fandomhighdorms | The Gym / Saturday, September 4 / Morning

Admittedly, it had taken Jono a bit of effort to nerve himself into coming to the gym at all, today. If he had his way, he'd much rather be doing this outside, where there was not only less risk of accidentally levelling any buildings (he had a bit of a history with that sort of thing, after all), but also far less risk of being stumbled across by people who didn't already know that he was...

Well. You know.

But in the end, the acknowledgement that he needed to learn more about this power won out, and best he do this now, while there was somebody who knew their way around fire about, than later, alone, or never at all.

He was still bound up like a mummy when he walked into the gym, though. There was no need for him to go running around with it all hanging out until it was actually necessary, after all.

//Morning, Azula.//

"Good morning, Jonothon," Azula returned pleasantly. She gestured to the space across from her. "Sit."

//Right.// Jono gave a brief nod, and then made his way over to the mat. He was trying, for the most part, not to let it show that he was nervous about this, which should have been made easier considering how much of him was actually missing, but he did happen to have fairly expressive eyes...

In any case, he sat.

//Where do we start, then?//

"No need to be worried," she said. "We're not going to do anything grand on the first day. All I want to do is to learn how your power works and if your power can affect the flames of a nearby fire. Easy."

All through out her voice was calm and her expression neutral with a slight hint of interest. She learned from her mistakes with Dinah.

Jono found himself looking at the candle that she'd set out in the middle. Watching that fire was far easier, really, than thinking too hard on what was going on, here.

//It's not th'same type of fire,// he said, after a minute of focusing on the flickering tongue of flame between them. //Mine isn't normal, isn't really natural, and what's there, it's not mine.//

He hesitated for a moment, before adding, for clarity's sake, //My powers aren't pyrokenetic. I can light them, but what actual flames do from there isn't up to me.//

"Why?" Azula asked, demanded, really. "Why do you say it's not yours? It's in you, is it not? Why don't you claim it as your own?"

He couldn't help but wince a little at the demand, really, but if he kept his eye on the candle's flame, at least he didn't have to make eye contact.

//Saying it's in me is a bit of an understatement,// he noted, sullenly. //It would eat me away entirely if I gave it th'chance. A little more of me gone every time I push th'fire to its limits. Or my limits, I suppose. I don't use it, I fight with it to keep it from getting out of hand, and if I need it for anything, it's more a matter of me just letting it go than me forcing it outward.//

If anything, he thought, the fire wasn't his. He was a slave to it.

And that was where he was wrong, at least from her point of view. Fire should never be thought of that way, it's a fundamental thing all Firebenders were taught this. Fire bent to the will of the bender and never the other way around, to think of it that way would only end up killing the bender.

He would not look her in the eye, this would not do.

"Jono." Her tone of voice demanded attention. "You're already controlling your fire."

//I'm keeping it from tearing everything around me to bits,// Jono replied, his gaze flicking up for a moment at her stern tone. //I can manage that, at least. But barely.//

"The point is that you can. The only thing you need to learn is to learn to control the fire more than you are able now." The frustrating thing here is that from what she can sense of his fire Jono could do more with it. He isn't an ordinary Firebender and his fire was far from ordinary all he need do is tame it.

Once he does Jono would have limitless power and he would forever remember her for it. And that bond? That sort of bond will be very difficult to break.

And between the fire and the psionic abilities that he was denying that he had... Jono could very easily be one of the most powerful mutants on the Earth. He was just entirely too busy being terrified of himself to come anywhere near realizing his potential.

//I... can,// he allowed, after a moment. //I mean, I can control my own flames, yes. To... some degree, I suppose.//

Mostly in the sense that he could blow things up on command, mind.

That was all Azula needed to hear. She allowed herself a small smile of victory.

"Good. For Firebenders, fire is in the breath--" she placed a fist just below her breast bone, "in the energy of the sun and most of all, the desire and the will to control the fire in us."

She paused, getting Jono to focus on her then she gestured to the candle, taking control of the fire and turning the flames blue then she stretched out her fingers and the fire grew tall, taller than Jono sitting down. After a while Azula let it go and the heat and intensity faded to normal orange. "You try it."

//I'll have a bit of difficulty with th'first bit,// Jono pointed out with a bit of a wry note in his voice. Not having lungs made breathing... difficult.

Still, what she did with the candle was intriguing, and some part of him couldn't help but wonder...

His eyes shifted to a pure white as he focused on the flame, trying to will it to move, to shift, to bend the same way that his own flames did, if he concentrated hard enough.

Nothing. Nothing but a bit of frustration and a curl of smoke sneaking up around the edges of his bandages.

//I can't.//

Azula smirked, "I did think of that but since your power comes by another way I think you should focus on desire and will."

She watched Jono attempt to augment the candle's flame but nothing came out of it. "Don't worry, not everyone could augment fire during the first try." But it was worth a try. "Can you feel the fire?"

He shook his head a little, trying not to let himself feel too much like an idiot for his failed efforts. She was right. This was just a first. But still..

//I can feel you more than I can feel any flames beyond th'ones right here,// he said, waving a hand at his chest. //Like I said... I'm not really pyrokinetic. Though I suppose it might seem that way...//

He glowered at the candle for a moment, wishing that he could at the very least blow the bloody thing out in spite. But noooo.

"You maybe right but its still fire and I think you can learn to augment fire. You say you can sense me, I can sense you too and, you have the potential to be so much more. I can sense it right under your skin all you need do is stop fearing it."

//It's not that simple,// Jono protested, halfheartedly. //Not this part, I don't think. If you told me to light th'candle, I could do that. Or knock it over. Or blow th'bloody thing up. But th'flame itself... That flame...? That one isn't like mine. I can't sense it. It's just normal fire.//

As opposed to his, which was pure, raw psychic energy.

"Just as I said. This is the first lesson. You can't expect immediate results." Azula tilted her head. "You can blow things up. It's something we Firebenders can do too, we superheat the air around us. Is that how your power works too."

He shook his head a little.

//Nothing quite so simple, no. I need to use my flame to do it. It's not really a matter of heat so much, really. More like energy.//

Pure power was more like it.

"Then use your flame." Azula said. Her mind was working now, trying to think of ways to get Jono to stop fearing the power he has.

//Right. My flame.//

He was going to have to pull down bandages for that. Was going to have to let what he was show, for that. And he didn't want to. Lord, he didn't want to, but how was he supposed to improve with this if he didn't so much as try?

Still, there was a moment of hesitation, a nervousness that seemed almost tangible hanging in the air around him before he reached his hand up and pulled some of his wrappings down, away from his chest. Fire spilled out.

//What did you want me t'do with it?//

Azula watched with interest her golden eyes focused as Jono pulled the bindings away and his strange fire spilled out.

She extinguished the fire on the candle. "Light up the candle."

At least she was asking for something simple, though it would take a bit of focus to target something as small as the wick, without destroying the rest of the candle in a flash fire.

Lighting it, he could do. It just meant that he needed a moment, to eye the wick, to consider his target. And then, like lightning on fire, his power reached out from his chest, crackling around the candle. One swift outpouring of psionic flame, and then the candle was lit, burning once again with simple, natural flame.

Azula reached for the fire, felt it. It felt like any fire she's ever held. Then she extinguished that too.

"Again."

Jono glanced back and forth, between the candle and Azula, before he shook his head a little. Why not? He'd already lit it once, after all.

//Again,// he agreed, and he went through the process once more. Once more, the wick took to the flame, leaving the same, completely normal flicker in Jonothon's wake.

This time Azula immediately waved the flame away. "And again."

Jono's eyebrow lifted slightly, but once again, he did as he was told. There was no hesitation, this time around. He had a feel for his target, and it was simply a matter of reflex, lighting the wick.

//Third time's the charm, is it?//

He was faster this time. There was a slight quirk at the corner of her lips but she extinguished the flame again.

"Again."

And this time, she'd barely finished the word 'again' before Jono had the candle lit.

//Going to keep putting it out, gel?//

She didn't answer and just extinguished the flame. She raised her eyebrow expectantly.

And, once again. Jono was starting to understand what a Zippo lighter must feel like.

He only looked a little impatient as he reached out and re-kindled the flame. And from there, he reached forward with his hand, pinched the flame out between his bare fingers, and lit it again, just because he could.

And now he was going to sit there with one eyebrow raised. What now?

Azula smirked. "Keep practicing. Everyday until we meet again. It's simple and easy. Try to do it fifteen times and then after, I want you to try and feel the flame and if you still can't..."

She shrugged. "I've always found fire a good focus for meditation."

Well, there was a word that didn't risk frightening Jono off.

//You'd like me to meditate?//

That, he could handle.

"Yes. Being calm does help control fire too. So, meditate." Her smile softened, "Not bad start, is it, Jono?"

//I could probably think of several ways that this could have gone worse,// Jono allowed, reaching up and working on securing his wrappings around himself again. //So far as beginnings go, this one wasn't bad at all.//

He'd been nervous, granted. But nothing had blown up.

"No exploding buildings and no wild fires, I'm almost disappointed." She teased then stood. "Keep the candle and the stand."

He nodded, running his hands down over his chest to make certain that his bandages were on properly, and then reached forward and pinched out the candle with his bare fingers once again. He managed to burn his fingertips, but at least he only winced a little bit.

He was going to need a better way to put out a candle, at this rate.

//Thank you, luv.//

"Is that a normal term you use in your world?" Azula asked, finding the use of the word so casually used disturbing. 'Love' No one at home says it with that much frequency or at all.

//... In my particular corner of my world, yes,// Jono replied, blinking a little once he realized which word she was talking about.

It hadn't been too difficult. It was either the thanks, or the random term of endearment.

//I can say something else, if you prefer.//

"No." Azula said, it was just a word after all. "It's alright. Just something to get used to."

//Well then, I'll try to at least keep it in mind,// Jonothon decided, shrugging a little and picking up the candle and its stand before pulling himself to his feet. //In th'meantime, fifteen times a day and some meditation. I think I can manage that.//

The Gym / Saturday, September 4 / Morning

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