Chapter 1 - The Salamander
Lucy and her friend, Levy, walked down the street together, both chatting away about the day's activities: their boss constantly overreacting to the smallest of errors in someone's article, and especially the way Jason took it upon himself to ask Lucy on a date.
"You said no, of course," Levy said, shaking her head. "That poor boy is too overexcited for his own good."
"Well, I felt bad for him," Lucy shrugged. "He's been shot down by three other girls this week."
"You said yes?!" Her friend stared at her with wide eyes, and her mouth hung open. "Lucy!" she wailed. "You're just asking for the most inappropriate, not to mention grotesque, experience ever."
"Well, I'm only twenty-three and haven't gone on one date since my first year in college. How bad can it be?" She played with the key-shaped charm on her necklace. "Besides, I'll be doing him a favor."
"But, what if it doesn't work out? Or worse? It does? Lucy I can't bear to see you leave Magnolia Times because of some whacked out office romance that either does or doesn't go well."
The blonde shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see. But I will promise you one thing: I'm never leaving that place."
Levy linked their arms together, holding Lucy to that promise.
They were almost to their home when the sound of a cheering crowd caught their attention. Naturally curious, Levy pulled her friend over to see what the commotion was. All they could tell from their point of view in the back of the crowd was that someone was probably doing some sort of street show, and it involved fire. Growing in excitement, the girls pushed their way to the front, shouting claims of being reporters from the Magnolia Times, which actually made people move out their way.
When they arrived to the center, what they saw blew them away.
A man was literally playing with fire. He juggled two balls made entirely of flames before snuffing them out. He waved his hands around, conjuring more fire out of thin air.
That's all it was, though - a fancy street performance.
What caught their attention, though, was how the man was dressed. He wore black pants that pooled around his ankles, tucked inside ankle-high sneakers. His chest was bare, save for a black leather vest and a white scarf he wore around his neck. As soon as their eyes landed on his face, they felt the air rush out of them. He wore a mask over his eyes, decorated in flames made out of some sort of fabric that shimmered and swayed, imitating real flames. His hair was a soft shade of pink, which reminded Lucy of cotton candy.
Levy got caught up with the crowd's intensity, cheering the man on as he performed more tricks with his fire. Lucy couldn't stop staring at his face, and, she blushed as she thought this, realized that he was looking right at her.
The man did a few more showy things, jumping rope with a flame rope, conjuring a partner made of flames, and doing some sort of dance. She knew he was just doing this for money, as people happily threw coins and paper money into a hat laid in front of him, but she had to admit, his talent with fire was more than just extraordinary. She knew it was all some sort of magic trick, but he made it look good. But, wasn't that how magicians sold their magic?
In the end, she was more impressed with his looks than his actual illusions.
After another five or so minutes of flame-play, he extinguished the flames and bowed for the crowd, gathering more cheers and money. A little boy appeared (seemingly out of nowhere) and grabbed the hat, jingling the coins and smiling big.
"Thank you, everyone!" the boy shouted out as the man gathered his materials. "The Salamander appreciates your donations, and will be here tomorrow night for another wonderful performance!"
Levy pulled Lucy as the rest of the crowd began to disperse, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Instead she used Levy's hold on her to pull the bluenette with her toward the masked fire man.
"Excuse me," she called, using her reporter authority voice. The man and the kid looked up at her, the kid scowling while the man smirked. "Can I ask who you are? How did you do that with the fire? And why are you wearing a mask?"
The man looked down to the boy, who nodded back and moved to push the girls back. "I'm sorry, ladies, but the Salamander doesn't talk to the press."
"What is that?" Levy asked. "What does 'The Salamander' mean?"
"Again, I'm sorry. You'll just have to cut your losses there and deal with not knowing."
As the girls allowed the boy to push them away, they didn't notice the man disappear in a puff of smoke.
AN: Hello! And welcome to another new story of mine, something that actually just popped into my head, and now I'm trying to configure into a plot and everything. Here's the first chapter, so let me know what you think. I'm trying to go for a superhero vibe, which you can't really tell from this chapter, but will obviously become more evident. So please, review/fave/follow, even though the first chapter wasn't much to go on. More to come soon. I promise!