Maya focused on the candle in front of her. This felt super stupid to her. Not because trying to learn to control her magic was stupid, the fact that she could never get it to light. Maybe her powers were defective. They happened when she was really scared, but without control or command. And when she had control or command, she couldn't get them to work.
"Flame on. Fire, fire, and away," she did the traditional web-shooter handgesture, "Firesling? How is it I can accidentally set the drapes on fire practicing cello but I can't light a stupid candle at all..?"
Wash had buried his face in his hands about two minutes ago when the references had started. The way things were going, he probably wasn't going to be looking up anytime soon. If he'd had any idea he was going to suddenly wind up with magic himself, he would've asked Luna for a few pointers.
Then again, if he'd known in advance about any of the crazy shit that had happened to him over the past few months, he would have done a lot of things differently.
"Maybe it would work better if you stopped trying to be Spider-Man and actually took things seriously," he deadpanned, voice muffled in his palms.
"I have been doing this for a week, cut me some slack." And by this Maya means not setting things on fire when she intended. That was the this she had been very capable at. It isn't like she had much in the way of an exemplar. She'd have asked Chewey to point her at a few dozen odd comic books to read on the subject if she had forewarning.
"I've run out of good ideas to try and now I'm onto the bad ones. With enough time and frustration I'll get to the crazy ones." At least she had a plan, "I haven't heard you give me any better ideas."
"I say we leave it be." Greg scratched at his scalp, frowning at the others as he leaned back from the pot of dirt he'd been staring at for what felt like hours. As a guy who kept the company of some really bizarre folks, this still felt like a pretty mismatched group.
"If there's one thing I've learned from experience, it's that trying to force this stuff always makes it way, way worse. And trust me, I've got a lot of experience."
They were caught in a city that could turn into a potential life-or-death situation at any moment with powers they didn't understand and couldn't quite use, and right now one of them was making dumbass comments and the other wanted to ignore the problem in the hopes it would go away.
It was like visiting Red Base on any day of the week, except when he got frustrated with the Reds, he could leave. That wasn't really an option here.
"Or we could figure it out and practice, so that the next time the face-eating shadow monsters show up, we might be able to defend ourselves! I don't know about you, but I'm not looking forward to dying." It was heavy on the sarcasm, sure, but right now Wash was a little low on fucks to give. Not a great situation.
He took a breath and let it out slowly. Getting too frustrated wouldn't get them anywhere, and it looked like he was going to have to be the linchpin of this little group. Again. "Look. You said you were practicing cello the last time you got it to work. What were you doing the time before that?" Maybe there was a pattern to it.
Maya had something angry to spit at Wash, but between the bald guy saying we do nothing and the actual useful suggestion she bit it back to think about all the times she's managed to get some bit of fire going. She's managed it a handful of times, sometimes to some level of power, but usually it was just minor property damage.
"I... there was practicing cello. I was in the shower and I set the toilet paper on fire... I was also apparently keeping the water warm with my powers. One time I went to get a burger, and... when a shadow thing attacked me and I freaked out a little." She screamed like a little girl. Because she's little, and a girl. Look freak monster attacks are not a thing she had to deal with at home. "I'd like to at least learn how to not ruin a good set of headphones."
Greg put his hands up in surrender and shut his mouth. He was just as frustrated and tired as them, and bickering wasn't about to ease that out any better. If it was for the safety of audio equipment, and also not dying, it was worth figuring out.
"Not a lot of a connective theme, there." The shadow thing made sense, at least. "All I've got under my belt is some flowers sprouting under my chair during a nap. Made me think I'd been out a lot longer..."
Meanwhile, Tony couldn't seem to manage anything but setting things on fire. He supposedly had some kind of ~magical~ control over electronics that he hadn't had before, however that mostly seemed to manifest itself by causing said electronic device to commit fiery seppuku in lieu of anything useful.
He was not amused.
Bad enough magic had been forced on him, and he was expected to use it for the greater good, after having been forcefully relocated to another dimension without his consent, he might add... where was he going with this. OH, right. Kidnapped. And given defective magic to work with.
SO much fun.
"Have you tried asking it nicely?" he managed from across the room, glaring over the top of his latest failure, a pathetically smoking shell of a toaster.
"...Is that what you did with the toaster? Seems like a bad plan to me." So maybe Tony didn't deserve that, and maybe Maya was in a mood. But she has tried everything short of asking nicely or singing it a soothing lullaby to draw the fire out. "Even stereo instructions are better than no instructions at all... didn't anyone think this through before kidnapping us and giving us powers like this?"
Fire? She got fire. Was it because she was sorta there when Miles set the school on fire? Or was it because being close to her was a surefire way to have your life go down in flames. Why on Earth was she given Fire that she could only access by accident or when absolutely terrified. "And stay away from the microwave, I can't heat my food using my powers so we'll need that to eat."
"The microwave and the coffee maker will be spared," he conceded, but his attention was back on the worthless toaster in front of him. He risked a light brush of his fingers against it, just a couple fingers, just the barest pressure, and the damn thing sparked and began smoking anew. He sighed miserably.
Then he had an idea.
"Think it'd be easier to start with something that's already on fire?"
"I didn't think the coffee maker was in danger," Some things had too much value to just blow them up in the hopes of learning how to use magic. Pretty sure Tony knows he has less value than the coffee maker.
"...Huh." She hasn't tried to control flame that already exists. Maybe she can't actually create fire without being certain she's going to die. Or something. Maya hops up and walks over to the toaster. She can feel the fire is there. Like something inside of her is calling to it. She stretches out a hand and tries to make it dance, or jump, or... something.
She felt something, but the fire didn't seem to move. "This is weird..."
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royalflowers2014-05-31 01:06 am
Hey, Free Magic
"Flame on. Fire, fire, and away," she did the traditional web-shooter handgesture, "Firesling? How is it I can accidentally set the drapes on fire practicing cello but I can't light a stupid candle at all..?"
no subject
Then again, if he'd known in advance about any of the crazy shit that had happened to him over the past few months, he would have done a lot of things differently.
"Maybe it would work better if you stopped trying to be Spider-Man and actually took things seriously," he deadpanned, voice muffled in his palms.
no subject
"I've run out of good ideas to try and now I'm onto the bad ones. With enough time and frustration I'll get to the crazy ones." At least she had a plan, "I haven't heard you give me any better ideas."
no subject
"If there's one thing I've learned from experience, it's that trying to force this stuff always makes it way, way worse. And trust me, I've got a lot of experience."
no subject
It was like visiting Red Base on any day of the week, except when he got frustrated with the Reds, he could leave. That wasn't really an option here.
"Or we could figure it out and practice, so that the next time the face-eating shadow monsters show up, we might be able to defend ourselves! I don't know about you, but I'm not looking forward to dying." It was heavy on the sarcasm, sure, but right now Wash was a little low on fucks to give. Not a great situation.
He took a breath and let it out slowly. Getting too frustrated wouldn't get them anywhere, and it looked like he was going to have to be the linchpin of this little group. Again. "Look. You said you were practicing cello the last time you got it to work. What were you doing the time before that?" Maybe there was a pattern to it.
no subject
"I... there was practicing cello. I was in the shower and I set the toilet paper on fire... I was also apparently keeping the water warm with my powers. One time I went to get a burger, and... when a shadow thing attacked me and I freaked out a little." She screamed like a little girl. Because she's little, and a girl. Look freak monster attacks are not a thing she had to deal with at home. "I'd like to at least learn how to not ruin a good set of headphones."
no subject
"Not a lot of a connective theme, there." The shadow thing made sense, at least. "All I've got under my belt is some flowers sprouting under my chair during a nap. Made me think I'd been out a lot longer..."
no subject
He was not amused.
Bad enough magic had been forced on him, and he was expected to use it for the greater good, after having been forcefully relocated to another dimension without his consent, he might add... where was he going with this. OH, right. Kidnapped. And given defective magic to work with.
SO much fun.
"Have you tried asking it nicely?" he managed from across the room, glaring over the top of his latest failure, a pathetically smoking shell of a toaster.
no subject
Fire? She got fire. Was it because she was sorta there when Miles set the school on fire? Or was it because being close to her was a surefire way to have your life go down in flames. Why on Earth was she given Fire that she could only access by accident or when absolutely terrified. "And stay away from the microwave, I can't heat my food using my powers so we'll need that to eat."
no subject
Then he had an idea.
"Think it'd be easier to start with something that's already on fire?"
He points to the toaster.
no subject
"...Huh." She hasn't tried to control flame that already exists. Maybe she can't actually create fire without being certain she's going to die. Or something. Maya hops up and walks over to the toaster. She can feel the fire is there. Like something inside of her is calling to it. She stretches out a hand and tries to make it dance, or jump, or... something.
She felt something, but the fire didn't seem to move. "This is weird..."