Start Something (Lily Nightingale)

[brandon gerard napier]

Notes: TOLD YOU.

The streets of Honey Tree Town had become a regular haunt for the eighteen year old. He had always been invited by the thought of wandering the streets. It never mattered where he was.

His mother used to worry due to the fact that until he was ten he was in New Jersey and she'd never seen New Jersey's streets as being a particularly safe place for children, and Bam had never been able to figure out why... Once they'd gotten to Guildford, in England, his mother had worried a lot less which meant freedom for Bam. But, of course, now they were in a small town, Donna Napier worried even less except for the people who might end up in Bam's destructive way.

This was a worry that had no reason for being around as of yet. Bam couldn't speak for the future, but he doubted that anything would happen to make him that angry and he also doubted that he could control fire in an out of control way when angry. He could have been wrong, though.

Regardless of whether he was wrong or not, however, the streets were where he currently wandered somewhat aimlessly. He had no idea where he was going, nor did he wasn't to know. The whole idea of him wandering the streets was that he could explore a little and find new places. So far, this had gone pretty well, but he wasn't sure how much more of the town he could explore... It seemed to be a pretty small place anyway.

Hooking his lighter out of his jeans pocket, Bam began playing with the lighter by flicking it for the fire to light up and then blowing the fire out. He repeated this a few times before deciding to try playing with the fire a little bit. His fingers danced next to the small flame as he tried to manipulate it. His concentration was fully on the dancing flick of fire that wriggled on its resting spot on the lighter. Bam's eyes narrowed as he mentally told the fire off for being so difficult. It couldn't be that hard to make a tiny little flick of orange do what he wanted it to, could it?

"Why won't you jus' work?!" He growled at the fire before flicking his fingers at it and watching as a small spark jumped from the rest. His grip on the lighter loosened enough for the rest of the fire to die out and Bam watched in almost horror as the small spark rested on the leaf of a plant and began to eat away at the green. This was not fair.

"Okay. Don't work. Please jus' don't work." He hissed at the fire, which was slowly growing, while trying to put it out. Glancing around him, Bam pulled the leaves off that were on fire quickly and flattened them under his almost destroyed red Converse while hoping that no one was watching. He glanced around again to see if anyone was and smiled softly at a few people who were looking at him oddly while waving at them as they passed. Here's hoping no one else saw.

[lily scarlet nightingale]

Lily had spent nearly the entire day looking for something for her brother’s birthday. She’d been browsing a few shops to get a general idea of what to get him. It was more difficult than she expected, but she had a few ideas for when it was closer to the time. She just hoped that they’d still have it in stock when she did and she needed to make sure that no-one else was going to get him the same thing. That was the problem with having a big family. You had to make sure that on things like birthdays people didn’t get two of the same thing. It could really put a crimp on your day. Lily let out a small sigh and made a mental note to remember to get her brothers present. If she didn’t remember, she would forget and then feel guilty and slightly angry at herself for forgetting.

Looking around to try and distract her from the thought, Lily let her senses take in more of the surrounding area. She had been here for quite a while now, but had never felt the need to explore very much. Maybe now would be the perfect time. She had nothing to do and there wasn’t much for her to do back home, so why not? What was that feeling that was stopping her? There was a small nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her to go back home. But she wanted to explore more, see if she could meet anyone, and discover new places. The town might be small, but it had to have some hidden secrets within it right? Lily bit down on her lip to keep herself from smile as she walked off the path and off in a different direction. She wasn’t a goody two shoes and there would always be that rebellious side to her, but there was a part of her that was trying to make a point. She mentally sighed and kept on walking. There weren’t many people out at the moment, which meant meeting someone was less likely. ‘Ah well. Can’t win ‘em all.’ Lily thought as she wandered along.

As she carried along, Lily noticed that a couple of people that were out here and stopped to look at something. When she turned her head in the same direction, her eyes darting around to find out what it was, she found out it wasn’t a thing, but a who. Her eyebrows crinkled together as she tried to figure out what the hell the person was doing. Lily took a few steps closer to have a better look. From what she could see, it was a male and he was stomping on something. Her instincts told her to walk over there and see if she could help. Usually her instincts were correct and so Lily followed it. She made her way slowly over to the male with the red hair. It made her smile a bit as her hand went up to her own hair to brush it back. Focusing back on the male in front of her, Lily took a few more steps forward before catching a whiff of smoke. ‘Smoke? That can’t be right..’ She thought. Then it hit her. Fire!

“Hey. Are you alright there? You haven’t set anything on fire have you?” Lily called out. She might not have perfect control over fire but she could still do something. She looked down at what the guy was trying to stamp out and saw the burnt leaf. That must have been the cause of the whiff of smoke she got. It didn’t look like it had been a massive flame that had caused it, possibly a spark? Thankfully it looked like nothing else was going to catch on fire, but considering how much foliage was around them, something could happen. She had just answered her own question, but that didn’t rule out the other one. Looking back up at the male, she frowned, slightly annoyed at his clumsiness with fire. “You really should be more careful. You never know what could happen when you let sparks drop like that!”

[brandon gerard napier]

Notes: None.

Apparently, Bam's hope for no one to notice wasn't doing much as he saw an orange haired person moving over to him. He was very much reminded of a good friend of his called Harley, though he knew it wasn't her. She would have told him if she was moving from England. So who was this woman? Bam knew that he wanted to find out. He needed to find out. The curiosity was eating at his brain. That was when she spoke and asked her question.

"Not on purpose." Bam snapped almost immaturely, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. His lips curled in instinctual dislike. Anyone who accused him so quickly was not going to be one of his friends. Bam kicked the floor, his lips curling more in annoyance as his mind kept with the memory of what had only just happened. Then she spoke again and Bam found himself glaring at her, his expression now a somewhat sour expression of disdain that didn't suit Bam's features too well.

"You're gonna fuckin' lecture me now?" Bam asked, his arms dropping out of the protective position they'd held over his chest moments before as his hands curled in irritation. "You don't even fuckin' know me. How about you piss off back t'whatever hole you crawled out of an' leave complete strangers who happen t'be playin' with a lighter alone?" He snarled, his heart thudding uncomfortably in his chest as he almost spat out the anger he felt. Bam never usually got that annoyed that easily, nor that quickly, but he considered it easy to see why...

Then again, people telling him what to do were never going to be people he'd tolerate easily. If anything, they usually got a worse time with him than the people who said nothing... And for good reason, in his opinion.

Bam's teeth pulled at his lip softly as he attempted to calm down while telling himself silently that getting angry in the middle of public wouldn't help. For all he knew, it would just cause a fire or something just as, as she seemed to think, careless. His teeth began to grind together as he thought this over and he felt the uncomfortable thudding beginning to come back to his chest while he fidgeted in an attempt at getting comfortable enough to at least try not burning anything around him down...

[lily scarlet nightingale]

Lily took a small step backwards in surprise at the males tone of voice. “Hey, I didn’t mean to sound like you were. It just looked a little dangerous that’s all.” Holding her hands in a surrender type way. She felt a little bubble of anger start within in her. It wasn’t a good thing and would probably lead to some sort of trouble. Hopefully not big trouble, but Lily knew her temper. It would often land her in big trouble and this probably wouldn’t be as different. Just as long as she didn’t burn anything or set anything on fire. It didn’t end well last time she lost her temper and it wouldn’t end well again. From what she saw of the males expression, he was openly glaring at her. Lily steeled her expression, raising an eyebrow in his direction. “Really? You’re going to glare at me now?” Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. ‘How mature’ Okay, she wasn’t the most mature person in the world, but this kid seemed to have problems.

Her expression quickly changed from one of disbelieving to anger, her teeth gritting. She was eerily close to jumping on the guy and punching his lights out. It was safe to say her temper had surfaced. “Look you little shit; if you want a fucking lecture, you’ve got one. I don’t know or care who the hell you are, but as long as you’re playing with a lighter, it is my business. You could do some serious damage with that stuff, no matter how much control you might have. One slip is all it takes. So why don’t you learn some God-damned, fucking manners because next time a stranger might not be around to save your sorrow ass from burning up.” Lily said, her voice getting colder and dangerous as she took several steps towards the boy. Her fists were now clenched, her nails digging into her palms so much that they would probably leave dents. She began to feel her palms warm up with the familiar warmth of fire. Lily might not be able to blast fireballs from her hands but if her hands touched the male, it would burn. Thankfully, she had managed to get used to it along with her temper, but it still hurt a little. And this kid was starting to grind her the wrong way. If things started to get out of control, who knew what could happen.

It was a few small seconds that took for Lily to try and calm herself down. However no matter what she thought of, her temper was boiling down. It was rare something could make her so angry that she couldn’t calm down after a few seconds of venting. Lily then realized that her breath was coming hard and fast and just how close she was from the male. She was only two metres or so. If she just inched over a bit more she could reach out to touch him..No! She wouldn’t hurt the boy unless provoked. She had been provoked by what he had said and she was only trying to him. Oh how many times that had got her into arguments. Hopefully they were away from any sort of building to resist burning anything to the ground. Though that couldn’t be said for how they might burn each other.

[brandon gerard napier]

Notes: I told you I can ramble with no muse. XD This is how it looks.

The teen couldn't help laughing softly and shaking his head as she got angry with him. She was seriously going to lecture him? Did she not know who he thought he was? Oh, well, of course she wouldn't given that he hadn't told her anything but really.

"You're talkin' t'me about manners?" He asked, frowning with a wide grin on her features. He had noticed her getting closer and decided to close most of whatever gap remained. They were now close enough that he could feel her breath easily and he smirked. "While I'm learnin', I can come teach you some Honey. Maybe then you'll learn when t'stay the fuck away from people who don't give a fuck." He said, his voice growing louder with each word after 'Maybe'. He leaned forward a little more before his lips curled into a small sneer. "Or maybe you want t'go near strangers. Is that your night job? Bet you get a little too friendly with them ones, though." He spoke quickly, his voice lowered to stop anyone else from hearing his words as his eyes fixated on hers unblinkingly. A small snort escaped him. "Not that there's anythin' wrong with that but you might wanna go t'someone else for a fight - I don't tend t'hit girls."

Bam stopped leaning towards her and tilted his head back a little in what may have looked like superiority. Most of the time, that's exactly what it would have been, but he didn't think that he was superior to her. He considered them both on the same rung of the ladder, so to speak. Of course, rungs didn't normally have enough space for two people but it was a metaphorical ladder so it could be as big as anyone wanted it to be. The point was that he considered her to be his equal, though she would probably be more physical with her anger than him.

Considering this for the moment, Bam's eyes glazed over before he brought himself back to reality with the realisation that he was gripping his lighter tightly in his hand. Slipping the metal item into his pocket, the 5'6 teenager gave a hint of a sigh and looked at the woman. His heart-rate had calmed down considerably since moments before but he still felt something rushing through him. Was it anger, blood or adrenaline? He suspected the latter as he rubbed his ear with the side of his index finger and his thumb, a distracted expression back on his features before he remembered that she was there and watched her with a straight back.

[lily scarlet nightingale]

This guy was pushing all the wrong buttons with her and Lily felt her temper rise. It was so close to the point where the next thing he said would probably cause him to get a red mark across his face. The gap between them closed and Lily’s hands were shaking as she gulped a little. Her lips pressed into a near smooth thin line as her temper rose even higher. At the last words he spoke, she felt all her anger build up and before she knew what had happened, her fist, which had warmed up considerably, had collided cleanly with the guys cheek. Or nose. She definitely knew she’d made a connection with something of his, she just wasn’t sure what. Lily’s temper had got away from her again. And when it built up to this sort of point, she usually got violent, which normally ended up with her being hauled away by someone or other. She ignored the throbbing pain in her hand as she grabbed the guy by the scruff of the neck. “I don’t give a rats ass if you give a fuck or not, but as long as I smell smoke and you get out of hand, I will come and see what the problem is. Maybe the next time you set something on fire, it’ll be that dumb ass head of yours. Maybe it’ll burn some sort of sense into that empty ass head of yours.” With each word, Lily could feel herself pressing her knuckles into the guys chest.

Releasing the guys shirt, Lily took a step backwards from the guy, keep his eye on what he was doing. She needed to calm. Pretty damn soon in fact. There were welts from where her nails had dug into her palms and her fist was red and was hurting slightly. Her palms were still a little warm since she’d opened them up and thankfully no flame had erupted. “At least you know not to hit girls though. I guess there are some sense of manners in that dipshit brain of yours.” Lily mumbled, not caring whether or not he heard her. She was still shaking a bit from what she’d just done, combined with the small amount of anger still within her. Now that she’d done something about it, she had felt all the anger drain out her. That didn’t mean that her temper wasn’t there, nor that she was snappy. She knew that sarcastic comments were going to come flying out of her mouth, but whether or not she could help that depended on what the name himself said.

Taking a few small breaths, Lily felt the heat drain out of her. What a fun packed night this had turned out to be. Looking down at her hand, Lily saw the red marks of where it had collided with the mans face. The Fire Sprite lifted her hand in front of her, moving her fingers gently. It hurt a little bit, but nothing seemed to be broken. She could move all of her fingers. There was definitely going to be some swelling either later on or tomorrow morning, but it was something that time itself could heal. Focusing herself back on the man in front of her, Lily’s eyes narrowed, wondering what his next words and move would be.

[brandon gerard napier]

Notes: None.

Bam wasn't expecting to actually be hit around the face by someone in the middle of the street. It wasn't really the middle but it didn't matter. He wasn't expecting someone to hit him in the street, with people walking past. As such, he was hit in the face and stumbled slightly backwards before he felt her grabbing his shirt. She spoke and Bam couldn't help as his lips slowly split into a grin. The eighteen year old was hardly listening but somehow able to register what she was saying regardless.

A laugh escaped when she let go and stepped back. He was doubled over now, laughing insanely as he realised that he'd actually been hit while his cheek began to throb dully with the pain that had come from her punch. She didn't look all that strong, but Bam wasn't surprised to find that she was. He knew that girls were usually stronger, more determined and generally more dangerous than ever expected...

Choking on some spit as he laughed, Bam put his palms on his thighs and coughed before spitting out what had made him choke onto the pavement. Straightening up with some effort, Bam's gaze locked onto her and, with a Cheshire Cat-like grin plastered onto his face, Bam giggled again.

"Go on. Burn some sense int'me. Merlin knows you ain't gonna be able t'knock any sense int'this head. Loads o'people have tried an' no one's succeeded." He told her, his voice low and the word said quickly. He didn't blink while he watched her and only moved to get closer to her. His eyes were widening a little while his lips curved, if possible, more than they had already. His gaze remained on her or, more specifically, her expression. "Do it. You know you want t'. Go on." Bam said, his voice a little louder than before. "Show me what you're made of." He hissed, the grin not fading from his lips and his eyes not shrinking from the size they'd reached.

"Or," he began, giggling a little now. "jus' hit me again." He suggested, barely moving except shaking a little with the giggle that were coming and going. "Do it. You know you want t'. Go on. Do it. Hit me." His eyes widened as much as they could now and he tilted his head to one side while it was bowed, his back hunched. "Hit me." He hissed, grin still not fading while his arms hung limply at his sides. "Hit me." He snarled, the words sounded with a pause in between them. The tone Bam's voice now held was not only one of invisible anger but also challenging her, almost trying to taunt her as if to tell her that he knew she wouldn't do it without actually voicing the words. He wouldn't unless she made him. He didn't need to, most of the time...

Bam's head returned to how it normally was, though still bowed a little, while his gaze remained on the orange haired woman in front of him and it occurred to him that he still didn't know her name. Odd...

"I get it," He began, head tilting back again while he stood up straight once more. "You're a coward. You'll hit me once without a thought but twice? With this many witnesses? You wouldn't dare." He giggled a little and shook his head before tapping his cheek. "Do it. Prove me wrong." He dared her, eyes narrowing a little while a smug smirk fixed itself to his lips. "Right here." He said, turning his head to show her his already injured cheek while tapping it with his index finger as if to show her where to hit. He hoped she'd do it, just because he enjoyed getting reactions from other people. The boy couldn't help it, sometimes. Hell, he didn't want to help it sometimes! It was just too easy. Too fun. Too tempting, really...

Having moved his finger from his cheek, Bam waited for her reaction with his head now turned towards her again though his back hunched a little once more as he waited with a wide grin.

[lily scarlet nightingale]

Lily got half the reaction she was expecting. He stumbled sure but then he started laughing. This guys was absolutely nuts and no matter how many times she would punch him like he was taunting her to do, was she going to be able to knock the crazy out of him. He was already too far along for any sort of help. Instead, Lily steeled her expression, her gaze not leaving the mans face as he hissed the words out, getting a little closer to her. Lily was tempted too. There was no doubt about it, there was a temptation there. And she could also feel her temper rising again. Once it got started it was hard to completely stop. It annoyed her. It annoyed her face and it wasn’t something she could easily get out of. She had tried, time and time again. Her eyes narrowed even more at the guy. Taking a few deep breaths, Lily turned her back on him, trying to sort her head out. It wouldn’t help if she was facing him and what with his taunts, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to give in. After a few seconds, her head was partially clear and she turned back to face him.

It wasn’t long though, before he started taunting her again. He finished soon after and something within Lily just clicked. A wide grin spread across her face and she started letting out a laugh, which started to sound more and more manic. She didn’t know what had happened, but she definitely knew that the serious side of her had gone. It wasn’t a short laugh. It last for a minute or two before Lily became breathless. She had to lean against a post to stop herself from falling over. “Ha…You’re not…haha..joking are you? Ha.” A small, slightly insane smile on her face. Lily eventually closed the gap between them. “Fine then, if you want me to hit you again. I’ll do it.” Instead of going for the face like last time, Lily grabbed the guys shirt, straightening him a little bit before her knee went roughly in the right where the sun don’t shine. Of course she might be a little bit off, but a grin appeared on her face. Letting go of the guy completely, Lily then cuffed him, rather hard with her left hand around the back of his head.

“Who cares about the witnesses? By the looks of things, they don’t even care.” Lily then hissed. Quickly glancing around, she noted that her statement was of some sort, correct. Everyone was passing on their merry way, without a hint of acknowledgement in their direction. There were one or two people that nervously glanced their way, but quickly hurried on. “Happy now you crazy fool? Or would you like me to burn that pretty head of yours as well?” Lily then asked, bending over slightly to have a look at the male. “Or has ickle, didums had enough fighting and run home to his mummy?” Standing up straight and letting out a small laugh, Lily took a few steps backwards. “You’re pathetic.” She didn’t know what his next reaction would be, but taking a few more steps backward seemed like a good enough idea. Her anger wasn’t there now, only a sense of comfort. What had happened earlier had obviously had an effect on her because this certainly wasn’t how she would normally act.

Notes: Now I am going to crawl into a pit and hope that they don’t set each other fire. Because the way Lily’s looking, it certainly looks like she might. O.o

[brandon gerard napier]

Notes: I've never been able to write Bam like this before. So damn excited for your reply to this now...

Bam was almost disappointed when she turned away from him. He was enjoying himself too much with this. Too much, too quickly. She had turned away until his second around of taunts at which point Bam got a reaction he wasn't expecting. She started laughing and Bam wore a somewhat confused expression as she asked if he was joking. His expression was replaced with a Cheshire Cat-like grin once more and he straightened his back out now while waiting for her to do something as he shook his head. He was expecting her to punch him and started laughing softly when she grabbed his top, believing that she didn't have the guts to hit him again and so was caught by surprise when there was pain in his crotch.

Giving a couple of loud coughs as he slowly crouched down, one of Bam's hand went to the injured area to protect it from future attacks while the other pressed against the ground softly. He hadn't felt the scuff due to the other pain he was dealing with at that moment and took a moment before he began giggling again. The giggling was most amused, though there was a hint of an 'ow' between every other giggle. His forehead was pressed against his knees as he giggled until he heard her asking her question. He looked up at her with a grin, still giggling very softly now.

"You- You think I- I'm p-p-pretty?" He breathed through his giggling before it turned into full out laughter. His head tilted forward again and, now in a ball once more, he shook with the laughter that was escaping him carelessly. He just caught what may have been an attempt to taunt him and Bam gave a snort before he burst out laughing, his head pressing more against his knees as he slowly stopped breathing from laughing too hard.

At her last comment, Bam's laughter stopped abruptly and he looked at her with almost child-like hurt in his expression. "If I'm so pathetic," He began to growl out, slowly standing now that he was sure the pain was fading. "then why are you wastin' your time on me. Let me tell you why," He snarled, moving forward slowly as he spoke and then darting a hand out with the aim of grabbing her upper arm tightly. "because I'm not as pathetic as you want t'believe, Sugarpuff." He told her with a hint of a hiss on his words. His lips curved into a grin.

"I win." Bam said, his voice now deadly calm with a shadow of insanity behind his tone before he moved away and laughed. It wasn't a normal, humoured laugh, though. It was continuous, insane and ever so slightly high pitched. It had all the makings of a horror movie laugh, except for the countless deaths that would be required for a horror movie... Perhaps a better laugh for a comic book villain...

His gaze was fixed on the orange haired woman as he stepped back until he hit the wall of the building behind him, his lips pulled into a grin still. The beginnings of a smirk were beginning to twist the expression, though, with each passing moment before he began laughing softly while watching her for what she'd do next.

[lily scarlet nightingale]

Lily was expecting him to keel over. However, she was not expecting him to keep on laughing. This guy is ten shades of crazy. She thought, a clear sign of what she was thinking on her face. She backed up a bit again, seeing as nothing was getting through to him and it wouldn’t be long before fire would end up flaming from her hands. She had already done too much and doing that would definitely end badly for both of them. Plus there was no way to fully tell what element this guy was, if he was a sprite at all. He certainly had a thing for fire, Lily had that much written out for her from earlier. When the male looked up at her with a grin on his face, she gulped a little, keeping her gaze fixed on him. Her laughing from earlier had disappeared and had been replaced by a fluttery sort of feeling. She wasn’t the sort of flight person, but right now she was really considering it. This guy was crazy in so many ways possible and Lily had no idea what he would do next.

But, the next thing he said put a stop to those thoughts. “Yeah, I think you’re pretty. Maybe we could go out and get our hair dyed together or sit and watch a girly movie together.” Sarcasm and a fake sense of happiness dripped from each and every one of her words. Her eyebrow then raised after a expression of ‘are you serious’ settled on her face. “Are you fucking kidding me? You look like you’ve been dipped in a pool of freezing water. Have you looked at yourself lately?” Lily let out a small laugh before continuing to watch the guy. How this guy hadn’t been locked up in a mental institution was beyond her right now. It was quite obvious that someone should’ve. Quite a while ago in fact. Her attention was quickly snapped back to the man when he started talking again and his hand grabbed onto her arm. She very nearly flinched, but managed to keep herself in check just at the last minute. “Maybe if you weren’t being an idiot and nearly setting yourself on fire I wouldn’t have bothered. But since you were and I have a sense of not wanting to see people burn, I decided too.” Lily said calmly, nearly hissing out the words. “But you know what? Since you don’t think that you are worth it, I hope you do burn. One less psycho maniac loose in the world.”

Lily let out a small laugh at his other comment before flipping him the bird. They watched each other for what seemed like a few minutes before she decided to do something. “You know what. You aren’t worth my time. You’re not interesting at all.” She said, waving him off as she turned around. “Go and see if you can find some ants to burn or something since you have such a keen interest in burning shit.” Lily started to walk off, glancing over her shoulder at the guy. The anger was still there, but she had come to the conclusion that nothing was going to get through to this guy. Not her temper. Not a knee to the crotch. Nothing. Better leave him to burn the whole town to the ground to be honest. She thought, letting her shoulders shrug at the thought.

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