[CCCDT] Chilling Flames

[Noelani Jordan]

This is a C.C.C.D.T. = CRASH COURSE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THREAD. It is intended to be AU/NOT CANON.

Amaryllis Eizinski, teenage girl and outcast, looked like nothing quite so much as a drowned cat. It was raining outside and it was cold and she had her jacket but had forgotten a coat - Sayre would chide her for that later, of course, but Amaryllis wouldn't mind. Had she not forgotten it herself she might have left it on purpose, for all that she'd get soaked to the bone. It was nice to have someone who cared, after all, but also nice to assert her independence some of the time. Her mindset on that subject, as well as on just about everything else, was slightly confused.

Summer was coming on, but that didn't mean that it was never cold in New York, and the combination of the rain and a breeze had things cold enough at the moment that she was shivering. Somehow the motion made her seem even more like a cat, some stray thing that didn't have anywhere to go to get out of this. She pushed her heavy, waterlogged hair back behind her shoulder and glanced in the same direction, back towards a house. When she turned back her expression was not so calm as before. She looked angry.

She wished she hadn't come this way. She didn't know why she had. Amaryllis turned and stalked into the rain.

[Mikhail Nygaard]

It was pouring rain, and Sterling had been incredibly glad he'd remembered his umbrella. He wasn't sure what detour he'd taken, but the great thing about New York was you usually weren't lost for long. It was just a shame to be lost in this weather.

The streets seemed practically desolate at this point. People clearly were trying to get refuge from the severe weather conditions. Except for one girl, who just seemed to be storming into the rain with no coat or even an umbrella.

Not even thinking about it, Sterling started walking over to her. It wasn't that he was curious, but it didn't seem fair for someone to be in the rain without a coat or an umbrella. He could at the very least try to help her. If she didn't want help, well, he couldn't help that, but he could at least try.

So, with some footsteps that wound up going pretty deep into puddles (he could barely feel his feet at this point) he took off after her.

[Noelani Jordan]

Yeah, sorry about all this, Sterling - Amaryllis really wasn't a very friendly person. She doesn't notice him at first, coming up - the rain is a dull sound, white noise that blanks everything else out and muffles the sound of movement, which explains it at first - after she noticed him it still took her a minute to realize that he was coming up to her. She wasn't the only one out in the rain, after all. In response, therefore, she is going to stop, turn to look at him, and glare.

"What do you want?"

[Mikhail Nygaard]

It had taken him a minute, and he was glad that there was no wind, he might have wound up having his arm blown off or something awful like that. Another moment or two, and he just sort of took a deep breath. She clearly wasn't the friendly type-he had gathered that much already. So without even speaking, he extended the umbrella, so that the rain wasn't acting as a downpour onto her anymore. Sure, he was getting the entire back of his neck soaked, now, but that was okay.  It wasn't so bad.

[Noelani Jordan]

Amaryllis took a step backwards automatically, her eyes narrowing slightly in what seemed a mixture of hostility and slight confusion.

"What are you doing?"

She wasn't friendly, no, and she wasn't interested in making friends - not with Sterling and not with any one. After all, friends were just more people who could (and would) betray you, and she was sick and tired of that happening all the time.

[Mikhail Nygaard]

She had backed up, back into the rain. It wasn't going to stop him just yet. He took another small step toward her, "You looked cold."

Cold on the outside and on the inside. At least an umbrella would fix one of those things for her right now. He wasn't necessarily go out of his way to try to change her-well, no, he would eventually. He just didn't know it yet-but right now he just wanted to help her.

[Noelani Jordan]

Given that she was still shivering, the truth of that statement really wasn't difficult to verify, but his explanation didn't really seem to make her much less hostile. She continued to glare.

"And? Why should you care?" Amaryllis was used to pushing everyone away, you see. Unfortunately (or fortunately, it depends on how you look at things) it didn't look like Sterling was gonna let himself be shoved away quite that easily. Not, of course, that this would stop her from trying, but....

"And anyway, are you stupid? I'm already wet. You're not."

[Mikhail Nygaard]

"Because," he took a deep breath. The reality was he just saw someone who needed help and went to her, but he didn't think that reason would get very far with her, "I just do."

Yeah, like that was going to get any farther, but it was true. He really could live with being wet, he had a jacket, and it was a bit more waterproof than what she was wearing, at least.

"I'll be fine, you need this more than I do," and it was mostly true. This sort of weather barely bothered him. She was different though. At least, as far as he could tell. He usually assumed that everyone was different from him, after all. Not that he was special or anything. He just had...different needs. And he was trying to fix one of her needs.

[Noelani Jordan]

Yeah, Amaryllis was still being antagonistic. That was almost all of how she even knew to behave, however. She quite liked plants, certainly more than most people, and at least the rain was doing them some good. She didn't mind so much, except for this horrible thing with this boy trying to be friendly.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself - and anyway, I have Sayre. He's all I need."

[Mikhail Nygaard]

...Who the hell was Sayre? Ok, so he had to take context clues. Probably her boyfriend. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself yet she forgot a coat and an umbrella. She had this Sayre guy, but he wasn't around. So, an umbrella wasn't going to hurt.

"If he's all you need, why are you out in the rain without any way to protect yourself from the rain?" Yeah, that was going to get her. Right, not really. In reality, rain wasn't going to hurt her, but still, she could get a cold.

[Noelani Jordan]

"Because I came here." Yeah... not a friendly girl. "I don't see why I should need protection from the rain in any case." Which was true, and it was also perfectly true that if she was normal the worst that she could get would be a cold. She, however, wasn't quite normal just as Sterling wasn't quite normal, though in an entirely different way.

"And anyway, I- I don't mind." She was shivering again, but she turned to stare at the sky. "It's nice, when it rains."

[Mikhail Nygaard]

She was shivering, he saw it. Suddenly he just removed his jacket and with one hand put it around her shoulders. Okay, so he totally expected to get some sort of angry comment from her about how she didn't need his help, but he couldn't help himself. It wasn't like he was doing anything horrible, either. It was just his coat, "Just try to keep a little bit warm."

He still had the umbrella underneath her, but he moved so that both of them were under the umbrella now. He couldn't be expected to be wet and cold now. But he wasn't shivering.

[Noelani Jordan]

Amaryllis jerked back again when he came forward, but wasn't fast enough to avoid his jacket. Which, of course, was exactly what she wanted - not. The pavement and the air seemed to get rather warmer, though nothing else happened.

"I don't need your pity."

She was more or less up against a fence at this point or she might have moved backwards again. Oh well.

[Mikhail Nygaard]

"It's not pity," he didn't budge. It was strange. Normally he would have walked away at this point. He wasn't exactly one to take attention. Yet something about this girl was making him want to stay. Likely her attitude, but he couldn't be sure, "It's help."

The rain was still pounding the pavement. Really, he'd rarely seen weather this bad. She couldn't have expected to get very far like this, really. He still felt bad that she was against the fence. He stepped back, but extended the umbrella so that she was still keeping dry. Now, he was just taking in the rain. And in a t-shirt, which was worse off compared to her before she got his jacket.

Yeah, Sterling was really an odd one with the sacrifices he'd make for complete strangers.