Kieran pursed his lips lightly, fingers lightly stroking the rim of his full Diet Coke can. What to do.. what to do.. The quarter demon sighed, popping the tab of his drink and taking a mild sip from it. The sweet taste bubbled across his tongue, down his throat, where it settled in his stomach like some kind of strange acid. His eyes roamed over the busy underground city around him, idly observing the criminals and villians stalking the streets like some kind of weird clique. 

He sighed, the lone criminal taking another sip of his Diet Coke. Kieran traced the vibrant red words on the silver can, his eyes looking a little dreamy. He was wondering what he could do with a job. Maybe he could hold up a shop? Nahhh.. He could be a writer though... A small smile lifted the corner of his left lip, making it seem like a smirk. Though he was oddly happy at the thought of writing books. Getting to his feet, he took another sip of his Diet Coke. A black feather dropped to the ground as his wings brushed up against the wall of the building he was sitting against. 

Licking his lips to get rid of the sweet taste, Kieran looked around quite curiously. It would be nice to talk to someone, Kieran mused. His different colored eyes glanced around curiously, landing on each different criminal or villain.

Whew! It sure seemed like things were quite the hot spot around here! Leon walked along the street with his head held high, confidence practically oozing off the arrogant man. While others shuffled around and kept their heads low, Leon seemed to practically announce his presence compared to the casuals in the underground. He was not here for trouble, just looking to grab a few spare parts that his own territory lacked. The Red Lion was oozing heat, now he wasn't literally on fire as the man had the common sense to not burst into flames as he walked along the street, it was the natural uncontrollable heat that radiated from him. It was enough to make someone sweat if they stuck around him long enough, yet burn their touch if they were to try to grab him.

He stopped in the alleyways however, realizing that he had forgotten his money...oh well there was probably a good few hundred dollars just walking around him, right? The adult stopped to survey his surroundings, wondering if he could find a good target to jack money from. He'd do it the usual way, set someone on fire and then pick the wallets of the people around them while they were distracted with putting out the fire. A simple tactic that worked every time for Leon, after all, Spontaneous combustion was not something you saw every day. The red lion may not have made a name for himself in this city yet, but he certainly did cause a rumor or two about the possibility of Spontaneous Combustion being a real occurring event that's growing more and more common.

The red-head's eyes narrowed, eyeing the weird blonde that had hesitated at the entrance of his (well it wasn't really his) alleyway. Then the stupid blonde had the nerve to turn to him! Though... the heat that radiated off the man made Kieran narrow his eyes suspiciously. Did this man have the ability to make things explode or something? His weak empathy shields were quite battered by now, and the winged sixteen year old winced as the man's emotions made them shatter. Gathering the swirling emotions around his mind like some kind of ball, and focused in on them. Oooh, this guy had some pretty weird intentions.

Kieran's eyes narrowed again, eyeing the thieving idiot. He didn't like that the guy felt like stealing something off of people, even as he felt the kind of heat. Oh god.

Fire.

For a moment, Kieran started to flip out, before he forcibly shoved his emotions down and his face to go through some kind of weird cycle of expressions. Then it completely blanked. For a moment, he felt like some creepy winged porcelain doll, before he started to cackle like some kind of idiot. Nor did it help any that he currently seemed unhinged.

Leon's attention was attracted to the man that had started cackling, his thoughts of stealing were vanquished as he stared at the giggling man. Who the hell escaped from the nut house? This guy. Not like it wasn't common though, okay maybe it was a little uncommon, but most thieves and criminals were a bit nutty in some way. Maybe this guy had just finally lost it all together. The Red Lion considered ignoring the guy for now, but a second thought crept across his mind, maybe that guy would be a good distraction? Set his shirt or something on fire and then pickpocket-frenzy.

The lion crouched in wait for his prey to become distracted, metaphorically of course. Leon decided to merely hang around, perhaps look busy or look as if he was waiting for someone. He would wait until either that guy started moving or seemed to stop paying attention to anything, maybe drift off in a bout of laughter once more. Now, the red lion certainly wasn't planning to kill anyone, he had enough morality to care for another's well being. When he did perform this tactic, people usually got away from the flames with only few burns. Flames were dangerous to toy with, but their danger had been toned down to the man that had enslaved the flames. One could say that he was still quite a bit reckless with them.

After a couple of minutes, Kieran's cackling ceased to a giggle every now and then. He took a few deep breaths, before brushing a strand of long red hair from his face. How could he do this..? Oh yeah- pinning the blonde guy with a rather vivid stare, he took several steps back away from the heat that he seemed to still be radiating. His face immediately flashed with caution, as he stepped back some more. The guy had gotten this strange expression on his face, and from this, the sixteen year old felt a flash of true fear.

Fire.

His breath had gotten heavier, his different colored eyes widening slightly and his pupils dilating hugely. His irises became thin slits of a bright, emerald green and a murky brown. Trying to shove down his irrational fear of fire, Kieran tried to speak."D-don't."his voice came out in a kind of raspy voice. "D-don't you dare."His fear of fire was rising again, and once more, Kieran tried to shove it down. Then he tried a last minute tactic. "I'm o-only sixteen."

Somehow Leon's plan had failed and only attracted the attention of the criminal even more. Leon stared at the man, confused as he seemed to be asking Leon to not do something under the reasoning of him being sixteen. This man couldn't have possibly known about Leon's intentions, could he? This was just a coincidence right? No way could he read minds, well then again Leon was capable of spontaneously combustion so he guessed reading minds weren't entirely out of the question.

Still, this man had definitely captured his attention. He decided to speak up, "The hell you going on about?" he questioned the man with a quite a vicious stare. He wondered if he should ask this man upright or play innocent to see what the man would do. For now he would go with the latter option, and for now he would just have to figure out whether this was all some huge coincidence or if this man really could read minds.

Kieran narrowed his eyes at the blonde idiot. "D-don't play the fool, flame dude." he stammered out again, all at once seeming unimpressive and a little weak. His cheeks were flushed slightly as he checked out the guy's face and chest. This was so not the time to be checking out a hot guy's body! He huffed slightly and his different colored eyes pinned the blonde intently. His wings flared violently, instinctively and absolutely huge appendages of pitch black feathers let out a powerful gust of wind. Kieran's tension had reached its peak, and his wings had responded to it.

His eyes now cold, he observed the man in front of him. The guy's emotions read: Whoa. Suspicious. Fake innocence. Possibility of curiosity. "I'm no fool." His one emerald eye had flashed like a jewel, while his brown eye seemed closer to black. Absently running a hand through his barely shoulder length dark red hair, his eyes once more roamed the man's body. Whoa. Hot dude in front of me! Kieran's mind screamed and immediately Kieran's face became bright red.

"Bro for one i don't swing that way, and two, i'm not a pedo"

Flame dude? Ok this dude was definitely reading his mind somehow. This kind of excited Leon, this guy had to be some kind of criminal, so if he could twist the new guy to his favor and use those abilities to -

Leon's thought process was interrupted by a strong gust of wind. The hell was that? He was shocked to find what had previously been his target, now had strange colored eyes and large wings. The hell? Ok, this guy was definitely something a bit more than human. It also seemed like he wanted to pick a fight to Leon.


"You wanna go bird-boy?" he growled. The face of what seemed to be fear had turned to a cold look. Leon's look of surprise changed to an arrogant and cocky grin. This guy seemed to be sizing him up now, Leon's body seemed to suddenly burst into flames. The heat around intensified as he cracked his knuckles, slipping on a pair of brass knuckles that resisted the flames due to certain materials within the metal customized for him.

"Let's go," he challenged. If this mind-reading winged boy was just going to threaten and pick a fight, then Leon was sure as hell going to give him one!

When the guy went up and burst into flames, to put it simply, Kieran flipped his shit. "Whoa! Human torch lose!" the quarter demon's eyes went wide as saucers, and he practically dove for the shadows. For the second time ever in his life, the sixteen year old prayed and practically begged for his life.

Not to mention he also felt genuine fear. Seeing someone on fire like that near about ripped his mind apart. And with that, the little control on his empathy shattered and the power flowed through him like water through a pipe. Kieran was breathing heavily, his different colored eyes pinpricks of fear. Seeing someone on fire like that- it brought back his horrible memories of vigilantes setting his home on fire. It was like watching them walk away while he watched in the alley. It was like they hadn't noticed that Kieran's family was still in there.

Kieran was gasping for breath by now, nearly hyperventilating and tears streaming down his face. Pure, unadulterated terror filled him as he practically curled up into a little ball, his tears not stopping. A ragged keen escaped Kieran as the memory assaulted him like some alien force. His currently uncontrollable powers were making the sixteen year old twitch and spasm with pain as well, the emotions assaulting him like needles and knives. The aggressive emotions of this 'fire dude' and strong emotions from everywhere assaulted him like physical blows, Kieran's hyperventilation and tears now more of pain than freshly brought upon grief. "Stop! Stop!" the quarter cambion's sob was full of pain. "It hurts! Please- please-" At this point, Kieran hadn't realized that his pleas for the pain to stop were vocal. He couldn't bring the emotion back under control.

Leon was ready for a fight, looking forward to it even. He had never gotten to square off against someone with abilities like him. Leon was fired up and ready to go!

That was until the kid suddenly collapsed to the ground and began to twitch and spasm in what seemed to be pain. Leon stared down at the twitching winged kid, highly confused. Wasn't this guy going to fight him? No...this was just a big talker wasn't it? His bark was worse than his bite. Leon huffed and almost seemed to pout as the fire extinguished itself and Leon was no longer up in flames.

"I'm not even touching you," Leon pointed to the boy. How could he possibly hurt him if he wasn't even touching him? This boy was strange, even if he was a mind reader, if he was this cowardly he would just be a hindrance to the gang. He couldn't take in another weak link like Lance. Leon grew a bit annoyed just thinking of that useless hump of meat..

(lmfao)

"Shut. Up." Kieran snarled furiously, the emotions still continuing their onslaught against him. God it hurt! Almost violently, Kieran slammed down a rather moderate shield. Almost immediately, Kieran stopped twitching and spasming, except for the odd spastic muscle movement as he stood up. Shakily, he stood up and glowered furiously at the other criminal.

"Bloody thief." the sixteen year old muttered, one eye pinned on the boy as he violently connected his foot to the wall. Almost immediately, Kieran began to swear vigorously. "Ow! Ow! God f-ing dammit! Oooh! Ow!" After his mini swear-fest (some of them were 'bloody f-ing wanker' and more) Kieran leveled an icy glare at the fire maniac.

"I swear this is all your fault!" Kieran spat, sounding very much like an angry cat.

Leon stared at the boy as he continued with his rather disgraceful display. Leon was then accused of being the source of it all. The older man stared for a moment, raising an eyebrow at this criminal. He crossed his arms, he was having just about enough of this.

"All I did was get set on fire, I haven't even touched you. Why are you even down here if you're going to pick fights only to chicken almost immediately?" Leon questioned him. This was the underground, home of the thugs of the city. If this kid was in this kind of life for the fun of it, then he certainly was not going to live very long. Hell that Mayu teen was better than this guy, at least she did not collapse to the ground.

Of course, he had no way of knowing of Kieran's abilities. He figured that this man had powers, however he did not think of the man being capable of being inflicted with pain just by being near him apparently. The Red Lion likely still would have looked down upon this teenager even if he did know, what's the use of a power that's just going to hinder them to this extent?

Kieran looked at the man with a deadpan look, clutching his foot. His stance was rather comical, if one had a kind of humor. "Whoever said I was trying to start a fight?" the criminal inquired rather sarcastically. "Oh yeah, you! Since you bloody well set yourself on fire, you- you flaming idiot!" The sixteen year old snorted and set his foot down. A pitch black feather floated down to the ground, and Kieran glanced at the feather with a blank look. "Oh. Lovely. I'm molting."

Kieran's powers fluctuated, and the red-head winced briefly. The man certainly felt.. annoyed. "And if you're so annoyed at me, be annoyed at my powers." the young man muttered. "S'not my fault that my empathy is so bloody hard to get under control." Kieran huffed slightly, and his huff caused a piece of hair in his face to suddenly fly up then down. "Bloody hell." the young guy cursed slightly. "Why can't my powers be something else like- like electrokinesis?" Kieran wasn't one to generally complain, but when he did complain, it was about his blasted empathy.

This boy was giving him attitude, something Leon did not quite tolerate being given to him. Except Fayte, because no matter what he did that girl was just going to do her own thing. Leon began to wonder just how many of these criminals are just a bunch of teenagers running around in a city where cops are just so incompetent they can't even catch them. There was the twins, Striker, whoever this guy was, Lance, and a majority of the brats that try to hold him down for a beating whenever he walks down an alleyway in the city above.

Either way, the attitude was not going to be taken.

"Sure seemed like you were picking a fight flaring out your comicon-wannabe-Birdman outfit and sizing me up like that. I dare you to call me a flaming idiot one more time feather-fucker," he growled in a dangerous tone, stepping closer to the man in a intimidating manner. He was not mad towards being called a idiot, but more of the disrespect this man was showing him. Leon may have been a criminal, but he was still a man that demanded respect when deserved. It was rare that Leon was aggressive like this however, he usually liked to make a fool of others and have some fun before he did anything remotely intimidating.

The Red Lion debated doing another flame-on performance to emphasize his point, but figured that feather-butt freaking out again would just make him bawl on the ground again. A bit overkill in Leon's opinion.