Teddy & Tamara | Backdated to October 2
Oct. 2nd, 2017 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainTamara gives Teddy an anatomy lesson. It's a lot more G-rated than that sounds.
Classes over for the day, Teddy jogged easily across the school's wide green lawn. He'd changed for the purposes of this meeting -- knowing in advance that he was going to be trying for wings made life a lot easier than dealing with getting rid of his shirt all the time, and he was so not ready to go through life topless. No matter how well it worked for Warren. He'd grabbed his old basketball team jersey instead, the arm holes cut away deeper to make room for shifting. That and the loose track pants wouldn't protect him much if he fell out of the sky, but hopefully that wasn't on the cards for today.
There was the gazebo -- Teddy headed for it, keeping an eye out for the girl he mostly knew from math class.
Tamara had also stopped by her room to put down her bag, retouch her makeup, and adjust her outfit to be a bit flirtier. If she was going to be an anatomy lesson, might as well be a hot one, right?
In no particular hurry, she headed out to the gazebo, waving at Teddy when she spotted him. He looked ready to workout, but the shirt surprised her a bit. She wore one for obvious (if unfair and sexist) decency reasons, but she'd gotten used to (appreciative of) Warren and the lack of shirts. Her own was a chopped up black t-shirt with "You decide who you are, not society" printed on the front. From the front it looked like a normal t-shirt, but the back had been cut completely away to allow for her wings, one small strip of fabric connecting the two sleeves.
"Hey there!" she said, neck craning upward in that all-too-familiar way. Damn, why had she gone with flats? Oh well, at least the angle made her look cute, and she smiled up at him. "All set?"
Class wasn't exactly the best venue to get to know someone but she was being friendly enough here, and Teddy relaxed, returning her smile. "I think so. Thanks so much for agreeing to this. I know it's not the usual sort of 'meet me out back' request, but hey. Mutant school, right?"
"Totally right," Tamara agreed with a grin, because yeah, mutant school. "But I'm pretty sure the other varieties of that request apply too," she added, tongue in cheek. "Because teenagers."
It took Teddy a second to put two and two together, but then it clicked. She was the Tamara, of Billy's Tamara-and-Tommy related dramatic meltdown a couple of weeks ago. The incident that had lead to a lot of Billy grumbling about his brother, then over-apologizing to Teddy for I'm not like hating on straight people, and a whole lot of Teddy biting his tongue.
"There's a lot of that going on too," he replied with a soft laugh, keeping it innocuous and light as possible. As much as he hadn't wanted to discuss Tommy's private life with Billy, he wasn't about to get into it with Tommy's hook-up, either.
He dropped down to sit on the step, looking up at her, now. "So how do your wings work?" Changing the subject seemed to be the safest bet.
Tamara gave him a little smile, then turned around (pretending not to realize that his eyes were totally at ass-level), stretching out her left wing and peeking back at him over her right shoulder.
"Technically they don't yet," she pointed out. They were apparently full-grown now (hallelujah, that meant they hurt a lot less), and were about her body length on each side. The webbing attached all the way down her back in a deep V that starting near her shoulders and ended just above her tailbone (clearly visible in her low-riding exercise leggings). Her wings were a deep purply-pink around the bones and muscles, and the skin of the webbing was like a pinker version of her skin. "Okay, think of them like arms, yeah? There's like, an elbow, and then a wrist - and that's where the little 'fingers' attach, that go through the wing. Can you see it?"
"Man, I should have brought my sketchbook," Teddy spoke half to himself, tracing the lines of her wings out in the air (it seemed much less intrusive than actually touching her; that scarring looked like it had hurt). "They're fantastic, and it's so much easier to see what's going on compared to all of Warren's feathers." He glanced up to see if she was still looking back at him. "Are your bones hollow like his?"
"Nope, normal bones," she told him over her shoulder. "And you can touch them if you want, I'm used to it. The medical staff were poking at them all summer.
"Between you and me," she added, playfully secretive, "they're actually mammal wings, not like, dinosaurs or whatever. Like bats. So not hollow and no feathers." Way more detail than she'd give most people, but if he was gonna try and shapeshift himself some wings, he probably needed to know the details. "But dragons are way cooler, so don't blow my cover!"
He returned her playful grin with his own, eyes alight. "My lips are sealed. Dragons have a definite advantage." And because he was intensely curious and she'd said it was okay, he ran his fingers gently over the spurs of bone rising from her back. "I think I get it," Teddy said thoughtfully, imprinting the shape and the feel of them in his mind. "And they're supposed to be able to work to get lift, right? Once you get the hang of it, I mean."
"Yup, pretty much!" Her wing responded to his touch, pressing into it because it felt good. She flapped it gently, just as a demonstration.
Teddy leaned back, a surprised laugh his first response. "Okay, so. Warren's attach really differently, but maybe that was the problem." He reached back behind himself and tugged the middle of his shirt a little more centered. It would be weird, but maybe if he didn't attach the wings as far down as hers went, he could get away with leaving the shirt on.
Think dragon. Focus on the shape, on the way the bat-like (or pterodactyl?) fingers reached out along the membranes, the way the elbow and wrist curved and lay. Green wings erupted from Teddy's back - pain-free, that stretching sensation already familiar and kind of satisfying. They spread out behind him, bone spurs rising along the top where the wrist and elbow sat. It was already a hell of a lot easier than trying to picture all the pinfeathers.
Catching sight of movement out of the corner of her eye, Tamara turned - and gaped. "Whoa!" Her own wings settled against her back as she peered at his. "That's so cool! They just... appeared, just like that?"
Teddy ducked his head and grinned at her excitement. That part of this was seriously never going to get old. "Yeah, I guess?" He looked over his own shoulder and frowned at the wide green wings splaying out behind him. They definitely felt a lot more him than the angel wings had, but the green was still vaguely annoying.
Teddy concentrated on making them pink and they flushed pale, but then they looked like weird lich hands or something out of Lair of the White Worm. Which, no. "Oh, ew." He let go of his focus and they slid happily back to being green.
"My control's still iffy," he said apologetically, and he sent his arms into what he was starting to think of as armour-mode, the overlapping plates emerging down his arms and settling over his hands, plate mail for the modern hero. "But I'm getting there."
"Ohmygod, that is so cool!!" Without thinking, Tamara reached out to touch his wing first, then moved on to touch the plates on his hands. "And you make it look so easy - how do you do it?"
Her touch was dulled, the thicker skin on his hands and the leathery wings muting the sensation, and he let her poke at him all she wanted. It was only fair, considering the liberties she'd let him take with hers. "I'm not entirely sure, which is an awful answer," he confessed, shifting over on the step and trying to fold in his wings to give her room to sit, if she wanted.
"I picture what I want to be in my head, and then it feels like..." he tried to find something even remotely similar. "Like a slow blink, where if you think about it, you can feel one part of your skin moving over another part? Or like when you get a shudder or your skin crawls. Like that, but all over. But I have to have a pretty good idea of where I want to end up, or it doesn't work properly."
Tamara was still examining, and being just a little more hands-on than was strictly necessary. "And... green is your favorite color?" she asked, an amused little smile playing at her lips as she looked up at him. "Good choice, brings out your eyes."
Oh oh. Was she... flirting? Teddy hadn't picked up on anything before, but he hadn't been looking for it. Now with her hands on his arm and the way she was smiling- he had to slip out of that possible scenario quickly and without causing a fuss. "It just likes to do that." He pulled the armour on his hands and forearms back in, taking the chance to gently slip his arm away from hers while his shape settled. He left the wings.
"If I don't concentrate on changing it, any new pieces like to be green, kind of like a default setting. I was talking to Gar about it at one point, but we couldn't figure it. Maybe it's just a weird side effect of shapeshifting." He shrugged, no closer to an answer on that one than he had been before.
"Weird," Tamara said, though she was still smiling, and honestly meant it as a compliment. There was a lot weird around here. The less-good weird was the way he'd pulled away - but maybe he was just shy? She turned her attention to his wings again, touching lightly. "So... can you fly?"
It was an out and he took it. Teddy rose to his feet and put space between them again, careful not to hit her with the new appendages. It was a lot easier to balance with these ones than with the heavy feathered angel wings he'd tried before, the membrane light and hopefully easier to make work. "I dunno," he admitted with a grin. "I guess that'll be the real test, right? Have you tried with yours yet?"
"I've been making them stronger, but I've barely gotten off the ground," she said, looking up at him with a sweet smile. "I don't heal or have extra strength or anything like that, so I've gotta be careful," she told him, rolling her eyes. She'd been hearing it since her wings came in. Honestly, she was ready to give up on careful.
"That's got to be really frustrating." Teddy gave her a chagrined smile. "And now I feel bad, because I do -- have enhanced strength and a healing factor, that is. I kind of lucked out in the powers department." And now he really wanted to give the wings a try, seeing as he didn't have Tamara's good reasons not to. Would the gazebo be high enough to give him a launch point?
"Show off," Tamara teased him, following his eyes to the gazebo. "You shouldn't need to jump off anything," she added helpfully. She moved to stand in front of him and offered him both her hands (fingers perfectly manicured, of course). This had worked with Warren. "Here, I'll show you. Anchor me."
She seemed to know what she was doing and she wasn't batting her eyelashes at him - maybe he'd just imagined the look from a minute ago. "Okay." Teddy took her hands in his, her hands almost vanishing inside his larger ones. "What do I do from here?"
Tamara gave his hands a playful squeeze and flashed him a little smile, but then settled for holding them firmly. "You make sure I don't accidentally lose control," she told him, starting to flap her wings powerfully, air stretching the membranes out (which felt really good, honestly). It only took her a couple flaps to figure out how to direct the air to start getting lift. Their joined hands acted like a tether, helping her correct when one wing pushed harder than the other. "The hardest part is the whole three-dimensions thing," she told with a laugh from about a foot over his head now. "There's so many ways the wings can go."
Holding on he could do. Teddy planted his feet solidly and curled his fingers securely around hers so she couldn't slip. The air from her wingbeats buffeted him, but not strongly enough to make him lose balance. (Pulling in his own wings helped to not get caught in her down-draft, too.) He tipped his head up to follow her when she lifted off, the wonder of the moment pushing away his worries of moments before. "You're up! You're doing it!" he cheered her on.
"You bet I am," she told him, managing to throw a wink in. What? He had a cute smile! And this was definitely an improvement on her first practice, much steadier. Now if she could just... Focusing on her wings, she let them go flat and perpendicular, dropping back to the ground to land in a kind of crouch, hands still in Teddy's. Yesss, nailed it!
"Nice!" Teddy cheered again. "And she sticks the landing." He waited until she seemed steady on her feet before letting her hands go.
"You don't even know how good that was," she told him with a laugh, standing upright again. "First time I did that I crashed into Warren and knocked us both over. Landings are the hardest part," she told him, more from studying the others and what she'd been told rather than experience.
"I'll bet. The only reason I didn't eat dirt last time was because Warren caught me before I actually hit the ground." Teddy winced. "Not exactly graceful. But you looked great. I bet you'll be soaring in no time."
"That sounds exactly like him," Tamara said, huffing a little laugh. She'd stopped calling Warren hero, but it still suited him. "Pro-tip: the lake makes a good place to crash, as long as you don't mind slimy plants in your wings."
Teddy nodded. "I'll remember that. I could do without the slime, but water still sounds like a better option than rocks." He still really wanted to test the new ones out, but- "I'd try the same thing, but I'm not sure how much good it would do, considering," he said, an apology in his voice. He had to be almost a third again her size, given their height difference and his muscle. "I'd be more likely to knock you over."
"Guess you'll just have to go for it then," Tamara replied, eyes dancing with the challenge. Sounded like he was a lot less likely to get hurt. She'd get it if he wanted to wait and try it with someone who could actually catch him, but what fun would telling him that be?
"Guess I do. What the hell, right?" Teddy stepped back and away, putting some distance between them for comfort as well as for safety. He gave the wings a test flap; they already felt stronger and more capable of lifting him than the other ones. "You only live once?"
Buoyed by her grin, he tried to remember what he'd seen her do, stretching the wings out as far as they could go and giving a couple of powerful beats. It lifted him off the ground, but not enough-- size! He extended them a little more in both directions, because of course he'd need more surface area proportionally. That seemed to do it, the feeling of rightness clicking into place with this shape.
Teddy beat his wings again, pushed down on the air to lift himself off the ground. He made it a couple of feet up, then another- then a breeze hit, knocking out his concentration and his rhythm. The plummet back down to land on his ass on the ground was swift and embarrassing, but at least he'd only been about six feet up to begin with.
"Oh-- are you okay?" Tamara had been watching breathlessly, but the crash landing looked painful, and she winced sympathetically.
Teddy picked himself up off the ground with a sigh, dusting himself off. "I'm good. Nothing bruised other than my pride, and possibly my reputation."
"Don't worry, I won't tell," she promised with a flirty smile. "What happened? You looked like you had it!"
"Thanks," he replied, his smile rueful. "I was doing okay for a minute there, but I hit some kind of crossbreeze amd got knocked off-balance."
"...a breeze?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him and doing a poor job of containing a smirk.
A frown creased his brow, but she wasn't making fun of him openly and he wasn't about to get in to some kind of macho dick-waving contest over it. Not here, when he had the chance to be so much more than 'Teddy the dumb jock.' If he could ever figure out who he was instead. "Unless you saw a tornado coming through that I missed," he replied cheerfully enough, shaking off the moment of trepidation.
Tamara laughed, full smile breaking through so he'd know she'd only been teasing. "Hey, no judgment from me! That's already better than anything I've managed. You didn't even crash into me, so I'd say it's a promising start.
"Wait, back up - do they have tornadoes here?" she asked suddenly, eyes wide. "Tell me I didn't move to tornado country."
"Sometimes, yeah," Teddy nodded, catching his bottom lip with his teeth to prevent himself from smiling his surprise at her reaction. "And upstate more than the city. Maybe something like nine or ten a year? But they're small and it's not nearly as bad as Oklahoma or anything. Where are you from?"
Color drained from Tamara's face as she listened, and her wings tucked close to her back without her thinking about it. "California," she answered, "and ohmygod, do I look like I'd survive a tornado?"
Teddy shook his head hoping he could at least sound reassuring. "They're not that bad, honestly. I've barely ever seen one, and I've lived in New York my whole life. And California has earthquakes! Those seem like they'd be a whole lot deadlier than a bit of wind."
"Earthquakes and fire season," Tamara confirmed with a little smile, though she was still kinda freaked out. "But earthquakes are easy, and it's not like fires drop out of the sky whenever they feel like it. Dude, I've got sails on my back, and I can't put them away like you can." Oh man, she was totally gonna have nightmares about this and she wasn't even airborne yet.
"Aw man, I didn't mean to scare you. If it helps, the season's pretty much over. At least I only ever really hear about them in late spring, maybe the summer. It's hot air that triggers them." He flashed a hesitant smile, "not like the ground which can decide to split open whenever it feels like it."
Tamara laughed at that. "The ground doesn't open, it just shakes, and kinda rolls sometimes." She tried for a serious face. "Sometimes you get a big one, though. Something might even fall off a shelf. It's pretty crazy."
He nodded solemnly enough, but his smile still shone in his blue eyes. "That does sound terrifying. It's a wonder anyone survives."
“Pretty much,” Tamara replied with a playful smirk. Teddy was fun. “But we duck and cover like champs.”
"See? You'll be the one who's prepared when we get someone here who can make earthquakes. Or volcanoes." Teddy paused for a second, considering that image, and ended up deciding on 'impressed' as his reaction. "That would be a slick power."
“Yeah, unlike yours,” Tamara said, sarcastic but definitely just teasing. Well, and flirting, as she reached out to brush one of his wings with her hand. “Pretty lame, being able to shapeshift yourself wings whenever you want...”
Teddy glanced at the movement, his wing twitching at the brush of her hand. The extra nerve endings felt weird, like the signals to his brain were still getting a little bit tangled, but the longer he kept them on the more like a part of him they felt. "I can think lots of things are cool all at the same time," he replied, not taking the bait. "I mean, yeah. I got really lucky with my powers, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. It doesn't make things like Kurt's teleporting or your fireballs any less awesome."
Tamara smirked up at him, but with just a bit of confusion too. “That had to be the most diplomatic response to being teased that I ever heard - relax already, I was kidding.”
Teddy ducked his head as the flush rose again, scruffing his hand along the back of his neck. "Oops. I guess if I have to publicly expose my faults, 'too diplomatic' isn't a terrible one?" He smiled sheepishly. "Call this me trying not to stick my foot in it. I'm not always the greatest at - y'know - people-ing. At least around relatively new friends."
Was calling her a 'friend' presumptuous? Crap. If he started over-thinking, his foot was going to end up in his mouth again in no time.
“I’m starting to get that, yeah,” Tamara said with a broad, if amused, smile. “Don’t tell me I make you nervous? I’m not even five feet tall.”
Teddy did burst out laughing at that one, dropping his hand from his neck and tucking them both in his pockets. "What's the line? It's not size that matters?" he joked back, not nearly careful enough with the words he was choosing.
Tamara shook her head at him - boys - but grinned back all the same. “It’s what you do with it,” she finished for him, overly suggestive because it was funny (and maybe he’d blush).
Yeah, he'd asked for that one, but at least she wasn't looking at him like he was some weird wayward puppy anymore. "Between the fireballs, lightning and the wings, you've got that end of things pretty down pat." He answered with a grin, trying to steer the conversation back away from further innuendos. "I think being a little intimidated could be a fair response."
Tamara didn’t bother containing her smirk at that. “Smart boy.”
"I can be taught." Teddy mirrored her smile back, then gestured at her wings. "We've still got some time before we have to be back at the school. Did you want to go again?"
"Sure! If you don't mind?" Tamara hadn't expected that, and grinned up at him brightly.
"Not at all. You're the one doing me the favour."
Tamara held her hands out to him again. "I'll have to do you more favors," she said, giving him a little wink.
Oh geez; she really wasn't giving up. Maybe it was the way she talked to every guy. Teddy tried to think back to math class, but no particular examples one way or the other actually came to mind. Then there was the touching (but some people just had different conceptions of personal space). And if he said anything, it had all been so innocuous that he'd feel like an idiot if he'd guessed wrong.
"Let's stick to this for now," he compromised with himself, replying lightly and taking her hands in as platonic a way as he could figure. (Which, truth be told, probably wasn't any different than anything else he'd be doing anyway.) "I might end up dropping you or knocking you over, and then where would we be?"
"Just don't let go," Tamara stressed, that point more important than flirting with him (which wow, he was totally impervious to).
That was a promise he could keep. Teddy nodded, giving her hands a squeeze. "I won't. Word of honour." He set his feet and - almost as an afterthought - got rid of his wings, so he wouldn't get knocked over by any extra wind.
"Alright," Tamara said, stretching her wings back out again, "let's do it!"
Classes over for the day, Teddy jogged easily across the school's wide green lawn. He'd changed for the purposes of this meeting -- knowing in advance that he was going to be trying for wings made life a lot easier than dealing with getting rid of his shirt all the time, and he was so not ready to go through life topless. No matter how well it worked for Warren. He'd grabbed his old basketball team jersey instead, the arm holes cut away deeper to make room for shifting. That and the loose track pants wouldn't protect him much if he fell out of the sky, but hopefully that wasn't on the cards for today.
There was the gazebo -- Teddy headed for it, keeping an eye out for the girl he mostly knew from math class.
Tamara had also stopped by her room to put down her bag, retouch her makeup, and adjust her outfit to be a bit flirtier. If she was going to be an anatomy lesson, might as well be a hot one, right?
In no particular hurry, she headed out to the gazebo, waving at Teddy when she spotted him. He looked ready to workout, but the shirt surprised her a bit. She wore one for obvious (if unfair and sexist) decency reasons, but she'd gotten used to (appreciative of) Warren and the lack of shirts. Her own was a chopped up black t-shirt with "You decide who you are, not society" printed on the front. From the front it looked like a normal t-shirt, but the back had been cut completely away to allow for her wings, one small strip of fabric connecting the two sleeves.
"Hey there!" she said, neck craning upward in that all-too-familiar way. Damn, why had she gone with flats? Oh well, at least the angle made her look cute, and she smiled up at him. "All set?"
Class wasn't exactly the best venue to get to know someone but she was being friendly enough here, and Teddy relaxed, returning her smile. "I think so. Thanks so much for agreeing to this. I know it's not the usual sort of 'meet me out back' request, but hey. Mutant school, right?"
"Totally right," Tamara agreed with a grin, because yeah, mutant school. "But I'm pretty sure the other varieties of that request apply too," she added, tongue in cheek. "Because teenagers."
It took Teddy a second to put two and two together, but then it clicked. She was the Tamara, of Billy's Tamara-and-Tommy related dramatic meltdown a couple of weeks ago. The incident that had lead to a lot of Billy grumbling about his brother, then over-apologizing to Teddy for I'm not like hating on straight people, and a whole lot of Teddy biting his tongue.
"There's a lot of that going on too," he replied with a soft laugh, keeping it innocuous and light as possible. As much as he hadn't wanted to discuss Tommy's private life with Billy, he wasn't about to get into it with Tommy's hook-up, either.
He dropped down to sit on the step, looking up at her, now. "So how do your wings work?" Changing the subject seemed to be the safest bet.
Tamara gave him a little smile, then turned around (pretending not to realize that his eyes were totally at ass-level), stretching out her left wing and peeking back at him over her right shoulder.
"Technically they don't yet," she pointed out. They were apparently full-grown now (hallelujah, that meant they hurt a lot less), and were about her body length on each side. The webbing attached all the way down her back in a deep V that starting near her shoulders and ended just above her tailbone (clearly visible in her low-riding exercise leggings). Her wings were a deep purply-pink around the bones and muscles, and the skin of the webbing was like a pinker version of her skin. "Okay, think of them like arms, yeah? There's like, an elbow, and then a wrist - and that's where the little 'fingers' attach, that go through the wing. Can you see it?"
"Man, I should have brought my sketchbook," Teddy spoke half to himself, tracing the lines of her wings out in the air (it seemed much less intrusive than actually touching her; that scarring looked like it had hurt). "They're fantastic, and it's so much easier to see what's going on compared to all of Warren's feathers." He glanced up to see if she was still looking back at him. "Are your bones hollow like his?"
"Nope, normal bones," she told him over her shoulder. "And you can touch them if you want, I'm used to it. The medical staff were poking at them all summer.
"Between you and me," she added, playfully secretive, "they're actually mammal wings, not like, dinosaurs or whatever. Like bats. So not hollow and no feathers." Way more detail than she'd give most people, but if he was gonna try and shapeshift himself some wings, he probably needed to know the details. "But dragons are way cooler, so don't blow my cover!"
He returned her playful grin with his own, eyes alight. "My lips are sealed. Dragons have a definite advantage." And because he was intensely curious and she'd said it was okay, he ran his fingers gently over the spurs of bone rising from her back. "I think I get it," Teddy said thoughtfully, imprinting the shape and the feel of them in his mind. "And they're supposed to be able to work to get lift, right? Once you get the hang of it, I mean."
"Yup, pretty much!" Her wing responded to his touch, pressing into it because it felt good. She flapped it gently, just as a demonstration.
Teddy leaned back, a surprised laugh his first response. "Okay, so. Warren's attach really differently, but maybe that was the problem." He reached back behind himself and tugged the middle of his shirt a little more centered. It would be weird, but maybe if he didn't attach the wings as far down as hers went, he could get away with leaving the shirt on.
Think dragon. Focus on the shape, on the way the bat-like (or pterodactyl?) fingers reached out along the membranes, the way the elbow and wrist curved and lay. Green wings erupted from Teddy's back - pain-free, that stretching sensation already familiar and kind of satisfying. They spread out behind him, bone spurs rising along the top where the wrist and elbow sat. It was already a hell of a lot easier than trying to picture all the pinfeathers.
Catching sight of movement out of the corner of her eye, Tamara turned - and gaped. "Whoa!" Her own wings settled against her back as she peered at his. "That's so cool! They just... appeared, just like that?"
Teddy ducked his head and grinned at her excitement. That part of this was seriously never going to get old. "Yeah, I guess?" He looked over his own shoulder and frowned at the wide green wings splaying out behind him. They definitely felt a lot more him than the angel wings had, but the green was still vaguely annoying.
Teddy concentrated on making them pink and they flushed pale, but then they looked like weird lich hands or something out of Lair of the White Worm. Which, no. "Oh, ew." He let go of his focus and they slid happily back to being green.
"My control's still iffy," he said apologetically, and he sent his arms into what he was starting to think of as armour-mode, the overlapping plates emerging down his arms and settling over his hands, plate mail for the modern hero. "But I'm getting there."
"Ohmygod, that is so cool!!" Without thinking, Tamara reached out to touch his wing first, then moved on to touch the plates on his hands. "And you make it look so easy - how do you do it?"
Her touch was dulled, the thicker skin on his hands and the leathery wings muting the sensation, and he let her poke at him all she wanted. It was only fair, considering the liberties she'd let him take with hers. "I'm not entirely sure, which is an awful answer," he confessed, shifting over on the step and trying to fold in his wings to give her room to sit, if she wanted.
"I picture what I want to be in my head, and then it feels like..." he tried to find something even remotely similar. "Like a slow blink, where if you think about it, you can feel one part of your skin moving over another part? Or like when you get a shudder or your skin crawls. Like that, but all over. But I have to have a pretty good idea of where I want to end up, or it doesn't work properly."
Tamara was still examining, and being just a little more hands-on than was strictly necessary. "And... green is your favorite color?" she asked, an amused little smile playing at her lips as she looked up at him. "Good choice, brings out your eyes."
Oh oh. Was she... flirting? Teddy hadn't picked up on anything before, but he hadn't been looking for it. Now with her hands on his arm and the way she was smiling- he had to slip out of that possible scenario quickly and without causing a fuss. "It just likes to do that." He pulled the armour on his hands and forearms back in, taking the chance to gently slip his arm away from hers while his shape settled. He left the wings.
"If I don't concentrate on changing it, any new pieces like to be green, kind of like a default setting. I was talking to Gar about it at one point, but we couldn't figure it. Maybe it's just a weird side effect of shapeshifting." He shrugged, no closer to an answer on that one than he had been before.
"Weird," Tamara said, though she was still smiling, and honestly meant it as a compliment. There was a lot weird around here. The less-good weird was the way he'd pulled away - but maybe he was just shy? She turned her attention to his wings again, touching lightly. "So... can you fly?"
It was an out and he took it. Teddy rose to his feet and put space between them again, careful not to hit her with the new appendages. It was a lot easier to balance with these ones than with the heavy feathered angel wings he'd tried before, the membrane light and hopefully easier to make work. "I dunno," he admitted with a grin. "I guess that'll be the real test, right? Have you tried with yours yet?"
"I've been making them stronger, but I've barely gotten off the ground," she said, looking up at him with a sweet smile. "I don't heal or have extra strength or anything like that, so I've gotta be careful," she told him, rolling her eyes. She'd been hearing it since her wings came in. Honestly, she was ready to give up on careful.
"That's got to be really frustrating." Teddy gave her a chagrined smile. "And now I feel bad, because I do -- have enhanced strength and a healing factor, that is. I kind of lucked out in the powers department." And now he really wanted to give the wings a try, seeing as he didn't have Tamara's good reasons not to. Would the gazebo be high enough to give him a launch point?
"Show off," Tamara teased him, following his eyes to the gazebo. "You shouldn't need to jump off anything," she added helpfully. She moved to stand in front of him and offered him both her hands (fingers perfectly manicured, of course). This had worked with Warren. "Here, I'll show you. Anchor me."
She seemed to know what she was doing and she wasn't batting her eyelashes at him - maybe he'd just imagined the look from a minute ago. "Okay." Teddy took her hands in his, her hands almost vanishing inside his larger ones. "What do I do from here?"
Tamara gave his hands a playful squeeze and flashed him a little smile, but then settled for holding them firmly. "You make sure I don't accidentally lose control," she told him, starting to flap her wings powerfully, air stretching the membranes out (which felt really good, honestly). It only took her a couple flaps to figure out how to direct the air to start getting lift. Their joined hands acted like a tether, helping her correct when one wing pushed harder than the other. "The hardest part is the whole three-dimensions thing," she told with a laugh from about a foot over his head now. "There's so many ways the wings can go."
Holding on he could do. Teddy planted his feet solidly and curled his fingers securely around hers so she couldn't slip. The air from her wingbeats buffeted him, but not strongly enough to make him lose balance. (Pulling in his own wings helped to not get caught in her down-draft, too.) He tipped his head up to follow her when she lifted off, the wonder of the moment pushing away his worries of moments before. "You're up! You're doing it!" he cheered her on.
"You bet I am," she told him, managing to throw a wink in. What? He had a cute smile! And this was definitely an improvement on her first practice, much steadier. Now if she could just... Focusing on her wings, she let them go flat and perpendicular, dropping back to the ground to land in a kind of crouch, hands still in Teddy's. Yesss, nailed it!
"Nice!" Teddy cheered again. "And she sticks the landing." He waited until she seemed steady on her feet before letting her hands go.
"You don't even know how good that was," she told him with a laugh, standing upright again. "First time I did that I crashed into Warren and knocked us both over. Landings are the hardest part," she told him, more from studying the others and what she'd been told rather than experience.
"I'll bet. The only reason I didn't eat dirt last time was because Warren caught me before I actually hit the ground." Teddy winced. "Not exactly graceful. But you looked great. I bet you'll be soaring in no time."
"That sounds exactly like him," Tamara said, huffing a little laugh. She'd stopped calling Warren hero, but it still suited him. "Pro-tip: the lake makes a good place to crash, as long as you don't mind slimy plants in your wings."
Teddy nodded. "I'll remember that. I could do without the slime, but water still sounds like a better option than rocks." He still really wanted to test the new ones out, but- "I'd try the same thing, but I'm not sure how much good it would do, considering," he said, an apology in his voice. He had to be almost a third again her size, given their height difference and his muscle. "I'd be more likely to knock you over."
"Guess you'll just have to go for it then," Tamara replied, eyes dancing with the challenge. Sounded like he was a lot less likely to get hurt. She'd get it if he wanted to wait and try it with someone who could actually catch him, but what fun would telling him that be?
"Guess I do. What the hell, right?" Teddy stepped back and away, putting some distance between them for comfort as well as for safety. He gave the wings a test flap; they already felt stronger and more capable of lifting him than the other ones. "You only live once?"
Buoyed by her grin, he tried to remember what he'd seen her do, stretching the wings out as far as they could go and giving a couple of powerful beats. It lifted him off the ground, but not enough-- size! He extended them a little more in both directions, because of course he'd need more surface area proportionally. That seemed to do it, the feeling of rightness clicking into place with this shape.
Teddy beat his wings again, pushed down on the air to lift himself off the ground. He made it a couple of feet up, then another- then a breeze hit, knocking out his concentration and his rhythm. The plummet back down to land on his ass on the ground was swift and embarrassing, but at least he'd only been about six feet up to begin with.
"Oh-- are you okay?" Tamara had been watching breathlessly, but the crash landing looked painful, and she winced sympathetically.
Teddy picked himself up off the ground with a sigh, dusting himself off. "I'm good. Nothing bruised other than my pride, and possibly my reputation."
"Don't worry, I won't tell," she promised with a flirty smile. "What happened? You looked like you had it!"
"Thanks," he replied, his smile rueful. "I was doing okay for a minute there, but I hit some kind of crossbreeze amd got knocked off-balance."
"...a breeze?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him and doing a poor job of containing a smirk.
A frown creased his brow, but she wasn't making fun of him openly and he wasn't about to get in to some kind of macho dick-waving contest over it. Not here, when he had the chance to be so much more than 'Teddy the dumb jock.' If he could ever figure out who he was instead. "Unless you saw a tornado coming through that I missed," he replied cheerfully enough, shaking off the moment of trepidation.
Tamara laughed, full smile breaking through so he'd know she'd only been teasing. "Hey, no judgment from me! That's already better than anything I've managed. You didn't even crash into me, so I'd say it's a promising start.
"Wait, back up - do they have tornadoes here?" she asked suddenly, eyes wide. "Tell me I didn't move to tornado country."
"Sometimes, yeah," Teddy nodded, catching his bottom lip with his teeth to prevent himself from smiling his surprise at her reaction. "And upstate more than the city. Maybe something like nine or ten a year? But they're small and it's not nearly as bad as Oklahoma or anything. Where are you from?"
Color drained from Tamara's face as she listened, and her wings tucked close to her back without her thinking about it. "California," she answered, "and ohmygod, do I look like I'd survive a tornado?"
Teddy shook his head hoping he could at least sound reassuring. "They're not that bad, honestly. I've barely ever seen one, and I've lived in New York my whole life. And California has earthquakes! Those seem like they'd be a whole lot deadlier than a bit of wind."
"Earthquakes and fire season," Tamara confirmed with a little smile, though she was still kinda freaked out. "But earthquakes are easy, and it's not like fires drop out of the sky whenever they feel like it. Dude, I've got sails on my back, and I can't put them away like you can." Oh man, she was totally gonna have nightmares about this and she wasn't even airborne yet.
"Aw man, I didn't mean to scare you. If it helps, the season's pretty much over. At least I only ever really hear about them in late spring, maybe the summer. It's hot air that triggers them." He flashed a hesitant smile, "not like the ground which can decide to split open whenever it feels like it."
Tamara laughed at that. "The ground doesn't open, it just shakes, and kinda rolls sometimes." She tried for a serious face. "Sometimes you get a big one, though. Something might even fall off a shelf. It's pretty crazy."
He nodded solemnly enough, but his smile still shone in his blue eyes. "That does sound terrifying. It's a wonder anyone survives."
“Pretty much,” Tamara replied with a playful smirk. Teddy was fun. “But we duck and cover like champs.”
"See? You'll be the one who's prepared when we get someone here who can make earthquakes. Or volcanoes." Teddy paused for a second, considering that image, and ended up deciding on 'impressed' as his reaction. "That would be a slick power."
“Yeah, unlike yours,” Tamara said, sarcastic but definitely just teasing. Well, and flirting, as she reached out to brush one of his wings with her hand. “Pretty lame, being able to shapeshift yourself wings whenever you want...”
Teddy glanced at the movement, his wing twitching at the brush of her hand. The extra nerve endings felt weird, like the signals to his brain were still getting a little bit tangled, but the longer he kept them on the more like a part of him they felt. "I can think lots of things are cool all at the same time," he replied, not taking the bait. "I mean, yeah. I got really lucky with my powers, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. It doesn't make things like Kurt's teleporting or your fireballs any less awesome."
Tamara smirked up at him, but with just a bit of confusion too. “That had to be the most diplomatic response to being teased that I ever heard - relax already, I was kidding.”
Teddy ducked his head as the flush rose again, scruffing his hand along the back of his neck. "Oops. I guess if I have to publicly expose my faults, 'too diplomatic' isn't a terrible one?" He smiled sheepishly. "Call this me trying not to stick my foot in it. I'm not always the greatest at - y'know - people-ing. At least around relatively new friends."
Was calling her a 'friend' presumptuous? Crap. If he started over-thinking, his foot was going to end up in his mouth again in no time.
“I’m starting to get that, yeah,” Tamara said with a broad, if amused, smile. “Don’t tell me I make you nervous? I’m not even five feet tall.”
Teddy did burst out laughing at that one, dropping his hand from his neck and tucking them both in his pockets. "What's the line? It's not size that matters?" he joked back, not nearly careful enough with the words he was choosing.
Tamara shook her head at him - boys - but grinned back all the same. “It’s what you do with it,” she finished for him, overly suggestive because it was funny (and maybe he’d blush).
Yeah, he'd asked for that one, but at least she wasn't looking at him like he was some weird wayward puppy anymore. "Between the fireballs, lightning and the wings, you've got that end of things pretty down pat." He answered with a grin, trying to steer the conversation back away from further innuendos. "I think being a little intimidated could be a fair response."
Tamara didn’t bother containing her smirk at that. “Smart boy.”
"I can be taught." Teddy mirrored her smile back, then gestured at her wings. "We've still got some time before we have to be back at the school. Did you want to go again?"
"Sure! If you don't mind?" Tamara hadn't expected that, and grinned up at him brightly.
"Not at all. You're the one doing me the favour."
Tamara held her hands out to him again. "I'll have to do you more favors," she said, giving him a little wink.
Oh geez; she really wasn't giving up. Maybe it was the way she talked to every guy. Teddy tried to think back to math class, but no particular examples one way or the other actually came to mind. Then there was the touching (but some people just had different conceptions of personal space). And if he said anything, it had all been so innocuous that he'd feel like an idiot if he'd guessed wrong.
"Let's stick to this for now," he compromised with himself, replying lightly and taking her hands in as platonic a way as he could figure. (Which, truth be told, probably wasn't any different than anything else he'd be doing anyway.) "I might end up dropping you or knocking you over, and then where would we be?"
"Just don't let go," Tamara stressed, that point more important than flirting with him (which wow, he was totally impervious to).
That was a promise he could keep. Teddy nodded, giving her hands a squeeze. "I won't. Word of honour." He set his feet and - almost as an afterthought - got rid of his wings, so he wouldn't get knocked over by any extra wind.
"Alright," Tamara said, stretching her wings back out again, "let's do it!"
