(no subject)

[trumpeting]

[ Sitting out in the court-yard is a new face. Tricorn hat, knit shawl, white boa - one's first impression may be flamboyant pirate. They wouldn't be too far from their mark.

Basco is still rather sore. He assumes that is what happens when you wake up from a slight case of death but for what reason is anyone's guess. Learning has nothing to do with it. He's certain this is just a game and while he's usually fond of games, he has no inclination towards being the pawn.

With a overly dramatic sigh, the privateer crosses his legs at the knee and leans back into the bench. Idly, he picks at the flaked green blood still on his face. ]

Comments

[ozren]

[Wren's not noticing the pirate, flamboyant or not, on the bench. She's too busy circling the courtyard while she thinks, trying to find an appropriate spot for her experiment. Choosing a patch of grass, she drops her backpack on the ground and digs through it, yanking out...

A can of red spray paint?

And now the teenager's humming to herself while she paints a square on the grass. Whether she's being a vandal or just weird is anyone's guess.]

[trumpeting]

[ The privateer makes no attempt to stop or question the girl. He simply lets her carry on, idly watching from the bench. ]

[ozren]

[He's in for an interesting show, as once the square's complete the can gets tossed aside so Wren can settle herself in front of the drawing, reaching down to press her hands into the middle. She closes her eyes tight, concentrating. The red paint shimmers before spreading to cover the grass she's boxed off, changing it to a solid, flat surface. Wren opens her eyes and grins, then realizes she forgot a way to open it.]

...Whoops.

[Just going to grab the can and fix that real quick. It's only after she's made the handle real that she feels eyes on her and turns, blinking in surprise. Well.]

Uh...hi! Didn't see you there.

[Obviously.]

[trumpeting]

[ He purses his lips, eyeing her from across the lot until the square seems to pull itself up and into reality. Now he's intrigued. When she finally notices him, he tilts his head and smiles. Bad news to those that know him, but those that have no idea who he is would be none the wiser. ]

Quite the little trick you have there! [ Basco stands up and closes the distance between them, crouching next to the girl and her newly formed box. He reaches out to touch it with his index finger. ]

[ozren]

It's nothing special. [Says the girl that literally just turned grass into a completely different material. Wren smiles back a bit shyly as he crouches, shaking her head.] It's not even what I really meant to do, I was trying to make a trapdoor. It worked on the floor inside earlier.

[She gestures absently off to the side before reaching out herself, running her fingers over the handle. It really did look more like a box than a door, darn it. Probably wouldn't work like a door then either. Just to check, she gives the handle a tug, pulling the lid up and looking inside. Nope, empty.]

I've been practicing doors for ages now, and they only ever led to the other side of the wall. Last week, though?

[Wren turns to look at him, letting the lid slam shut. She's nearly beaming with excitement. It doesn't matter that she just met him, she's been spilling over wanting to tell somebody, and since she hasn't seen Yugi or Yoyo lately...]

Last week the door finally led somewhere. Only into the gym, but it's something. So I kept trying and it kept working only I couldn't really make it go anywhere specific half the time, and I thought, what if I get stuck out on the island with nothing to draw on, so the spray paint seemed a good idea...

[She trails off as she realizes she's babbling, then laughs.]

Sorry! I'm just excited. I was like this the first time I managed my stick figures, too.

[trumpeting]

[ A girl that can create doors. Well, if she lives here, surely there's more like her? His brows arch when she manages to open the door and he pulls his hand back. Curious, he cocks his head and looks inside with her, almost disappointed there isn't anything lying in wait. Details, he supposes. But if she hones the craft, she could get better.

Though Basco doesn't quite share her enthusiasm (at least the pure joy - he is curious as to what else she can do and if she'd be of use to him later), he grins at her. ]

Oh? Stick people? [He plans his elbow against his knee and cradles his chin with the palm of his hand.] And what did they do?

[ozren]

[There's definitely more people here that can do interesting things, but nothing like Wren. She never, ever would have done anything like this back home. She'd kept her powers a secret, afraid of being dragged off or her aunt being hurt if someone knew. Then she'd ended up here. While she'd been terrified initially, she'd met good people who weren't afraid of it. It's not occurring to her now that not everyone that shows up here can be trusted.]

Stick people for starters, actually. And at first they didn't do much.

[She reaches over for her backpack and tugs a black marker out, drawing two simple stick figures on the lid of the box. A moment later the drawings are waving at them, and Wren giggles.]

Like that, the first time. But then I figured out I could make them interact with the real world, so things got a lot more fun.

[The stick figures cease to move before the ink they were drawn with fades into the box lid. Wren bites her lip for a second before leaning over to sketch out a small dragon, about five inches long. She sits back, capping the marker.]

Okay, watch.

[It only takes the space of a breath or two before the dragon rises from the lid, becoming a solid, three-dimensional object. It turns it's head to look at them, it's tail lashing as it lets out a tiny roar.]

You can touch if you want, it won't bite. I've done bigger ones than that, but they're harder to control. I offered to help this idiot boy and his bug monster find a way to escape, but he's a jerk. Guess he didn't need me anyway, he had his stupid 'God' waking everyone up in the middle of the night trying to burn down the barrier.

[Yeah, it really hadn't taken Wren long to put two and two together that whatever the flaming rooster was, it was connected to that brat.]

[trumpeting]

[ He does as he's told, easing himself back and away from her new drawing. The waving stick people weren't much of anything but this has potential. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he watches as the dragon finally lifts itself up and roars at them. Taking her open invitation, Basco makes a point of petting the creature's head.

Completely solid. Good - and impressive. ]

And what sort of tricks can it do?

[ He gives the girl another brief smile, running his thumb along the dragon's spine. ]

[ozren]

[Wren's all kinds of proud as she watches him pet the dragon. The creature roars again in response, flapping it's wings. She returns the smile, playing with the marker.]

Anything I want it to, mostly. [Oh Wren, don't say that.] Like I said, the bigger ones are harder to control; when I first got here, I knocked some holes in the walls with a drawing of Godzilla...that was less lack of control and more anger, though.

[It doesn't come out as a boast; she shifts uneasily on the grass, watching her dragon preen. Even if she is still ashamed of that, the drawing's reaction makes it clear it's a smaller worry than it used to be.]

But- [Oh, she forgot. Wren looks over at him, a faint if embarrassed smile on her face.] I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Wren Morgan.

[trumpeting]

[Oh, anything. That's good. Very good.]

And your Godzilla couldn't force down the barrier? [Which means that it's far more powerful than he originally thought. If the barrier didn't crack between her conjured creature and a kaiju...

but the girl is introducing herself and Basco doesn't want to be impolite. Not at this point in time, anyway. He laughs lightly at the embarrassed smile, waving it off.]

Wren, then. You can call me Basco. [He moves his hand from petting down the creature's spine to tickling just under its jaw and down its neck.] You have quite the talent, you know.

[ozren]

Oh no, I never got that far.

[Now she really is embarrassed. To think anything of her's could ever be that powerful...but that's what she's trying for, isn't it?]

I broke things in the building...but I've been working hard, I want to help break the barrier down somehow. If I can't do that, maybe my doors can get around it, I don't know. It's worth trying.

[Wren shrugs, watching her dragon fluster at the attention. Ha, whoops, better rein that in. She takes a deep breath to calm herself a little; the dragon butts at Basco's hand before settling down on the box, curling it's tail around itself. Okay, better.]

Basco. Nice to meet you. Thanks...it wasn't something I got to practice much at home, too dangerous. So it's nice in a way, being here. No one seems to mind, so I can get stronger. I can be useful.

[Still bitter over that idiot boy's comments? Nope, not at all.]

[trumpeting]

With tricks like that, I'd say you can be very useful.

[He hums a bit, dropping his hand and crossing his arms. He's content with just watching the dragon curl up. ]

People hunting you back home?

[He knows what that's like; he's had a bounty on his head before.]

Sorry it took so long! RL is stomping on me right now.

[ozren]

[She tilts her head at him just a bit at that. For a second...but no, everything's okay. Wren reaches over to drop the marker in her backpack.]

No, not exactly. Back home, people with special powers are called mutants. We're born that way, but it usually doesn't show up until puberty. There're all sorts of abilities, like pyrokinesis and telepathy, or controlling the weather. Some of it's really dangerous, but some people are only different on the outside and can't really do anything. It doesn't matter, mutants aren't a real favorite anyway. A lot of people are scared of us.

[Tugging absently on the backpack's strap, she shrugs.] Some mutants use their abilities to help people, and others just destroy things. I'm not strong enough to help anyone yet. I want to be able to take care of myself though, so if anyone back home finds out, I won't have to be afraid. The only one that knows right now is my aunt, I told her before I ended up here.

[Wren really hopes what she's heard about time not passing is true; she'd hate for her aunt to be worrying over her disappearance.]