ic Wild Before The Light (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

Micah hung there for a moment as his face showed...not quite surprise, but still a bit of shock the response was so quick. He floated closer, and he idly scratched his right shoulder. 

 

"Um, hi. Sorry if I woke you up. I..."

 

He seemed at a lost for words for a moment, then sighed.

 

"Earlier, I had a nightmare about her. Alice, That she came for my family. Killed them while I was helpless to stop her. Woke up straining my inhibitors."

 

As he spoke, Judy could feel the hum of electromagnetic energy coming off of him. It was like the ripples in a pond after a stone had dropped in; mostly calm, but with the suggestion of earlier agitation.

 

"Pan and Eira took me up to a mountain, where I could cut loose. Helped me feel better. I just...I wanted to see if you were doing okay?"

 

He reached up and wiped a hand over his face.

 

"I know there's been some crazy stuff going on for...for everyone lately. And you're a...you're a friend, Judy. Even if we don't hang out a ton."

[Avenger Assembled]

Judy looked Micah over, her eyes wide, and said, "...Ah'm okay," She blinked, then added, smiling shyly, "Ah mean, it's...it's not bad or anything, since you're here, but still..." She tangled her fingers in her hair, then whispered, "It's nice you were thinking of me." She looked at him, hesitated, then said, "Micah, Ah...ah have owed you an apology for a while now but Ah have not been brave enough to say it. Ah should not have tried to flirt with you that time to get you to play music for the youth group, that was not a very Christian way to do things and Ah have felt...very bad about that." She looked away, then back at Micah, "But if you do still want to be my friend, that sounds real nice." 

[KnightDisciple]

Micah ran a hand through his own hair; he seemed to be exhibiting a lot of nervous gestures tonight. 

 

"I'm...I'm glad. My mom'd be madder than a wet hen if she knew I'd played hooky to go make a micro-storm, but...I was afraid I'd hurt people here if I didn't go let some of that anger out."

 

He floated closer, and Judy likely noticed that their building had a modest bank of misty fog around it. The weather and the hour of the night meant it likely wasn't a major concern for anyone, but it gave them a degree of privacy. At her confession, his face was momentarily confused, then softened.

 

"Judy, I...I forgive you, Judy. It's...it ain't nothin'. Water under the bridge. I was....I was not as good of a friend as I could have been, Judy."

 

He moved closer still, now floating just a foot or so away, and level with her so they were eye-to-eye. As he continued to speak, Judy heard him slipping more heavily into an Oklahoma accent that was, while not quite as thick as hers, pretty clearly cut from the same cloth. 

 

"I was jealous, Judy. Of Leroy. I know it probably hurts you to speak of him, but I was. Am. He was, is, everything I'm not. I know he had his struggles, but...walkin' away from you? He's only got one oar in the water, throwin' away a lady like you, Judy. I'd very much like to be friends."

 

Micah drifted just a couple inches closer; he didn't seem to realize he'd done so.

 

"I won't lie and tell you I don't have a bit of fancy for you. But my mother'd have a dying duck fit if she heard of me not bein' a friend to a lady just 'cause she doesn't fancy me back. She'd tan my hide and make me write you an apology letter, so let's skip that. Honesty's the best policy and all that. I'm here as a friend, Judy."

 

He smiled a bit.

 

"I'm glad Pan's on your team, too. He goes faster than green grass through a goose sometimes, but his heart's in the right place. He...he's the one I've talked about this with, more than anyone. I know he's takin' care of you, and you're takin' care of him, on your team. He's the one who helped me get out so I could let out the storm, and he's the one what talked my box-of-rocks brain around to just talkin' to you tonight."

 

He sighed, then smiled.

 

"Ah'll be your friend, Miss Judy Smith. If you'll be mine?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Judy looked Micah in the eye, her hands tight on the windowsill before she asked softly, "Is that all you want, Micah Roebuck? Just to be friends?" She reached out to take his hand, her own grip almost fiery hot in his, and was pulling him closer to her window when - 

 

"The hell are you doing in our window?" demanded Ashley Smith from her position behind her sister, having awakened at some point in the fracas. Her bright pink hair was askew and her full-length plaid flannel pajamas were a far cry from the biker chick look she projected most of the time. 

 

"Good Lord!" said Judy, her eyes briefly lighting up as she released Micah's hand. "Ashley you about scared the living daylights out of me!" 

 

"I'm not the only one doing that," said Ashley firmly. "Was there something you needed, Micah?" 

[RocketLord]

His hand in Eira's, Pan was standing up straight while the headmistress grumbled about being woken up by a couple of students that had come to confess to sneaking out during the night to watch the lightning, when he realized something. But oh well. Micah would hopefully be done by now.

 

Before Micah could respond to Ashley, the shirt he had been wearing disappeared, fading away between the blink of eyes.

[KnightDisciple]

Micah tensed up slightly when Judy grabbed his hand, but before she had a chance to change her mind about grabbing his, he squeezed back. Shock, then, rather than fear. 

 

"Miss Smith, I would not wish to presume to dictate the nature of our...friendship. Didn't want to jump to assumptions, I ain't that kind of Sooner."

 

He moved closer as Judy pulled him in, his eyes half-closed as he spoke softly...and then Ashley demanded to know what was going on. Micah's eyes shot open, and the barely-there wings at his back flared brighter and clearer as a jolt of fear raced down his spine. Judy felt the air temperature outside the window drop several degrees as Micah floated there. His mouth opened to reply, and just at that moment, he suddenly had no shirt. 

 

"I'm just talkin', Ashley! Nothing inappropriate!"

 

Said the boy with no shirt about 6 inches from Judy. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Ashley made a long, rattling noise in the back of her throat that sounded like she was gargling salt water. "This is not a good time for the two of you to talk. I am sure there was a good reason why you are here and why your shirt disappeared just now," she added, "but we can talk about that another time." She shot Judy a look, the latter glancing somewhere past Micah's shoulder. 

 

"...all right, Ah guess that makes sense," she told Micah. "We'll talk tomorrow. Once you're...out of trouble?" she hazarded. He hadn't mentioned he would be. It wasn't hard to guess he was going to be. 

[KnightDisciple]

"Why my shirt....oh fer...Pan!"

 

Micah turned away for a moment, a look of frustration on his face as he looked in the direction of the Headmistress's on-campus quarters. He turned back, his whole face and even his neck flush with a deep blush.

 

"Right. Um. Yeah. Sorry. The real one burned off earlier. I'm fine! I'll...can we talk about it tomorrow? All three of us is fine."

 

He gave Ashley a look that seemed equal parts raw terror and raw confidence. His wings flapped once and he began to float away, the fog still shrouding the building. His form started to get lost in it, though Judy likely felt the energy bleeding off of him as clearly as daylight.

 

"Have a good night, ladies."

 

And then even the green glow was gone, as Micah slipped away and back to his own room by way of the same rooftop door the three teens had used earlier. He was back within his room in less than 3 minutes.

[Avenger Assembled]

Alone in her room much later (or at least as much as Lulu allowed), Eira sat in her chair, folding her legs beneath her, and contemplated what had happened. She'd planned to play a prank on Pan but circumstances had developed very much for the better; for her, for Pan, and perhaps for Micah and his Christian girlfriend too. 

 

She looked down at her hands, her nails a brilliant blue, and contemplated the perfectly-preserved memories of them on Pan's body - and his hands on her. "A real girl," she smiled, her voice a soft, low hiss. "I do what I like."