Any of the anxiousness he had felt earlier was now replaced with mild excitement. Xavier nodded when Jin asked if he’d like to see his powers. He knew nothing about Jin except that he could scorch the ground with his own feet. And that he wasn’t as intimidating as he had originally been.

When Jin mentioned that his power wouldn’t live up to Xavier’s, the teen’s brow bent in an incredulous fashion. His wasn’t that amazing. It would be more impressive if his drawings could be in color, or if they could somehow last longer than a few minutes. He’d never tested both of those theories, though. For one, he’d never had the extra money for colored pencils or crayons; he stuck with pens and regular lead pencils. As for time, he’d never really drawn anything that pushed time to its limits. Now that he thought about it, he had the urge to try both.

Returning back to the situation at hand, Xavier stubbornly lowered himself to sit by the scorch marks. He appeared rooted to the ground, with the will of an ox; he wasn’t going anywhere. Gaze on his roommate, he tilted his head, ready for whatever performance Jin was able to do.

When Xavier sat down, it occurred to Jin that he was entirely set on seeing what he could do. He shrugged, deciding he might as well. There was no harm in showing him his abilities after all, and it wasn't like he planned on revealing his true form, which was hellishly gruesome and entirely the opposite of how he usually looked. He'd never shown that to anyone, and he certainly wasn't going to now.

Breathing in a slow breath, Jin closed his eyes, the air around him beginning to shimmer as burning heat waves rose from his body. Small rings of flame emerged from his head, creeping up and leaving small, ebony horns in their wake. A similar thing was happening to the tips of his ears and the base of his spine, ears sharpening to a devilish point and the long tail of an ox now hanging down from under his jacket.

Within a few moments, the flames slowly died down, leaving the very same Jin standing there, now looking far more inhuman than he had before. Embers rose from his head and shoulders, tail lashing behind him and eyes now rimmed with a fiery red line.

"Told you it wasn't all that cool," he said with a chuckle, razor canines peaking out beneath his lips as he spoke. "The only thing I'm doing is burning the floor."

Xavier’s gaze took in Jin as he stood and closed his eyes. At first, he wasn’t sure what was going on, because for a split second it just looked like his roommate was just standing there. However, his eyes noticed the subtle waves of heat radiating off of his body. Soon afterwards, small flames emerged atop his head to leave behind a pair of dark black horns. Xavier’s lips slightly parted in calm amazement as the small flames appeared in other places, only staying momentarily to expose their true intentions. In just a few seconds, Jin had grown a pair of horns and a very real tail.

He hadn’t realized it, but throughout Jin’s transformation the blue-eyed teen had been leaning forward in anticipation. Now aware of the strain of his spine, he tilted back to take in his roommate. He had never seen such details before on a person. Having only a year’s worth of experience with other supernatural people, he had never been in the presence of a demon before, especially not to his knowledge. He personally knew a few elementalists, two shifters, a healer, and a vampire. Other than that, he didn’t really get to know anyone he saw in the medical wing; he was really only there to preserve that last few living moments. What they were was not important. Even though he had called the school home for twelve months, he actually didn’t know a lot of different types of powerful people. He hadn’t even realized the girl from earlier had been an angel.

A smile tugged at the left corner of Xavier’s mouth, his gaze following the swishing tail behind Jin’s legs. He lifted his eyes to catch Jin talking, but his gaze didn’t linger on his lips for long; the red outline of his roommate’s eyes was fascinating. They looked…good on him. Blinking, he dropped his gaze in time to catch the other’s words. At the floor-burning comment, his smile tugged even more, slightly exposing a white canine. He secretly found Jin amusing, especially when he wasn’t even aware of his own humor.

Jin could have brought out his wings as well, but they were large and such a pain to lug around, so he decided against it, instead settling for those few features that classified him as a supernatural being. His tail stilled when he noticed Xavier staring, a broad grin spreading across his face.

"So?" he asked, his confidence the same as always as he leaned forward, hands resting on his hips. "You've been watching me for an awfully long time, Xav. Don't fall for me now." He laughed at his own taunting, which he meant in a nice way, as he usually did with Xavier. He would never willingly hurt the kid, at least not at the moment.

It was almost as if he'd never seen a demon before, which was honestly surprising. If he remembered right, all those biblical, mythological creatures so widely known in human textbooks were some of the most numerous beings in the supernatural world, and that included hell-dwelling creatures such as himself. Then again, Xavier didn't seem to get around much. He wouldn't even be surprised if the kid hasn't ever seen a werewolf before.

Just to switch gears a bit, and because he wanted to see more of that delighted excitement, Jin brought up a hand, palm facing up as he began to flex his fingers. Within a few seconds, sparks of flame had lit themselves on his fingertips, giving off a decent amount of heat as if to announce that they were very much real.

He had always been proud of his control over fire; it differentiated him from other demons, who usually only reigned over emotions such as lust or envy. Supposedly he'd had an elementalist somewhere on his mother's side, but he didn't really care where the ability came from. All that mattered to him was he had it, and he found it really fucking cool.

At the taunt he playfully cocked an eyebrow, expressing a lighthearted "so what?" look as his eyes gleamed with challenge. Xavier was getting used to the other's teasing. It was a bit off putting in the beginning since he'd never been around much of it. He was either used to blunt taunts that were never meant in a playful way, or blunt kindness. He preferred the latter, of course, but something about Jin's attitude made him think that these harmless taunts were important to his behavior. He wanted to get along with him, especially since they were roommates. Reciprocating the playful teases couldn't hurt anything.

His gaze grew a bit more serious when he noticed Jin begin moving his fingers. The same heat waves from before were simmering from his skin and before he knew it, literal fire had sprouted from his very fingertips. Xavier was in awe. This explained the warmth from being touched earlier; no wonder it had felt like he was getting close to fire.

Xavier was honestly intrigued and genuinely impressed with Jin's ability. He liked that the power was a quick reaction, something that didn't seem to need lots of planning; unlike his own ability, which wouldn't work if he wasn't prepared. Sprouting flames seemed more of an emotional reaction, which was most likely the case, but drawing took patience and time to do, and he could go through several emotions during the process.

Pushing himself onto his feet, Xavier leaned closer, examining the flames with a mesmerized glint in his eyes. It was amazing that something so bright and dangerous could be controlled within someone's very fingers. A smirk suddenly pulled at his lips.

Instant s'mores.

Delighted by the awed expression plastered on Xavier's usually serious face, Jin let the flames die down a bit when he drew near. He had to keep himself steady, careful of any emotional cues that might end up causing the balls of fire to skip and grow higher. He didn't want to end up burning his roommate; that would be a whole 'nother problem that he would much rather avoid.

Finally pulling his hand away a bit to give himself space, Jin let out a slow breath before moving his fingers back and forth, the flames leaping off of his fingers and settling in his palm. With each new jump of fire, the rippling flame in the center of his hand grew larger and larger. It was like some sort of magic trick, the only difference being that this trick was not magic at all. It was very much real.

He took a few steps back, then began tossing the make-shift ball between his hands. He was probably enjoying this little show he was making for Xavier too much, but hey. The kid had done the same thing with that paper bird earlier; he was just returning the favor.

Noticing that Jin had leaned back to give himself some room, Xavier took a step back as well. He was watching the teen with a calm but curious gaze as the fire began to spark again, this time leaping into his palm to form an orb of pure flashing energy. The light reflected into his eyes, swimming against the cerulean sea. He felt like he was watching a true performance, almost like a magic show. Of course, this wasn’t an illusion as the fire sitting in Jin’s palm was so very real; he could feel the warmth coming off of it, even with Jin leaning away.

Once the ball of flames started jumping back and forth from palm to palm, Xavier truly felt like he was at a circus of sorts, watching the incredible fire-man show off his ability to tame nature’s most dangerous element. He was enjoying himself, however, and was quite entertained by the show Jin was putting on for him.

The thought of drawing Jin in this moment swirled in his mind. Sketching out his features and him tossing the flame back and forth would be interesting practice. Having the drawing of it come to life would be a pitiful display compared to the real thing, though. Jin could make the flames do whatever he wanted, but a drawing could only naturally perform what it was given.

Finally deciding to end the show, which had to be done with a thrilling excitement, for he was always one to please the crowd, Jin let the little ball of flame fall still. It continued to ripple and crack in his hand, just as a real fire would, and he had to move his hand occasionally to rid himself of the rather uncomfortable tingling sensation it gave. When he kept a large amount of fire in one place, it never felt entirely pleasant.

Slowly, he began tossing the flame up into the air, wearing an almost thoughtful expression as if weighing his options. All of the sudden, he gave a quick jerking motion, throwing the flame directly at his roommate as one might toss a baseball.

It moved at high speeds, only to part just as it reached Xavier's nose and dissipate behind him in a flurry of gentle embers. Jin wore a satisfied expression, as if he'd just pulled off a trick he never expected to do correctly. He had, in fact, been worried that perhaps he might lose control of the little flame and end up burning Xavier, but thankfully all had turned out well.

His eyes were still somewhat concerned, however, for even if he himself had enjoyed the trick it was entirely possible that his roommate had not. He certainly was a skittish kid, and if he had scared him then he wanted to apologize for it. He kept a careful gaze on Xavier, judging his reaction.

Please don't be freaked out...

Xavier was so pleasantly enthralled by the little demonstration that Jin was putting on that he was definitely not expecting the seemingly tame ball of flames to come hurtling towards his face.

It was like time itself had slowed down. He was seeing the bright flaming orb come his way, but it was like he couldn’t move. He had no time to react, to guard his face or even blink for that matter. It was gradually getting closer and closer; he could feel the temperature of the air around him increase with each thump of his heart.

When time sped up, he was flinching away, his hands rising but not close enough to his face to actually protect anything if the fire had in fact hit him, but it didn’t. Blinking, he uncoiled his muscles and glanced around. The fire was nowhere to be seen. Dropping his hands, he turned his attention back onto Jin and arched an brow. He looked cautious, as if seeing him as a ticking time bomb. To relax the tension, he offered his roommate an impressed smile. The trick actually had been quite impressive, even if he felt like his nose had a slight sunburn.

Jin was relieved to find his roommate perfectly fine, though he had appeared a bit shaken for a moment there. He gave a soft sigh, as if releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and returned the smile with his own proud one.

"Glad you enjoyed it," he mused, putting his hands in his pockets. They felt tingly, almost as if tiny bolts of electricity were jumping through his fingers. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't pleasant either. Like pins and needles, when your leg falls asleep. He grinded his fingers against one another, trying to rid himself of the sensation as he moved to sit on his bed.

With a small yawn, enjoying having his horns and tail out without worry, Jin leaned back on his hands. "That was fun. It's relaxing not having to hide everything."

Xavier watched his roommate return to his bed, which for some reason made him think of the time. He usually had his clock sitting on the desk but since he had changed rooms, everything was still packed away in his suitcase. Sighing softly, he realized he still hadn’t unpacked. Not wanting to bother with it, he simply ignored the suitcase’s dull existence and went to his own bed, flopping down.

He was growing a natural instinct to look towards Jin, most likely due to the fact that he had to rely on what he saw to comprehend the company he kept. Eyes darting over in his direction, he caught the words he had started to form. With his comment, he glanced back down at the tail, finding it oddly entertaining. A tail would be really cool. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just draw himself one, even though the thought amused him for a moment. He found himself lifting his gaze back up to the bright red lines laced around Jin’s eyes. Why they were so fascinating he had no idea, but he couldn’t help but feel the subtle fluttering of wings every time he took in the bright color.

A growl suddenly vibrated in his stomach and he lowered a hand to rest there. Was it time for supper already? Usually the school made an announcement on the sound system that snaked all throughout the academy.

Somewhat spaced out and staring through the window, noticing the drenched pathway of the school now slowly drying up and returning to its original, slate grey color. It was nice, knowing that the rain would be gone by nightfall. Needless to say, water didn't exactly make his ability the most powerful. In fact, it usually nulled it quite a bit, which was annoying as all hell.

He turned back to Xavier just as the small growl of a stomach filled the room, eyes widening and a grin spreading across his face. He looked like he was having to choke back yet another laughing fit. God, Xavier was too damn funny.

"You hungry?" he asked with a chuckle, allowing his horns and tail to slowly fade away. He wasn't too keen on showing his demonic appearance to anyone but his roommate, especially considering that tail of his was one of his most dire weaknesses. "We can probably get some food early, if you want. I'm sure they'll let us."

His words had a somewhat frightening undertone, as if he planned on doing something dangerous. Luckily, though, such a thing couldn't be figured out when one wasn't able to actually hear his change in tone. Hopefully Xavier wouldn't pick up on any of his naturally dark intentions.

Looking over towards his roommate, Xavier caught him just in time to see him trying to hold back a grin. What was he finding so amusing? His eyes flashed when he noticed the pair of horns beginning to fade away. Dropping his gaze, he saw that Jin’s tail was doing the same. Was he choosing to make them go away or was it a time limit? He shook his head. Surely if he could make them appear at will, he could also make them disappear.

He watched Jin as if he was hungry and he let a sheepish smile twist his lips. He was hungry, as a matter of fact. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten; if he’d eaten at all today. Sometimes he forgot to feed himself, which kept him as thin as he was. He didn’t mean to and he certainly didn’t do it on purpose. Those years of being on the streets, knowing he wouldn’t get promised a meal each night helped curb his appetite. Although he didn’t eat as often as some people, he could devour a full plate if he wanted to. Of course, he wouldn’t do such a thing; after having his stomach shrink so much, he would puke it all back up.

Catching Jin’s other words, he completely missed the dark undertone they had been meant to be heard in. This was Xavier’s major downfall in communicating; he could only “hear” in monotone. Unless an obvious facial expression was added to the words, he couldn’t tell how they were supposed to be interpreted. At the moment he thought Jin was being sincere, not implying anything dark. Xavier twirled his right wrist in a quick “yes” to respond to Jin’s words. Sliding off of the mattress, he stood and momentarily stretched, touching his jaw to jerk his head to each side, feeling the familiar pop in his neck. Afterwards, he glanced back at jin with an arched brow, quietly inquiring if he was ready.

Jin smiled at the response, standing up alongside his roommate and stretching his arms above his head. When a satisfying pop sounded from his shoulders, he settled and slid his hands into his pockets, rolling his neck a bit as if prepared to do something that required his full ability and attention.

When Xavier seemed ready, he moved toward the door, opening it carefully and glancing around. He wasn't entirely sure of the rules here or anything, nor did he think they would get in trouble for walking around the halls. Then again, he'd never even been to a public school for more than a year, so he wasn't at all sure how places like this worked. That was one thing he would have to rely on Xavier for.

Walking into the hall, he looked around, surprised to find barely anyone around. This being the large school it was, he assumed there would be more students in the halls, not balled up in their rooms. How boring. "Where's the cafeteria at?" he asked his roommate, turning so he could see what he was saying.

Xavier followed after his roommate, slipping past him as he held open the door. The hallway was empty, as it usually was, but the common room was more likely to have inhabitants. Glancing back at Jin, he watched his question and then nodded towards the end of the hall. He started walking that way, his gaze straight ahead. The gentle rumbling in his stomach stayed persistent, making sure he didn’t forget that it wanted food.

Reaching the end of the hallway, it opened up into the main common area. This was where all the students were getting assigned to their rooms. However, with everyone moved in and situated, the big hall had turned into what it was built for; a large visiting area. There were a bunch of sofas and loveseats near the back of the commons room, a place inviting others to pile onto the comfy cushions and talk each other’s heads off. There were a few students already there, lounging across the sofas as if they were at home. Well, technically, they were. Throughout the rest of the commons were several table and chair sets, mostly for small circles of friends or privacy.

Looking back to make sure Jin was following him, Xavier offered a half smile and continued moving forwards, through the light thrum of people congregating in the large. The opening for the cafeteria was up ahead on the far wall, sitting between two branching hallways. Approaching the swinging doors, Xavier gently pushed open one of them and embraced the aroma that poured from the cafeteria.

For a school of this size, the cafeteria was actually a bit small. The eating area wasn’t very supportive of a large population, which is why many students sat at the tables in the commons. However, the long bench tables that filled the small cafeteria were usually full of kids, and they were currently buzzing with activity.

Catching movement in his peripheral vision, Xavier flicked his gaze over to catch two boys waving in his direction. He offered them a smile and walked towards them. The first teen had short blonde hair, wild green eyes, and a contagious smile. He was a shifter, but almost the whole school knew since he tended to brag about it. He was also the first person to ever try to communicate with him when he first joined the school. Since then, they had been good friends. The second boy was brown headed, with gentle honey eyes that sat behind a pair of slender black frames. For an elementalist, he had a serious pull to his lips, but that was most likely due to his mature nature. He was the blonde’s only friend at the time Xavier arrived, so they knew each other through association. Xavier was the only one of the three who lived at the school full time.

“Hey, X! How was your summer?”

Xavier read the blonde’s lips and went to reach into his pocket for his notepad, but his hand faltered when it brushed against smooth denim. Chewing on his lip, the brunette boy immediately picked up on what was wrong.

“Forgot your pad, huh? Here; use this.” The teen slid a binder down the table with an ink pen clipped on its spine. Xavier responded quickly, turning the page to show the two teens.

Hey Oscar, Draven. My summer was alright, a bit busy.

“Ah, Jael put you to work, huh,” replied Oscar. “That’s a bummer.”

“Who’s this?”

Xavier glanced over at Draven, seeing his golden eyes look past him towards Jin. Although he didn’t hear it, the teen’s question held a defensive tone that was directed more at Jin himself than Xavier. He turned towards his roommate, offering him a slightly excited expression. He was looking forward to introducing Jin to the only friends he had.