I don't like walking around this old and empty house

[ghostharasser]

Who: The Pines Family + Friends.
What: A Semi-closed catchall for the month of September.
When: Throughout the month of September.
Where: The Bone Fortress + around town.

Content Warnings: PTSD, Hallucinations, Eye Gore, Referenced Insanity. More to be added as they become relevant.


Top-levels below

Comments

[cryptograms]

The change in temperature, the external warmth gradually overwritten by an internal chill, is the first thing Ford notices. It's not unexpected, but it is still interesting and comes with some interesting implications.

"I think we need to test it further." Ford steps back but doesn't reach for a needle this time. "Do you think you could do it again?"

He's prepared this time, so he probably won't almost bolt from the room in terror.

[charlastan]

"I can try?" he says. "I don't actually know how I did it, but..."

It should be simple enough, right? He just has to make the same motion, do exactly what he did when it happened the first time. So he does the same exaggerated shrug with a swish of his wrists, and sure enough his hands ignite in blue flames.

He holds them out to Ford, but he doesn't make any sudden movements. If Ford reaches out, he'll find the flames are very hot. By all accounts, Stan's hands should be charred beyond recognition, but he doesn't so much as flinch. The fire doesn't burn him as it flickers around his hands.

[cryptograms]

Ford is, in fact, prepared this time, and he doesn't even come close to almost bolting from the room. His reaction is actually quite subdued. He doesn't even hesitate to reach out to almost and then actually touch the fire. And when he does make contact with it, he...

Well, he relaxes, even though he does withdraw his hand before it has a chance to actually burn. Despite taking the form of fire, Bill's flames had always had an electric quality to them, emitting more of a tingle than anything else. But the flames surrounding Stan's hands are hot. Unnaturally colored and unnaturally not burning him to a crisp, but not unnaturally searing.

"Do they feel like anything in particular to you?"

[charlastan]

Seeing Ford investigate without running or flinching puts Stan a little more at ease, and he releases some tension from his shoulders.

"Not really," he says. "I can feel it there now that I'm looking at it, but..."

He frowns a little as he tries to find the words and then quirks an eyebrow at Ford.

"...I dunno how to describe how fire that isn't hot feels."

He can't feel the heat at all, and regular fire just feels like burning pain more than anything else.

"Maybe like...air, I guess? I can feel it moving."

Stan wiggles his fingers a little and the flames move with them accordingly. That's something he can feel, but there's no warmth.

[cryptograms]

Air that he can feel moving makes perfect sense to Ford. After all--

"Fire is really just assorted heated gasses, and heat will cause fluctuations in air currents." Basically, Stan's observation tracks, as much as the idea of 'cold fire' ever can.

Ford slides a hand into his pocket and then, without asking, withdraws a loose scrap of paper and places it directly in Stan's on-fire palm. Time to see what happens!

[charlastan]

The scientific explanation goes in one of Stan's very large ears and out the other. The sudden appearance of a paper in Stan's hand gets his attention though - the paper burns immediately, curling in on itself.

Unfortunately, Stan wasn't expecting it at all, so when he sees the paper catch on fire he startles and drops it with a yell.

Hopefully there's nothing flammable in its path on the way down!

[cryptograms]

Fortunately, Ford's lab isn't that hazardous (right now) so the burning paper floats to the bare concrete floor and fizzles out anticlimactically. Ford, of course, looks thrilled.

"Excellent! Do you think you could prevent something from catching fire?"

Idly, he takes a step forward to stamp out the burning paper, but it's up for debate if that's even a conscious move on his part.

[charlastan]

Stan lets him go for it, more than happy to not have to be the one to put the fire out.

"No idea," he says. "Prolly worth a shot though, right? Feel like trying to light something on fire?"

There is a certain amount of mischief in that question, the kind that easily hurtles them both back in time about 55 years or so.