it'll do

Who: Porter and Kaysen
Where: Kaysen's house
When: afternoon

It was official; superheroes who used skateboards? They were bullshit. Porter had seen one or two in his years spent reading comics, and they'd universally been lame. Now, a skateboard with a superhero on it was was infinitely cooler, but it didn't make riding the damned thing any easier. Maybe he needed to tighten the... bearings or something, Porter didn't know. Maybe the snow. All he knew was that he'd tried to ride it twice now, and he'd fallen off both times, so it was that the afternoon saw him trekking along on foot towards the St. James household, the new skateboard tucked behind the straps of his backpack.

From what he knew of Kaysen, she'd probably find a way to bitch at him like crazy for this, so... sneaky. He had to be sneaky. Which he was trying as he moved up the front walk, hood up and surreptitious glances cast to each side. Porter pulled the skateboard out, setting it in front of the door and digging out some extra bits he'd ordered. New trucks, bearings, tape and wheels, the basics. Piling it all together so nothing would roll away, Porter stood, rang the doorbell, and ran. Or started to. A patch of snow on the walk hid slickness, treacherous slickness that suddenly yanked Porter's feet out from under him and sent him to the ground in a heap.

Kaysen, who'd been upstairs in her room, in her usual spot on her window seat, had watched Porter's approach, tried to see what he was up to on the porch, but the overhang killed that idea. Then there was the doorbell, and right before her eyes, there he went, head over tincups. She shoved her window open and leaned out. "Dude--what the fuck are you doing?" she called down to him. it was possible she should have been concerned, and like...wondering if he was going to sue them for libel or something. But at current she wasn't thinking about that, she was just wondering what the hell. And thinking that maybe she should go down there or something. Maybe. The jury was out.

His backpack had cushioned some of the fall, but not all of it. Faint bruises left over from last Friday were probably going to return, and he felt a light scrape on one hand. But then there was a voice carrying down at him, and from where Porter laid, he could see Kaysen leaning out the window. Shit. Shitshitshit. "Uhm.... ow. Uh..." he muttered, letting his head drop back to thunk on the front walk, "Training to be a Mormon? I've... come to share the good news about Jesus Christ, but I panicked and decided to keep it for myself."

"...well, I've got bad news for you, pal. You suck at it." Kaysen pointed out, still eyeing him. "Plus, if you want to go spreading the good word and shit, it probably helps not to be concussed while you're at it." She paused for a few moments. "You should probably come in so we know you aren't concussed, because if you drop dead later, I don't want your parents suing me." she said, which was Kaysen's way of being cordial. "I'll be down in a sec." she added, disappearing from said window, and she started downstairs, wondering what the hell this was gong to be about.

"Watch out when you open the door!" Porter had the forethought to mention. Because hey, if she opened the door and took a spill on the gift he'd brought? He'd feel like even more of an idiot. Porter pushed to his feet with a groan, tugging back his hood and rubbing the back of his head with a wince as he trudged back to the front door, ready to stop Kaysen just in case things went the way he worried they would.

Kaysen got to the front door and all, though she hadn't actually heard Porter when he'd warned her, and she went to step out, only noting that there was shit on the front step as she went to step on it. Which had her stepping on the skateboard, which went skitting off to the side, and she flailed for something to grab onto.

It was good that he'd moved to intercept her as well as yelling, because suddenly? Porter thought he might be prescient. He lunged for Kaysen as she flailed, grabbing her around the waist and hoisting. Porter wasn't a strong man by any means, but it was enough to haul her away from the skateboard and back onto her feet. He hopped back, hands up to ward her off. "Don't kill me!" he blurted in a rush, "It wasn't a prank or anything!"

Well okay, so she hadn't expected either to step on a skateboard or to be like...picked up and put back down again, so to say she was a bit thrown would have been stating it mildly. She blinked at Porter, mouth opening then shutting again before it re-opened. "I, er..." she started. "Dude, what the hell?" she demanded, looking back at the other stuff on the step, then back at him, and she all but stomped her foot a moment to add weight to said demand.

"It's a replacement!" Porter insisted, keeping his hands up warily. The girl had a temper, and he was nowhere near as composed in the face of it as Thom had been. "For your board? I know you said it was one of a kind and you customized it and all, but that? That's a Frank Miller design of Daredevil on an Ernie Ball deck. And I... it was my fault you wiped out, so..." he trailed off, hands lowering as he shrugged, "Just my way of saying sorry finally. Sorry. I, um, there's all kinds of accessories too. I figured you could recustomize or something?"

"You bought me a new deck?" Kaysen asked, blinking, then actually looking over in the bushes by the porch. Walking over, she crouched in the snow and dug it out, brushing it off as she looked at it. She held it out at arm's length, heat canting to the side as she peered at it critically, before she dropped it down onto it's wheels on the sidewalk, and stepped on it, testing it out. pushing off, she rolled a little towards Porter on it. "...it's too tight right now." she noticed aloud. "I'll have to tweak it." But then she would anyways. Any deck that was straight out of...well she didn't know if it came in a box. But whatever, anything that hadn't been ridden much yet was tight. And it looked like he'd provided her with shit she could use to loosen it up enough. "It'll do." she decided. Then paused, dropping back down to the sidewalk in front of him and she kipped it up. "Thanks, I guess. But I did tell you you didn't have to do this shit, yeah?" she asked. Because she was sure she'd mentioned that before.

Okay, she wasn't tearing him a new one; it was a start. She seemed interested enough in the gift, which was a good thing in and of itself. And while he knew she didn't want him to? "Yeah, you said," Porter answered as he rubbed the back of his head, "But I just... I wanted to? i know if something happened to my stuff, I'd want it replaced. Plus I love Miller's art, and I wouldn't have a reason to buy that anyway. You sure it's okay?" He gathered up the bag with the spare wheels and trucks, setting it to one side of the door to avoid any future spills, then looked back to Kaysen hopefully.

She was kind of itching to take it inside and adjust things on it. Maybe the garage was free. She was pretty sure it was. Plus...big garage. She bent to retrieve the bag, and she nodded for him to follow her, walking to the side door that lead into the garage, and she flipped the lights on. It was warmer in there too, which was a plus since she'd failed to stop for a coat or anything. "Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, it's sound so far. But then I haven't had it for y'know, five minutes." she said, walking through the thankfully empty garage to a work bench, where she grabbed a few wrenches and shit, before she dropped down onto the cement floor, and put the board across her knees, starting to adjust things. "You always buy girls who bowl you over new shit?" she asked, glancing up at him.

Following after, the first thought that struck Porter was that even Kaysen was more masculine than he was. his hands weren't suited for that already, the way she was busily wrenching apart one of the trucks and toying with the bearings. "Just the ones who lose something crucial," he answered, thinking that wasn't quite right. Medea had bowled him over in an entirely different sense, after all. "I just saw it while I was buying some other stuff online. And even if you don't get to use it for a while? I thought it fit. You strike me as a Daredevil type." Even if she didn't have the super senses, Kaysen seemed the type to try walking a phone line. Especially if someone told her not to.

She arched a brow at that. "Really?" she asked. She didn't consider herself so, but then again, Kaysen wasn't that good at perspectives. Such as, she didn't often consider how she came off to other people. Like at all, really. That was a foreign concept to her. "Huh. Well...thanks, still. It'll give me something to do." It would give her a lot to do. Especially with all the stuff going on with she and Chance. God did she not want to think about that right now. Them and their 'break'. No, no and no.

"Just give me a call when you do bust it out," Porter requested with a joking smile, "I'll make sure I'm on the other side of town, just to be safe." Maybe he wouldn't be, if Porter's thoughts were right. They were... sort of friends? And with everything turning strange in town lately, Porter didn't think he wanted any of his friends chancing getting caught alone by it. "So, um... you maybe want to hang out sometime? I know you sorta hate on people? But I've been hanging out with this girl, she's new in town too so she doesn't know your bad rep or whatever. I figured maybe we could catch a movie or something, see if your friend Thom wants to come." He didn't think Thom was her boyfriend, Porter vaguely remembered things being different, but it didn't hurt to include him in the offer.

Kaysen stared at Porter like he'd grown another head. Out of his ass, even. she wound up blinking, and staring in confusion for a good minute before she rallied herself. "Um...you just asked me to hang out?" she clarified. "As in, for real hang out, not just you saying that to get to me, so there can be laughter later, because if that's the case, I should warn you I carry a lighter." And she could make far better use of it than most people could.

"Yeah, just like... friends watching movies or going for walks sort of hanging out," he insisted, nodding a little. "Even if you were in a mood? I kinda had fun with you and Thom when we were trying to get your old board back. I thought it might be cool. You don't have to or anything, but I wanted to ask." he didn't want to drive Medea crazy by only hanging out with her, and with how shy and uncertain she seemed? Well, maybe Porter could stare down his own shyness and find some trustworthy friends for the both of them.

Her mouth open and shut a few times before she finally kicked herself into gear again. "I er...sure." she said, still sounding wary as hell, like she was waiting for the punchline. Which really, she would be doing for ages. Chance had worked at things with her for months before he'd gotten anywhere. God. chance. That was enough to make her sick to her stomach. She wanted to talk to him so bad, but he was the one who'd called a 'break', and she couldn't really blame him for it, and she needed to get her mind off of him. Which didn't work so well, and Kaysen also was not a master of hiding her emotions, so her expression flickered to absolutely miserable for a moment there.

Porter felt proud for catching it, thinking that he was starting to get pretty good at picking up on girls' moods. The pride faltered when he considered the implications of that look, though. Something in his offer had triggered bad thoughts, and maybe it was the connection to Medea in his own head? But he wanted to help. "You cool?" he asked quietly, settling cross-legged on the garage floor across from Kaysen. "I'm not trying to pry, but, um, is something up?"

Kaysen rolled her eyes. "No, I'm perfectly fine. Just dandy." she said sarcastically, even if really, that was unfair to Porter, and part of her knew that. "I just...I dunno. I was thinking about Chance. Who's my boyfriend! Only not. Kinda. What the fuck is a 'break' suppose to mean, anyways?!" she demanded, like there was some boy code that Porter would be able to interpret for her.

"A break?" he echoed with a frown, surprised by the question. Did he seem like the kind of guy who'd know these things? Or did Kaysen just have no one else to ask? "I think it depends? on a lot of stuff I don't know about yet, that is. Back home, it meant that the girl I'd taken out realized I wasn't being ironic with my Batman bedsheets, and wanted to let me down easy." He smiled with the joke, doubting it would lighten the mood but opting to try anyway. "Maybe... it just means he needs some time? To sort out his thoughts on whatever the situation with you and him is."

"You have Batman bedsheets?" she asked. Which...she wasn't really one to judge on. And it was also the least important part of his statement, so she went on. "And yeah I guess. I mean, that's probably it. I just...I dunno." she mumbled. "I miss him." she admitted. "...like...I'd miss a limb." She would totally be unhappy with a missing arm or something. And with Chance...

He had to laugh quietly, shaking his head and leaning back to rest on his palms. "No, I don't actually have Batman sheets." Any more. "I do have a lot of comic-related stuff though, and that was a pretty big turnoff for a lot of girls." But it was plainly apparent that his mild humor wasn't going to do much for Kaysen, and Porter sat forward with a frown. "What happened? Can I ask? I mean, you... you seem pretty down. Like someone hit your mute button? It's hard not to notice."

That was a weird turn of phrase. Though she had to admit, it kind of fit. It felt like someone had hit her mute button. Most of the time they just managed to hit her 'irrational rage' button, but this was almost kinda worse. She looked miserable for a moment, eyeing him warily. "I dunno. Can't tell you all of it anyways, you'd only be getting like, half a story." she said truthfully. Cuz hey yeah! Was she ever not going to be dropping in there that her boyfriend's mom had killed a bunch of people!

"Well, you can tell me half then," he urged lightly, smiling a little for her sake. It wasn't like Porter couldn't empathize or anything; he had his own secrets to keep, and they were probably much more dire than whatever drama Kaysen had with her boyfriend. Or that's what he liked to think, at least. "Honestly, I'm kinda used to 'to be continued' and stuff like that. Secret backgrounds you only find out ten issues later. So if you want?" Porter winked a little, tapping an ear. "Fill 'em up."

She went back to working on the board, spinning one of the wheels to listen to how it sounded before she went back to messing with it. "The short version is I know someone close to him did something. Something hardcore bad. And he knows too, and has just been kinda living with it his whole life an shit, and I can't do that." she said, thinking that the boiled down version sounded a lot less troublesome than the actuality of it. "I said that I couldn't just like, keep shit quiet, y'know? And he said we should take a break. Which I get, and everything, because hello--I don't know how I'd react if I were him right now, it just all sucks and it's stupid and it should have been taken care of by other people like, years and years ago, but she got away with it instead, and I just can't wrap my head around sitting on something so big when she's just walking around, and--" she broke off, realizing too late that she'd slapped a 'she' in there, and probably wasn't making much sense.

No, Kaysen wasn't making much sense at all. Porter had caught the 'she', but there wasn't really anything to connect to it, not without even knowing who Kaysen's boyfriend was. He needed keener detective skills, really. Or a Batcomputer. "So... long and short, you want to help him in ways he doesn't want to be helped?" he asked quietly, "To set right whatever happened to him, or at least as much as you can? Because if it's a whole-life problem, there doesn't seem like there's a definitive fix for it." Not in the real world, at least. "And whatever you want to do, he's spooked by. So he wants distance to... maybe figure out if he wants it too?"

"I didn't say it happened to him." Kaysen said immediately, jumping on that. "I didn't say that at all." Had she? Crap. "It's not like that, it's the bad thing I mentioned. Like, he's been dealing with knowing about it, and he hasn't said anything, and I can't just pretend I don't know." she tried to clarify, but if there was one thing Kaysen sucked at, it was proper, coherent communication. She never got her points across very well, socially stunted as she was. "If I say something, it's going to send that person close to him to jail for like...freaking ever."

She hadn't actually said that, Porter had assumed it. It was implied in a lot of ways, in her fear of his reaction and that he'd been carrying a secret for his whole life. "Okay, so... if he hasn't said anything? How do you know?" he asked with a frown, thinking Kaysen was definitely covering. Really, he knew she was. She'd said she couldn't tell him the full story. So he just shook his head, disregarding the first question and moving on. "Nevermind that, really. Whatever happened, whether it was to him or just something he knows about... do you think it was for a good reason? Does the person who could end up in jail have good reasons to do it? Or is it something where he'd be better off without this, no matter how much it sucks at first?"

Kaysen didn't say anything for a few moments, a lot of thoughts running through her mind, but she couldn't share them. "I don't think there's any good reason to do what was done." she said. "Or did you miss the 'hardcore bad' of it all that I've been saying?" she said, that light normal annoyance in her tone, even if it was only an undercurrent. She wasn't really annoyed with Porter. "I'm not being dramatic with that. Some shit is unforgiveable, and people deserve to be carrying out several life sentences."

He couldn't imagine anything so big that it couldn't be forgiven, not really. Sure, there were things like, say, the Holocaust? But here? In this town? Maybe it's something on the weirder side of life, he mused with a frown. "I didn't miss it," he answered with a shake of his head, "Just.... it's hard to picture. Even if I fill in the blank myself? I don't know what could be so bad. But maybe you just need to do what you need to do. Maybe? If you care about this guy enough, you can stomach pushing him away for the sake of helping him. Which is really, really presumptuous on my part. I just don't know that I could sit by if there was something that terrible floating out there, unresolved."

Rolling her eyes, Kaysen gave Porter a Look. "Dude, do you have no imagination or something? You really can't think of something that bad? Either you're a dumbass, or you're like...a sociopath." she told him. "I even told you that it would send someone away for several life sentences. Fill in the blank. What the fuck do you think someone has to do to earn that shit?" she posed. "So, y'know, if you don't actually think like, multiple goddamn murder is something that's so bad? Get the fuck out of my garage." she said. "And while you're at it, stay the hell away from me, too, because hello, creepy!"

"Jesus, you're serious?" She was serious. "I just... I thought you were being rhetorical? With the 'life sentence' bit and all?" And he needed to not turn everything into a question. This isn't Jeopardy, he chided himself, trying to stop gaping at Kaysen in unabashed shock. "Because no I am not okay with spree killing or anything! Holy... holy shit, Kaysen. If that wasn't just an example for the 'what's so bad' idea? You need to do something."

"Hi! Welcome to catching up with the rest of the damn class." she said, rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up in the air for a moment. "Welcome to Kaysen-land, where everything sucks. Now do you see why I'm just a little wigged about all of this?" she asked, though it was rhetorical, because he finally had the reaction she was thinking he'd have. Which made her feel a little better, actually, because at least it meant he wasn't some like...totally messed in the head freak who thought that kind of thing was a-okay. "I wish I was being rhetorical." she muttered, sighing heavily. "And I know. I have to. I found out, and I just...can't live with it. I just know it's going to mess everything else up." she admitted, looking down, the traces of the emotional trauma going on inside not presenting itself as anger for a few heartbeats. She just looked lost and scared for a minute. A little girl dealing with things that were way too big for her.

He sighed quietly, just watching Kaysen and wishing he knew what to really say that could help. Was there anything? It wasn't quite as cut-and-dry as the comic world Porter wished he lived in. There was no Justice League or Professor X to offer a solution. "Well..." he murmured, wondering if he should even suggest this, "Do you think going to the cops would do anything? With werewolves and ghosts and everything, you think they'd buy that you know about a secret mass-murderer? Could you prove it? Because if you can't... and you can't just leave it alone... well, whatever you decide to do, you shouldn't do it alone." Which wasn't an outright 'I'll help', but in Porter's head it was leaning that way. He felt emboldened ever since saving Medea, and those feelings? They made him want to offer.

"I don't really wanna involve people..." Kaysen said. Thom, maybe. Cuz she'd had to tell someone, and she'd picked him. Plus, Thom's mom was a judge. Not much topped that in the grand scheme. "I was gonna do like...research and stuff. Put it together and then send it to the cops." she said. "I'm pretty sure me just randomly going over and saying 'hey! I kinda know this stuff but not really, but take me seriously!' is really not gonna fly. Plus, I might already be losing my boyfriend, if I haven't already, I don't really wanna lose anyone else, y'know? I don't have many people around to start with." She admitted, and she dug Kurt's lighter out of her pocket, and flicked it open, sparking the flame to life, so she could make herself feel better. It didn't work, but she gave it a shot.

If there had ever been a situation Porter could look at in advance and see the need for heroes? Not just one he reacted to, like the werewolf? This was it. "You just... you need to be careful," he cautioned seriously, watching her toy with the lighter. "Even if the cops believe you? The moment this person knows someone's looking for them or their trail, things get dangerous. And from what I saw on the police response from last Friday? They are not equipped to deal with killers, human or otherwise. So... can I help?" he asked with an honest, open look on his face. "I'm not exactly helpless or anything, and I'd honestly feel better knowing you weren't doing this alone."

"Dude, I know it's gonna be dangerous. I mean, like...I just--" she broke off, considering she hadn't managed a sentence there at all. So, she tried again, and attempted this time to manage actual coherent speech. "I'm not putting anyone else in the line of fire." she said, quietly but firmly. "This is my...whatever. Burden." she said, shrugging one shoulder, even if she was internally battling the urge to latch right the hell onto Porter's offer there. God did she not want to deal with this alone, and she did feel vulnerable, and she knew that it might mean that Chance's mom went gunning for her. But she refused to add someone else in on that. Not when it really wasn't their problem. It would be less fair than her having to make the decision on her own to do something.

"Is it that simple?" he asked flatly, surprising himself with his insistence to follow this track. maybe he was starting to man up a little. "If you do this alone, even if this mystery woman doesn't come after you... what about the cops who go to find her? What about your boyfriend? You think she won't follow anything back to him? I mean..." He sighed quietly, shaking his head and wrapping bot hands around the back of his neck. "You can't do this alone. And it's not saying anything about you? There's just too many angles to it, too much that could go sideways. Even if you could handle it? I don't want to think you're doing it solo. Solo always ends with Superman tied up in kryptonite chains and Batman bailing him out... and you're not Superman. Or girl, as it applies."

"Hello! It's probably going to be completely obvious to her who's done it! And like, it's not that I'm hard to find or anything. It's not that I don't think she'll come after me, it's that I think she might. Or will, or something. And I'm so not going to be responsible for that, if it happens to someone else, especially someone who's just like...charity-casing me." she mumbled, spinning one of her wheels again, and she started drifting her fingertips through the lighter flame. "I know it's gonna go sideways. I'm not super anything." she agreed. "I'm still not signing anyone else up for the 'let's become hamburger' squad."

A line formed across his brow gradually as she spoke, deepening with bits like 'charity casing' and 'super anything'. When she was done? Well, Porter didn't look too thrilled. "You... you think I'm offering out of pity or something?" he asked softly, frowning to himself. "Or that me offering on my own is you signing me up? Look, Kaysen, I know I don't really know you and you mostly yell at me? But I'm trying my... my fucking hardest to be your friend here, okay? I can help, if you'll let me." And he seemed like he was going to say more, but then? Well, then Porter really noticed her hand as it drifted through the fire. There wasn't the faintest smudge of crisping on her skin, and not even a momentary flicker of expression in her features to tell him that Kaysen even felt the heat. "How are you doing that?" he murmured.

"You've got no reason to--" she started, but then stopped and her eyes got wide, and she clapped the lighter shut again, putting it behind her back, like that was really going to cover. Subtlety wasn't Kaysen's strong suit. "Doing what? I wasn't doing anything, it's...a trick. Thing. Lighter...thing...how were you going to help?" she added in a terribly obvious rush. "You said you can so how can you?"

He wasn't buying that. Porter had seen people do fire tricks before, and they never went that slowly or for that long. She'd just been... lingering, almost feeling the curve of the flame under her fingers. He felt like he was on the verge of something, like... if he could exist, being what he was? If there were werewolves and vampires and ghosts? Who else might look normal but be more? Why would he be the only one? It was a total guess, but he'd offered to help, hadn't he? "Well... in the comics? Which I know are a terrible basis for a plan, but anyway... Spiderman always kicks the bad guy's ass and delivers them to the cops. So... maybe we could build your evidence, then make sure this person isn't a threat when the cops decide to go after her." Which meant that he was implying he could literally do something, but he was hoping she'd give him something in exchange.

"How would we do that?" Kaysen asked doubtfully. "Plus, it's not like in the comics they go over the idea of like, a lengthy investigation and shit. Which this would probably be. So who would even know when they went for her. I just..." she sighed and dragged her fingers through her hair, getting it out of her eyes only for a moment before it fell right back in. "I dunno. What could you do? What's your plan there?"

"I don't entirely have one," he admitted with a humorless smile, "But I did just now suggest all of this? I'd come up with one in time, I think. And there's actually a lot of comics that cover lengthy investigations, believe it or not. They don't sell too well, but they exist." What could he do? He could probably kill this woman, but Porter felt queasy even admitting that was an option. as Kaysen herself had said, it'd just be too creepy if that didn't bother him. "I could stop her if she came after you," he said eventually, "And if we found her first? I could keep her out cold until we could give her to someone who knew what to do with her."

"Why, do you know ninja moves or something?" Kaysen asked, sounding doubtful. She still wasn't sold on the idea of Porter helping at all, and was under the impression that he already knew too much. She was going to have to swear him to secrecy, that was for sure. God, this was just...a mess. A mess that made her sick to her stomach, and she really hoped she didn't throw up all over her new deck. That...wouldn't be good.

He chuckled lightly at her question, deciding that with all his new purchases he could almost say yes. Porter sat forward, elbows tucking onto his legs to support him as he leaned. "If I tell you... if I show you? Will you tell me the truth about that 'lighter trick'?" he asked, steeling himself for this. He was assuming as far as Kaysen went, and taking a big risk of his own? But maybe his comic was some sort of divination; a personal commitment to the idea to be more than a parasite. If he didn't use his powers to try and help? What else would he be?

She stared at him for a long few moments, really not sure what to answer there right away. Biting at her lower lip, she had to think. "...Maybe." she said. Which was as good as he'd get. Because she didn't know what he was talking about. So, maybe it would be worth it, maybe not, but she'd see.

He had to trust his gut. He had to. Even if his suspicions about Kaysen were wrong and it had only been a trick he'd never seen? She needed help. What other point was there to owning the mask, the claws, or the time he'd spent learning to shape the energies he could project? This was what he'd always wanted, wasn't it? So stop being such a chickenshit, came the thought in his head, making Porter frown at himself for a moment. "Okay," he said at last, reaching over to the bag of spare parts he'd bought for Kaysen's new deck.

He plucked a wheel free, setting it on the garage floor and lightly rolling it away from the two of them. "Please, please don't freak out," he asked of Kaysen warningly, fingers curling like he might've flicked something away, except that his hand was empty. "By the Vishanti," Porter murmured, fingers snapping out to project a little burst of shimmering energy into the loose wheel. He'd only meant to roll it? So when it shattered into chunks of thick plastic, his surprise was completely genuine. Shit on me... am I getting stronger?

"Holy shit!" Kaysen shouted in surprise, because good lord, had she ever not been expecting that!! She scrambled back a little bit too, but not far, staring wide eyed at the bits of wheel that were kinda littering the garage floor now. "Dude, what the hell?!" she asked, wide eyes on him.

Porter's first reflex was to hold his hands up to her, but after what she'd just seen? Well, he wouldn't blame Kaysen if his hands made her nervous now. This was why he needed to learn to project from his eyes. "Calm down!" he snapped back, shoving his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and drawing in on himself self-consciously. "It's... I have this ability, okay? And it's freaky? I'm a mutant or... or something." Since 'psychic vampire' was still a sensitive phrase. "But I'm not dangerous, and you don't need to be scared. I just... I can help. I can do something with it here, I think. And you need the help, so I need you to see why I think I can."

"You exploded a wheel!" Kaysen said, flinging one arm out to point at where it used to be. "How did you even do that?! Yeah, I get 'ability' and shit, but what the hell is it even?" she demanded, not necessarily afraid, more just massively shocked. Shocked all to hell, even. Because yeah. Damn.

"It's energy," Porter explained simply, wishing he could just leave it at that. "There's that saying? Or... law of physics, I don't know. Energy can't be created or destroyed, only moved from one state to another? So I can... redirect it." Out of living things. Into me. Though he was curious now. Where once even that little display would be a conscious absence inside of him? Porter wasn't even feeling it. That werewolf had been strong in ways he was only now understanding. "I'm sure there's someone out there who could use it to make flowers grow or something? I can knock people out and blow up skateboard pieces."

Kaysen just looked at him for a long moment. "That's freaky." she told him in no uncertain terms. She exhaled, and sat back, moving to flip her new board over so she could sit on it, and she played with the lighter in her hands. "Way freaky. Does everything explode when you hit it?" she asked, watching him not too subtly out of the corner of her eye.

"Would you believe me if I said that was the first time ever?" he asked in response, smiling in awareness of her scrutiny. He'd expected that, because hey, Medea or no? He was a freak of some kind. "I mean, I don't really test it too often? But it saved me last Friday, and nothing blew up when I used it then." Of course, this was a two-way street. Looking directly to kaysen, he was happy with how she was sitting on the board? But also intrigued by the lighter in her hand. "What about that 'maybe' you gave me as far as your trick? Is it really just a trick? Because I'm going to feel like a total idiot if I just outed myself for no reason."

Kaysen shook her head. "It's not a trick." she confirmed. "It's..." she sighed, and flicked the lighter open once more, running the wheel against her jeans to spark it to life, and she looked down at the flame. "I'm still learning this shit." she warned first, before she set the lighter down on the concrete, and then pushed with her...whatever it was that spoke to fire. The flame from the lighter departed from it, and started crawling a line out into the center of the garage. Then, she started spiraling it in, the trail behind it only running for about a foot before it burned out, but she kinda liked doing her little fire snakes. And she just hoped the spiral action was somewhat impressive. "Guess I'm a fire elemental. Whatever that means." she said, voice much quieter than it had been, and she took her eyes off of the flames to look back at him.

To a guy who had to use catch phrases just to throw little glowy balls around, the spiral was very impressive. Especially how she just... concentrated, and it happened. "Holy pyrokinesis, Batman," Porter murmured in awe, watching the air where the flames had been before he looked back to Kaysen. "That means 'awesome', if you ask me," he told her with an astonished grin, relieved that his gut instinct had been right. Medea was totally normal, and he didn't want to be dragging too many people into the weirdness of his life. "How... how do you do it? How long have you been able to? Do you just... think about it or what?"

"I dunno. I guess people are born like this, but I didn't figure it out at all til earlier this year, when I like, fell into a bonfire, and was fine." she told him. She shrugged one shoulder, and let the flame die out. There was a spiral scorch marked into the cement now, but whatever. "I dunno how I do it. I guess I can't be burned. Like...ever. I put my arm on a burner before to test it, and it didn't even hurt." she added. "How I do it...y'know, some things you just don't know how to explain. I just do."

This was definitely something Porter would want to read up on more, which meant another visit to Nevermore was in his future. Because really, he needed information, if only to quell his geeky urge to ask her for a super team-up or something. "Well, you asked me what we could do? About everything? And this isn't like, a clear answer or anything, but it creates some more options." Even if he had more questions, he wouldn't press with them; Kaysen seemed to understand her own abilities about as much as Porter himself. "I wish I had something like not getting burned... I'm still pretty vulnerable to, well, everything." Though some part of him wondered if he would be if he drew in some of her power. But that? Again, that was creepy.

"I'm vulnerable to everything else too, I just don't like, burn my lips on hot chocolate. And really, most people aren't up for trying to set me on fire most days, so it's not that useful." Kaysen said, rolling her eyes though mostly at herself. "And I don't really see how this is like...option-worthy. Everything we could do would like...really hurt someone." And while she could fantasize all day about setting Chrissy on fire--that didn't mean she'd actually do that.

"Well, you need to think of stuff beyond setting people on fire," he suggested, "Like, someone's trying to run? So you cut off their path. Or they're holding a door shut? Superheat the knob." Though really, he figured most of the ideas comics gave him wouldn't work well in the real world, but he was still awed by Kaysen's ability, and if it was him? He'd be trying all of those things. "And... I have another option? But we can wait until you know if you want to actually do this before we get into it. It's... weird. Trust me."

"yeah but if someone was like, running, and I went to do the wall o fire trick, what if they didn't stop in time? Or they fell into it or something?" Kaysen asked. "And heating the doorknob would burn them too, and I'm not sure that it wouldn't set the rest of the door on fire." Because it tended to do that. Unless it was a metal door. But whatever. "Tell me the weird." she said, because really, by now, holding back seemed a moot point.

Ugh. He so didn't want to. He hadn't even told Medea yet, though she was smart and worked in a store full of books about... things like him. But if she knew? She wasn't letting on. Whereas if Kaysen didn't get to know? Porter had a feeling he'd get cut right out of helping with her problem. "Okay. So... I can transfer energy, right? But really, only specific kinds. I can't, like, grab the heat energy of your fire and change it. It has to..." he sighed softly, eyes shutting, "It has to be alive for me to draw from it. Like a leech."

Kaysen let that settle on her brain and simmer for a moment before she spoke. "So like...you steal people's energy?" she asked, confused. Yep. She'd let it simmer and it still didn't make sense. "Like it would make someone tired?" she suggested, sounding like she knew that was wrong.

"I think so, at first," he agreed, nodding a little. "I've never done it to a person, not... not intentionally. There was this kid when I was younger, he passed out, but I didn't even know what I was doing. But if I was careful? It might make them tired, then pass out, then..." Well, Porter didn't think he needed to go on. He knew, too, he'd drained the werewolf dry. "I just... I stick to animals, when I have to do it. Mice and things."

She propped her chin on one of her knees, and pushed herself idly back and forth, eyes on him as she considered. "So...by energy, you kinda mean something else, don't you." she said. If it might cause death, since yeah, she could extrapolate that out. "When you have to do it?" she queried, watching his eyes. "Have to like...you need to?"

He couldn't keep his eyes on Kaysen, they were darting around the garage at first, and when he realized she was watching? He looked down at the cement underfoot, nodding slightly. "I was always sick when I was little. My folks tried everything, and just sorta... waited for the worst. Nothing worked, y'know? And when I figured out what did work? I couldn't tell them. Sometimes I don't need to for a long time, others I end up spending a lot of money on pet mice." At least, he had before. And he'd need to again, just to keep from rousing suspicions. He could probably just buy them and let them go.

"...yeah I guess that'd really suck to explain to the folks." Kaysen admitted. "I haven't told mine about my fire bullshit." she said, making a vague gesture at the spiral on the garage floor. "My brother knows, and Thom does." Charlie did too, but she did cuz she was another elemental, and Kaysen wasn't about to let that drop. "They're like, normal though." she added. "I'm the resident weirdo. Not like that's new or anything."

"My... I guess she's my girlfriend? She knows," Porter offered, smiling awkwardly, "But she's normal too. She just isn't freaked? Or she is, but she's giving me a chance." He was still afraid of that, of things becoming too much for Medea. And if it happened, it would still hurt, but at least now he knew he could commiserate with Kaysen if that day ever came. "And hey, you're not the only weirdo now. If we get a couple more, you know I'm going to buy us matching costumes or something."

That earned a faint little smirk. "Yeah, well, no like, peek-a-boo cut out chests for mine, thanks. I don't have the boobs to back it up. I'm real-girl shaped. We don't get drawn into comics, unfortunately. So, the group might look weird. Couldn't we get matching tattoos or something cooler than undies on the outside and tights?" she asked, going with the light humor.

"If you know someone who'll tattoo us without I.D.? Sure," Porter agreed with a more sure smile, "I'll treat, even. It'll be like Starship Troopers, but our tattoos will make sense." He knew Kaysen was joking around, but Porter was somewhat serious here. If he was helping her, he equated it to a first step towards his dream. And if she had this... power? Well, Porter would take that as a sign that he was heading in the right direction. "But we will need masks. No arguing that one."

"You realize that like...chick superheroes with masks n shit look ridiculous, right? Dudes can pull it off, but you get a chick, and it's all like cat woman, has to be fuckin dominatrix leather or skin tight 'lookit, I have GIRL PARTS!' outfits, to keep the average penis wielder interested." Kaysen said, rocking back and forth on her board again. "Totally not my thing. I'll just stick to the shadows, you can rock a mask."

Porter laughed, knowing he couldn't really argue her estimation of female superheroes very much. The exceptions were few and far between, really. "You'll stick to the shadows while controlling fire?" he asked disbelievingly, deciding to try a gentler tactic instead of outright arguing. Because if past encounters were a basis for belief? Kaysen won her arguments, period. Through sheer stubbornness or not, she did. "It doesn't have to be anything crazy, y'know. Just like..." he trailed, holding a hand over the lower half of his face to simulate his own mask, "...half-mask? Like ninjas wear? And a hoodie or something, just enough to keep you unidentifiable. And yes, I have put a lot of thought into this."

"Well, yeah. I can make the fire light up everything else. Either that or I can be vague and only a sort of outlineish thing walking through the fire. Then I don't need a costume either. I have my hoodie, I like that just fine, so sign me up for the hoodie thing." Kaysen said. "...if we're doing anything. Which I don't know yet. I have to think." she said, spoiling the mood by remembering the root of the conversation.

"It's okay," Porter assured her, "It's a lot to think about. And really, I'm kinda biased on a course of action. So just... be careful? Take your time, but let me know. I'm in, no matter what you opt to do." He rose from the floor slowly, dusting off his backside ad smiling down at Kaysen. "It's good to know I'm not alone in this whole... not-quite-human thing. But I should go, if you've got thinking to do. Sorry about the wheel, too. There's like eleven more? I'm just hoping I didn't ruin the kind you want."

"Pretty sure if you did, I can put up for on my own. Still...thanks for everything." she said in that amazingly awkward sort of manner that really screamed that she didn't get gifts very much and therefore didn't quite know how to properly thank him. "And...I'll like...I dunno. Be in touch or something." she said. Did he have her number? Did she even want him to have her number? She wasn't good with calling people. Hell. she still worked best with texts that she just replied to because she had this insane urge to never not text someone back.

Porter grinned a little as he nodded, figuring that was good enough. They'd swapped numbers when he'd spent the day with Kaysen and Thom, so if he needed to get in touch or she needed to drop a line, Porter figured it was doable. "Thanks for hanging out, and um.... for not freaking? I mean, I get why you didn't, but it's still cool." It gave him that much more reason to keep an eye out for her at school, at the very least. All freaks like us have is each other, he quoted silently. "Hope the board's worth your time and everything."

She looked down at the edge of it, then back up at Porter. "I can work with it." she told him, with the faintest hint of a smirk there. It was as close as she was going to get to telling him he'd done well. That wasn't really her thing, she didn't do praise for anyone. But she probably could work with it. And the daredevil thing was actually pretty cool, all things considered.

The little smirk was enough feedback for him, really. He wasn't a guy who wanted or needed large amounts of praise and flattery, so it told him enough. Satisfied, Porter hiked his backpack fully onto his shoulders and nodded, backstepping for the door out of the garage. "Give me a call," he told Kaysen, "Or I'll let you know if anything's up. But even if you need to talk, you can." Though she had her brother and Thom for that. Still, making the offer known was the important part. "Catch you later," Porter said in parting, moving to head out. The visit had gone entirely different than how he'd planned it initially? But not in any way that resembled 'bad'. Really, it only served to bolster his optimism as he moved out, intent on carrying his hopeful feeling all the way to Medea's house.