[PRP] Paper Boats (Jordan & Horace)

[prolixity]

"Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it'd be more like taking all your notes with you to a test and having to look through everything. Unless you wrote up a sheet of specific notes to recall for that particular test, but maybe that'd just be extra clutter. Brain clutter." Jordan followed Horace out of the apartment. He paused for a moment to close the door behind them. He wasn't sure whether that would affect the other world or not, but if it did, no sense leaving the front door wide open.

"Man, after seeing the apartment, I definitely wouldn't brave the elevator here, ghosts or not," he said, eyeing the peeling walls and threadbare hall carpet. "A little extra exercise it is."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well," he said, taking the stairs two at a time. "My brain only feels cluttered during a test. But it's useful for stuff like memorizing maps, or recipes, or languages even when I can't pronounce them properly." The last bit was said with a bit of a laugh. Jordan had helped him some with Spanish.

He burst out, almost breathless, into the still-chill air. Still, it seemed more temperate than before. "Oh, since we're here, wanna see something?" Strange birds circled overhead.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"I think everyone's brain feels cluttered during a test." Jordan followed Horace more sedately. "Hey," he said with a grin, "your pronunciation's getting better. Slowly, but it totally is."

Outside, he tucked his hands into his pockets in the chilly air. "Sure. What kind of something?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Soy una papa picante," he said, with the most hideous Oklahoman pronunciation he could muster. The wind blew a strand of hair across his face and he tucked it behind one ear.

"So being here essentially means we're kind of magic, yeah? So..." Horace held out one hand, then abruptly stripped it of the glove. Holding it out again, he concentrated. Sparks began to dance around his hand, bright and hot. They coalesced and jumped from his hand to the pavement below with a crack. He looked over at Jordan, looking for all the world like a puppy expecting a 'good boy'.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Oh my god, don't let your teacher hear that one," Jordan said, laughing. "Pero gracias."

"Uh huh?" He watched with interest, and looked both surprised and delighted at the tiny lightning bolt. "Holy s**t, that's cool. Did you just learn to do that recently?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He snorted. Usually his accent wasn't so vile, but it was always worth making Jordan laugh. After a bit, Horace 'turned off' the electricity and looked over at his erstwhile traveling companion.

"Yeah, I've been trying to do more but..." He shrugged. "Since I'm magic or whatever now, I figured I should try and be magic." Horace was secretly incredibly pleased at being obliquely called cool.

"Have you messed around with magic stuff?"

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Not much. Nothing I've tried has worked so far. I was told that it's a question of finding out the best path for yourself and also believing that you can do it, so I guess I'm either not focusing right or insufficiently self-confident." Jordan shrugged. "I'll figure it out, I hope. Meanwhile, you totally have more cool points than I do." He grinned at Horace.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace felt the tips of his ears grow hot. "You have a low standard of cool, Jordan." But still, it was a nice thing to hear. "I totally roasted a poor flower the first time I tried this. A blonde kid - Shiloh - was trying to help me out..." It didn't exactly work out the way they'd intended, but still, it was progress.

"This way." He pointed down a street and turned, his footsteps sounding oddly muffled. "I didn't think I could do hit; I actually tried to, you know... hadouken at first." Horace glance at Jordan sheepishly. "Do you want to try, I dunno, thinking about fireballs or something?"

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"No, see, you added some extra cool points on top of your natural cool points. Although maybe the flower didn't think of it that way," Jordan said, and pretended to think that over, but his eyes were bright with laughter.

He followed Horace's lead sedately, paying attention to the route. It should be the same in the normal side of Ashdown, barring anything particularly strange happening here, anyway. "Fireballs? I guess it could be useful to be a human lighter, actually." He slowed and held out one hand, attempting to concentrate. Nothing happened immediately, and he said, jokingly, "I call upon the spirits of the blaze to gift me with fire!"

A small, wavering tongue of flame popped up for about a second over his index finger, and he stopped in his tracks, shocked.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh please." He laughed at the addition of cool points, but continued walking. However, when Jordan spoke his silly incantation, he turned back. Whatever quip was on the tip of his tongue died when he saw the fire.

He pointed. "AH! Did you do that?"

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"I think so? It felt like I did something," Jordan said. He squinted at his fingers, and said, "Fireball," trying to recreate the feeling that had briefly shivered through him as the spell worked. Nothing happened.

He glanced sheepishly at Horace, then tried, half-serious, "I call on fire, the flame manifested, candle and bonfire and blaze." The words seemed to stir something inside him, bringing up imagery of fire and a tingling feeling of something happening, and again the small flame sprang briefly into existence on his fingertips before extinguishing itself.

He laughed, both delighted and embarrassed. "So it's the bad poetry that works for me, I guess."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"That is so cool! Sure, you have to say something that sounds like it's outta a nineties teen witch movie, but...." He grinned. "You know, you should get a spell book or something. I heard some people actually do use those for magic... I bet the police chief knows." Horace's face carefully blanked and then sparks began dancing around his hand.

After a moment, they vanished. "I have to think about nothing at all or it doesn't work." He shrugged, but his voice turned teasing. "As long as you find stuff that works, you're gonna just keep getting cooler. How am I supposed to keep up?"

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"I could write down what works, at least. See where the limits are. At least it doesn't have to rhyme, that would be a pain in the a**." Jordan nodded. "I probably couldn't do your kind, I've never been good at that meditation mind blanking kind of stuff."

He laughed. "Hey, I should be asking you that question."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It's a learned skill, but I'm easily startled, so I don't know how useful I'll ever be." He usually wouldn't admit that, but it seemed alright. s**t, if someone touched him, he probably wouldn't be able to make electricity for a good couple hours. That was a depressing thought.

Jordan and he looked up, banishing the thought. "Oh, come on, you know you have more base points in cool than I. I put all my points in memory." He snorted. They were almost near his house and he fished out his keys.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"It's awesome anyway," Jordan said. "My brain's just too noisy, and once I think of something I wind up trying to tell myself to stop thinking, except that's a thought too, so that doesn't help." He shrugged. "Useful or not, it's neat."

"My points are in useless trivia," he grinned. "And the ability to make a good cup of coffee. You've got to have a good few allotted to style, with that whole making any combination look good thing."

The Semblance of Unity