon specializead cells called neurons. They are responsible for the transmission of impulses that allow all animals to be aware of surrounding stimuli. Pain, pleasure, sweet, sour, hurt in any way is transmitted by a complicated network of neurons. So in a biological sense these creatures do have 'feelings.'

"As for morally, no research shows that spiders have emotions like us. Scientists have noted that certain insects perhaps have emotions, especially bees, but there has been no successful studies that prove that spiders have emotions. Fear, love, hatred--these are all things that we humans have, but I don't believe that spiders join us in those things."

Nova looked around, then blushed.

Alec was gaping at her. "Wow, way to sound like a dictionary."

((From what little you've seen of her, you already know her so well. I dunno, I guess we'll have to see what happens. Though, in the end, she might just be one to enjoy him being dominate))


Karis blinked, quite surprised as to what all just came out of that girl's mouth. "... Oh."

Jayden breathed a laugh, "How did you know all of that? Have you looked it up before?" He slowly wiggled his fingers, the thing she had said about his power lingering in the back of his mind.

((Her trope isn't that hard to figure out. That... would be interesting.))

Nova blushed deeper and fiddled with her hair. "Well..."

Alec snorted. "I'm pretty sure Nova is the kind of girl to read every book in the library because she thinks it'll be fun."

Nova glared at him. "It isn't like that. I want to be a zoologist eventually, so, yeah, I've learned as much as I can about animals. It also helps..." she looked at the floor and mumbled, "that I had photographic memory."

"Is THAT how you graduated a year early?" cried Alec. "By cheating?"

"It isn't cheating! And you know full well that there was more to our studies than written stuff! I turned out top of my class because I have persistence and motivation and a damn-good work ethic!" Her face was flushed now. "I worked harder-- You know what? No! I don't have to tell you all that I went through to graduate top of my class a year early! Having photographic memory helped a lot, but it took a hell-of-a-lot more than that to end up where I am now! So, if you dare to accuse me of cheating again, you better be ready for a fight."

Her fists were clenched and a strange stillness had come over the car. Suddenly there was a storm of honking from outside and Nova jumped. Her fists relaxed and they felt the car move again.

Alec was able to move freely now and he rubbed the back of his head, looking away. "Ah ha haaaa... well, that's settled then!"

Nova didn't say anything. She had crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes shut and was shaking slightly.


((Well, it appears this Nova is quite different was the old Nova! Wow! I did not expect her to turn out this way!))

((Well I didn't expect that at all))

Jayden's eyes were wide and he shifted, trying to get a little closer to Nova. He became very concerned, "Are you alright, Nova?" He admired her for her hard work, graduating a year early, using her abilities to further herself in her studies. And wanting to be a zoologist? That sounded like a wonderful job! He'd always wanted to be a police officer, help bring true justice and save people. Technically, they'd both be saving lives.

Karis looked out the window to the cars that had honked at them. With a side glance at Jayden to make sure he didn't notice, she quietly snapped a finger. A very loud, constant sound came from the car right behind them. Ha, their horn was stuck.

But she immediately regretted it because it was annoying. They'd better make a turn soon or something.

"Yeah," mumbled Nova, head tucked to her chest. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She obviously wasn't but Alec, not only not wanting to anger her again, wasn't the kind of boy to comfort someone, so all he did was stare out the window, his eyes flicking to Nova every other second.

Suddenly a blaring noise, that of a car's horn, blasted the air and didn't go away. Nova jumped again and stared out the window, mouth slightly open. The one horn became a storm as other drivers became angry at the first for sitting on their horn.

Nova clapped her hands over her ears.

Alec was glaring at Karis. "I saw you snap your finger!" he yelled over the noise. "This is your fault! Turn it back!"

Jayden's jaw set and he looked at Karis, "Are you kidding me?!"

Karis's eyes went wide and she looked like a deer in headlights. She was never good about actually being caught. She snapped again and it stopped immediately, looking away from the other three. She crossed her arms and sat stiffly, embarrassed, annoyed, and angry.

Soon though, the limo made a turn and it became obvious they were almost there.

Alec rolled his eyes, less enchanted by the beautiful girl than he had been before. Playing pranks was all well and good, he had played his own fair share of them, but there was a time for them, and Karis had obviously not considered the consequences for a simple prank like making a horn stick.

Nova uncovered her ears and looked outside.

The rest of the trip passed in rather uncomfortable silence.

Finally the car slowed and Nova wiped the window clear to watch the gate of the apartment complex slide open. "We're going to need to know the code," she commented.

Alec looked at her. "Code? For what?"

Nova told him and Alec looked outside as well.

"I wonder how complex it'll be," said Alec.



The limo slid through the streets and finally pulled up in front of a building. When the door opened there were umbrellas for each of them in the hand of the chauffeur.

"Wow," said Nova. "I thought it would be like part of a large building, like normal apartments. But this..."

"Let's get inside!" said Alec. I want to be out if the rain!"


https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=RWHDsfGj2Px

Jayden admired the building as he led the way, every now and then scolding Karis for something. Her jaw set, but she didn't say anything as they walked.

They soon came upon their destination and Jayden produced a key. Karis had one as well, and there would be two more inside for Nova and Alec. He unlocked the door and headed in, glancing around the room, quick to move out of the way so everyone could come in and their stuff could be brought in as well. He looked into the kitchen, running his fingers over the bar. What a cute place to eat.

He looked over his shoulder, curious at to Nova and Alec's reactions to the place.

Alec trooped inside without taking a lot of time to look around, but once he was properly in and he had closed the umbrella, he took a look. "Fully furnished--nice." He peaked into the room directly to his left. "Bedroom number uno. I like it. Not really my style, but that can be changed."

Then he turned his head and looked through the bathroom, noticing the fact that another bedroom was attached. He whistled and grinned. This had promise. He would just have to convince Karis to take the other room. Somehow. It probably wouldn't be easy. She was a hard nut to crack, despite the fact that she was continually flirting with him. He just needed to find her seam, then he could pop her open.

He smiled wickedly at the thought and exited through the door of the second bedroom. Directly to his left was the staircase. Up he traveled, taking time to appreciate the view outside the window on the stairs. It looked out on the beautiful lawns and flowers of a garden. Perfect date setting, he thought to himself, then finished his quick assent. He looked over the balcony, down at the others beneath him.

"Yoo hoo! Up here!"

Nova looked up and scowled.

"Why are you scowling?" called Alec. "I'm allowed to roam the apartment that is to be my home, aren't I?"

Nova shook her head and turned her sights outside.

Alec smiled and leaned back. That girl was such a stick-in-the-mud. He would have to loosen her up.

He discovered that upstairs the layout was the same as the first floor. Simple enough. Rather boring. Then he smiled and tapped his chin. If all went as planned it would be Nova and Jayden that were a mere bathroom apart. Maybe that would loosen her up.

He chuckled, then returned to the first floor. He walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. It hummed at him, but he frowned. "Nothing in here yet. Shame."

Jayden began to inspect the first floor bedrooms, realizing the bedrooms were attached with a bathroom between them. He figured that maybe he and Alec could take the downstairs rooms and the girls could sleep upstairs. He'd ask them in a moment.

As he wandered around a bit, he smiled at the view. He couldn't wait to take a walk out there, enjoy the weather, get some sun. He obviously couldn't do that today, though, since it was raining. If only Winter were here, he thought, turning from the window. She would fix the weather for him.

Karis, meanwhile, flopped on the couch, taking up the entire space by lying down. "Aaah, this is nice," she said as she settled in. "So who's sleeping where? Personally, I wanna sleep upstairs." The bedrooms upstairs probably had a better view. Also, she didn't want the sound of someone turning on the TV or working in the kitchen to wake her up.