PEZ makes everyone happy (tagged open)

[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace sighed as he swung his legs over and up onto the tree branch. It was his favorite place to sit, since it allowed him to see everything. He shivered and blew his breath into his hands trying to warm himself up. There wasn't any wind that day but it was still cold since it was winter. He was wearing worn jeans and a pair of white converse. His top was covered by a black shirt under his favorite leather jacket. His head donned a black toque and across his neck lay a gray scarf with red stripes.

He sighed watching his breath appear and then float away like a cloud. He had just got back from the Medical wing, he volunteered as an assistant to the Nurse, and he had a long day. Not that many people came to the place , sense there was no war at the moment, but it was boring and something he found there brought up bad memories.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an old PEZ dispenser. He found it the bottom of his suitcase remembering he put it there at least two years ago. It's head was Batman and the body was blue. He pulled back the head with his thumb and pulled out apiece of candy. Slowly he put it his mouth and chewed remembering where he got it from.

Ace rested his head against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. He still remembered the smell of her hair, it smelled like roses or flowers of some kind. Her eyes were brown like chocolate and her skin was pale like the moon. He had had a part time job at the hospital and he was covering for a nurse who was sick, the other nurses were busy with a sudden amount of injuries. The girl he had to watch was this girl his age named Jo, she was sick with lukemia and there was nothing else they could do to try and save her. The doctors told her to wait it out. All he really did was sit with her and talk. Eventually he started to like her and she had mutual feelings.

One day when Ace came to the hospital with his eyes red and puffy, he was just crying over something, he doesn't even remember what. But he sat down next to her bed she patted his head and pulled out a PEZ dispenser 'Here PEZ makes everyone happy.' She said with a smile, somehow the little candy cheered him up and she offered to give it to him to remember her by. He accepted and left that day feeling a hell of a lot happier. Unfortunately her condition took a turn for the worst and she passed away a month later.

Ace sighed and opened his eyes again staring at the thing in his hand.

[marci]

Finally, a day where most everything was going smoothly. Elaine wasn't extremely happy over anything in particular, nothing out of the ordinary had happened to put her in a good mood, but she still felt good. No one has shoved her over, she hadn't ruined any textbooks, she'd actually understand everything in her classes without having to tell her teachers to elaborate for the poor blind girl in the back. Many of her daily classes had actually become enjoyable, now that she and Alex had become acquainted. He helped her not to miss any crucial information, and she obviously helped him pay attention to classes that he had already had to take the previous year.

After classes she wandered outside, garbed in a very warm coat that had been faded by all the use it had gotten this winter. She didn't notice, however, and honestly the slightly softer feel it had gotten from being a little worn suited her just fine. Over her shoulders was her backpack, not yet dropped off at her dorm for the evening. It was falling a little oddly on her shoulders, however, because she'd forgotten to zip up the main pocket all the way. She figured she'd need to stop and do that eventually, but general laziness stayed her hand. It wasn't that big a deal. Probably.

Elaine didn't wander close to the lake, nor did she wish to go off to the forests that day. So she just found herself meandering about the main grounds of the academy, generally ignoring and being ignored by most of the students around her. A mixed blessing. A lot of those who had tried to pick on her outside before had found that she'd magically known what they were doing, and had downed their unsuspecting selves within a few seconds. Though she had never been trained in any fighting style, she knew well enough how to unbalance people. There were tricks. Unfortunately, she was also not quite in the mood to be alone all day. It looked to be the prospect, though.

A fallen branch appeared out of nowhere, tripping Elaine up and sending her sprawling. She let out a little yelp, more out of surprise than anything else, feeling the weight of her pack falling off of her shoulders and hearing the contents of her backpack falling about the ground around her. Pushing her torso off the ground, Elaine scowled and spat out half-melted snow mixed with frozen dirt. A few people's laughter reached her ears, along with little ooo's and ah's of pity. Neither made her feel that great, but she released her anger and let herself grow calm as she pulled herself up to her hands and knees.

Trying to ignore the water seeping through the fabric over her knees, she started running a hand back and forth across the ground, palm down, picking up any textbooks or pencils she touched and depositing them into the backpack. As much as she was sure to find everything eventually, she knew that without help she'd likely be unable to save everything from the dampness of the snow. Great. How would she explain to her father that she'd managed to ruin two textbooks in a few days?

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace breathed in deeply enjoying the scent of crisp clean air. The Pez dispenser was put gingerly back into his pocket and he zipped up his jacket even higher. Ace looked around at the kids who were bustling about underneath him and around him. Most were in circles talking or walking beside a companion. Except for a few who just wandered around aimlessly doing nothing. Ace leaned back against the tree again trying to relax for a while before it was time to head back in.

Right when he was about to close his eyes once more and let the sounds of nature sweep him off into a light sleep there was a commotion underneath his tree. He opened his eyes and glanced down noticing a girl had fallen over and had her books strewn about the snow covered ground. Wanting to help the girl he nimbly dropped from the branch onto the ground in front of her careful not to step on any of the books.

"Hey let me help." He said gently as he picked up the textbooks and some notebooks first, hoping they hadn't gotten too wet. Once he finished picking up those he snatched up the pencils and laid them on top of the books he had just picked up. "Here I have the rest." He said with a light hearted chuckle holding the books out to her.

Numbly Ace flexed his fingers as they had gotten cold when he searched through the snow. Sometimes he had wished he was fire just so he could stay warm in cold weather like this. He looked at the girl and offered her a hand. "By the way, my name's Ace."

[marci]

Thankfully, Elaine had ears keen anough to detect the movement in the tree above her before the boy jumped. Because if she hadn't, her startled jumped would have been a yelp and another trip into the snow. She felt a little jittery at the surprise of this random person she couldn't identify suddenly landing so close to her, but he offered to help almost as soon as he'd landed. She caught the breath she'd lost when she'd heard his feet hit the ground, and continued to pick up books, check that they were closed correctly, and fit them into her backpack, all with her hands as eyes.

The blind girl nodded her thanks, secretly extremely relieved that this boy had decided to help her out, instead of standing by and ogling with one opinion or another. She gained an almost indignant expression when he spoke again, but it was soon erased when she realized that he must not know she was blind. It wasn't such a surprise—she didn't recognize his voice, so that meant he'd never come into contact with her before. So it was understandable that he would assume she'd just know where 'here' was and be able to move her hands to accept the books.

Elaine reached out her hands toward his voice, brushing one of his forearms first and using that to find the books he was holding out to her. She grabbed them, starting to move them toward her backpack. Then all of the pencils fell off the books and landed lightly back into the snow. Elaine set her jaw, letting out an annoyed breath before speaking for the stranger's benefit. ”Don't worry about the pencils. I can't use them. A teacher dumped them all on me because I was the last one out of the class.” She then found room for the rest of her books in the backpack and zipped it up, vowing never to leave a pocket unzipped again.

Sopping wet legs pulled her unsteadily to her feet, but once she was upright she found her balance again. She was far colder than she had been before she fell, but she'd be alright for awhile yet. She shouldered the backpack, smiling at Ace when he introduced himself. ”Thank you, Ace. My name's Elaine.” She was completely oblivious to the hand he held out to her, not being able to see it. Handshakes were not a usual greeting for the blind girl, so it didn't even occur to her what Ace might be doing.

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace watched her carefully, he had never seen her around before, or if he did he didn't remember her. There was something odd in the way that she picked up the books, feeling them before putting them into her bag. He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

Then again when she brushed her hand across his forearm it was different. Either she was flirting or something else, Ace wasn't sure until she used his arm to find the books. Maybe she was near sighted he thought. Slowly he glanced around at the ground to see if maybe she dropped her glasses. Then he heard the fall of the pencils and the annoyed little huff. He bent over to pick them up but stopped halfway as he heard her speak. "Oh." He said a little perplexed, wondering why she wouldn't need them. Maybe she had a pen that she preferred to use, but everyone he knew always had an extra pencil or two just in case.

Ace watched her get up slowly "Hey it's no problem." He said his hand still out "It's a pleasure to meet you." He said his hand out awkwardly. When she didn't shake his hand he put it down and soon curiosity came over him, quickly he moved until his face was directly in front of hers and he brushed a strand of hair or two out of her face. He examined her gray eyes and had an aha moment. Moving back a little he muttered, "Now I understand." He said shaking his head happily.

[marci]

”Well, thank you anyway.” Elaine said, her smile sincere when Ace said it was no problem. She gestured around them, ”It was obviously problem enough to keep the rest of these people from helping.” At this she heard many sudden movements or stops in movements, depending on who it was, and many people turned and walked pointedly away from them. The blind girl had realized years ago that even if people didn't pity a person enough to help them, they could often be guilted about it later. It was actually a tactic she used often to get people to leave her alone.

A look of shock crossed her features when she felt the boy's fingers moving stray hairs from her face. It took all of her restraint to keep from backing away from him, but she remembered the branch nearby, and didn't want to fall over again merely because a boy hadn't realized that it was easy to surprise blind people. Her mouth opened and stayed that way for several moments after she felt the touch, a blush rising in her features. Damnit, she didn't like that. People touching her without warning was a good way to get on her bad side. But he had saved many of her possessions from being ruined by the snow, so she gave him a second chance.

One of her feet slid back, and she ducked her head to that even more of her hair fell in front of her face. Her tone was a little strained when she said, ”Please....don't do that again unless you warn me.” She didn't really know how to stress how much she hated people sneaking up on her in anyway. This hadn't been nearly the same thing, but the principle was the same.

He muttered words, but Elaine's keen ears were able to pick them up perfectly. She lifted her head a little and managed a small smile. ”Yes, I'm blind. Only blind student in the school, I'm pretty sure.”

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace gave a little laugh. "Yea to bad some people are jerks," He paused directing the word Jerks at the people walking away "And don't like to help a damsel in distress." He said with a smile. He understood why people didn't do it, sometimes it was better to not get involved. But Ace wasn't like that, he had to get involved if someone needed help. It was just what he did.

When she responded to his touch only then did his senses come back. "Oh jeez, I'm really sorry about that. When my curiosity gets a hold of me I well I'm really focused on whats got me curious. Sometimes I forget about things like personal space and etiquette." He paused shuffling his feet feeling ashamed of himself. "I'm really sorry." He muttered to her.

Slowly he pulled out the old Pez toy and pulled the head back taking a candy. Slowly he put it in his mouth and chewed a small smile creeping back. He didn't understand it but whenever he had a Pez happy memories surfaced. Maybe he was crazy or he's just weird like that, but Ace had a habit of eating candy when he was feeling down.

He looked up at her realizing his conclusion was right and he smiled. "Thats pretty awesome." He said with a laugh. Then he pulled the head of the Pez dispenser back "You want one?"

[marci]

Elaine nodded in understanding when he apologized. She understood people hyper-focusing on things; it had happened before. She just hadn't ever had someone so focused like that that they would touch a blind girl without warning her. Because as slowly as he was moving, she was unable to understand what he was doing just by listening. The girl's head tilted down and to the side the way it usually did when she spoke to people, angling an ear toward him rather than her useless eyes.

Her ears did catch the sound of shuffling feet, and that brought a bigger smile onto her face. Her expression was gentle, with a touch of forgiving. Well, at least he understood what exactly he'd done to upset her. Other people sometimes did quite get it. ”You're forgiven.” She said, ”I'm used to people making that sort of a mistake the first time they meet me. It's not that big of a deal.” It was perhaps the only time she was willing to forgive being surprised like that—when a person wasn't used to thinking of her as impaired, they would do stupid, stupid things.

Awesome? Elaine's expression became confused, and then a mix of indignant and incredulous. Awesome that she was blind? She didn't think it was that awesome. His tone didn't seem like it was mocking or malicious, but she still frowned, and her tone was still defensive. ”What? You think it would be nice to be blind? It's not exactly easy.” She kept herself from saying anything else, allowing him the chance that he'd meant to say something different, or that she'd misunderstood what he'd called awesome. She knew one thing, though; even without knowing what it was like to see, she definitely didn't not being able to.

He asked if she wanted one, and she looked quizzical. Her brow furrowed a little, and she tried to think if she remembered hearing or smelling something he might be referring to. She had heard a few snaps, as if he was opening and closing something, and a faintly sweet scent met her nose. But she didn't know what it could be. After opening and closing her mouth a few times, she tilted her head and asked guardedly, ”One what?”

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace let out a soft sigh of relief when she forgave him. "Oh alright. It's a relief to know I wasn't the only idiot." He said with a smile. What was with him today Ace was usually more charming and calm then he was today. What was it? Was it because he met a unique girl or maybe he was just tired. But usually Ace wouldn't make stupid mistakes like that.

Ace raised his hands up to his chest palms out in a sign of surrender. "Oh! No er thats not what I meant by that." He said rather quickly. "I meant that it was awesome that you have to deal with the shit everyone else does except you can't see. But from what I see of you, you pull through, more than your average person." He said his voice sincere. "Not only that but I bet your a good fighter too." He said the last part with a small laugh at the end.

"Oh right blind sorry." He said mentally face palming himself. "It's a PEZ candy not anything bad." He told her holding the piece of candy between his fingers. "Here it's directly in front of you at um chest level I guess." He said holding the candy in the palm of his hand now.

[marci]

Elaine had to give a short giggle when Ace said he was glad he wasn't the only idiot. It was sort of a funny thing to say. There were so many people who had done worse, but she'd become defensive in her years here, blocking people off when they showed the first signs of being insensitive and generally bad for her mood. For a long time, she'd just dealt with the people internally, but after awhile she'd realized that it made her feel wretched, and that was never a good thing. She never wanted to feel the way she had when she was younger again. Thinking about suicide, little thoughts creeping into her head—it wasn't fun.

Her demeanor changed when he gave the explanation, her expression going a little blank as she tried to figure out how to respond. Was she really that impressive to look at, that he could figure she was pulling through just as well as anyone else? Or was he just saying things to get her to like him more. People had done that before, too; get her to like them just so they could hurt her worse. She ducked her head a little, shrugging slightly, ”Well, thank you. I manage.”

He mused that she was probably a good fighter, and her expression changed from guarded to mischievous. A slight smile formed on her lips, and she raised her chin to the point where she'd probably have been looking at his face. ”Better than you'd think, for a blind girl.” Came her modest reply, something in the confident way she held herself, or the details of her expression, that suggested she could rightly say much more than that. She was one of the more dangerous of her grade, because her wind sight gave her the ability to see everything at once, when she used it. Not to mention, from years of using her power much more often than most other winds, her stamina had grown better than that of most seniors.

”PEZ?” She tilted her head, frowning a little. She'd never had one. He gave vague instructions as to where it was, so she raised a hand until she'd touched the part of his wrist that was facing the ground. She then was able to easily find the little piece of candy and accept it from him. Though she knew it wasn't likely to be anything bad—how harmful could PEZ be?—she took her time in putting it in her mouth and tasting it. It was a long moment before she smiled at Ace, ”It's very good. Thank you.”

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace smiled, he loved making others happy even at his own sake. He was used to be the class clown for a while at his elementary school. Of course when he got to high school it wasn't so great. But he didn't like to think of the time before his powers, it was a sucky time. Subconsciously he touched the watch and metal bracelet on his left wrist making clink together.

"Your welcome." He said responding to her thanks. He didn't have a disability but because he didn't he liked to help people who did. That was the reason he volunteered at the hospital in Maple Hollow. He spent most of his time there unless his fellow students decided on having a war between elements. During that time he was usually found helping out the nurse or defending injured people on the battlefield.

He smiled at her change in expression. "Well I've seen a bunch of old Martial Arts movies. Usually the blind one kicks ass." He said with a laugh. Ace was one of the best fighters in Water and he didn't use his powers as often as the other fighters that challenged him. "If you ever want to spar I'm always available."

"No problem." He said smiling " An old friend of mine said that Pez can always make someone happy." He laughed. He was glad she liked it, some people didn't and he shrugged his shoulders at them.

[marci]

Elaine's head tilted comically, and she threw a rather incredulous smile in Ace's direction. ”Old...martial arts movies.” She said slowly. This was news to her, never having seen a movie in her life (obviously.) The blind one was usually the most powerful? Well this was news. Though the blind girl was a rather dangerous person to pick a fight with, she really didn't see herself as one of the most powerful elementals there. She had tricks, and was surprisingly quick on her feet when she used her sight. She laughed a little. ”Something tells me that those movies are inaccurate.”

The next thing he said gave her a shocked expression. Not a bad, appalled sort of shock, but just a 'never would have expected that ever' sort of look. If she'd been able to, she would have stared Ace down until she was completely sure he wasn't toying with her. As it was, her head ducked and she turned her face away from him, so that her right ear was facing him. She held a dubious look on her face as she asked carefully, ”Are you....serious?” No one had ever truly asked her to spar, thinking that it would be unfair to fight not only a blind person, but a blind girl.

But his tone seemed to be genuine, and she ventured to continue as though he was speaking the truth. ”Well...I just might take you up on that. There's only so much I can practice without a partner.” For effect, she pulled her face up toward him again. It was a conscious gesture to add more weight to what she was about to say. ”Mind you, I'm not accepting anything until I know what element you are. It would be kind of unfair if I started out with no idea.” Although she now realized that he didn't know what her element was. So she shrugged and said, ”I'm a wind elemental.”

”PEZ....always makes a person happy.” She said this with involuntary fondness after hearing his tone as he said it. He must have really cared for this friend of his. But she was not the type to pry, merely tilting her head a bit and smiling. She swallowed the piece of candy she had in her mouth and put her hand out in a silent plea for more. ”I'll remember that. Maybe I'll be able to get some for myself eventually.”

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace laughed. "Yea most of them are usually in English subtitles and most have the same plot." He said with hand gestures "And its mostly about revenge or protecting someone. But the main hero isn't strong enough so he goes on a journey." He paused to let the words sink in. "Thats where he meets the Blind old guy. The blind old guy beats him in a fight and takes the hero in as a pupil." He paused again. "The rest is easy to guess, he trains, he goes back, he wins. It's a normal plot to those movies." He said with a informative tone. " Sorry if I talk to much." Ace said with a nervous laugh.

Ace watched her be shocked and smiled. He guessed not many people have been one of her sparring partners. He could see why, fighting a blind girl doesn't seem fair. But Ace could tell she was a fighter, someone who could hold their own against another person. And if he was wrong (he doubted it) it would help her train to become stronger. Either way he thought it was a win win situation. "Yea I'm totally serious."

Ace nodded, training with someone else is always more fun and you get more experience faster. Ace nodded as she asked what his element was and he thought it was only fair. As she revealed that she was wind it wasn't much of a surprise. She smelt like a wind. Ace thought all the elements had a certain underlying smell to them. For instance he thought that the fires smelled like charcoal and the earth kids smelled like freshly dug up dirt. The thunder kids smelled sorta like the fire students but they had a more electrical air around them. The water students well he thought they smelled like the moment before rain starts coming down. He had a sharp nose thanks to his mother who Ace said had a super nose.

"Well I am a water elemental at your service." He said with a mock bow. "If we are to train together you have to tell me how you fight. Cause I've never trained with a blind girl before." Ace said wondering. How would a blind person fight. In the movies their other senses were heightened and they could hear someone throwing a punch at them.

Ace smiled "Well they have them at Maple Hollow if you ever want to go get some." Ace informed her as he placed another candy in her hand.

[marci]

Elaine's smile actually grew. It grew from small, to wide, to an open-mouthed grin as Ace gave his rendition of what usually happened in martial arts movies. Well, that was very interesting. Obviously she couldn't picture it in her head, but she rather liked the idea of a movie that made blind people look different than mere impaired pieces of furniture, which was what she was sometimes treated like. She shook her head fiercely when he apologized, laughing a little as she answered, ”No! That was very interesting. I've been blind all my life, so I've never seen anything like that. I never knew.” It wasn't like her aunt had been in the habit of watching martial arts movies.

He said he was being serious, and that was enough for Elaine. She was very good at listening to tones of voices, and reading intent based upon them. So when he managed to say it for a second time without sounding at all mocking or sarcastic, a satisfied smile spread over her face. She ducked her head a little then brought it back up—all she could do to silently show her delight without risking tripping over the branch. Of course, she could use her wind sight, but sometimes she just got tired of doing that. These past few weeks had been quite eventful, and she wanted to keep her strength up. ”Well, thank you!” She said.

”Tell you....” She said, considering. Then she shot him a resigned smile, ”Well I suppose it would be a little unfair not to tell you. Or maybe I can show you? Would you let me show you?” As she asked, she moved her hand a fraction of an inch and a very, very slow current started in the air surrounding her, allowing her to immediately see where everything was. She resisted the urge to kick away the branch that was to her left, instead just continuing to smile at Ace quite sincerely. ”Throw a punch at me. Don't hold back.”

She was somewhat glad he was a water. She fought harder against waters, so it would probably be a very good chance to further expand her stamina and fine control. Nothing like deflecting waves of water to help her learn to manipulate the flow of air. When he gave her another candy, she smiled brightly for a half a second and then popped it into her mouth. It really was a good candy. Why had she never tasted it before?

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[AMBER SAVANNAH JAMES AMBROSE]

Ace grinned thankful that he wasn't thought of as a talker. He was glad he could inform her of something she didn't know

Ace smiled at her little bow it was cute. "It's no problem." He said happily.

Ace noticed the air around her to thicken a bit and he took a special note of that. Then he was surprised that she asked him to punch her. But what was the most surprising to him was the sincerity in her voice. "Punch you?" he said cautiously. "Alright." Ace said shrugging.

Ace put his left foot back and steadied his stance. He breathed in from his stomach and then slowly let it out. He loosened his right hand keeping it stable but flexible. then he let loose his hand like lightning his fingers tightening and his fist hard he struck at her abdomen area.

(sorry for the shortness.)