pris, poof, and the halloween treat ][ closed

[Guest]

pris didn't have a lot of time until halloween, which meant she was running out. of time. seven different witches and every night she went out to adventure and practice being come as she wasn't something wasn't clicking right. and there was only the chance for trying out five more witches before the big day where she had to be whichever witch seemed best. it was time to ask some things. so she could figure out what she was doing wrong. because of what happened the last time benjamin did her homework for her, pris made sure to do all of her numbers first. it meant a lot of eraser marks and a bunch of things wrong, but at least mr. math would know it was her that did the work. after that she put on her black pointy-toe witches boots with the orange laces [the one thing about her costume that she was sure about], and put her pointy long crooked tipped witches had back on her head. Her hair was still wildly teased to look like a rat's nest under that hat, but the colors had changed. A shocking dark green, with a few chunks of black. The hat was dusty black, with strings of dingy yellow cob web. Her nails had been painted to the same effect. Her make-up was black and shadowy, with shades of brownish yellow high lights around her eyes, cheeks and chin. her dress was the dingy yellow, layered and tattered with some scraps of black sticking out. her stockings were cobweb stockings, black in color. She even had a wart today. on the bridge of her nose. once she was ready - she wanted to be all ready in case they went out - she shut her numbers book and cleared her throat. "benjamin." just like he told her to. spoken clearly from her room at the inn.

As always Benjamin stood still, not the type to fidget or shift once he was in position. This time it was more than that. Because he was here, at the Inn, and the other force was around Benjamin was lowering his presence and sealing off the room. It wasn't anything that would mask him completely for he did not plan on being in the Inn for any considerable length of time. If she wanted to talk to him it would either have to be quick or they would have to travel elsewhere. "I let you know that I was arriving. You're too young to sprout with me." He took the other meaning of her words and considered how she thought to be able to come up with what she thought the meaning of 'sprout' was. His eyes looked over her attire once again. "If you want to converse then we are going to do so elsewhere. Get your things. I'll answer the irony question once we arrive."

"wrong wrong wrong." she thrust her chin upward, shaking her head with haughty pride back and forth. "my petals are shedding. that's proof." only pris would talk so unabashedly about something like her monthly. and sure enough she wasn't lying. it was probably why she was a bit more 'far off' than normal - hormones were a trigger for the disease she had, raising the level of imbalance. "i knew that. that's why i put my pointers on." she referred to both her shoes and hat as pointers, since they all had pointed tips. now that traveling was confirmed, she picked up her shoulder bag and hooked it over her shoulder. "let's go to the grave garden. i promised roger i'd make him another portrait." roger? she clicked her heels together once her bag was in place, a sign that she was all set.

He knew that he smelled blood, and not blood that still coursed through a person's veins. There was the slightly hint of narrowing in Benjamin's eyes as he looked at her, his grip increasing on the book. He should have told her to not ask to see him if she was bleeding in this fashion. She didn't know that it was only symbol of readiness and that the raise of hormones only planted a target on her for males. And she said she was old enough. Now was when Benjamin moved forward. One step, then two that brought him half an arms length away from her. There was a different look in his black eyes, it was more feral than normal although, since she hardly looked in his eyes that hardly mattered. His eyes were not the only thing that changed but his stance in front of her carried a heavy tone. Powerful, dominative, commanding, but not fearful. The hand without the book rose and the back of his hand moved a breath away from the skin of her cheek as he closed the distance by another step. If she moved back he would only move with her. "Are you ready, Pris, for all that I can give you? " He was staying in her line of sight making it hard for her to look anywhere but at some spot on him. "You say you're old enough. " That same heat she was used to came from his hand and he moved it from her cheek down the side of her neck and over her chest. "If you believe that then ask me to take you." His words lingered and his hand moved down her side and across her stomach, working back to her chest. "Ask me and I will. Since you are old enough."

pris didn't move back. only her eyes 'moved back'. it was an optical illusion though. as she opened her eyes wider and wider it made more of the whites of each show, and with those whites revealed the iris and pupil looked smaller - like the eye 'moving back'. the other thing her eyes did was jerk down only to jerk upwards to the tip top of his head again. she couldn't look over his head, because he was too close now. so her eyes had to shift back and forth and back and forth on two spots on his head to keep herself from staring. the jerk of her eyes happened the moment the warmth came. the warmth nearly fooled her into staring, but she caught herself just in time. still. "um." eyelids lazily drooping. the warmth was back, it had made her hug herself and tilt back last time she had felt it. that warmth gave her something, something pris craved very much. affection. at least she felt it as affection, even if it wasn't meant that way. "um." the second um was a breath, exhaled out in the same drifting tone as her drooping eyelids. when his hand moved the warmth down she squealed, that high pitched whining squeal though it wasn't a distempered whine. it was tickled, pleased, joyful. not necessarily aroused, though it might look it. "lesson about halloween?" posed as a question, because it was one. in her floatiness she'd just forgotten half the words to make it clear that her want for said lesson was why she called him. "i'm a wicked witch...." the way she nearly hummed that out it sounded coy. she didn't mean it to. it made sense in her far-off way.

"And I'm the Big Bad Wolf." He heard the stories and knew the rhymes and songs. In this reference he thought of how the wolf ate Red Riding Hood. Good that she had used that costume on another occasion or the situation would have called for a story reenactment. Sans the Huntsman of course. He saw the way she reacted to the heat from his hands and he rather liked it and was one of the reasons he continued to use it with her even if it did nothing but create warmth. It could do more, but there was no present reason. Affection. It could easily be considered just that. Her words even garnered a hint of a smile on his lips as he held his hand out, palm up. It was time that they got out of this room in the Inn. He had spent longer there then he had planned and he was not wanting a chance encounter tonight. There was also the note on how she dismissed what he said. If he said it, then she knew that the meant it. Something to remember if the question ever arose again. "Lead us there. Give me your hand." Just as the last time they traveled and he told her to take his hand, this time was no different. He knew the site she spoke us, but it would be all the better to get their by her recollection of the place as it would give him a more fixated position. That's how a form of his travel worked. He could travel to anywhere but if he had not been there then it was never a direct hit, more off to the side. She had somewhere in particular to go in the cemetery. While he stood there with her he slowed his breathing, not taking in too much of her scent and lessening the smell of her blood in his nose.

something rare: pris laughed, when he called himself the big bad wolf. "you are," said with a bright brilliant smile. which didn't quite match the tone of her make-up and that lovely rubber wart she'd glued on her nose with rubber cement since she didn't have the proper spirit gum. "which is why your clothes aren't an i-ron. purr." i-ron, to pris, meant something that was ironic. on the purr she drew her lips back to show her teeth, making a grrr-purr. mimicking the big bad wolf. not in an antagonizing way. all the energy from pris at the moment seemed loving. comfortable. she showed teeth only for a second. his hand pulled away her attention, emerald eyes dropping to stare at it. yes, stare. she let her eyes still to focus on his palm because she wanted to make sure his hand didn't have cooties. "behave," she told his palm in a calm tone, pointing at said palm with her right index finger. after that single word, her right hand slipped on top of his. and being a wicked witch, she thought he was asking her to say a spell that would take them there. pris didn't know any real spells, but boy had she been good at making them up the past few days. "roger roger burning bright, how your stone shines in the night. abracadabra." couldn't forget that part. the location she thought of was one in the grave garden that she'd definitely been before - the old, fragile stone of the young priest that she'd been drawing a portrait of the last time she was there.

He knew that the hand would cause her to pause and give it one of her looks, but his hand was just a hand. Only one that belonged to him. When she told it to behaved he would have laughed if he had been a different person. Instead his fingers twitched out towards hers as if they were going to snap and grab her hand, holding it captive. Benjamin had a sense of humor and that to him was funny. "It won't bite. but it may grab." But it wasn't going to do anything if she touched it. When she would they would be instantly transported to the gravesite in an instant. Nothing changing about them but the scenery. All she had to do was touch his hand.

pris gasped. her emerald eyes snapping up and looking with shock into his face for a fleeting second. before she willed herself to put her eyes elsewhere - they landed on a lovely statue of a young woman statue draped over a coffin. "i caught your secret!" exhaled in a winded exhale. like said secret had knocked the air right out of her. contrary to what the words implied, she did not see deeply into dark benjamin. she secret she felt she caught was in the story behind the wiggle - serious benjamin had a sense of humor. to her that was a most precious secret. punctuated by a soft, "yuk yuk yuk." and then, she added as a mumbled afterthought. "of course it won't bite. nails aren't teeth. sritch scratch - the spell worked." those two separate thoughts were nearly blended together. that's how far-off pris' mind was tonight. all her notions were floating together like one happy family even if they had nothing to do with each other. "this is roger." pris reported in a more present tone as she pointed down at the stone and grave in question. she didn't look at it. she didn't need to know where to point. she knew this landscape and where things belonged in it. "i drew his portrait when i was a different witch. why ironic?" see. she didn't forget. because that answer was important. it was the whole reason she'd called poof to her tonight.

Yes, he had a sense of humor but one that not many people caught. It usually went over their head and so it pleased him to see that she thought what he did was funny, it meant that they could connect on a different level. Once at their destination he lowered his hand and looked down to where she pointed. Yes, she had been here. Looking at area she saw imprints of her on the grounds. The prints were not visible to the naked eye, but he could read signatures that people left behind, especially if the person happened to be living. A bend of his knees he crouched to the ground, balancing on the balls of his feet, the book going to rest on his leg while his fingers combed the dirt of the grave. "You look like a storybook witch. A real witch doesn't look like that in this realm." In a different one, yes. Here, no. "Are you wanting to be a witch or pretend to be one." Benjamin was not playing in the dirt, he was feeling the essence of the body that had been placed in the ground. Where his soul went after life left the body. Some would think that a graveyard would be a comfortable setting for him, but it wasn't. Too many things to feel in a graveyard, too many things to hear, especially during this time of the year when the veil between the two worlds was growing thinner by each passing day.

it was teasing humor. which to pris was comfort, a realm which told her she was safe. because of dommy. teasing humor was big brother humor, just like roughhousing. so pris spoke the language of that kind of joke very well, and appreciated it. she squealed again, but this time it was with whining impatience. "i drew his portrait..." it was like a child hinting they wanted their good grade to hang on the fridge. and sure enough, pris had rustled in her shoulder back and pulled out her sketch book. after a quick flip of pages, her hand dropped down so that her book was at his eye level, and her free hand tapped at the showing page pointedly. as she was reiterating, there was roger's portrait. the suffocating priest at the center of fist-shaking, angry parishioners. "he doesn't. like it. he said it locks. he wants one that unlocks." pris informed benjamin of that fact like a person would make a casual comment about the weather. she clacked her tongue against her mouth, thinking about his answer. "the wolf, the witch and the wa-ay," she said in soft sing-gong, reminding him of the title of that one book she'd peeped in when she wanted to learn more about big bad wolves. maybe that's the witch she was trying to be. "halloween: come as you're not. i'm not a witch. but none of my witches have been right." a tug on the skirt of her dingy yellowed dress. "seven. seven seven none right by heaven." another rhyme. one that wasn't a very good spell, maybe because it wasn't supposed to be. seven was just the number of witches she'd tried to be thus far.

Halloween. One the one hand he was glad the season was upon them again for it made some people to act like fools and their foolery was to his benefit. All the same he had low tolerance for fools. As she showed him the pictures he took his hands out of the dirt and dusted them off on his jeans as he stood. "You should tell him not to be a hypocrite." He didn't care much for priest as they ran along the same line as that daimon. "I'm surprised you ended up talking to a priest." It was almost a sigh as he took to his feet, eyes still looking at the picture. He moved towards her, eyes pulling from the page. "Your eyes are doing you well." it was a compliment about her drawing. "But you still don't look like a witch. You stand out too much. Unless they wanted to be burned they wouldn't draw such attention to themselves as you are to yourself." It was possible that his words could be taken as an insult or harsh, but they were not meant to be and therefore he kept to a conversational tone. "The ones I have known, the real witches, have been very pretty. Just as you are."

"purr." she slipped that in just after his compliment about her eyes doing well. her shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug immediately after, her emerald eyes dropping to look down at roger's chipped and fading stone. unlike her eyes with benjamin each stayed still as she watched the stone as if there was something more than just its surface to see. "he was the only one that talked back. everyone else was quiet and sat still while i did their portrait" so obviously roger's wasn't the only drawing she'd done. and then, pris did as she was told. parroting benjamin's tone as she sternly reported to roger. "don't be a hypocrite. poof said." a nod, much like checking off an item from an internal list. as for harsh? pris didn't see benjamin's words that way at all. maybe pris was so used to hearing a lot worse from people that benjamin's frankness paled in comparison. but more than that, she'd asked him a question and wanted a real answer so why would whatever his real answer was offend her? it did cause her to make a lemon face though. "fart." was the frustrated word spoken emphatically at the real answer. "butt spank." she was having trouble finding the word that denoted the proper sense of frustration she felt. "if they are just as i are then me being them is not me being not-me!" did that make sense to benjamin? sure made sense to her, as she heaved a put-out huff. pris was now afraid that being a witch didn't qualify as her coming as something she wasn't, if they shared looks in common.

"Why should a witch look any different than another person you see on the road, or in your school? They are people like anyone else." True fact. And just like anyone else they had their individual styles. "However....." he drew that out, the smile was growing on his face once more and this time it had a slight sadistic look. "You can be a witch, Pris, and be different then what you are if... if you agree to let me help you." He was still how he was and this was an opportunity. Not only to give her something, but to see what she would do with what she was given.

[...to be continued...]

[Guest]

"because." said with stubborn teenage insistence. the girl shifted her weight, as if she had mind to stamp her foot on the ground. maybe it was the fact she knew roger was under her feet which stifled the movement. she pursed her lips instead, looking contrary. "if everyone looked like everyone there would be no coming as we're not." so there, poof. but then his long howeeeeever. the way he said it made pris' eyes squint. people who drew out words like that were trying to sneak in lullabies. the girl tilted her head just so, trying to look at said word from a different angle to check on it. "help me how? no spelling out by leaving out letters." it meant she would be watching in between benjamin's words. to make sure there wasn't anything he was trying to sneak into the unsaid parts.

"Witches are witches because they can do things that other people cannot normally do. Readings, spells, illusions, mind games." There was nothing hidden so far in his words, it was only talk without any pretense behind it but telling her a few facts. "If you want to be a witch, I will give you a power. A small power that will end at the end of that night in the fashion of all those fairytales and songs." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand, still looking at her. "Although, if you accept this, the power will be linked to me. Whenever you use it, you will be drawing from me. You would feel me surge through you much like the heat you feel from me when I caress your spirit." His eyes had changed once more, they were more intent upon her. "It will not hurt you in any way and once the day is done it will be gone unless you want it to linger."

"abracadabra?" said softly. she'd been doing that all week. sometimes she even used her pointer finger to see if that helped her spells any. it hadn't. and unfortunately, trying to be a witch for seven days had made her very curious about what it meant to try to be a witch. hence her frustration each night when her costume didn't seem quite 'right'. and that was why she'd called benjamin, wasn't it? she'd known the big bad wolf would try to fix it, and that's exactly what he offered her now. "linked to poof. you said last time that was bad. if i drew from your present too much," the necklace which she hadn't had cause to use yet, "if i did too much it would put you in me and then teeth all over me like the bitchwitch. and the bitchwitch is not the witch which i want to be. bitch," added under her breath as punctuation as she talked back to a thought she had in her head of de'ryanna. "if it lingered you would linger...." trailed off as her gaze did the same thing, wandering off in response to the creek of a nearby branch blowing in a gust of wind. she wasn't a dumb girl, by any means. her sickness made her savant at seeing patterns and putting together minute puzzle pieces. she was good at seeing pictures.

His hands spread out to his side. "I won't say this is not true, because it is. The fact that if you draw too much from me I will be more of you." A very languid shrug of his shoulders as he continued to examine her. "Of course, I am already a part of you, am I not? That is how you can contact me and your heart skips a beat when you say my name. I have told you of the consequences. There are always consequences Pris. The time that you have it will not be enough to make you like her." she knew who he referred to. "There's no need to fear that. You won't be transformed and it will not be permanent. I will tell you that you will feel things like you've never felt them before...." he grinned. This was a wonderful time with her here, in the graveyard for the possibility of instilling himself more into her was on the horizon. It had benefits for her and benefits for him. He could reach her better. It would be temporary, but it would be a start. "Your senses would double when you use the gift. I promise that if you agree to take my gift, you will not be the bitchwitch."

oh the face she made when he said that bit about her heart. already part of her. she humphed on the inside, shifting her weight slightly and folding her arms across her chest with a sulking stance. "ppppppppppfht." was the raspberry she blew at him on the outside. a shining example of pris' maturity, what did that do for her earlier insistence that she was 'old enough'? "consequences. benefits. consequencesbenefits." some things he named as consequences over their time together she thought as beneficial. why wouldn't she want to be able to contact him? he was poof the parent for christ's sake! if he were parent out of reach he'd be as much good to her as her mother or her daddy. before she made a decision either way about his offer she did something rare. she shifted her head and her eyes to look right into his. as she held her pointer finger up to wag at him, she met his eyes long enough to say firmly, "i love poof." there could be [and were] many layers to her tone. like the, 'don't make me regret my trust' layer. or the 'don't gnaw away my affection with your teeth' layer. as soon as she was done speaking the words her gaze dropped to his chest, and her fingers did their little squeezing motion to fluff the air in front of his chest. caressing his spirit. "will i have to dye my hair again?" she wouldn't be pris if she didn't have a random concern like that. she liked the dark green with her thin black streaks. it was different.

The grin that spread across his face was priceless and one that was rare coming from him. Satisfaction. That's what it spoke most of. Pure satisfaction at accomplishing a task. The motion of her hand is something he remembered her doing at the cave and this time he would acknowledge it in his way by brushing his hand over the side of her face.. There was more than the heat present this time. It was the heat that stretched out to wrap around her like a warm blanket that had just come from being dried. Full body comfort that even lingered as he removed his hand. She still did not want him to touch her, but, this part would be a bit tricky. "You will not have to dye your hair. I enjoy your styles." He did like variety and she had a lot of it. "Extend a bit more faith to me Pris. To take what I have to give, I must touch you. I will not do anything but give you the gift. Once I let you go it will be yours until the end of Halloween." She would have to let him touch her. He knew how she felt about touch. But did she want the gift enough to let him touch her?

"purrrr." the sound exhaled from her with all her breath, her head falling back and to the side as if she felt there was a pillow just behind her head waiting for her to relax back into it. that is what it felt like, his heat to her right now. blankets and pillows, all waiting and ready. how her body drooped with relaxation, the way her fingers curled as if to stroke the invisible warmth, how her eyelids grew heavy and started to close...it was a similar reaction to the last time he came to visit and gave her this feeling to let her know he was near. "the power would feel like this? affection from poof?" he was smiling, showing all of his grandmother what big teeth he hads, and pris smiled too. her own smile was sweetly dreamy. filled with sincere happiness and comfort. because he hadn't ever smiled like that at her before, and maybe it was because of his heat caress but she was very happy that she'd made him happy and smile like that. it felt like a job well done with a reward. she opened her eyes before they drooped closed entirely, looking up at the sky. "a piece of poof's witchy power..." she said to the stars. to see what they thought about it. distant little lights, all they seemed to do was wink. and a wink wasn't no, right? "a just this once touch." pris agreed with a nod as she lowered her head to tell that to benjamin's nose. then, her eyes slid shut [but she might have been peeping] as the girl slowly puckered forth her lips. he wanted a touch. and a kiss was a touch that felt like warm blankets, just like he said the power would. so it seemed right to her that the touch was there. besides...it was better than him touching her precious hands. those she could keep safe in the folds of her ratty layered dress. if he accepted that offer of a touch, it would not be pris' first kiss. in fact, it was only because this wasn't her first kiss that she knew that a kiss was appropriate for this moment - it was what she'd learned from sharing with other lips.

Benjamin had thought to do something different. Not kiss her on the lips. The stories, the songs, the rhymes, all if it did call for a kiss but he was going to do so on her head. He had to take a moment to consider just how he was going to handle this situation for a kiss like that from him was not the same as one from a normal male. "Yes...." He said his words slowly as he came forward to close the distance between the two of them, both of his hands raising up in front of him. "When you draw upon the power I will fill you the same as the warmth courses around you." The warmth continued, his hands moving to the top of her hat and moved down along the sides of her neck, not touching her yet. "One touch..." the words were a near whisper but with the closeness would make sure that she heard. It was rare when Benjamin hesitated, so this was a rare moment. If he kissed her, he would get more of what he wanted but in doing so he would also be a liar. The kiss would put strings around her soul and tie her more to him than she was ready for. Then what he thought that she was ready for. Then again, she was expecting a kiss. His hands moved from her neck and reached to her shoulders. Fingers flexing slightly in the air as he bent down with one knee. He was going to get right on the target and get what he had bargained for even if she was not going to seal the deal as she wanted. His hands closed about her shoulders and her lips met with his third eye. Form a casual observers vantage point it may appear as though she was the one bestowing the kiss upon him - and that wasn't too far from the truth. As soon as he made the connection with her shoulders all the heat that was moving around on the outside of her shot inward. It wasn't sudden to cause much panic, but it heated her as a fever does the body, bursting out form the point of his hands, going through her arms and coursing through the rest of her body. There would be a brief grip about her heart to last the span of one beat before it wasn't felt again. As he removed his hands and rose to his feet the heat pulled out of her body. "How do you feel? "

pris was ready to be kissed by benjamin. she was thinking of the night before tonight. close touching and warm lips and how the mouth affection had made her tummy butterflies feel like they were crashing into each other at top speeds. she expected the lips of poof now. but she was thinking about the lips of someone else. a soft waiting, "mmmmm." hummed from her after he whispered to her with his closeness. that hummed sound was very different than the one pris would make next. "mean." her lips parted and the word exhaled out of her mouth in a frowning scoff before she could think twice about it. it meant that pris had been peeping through the small slits of her only seemingly closed eyes. she saw him get down on his knee, she saw him reach his hands out, and she saw he wasn't going to kiss her before it might have been obvious he wasn't going to kiss her. since she see him hesitate, know it for just that? who knows. her lips had barely formed the 'n' of her huffed word before those lips touched against his forehead. instead of her eyes closing as was customary when giving a kiss, her eyes opened wide. a forehead kiss from him was definitely not what she expected. and then there was the sensation - it helped to make her eyes open wide as she felt a tidal wave of warm feeling crash into her insides, and then the fuzzy fever feeling of said warmth started to make those eyes droop closed. wrapped in said feeling, why would the grip on her heart cause her alarm? when her forehead pressed lips no longer touched his forehead they remained frozen in their lightly parted pucker, as she very distinctly shivered. "three touches," she murmured the insistent nag of her compulsive literal mind out loud after benjamin posed his question her dazed dreamy eyes noting him standing back up straight. "three touches shoulder shoulder lips. one two three bad, bad poof. i like the way you touch." pris! her eyes shot open and she seemed to start suddenly from her dreamish state. likewise, color shot to her cheeks, reddening them. that wasn't something she'd intended on telling benjamin. it wasn't something she intended on feeling, period. she'd let him touch and she'd told him a secret. "shit," muttered under her breath in a soft hiss, as pris looked downward at herself. pressing fingertips all over the front of her to make sure she was still intact.

Left brow raised only slightly, a very subtle hint of surprise at the last thing she said, not at the admittance about his touch. To him she was only confirming what he already knew: that she liked the warmth he gave. As soon as the surprise was shown it vanished. "One touch. All connections happening at once." Justification as to why it classified as one. "One touch, three points." Sly. It had been a sly way to get around it for he knew what she meant by one touch. He took a step back from her as he folded his arms, watching her, listening to her heart and the flow of her blood. Nothing much was changed. Nothing was different until she decided to use the gift and then she would feel that same fevered heat and he would feel her. "As for the gift, you don't have to do any elaborate gestures or incantations to make it work, and it won't work on me or anyone who has a guarded mind." That left a lot of people that would be vulnerable to this 'gift. "The gift goes along with your new eyes but it is different. The simple trick of a believable illusion. What you want them to see and feel..they will. But.... it will not last longer than an hour per cast. Understand so far?"

oh the face pris made when he said that, a cross between her bitter lemon face, her grr face, and a squint eyed look. it was a face that certainly matched the tone of her outfit. a very good wicked witch storybook face indeed. "one touch three points." a mimic of benjamin that ended in a scoff and finally her tongue sticking out to show her fussy dissatisfaction with his little loophole. tongue was stuck out once, then twice - the second time to make sure he got her opinion loud and clear. as for the touching, when pris felt comfortable and safe with the person she was with she became a nester. and would quite happily curl in their lap, next to them, at their feet, behind them laying on their back, whatever the situation allowed for. she liked being close, sharing warmth, exchanging pets and purrs. never yet had it turned into romantic feeling, and that was still true with the emotions benjamin's touch caused. not romantic, but it was a form of yearning - she was starting to wish for his affection. her mind was caught up in her feelings, trying to sort out images and thought-pieces until he started to explain the gift. her former thoughts came to a screeeeeeching halt as she blurted out. "ssssss," her hand made the snake gesture. "right into snakes to poke their fears," she poked her finger forward as if to pop an imaginary balloon between them, "and then poof them!" she made firework fingers to illustrate the poof, "so they see and scare. like beak. like beak in the library running from the birds in her eyes. that's you. i'm you for halloween!" she was so incredulous at the puzzle pieces which snapped into place and told her this story that she didn't know if she was supposed to be upset or happy or scared or what the heck. and then one more puzzle piece. about to snap into place it made her frown. "wait. that's you...sssss and find their fears is you. but you said on our trip that that was me i can do that. 'ssssss' the snakes is that you or me?" she asked his nose. she wanted to ask his eyes but suddenly she had the feeling his eyes weren't a good place to look.

[...to be continued...]

[Guest]

"That is you. And it is me. No two people do things the same way even if they both have the talent." Benjamin did have good reason for giving her that particular talent. Just as she was remembering he said that she would be able to handle snakes, he believed that she could. But now, with her eyes, she was able to see people for what they were and she could make them see it, or expose them for what they were. However she chose to go about the task. "You will be the one 'working the magic' as it were. Making what you can already do visible to others around you." He moved his right arm out from the hold and lifted a finger. "Mind you this. Power can be addictive." He wouldn't complain if she developed an addiction from the results she saw and used the ability more than she should - why would he. It was said so she could not say she did not know.

"ohhhhhhhhhhh." the girl chewed on her lower lip. suddenly she was very antsy. weight shifting back and forth and back and forth like a toddler's bathroom dance. her hands dropped, so that she could fiddle fingerpads and fingernails and fingers together in a wringing fidget. it was because dawn came in her eccentric compulsive mind, to the point that he didn't have to give her that warning - because of the dreaming her thoughts were doing she already knew. "mr. math is in so much tro-o-o-ble..." she didn't look at benjamin directly when she said that, her eyes were up to their old dance of here there and everywhere as if she was afraid that if she settled said eyes somewhere an episode would happen - and because of the nature of the gift he'd given her that was pretty much true. after she said what she did about mister math, she grimaced. because it was bad to say. but she knew it was true. unless the man treated her like he was a good man and she was a good girl - and what were the chances of that happening? - how could pris possibly restrain from using the power of her pointed eyes to make what she saw what he deserved?

What he saw from her, he saw that small glint that people get when they realize they have the ability to do things to a person ( or people ) that they didn't have before. Some called it a vengeful eye, others a lust for power, or simply satisfaction and anticipation; what she said about her teacher meant that she had already plotted out a victim and was possibly thinking of what she could do to him. It was a good feeling and he nearly smirked. He took a few steps now to the side of her. "You already know what you want to do, don't you Pris? So many things you can do. All those people who lie to your face you can expose. You can make them see things for how they really are. You can repay them for how they treat you and ensure that they never do it again. All those snakes . . ." He drew out the 's' though it was not the sound of a snake hiss. "All the snakes that you will control. Charmer."

now he was wooing. not romantic wooing, but sneaky big bad wolf wooing. so as he stepped to the side of her painting that picture of the wicked witchy life she could lead, she was making her snarl face. as if she was letting him know that she didn't have to look at him to know that if she did she'd see the wolf's claws trying to slice their way out of him. "ssssssssss," she hissed it quietly as he spoke to her. hands fluttering the snake gesture with each other, like two snakes dancing. "benefitsconsequences. smmmart. smart sneaky wicked wolf parent poof." muttered under her breath. before she pressed her lips together in a thin line. so many connections. there were so many puzzle pieces falling into place tonight that she hadn't ever thought went together before. the world was a whole new landscape. her eyes kept almost looking at him. but just as she shifted her gaze towards she snapped it away. looking at his ear, at best, or his forehead. she was trying not to look at the eyes. or the teeth. she clacked the tongue against the roof of her mouth, trying to still her squirming. this included folding her arms across her chest. "just mister math." she told that to herself, maybe to benjamin as well. "and everyone will see beetles following them around at the dance wanting to nip their toes..." she had to stop thinking about it. the things people needed to see. it made her want to do.

It was the truth. He could not help it if the truth sounded wicked. It was what it was. "Everyone the dance Pris? Everyone. " He leaned back a bit in his stance. "How many people is everyone? Five? Ten? Fifty . . ." He did not know how many people were at her school or how many would attend. His knowledge of these events said that people came who were not always a part of the school but the turn out was generally good. "You would use your power on all those people to make them see beetles. Sounds to me that you'll be targeting more than one person. Pulling on your power more than once." It would have to be cast on each person individually, or "You could cast it over a broad area. Take a good long, deep pull of power to keep you from doing it to each individual person." It was to her benefit to pick and choose people, drawing and letting go, drawing and letting go, than to fill herself with enough of the gift to cast it over an area. That would be dipping a deep ladle into the pool.

she stuck her tongue out. maybe even made a little 'ppfht' sound. "no beetles." that was her decision based on what benjamin said. how much, that had been an issue with the necklace. he'd said don't pull on him too much or too hard and he'd said something like that tonight too. it would turn cinderella benefits into consequence pumpkins. after she decided against beetles, a small whine followed and her lips formed a distinct petulant pout. that seemed very fitting to her. beetles following all her classmates to pick at their toes just like they'd picked on her all these months. one toe-picking for every time their words had picked her. "but they deserve beetles. i need to walk. standing still is giving me devil's hands." she meant idle hands, but according to the saying wasn't the meaning one and the same. what was making it hard for her to stay still was that she wanted to try it out. on someone, anyone, and there weren't a lot of someone anyones in a cemetery. but she wasn't walking now to find a target. she was just walking to the nearest path to move. to make the landscape shift, to put her attention elsewhere, to help her keep her focus.

Benjamin could stand in a singular place for hours at a time, it didn't matter to him and he often forgot that others couldn't be as still. He watched her move away a moment or two before he slowly followed in her shadow. "Should not they get what they deserve? " He asked slowly. "Are you forgiving enough to forgive them their transgressions without so much as a hint of telling them that they are wrong? After all that they have done to you." Perhaps he was being wolfish.

pris was quiet. only the sounds of her stepping on dried leaves and the paved walkway coming from her. the click-clack of the pointed heals of her witchy boots. she was quiet because inwardly pris was dreaming. the beetles, that idea seemed far away now and almost elementary. as benjamin posed those question to her, she was thinking about the experiences she'd had with each of her classmates. and what each of them should get in return. "sssssss. he'll see no one seeing him. or hearing him. he'll see he can't even see or hear himself. he'll see he's nothing to see. him and his stupid numbers." her math teacher, of course. but her mind was dreaming bigger than just the math teacher. thinking that the girl who always picked on pris' clothes and hair deserved to sprout warts all over her body that would talk to her about why she was ugly. and the boy who called her retarded needed to see that he couldn't remember simple words or answers to questions or facts. those were just the beginning. so many unpainted portraits [because pris didn't draw what she saw in anyone at school, but that didn't mean she didn't have those portraits in her memory] now able to be painted. and what would prove to be most creepy is that pris' mind did not live in a world where realism applied. what she'd create would be strange, nightmarish places. "maybe," said finally with a frustrated huff as she rubbed her palms against the skirt of her dress like they itched. "maybe."

"Maybe." He echoed her, but it was not in the same way that she could echo people. He said it in his own voice and tone. He walked in closer to her to stand at her side. "There is something you should remember Pris. Something aside from the idea of consequences of actions." He wasn't looking at her when he spoke earlier. But now, that he had stopped, whether she was standing next to him or she kept walking, he would keep his eyes on her. "Whatever you do, you have to have conviction. You cannot do anything and be torn between yes and no. You either do or you don't. Doing it half way is the same as completing it. You asked for a gift. Now it is for you to use, or not to use. Control it."

benjamin had stopped walking. she knew it immediately, though she could barely see that fact in her eye-corners. she just sensed it. that the landscape had changed because something near to her had stopped moving. when he stopped she stopped, and she turned to face him because she didn't want the words hiding in her back. she could feel his eyes on her, so pris gave benjamin's nose her full attention. the longer she kept her gaze upon it, the more she scrunched her nose up in a wrinkle. drawing a long, audible sniff through her nostrils. and then shorter more pointed sniffs. she was mimicking what she saw his nose doing when she stared. even though in actuality his nose did nothing at all. "i asked you to tell me about halloween. you like giving me presents." it was true. she hadn't asked for a power, he'd dangle the offer in front of her. she had a smart little smirky-smile lighting her features as she pointed that out to him. because the fact that he liked to give her presents was a little triumph for her. but then she clicked her heels together, and she nodded firmly. "oxymoron understands, big bad parent poof. fluff." she raised her right hand, and fluffed over his heart as was becoming her habit. she tried to draw on what he'd given her, through will of wishing. she wanted him to see-feel heat. warmth given to him from her like the warmth he always he gave her, to feel the caress of spirit. would it work on him? he'd already said it wouldn't. regardless, all the crevices of pris' conviction drew together now as her eyes fixed on his chest to make what she saw seem real to him too. she was compulsive, she was a mimic, she was a teenager and worst of all part of pris was convinced that she was now him for halloween. all of these added up to one fact: she had to try.

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