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Sylvia had made arrangements to meet Kel in her garden after dinner.  She needed to talk to him about something.

It's dark after dinnertime, which is just what Sylvia wanted, since the garden isn't a particularly private spot.  She doesn't want the neighbors on the other side of the Avery-Vaughn house dialing 911, and she's afraid they might.  There might be blood.

The Avery-Vaughn garden might not be as decorative as the Stilleys' garden.  Mitzi has her beds of layered compost going to seed after the summer harvest, and nothing more than pumpkins and squash still grow.  In theory Sylvia's lured Kel over with the promise of a couple of pumpkins for his front porch.  She has garden shears in her hand--the big ones one might use for chewing through pumpkin vines--and as they walk through the rows of ballooning orange fruit, she makes casual conversation.  "Hey, Kel?  Are you looking forward to meeting with Jack?"

Kel smiles widely, "Another super-soldier?  I'm sure it'll be exciting.  I just hope he doeasn't launch into old war stories likes gramps does...those things are boring."  Kel picks through the pumpkins, occassionally leaning down and performing odd inspections.

"He looks different from your grandpa.  Younger.  I mean, he's not young.  He's like teacher-age, so kinda old, but still, he doesn't have the grandpa look to him."  If she's babbling, it's because she's trying to work around to her secret motive for asking him over tonight.

"Hey, um, there's something I wanted to tell you."  She clears her throat, trying to spit out the right words in the right order, nervous as hell.  "You know, it was really nice of you to hang with me all summer.  It meant a lot to me that you took me around the neighborhood with you."

"Oh?" is Kel's only response to the fact that Jack is a young man, he then listens to what she says about the summer and nods, "It was nothing, Syl.  Loads of fun really, I always wanted like, someone who was on the same level and would enjoy it like I did."

She's nodding, still taxiing down the runway, not quite ready to take off.  "I think . . . I think I could say that you're like my best friend in Chicago.  I mean, for sure, you're my first friend in Chicago.  And you're really, uh, tough and brave and. . . ."  She begins to think this is coming out all wrong.  "I have a favor to ask you."

Kel pats on a pumpkin, and lifts the shears from Syl's hands as he begins to cut away the vines, he looks up at her and says, "Sure thing Syl, what do you need?"

Sylvia gives him a pensive look, clears her throat, and asks, "Do you trust me?"

Kel looks at her like she's crazy and then goes, "Of course I trust you Syl."

Sylvia nods gravely.  "Then I need you to do three things.  One, close your eyes and stick out your hand."  She waits for him to do so.  "Two, hold real still."  She waits for him to steady himself.  "Three--"  She cringes.  "--don't hurt me afterward."

She brings those big pumpkin-cutting garden shears up and holds them, scissored open, over Kel's little finger.  She waits.  She stares.  She grimaces.

Then she changes her mind, hefts the closed shears in the palm of her hand, and uses them like a club to smack him in the side of the head.

[D, this is Sylvia's test to see if her powers will inflict imaginary damage.  The garden shears aren't real.]

Sylvia swings the shears and they pass through Kel without harm.

OOC: She knows they aren't real and since he can't perceive what's happening does not require a Save.

"Aw, dammit," she says.  The garden shears fade from existence, and she sighs.  "You can open your eyes now."

Kel opens them timidly, and looks around and says, "Ohhhh Kay...so what was that about?"

Sylvia looks ruefully at Kel and suspects her whole experiment has been poorly designed.  "Can I hit you with a brick?"  She might be joking.

Kel's eyes bulge a little, and he says, "I might be able to be thrown through brick but I'd rather not, well...ya know...get hit with one."

"Maybe try to burn your finger with a lighter?"  She bears the flame of eternal hope, though not literally.

Kel laughs and says, "Yea sure."  He holds out his hand and then says, "Didn't know you had one though.  I mean I have one but it's in my room right now..."  He pats his coat to make sure and then nods, "Ya know it's really cool actually if you leave just your fingernail over the flame, it feels like it's expanding."

Sylvia gives him a grossed-out look.  "Yuck."  She reaches into the pocket of her cardigan and pulls out a dingy plastic Bic lighter.  She flicks it to life and holds it out.  "As long as you can bear it," she tells him.  "For science."

OOC: Will Save DC 14 from Kel.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=738863 Whee flames!

Kel let's the flames dance on his skin for a time, then pulls back.  It hurt, but there is no damage to his skin.

Kel smiles, "Nothing like a little fire.  Still though stung a bit."  He inspects his hand and then raises an eyebrow, "Heh, no burn."

Sylvia gives the lighter a dubious look and then, for the sake of showmanship, turns it into a ball of flame that rises off the palm of her hand as if she were one of the illustrations on Donnie's wall.  "Dumbledore, eat your heart out," she murmurs, morose.  "It hurt, but it didn't burn, huh?  Well, that's kinda maybe not useful at all."

Kel's jaw drops a little and he says, "Pretty damn impressive illusion Syl.  It hurt, I mean sure no burn but it still hurt.  It's a good start, ya know."

"At least I can't burn anything down."

Kel laughs heartedly and then nods, "But that's a good thing you know, unless you want to burn stuff down..."  He eyes her in a mocking form of caution.

[Done?]

[I'm good.]