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 Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:42 pm
His day at work was over, and Julien found his feet taking him to a nearby park, rather than home. He'd been keeping himself cooped up a lot of late, ever since the discovery of the parchment on his windowsill, and more and more, he'd found his soul screaming to get out of the house, out of the building at work, and back to where there were green living things and the sounds of nature. So today... that's exactly what he'd done, slinging his knapsack over one shoulder and making his way out to where the grass spread over the land and the trees offered cool shade from the sun.
He flopped down onto the grass, his jeans already dirty from a day of work with the animals. It didn't take long for him to kick off shoes and lean back, feeling wind and tickling grass against his skin as he looked up at the leaves above. It was a good day...
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:51 pm
With a devious little snicker, Chath ran out into the park. He was certain that Michael would notice him missing at this point, but he had time before he would be found. Grinning widely, he looked down into his hand, the lighter he had snatched from Michael's desk shortly before sneaking out of the apartment. All other attempts to mess around with it were stopped abruptly by his guardian, who said he really shouldn't play with fire.
But really, it couldn't hurt to try out the lighter a little right? The only thing the boy had seen it burn was the end of cigarettes, which wasn't really that cool. He wanted to see what it'd be like to try it on a few other things.
Once in the park, he looked around, wondering what he should try igniting first. Before long he found a half-dried up leaf on the ground. Being summer, there weren't many of those around, but he didn't need a lot anyway.
So he held onto the leaf by the stem and worked on trying to get the lighter to work. The feat proved to be harder than he expected since Michael always lit it with relative ease. But, after a number of tries, he managed to get a steady flame at the mouth. Chath's eyes lit up at the sight of the small flame, and in the next moment he held it out to the leaf.
The piece of plant didn't take much to catch the flame, and the boy found it to get hot rather quickly. With a soft yelp, he dropped the burning leaf, startled with how fast it burned.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:22 pm
Jules glanced over at the yelp, and frowned, pale eyes sharp as he watched the flame on the ground. He sat up slowly, keeping an eye on the flame as he looked up at the boy who'd started it. "You okay?" he finally asked, rising and moving toward Chath, aiming to put out the fire before it could light the grass nearby on fire as well.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:07 pm
Staring at the burning leaves, Chath hardly noticed when an older boy came up to see if he was alright. Blinking at the question, he looked down at his left hand. Luckily the flames hadn't burned him this time around. He had been startled more than he had been harmed.
"Uh.. yeah! I'm fine," he said while looking at the flaming leaf again, making no motions that suggested he was going to try and put it out. Aside from the little scare he had, he found this to be really fascinating. All that energy caused by a small lighter. It made him wonder if he could get a bigger flame out of it...
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:24 pm
Seeing that Chath was doing nothing to put out the fire, Julien strode back to his shoes, grabbing one and moving to put it out himself before it could grow dangerous. His eyes narrowed a bit, thoughtful, as he looked up at the boy from where he knelt near the fire. "Lighting a fire like that is really dangerous," he said quietly. "Do you know how to control it, and keep the people around you safe?" He tried his best to keep his tone mild and gentle, rather than too scolding.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:31 pm
To his disappointment, the guy had moved to put out the flames. The grin and sense of fascination he had faded, as he focused more on the one that started to question him. It hadn't really occurred to him that it could be really dangerous. Sure the flames were hot, and what it did to the leaf was pretty destructive, and in video games it always did a good amount of damage, but it couldn't really hurt people a whole lot could it? He wasn't so certain now.
For someone who was drawn to fire, he was certainly very naive at this point.
"Why would it need to be controlled? It won't hurt people. The way it acts in movies is just people overacting... right?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:40 pm
Julien blinked a few times at Chath's statement, then sat back, sighing a little as he shook his head. "Maybe in the movies, they are overacting," he said slowly, reaching up with one hand to brush a white curl out of his eyes. Since he'd begun to let his hair grow longer, he'd noticed it was starting to get in the way. "But in reality, uncontrolled fire can be very dangerous. It can burn down plants and wildlife, homes and buildings, kill animals... and even kill people. And it grows fast," he added, remembering the occasional news story of brush fires grown out of hand.
After a moment, he rose, dusting off his rear and smiling down at Chath. "But if you know how to keep it under control, and what to do if it gets too much for you, then no one should be hurt. Wanna learn?" Not that Julien himself was an expert, but after wanting to try a few dishes cooked outdoors, Mir had certainly made him learn the basics, he reflected wryly.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:52 pm
As the older boy explained the dangers of fire, Chath averted his gaze and shifted his weight. For a split-second, he thought the older boy was going to start getting onto him. But instead, he had been offered a lesson for if things get out of hand. While he still wasn't too certain about the destructive properties of fire, it couldn't hurt to learn how to deal with things in the case he lost control of it.
"That would be nice," he said as a grin started to return to his face "Can you teach me that please?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:54 pm
In return, Jules began to grin as well, nodding a little. "Yeah. I don't know everything, but I should be able to teach you that much. I'm Julien," he added, offering his hand to Chath for a handshake. "C'mon... there's a place we can set up over there, near the pond," he added as he made his way over to his shoes again, grabbing the other and tying the laces together in a quick knot, so that he could hang them around his neck.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:03 pm
Taking Julien's hand and shaking it, he nodded and introduced himself in return, "And I'm Chath. Don't forget!"
Grinning, he watched the older boy for a moment before picking up the pace to follow him to the spot by the pond. While they moved, he kept an eye out for Michael. His guardian most likely wouldn't like this much, but what he didn't know didn't hurt him. Besides, he was going to learn something useful!
"What exactly are you going to teach me? It's not going to involve ice will it? I hope not; ice is too cold... "
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:11 pm
Julien stepped onto a patch of dirt and ground that held no grass and little enough in the way of any other fuel for the fire. He moved to gather up the twigs and branches that had fallen, setting them in a haphazard pile in the middle of the grassless patch as he listened to Chath. "No, no ice," he assured the Ashe boy, hunching down so that he wasn't towering over Chath. "All I'm really going to teach you is how to keep fuel away from the fire, and how to safely put it out," he said, starting to sort the twigs from the branches. "My guardian first taught me when I wanted to have a cookout," he added. "So that I didn't accidentally burn our house down."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:25 pm
Chath watched as Julien prepared a small pile of stuff with curiosity and anticipation. It was good to hear that ice wouldn't be needed for this, not that he knew where they would get ice at this time of year in the middle of the park.
"Huh... alright," he started before gripping the lighter and grinning further, "Can I light the pile though? Please? Then you can show me how to keep it safe and stuff!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:33 pm
"Yes," Julien nodded, smiling up at Chath. "But first, you need to learn how to set things up. Never make your fire near anything else that could be useful fuel for it. Dirt and sand doesn't burn well, but plants and paper and wood? That burns very well. So they're fuel and you want to make sure there's plenty of space between anything like that and your fire." He nodded to the way he'd cleared around their little pile.
"So, Chath," he added, as he reached for the longest of the sticks, setting it aside before making a circle outline in the sand. "Does your guardian know where you are?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:59 pm
Standing by to observe what was being done, Chath nodded to show he understood what Julien said. It seemed simple enough. As he saw the circle be drawn, he froze a bit when asked if his guardian knew where he was. At that point, his mind raced to come up with some sort of answer.
"Uh... he knows I'm out!" he said with a weak and nervous grin, "I can take care of myself though so he shouldn't have to worry."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:05 pm
Julien eyed Chath for a moment, then raised one eyebrow, watching Chath steadily as he spoke. "'Shouldn't have to' is different from 'won't', you know... He's your guardian for a reason, after all." Reaching out, Julien set a few of the smallest twigs into Chath's hands. "Set these in a pile in the middle of the circle," he added.
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