May 17th: It's just grass...

[David Renko]

Renko was kneeling next to a patch of grass his gauntlets glowing brightly. Grass grew out of control for a moment before exploding...messily.

"Bloody," Renko sputtered wiping bits of grass out of his eyes, "Stings like hell."

((open thread))

[Brett Wakely]

Three identical people were walking across the quad. One of them was holding a piece of paper and apparently quizzing another one.

"The English king who led his troops to victory in the Battle of Agincourt was...?"

"Henry V. Duh."

"And the French commander?"

"....Damn. Who?"

"Charles d'Albret."

"I knew that..."

[David Renko]

Renko looked up at the multiple Brett's as he made another attempt at manipulating another patch of grass. Not looking at what he was doing probably wasn't the brightest idea, and the grass shot upwards all around Renko and Brett.

"Couldn't get any worse right?" Renko asked himself.

That was of course when the grass exploded.

[Brett Wakely]

There was a collective "Whoa!" from the trio as the green blades burst into the air. Two of them vanished to leave one wiping off his clothes.

"I've seen a lot of mutant powers living here, but never exploding grass. Oh, hey, I remember you!"

[David Renko]

Renko coughed for a moment.

"Should not have inhaled," Renko said, "Hey Brett. Sorry about the whole exploding grass thing."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

A large light brown wolf that had been running around the quad managed to bolt right past the exploding grass cloud and yelped in surprise as it slowed down, stopped and shook itself uncomfortably while pawing at its eyes. The wolf padded ungracefully over towards Renko and sneezed several times before sitting down, and staring at him with as close to a bemused, "Really?" look on it's face as it could.

[Brett Wakely]

"Now I'm going to look like I've been playing football all day," he said, looking over at the wolf as a smirked, thinking the same thing.

[David Renko]

Renko looked down at the wolf.

"I think I've reached a new level when dog's are giving me that look to," Renko smiled ruffling the fur on the dog's head. After all it was a dog, right?

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

The "dog" gave the closest approximation to a smile that canines can do. And then started getting bigger...

"So how are you managing to make the grass explode, Mr. Renko?" asked the werewolf before sneezing again, and continuing to shift to her human form. She stood before the assembled group in what more or less was a bikini made of material that shifted with her. "Power practice gone awry?" she asked with a cheerful smile, and a sniffle.

[David Renko]

I just...

"Not awry, so much as I don't have enough fine control to manipulate living things. Manipulating something like metal is fairly simple since it is mostly one consistent substance, something alive is not. You're trying to balance control over numerous chemical reactions, and substances. When I manipulate the grass it grows in a stable way before tumors start to form, reactions break down or go out of control. Eventually things explode like they did then, or simply dissolve into nothing," Renko continued babbling along this line as he attempted to buy as much time as he could.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Well, better grass than small woodland creatures or fellow students, right?" she smirked.

[David Renko]

"It would be a whole lot messier," Renko said, "Also I think it's a bad sign if I went around blowing up small animals."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Yes. And I think the squirrel girl that lives on campus might have something to say about it too," she smirked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, don't think we've met," she said, turning to Brett. "I'm Stephanie. Hope I didn't startle you more than the exploding grass."

[Brett Wakely]

"No, I'm more apt to expect werewolves than exploding grass I think." Maybe not pretty werewolves, though. "I'm Brett, good to meet you."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"You're too kind, Brett, " she smiled. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[David Renko]

"Sorry about err...petting you there," Renko said awkwardly.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie smiled, either unaware or choosing to ignore the possible double entendre, "You kind of expect it when you go up to someone looking like that."

[David Renko]

"You'd think I'd be able to see the difference between a wolf and a dog," Renko said.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Most wolves wouldn't come up to you like that. Many dogs would. So I can see overlooking that," she smiled.

[David Renko]

"You are striking no matter what form you take," Renko smiled, "So perhaps I was just blinded by that..."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Flatterer," she smiled, almost blushing.

"I guess you hadn't seen me shifted before. I'll admit, it's not a bad look."

[David Renko]

"It is rather impressive," Renko said, "Must be hard fitting through doors."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"It is. I try to avoid being fully shifted inside...I tend to feel a bit more claustrophobic, both from nearly hitting the door frame and from just being a bit more comfortable outside when my other half is out to play."

[David Renko]

"Was that what you were doing before this?" Renko asked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Steph smiled, "Yes. I wanted to go for a run and figured I might as well let her out to enjoy the fresh air. If I don't let her out every once and a while she can get pretty feisty, and then unfortunate things tend to happen. I chased a squirrel shifter around the quad for a good twenty minutes a week or two ago."

[David Renko]

"Hopefully that ended well," Renko said, "I probably would've heard something if it didn't, but..."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Quite thankfully, it did," she replied, but shivered a bit. "It's not quite swimsuit weather out here yet. Would you be bothered if I talked to you while shifted?"

[David Renko]

"I don't, actually I'm kind of curious to see you fully shifted," Renko said, "Not that I'm not going to be suitably impressed."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie smiled, and let the change wash over her. She rolled her neck around and grimaced slightly as her bones and muscles rearranged themselves and her face contorted into a muzzle. It wasn't long before she stood before him, almost a foot taller, and quite a bit bulkier. Her fur was a rich, dark auburn with sandy-colored patches along her front, her hair still visible, a wild mane reaching to almost the small of her back.

"There we go," she said, her voice huskier, and her words not quite perfectly formed, "No danger of getting cold this way. Plus, the more I try and talk like real person in this form, the easier it gets."

[David Renko]

Renko whistled.

"Practice makes perfect," Renko said, "Wolf snout wasn't really made for human speech."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"It took months to get much more than a mangled few words out," she explained, a few noticeable pauses between some of her words. "Howling, however, is quite easy. Good stress relief too."

[David Renko]

"Does the full moon call to you?" Renko smirked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Truth be told, maybe a bit," she said with the closest she could get to a smile.

[David Renko]

"Are we sure you're not some magical werewolf trying to sneak into a mutant school," Renko teased briefly before circling around Stephanie to take a more thorough look at her.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"No," she said. "That'd be Murphy. I'm just a shifter."

Stephanie was an impressive specimen from pretty much every angle. Her fur was completely dark on her back, and she had a rather long tail. Her long arms were tipped with wicked looking claws, and she was solid muscle underneath all of the fur, but at the same time, she had a graceful air about her.

[David Renko]

"It's almost like looking at a dancer..." Renko trailed off before he completely processed the bit about Murphy.

"You're joking right?" Renko asked, "I mean mutants are caused by genetic variance, but magic?"

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"I was a dancer. Cheerleading and dance team from four to 17," she answered before his realization.

"Not all the time. Came as a surprise to me too. Seems magic and curses are more real than we usually think."

[David Renko]

"It shows," Renko said, "Grace and well...size don't always go together, but they certainly do for you."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"That's very kind of you," she said a bit bashfully, "thank you."

[David Renko]

"But then again I trip over myself, blow up patches of grass, so grain of salt," Renko smiled.