First Encounters

Dolores sat down at the end of the lunch table with her tray of questionably nutritious food. She wasn't sure what was more questionable of the thought; whether it was nutritious, or whether it was food. There was a square of what she was told was pizza, but she was pretty sure was just highly greasy cardboard with cheese covering it, some pellets that were supposed to resemble tater tots, and a stale cookie. She cracked open the tiny carton of milk and took a drink, detesting the taste of the plastic lining inside. Every day she meant to pack her own lunch, and every day she forgot. Oh, well. If that was the worst thing that happened to her today, she decided it was a good day. So, with a grimace on her face and a knot in her stomach, she began to dig in.

As was the case most days, Dolores was sitting alone. She wasn't upset by this fact; she wasn't exactly a social butterfly, and she was used to it. She liked the time to be with her thoughts and plan out her day; the rest of the school day was a bombardment of dealing with teachers and students she didn't like to deal with, so a few moments with only herself was a welcome sigh of relief. Not that anyone could tell she was relieved as she gagged on the disgusting school lunch, but still.

Byron made his way through the lunch line and came out with a tray of barely eatable cafeteria food.  He looked around but couldn't see either Jeremy or David.  Either they weren't here yet or they weren't showing up at all, not that he'd blame them.  Either way, he at least needed to pick a spot.  Byron scanned the room again and spotted a mostly empty table whose only occupant was a bespectacled girl.  Byron walked leisurely over to the table and sat down diagonally from Dolores.  He made sure there were two seats by him in case Jeremy and David showed up.  

Byron gave a nod of acknowledgment to the girl across from him.  "Hope you don't mind," he said, before immediately digging into his lunch.  It wasn't good, but Byron had had much worse, and cafeteria lunch was much easier on his already tight budget.

Dolores looked up, somewhat surprised that someone would join her. She shrugged and shook her head. "Not at all, I'm not expecting anyone." She replied, her tone friendly. She ate a few tater tots and washed them down as she eyed him up and down, trying to get a feel for him. He was toned, but didn't carry himself like one of the career athletes. His tone was friendly, which was a great deal more than what some of her peers could claim. After a few moments of silence she decided she didn't get a bad vibe from him, but wanted to make sure, and humor usually helped distinguish what kind of a person someone was. She donned a smirk and leaned over the boy's direction. "Have you heard about the gardener who went out to a comedy show?"

Byron was about to take another bite when the girl suddenly asked him a question. He stopped, surprised that this seemingly less than sociable girl was talking to him. He took a few seconds to register what she had said before responding in a straight tone. "I'm not sure what gardener you are referring to, but I can't say I'm familiar with it." Byron had answered seriously, not picking up that this was the opening line of a joke.

She grinned at him, loving his absolute obliviousness to the joke. "She found it so funny, she wet her plants!" Dolores laughed out loud at her own admittedly stupid joke, and concluded in a satisfied sigh. She leaned on her other arm and smiled at him, enjoying herself. "My name's Dolores. Nice to meet you." It had been quite some time since Dolores indulged in bad puns, so she was looking forward to seeing this boy's reaction.

The girl seemed strangely amused at Byron's response for a reason he could not figure out.  When she delivered the punchline, he responded plainly.  "Huh..."  After a moment Byron's eyes turned up as if realizing something was wrong.  The realization slowly appeared on his face as his eyes turned back to her along with a forced smile.  "I see.  Good one."  His tone sounded almost robotic even though he was trying to sound entertained.  

She introduced herself as Dolores.  It sounded like a familiar name.  Did he know a Dolores?  Byron didn't think so, but he felt like he heard the name recently.  "I'm Byron.  Same to you," he replied awkwardly.

Well, the joke could've gone better. Still, hearing a terrible joke from someone you just met wasn't always going to make you laugh hysterically. Oh, well, she knew that he wasn't rude.
Byron... She swore she had heard his name before. She cocked her head to the side and stared at him for a moment, trying to place it. After an awkward silence, her eyes widened. "Oh, wait, you're one of Jeremy's friends, right?" She asked somewhat excitedly.

"Jeremy? You know Jeremy? Ah-" Byron's eyes widened for a moment in realization. "Dolores. You are that girl Jeremy mentioned?" Byron was, needless to say, surprised at their chance meeting. Jeremy had mentioned a girl named Dolores that caught him in his vigilante work. If he remembered right, Jeremy had told him that she was a super as well.
"So, Jeremy has mentioned me already as well has he? Then I assume he's told you about David as well. Did he mention anything about me being a super? Or about our little team we have?"

Dolores grinned and nodded. "Temperature manipulation, right?" She asked. "And yeah, he talked about the team you have. I'm all for this sorta thing!" She ate a few of the tater tots and looked Byron up and down. "He told me you're the more serious one of the group. I can see that. You seem pretty down-to-earth." She nodded and leaned forward a bit. "What all did he tell you about me, if you don't mind me asking?"

Byron returned a grin, "Well, it's a bit more restricted that that.  I can only control the temperature of my own body.  Anything else just comes from contact with me or the air changing temperature from hitting me.  And not too long ago, when we formed our team, I was completely vulnerable to my own temperature changes making it pretty useless without hurting myself.  Recently, however, I seem to have developed quite a tolerance for extreme changes.  I haven't exactly tested the limits though for fear of accidentally killing myself."

At Dolores's enthusiasm for joining their team Byron gave a nod, "That's good to hear.  The more who stand with us, the better chance we have at succeeding.  As how Jeremy described me, I'll take that as a compliment I suppose."  Byron leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.  "Hmm, I don't recall all the details he mentioned, sorry to say.  Most I can remember is he met some while he was doing his vigilante work and it tuned out she was a super too.  I believe he said the power had something to do with pain, like pain manipulation or something.  Though I'm not sure what sort of ability that would be really."

"Succeeding? Is there some end goal to this?" Dolores asked with a bit of a laugh. "From what Jeremy described, it seemed more like you guys just tried to kill time by doing some good in the world. But if there's a bigger goal, or some super villain we're fighting, I'm fully in for that! I'd like to see what all I'm capable of!"

She sipped some of her milk as she thought of how to explain her powers without illiciting a negative reaction from him; Byron seemed a bit like her dad; practical, serious, and likely to look for any risks. The last thing she needed was this boy thinking of hers as a "sadist's power", as her parents so tactfully put it. "It's less about pain manipulation, and more about... I dunno, moving it, I guess? Best way I can describe it is, uh... Oh! You said you could hurt yourself with your own temperature changes before, right? So let's say you burned yourself while doing that. I'd be able to take the pain away from you for that, but then I have the pain. It doesn't just disappear into the abyss. Conversely, if someone was trying to burn me intentionally, I could just return the pain back to them." She finished with a friendly smile, hoping she described her power in a fair way that she still seemed "normal".

"Well, I wouldn't say there is some bigger goal.  At least not right now.  By that I just mean if there is an issue, probably similar to what you saw Jeremy doing, if there is more than one of us together it with either help intimidate enough to avoid a fight or help support each other if it comes down to it and a fight breaks out."  Byron put a hand to his chin in thought, "Though I guess we also did want to better prepare ourselves for being actual heroes one day and working with a team.  So if I had to say what our overall goal is, it would be that.  At least that was what David and I had planned when we formed the group with Jeremy.  I'm not sure what his plans are though, given how free spirited he seems all the time."

Byron mused at Dolores's explanation of her power.  "Hmm, that's a bit of a strange one.  Not that I'm one to talk.  That would have been pretty helpful for me to have had before I developed my tolerance for the temperature.  Then again, that would have been pretty bad for you, and may have even killed you if I pushed too far.  Thing is, when I say I got a tolerance for it, that's all I mean.  Even before, I could push my body temperature well above the temperature safe for human life.  If anyone else were that hot they would have died, but I didn't.  But I did end up with some serious burns.  If I were to do that and you took the pain away you might kill yourself.  But I'm getting off topic, its not an issue anymore seeing as I'm highly resistant now.  You should still be careful you don't bite off more than you can chew though.  Pushing it with powers like ours don't leave much room for errors."  Byron took a big drink from his cup.  

Dolores laughed and shook her head. "You misunderstand; I don't take significant injuries, just very small ones, and the physical sensation of pain. And pain itself can't actually kill you, so I don't think that's something I have to worry about. Still, pushing myself too far isn't very fun at all, as you can imagine." She sighed and sipped from her milk; it tasted like the plastic lining had dissolved slightly. Gross.
She leaned forward onto the lunch table. "I'd love to become a proper hero someday. Kinda want to prove that any power can be used for good. So this sorta thing would be good to put on a resume if nothing else."

"Oh?  I figured you'd me more aware of it given that's your power.  While in a sense it's true you can't directly die from just pain, you can go into shock as a result and die that way.  I guess that isn't exactly common knowledge though.  It would be a good idea to be mindful of that." Byron furrowed his brow as if remembering something, but perked back up before turning his attention back to Dolores.

"Oh yeah, I guess I should say this at least."  Byron leaned over the table, hand extended.  "Welcome to the team.  Glad to have you on board."  While he didn't outright smile, there was a hint of it hidden within his serious face, a sense of relief starting to flow.

Dolores's eyes widened slightly as Byron explained about shock and the potential dangers. "That... Is a bit of an issue there, yeah... Thanks for letting me know before, well... Yeah." She paused, lost in thought. It took quite a bit of willpower to not go into her bag for her pills at the thought; that would be a bad move in front of a new team member.
Byron officially welcoming her to the team shook her back to reality. "Oh, thanks! Glad to be a part of this!" She smiled openly, noticing the subtle threat of a smile on his face; glad to see he was capable of joy after all, even if he actively suppressed it.