Enjoy the Scenery

[Harper 'Bex' Kinston]

One would think that after sixteen years in the same place, same state, same little town, that one might get bored with the surroundings. As an amateur artist, Harper made it her goal to uncover every little beauty that made Kalispell so mystical and interesting. It was a town full of mutants after all, there had to be something more to it than that. Kalispell was a surprisingly scenic place. Mountain scapes, water and lush forests dotted the area around Bellefonte, something that was still being uncovered by this young artist. She'd had five years at the school to do her detective work, but there wasn't much discovery for an eleven year old who was still trying to figure out her niche. 

Harper had discovered spray paint a long time ago, nearly ten years. And although she'd loved the look of it then, she had always worried she wouldn't be able to do what her parents could with a can of paint. They at least had their computer work to fall back on, but what did she have? Paper and colored pencils? That was child's play. She wanted to be an artist, well-known and famous for the things she achieved in the new age of art. As she got older, she tried each medium, succeeding at each, but her love stayed true to spray paint. In her printmaking course, they'd dabbled in the uses of spray paint, the techniques and it was then that she truly shined.

Three years from that day, and she was sitting in a camping chair with her tools splayed out on a fold-up table with a piece of card stock in the center. She'd set up her composition with her makeshift viewfinder and took a deep breath. There were people wandering the lake, but as long as they didn't tamper with the setting, she knew she could get her piece done. Adjusting her seating so that she was comfortable, she began her work and tuned into it, and out of everything around her.

[Jaxon Crain]

Jaxon Crain took a deep breath of the chilly fresh air. It burned his nose and it fogged as he breathed. It was winter in Montana and snow completely covered the ground. It was freezing at the lake but Jaxon continued to trudge through the forest. He'd always loved nature ever since he moved to Kalispell as a kid. In L.A. he didn't see much green but there was plenty to spare in Montana. 

It had been apart of therapy that he go into the woods or somewhere peaceful and meditate or just enjoy for an hour and a half. No smokes or alcohol to relax him, just nature. Sure it was hard for him to get the hang of it first but eventually he grew to like it and look forward to clearing his head. With all shit he'd been through and everything going on in his life, a little structure is exactly what he needed. 

As the trail opened up into the lake Jaxon took it in with a sigh. He scanned the beautiful scene until he came across a girl painting. Not really caring what she was doing or who she was, Jaxon continued a bit of ways away from her until he found a suite rock and rock down. When he came out here all alone he was different. He felt very free which was something new for him entirely.  

[Harper 'Bex' Kinston]

Over the years that she had been painting, she'd gained speed. A fair amount at that. The painting in front of her took at the most ten minutes, but it was long enough for her to keep her distracted from the company that she had received, even if the guy was nowhere near her or paying attention. She only glanced at him briefly when she did realize he was there and decided that she didn't recognize him or care to really talk to him. Harper had never been the outwardly social butterfly. On occasion she would make her remarks for her own benefit and people would catch on and decide to talk to her. She wasn't rude enough to ignore them and she was generally a nice person, but she didn't seek friends. She was content to be independent.

Bex stepped back from the table and dug in her pocket for the soft pack that was crumpled and smashed. She didn't try to hide it as much as she probably should have around school since she was only sixteen, but maybe it was her inner rebel that kept her from caring about getting caught with a pack of cigarettes. Her parents, though they strongly disapproved, knew that she did it. They both had no room to talk because they had been doing it since a far earlier age than she, but as parents, it was their job to disapprove. Until they started letting her bum packs off of them.

She shook the pack as one popped up and she placed it between her lips, angling away from the flammable paint that she'd just sprayed around the whole area. She patted her pockets down in search of her lighter and with no such luck, frowned. The cigarette dangled between her lips and she sighed. Her only options were to skip out on her chance to smoke because she'd have to walk all the way back to campus, or hope that the older guy sitting by the tree had one. And that was assuming that he even smoked. Shoot.

Harper shoved the pack back in her pocket along with her hands and awkwardly made her way over to the tree. She plucked the cigarette from her lips and took a deep breath, "Uh, hey. Sorry to like bug you or whatever, but do you by some kind of miracle smoke and have a light? I stupidly forgot mine in my dorm." She didn't care what this guy would think of her smoking and if he for some reason decided to go to academy officials, she'd just talk her way out of it like she always did. Harper had this pretense in school that made her seem like an angel to authority.

[Jaxon Crain]

Jaxon could slowly feel his mind clear of all the clutter as he sunk further and further into meditation. He didn't sit all strangely with his legs crossed and hands rested on his knees. No, it was already hard enough for him to even meditate in the first place. He felt so silly doing it but eventually he realized that no one was out there, besides the painting girl, and it might help. At first, he found every and all exercises the shrink taught him to be useless and ridiculous. The breathing exercises and whatnot had helped more than anything. 

Jaxon didn't do this often. It was rare for him to make he effort to come out to the woods for this. But when he could feel an attack coming on, he had to stop it before he went crazy. After he sat there for a moment, -mind completely blank - Jaxon hear footsteps. He probably looked like a freak napping in the woods in the middle of the winter but he didn't give the slightest shit. 

The boy's eyes slowly pealed open and it took a second for them the readjust before she started speaking. As he took a look he noticed the young face that didn't go with the words coming out. He noticed the cigarette in her hand and smirked. She was a young rebel sticking it to the man. He respected that. Jaxon, of course, didn't know where she was coming from but he liked it nevertheless. 

"Uh, yeah always." He looked down and arched his back up against the rock to look for it. His hand dug around in his jean pocket for a few seconds until he pulled out a plain stainless steel lighter. She stood above him so he threw it up from where he was for her to catch. When the girl went for it he jerked it away telekinetically. As it floated in the air he smiled and shrugged. "A light for a smoke. Sorry, I don't make the rules." The lighter flipped open a foot or two away from her face and lit. The thought that maybe she wasn't a mutant didn't pop into his head until after the lighter was lit. He figured if she wasn't a student then she would either be cool with it, due to the recent exposure, or she would run away terrified. Worst comes to worst, he doesn't get a smoke. 

[Harper 'Bex' Kinston]

Harper sighed in relief when he relinquished the lighter from his pocket. He tossed it up at her and before she could grasp it, it jerked away from her hand on its own. Her eyebrow arched and she tilted her head to the side, trying to find some string attached or a magnet of some kind for him to mess with her, but she saw nothing. "Neat parlor trick," She shrugged and folded her arms across her chest, the cigarette still resting between her fingers. She had pieced together that he was a mutant, not what ability he had, but she wasn't up to par on knowing every single ability out there.

His terms were easy enough to comply with. Even though she couldn't necessarily purchase the cigarettes herself, it was a nice gesture to offer when someone was offering a light. She dug the pack back out of her pocket and tossed it in his lap, "Can I have the flame now?" It was a sort of unknown code of conduct. Don't steal a lighter, don't be 'that' guy who always bums a cigarette and never buys a pack of his own and

She didn’t recognize this guy, whether he was from around the academy or not. It wasn’t like she paid all that much attention though either. She was off in her own little world most of the time, whether it was in her art studio or just dodging people in the hallways so that she could get where she wanted without being seen or stopped. For all Harper knew, he could have been the world’s biggest creeper and she wouldn’t even have known.

[Jaxon Crain]

He watched studied her until a smile crept onto his face as she through the cigarette at his lap. He stopped it before it hit him and rose it up and in between his lips. He figured she give him one. High school girls -at leas the was assuming she was in high school - weren't the type to screw over a guy looking for a smoke. Mostly because they were proud of their little pet sin they had acquired. 

The cigarette stay infant of his face until he was done speaking. "Thanks. Picked it up in the circus." He shrugged and gesture for her to let him light it for her. It was fun for him, using his abilities. It made him feel powerful and any way that he could, using them was what he went with. 

"Come on your wasting my lighter fluid." He nagged until she complied. Jaxon then smoothly moved the lighter towards the cigarette pressed in between the girls lips. "Sorry if I burn you. I'm kind of at a award angle." Jaxon joked with her as he purposed made the lighter shake. 

When the job was done, the lip flipped closed. He broke the connection with it and the small metal box dropped down to where he was sitting, below her. He promptly lit his own, manually, and took in a breath. He let out a huff of smoke and sighed. "Thanks I needed one."

[Harper 'Bex' Kinston]

"Oh yeah? Were you the bearded lady?" Harper asked raising her eyebrows. It wasn't like he looked like the 'strong man' type since he was a little bit slight in his frame. Comparatively anyway. And he didn't seem like a ringleader type either. She was basing this all on what she saw, and perhaps that was wrong, but she also was just joking.

As he offered to light hers for her, she almost objected until he complained about his lighter fluid. “Alright, alright. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” She watched as the lighter floated closer to her and flicked her eyes at him to see the concentration. It was rare that she witnessed other people using abilities like that. She’d seen her fair share of physical transformations, but mental abilities were still strange to her. The lighter jerked towards her, the flame almost licking her skin, but she remained still and her expression was bored.

“Fire isn’t exactly that scary to me, sorry to burst your bubble, pyro boy. That’s what you were, right? The guy who spits fire? Or did you swallow burning embers?” Harper had never been to a circus before, so she was spit-balling at this point. “Yeah, yeah, no problem. Thanks for the light. What kinda ability is that? I’ve never seen it before.”

[Jaxon Crain]

Jaxon cracked a smile when she mentioned the bearded lady. "Or the clown in the car." He offered. As she attempted to give off a tough girl vibe Jax smirked. "Well aren't you just a tough little flower." He teased in a calm voice. 

Jaxon leaned back and took another puff of the cigarette before it seemingly floated away out of his mouth. The cig floated out to the girl and started to spin around her head like one of sterns rings. He smiled. Some pebbles, leaves, and whatever else Jaxon found on the ground also made their way in their until a swirl of nature and one cigarette twirls and quick speeds around her head. 

Jaxon stared in a trance, proud and amused at what he'd done.

"Telekinetic." 

[Harper 'Bex' Kinston]

Tough little flower? How did he come up with something so frustratingly...accurate? She frowned, "The only kind of flower I am is one that pricks you if you mess with it." It wasn't that Harper tried being tough, she just did her best to act like she could take care of herself. Which she could, and she did. Her parents were there if she needed them, but they had taught her how to independently handle things.

As he began his little whirlwind around her head, she followed it with her eyes briefly before looking back down at him. He seemed fairly in control of his ability and she could respect that of him. Her ability wasn't quite that difficult to handle, although if she caught a depressed artist at the wrong time, she found that it was a little harder to control. On occasion the effects of her ability wore down on her, but she got through it just like the rest of them did. At some point, she wondered if she'd be able to ignore the lingering emotions and control them the way that he was controlling the objects in the air.

"So you can move things with your mind, yeah? Not totally lame," She said with a nod and her lips quirked up at the one side.