Practice whenever possible. (Open)

Standing under a street light, Violet considered her surroundings. It's the middle of the week at 3 in the morning. If now isn't a good time, no time is. She looked up, trying to concentrate on the heat of the light. Come on, nothing? It wasn't working, so she gave up. Instead, she focused on her inner energy and produced five small flames on her left hand, one at each fingertip. With her right hand, she pulled the flames up and wrapped them around her hand. Let's see how much damage I can do with this.

She crouched down and put her fiery hand in the grass. While waiting for the fire to spread to a good amount, Violet extinguished her hand, unfurled her wings, and flew about forty feet up. Once the fire was as big as she wanted, she held it constant. Time for midnight practice.

Ace walked quietly through the deserted streets, whistling to himself. After a bit of trouble sleeping, he had given up on getting some shut-eye and gone for a walk. You know, something that would be last on any sensible person's list of things to do when you can't sleep at 3:00 am. And yet, here I am. A lot of good book smarts do you when you completely ignore common sense. he thought to himself.

About that time, Ace noticed that the area near him was starting to grow much brighter than the surrounding areas. Curious, he walked toward the light source, only to nearly walk straight into a wall of flames. "...Seriously? Who lights grass on fire in the middle of the night?" he wondered to himself, looking around to find a perpetrator. Finally, he noticed a figure hovering up in the air. "Um, hey up there! Couldn't whatever this is you're doing wait until there are more heroes awake to stop you? I don't really feel like handling this myself." he called out.

Violet looked down at a guy who seemed to think this was an issue. "There's nothing wrong with a little practice, is there? I mean after all, practice makes perfect." She took a bit of flame in each hand and looked at the guy again. If there is a problem, I know what my first target will be. "Besides, who said this needed to be 'handled', and what makes you think I need to be stopped? I'm not doing anything illegal."

She rethought the situation. Arson was definitely illegal, and she wasn't sure where this fell on the scale of fire-starting. It was contained fire though, so that made a difference. Not that she really cared. She was just trying to improve her skills.

"Not doing anything illegal? I'm sorry, do you own this land here? 'Cause if not, this definitely qualifies as illegal. Now I'll give you a choice. You can either help me put this out and go home, or we can settle this the old-fashioned way. Before you make your choice, consider this. You may have powers, but I'm not exactly your average civilian either." Ace replied. The flames coming from each hand led him to believe the arsonist had already made her choice, so he prepared himself to dodge in case it was necessary.

Violet rolled her eyes. Why did people think it was necessary to get involved in things that were none of their business? "Look, kid. This isn't bothering anyone. There's nobody around to be bothered. This isn't a problem, and you certainly aren't going to stop me. I don't care who you are." She thought again about the situation. It's three in the freaking morning. This could only happen to me.
When the boy didn't budge, Violet took initiative. Presently, a fireball and three rings of fire flew in his direction.

As soon as Ace saw the fire flying towards him, 52 red cards flew out from their case into various positions around him, splitting into four groups to stop the fire as Ace jumped back away from them. As each card was ignited by the fire, they fell to the ground as Ace lost control of them. Opening a deck of black cards, he levitated five cards out and launched them at his opponent, one at a time, each reaching 25 mph. Hopefully she won't see those until its too late he thought, preparing himself for her next move.

Cards. They were an interesting thing to control, Violet would assume. She would have to think of a way around his card shields. In the meantime, the grass fire grew taller and hotter by her will. She would most likely want to play it safe. Just in case. She prepped herself with sleeves of fire, then noticed a playing card flying her way. She dodged, but another hit her shoulder before she realized there would be more. She quickly pulled in her wings and spread the sleeves of fire into a complete armor of sorts, complete with rockets under her feet, then countered with a flame uppercut.

(ooc: Is Violet actually uppercutting him, or is it just the fire?)

(ooc: it's fire in the form of a punch. Like picture a huge fist but made out of fire.)

(ooc: thanks)

bic: Ace smirked as a card connected with its intended target, however the flame armor appearing made him slightly less happy. That could mess things up...hopefully those flames won't completely burn my cards before they hit her. Distracted by his thoughts, Ace didn't notice the fire fist coming toward him until it connected, knocking him backwards.

Landing on the ground, he quickly rolled backwards to smother the flames before getting back on his feet. He then pulled out a blue die from his pocket. "I could really use some help right now." he muttered, tossing it toward the ground. It bounced around on the ground for a moment, before landing on a one. Ace sighed with relief as the pain from the hit faded and the minor burns were healed. The die then returned to his hand, which he quickly put back into his pocket.

"Now, where were we?" he questioned, levitating ten cards from the black deck. These he would maneuver into different positions around his opponent, before launching them at her in rapid succession.

(ooc: do you mind if I edit one of my posts? All I'd be changing is that at this point she isn't using her wings to fly, but the armor. Either way that's true. I just forgot to add it. My mistake.)

bic: Violet blinked as she saw what looked like burns from her fire healing almost instantaneously after this cardtrick guy rolled a die. That could be a problem. Before she had the chance to keep attacking, she noticed cards beginning to surround her. She used her armor to create a giant sphere of fire, with her in it. As the cards hit the sphere, some burned, but others got through. A couple made contact. Violet fell a few feet before using fire to land softly on the ground.

When she saw lights begin to turn on in the houses nearby, she laughed. "If the people want to watch, let's give them a show." She approached the guy with a succession of fire blasts.

(ooc: no problem)

bic: "Sounds like fun. Hope you're ready for this." Ace replied, launching cards at each of the blasts as they came toward him. While he was able to stop the first few blasts, one card just grazed its intended target. The blast connected with Ace's chest, flooring him once more. "This is getting annoying. Time to kick things up a notch." he muttered.

After another quick roll to smother the flames, he pulled the remaining 33 cards from the black deck out and positioned them beneath his feet. He then levitated them all upwards, lifting himself up into the air. "How's that for a show?" he called down, sending two of the cards in his platform towards her.

Violet looked up at the kid, who appeared to be trying something new. She noticed a card flying in her direction, and dodged, only to be hit with another card. At this point, she remembered the fire in the grass. Containing it was using energy. Why was she containing it? She wasn't sure. "How about something to brighten up the night?" She let the flames spread as they would without her.

Her armor reappeared and she surrounded herself in another ring of fire, which she fueled until it was extremely hot, and would enclose the card trick guy in.

Ace watched the scene below him and noticed the fire starting to spread. Odd. Why hasn't that spread more before now? ...Unless she was containing it. Great. he thought, levitating himself higher up and opening his remaining two decks. By the looks of things, I'm going to need these. He continued watching as the girl's fire armor came back and a ring of flames appeared around her, changing color as the temperature increased.

Before he had time to act, the ring enveloped him in flames and began to ignite the cards below him. "Oh, this is REALLY bad." he muttered, throwing more cards underneath him to replace the burning ones and lift himself out of the flames. By the time he cleared the fire, the remaining black cards and about half of his blue cards had been burned. The remainder of the blues were either supporting him or patting out the various flames covering him. "Ugh...that really hurt..." he muttered, kneeling on his cards.

I can't win here...time to get out. Pulling his unused green deck out, he shook the deck, emptying all of the cards into the air and watching them float towards the ground. One at a time, they would halt in their descent and fire off towards his opponent as he attempted to float himself away from the scene.

Out of nowhere, Violet's armor disappeared. She had been producing for too long. Dammit. She started falling towards the ground and snapped her wings out in response, barely missing becoming a pancake. When she looked up, she saw a card flying in her direction. She pulled fire from the grass and blocked, but another hit, and another, and one after another a barrage of cards hit. Not seeing, but feeling herself falling toward the ground, Violet quickly pulled in her wings before hitting the concrete. Face first. Because landing in the grass would be too nice, huh? She winced, and hoped there would be no broken bones.

Standing up, she could feel blood running down her cheek and dripping from her chin. Great. She no longer had the energy to put the fire out. "Wait!" she called after the hero.