Self Study

[Sierra Wilson]

Sierra had heard that the library had a section specifically for mythology, and she had finally gotten around to looking through it. The only problem was that she had to get up on the ladder to get any books from there. She had already pulled two books off the shelf and put them on a nearby table, but the one she was currently trying to grab was too big for one of her small hands. She hesitated to put both hands on the book, not wanting to fall, but she also wanted to see what the book was. She bent her knees, bracing her legs against the ladder for balance. 

She grasped the spine of the book with both hands and pulled. She felt the book come free of the shelf and the other books, but she also felt the ladder shake under her. She pulled again, and the book came free of the shelf. But, in the process, she lost her balance and started falling backwards. She cried out in surprise, a high-pitched sound from such a small person, and she pushed herself away from the ladder with her feet. If she caught it, it could fall on top of her, and that would be even worse than just falling off. 

Instead of hitting the floor, like she had expected, she was embraced by a pair of arms that caught her. "Thanks," she muttered after a moment, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji had wanted to go on the Ski trip and he probably would go travel up there himself if he had to, but he still had some important work to get done. Sure he was on vacation from school, but he still did work for the school. With his job it was hard to just take off for a long period of time. There were always new kids coming into the school, new mutants to research and try and figure out how to help them with certain side effects. He still enjoyed the job, but he had wished that he had not gotten a cold and fallen behind or else he would have been on the trip by now.

The ski trip was likely the only time he left his snakes behind since they could not handle to cold weather at all. Even now, Leevi was tightly curled up against his master's body for the warmth that thankfully was enough to keep the cold blooded creature from freezing or dying. Seiji had told the reptile to stay in the room with the others were it was warm and they had the heated lamps but his snakes were still stubborn and wanted to keep him company.

It was Leevi's turn so he went with his master when Seiji went to the library to pick up a few books that he knew would help him get a better idea of a particular power he was studying. He was in the same row of books the young girl was, seeing her struggle to get at a book. He was about to offer his help but she seemed so determined that he did not want to interrupt her or get in her way. Yet soon he was going to get involved without her permission when he saw her falling. He moved quickly, his reaction time spot on like usual as he caught the small girl easily and gave her a friendly smile at her word of thanks.

"No problem at all. Are you alright?" Seiji asked, his overly concerned side quickly showing as he moved to carefully set the girl down on her own two feet. Leevi was already moving a little bit to peek his head out the top of Seiji's shirt to see what was going on.

((It was an open so I hope you don't mind that I snagged it.))

[Sierra Wilson]

((I don't mind at all))

Sierra nodded. She looked around the floor and saw the book had fallen with her. She walked over to pick it up, then returned to the man's side. She held it in her arms, and her attention was drawn by the snake head that suddenly appeared at the top of his shirt.

"What kind of snake is he?" she asked after a moment. She'd never known anyone who had a snake before. Her mother never liked reptiles beyond turtles, and her friends had all been girls. "I've never known anyone who owned a snake before," she admitted after a moment.

The only person she'd really talked to since arriving was Ren, but her psychiatrist told her that is was a good idea to try talking to other people too. But there weren't going to be many people around yet, what with it still being winter break and all. But... Why was this guy carrying his snake around under his shirt? She looked at it, curious, but not wanting to ask too many questions. She didn't want to make him mad too. She had upset Ren already the day she got here by giving him the gift card that her mother had said was a good idea.

"Oh, I'm Sierra," she said after a moment. "It's nice to meet you."

[Seiji Lockard]

She walked away fine so he was pleased to see that she was not hurt. Still, he was a tad bit worried so he was not planning on running off anywhere right away. Plus, she retuned back to him after she had gone to pick up the book that she had dropped. That made sense; it was what she was going for in the first place so it would have been odd for her to forget all about it. Her question did confuse him for a moment, until he realized that Leevi was in fact peeking his head out.

"Leevi is a Male Eastern Kingsnake." Seiji said as the smile on his face grew a little more. He was always happy to talk about his snakes. He was especially pleased with the fact that she was asking questions instead of freaking out or running away from him. His hands moved to pull Leevi out of his shirt, the snake half begging to not be taken out of the warm place. Still, he put up with what his master wanted since Seiji wanted to show him off to the young human female. "No one at all?" Seiji asked a little confused. She didn't know at least one person who had worked with or owned a pet snake before.

Or did she mean the way he was carrying Leevi around? If she meant the latter then he was pretty sure he was one of the rare few and that it was not actually all that safe probably to carry a snake around the way Seiji carried his snakes around. He didn't mind questions at all. He talked a lot and tended to ask a lot of questions so he would never fault someone for doing what he did. Plus, questions meant someone was curious and they wanted to learn and he was happy to help teach so people would understand more about snakes or whatever their question pertained to.

"I'm Seiji. It is nice to meet you Sierra. Leevi also says hello and wants to know if you would like to hold him." Seiji introduced himself and relayed Leevi's message. The snake bowed its head after his master words as if to prove that he did in fact say that to his owner.

[Sierra Wilson]

She shook her head. "No. We lived in a small town until a few months ago, and the strangest pets anyone had were horses," she explained. "Oh, and there is the one teacher who's husband has a herd of buffalo, but they're not usually where people can see them from the road. But the science teacher did bring a snake in for a few weeks one year. She said it was a... Baby Pine Snake, I think." She watched as the man pulled the snake out of his shirt.

"Eastern King... Snake..." she repeated slowly, making sure she had a grasp on the words. "Do they bite? My science teacher at home said that some snakes can kill a person just by biting them." She wasn't exactly being quiet, but she wasn't being her overly-cheerful pre-power self either.

"You can understand him?" she asked, eyes wide with surprise. "Is that your power, to talk to snakes? That's really cool." She felt herself almost smiling again. That's the second time in just a few days. She almost felt like she could go back to feeling okay if she stayed here and knew nice people like Seiji. "Hello Leevi. It's nice to meet you too." She put the book down to take off her gloves before running two small fingers over the snake's back. "Wow... That feels weird," she said, eyes lighting up despite the fact that she wasn't really smiling.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji listened and nodded to prove that he was paying attention to what someone was saying. Most of the time he had something to say in response to what someone was saying when they were talking to him but he was trying to not talk so much. Sometimes a simple nod was all that someone’s needed to know that you were paying attention to what they were saying. Plus he didn't really have anything to say when she talked about living in a small town and the strangest things someone owned were a horse. No, scratch that. The strangest things someone owned was buffalo and Seiji was actually shocked to hear that because how often did you hear about someone owning buffalo.

To him that seemed to make it even harder to believe that someone didn't own a snake around where she lived if someone owned buffalo. Didn't you need a special license to own and raise such an animals? He was not vet or animal science major so he was not sure but it did make him fall silent and blink a few times. "Owning a heard of buffo is pretty rare to owning a snake." Seiji said with a small chuckle, as he ruffled his hair. Maybe everyone in the area just didn't like snakes, except her teacher had apparently brought on in.

Right, she is a little girl. Her story might just be mixed up or she is confused on certain things. Or...perhaps she is being honest and I'm just confused and need to get away from Bellefonte for a while. Seiji thought to himself as his brain tried to work through and makes every she told him fit together in a nice fashion inside him mind. "Pituophis melanoleucus." Seiji said with a smile when she said Pine snake. She was not wrong with the name; he just wanted to show that he had a lot of knowledge when it came to snakes. He nodded when she repeated back the name of the species Leevi was.

"Lampropeltis getula." Seiji said, just again showing that he had a lot of knowledge when it came to snakes. "Well, he can bite but he does not. He is a constrictor snake so you don't have to worry about venom killing you if he did bite you. I only own one poisonous snakes but she is back in my room at the moment." Seiji assured her. He even did a quick check with his ability to detect snakes and did in fact sense Sapphire in the area of where his room was. He nodded his head at the question of being able to understand Leevi and it being his power. He went to say something but instead blushed when she said that his power was cool.

"Thank you um...would you like to hold him?" Seiji asked after she seemed satisfied petting the snake and greeting him. He held the snake out to her to take in case she did say yes. Even if she was not experienced at holding snakes, so long as she didn't squeeze him, Leevi would be fine.

[Sierra Wilson]

"There were a lot of ranches in that town, the biggest one is owned by the Boy Scouts," she explained. "Sometimes, if you're out on the right day, you can see them moving the herds of horses from one part of the ranch to another, even going right through town! Oh, but there aren't any pet stores, so when people need to buy food for their cats or dogs, they have to drive a long time to get to the next town that's bigger." She missed living in that town. Thinking about it made her eyes light up again. But, for a little kid, she didn't smile all that much. Well, once you realized that it was because she had nearly killed a man with her powers, it was understandable.

He said a few complicated words, and she tilted her head in confusion. "Pituo... Lampo... What?" She attempted repeating the words, but she just couldn't. "So, he only bites if he's in trouble," she guessed. "It's like my friend's cat. She didn't bite or scratch unless you pulled her tail or stepped on her." Then he offered to let her hold the snake. She put the gloves in her pocket before reaching out her hands. Once Leevi was in her arms, she ended up moving them to cradle the snake against her body.

"Wow... He feels really strong," she observed, noting the way the muscles rippled against her fingers. "My teacher didn't let us hold the snake because we were all still in second grade." She looked down at the snake, making sure her hands were under him so he wouldn't fall on the floor. "He's really pretty..."

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji still paid attention as Sierra went to explain more about where she great up and came from before BA. At least that was what Seiji assumed she was talking about by the way she spoke so fondly about that town. It was always interesting to hear about the different places a person was from and he had no problem hearing about it. He even worked up a mental image of where she had grown up and figured that it was very small. A place where probably everyone knew one another’s name and where you could probably feel safe letting your kids stay over at your neighbor’s house if you running late with work.

"No pet stores at all? Wow, you must have been really living off the land in that kind of area. I bet the view of the stars at night was breath taking." Seiji said, as his smile great a little more. He always liked the country for the fact that there were fewer lights and you could really see the night sky for all its beauty. Seiji was not really into space study or anything related to that, but it was still something nice to look at. He could tell that she probably had a lot of fond memories of home, he could see it in her eyes and it was so cute. Then he felt himself blushing slightly because he realized that he was probably smiling too much, he did that a lot.

"Don't worry about it. It's just the scientific way of saying the snake’s name." Seiji pointed out. He felt a little stupid for having said it in the first place since she didn't really need to know it. Unless she planned on going to be a snake master or traveling the world and wanted to be prepared to tell what kind of snake she saw or was bit by. "I guess you could say the same about Leevi. He is just the hardest snakes to upset out of the ones I own." Seiji admitted as he looked at his snake. Leevi was pretty much the calmest one, neck to Ghost, but even Ghost had his moments where he would get upset and do something to retaliate.

Leevi just tended to get into trouble because he was too nosey in the wrong places. "Well that sucks. You can hold Leevi anytime you want, so long as you ask first." Seiji said and Leevi nodded his head in agreement. Seiji was fine with anyone holding his snakes, so long as the snake was fine with it and Leevi liked to be held by others. "He said thank you for calling him pretty. He said that you smell nice." Seiji relayed the message. Leevi actually said that the girl was pretty too but Seiji didn't feel comfortable telling her that at the moment. "So what was that book you were trying to get a hold of?" Seiji asked, pointing to the book she had picked up after the whole commotion.

[Sierra Wilson]

Sierra shook her head. "We still had a school, but the elementary and middle schools were in the same building, and the high school was across the street," she told him. She didn't mind talking about the town she had lived in. In fact, she liked to. It helped her forget about the men who attacked her the night her powers manifested.

"I can feel the scales moving..." she muttered softly, amazed. She had never felt a snake after her powers manifested, but they felt different from before. She winced as a section of scales was dragged backwards across her palm, but she made sure to keep her hands relaxed. "Ever since my powers appeared, my hands are more sensitive than they were," she explained. Her eyes darkened when she spoke about her powers. Yeah, self-healing was cool, but her crystals? Not so much. In her mind at least.

"Oh, it's a book about ancient mythology," she explained. "I like to know the stories behind the constellations." She slowed over the word constellations, but she pronounced it right. "Orion, Hercules, Draco... I love them all." Her eyes softened again, but she still didn't smile. Of course not. Talking was easy. Pretending was doable. But why would anyone fake a smile when they don't have to?

[Seiji Lockard]

"Wow, that is really roughing it up." Seiji said with a bit of shock in his voice. He didn't know people still lived that kind of way. It was hard for him to relate since he may have been given up for adoption when he was born, but a rich family in the states were the one to adopt him. He grew up very wealthy, going to private schools, and having the best of pretty much everything. Even now he was still pretty wealthy but he didn't spend anywhere near the money he had as a child growing up and didn't see the need to. A lot of what he needed was provided to him by the school so anything extra he would splurge in here and there but for the most part he just save and saved up his money.

He tilted his head a little when she muttered about feelings Leevi’s scales moving. Leevi was in fact moving while he was being held since he was curious to get a good look over the girl and often didn't just stay in one place. That and the fact that her hands were cold and he was seeking a warmer place on her body that he could go to. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll take him back now." Seiji said as he reached out to take Leevi back. He didn't want her to keep holding the snake if it was hurting her hands. A side effect from her power no doubt and his mind was already working through what her possibly mutation was.

"Can you describe the pain in your hands? Is it a tingly kind, numb, scratchy?" Seiji asked, listing off a few additives for her to choose from. There were others out there that he could use but he wanted her to give him what it felt like in the way that made sense to her. He didn't reveal his position at the school, mainly because he forgot about it. Then there was talk about what was the book she was reading. His eyes did go a little wide for a moment, surprised that someone so young was interested in that sort of thing. "Oh, so I'm talking to a future astronomer then?" Seiji asked as his friendly smile took over his face again. He was honestly eager to hear more about it if she felt keen to sharing but he was not going to outright ask, not yet.

[Sierra Wilson]

She shook her head when he said something about roughing it. "It was really nice," she said. "We had what we needed, and if something happened, everyone in town was there to help." She was still as he took Leevi back, then slipped her gloves on.

"Pain? It only hurts when I use my power," she told him. "My healing power gets rid of that almost right away. My hands just get cold or hot faster than they used to. And they're more sensitive to textures." She didn't really want to tell him, but he seemed interested.

"I... I can shoot crystals from my fingertips..." she admitted finally. "When I do, it hurts, so I think the crystals are actually my bones... And they come out from my fingers. But my healing ability takes care of that." She didn't like talking about her power, but she didn't really have much of a choice.

[Seiji Lockard]

“That sounds like a nice community to live in. Did you know that we have stables at this school? Going down there might be good for you if you miss home.” Seiji said as he offered up a suggestion. He didn’t go down to the stables but he heard that it was a good place for an escape. He head that it was perfect to just be around horses, very few people, and away from the sounds of the hustle and bustle going on around the school. He took Leevi from her and placed the snake on his shoulder, not bothered at all that Leevi slid under his coat and went back to where he was previously hiding.

She didn’t seem to understand what he meant by pain and explained that it only hurt when she used her powers. He expected there to be pain when someone used their power depending on what power they had. He was specifically asking for the pain she had been talking about with her hands being sensitive to the touch. Either way, learning about the kind of pain she experience still helped him try to piece together what her power was and if he could help her at all.

She did go back to explaining about how her hands got colder and faster easier and how they were sensitive to certain textures, that gave him a bit more of an understanding. Then she went ahead and said her power which stopped the guessing game and brought up a new set of questions. It had been a while since he had talked or helped out a student with a power that involved projectiles. “I see…interesting.” Seiji said, mainly saying something to let her know that he was listening, but he had gone off in thought now. His mind flew through a slew of various thoughts, questions, and answers.

“Oh, spaced out there. Sorry about that. We should probably grab a seat to talk more so I don’t have you standing here. Or if I’m bothering you I can leave so you can get back to your book on the stars.” Seiji then said after he got back out of his thoughts thanks to his snake speaking up and remaining him that he was in fact still ‘talking’ to the girl.