Hiding the Marks

Adonia giggled in her silvery way. "You must have really missed swimming" she said peering ahead to see the island.

"Oh, we all hated it," she said with a smile, keeping her head above the water while she spoke. "Waking up so rediculously early to go exert ourselves beyond our limit, and then be expected to function, to go out and follow people dangerous to everyone else...god it was torture. But yes, I suppose I did miss it."

Adi laughed again. "I feel the same about back home..." she said thinking about her old home. "It was very wet and cold, and the cave I lived in was cold and hard... but I still miss it a bit..."

"It's what you grew up with. How can you not miss it?" They were drawing close to the small, sandy island now, and Jane ducked her head back underwater, closing her eyes for a second before opening them again to see what she could of the lake from underneath.

"Well.... I miss most of it" she said with a half-grin. "The loneliness I definitely do not miss the loneliness." she said, conveniently failing to mention that she was still lonely... in some ways.

As she approached the island, she used her water magic to pull herself up so where she could tiptoe across the water's surface onto the sandy shore, her water skirt reforming around her as she did so.

She turned to wave to Jane, who was still swimming under the glassy surface.

((Funny thing... My middle name/family nickname, is Jane, so RPing with Jane tends to give me a momentary funny feeling as if I'm talking to myself when I type her name out. XD hee hee I'm such a dork >w<))

Reaching the small isle, she pulled herself up halfway on the shore and folded her arms at Adonia. "That's unfair," she said with a playful smile before pulling herself all the way onto the beach. "Not all of us can do fancy tricks like that."

Standing, she brushed the sand off of her, giving up after a bit as it wasn't coming off without a fight. It clung to the light blue suit, and to her arms, and it was quite irritating.

[ xD That would be pretty weird, I'm glad my name's uncommon enough so that I never run into it anywhere. ]

Addi laughed. "I'm sorry" she said with a curtsy. "I used to do that sort of thing all the time back home. I used to run up an down the waves during storms just for the fun of it."

As she watched Jane try to brush off the sand, she cocked her head. "Would you like some help?" she asked. "I can wash it off for you with water magic."

((Hee hee Yeah.. My name is Kathryn Jane... I know five other "Kathryns" though not all of them are spelled the same way, and my mother's name is Kathi. I can't watch Tarzan without wanting to respond whenever anyone says Jane's name XD At this point though I respond to about a million different names because of my many nicknames and all the different characters I've played XD))

"Nah, it's good," she said. "Just irritating. I guess that's what I get for being used to pools."

Running up and down waves sounded like fun though, and, despite the fact that however often she saw it she still found it hard to believe in magic, Jane found herself wondering what it was like to run on something that constantly moved and changed.

[ xD I respond to quite a few names too, though not all of the characters I play. But just my normal name gives a bunch of nicknames, plus a few more. ]

Addi sighed, missing the feel of the angry waves under her feet, and looked at Jane for a moment. "Do you have any magic?" she asked curiously.

(( well I don't mean the characters I play online. All their names are too odd XD I mean the ones I play on stage XD))

"Well..." This was slightly embarrassing, because Jane had been told by Artemis that she had this power, but she'd never tried it. Her skeptical, scientific brain hadn't allowed her to try. "I guess..." What kind of answer was that...?

[ Ooooooh xD Well now that makes more sense. Yeah, I guess I'd answer to a couple names from the stage, though there aren't enough productions around where I live for me to have many more. :< ]

Adonia looked at her curiously. You're not sure?" she asked.

((aaaawwwwwww that's no fun ;3; ))

"Ah...this is going to sound stupid," she said. Jane buried her toes in the sand, frustrated with herself. "I mean, when she recruited me, Artemis did say that she granted me a power, but...this is where the stupid parts come in...I've been taught science all my life. All these theories about how things work. And so magic seemed a little reduculous...so I haven't tried it out yet. I don't even know how it works."

Jane felt embarrassed by this, but she'd forced herself to say it all in one go to beat her own stubborness.

[ Yes, it isn't. All the best productions are like...a 45 minute drive away anyway, very few are actually in my town and those that are....I don't like that company. They suck. >> ]

"You should try it sometime" she said. "You never know... you may like it" she smiled. "Tell you what" she grinned mischievously. "You give your powers a try, and I'll see if I can help you run on the waves!... if you like that is."

(awww bummer. Most of the one's around here aren't that great either XP)

"But I don't even know how it works," she said, though it was a little tempting. Come on, she'd seen enough magic by now that she could stop being rediculous about it. Still... "But...I guess I'll try."

[ We've got one really good one that I've been in and the crappy one, and I don't know about any others. ...yeah, I live in a sparsely populated area. >>; ]

"Well you never know until you try" she grinned, plopping down on the sand looking up at Jane. "Well, will you try now? Or shall I keep up my end of the bargain first?"

She sighed. "I guess I'll try." Jane glanced around, looking for something sort of far off. Picking the shore of the lake, she wondered how this was supposed to work. What had Artemis said...? 'You can use your vision to see anything far away closer, or anything close up in greater detail. Just zoom in on whatever object.' But how was she supposed to do that?

Folding her arms, she glared at the shore. She could just about make out the pile of clothes that she'd left there...squinting, she focused on them...and then they got bigger. Jane jumped, glancing around slightly. The whole shore seemed closer, like she was looking at it through weak binoculars. Great, now how did she stop...?

Addi watched her odd behavior curiously. "Are you all right? Did it work?" she asked watching her jump back and look around. She seemed to be having trouble seeing. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah..." Jane blinked a few times, and her sight gradually returned to normal. "I'm fine. That is...weird as hell. And yet I can see it being extremely useful." She blinked a few times, still staring at the far shore as if it were about to jump forward at her again. "I'll need to practice that a little."

"See?" Addi said wrapping her arms around her knees as she sat watching Jane adjust her vision. "With this sort of thing, you never know until you try." she grinned.

Jane sat down, burying her toes in the sand. "But I still don't know how to really do it...I guess I'll learn, right?" Still, it was exciting to be able to do this sort of thing herself, and she couldn't hold back a grin.

"Exactly!" Adonia said cheerfully, grinning back at the human girl. "It just takes some practice... heaven knows I need practice with my fire magic..." she muttered rolling her eyes. "I didn't even know I had fire magic until right before I came here. I always used water magic instead."

"Well, fire and water...that might be useful. You know, if someone expected you to only know water magic, you could surprise them with a little fire. Always good to have something to surprise people with." Jane leaned back, smiling a little to herself. Would she have this after leaving the Athenaeum? It might be useful...if she did leave, that was. Jane hadn't really given that much thought.

"Oh it definitely useful" she said thinking back to the monster she had torched in the dungeon by accident. "But.... I'm just really terrible at it" she giggled. "I can't control it.."

She had to giggle a little herself. "Kind of like me with this new thing. You'll get better at it if you practice."

"Yes... I imagine I will" she said with a smile. "I just do this better" she said stepping onto the water's surface to demonstrate her meaning, grinning broadly.