Several days had passed and Ali did what she could to help get the mansion back in order. A little welding here, some drying there but mostly just moving things back to where they belong. The whole time she did what she could to mask her frustration, but it continued to boil inside her.

So, on a clear night Ali went to her room and gathered her poi and baton along with her portable CD player. She needed to dance. Mostly due to the fact that she hadn't been able to practice in a long time but also to calm herself.

Picking out a spot in the middle of the basketball court Ali situated her stuff. Placing her music box and her baton off to the side of the court she pressed play to start the music. Ali loved to dance to rave style music the most as she could really let herself go with the sound. Igniting the pair of poi she began to dance to the beat. The poi flying around her in beautiful paterns.

Nathan liked his room, it was nice and bare. All it contained was the essentials, nothing extra. It suited his needs well enough for the time being. He wasn't sure how long he would stay anyway. Tired from the days work of setting up wooden braces and carrying timber he walked over to his bed to sleep. Or started to anyways.

Through his window he saw the most beautiful fire display in his life. It was truly magnificent. Suddenly he did not feel tired. He knew he coul not resist meeting this person beng a fellow pyrokinetic. He could not discern who the fire user was even though they were putting on a brilliant show. "I wonder who is doing that?" he thought. Not one to leave questions unaswered, Nathan left his room and ran downstairs taking them two at a time his eagerness showing through.

When he arrived at the edge of the basketball court he stopped himself and leaned against the nearest wall hoping he had not been noticed. He did not want to disturb this person until atleast after they had finished. He began to study the fire user with great interest. It was a girl! And this girl was a hottie! She was atleast 2 to 3 years older than him. She looked around 5'9" which was taller than most girls than Nathan had known. She was so graceful. The way she danced it almost appeared that gravity did not affect her with her gliding stride. Her red hair seemed to bounce with such energy it was as if a breeze was bound to her just for the purpose of that fire to stay in motion. Like an inferno consuming a forest long dead, that fire burned. Nathan saw the intense glow of her green eyes as she continued her dance. Those green eyes seemed a vast ocean of emerald that a man could drown in and not care.

She reminded Nathan of Christine, his old girlfriend before he had mutated and his powers had developed. He did not want to think about that right now for Christine was the reason he had been in the camps. Instead he just watched the awesome display of power and control put on by this beautiful young lady.

((OOC: Yeah Ali has straight hair but thanks for all the compliments *blushes*))

The current song playing ended and Ali put out the flames on the poi. She turned to go set them down and get her baton when she noticed a figure standing there. Ali had never seen him before so she was a bit unsure of his intentions. Maybe he was just enjoying her practice session, but if he was there with bad intentions then he would be in for a suprise.

"Um..how long have you been standing there and who are you?"

Putting her poi down and picking up her baton she didn't really keep her eye on the guy as she could feel his pressence from his bod heat. Thankfully that was one of the first tricks she learned to master. It always came in handy and allowed her to focus on her own movements such as when she used to practice with her dance team.

Standing back up she took a breath. That was a little rude she thought and faced the man.

"I'm sorry if that sounded harsh. My name is Alithana but you can call me Ali or if you've ever seen me with my dance team you can call me Raven Fire."

Stepping back to the middle of the basketball court Ali ignited both ends of the baton and started to practice without the music this time.

When the girl spoke to Nathan he could see that she had not meant to be rude. But her words still had the intended effect. He started to feel like he shouldn't have come here. As if he had trespassed on some sort of sacred ritual meant for the eyes of only a select few. That was how special her dance had seemed to him.

But then she apologized and introduced herself. "Alithana, what a beautiful name," he thought. Taking in her appearance again he could hardly argue that she wasn't worthy of it. "I am Seraph," he said not thinking of the consequences. The name had come from an old text that he had happened upon in the library. It had described an order of angels called seraphim that had six wings and could purify things through fire and lightning. This order of angels was also the highest order. He had not been sure what to think of it at first. But as he thought more about it the name felt right. "Or just Nathan if you prefer."

And with that she went directly back to her elegant exposition. Nathan just stood there, awestruck by the radience and splendor of the dance and the dancer.

The guy was pretty tall which was something that appealed to Ali. Being rather tall herself it wasn't too often when she talked to a guy taller than her. She saw him looking her over, but she was used to it from being on her dance team. Still, it was always nice and she smiled to him.

Ali didn't turn her music back on so that she could hear him talk. His name by the way was Nathan but she liked his nickname Seraph as well.

"So, do you stay here at the mansion Nathan? Tell me something about yourself."

Her voice was calm and smooth. Almost like she was in a focused state of mind as she concentrated on her movements with the baton. Truth was she kind of was in that state of mind. Something she had to learn when on her dance team and it also helped her work on controlling her power.

Nathan almost sighed. He felt like he was back in high school. He never knew what to say when it came to girls. That was the one subject he was completely lost on. He could guess in every other area and most of the time be right. With girls there was never a pattern. In an arithmatic sequence the numbers would increase by the same amount and in the same pattern. For example, 1 2 3 4. With girls...1 2 3 5294. Atleast she was asking him questions.

"Yes, I'm staying here at the Mansion." He said aloud. "You got the first one down, now for the hard one," he thought. "Now, what would she consider interesting....? Oh, I got it." "I am also a fire user." He said the last while creating his own streams of flame making them weave in and out of each other. He put on quite a show, nothing compared to what she did of course. At one point he even made several balls of fire and began to juggle them. He finished with a sample his signature fire sword routine that he practiced for muscle memory. Again his movements were graceful enough that he didn't embarrass himself but he still had nothing on her.

At last he started to bow and when he was low enough his legs launched him upward and he rotated so that he could complete his backflip. He landed on his feet almost exactly where he had jumped from. He was slightly sweating but was not breathing hard. The whole time he had tried to keep his eyes locked onto hers. The only time that was broken was when he had performed his backflip. This girl probably thought him a fool now for trying to impress her. He felt foolish for having put on his performance but there was nothing to do about it now.

"So, do you stay at the Mansion Ali? Tell me something about yourself."

So he was a mansion resident huh? He must've arrived sometime while everyone else was in hiding at Mondragon Labs. Seraph's next statement caught Ali's interest like an invisible hand. He said he's a fire user. Seraph then went on to perform for Ali. Maybe he was performing or just showing off she wasn't quite sure which at this point. He did have talent though.

Stopping her practice to watch Seraph more fully Ali was rather impressed. First of all she had never met another fire elemental. Secondly Seraph could do things she could do. At least from what she could tell so far.

"That's wonderful! I haven't practiced juggling fireballs but I have practiced this."

Holding out her right hand palm facing up Ali created a flame. The flame grew and moved in ways fire shoudn't be able to naturally. It twisted and in on itself and outward as if she were folding paper until the flame had taken the shape or a raven. She threw it up into the air and the fire bird flew like it was a real bird. Ali held out her arm and the fiery raven landed on her forearm.

"That's the main reason why my performing name is Raven Fire."

She smiled and somewhat blushed. Hopefully Seraph didn't notice.

"I stay at the mansion too. I've been here since before the Registraion Act but not by much."

Looking him over again she smiled sweetly.

"You don't seem to say much. Is something wrong or are you always so quiet?"

Just watching her manipulate the flame in her hand gave Nathan ideas of new ways to use his power. She seemed to smile a lot, he took that as a good sign.

"No nothing's wrong. I just am rather quiet, usually." He wanted to say something more but nothing came to him. He thought back over everything that she said, looking for something to start a conversation. He found it. "You said were are a performer. I'm sorry I never had the chance to see your show. I'm sure it was amazing. Where have you performed before? And why are you out here all alone in the middle of the night?" He had said the last not meaning to scold her but just to find out why.

Letting her fire bird disappear with a flash Ali started her baton practice once more. Even though Seraph claimed he was the quiet type he was able to keep the conversation going. Ali liked that.

"Well, you don't have to be quiet with me. I'm not gonna bite you or anything."

Again Ali smiled to him.

Seraph inquired about her performance and why she was outside at this time of night.

"Well, I used to be part of a fire dance team in my home town of Phoenix, AZ. I came out here because I couldn't sleep, I needed some stress relief and I needed to get back into practice. Now let me ask you what you're doing out here at this time of night."

He took comfort in the fact that she told him he could confide in her. And that the fact that she would think about biting him. And then, she smiled again! He really didn't think he was that interesting. He must be doing something right he figured.

She had said she had performed for a fire dance team that was from Phoenix, AZ. Her reasons for being out at night were ones that Nathan could empathize with.

Nathan suddenly had an idea. One that he really hoped would work. "I was in my room about to go to sleep when I saw a magnificent display of fire dancing. I decided to investigate and I have since discovered that a beautiful woman was the source of this. And now, I am engaging that very same stunning woman in conversation hoping to possibly ask her out on a date before the night is through."

He continued as if he didn't say anything out of the ordinary. "So you said you're from Phoenix. I was born and raised in Texas so I know about being in the heat as well. Do you know how to dance?" "Wow, did i seriously just ask that?!" he thought. "What I meant was do you know how to dance to country music? The two step, or polka?"

Ali's baton continued to move about as she practiced and listened to Seraph talk. That is until he said he wanted to ask her on a date. That's when the baton dropped due to one hand suddenly no longer getting a message from the brain. The reason for that was the brain was a wee bit busy with the word DATE floating around inside it.

Realizing she dropped her baton Ali made an expression that could only say Ooops as she retrieved it from the ground. Her face felt warm and she knew it could only be one thing. Ali was blushing but whether Seraph could see that well at night she didn't know.

"You want to ask me on a date? Right now?"

She was stunned for a moment. She hadn't been asked on a date since high school. Quickly trying to cover up her giddy feeling she gave Seraph a doubtful look.

"You don't think I can dance after you just watched me out here?"

She held her look briefly and then started laughing.

Nathan could not believe that she had dropped the baton at the mention of the word date. He figured that she would receive countless requests similar to his own, at least on a daily basis. But by her reaction, she didn't. Then she questioned him as if he was talking about someone else. He made a gesture with his arms that signified "Is there anyone else out here?" She seemed genuinely surprised that he had asked her. Had she not looked in a mirror lately?!

The moon's light was faint but he could still tell she was blushing. He didn't mind at all since he was hoping that she hadn't noticed his the red on his face. She then gave him a doubtful look and challenged his question as to whether she knew how to dance. He started to throw is arms up in helplessness, and to say that he didn't mean to insult her but she started laughing. He didn't know whether she was laughing at him or with him but he joined in anyways.

When the laughter had subsided he said. "And yes, I do." Realizing that his last statement could be taken both ways he rushed to correct himself. "I do want to ask you out on a date," he clarified.

"Here, I'll show you how to two-step." He said while taking her right hand in his left and putting his right hand on the left side of her waist. She automatically put her left hand on his right shoulder. Right where it was suppossed to be. "It's really easy." He said this more to relax himself rather than her. He took a big gulp of air then. It showed his nervousness about having her body this close to his. "How many times have I danced with a pretty girl before?" he thought. But he knew that all the others paled in comparison to the one that was in his arms right then.

He showed her all the steps and she picked them all up easily enough. She was a natural. He started to spin her a couple of times to change things up. He told her to not let go of his hand. He then spun her out wide so that only his left and her right hand were holding, there arms straight out. He then spun and pulled her back toward him. Her body rushed past him as he switched hands that they would be in the opposite position they were just in with there arms extended. He then did the same thing except it was behind his back. She exacuted everything perfectly. He then resumed their steps.

After a few seconds of that he asked, "Do you trust me?" She replied with a reluctant yes. He then stepped away from her while still holding her hands in his. He brought their hands and arms up into the air and crossed them so that she was forced to have her back face him. Next he brought their arms down but around her body so that her arms were crossed in front of her but he was still holding her hands so she could not escape. This also drew their bodies closer together. Nathan then subtly twisted his arms so her body was on his left side. He then let his foot slide out for balance and then tilted her body so that she had to look up into his eyes.

He could not help himself. He was mesmerised by her beauty. He leaned down and kissed her on her right cheek. Reluctantly he withdrew his head. But he still held the pose with her tilted up toward him. He was lost in her eyes.

In fact Ali was laughing at herself for being a little bit of a show off about the dancing bit. Seraph didn't miss a beat with his reply. It was a great come back.

Ali kept quiet as Seraph walked her through the two step dance. She read his movements and was able to move with him. She only spoke when he asked about trusting him. When he did his finishing move and had her held close and kissed her cheek Ali stared into his eyes for a moment.

"So, I'm still waiting for you to ask me Seraph."

Ali kissed his cheek in return.

Her statement had caught him of guard. He supposed this didn't qualify as a date since he never asked her. He also noticed that she had used the name Seraph when she spoke. He wasn't sure how he felt about that but he wasn't about to tell her to stop. It was still the most fun he had had in a long time. Before he could reply she kissed him on his cheek. Her action took him from surprise straight to shock. He couldn't even think for a moment.

Finally when he had regained some sense of thought he untwisted his arms so that they could stand facing each other. "So, what are you doing this Friday?" he asked hopefully, all the while still losing himself again in her eyes. "And can I walk you to your room?"

Seraph slowly unspun her so they could talk face to face again. She could see his bewilderment from her kiss. It was rather sweet to be honest.

"Well, Friday I'm hoping to go out with a handsome gentleman who plays with fire."

Ali smiled and started to gather her things. She wasn't exactly paying attention to how she was gathering her stuff up, but she was pretty sure she had just bent over infront of the guy. Nice, give him a view why don't ya. Once that thought had processed she moved to her right so that she wasn't looking like she was trying to flash Seraph.

Standing up she nodded to him.

"Yes, you may walk me to my room. That would be nice."