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Ava assumes that the others haven’t really grasped exactly how much she’s lacking in terms of the whole fine motor control department, and she’s really in no hurry to tell them. All she has to do is not let on to the fact that she’s kind of terrible at moderating her physical touches when interacting with people, and she’ll be set.
Her balance and reflexes have clearly been affected by the Halo’s power, but she figures that can only take her so far. In moments of adrenaline–fueled combat, it’s easy to react to whatever’s going on around her, mindless and instinctive – it’s in the slower moments that she finds difficulties in modulating force and pressure, in performing any number of physical touch–related movements without going completely out of whack. The instincts and muscle memories that everyone else displays on a daily basis just aren’t programmed in her brain yet.
She thinks that she’s adjusting exceptionally well all things considered, but she still hopes that she can sort everything out before the others notice.
Easy enough, right?
“Hey Ava, think fast!” Mary calls out across the common room, distracting her from where she’s been valiantly trying to read yet another historical record on demons, and Ava jumps. She looks up to see a split second of something hurtling through the air towards her, and all she can do is cringe and squeeze her eyes shut before it impacts her full in the face, completely bypassing her panicked hands.
It doesn’t actually hurt when the object makes contact with her face, but Ava still reels backwards in surprise, tipping over in her chair and landing hard on the floor.
“Ava!”
There’s a clamouring, and before she can even push herself up Beatrice’s hands are on her again, cradling her jaw and gently turning her head to examine her.
“I – I’m fine,” she manages, suddenly very distracted by the enchanting sight of Beatrice’s face so close to hers. Her eyes are wide and concerned, and Ava does her best not to fall into them.
“Sorry dude, I thought you’d catch it,” Mary says, her head poking out over Beatrice’s shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah, what was that?” Lilith chimes in, and Ava blinks herself back to attention when Beatrice seems to be satisfied with her appraisal, leaning back and helping her sit up. “It’s like you raised your hands but then stopped without even trying to block it.”
Camila moves to grab her arm in an effort to help Beatrice, and then they’re all looking at her expectantly.
“Uh…” Ava rubs the back of her head, trying to think of something to say. “So it appears that I am not too good at the whole… motor control thing? When it comes to more exact things?” She opens and closes her hand in a poor demonstration of her words, but thankfully Beatrice seems to get it.
“Oh, well that’s simple,” Beatrice straightens assuredly, and Ava wonders why she didn’t talk to her about this earlier. She’s a genius, and even if the next words out of her mouth are completely ridiculous, she’s so confident and sure that Ava would be willing to give it a try anyways. “You just need some practice in improving your fine motor skills then.”
“…Sure,” Ava blusters, sounding decidedly unsure even to her own ears, but Beatrice smiles and pats her arm comfortingly.
“We can all help, right?” She looks up at where the others are clustered around them.
“Hm,” Lilith purses her lips. “If I agree, do I get to throw things at Ava too?”
Beatrice gives her a look. “We’ll have to determine if she’s better at it when she’s distracted or otherwise occupied, or when she’s actively thinking about it,” she muses, mostly to herself, but Lilith smirks.
“That sounds like a yes to me! I’m in.”
Ava gapes at her, ready to protest, but then Beatrice gets her attention again with a little tap.
“Give me a high five,” she instructs, raising her hand expectantly, and Ava stares at it for a moment before holding out her own, trying not to let her hesitation show as she does her best comply. The result is a sad excuse for a high five, but Beatrice doesn’t look disappointed, just nodding thoughtfully and then helping Ava to her feet. “Alright, I’m sure we can come up with activities to help you practice.”
“We can make her, like… juggle eggs or something?” Mary suggests as they mill around in the center of the room watching Ava brush herself off.
“What makes you think I know how to juggle anything, much less eggs?” Ava scoffs, “I mean, can you even juggle?”
Mary makes a face, clearly about to mock her again, but Beatrice interrupts by making a contemplative sound.
“I can,” she says offhandedly. “Or I could do it in the past, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to pick it up again.”
Mary looks triumphant, and Ava opens her mouth in protest. “Okay, well, that’s not fair! Bea can do everything.”
Camila is picking her way to the biggest desk as they talk, and out of the corner of her eye Ava sees her considering the objects littering its surface before picking up a paperweight and a stapler. “Uh – wait, maybe – ”
“Hey, Ava! Catch!”
The next day finds Ava poking her head into the common room again, glancing around until she spots her friends. Beatrice sees her first, beckoning her over, and Ava goes to her as if drawn.
This feeling lasts as long as it takes for her to notice Lilith’s smirking face again, and then she moves to sit warily in the spot left open between them. Carefully climbing over the bench, Ava goes to glance at Beatrice for reassurance, but Lilith flicks her in the ear.
“Hey! What was that for!”
Lilith quirks an eyebrow and then pushes an open exercise book over to her, sliding it across the table and holding out a pen. “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Apparently, what she’s got is some truly horrendous handwriting and also a fairly short attention span, but she tries. Lilith is a surprisingly patient teacher, guiding her through the letters with minimal teasing, and though Ava does her best not to fidget too much, she really only finds herself able to settle when Beatrice lays a hand on her back or shoulder. The touches are always deliberate and fleeting, Beatrice herself never visibly looking away from her own book, but Ava appreciates it nonetheless.
“I’m going to get some water,” Lilith declares eventually, “Beatrice, make sure she doesn’t run away.”
Beatrice finally looks up and nods, smiling in a way that has Ava’s heart doing a little flip in her chest, and she really doesn’t want to think about why. She must make some sort of frustrated sound, because Beatrice does the gentle shoulder touch thing again.
“You’ll get better over time,” she reassures her, and Ava hears the sound of her pen clattering against the table as she phases it right through her hand.
“…Whoops.”
“Are you alright?” Beatrice gives her a concerned look as she fumbles to pick the pen up again, and Ava flushes.
“Ah, yep, just, you know… hand cramp! That’s all,” Ava laughs nervously, giving her hand an exaggerated shake. She really isn’t expecting Beatrice to reach out for her, and to her utter embarrassment she phases through her touch almost immediately. “Uh – sorry.”
Thankfully, Beatrice doesn’t look insulted, only giving her a curious look as she withdraws her hand before turning her attention to Ava’s messy notebook and flipping it to a blank page. “Well, here, why don’t you try – ”
“If you give me more scripture to write, I think I might have to rip up this paper,” Ava tells her, and she’s completely serious when she says it.
“Alright, that’s fair,” Beatrice laughs lightly, eyes crinkling in amusement, and Ava feels a strange flush of pride. That’s weird. “How about you write a sentence of your choosing then? I’ll help you with the spelling if you need it.”
With Beatrice pressed against her as she leans over her shoulder, Ava only drops the pen once more before Lilith gets back.
Of course, she may have also phased through the bench, but she’s hoping Beatrice doesn’t mention that.
“Camila, this is boring,” Ava complains after trying to play the same piano scale for what feels like hours. “Can we try something else? A real song at least?”
“You have to learn the basics first,” Camila says encouragingly, readjusting the placement of her left hand. “You’re already much better than when we started!”
Ava sighs, turning back to the piano and poking despondently at the keys with one finger.
“Tell you what,” Camila begins surreptitiously, “I’ve had an idea.” Ava perks up, looking at her, and Camila grins. “If you get this, not only will I teach you a real song, but I’ll also teach you how to hack into a our security grid.”
Mother Superion suddenly clears her throat behind them, making Ava jump in her seat, but Camila only smiles wider, amending, “I’ll teach you how to access our security grid. Through… alternate means.”
“Camila,” Mother Superion warns in a voice Ava has yet to learn how to decipher, but Camila is unfazed.
“To do that properly requires quick typing! That should count as practice, right?” She twists in her seat to face her and mimes typing on a keyboard in the air, and Mother Superion shoots her one more indecipherable look before walking away, apparently deciding not to question her any further.
Ava isn’t even sure if Mother Superion is aware of what they’re doing, but she still beams, turning to the piano with renewed energy. “Oh, now we’re talking.”
Delicately laying out a handful of sheathed throwing knives on the table, Beatrice makes sure they’re arranged in an even line before clasping her hands in front of her and turning to Ava.
“What if I’m not cut out for this?” Ava asks her, biting the inside of her cheek to try and suppress her mirth, and Beatrice rolls her eyes at the pun.
“Well, if you take a stab at it I’m sure you’ll be able to manage.”
Ava’s mouth drops open in a delighted smile, and Beatrice returns her laugh before she clears her throat and turns back to the table.
“Now, it’s all in the force of the throw and the flick of your wrist,” Beatrice explains, picking up the first knife and sliding it out of the sheath. She begins to describe the proper throwing technique, and though Ava tries to pay attention – really, she does – she finds her focus wandering, too absorbed in watching her instead.
Her movements are quiet in their confidence, and Ava can see the assured way she moves, strong and steady. It’s a glorious thing to watch, and Ava –
“–Ava?”
“What? Huh?” she snaps to attention to see Beatrice watching her.
“Were you listening?” she asks, clearly biting back amusement, and Ava nods vigorously.
“Yep! Totally.”
Raising an eyebrow, Beatrice nods. “Okay then.” Without even turning to look at the wooden target set up a few feet away from them, she throws the knife she’s holding with a swift motion and embeds it exactly in the center. “Your turn to give it a try.”
Ava swallows and smiles weakly. “…Okay.”
Three narrowly averted disasters and a half–splintered target later, Ava groans and throws up her hands, going to slump down on the bench and pushing the remaining knives away from her.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Beatrice comforts, coming to sling a leg over the bench and sit sideways facing her, and Ava grumbles something unintelligible.
“I kept accidentally phasing my hand and dropping the knife,” Ava whines, unable to stop herself.
“It’s your first try, you can’t expect to be perfect right away.”
“I stabbed myself in the foot, Bea.” Ava lifts up said foot and wiggles it in her direction to bring attention to the ripped material of her boot. “I’m not so sure that’s the kind of thing that should be happening normally.”
“Well, lucky for us, you aren’t normal and also happen to have those handy healing abilities,” Beatrice laughs. “Here, I’ll go return these to the armory and then we’ll get some supper, okay?”
When Ava sighs dramatically and nods, Beatrice gives her a comforting smile and collects the knives, standing to leave. Her steps are nearly silent on the stone floor, and as soon as she’s gone Ava groans again and drops her forehead onto the table.
Unfortunately for her, the ill–timed phasing doesn’t stop there.
“Punch me,” Ava blurts out several days later, spinning around to face Camila. “Please.”
“What?” Camila blinks at her, and Ava shifts on her feet.
“Please?”
Camila hesitates. “Why do you want me to do that?”
“I…” Making an unintelligible noise, Ava sighs and then turns to Lilith. “I need you to punch me.”
Without hesitation, Lilith lashes out and punches her, connecting solidly with the side of her arm and causing her to flinch backwards.
“Ow!” She grips her arm and grimaces. “Okay, that definitely worked, so why…!”
“What the hell are you trying to do here?” Mary cuts in, and Ava sighs again, letting her shoulders drop.
“Beatrice is trying to help me with the whole…” she waves her free hand around vaguely, “Touch adjustment thing, but suddenly I can’t stop phasing through her. It’s embarrassing! Not to mention inefficient. And I don’t want her to think I’ve suddenly lost all control over my powers or anything, so I have to figure out what’s going on.”
Lilith punches her again without warning, and Ava recoils. “Hey!”
“Just making sure,” Lilith shrugs, and Ava glares, opening her mouth but getting cut off when Mary wraps an arm around her shoulders and claps a hand over her face.
“You know what? Let’s go, Ava,” Mary pushes her forward, “We’re going to go play some catch outside, and I’m going to be all patient and shit as you talk through your dumbass thought patterns until we reach a revelation.”
Ava shakes her head until she lets go of her, spitting out hair. “Revelation about what?”
“Oh, I don’t know, this and that. But here’s an idea! Let’s start with Beatrice.”
“Come here,” Beatrice leads her to the bed in her room and then picks up an acoustic guitar from the corner, displaying it as Ava hesitantly sits down. “Instead of trying projectile weapons again today, I thought we could do something different.”
“You can play guitar?” Ava asks, eyes wide, and Beatrice nods as she sits next to her.
“I can fix it if you break a string, but I’d prefer if you could maybe try avoiding that,” Beatrice grins wryly before shifting her focus to the guitar, adjusting her hold on it and then plucking at the strings in what Ava thinks is her tuning the instrument.
“Umm, I really don’t think you should let me touch it then,” Ava laughs nervously, twisting her fingers together in her lap. The sun coming in through the open window is shining on Beatrice beautifully, and Ava has approximately zero faith in her own capabilities right now.
“I know you can do it,” Beatrice tells her warmly, fiddling with one of the twisty things on the head of the guitar Ava doesn’t know the name of. “It’ll be a good exercise for you.”
“Can you… play me a song first?”
Beatrice looks up in surprise, fingers stilling. “What?”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from piano lessons, it’s that I do much better when there’s a melody involved,” Ava stammers, doing her best not to blush, “If you don’t mind, of course.”
“…Okay,” Beatrice finally agrees, and Ava figures she must be imaging the light flush growing across her cheeks. “I’ll play a simple one so you can learn it after then.”
Nodding eagerly, Ava bounces in her seat and then turns to face her better as Beatrice seems to deliberate. She eventually settles on something, squaring her shoulders before relaxing again, and then she places her fingers on the strings and begins to play.
The notes that emerge are mesmerizing, joining together with each other, and Ava’s breath catches in her throat as she watches Beatrice, her fingers picking deftly at the strings and filling the air with a gorgeous song.
Ava realizes that she’s heard music recordings before, but this is the first time she’s heard anything like this, different from Camila’s piano tunes in the grand hall of the church.
She’s entranced when she realizes that Beatrice is humming along quietly, the sound too quiet to be heard had she been sitting farther away. The song continues, music flowing around them, and Ava is enraptured until Beatrice strums a final chord.
The note sound hangs in the air between them, and Ava’s never experienced this charged sort of feeling before.
“…Do you want to try now?” Beatrice asks quietly, sounding about as breathless as Ava feels, and she can’t do anything except nod. She lets Beatrice nudge her around and place the guitar in her lap, and somehow manages to mimic the way she saw her holding the instrument.
It should probably be expected that she snaps a string on her first attempt at strumming, but when Beatrice giggles and touches the rapidly disappearing mark it left on her hand, she doesn’t phase.
She gets to feel it all.