Silver Falls A bit late for camping

looks, mid to late afternoon

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Silver Falls had to be his favorite place for power practice. Not only was it breathtaking, but the hike there was good exercise, and he liked to wrestle the falls with the power of his mind.

He was particularly keen on testing if being in a pact would make this all any easier.

His thoughts of magic were interrupted by a familiar scent in the air. Smoke. And Flynn wasn't a firefighter only on the clock. It was his duty, at any time.

So he went off the path to try and find the source of it, ready to give a stern warning if the fire wasn't secure.

outfit

---

Once, he would have been the one in the other man's shoes.

Keen to practice fire safety, to scold those who might have been practicing unsafe outdoor skills. Instead his time as firewatch had come to an end when he had left here. Not yet had he returned to that job or found another. Which meant he had found himself with ample free time for activities like this.

The fire was small, contained. Truly made just to make a outdoorsman cup of coffee. Dumb, he knew, but something to occupy his time.

Sensitive ears lent him the ability to hear the approach. Head turned to look over his shoulder, but he made no move to stand up from his low camping chair.

"Was it the fire or coffee that brought you?"

It was only when the younger man mentioned coffee that the scene made sense to Flynn. A camper perhaps, choosing the great outdoors over a kitchen and a fire over a kettle. A little weird according to him, but overall harmless.

"I came for the fire but could stay for a coffee." He replied with a little smirk. "If you don't mind the company."

And he could dump water on the embers himself if he stayed, which would put his mind at ease.

"Would never mind the company of a fellow outdoorsman and there's more than enough to go around." He sought to assure the other man with a warming smile. Although it would not compare at all to the warmth of the fire and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Come," He invited as he freed his chair, offering it to the man. Content to sit himself on a nearby stone. "You hike here often?"

He had no inkling of a beast within this one. So the man might truly be a hiker by nature rather than forced into the wilderness.

Flynn nearly retorted that he wasn't old enough to be given a chair, but it would be warm, and save a smidge of energy, which could be put towards practice later, so he accepted it with a nod. It was comfortable enough, and warm too.

"I do, yeah. The falls are the perfect place to get inspiration." He replied with a little smile.

This could be interpreted in a few ways, even if he obviously meant magic.

Inspiration!

"Musician? Artist?"

There was a grin on his face as he reached for his bag. Prepared to rummage free the appropriate colored forest green enamelware mugs. His personal bag had long been prepared for two people. That was the life of a person who shared their body with another host!

"Artist of water." He replied, smile widening.

He had yet to meet someone who reacted badly to this, so his guard was down.

Huh!

"What all does that entail?"

Mugs set down on the flattest surface he could find between them. Then campfire coffee poured into each.

"Basically controlling its shape and movement, and turning it into ice. Although this is trickier."

He reached for a mug.

"Thanks."

Flynn wondered if coffee qualified as water, but decided not to test this.

Hm.

Okay. He thought he might be beginning to understand. Magic was not exactly a new concept to him. A man who had once had the earth open up beneath him from a woman’s magic.

"I get why you’d want to hike out for that." Said the man who turned into a bear!

"Granted you must not be too shy, to tell me, eh?" A toothy grin that bordered on boyish mischief. Delighted, maybe, to be trusted with this interesting tidbit.

Those who could cause the most problems already knew what he was, so Flynn saw no harm in sharing. The younger man's reaction just proved his point further.

"I have yet to get a negative reaction." He commented with a little smirk and shrug. "It's a part of me, as much as my name and face."

He had a gut feeling that this person had some interesting thing to share as well, not that he would ask. He wasn't in the business of interrogation.

He hoped he spewed such wise words freely when he was older.

A part of the man. The same as any other part of his identity. It caused warmth in his chest that did not stem from the hot coffee.

"I like that mantra." His smile a bit softer now, but still as genuine. "You've been at it for a while then? If that's alright to ask."

Flynn seemed to run into quite a few young men who liked what he said. That made his smile wider.

"All questions are good." He started, then replied. "Four years now. We can say I was a late bloomer."

A light chuckle as he sipped his coffee.

"I can demonstrate later, if you want."

He wasn't beneath showing off.

He laughed, warm and good natured. Late bloomer!

Yet Lydus was his opposite. Thrusted into the unknown young and at it for twice as long. Some days he still felt the ways of old, the itching of someone newer. He had learned that time was not always directly tied to experience.

Maybe this man was a shining example of that.

"That's rather nice of you," He offered with a grin. Some part of him wanted to see it, another part worried that if it got too out of control... Life was full of risks. Balance and control, right?

"I think it would be fun, if the company doesn't make it harder."

Yeah, he was nice, wasn't he?

"If anything, I find that having an audience makes it easier. As if there were stakes."

He was his own harshest critic anyway. It was easy to impress someone when they didn't know the absolute best he could do. But he knew.

"What do you do, except surprisingly good camping coffee?" He asked.

"Well, thank you for the compliment. As for other things, anything outdoorsy." An answer full of humor. "I'm maybe obnoxiously in tune with the earth and all that. I don't believe in bad weather just bad clothing when it comes to going out."

And he turned into a giant bear! Which was likely scarier than moving water!

"Suppose that's why I'm so eager to hear about a water artist!"

Maybe an earth psychic who didn't know he was one yet? Intriguing.

"You're right about the clothes." Flynn agreed. "I admit I prefer being inside if it's -20, but other than that, I'm good."

Another sip. Taking the time the savour the warmth.

"I normally use the power in a more straightforward way." He added. "Firefighting. So it's fun to come up here and do something artistic with it."

Firefighting!

"Wow. I wonder when they'll get the idea to make a whole team like that, yeah?" He felt pretty proud of himself for that quick idea. Then imagined it might not look the best to have a hiring based purely off of magical abilities.

But if there could be shifter only spaces, somehow, then why not a group of water wielders come together for good?

"I bet it's nice to come out and do that in the summer, too. Unless you prefer the ice work?"

Ice! As terrifying a thought as it was whimsical!

There would be a lot of limitations on a psychic firefighting unit, from side effects to how rare the ability seemed to be, but he nodded all the same. A fellow psychic would know that, so he scratched this hypothesis. As for vampire... the presence of fire, the coffee, the time of day, all these didn't add up. But beyond that, he couldn't imagine a warm personality in a cold body.

The vampires he met had been ever sarcastic and cold, or helpless and pitiful. This man was none of them.

So, human or were. Not that it really mattered in the end, he had no issues with shifters in human forms. He would run with no shame upon meeting an animal, though.

"It's good in all the seasons." Flynn commented. "Although summer may be the best, as the occasional splashing is much less uncomfortable. As for ice... a big work in progress. I first focused on making sure the water was contained, to lessen collateral damage to the nearby homes when firefighting."

Homes, and belongings. One of his fondness memories oh the job had been when someone crossed the security line and grabbed an intact photo album. They never knew he had helped, and they didn't need to. The smile through tears had been thanks enough.

His features morphed with his soft surprise at it all.

Eyebrows gently raised and his lips in a small o. He wasn't sure exactly why he thought water magic might be so seamless like something akin to Frozen. It wasn't as if his own special quirks were easy going either. Reality was often more disappointing than media portrayed — and that was a lesson that gleamed beyond magic.

"Incredible." And he meant it with a genuine nod. A little sip of his cooling coffee.

"I'd love to pass along my number and stay in touch? Set up a demonstration sometime." A toothy little grin.

"Sure." Flynn agreed easily, taking out his phone. "As winter progresses, ice will be easier to create."

If this was what his new friend wanted to see, of course.

Flynn always love to share his power with the world. Why else would he have received one?