[Sept. 9/11] Training Hall, Room 15, Afternoon

[ground_me]

Allison tapped her laminated class schedule against her cheek as she made her way down a hall she hadn't been before. Huge windows showcased an equally huge field and if she stopped and squinted through the sunny glare, she could spot areas that looked a little charred.

Well, there was a reason this area of the school wasn't for those who had no reason to be here. Allison hadn't yet decided what she thought of the fact that she was here, though anything had to be better than setting things on fire when she got upset.

She grimaced a bit while she counted doors. There were worse things than the fires, really, but they were more noticeable to others. Allison supposed that was a good thing. She stopped outside the fifteenth door and double checked her schedule to make sure it was the right one.

It was. She was stalling. That's dangerous, she scolded herself, and then tucked her schedule into her backpack. Then, before she could think better of it, she rapidly knocked on the door (to give her tutor the heads up she was here, in case they weren't one of the ones that could just tell that) and opened it.

"Morning!" she said, poking her head in.

It was one in the afternoon.

Comments

[up_in_smoke]

"Eh, don't worry about it. Keeps me occupied when I'm not rotting away in lectures. Just think of it like I get going and make too much to eat all on my own, and so long as it doesn't taste like cardboard to you, you're welcome to as much as you care to eat."

Mm, tofu. With vegan mayo on it.

No, really. It tasted way better than it sounded.

"Brought some soup too, if you can get your appetite up again."

He was absolutely a mother hen.

[ground_me]

It certainly tasted different than what she was used to eating. Allison really wasn't certain how she felt about it, though, she took another bite so it wasn't dreadful or anything.

She had to admit that she wasn't certain how she felt about anything right now, not after the way this lesson had gone.

Still, he deserved some sort of answer. "Doesn't taste like cardboard," Allison said, studying her sandwich. Weird. So weird. But not cardboard. "I guess you'll have to just admit you're not awful at cooking."

As for the soup, though...

"No soup for me," she said, because she was pretty sure that was too much for her to take right now. "But you can have it."

She'd just... not watch when he warmed it up.

[up_in_smoke]

And he'd just shrug and pull the thermos from his bag, fully intent on eating it cold.

Mother hen.

"Suit yourself," he replied, shrugging a little. "Let me know if you get thirsty, then. That much is easy enough to take care of, as it is."

He poured the soup from the thermos into the lid, and looked at it thoughtfully before he glanced her way again.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

[ground_me]

"I don't know if they're worth that right now," Allison admitted, glancing back at him. "I'm sort of wallowing... in everything right now."

She shrugged.

[up_in_smoke]

"Wallowing? What, over this?" Dover gestured to the glassy ground with his soup hand, sloshing veggies over the rim of the cap. "Or over the fact that you've got it at all? If you're upset because you think you're some kind of failure for not getting it right on the first bloody try, I'm warning you now, Cuttie, I don't hesitate to shake people when they're expecting too much, too soon."

[ground_me]

"And then you'll make me cry and then where will we be?" she asked him, smiling a little despite herself. "It's not about doing it perfectly at once," though maybe it was a little, "but more about... fear. And what you said, about the sun. Things like that."

[up_in_smoke]

"The fear... I get that," he offered, after a moment's pause. He leaned forward, inspecting just how many veggies he lost, and then shrugged a little. "You'd be insane not to be intimidated by something that can do what this power can do, at least until you get a better handle on it. And the rest?"

He wet silent for a moment more, sipping idly at his cold soup.

"It's big. I'll grant you that. But it's not impossible to swallow. I've got faith you'll manage."

[ground_me]

She took another bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully before answering. "Why?" Allison asked curiously. "You don't even know me. How can you have faith in me already?"

[up_in_smoke]

And in response to that, Dover just offered Allison a crooked little smile and a shrug.

"Obviously you didn't meet me back when I was in eleventh grade." Obviously, indeed. "If a gobshite like I was can figure this out all on his lonesome, anybody can. Just takes time, is all. I'm not expecting results by tomorrow, Cuttie."

[ground_me]

"Bet you wouldn't complain if you got them though."

Well, neither would she, come to think of it.

She watched him for a few seconds. "You didn't answer my question," Allison said quietly, not accusingly.

It was like how she hadn't really answered his question about faith earlier.

[up_in_smoke]

"Results are results, luv. I don't think anybody ever complains about them when they see them. But if you really want to know? There's two reasons. First, you're going to catch on because you're stuck with me until you do, and I'm not about to give up on you any time soon. And second?"

He shrugged.

"You showed up at all. I wouldn' blame you if you didn't. But here you are. And you were willin' to try a second time, even after the bloody scare the first gave you. Just puttin' yourself out there to try means a hell of a lot more than it might look."

[ground_me]

Allison pressed her lips together. "I'm not sure," she said hesitantly, "that they'd have let me go without training."

He was on her official school schedule and everything, after all.

"And I... I just want to learn so I don't... hurt anyone."

[up_in_smoke]

"Which is as good a reason as any to learn," Dover countered. "And, for the record, they let me go without training. See how I turned out?"

Just fine! After a few... things.

Yes.

"... From here on in, perhaps I should add one of those 'do as I say, not as I do' rules, for good measure."

[ground_me]

Allison frowned a little, picking at her sandwich, as she glanced away from him.

"What did you do that makes a rule like that seem like a good idea?"

She considered that question.

"You... don't have to answer that," she said apologetically and feeling guilty for even asking in the first place. "Sorry."

[up_in_smoke]

"What, sorry? You're asking questions, Cuttie. Questions are good."

See how bothered Dover wasn't? See it, Allison?

"And since you asked, you get an answer. If I mind answering, I'll tell you, luv. There's never any harm in asking, though. Worst you'll get out of me is a no." So there. "I mostly meant that until you have a better grasp on this stone of yours, I don't want you trying to get a handle on it all on your own. I know you're avoiding it for now, I know it scares the living bejeesus out of you, but I want you to, if you ever have any uncertainty about it, come to me and ask those questions before giving anything a try. Again, worst you'll get from me if you ask is an 'I don't know.'"

Straightforward enough, right?

And... Probably not a full and complete answer, but he'd nattered on enough for the moment.

[ground_me]

It was a better answer than she'd expected she had any right to get, honestly.

She nodded slowly. "Okay," Allison said, "I think I can do that."

Though, really, she was hardly likely to just wander up to him and just ask at this point, unless they were at a lesson, but Allison didn't think that would be a problem either.

[up_in_smoke]

"Good. In the meantime, we'll work with your geomancy hocus pocus, get you good and comfortable with that, first." He took a sip of his soup from the lid of the thermos, and then offered her a little grin. "You know how they put out fires when they don't have water on hand, right?"

[ground_me]

Allison eyed him. And his grin.

"Dirt," she said, "if I'm remembering right."

[up_in_smoke]

"Right! They smother it!" And if his hands weren't full, he probably would have clapped them. "So, what you do is work with what you're more comfortable with, right, and then you have that confidence at your disposal, that you can do something about the flames if they get out of hand, even if I'm not about to dump a stream on it."

And really, his hydromancy really only did any good if it was either exceptionally humid around him, or if there was nearby water. He couldn't just create what wasn't there. Meanwhile, there was ground underfoot anywhere. She had one up on him, in that regard, hands down.

[ground_me]

She shivered.

"Unless I go out of control," Allison said, a little wryly. "But I see your point."

It was a good one. She was just... tired.

[up_in_smoke]

"It'll seem less bleak after you've had a chance to rest up a bit," Dover decided, settling back against a nearby stone. "Believe it or not, I've been in your shoes before. And I could talk until I'm blue in the face about how it isn't hopeless, about how if I can do it, anybody with the right rock and a lick of sense can. But you'll probably just take it as a bunch of blather until you see results, anyhow."

He didn't sound terribly bothered by that. Just... resigned to it, mostly.

"Let me know when you're feeling a bit more rested up. I'll walk you back to the school, and you won't have to look at me until we meet again next week. Give you a bit of time to digest."

[ground_me]

"Sorry," she said, looking down. "If you've got things to be doing, you can go back now. I can find my own way back."

Really, they'd followed a path...

[up_in_smoke]

Oh, Allison. You were making him raise an eyebrow at you, now.

"Actually, I kept my evening free, Cuttie. But you're tired, and looking a bit beaten down. I figure a walk'll do you some good. And a break. Or would you disagree?"

He could keep going with the lesson, if she did.

[ground_me]

"No... I'll take the break," she said, smiling weakly at him. "I sort of feel like I've been hit with a truck."

Mentally.

She was pretty sure her powers would be more than willing to keep going. But emotionally and mentally, Allison really just wanted a nap.

[up_in_smoke]

"That's normal," Dover offered. "I used to spend entire days in bed when I was learning this. Teachers started to get cheesed off over all the lectures I was missing, come to think of it. Gave me a warning not to wear you out too much when I offered to teach you, and then stuck us on Fridays until further notice."