Private Friends of the Flame

Just another day in woods. Except there was something special. Felicity was testing something she'd cooked up in the shop, inspired by a show she saw on the Internet, and she was really questioning why she hadn't thought to do something like it before. Punching with shotgun shells? Now that was something she couldn't wait to try out. It took a bit of trial and error to get the firing mechanism right, but the latest prototype just got a new safety feature that she adapted from her 'Lighters'. It had to be remodeled a bit to be sturdy enough for the recoil, but it worked well enough. Felicity stood in the middle of a charred clearing, the unofficial mark of her 'training grounds', which just meant she burnt the ground a couple of times before. It was a lucky find. The clearing was large enough to stop an accidental fire, and a stream was nearby. She hadn't had any accidents yet, but she left a bucket hanging on a tree for emergencies. She had these armored bracers on her wrists, which had a tube mounted on top. The outer layers of these bracers were bulky and could slide up and down her lower arms, and could be pulled further up to allow loading of specialized cartridges on belts. She put on her orange AR visor and pressed a button on her headgear and a number of holographic attackers appeared. Her headphones provided the audio feedback of her mock targets and after starting up the simulation, those targets went rushing after her. Loud blasts could be heard as she punched the air in the direction of her targets. When her fist would stop, firing pins in the outer layers of the bracers would hit the loaded shell and cause a blast to shoot out of the tube. It was as loud as a gun shot. But Felicity didn't load in any kind of standard ammunition, but instead a special cartridge that just made a plume of fire when activated. She kept on fighting virtual targets until all her ammunition was out and the air was left with a heavy scent of charcoal. Then it was time to test another kind of ammo, one that would fire out a fireball that could sustain itself for a distance before it'd consume its 'core'. How far? She was needed to test it out. And so she continued with her testing, not only getting a sense of ecstasy from feeling the mechanisms in her creation working fluidly, but from the warm glow of the fires as well.

Shot after shot, the virtual targets disappeared. The fireballs didn't have that much range, dissipating after a few meters, but that could be improved. Those that hit the ground before snuffing itself out from lack of fuel burst into a plume at an angle as the cores shattered. They were fragile, but gave a good effect. Felicity had been doing this kind of thing out in the woods and she hadn't seen a lot of people around there. And that was before she was playing with loud toys. So when she noticed a form that was watching her, she thought it was just another target. But it was a split second after the shot fired that she realized that this wasn't an entity from her AR visor. The fireball didn't reach the figure, thankfully, but Felicity was quick to pull all the stops of her playtime. "Ah shit, are you okay?" she'd say as she pushed the visor up off her face. She was quick to notice the flames around the girl and realized that it wasn't from her. Then she realized the small patches of fire on the ground and the glowing embers of charred trees. The shock of seeing another person almost getting injured must have snapped her back from her high.

"Your spot?" she repeated. "Hope I didn't burn anything of yours. I don't normally touch the trees, but..." she raised her bracers a bit, showing off the bulky accessories. "Had to test these somewhere." She picked up the girl's hints and nodded, Felicity's inner flames somewhat getting snuffed out as the rogue fires were suffocated. "I'd have settled for a bonfire in the middle of the clearing on normal outings." Felicity activated a mechanism in her bracers and they folded and compressed into smaller, but still a bit bulky, accessories. "So, you like fires yourself?"

Felicity sighed, looking around the scorched area. "The fire makes me feel safe. If a mage doesn't make them, they don't hurt me." She looked back at the stranger and committed everything she could to memory about them. Nothing stuck out as special. "Hope you don't mind me using this spot for a camp. I try to keep the urges in check until I can let it go. Not a lot of places to do that in the city."

People just assumed the worst, she thought, hearing the other girl talk. "I've got some precautions in place. Besides, I make sure the ground's scorched to the point where the fire from a bonfire can't get any fuel." She looked back at the trees and sighed silently. "Doesn't look like it right now, but I do try to keep things under control." Felicity blamed it on the mixing of her passions. As far as she was concerned, things went smoothly.