Starring:
Summary: Cam finally gets his first lesson in use of his power.
Date It Happened: February 10th, 2008
Icy Lesson
KeLyssa's Apartment
It's late afternoon, KeLyssa worked the earlier shift at the Lair, so she's got the rest of the day off, which is nice for her. She has already used some of it to practice fiddling. That, however, only takes a small part of her time. She'd made a promise to a certain lad by the name of Cam that she'd help him learn more about his abilities, and that's just what she's going to do.
Cam is just a few minutes late. Into the intercom he says, "I'm here!" Assuming KeLyssa lets him in, he must bound right up the stairs as he's knocking on the door only moments later.
There's no two doubts about it, KeLyssa buzzes Cam in with a "Come on up, hun." And stands near the door, waiting for the knock from Cam. When it comes, she opens her door up to let him in. "Hey there, Cam." She says with a big, bright smile. "How're ya doin'?"
Cam steps in quickly, smiling as he says, "Hey." He pulls his coat off as soon as he's inside. It must be a bit warmer outside today, he's sweating a bit with the coat on. "Sorry I'm late. Teacher yelled at me for talking in class. Just think he's mad I was the first in his class to join the walkout last week."
KeLyssa chuckles at Cam. "Don'tcha worry 'bout it none. Teachers'll do that to ya sometimes. But your here now!" She says happily. "Mm, ya look a lil' warm. Is it hot out?" She asks curiously. "I can teach ya how to keep a lil' cool when your feelin' warm."
Cam nods quickly and says, "Everybody else are still wearing coats, but it's hot for me! At least when I gotta wear this stupid coat. Bet it's just under freezing." Then he brightens and asks, "Really? Ok."
KeLyssa shakes her head a little bit. "We gotta fool 'em sometimes, eh? Make people think we ain't different 'an 'em. I know how ya feel. Though sometimes I forget to wear jackets like that an' people think it's a lil' strange." She grins. "Here, why don't I hang that up for ya?"
Cam hands his coat to KeLyssa and says, "Thanks." Then he nods quickly and says, "You're an adult. When *I* forget to wear a coat, I have like every second person I meet asking where my parents are and offering me theirs and stuff."
KeLyssa takes the coat and places it up on a hanger. She motions to the living room area. "Come, lets have a seat. Do ya want anythin' to eat or drink? I think I have juice or sodas or water. And I could make up a sandwich for ya." She smiles and nods. "I think I see your point about that. Not a bunch of people go around askin' me 'bout where my parents are or offerin' me their coats."
Cam grins and says, "Yeah, some Sprite, please, if you got any. Or Pepsi. Anything's fine, though." He then asks, "So how can I stay cool? I wanna learn that for sure before summer."
KeLyssa smiles and nods. "Sure thing. Sprite it is. I think I still gotta can or two in there of it." She heads to the kitchen to pull the Sprite out of her fridge. Coming back into the living room, she says, "Yeah. Comin' from the South, I've learned a thing or two 'bout keepin' cool through heat." She hands the drink over to Cam.
Taking the can, Cam grins and says, "Thanks." He opens it, taking a drink, and then looks up to KeLyssa with a curious, expectant look. Probably hoping for an explanation.
KeLyssa takes a seat on the couch and pats the seat next to her to indicate for Cam to sit there. "Well…ya see, there's a way for ya to put a thin layer of ice over your skin. If you make it thin enough, people won't even notice it! But if you keep it covering your skin, it will keep ya nice an' cool!"
Cam blinks at that and says, "It's possible to make it that thin? And won't my clothes just get wet when it melts? Think the longest I've ever kept ice from melting's half an hour, and I was *scared* that time. Never lasted that long on purpose."
KeLyssa grins lightly. "Well, it won't get your clothes wet if you keep makin' it cold. But it's hard. It takes plenty of practice. Maybe we should just focus on makin' ice first, and then we can figure out makin' layers of ice on different parts of your body." She says with a smile.
Cam nods again quickly to that and smiles, "Ok. Um… I know how to make cubes and how to frost a car window, or how to freeze a door shut. And freeze water. Never made anything really tiny either."
KeLyssa smiles a little. "Makin' ice cubes…now that is somethin' very useful. I've done that plenty o' times. An' ya know how ya frost windows? Ya can use that to make your drink cold without usein' ice cubes. Just freeze whatever the drink is in. Like you could frost that can to make the drink cold. To make somethin' real small or real big, or somethin' with lots o' detail takes practice." She holds out her hand and in it forms a round piece of ice with an icicle of sort sticking out of it. "Somethin' like that is not easy at first."
Cam considers, looking at his drink and concentrates. It takes him a moment, but a layer of frost covers the outside of the can. Thick too, like the kind people take scrapers to their car windows to get rid of. "Awesome. People'll notice that, though." He looks back up and watches the display, obviously impressed. "Yeah, I haven't been able to do anything like that. Not on purpose, anyway."
KeLyssa smiles, nodding at Cam. "That's the idea!" She says happily. "Most of the time, I find, people just glance at something and don't think twice about it." She thinks for a moment. "Try making me a round piece of ice."
Cam smiles and says, "Really? 'Cause, I don't wanna get caught by… um… those guys who put us in cages and make us do stuff for them. Nobody's ever said who they were." Then he nods to that and holds out his hand, concentrating again. A sphere of ice he doesn't have much problem with, though it isn't exactly perfectly spherical.
KeLyssa smiles, shaking her head. "I wouldn't let those guys do nothin' to ya. An' ya know, if they took ya, I'd find ya and free ya!" She says with a firm, serious nod. "Ain't nobody takin' Cam away!" She smiles. Nodding when he makes the sphere, she says, "Okay, good. Let me grab something for ya to put that in." She stands up and gets a glass from the kitchen, bringing it back. "Here, ya can put it in here. Now, try one with a bunch of little bumps in it."
Cam drops the ice in the glass and says, "Thanks." He nods again and looks at his hand, "Ok…" This takes longer. Forming a basic sphere is quick, but adding bumps takes him a while, and seems to be an effort. He's sweating a bit again, but after a moment he slumps back again, smiling as he holds it up.
KeLyssa watches Cam carefully. When he's done, she smiles widely, nodding. "Very good! But it was difficult, wasn't it?" She nods a little. "I had trouble with that at first too."
Cam nods quickly and says, "Yeah, it was." He drops the ice in the glass with the other one again and then says, "No way I could keep it cold after doing that."
KeLyssa nods ever so slowly. "With practice, though, it get much easier. Believe me. It just takes a lil' time is all. And ya wanna take it slowly, if ya do too much at one time, you could strain yourself some, an' ya don't wanna do that none." She says with a smile.
Cam looks to KeLyssa curiously at that last and asks, "What happens if I do? I've never really tried to keep practicing when I'm tired, but never thought of that. Just thought, ya know, I was tired."
KeLyssa shakes her head. "If ya strain yourself too much, ya could faint. I don't want ya doin' that!" She shakes her head again, more fervently this time. "Ya just wanna take little steps at a time. When making a sphere like that with a bunch of bumps on it don't tire ya out none no more, then you move on to somethin' a little more difficult."
Cam nods a little to that again, looking at the glass with his recent practice attempt, and then says, "I can't practice all that often anyway. I've got school and homework and visiting the Lair and everything. So don't think I'll strain myself. I'll do one of those balls every day until it gets better."
KeLyssa smiles a little. "Good. Practice every day, at least once a day. Let me know when it becomes easy for ya, okay? An' then we can try some other stuff. Move on up." She says with a nod.
Cam nods quickly and says, "Ok." Then, after a moment's thought, he asks, "Will this teach me to keep it from going off when I don't want it to, too? Like in the shower?"
KeLyssa nods a bit. "Of course. I had to learn how to not make water freeze in the shower too." She smiles kindly.
Cam smiles, "This'll help that? Awesome." Then he nods quickly with a slight blush, "Happens all the time. Well, I can stop it, but it's hard. I usually don't even try except in the showers at school, where people might see."
KeLyssa grins a little, shaking her head. "It ain't nothin' to be ashamed at or nothin'. As I say, it happened to me too, when I first started discoverin' my ability. But in time, I learned to stop it from happenin', though. You gotta start concentratin' right before ya go into the shower."
Cam nods a little to that and smiles a bit again, "Ok. I'll try." It may be the fact he's talking about showering to a 'girl' that's making him embarassed, though. Then he adds, "Thanks."
KeLyssa nods firmly. "That's all that can be asked of ya, too, Cam. That you'll try." She smiles softly. "I know what you're goin' through. It ain't easy, but it's easier when ya got someone to talk it over with. My brother was that person for me. I just hope that you can feel that if you wanna talk about it at all, about anythin' that happens with it, or anythin' to do with it, you feel and know that you can talk to me."
Cam nods a little again, and then gets up, stepping over to grab KeLyssa in a hug. "Thanks," he says again, nodding a little. "I know."
KeLyssa wraps her arms around Cam in a hug. "Good. I'm glad. You are a good kid. If you need anything else, other than this, feel free to ask." She pauses. "Now, it's getting late. Do you want me to take you anywhere?"
Cam steps back, smiling again, and shakes his head a little, "It's ok, thanks. I can get back home on my own." He steps then for the door and says, "If I need anything I'll call, promise."
KeLyssa follows Cam to the door, taking his jacket off of the coat hanger as she does so, handing it to him. "Good. Be careful now, ya hear?" She smiles sweetly. "See ya soon, Cam."