Summary:Rhiannon 'Mack' McKenna and Cain McCormick meet for the first time Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It has been a long day. A major chemical fire caused all manner of 'fun' issues. Literally the blaze took several districts of fire fighters to deal with it, and they fought it in shifts. There were more than a few injuries, both fire crew and the workers at the factory where the fire started.
It is after /all/ this, that Cain finally just…sits. He's not a fire-fighter, but there's plenty to do as an EMT, and he's been working through several shifts himself.
The place stinks of chemicals, and the agents need to neutralize them. It reeks of smoke and ash and pain.
Exhausted, he simply sits for a moment, cheek smudged, jacket off and shirt a bit of a mess, and sighs as he takes the cold bottle of water some kind soul provided and just holds it to his brow, as he leans back against his ambulance.
She'd been called in, showing up for a turn at fighting the chemical fires. Different chemicals cause different flame properties and all, so she'd had to grapple with different tactics. She's taken her helmet off, letting coppery hair straggle free of her complicated braid she'd put under her helmet.
Her jacket is undone, hanging open. She's been sweating, and is flushed and hardly her most attractive. She's escorting another firefighter over towards the ambulance, as he coughs from having inhaled some fumes from burning chemicals. She'll flash a smile at Cain. "Hey, you have an oxygen mask handy? We're running a little short, and he could use some of the pure stuff to help him clear out the fumes."
There's a shout, collective, behind them close to the building. There's a flare up visible, pretty blue and green flames, as Rhiannon turns. She will hold her stance supporting her fellow firefighter, even as one hand reaches out towards the flames. For just a moment, there's a glowing display of wings that unfurl around her, translucent feathers full of colors. The flames whoosh out in moments, and while she exhales heavily, the wings wink out of sight.
NOBODY is at their most attractive after multiple shifts of fighting fire, nope, so when the red-head approaches, Cain pries his eyes open, and then "Mmph." A nod as he rises - smile of his own offered. Sure, it is a bit on the tired side, but the smile is still real enough. He climbs into the back of the ambulance to find an oxygen mask and runs a line from the oxygen in the back to the mask and helps the exhausted guy into the thing. "You'll want to get that checked out, but sure."
He's about to introduce himself when the blue and green flames flare. And then there's wings, Rhiannon could very likely see him seeing THEM. Of course the other firefighter didn't seem to notice anything, other than the fire being snuffed. "Lucky." Cain observes. "Must have not had enough fuel to keep burning?"
Nice of him to help cover!
She's not looking anywhere near the EMT, her eyes and focus on that spurt of flames. She's so used to none of the usual folks she's around ever noticing anything different about her, no matter what she does. She keeps her eyes turned towards the building a moment, closing them as if she's listening for something.
She turns back, opening those golden green eyes to look at him when he says lucky. She shrugs, reaching out to ruffle the damp hair of her fellow fire-fighter. "Probably just a pocket of chemicals that heat finally got to, or that had enough evaporate to have the heat catch the gas alight and then ignited a puddle." She smiles again. "Studied chemistry in college." But those eyes watch him, a faint wariness.
"Yeah, that must be it." The fellow fire fighter says, "Thanks, Mack." Out from the front of the ambulance can be heard a soft snoring, well, not all /that/ soft considering it can be heard plainly, still. Cain looks forward, and shakes his head amusedly as he claps a hand to the shoulder of the guy on oxy. "Looking a lot better…" A glance to the guys jacket. "…Daniels." The guy nods. "Good enough for now."
And then seeing that wary look, he turns his best smile on the red-head. "Cain McCormick." And extends a hand.
She will glance forward at the snoring, before she will smack the back of her fingers against Daniels' jacket. "He was just ready to swoon like a little lady. Couldn't let that happen." She laughs as her fellow unit mate flips her off.
Those eyes find Cain's again, her hand meeting his. She has slender hands, but there's a strength there, and heat. But she was just fighting a fire, and being inside those jackets is /hot/. "Rhiannon Mackenna. Mack for short."
Daniels grins and unmasks, handing the oxygen back to Cain. "Thanks, McCormick." He sort of wobbles to his feet, and then taps a fist to the top of Mack's shoulder. "See you back at the station, Lucky Charm." And exits stage 'get the hell out of Dodge'.
Cain watches the guy go, and then as Rhi's hand touches his there's a /purple/ spark that jumps from him to her, and she can feel a bit of energy added back to her reserves!
Okay, that's…probably not something that's happened to her before.
Cain, on the other hand seems quite familiar with it, and retrieves his hand after the shake, and now it is HIS turn to look a bit wary. "Oh, huh…"
That was definitely a jolt of pure magic. Specifically - the magic of Faerie. Nothing else quite like it.
She smiles, even as she's being called Lucky Charm. She mutters something about not being a leprechaun. She will watch him go, eyes evaluating his steps, making sure he's okay.
MAybe that's why she doesn't expect anything, but her hand jerks back at that spark. Those golden green eyes are wide as she looks at him, staring with her mouth slightly hanging open. "What the hell…" No, that's not the sort of thing she's used to. It certainly never happened to her before, but probably because she'd only been around magic that's in her own family.
"Oh, um, yeah…sorry. The…" Cain is looking around for something to blame, and then he sighs. "…I'm not going to be able to get you to believe it was something innocuous like static charge built up by the Ambulance due to atmospheric conditions, am I?" In point of fact there's even to Rhiannon's surprised awareness a sense of energy to the man quite at odds with how bone tired he looks. He actually seems to hum a bit, on a level that's not even close to that of sound, and that's something she can sense even without trying.
Rhiannon will tilt her head, one stray lock of hair resting against her cheek. "I majored in sciences in College. So no, you won't get me to believe that. And Static charge is blue-white sparks, not purple." She takes a step closer, and he can likely feel that heat off her skin. A heat that has the same level of non-explanation as his hum. Her voice drops, low. "I'll keep quiet about your magic, if you keep quiet about mine."
Intensely aware of the heat the woman radiates, Cain nods once, sharply. "Deal." He says decisively. "With the condition that you join me for dinner at a place of your choosing." He grins then. "And I'm not /just/ trying to get your contact information and a dinner outing. I'll treat." He says with no slackening of that grin. "BUT…you're /literally/ the first person I've met with magic who didn't try to kill me, I…don't know much about it, just what I've managed to teach myself, and I'd very much like to talk to you about that, if that's not some kind of ultra-hush-hush-kill-you-if-I-tell-you thing."
Cain screws his face up in a patently false dubious look. "It isn't like that, is it?" Because, teasing manner or not, he /has/ never met anyone with magic who didn't try to kill him or eat his power.
She's about to step back at his agreement, the sudden fluttering panic in her chest easing. Then she's blinking at his condition of dinner. She looks confused, brows drawing together to form a little crease between them. "Why would I try to kill you, if you weren't trying to kill me? I've just.. never met anyone outside my family and their immediate connections." She shrugs. "None in America, actually." At least none she remembers from being young.
She will arch an eyebrow, head shaking. "You want to take me to dinner, to ask me about controlling your magic?" She's still speaking low, making sure they're not overheard. "I'm not some spook. I don't know if what I was taught will work for you, but I can try to help you."
"I have no idea, and that's one of the things I wanted to maybe talk about." Cain's voice is also pitched not to carry, fortunately his snoring partner is making enough racket up front that it probably isn't a big issue at the moment. His grin fades, mellowing into just a half smile as he corrects gently. "Actually, no, I want to take you to dinner because you're interesting, you have the prettiest eyes I've seen, /and/ because you know more about magic than I do. You'd almost have to. I don't know much at all save what I've read, and who knows how accurate that stuff is?" A helpless and perhaps a bit frustrated shrug. "Not me, that's for sure."
"Seems to me you want to do a lot of talking to a girl you just met, and you have no idea what I do, or how strong it is." Rhiannon hasn't looked or moved away yet. Those eyes roll when he tries the prettiest eyes thing. "Clearly you don't look in the mirror much, McCormick. How do you even function, if no one taught you?"
"Well, I've seen your wings, I've seen you snuff a fire that could have been pretty damn dangerous had it flared up with all these crews as bone tired as we all are and you were not only surprised when you got that jolt, you didn't try to drain me dry, bind me, or kill me." Cain counters. "Those all seem pretty strong evidence to me that you've got skills and morals both." He laughs, eyes bright as she rolls her own. "Well…see…that's the sort of thing you ask me over dinner." Nope, not giving up, not yet anyway.
She pales, just a tiny bit, at the mention of wings. "I forget other people with magic might see them." It's almost a whisper. "I wouldn't know how to drain you dry, that's not my skill set wheelhouse sort of thing." She says, clenching her jaw a moment. "I'm a firefighter, not a killer. Nor have you given me a reason to get out the binding runes." There's a snort. "Takeout, your place or mine. I'm not discussing this anywhere public."
Very sincerely. "They were…glorious." Cain offers, and then he rubs at the back of his neck a moment. "I gave my word, remember? I won't breathe a word." There's actually a little release of tension when Rhiannon admits to lack of draining knowledge. "Thank the Good God." He murmurs. He nods at the firefighter, and doubly at the not a killer, smile brightening again, and then she has to go and mention binding runes, and he sighs very softly until her snort. "Takeout, your place to give you the home field advantage, and agreed that we need to talk somewhere private." He looks at the Ambulance, and then back to Rhiannon. "I'm about wiped out, what say we exchange numbers, and maybe have dinner tomorrow?"
"I'm on shift. How about we exchange numbers, and work it out later, when we can both find a time we're not /on/ shift?" She will lift her eyebrows. If only he knew she hasn't used a binding rune, other than in practice, ever. "I do hope you like Thai food, EMT McCormick."
"See? Just goes to show you how bloody damned tired I am." Cain says with a self-mocking grin. "Perfect." He takes out his phone, unlocks it and hands it over to Mack to enter her details. The wallpaper is a gorgeous photograph of a mountain lake at sunset, the water mysterious and nearly black, orange and red and golden light shimmering over it. It is a really soothing pic, honestly. "Oh, indeed I do, Firefighter McKenna, indeed I do. Native hot, I hope?"
She will type in "Mack" and her personal cell number. She looks up at him from under her lashes when he's discussing native hot. "Well, heat and spice certainly never bother me. Think you can keep up?" There's just a hint of teasing in that, as she hands his phone back.
Once he's got his phone back, he dials her so she can capture his info, and then his grin turns positively impish as he /blurs/. There's a faint breeze that circles her, and streaks of purple that fade swiftly, even as an aura of similar hue sparkles out of existence around him. "Oh, I keep up just fine." He says. "As to the spice and heat, if I can't it won't be for lack of trying, Mack."
She will take in a sharp breath for a moment, before there's a hint of a laugh. "A speedster. Well, this should be interesting." Maybe. She's not sure how anything she knows may apply, but.. well he clearly doesn't have anyone to turn to for help, and she does. "I suppose I'll see you later."
"A speedster." Cain agrees with a smirk. "Oh, I know -my- interest is piqued." Sadly, he really doesn't have anyone else to turn to. I mean, sure, there's some famous magic types - but he doesn't /know/ much about them. Honestly he knows damn little about /her/, but Mack has demonstrated at least that her aims are benevolent, her genuine disgust about killers…yeah, that's rather reassuring to the man. A smile then, no smirk, no grin — a genuine smile. "Sooner hopefully, rather than later." And then the imp is back. "See you 'round, Lucky Charm."
Rhiannon will pause long enough to pin him with a glare. "Mack, or Rhiannon if you must. But only the guys get to call me that." Partially because she hates it, partially out of firefighter superstitions. "Text me later about what days or nights are good for you."
He holds up his hands placatingly, leaning back from the glare. "Hey, sorry, Mack." Cain settles back to normal. "Truly, I meant no offense." And he truly won't ever refer to her that way again. Nope! Lesson learned. "Sure will." And if anyone understands superstition it is a magical speedster with Hobs in his home! Really, for him, the world is a very weird place sometimes. Superstition seems like…prudence.
There's a hint of a grin as he holds his hands up. "It's a superstitious thing. You know us firefighters. But now to go help roll hoses. See you later, spice boy." She will turn, walking away. Somehow, she still has a bit of a gunslinger swagger, despite the weight of her gear.
"Spice Boy?" Cain replies as she swaggers off, sadly the view through full fire gear is not exactly tantalizing, pity that. He can't help but think that he did have that coming. He's thoughtful a few moments, then gets back to work, waking his partner so they can make their final rounds and the get the ambulance back to base for clean up and restocking.
And all during that time he can't get the image of green-gold-brown eyes, and the fire witch who owns them out of his head.
There's worse things.