Step Off! [Jor]

[flora]

"Some people just don't understand." Flora said to no plant in particular, smoke leaking out around her words as she gestured with her pink cigarette holder. "I mean it's not like you guys mind the smoke." She tapped the ash away into a delicate ash tray, careful not to scorch any of the plants that seemed to lean towards her as she spoke, nodding their leaves like blossoms bowing in the breeze.

"And it's not like I'm chain smoking in here, geeze." She snorted, reaching out to stroke an orchid. She smiled widely. "At least you guys make sure I have an 'A' in botany!" Flora laughed and snuffed out her cigarette, tossing her powder-pink hair over her shoulder.

She liked the greenhouse, especially on particularly frustrating days of class. Really, every day that she had to sit around and listen to some loud mouth professor try to tell her how to do magic was frustrating, but some days worse than others. Now that she thought about it, she was pretty certain she stopped by the greenhouse everyday. Greenhouse plants tended to get lonely. They felt used, since it seemed all they were good for was a science project.

"Which isn't even true, you guys are great for more than potions." She added to the plants, meandering through the tables and tables of potted plants, lovingly pinching off dead leaves here and there, cleaning up debris from the tables, and otherwise keeping things tidy. "For one thing, ya'll make great listeners." She snickered slightly at her own cleverness.

[Deleted]

Jormungandr was extremely irritated.

He glared down at the map in his hand and wondered vaguely where the hell he was on here. He had followed the older student's directions perfectly, but this certainly did not look like a politics classroom. No, he was standing outside what appeared to be a greenhouse, with no classrooms in sight. Hissing at his own stupidity, Jor raked a hand through his hair, crumpling the map in his other hand as he stomped toward the glass building. Since he was here, he might as well wander about and get to know the place. There was no way he would be making it to class on time anyway. As he approached the door, Jor stuffed what was left of the map in his bag, along with his jacket. It hadn't taken him very long to discover how restricting human clothing was. He had shed the jacket like an old snake skin about five minutes ago, and was quite glad that he had done so. With the midday sun beating down from above, he would have overheated quickly.

He wouldn't have minded ridding himself of his other garments, but most humans didn't take too kindly to such actions.

Jor trotted up to the greenhouse door, testing the doorknob. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. He gently pushed the door open, and was surprised to hear a voice echoing down along the rows of plants. Jor frowned, wondering who could be here at this time of day. Most of the students were in their respective classes. He crept quietly inside, and almost immediately noticed a woman with vibrant pink hair babbling on to the plants. She clearly had some kind of magic, because all of the foliage seemed to lean toward her, as if she was a miniature sun. Jor made to creep closer, but stopped as something tugged at his arm. Glancing down, he noticed a vine had twined itself around his right wrist, as if trying to stop him from getting closer to the pink-haired woman. He smirked wryly, chuckling as he twisted his arm gently up and away from the plant. The vine refused to let go, however, and merely slithered further up his arm, almost mirroring his snake tattoo as it twisted higher. Hissing in annoyance, Jor shot a bored glare in the girl's direction, calling out a bit too loudly, "Your leafy friends are quite protective. I could use a little help escaping this one's clutches."

[flora]

When the snake’s voice cut through the air, the plants seemed to snap back to their pots, arrested from their conversation with Flora by his sudden intrusion. The fairy was not pleased and scowled at the guest. “You could use a little help learning how to get around a greenhouse, it seems.” Flora said, annoyance ticking in her voice though she managed a friendly smile. Didn’t anyone teach this kid not to interrupt.

She slid easily between the tables of plants, sidling up next to him and laying her nimble fingers on the vine. “Now, now. What sort of reputation would you be giving if you treated a newbie so unkindly?” She cooed to the vine as she carefully untwisted it from Jor’s arm, laying it gently over the table where it belonged. “I think maybe you should just stay calm.” She added, running her fingers fondly over the vine. It seemed to shrink in to itself slightly, as if with a gentle sigh.

Flora turned back to Jor, wrinkling her nose. “Nice job, dude. I take it you don’t hang around plants much?” She teased, her expression of displeasure fading into a smile. Flora’s senses regarding the presence of magic were weak, but something about the other student made her spine tingle, and it wasn’t just his looks. “Or maybe you do and you just haven’t figured out how to keep them under control yet?”

[Deleted]

Jor's lips curled back in a silent snarl at the girl's tone. "Yes, well, excuse my impertinence," he huffed. "I was not supposed to be here. In fact, if it hadn't been for those damned upperclassmen, I wouldn't be here at all." He made a mental note to poison those students when he next saw them. Poisoning was a good punishment for such humiliation.

He was quite surprised, however, by the faint hint of magical power he felt drifting off the woman like a light perfume. The light magic made him want to cringe away, but he controlled himself, not yet wanting to reveal his allegiance to the darker arts. "So you are proficient in the magical arts," he murmured, admiring how well she controlled her power. "Unfortunately, I do not often find myself in the company of plants. Where I live, or rather, used to live, sunlight was... hard to come by. Perhaps they do not like a creature of the darkness such as myself lingering in their presence."

He snorted at her suggestion that he should try to control the plants. That sort of magic was not his forte, and as he had just stated, the things that lived in the sunlight shied away from him. "I do not have the ability to manipulate plants, nor would I ever desire to do so," he insisted, shaking his head at the suggestion. "I much prefer magics of more... risk." Like poisons, he added in his head, but he wasn't about to say that aloud. Not yet anyway. His mood was slowly improving, and his usual playful nature was returning. He would not reveal his intentions until much later. That would be more fun.

[flora]

“You talk kinda funny.” She said with a bit of a laugh. His speech was…fancy. Too fancy. Flora really ought to have been used to that by this point, but it always threw her off when some Prince or another went around with his thee’s and thou’s. Somehow, Flora doubted this guy was a prince.

He wasn’t…clean enough. The tingling in her spine turned to a crawling feeling as her fingers brushed over her arm, her face ticking with the slight discomfort. The feeling faded when she drew back to him, though the goosebumps remained. This was something she hadn’t been in contact with yet, though she remember Flora trying to explain the feeling once.

“Creature of darkness, huh?” She said, her sassy grin splitting her pretty face. “So is that creature of darkness in the like…’I’m a teenager and I have special pain’ kinda way? Or are you really some kind of monster?” She chortled again, tucking her hair behind her hair. “Should I be scared? Is that where we’re going with this?”

Flora leaned her elbows on one of the counters, raising a slender eyebrow. “Risk, huh?” Her grin ticked higher, mischief glinting in her eye. “I like risks.” That little voice in Flora’s head that told her things were bad was screaming, but Flora dismissed the creeping feeling in her flesh. What harm could a little bit of risk do her? He seemed harmless…

[Deleted]

Jor shrugged off her comment, not quite knowing what to say. His speech was a bit archaic, but that was mostly due to the fact that he hadn't been on the surface of Midgard in quite a long time. Or what was it they were calling it now? Earth? The new names were as strange as the speech. "And to my ears, you speak in an odd manner as well," he countered, raising an eyebrow at her.

He didn't miss the slight twitch the pink-haired woman had given when her fingers had brushed against his skin. That reaction further proved his theory. But she didn't seem to understand what it meant, as she didn't run off screaming like the rest. It was a refreshing change, to be honest.

He chuckled as she tried to figure out the meaning of his words. "I am a bit older than a teenager, so I do not believe that the first option applies to me," he replied, crossing his arms and tilting his head up slightly. "As for the second, some say that I am. Others say I am not. It all depends on your point of view, really. And as for if you should fear me... Now that is a tough one." He made a show of pondering that question, but he couldn't stop the grin from spreading lazily across his face. "I mean no harm at the moment, so I suppose not."

"Oh?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows at the girl's reaction. "I do not think that this sort of risk is the risk you would be fond of." He contemplated her for a moment before continuing, leaning slightly closer as if he was sharing a big secret. "My magic is more centered around the use of poisons. Many a fool has fallen to my wrath." That was more a case of him eating them than the poison killing them, but hey, who was counting?