Chapter two! Finally. I know I promised this one nearly a week ago, but stuff just kept coming up, like I had to go to my moms boyfriends house and blah, blah, blah. Anyways, it was major suckage really, but now this part is done, yay!
On the side, thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed, every single one of them absolutely made my day. Thank you! Tell your friends!
Disclaimer: I do not own, or pretend to own the X-Men. All rights to Marvel. I also do not pretend to own any OC's (Used with gracious permission from my favourite people) besides Angele and Ariel. Because I own them.
Chapter Two is dedicated to: Dimitri - As much as you don't care about TNG or being friends with me anymore, last summer, you pretty much made the experience. So...thanks and here's to you.
Chapter Two: Sneaking Out & High Flight
If God had intended us to fly, He would have given us wings.
-Anonymous
It was late. According to the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table--Beside her bed, of course--It was 11:30. Which would make it...Angele did a quick calculation in her mind. Which would make it around 6:30 at home. God, tomorrow was going to suck a whole lot. Jet lag was the worst. Flipping another page in her book, she wondered how long it would take for her to get adjusted to Eastern time. Probably not that long, in the grand scheme of things. Ah well. She wasn't able to sleep anyways. Excitement, heaped upon nervousness, heaped upon the fact that it was her first night in what was technically her new home and all of those factors added up to absolutely no sleep at all. At least for tonight. Thank goodness school didn't start for a few weeks...She had plenty of time to stay up late. Speaking of which...
Angele glanced at her watch. 11:30 was when Ariel was supposed to start making the rounds to gather people up. Angele was the last on the list, so she had just enough time left to fix up her hair, and pull some decent, not travel worn and gross clothes out of her closet. Putting her bookmark in place, she pushed herself off her bed and made her way towards her small bathroom. Ariel had been about fourteen different kinds of serious when she had asked about a party. Almost immediately, everyone in the room had clamored to give up suggestions for what they should do, and how they should do it. Angele had shrunk back, eventually moving out of the way to allow Ariel, Gabriel, another girl named Alianne, Jack and Dimitri to form up and start discussing. At the time, it had been around 1 in the afternoon, and it took them more than an hour to hammer out the rough details, and then the minute ones. Angele wanted to say something, wanted to be apart of the group, but what could she suggest? Mumbling under her breath, she looked around, before hearing someone speaking to her. We should go outside...It was a suggestion that she had said out loud almost immediately after and grinned proudly when everyone agreed upon that little detail. Angele couldn't help but feel that she was taking credit for someone else's idea. But she looked around, and there was nobody close enough to whisper. So she listened happily to the rest of the plan in the making, and couldn't stop the smile on her face when she was included. Practically skipping off to her room to finish unpacking, her mood had a dramatic upswing. Maybe making friends wouldn't be so hard!
Angele pulled her hair over her shoulder, braiding it in a rush as she slipped on a pair of white platform sandals. There. Perfect. She looked in the mirror, grinning at her reflection. At least, if nothing else, she could put together a pretty snazzy outfit. A pale blue halter top with next to no back, along with the same skirt that she had worn downstairs before. Add a pair of gold hoop earrings, a present from her parents before she left, and some golden bangle bracelets, and she was feeling very pretty indeed. Now...she just had to wait. Ariel was in charge of hustling everybody downstairs and outside, because it was easiest for her to get in and out of the building. Of course, they had to be careful; Ariel couldn't teleport inside most peoples rooms, and waiting outside was dangerous. All the dorms had locks and keys, but Miss Pryde was on dorm duty most nights. She didn't need a key. Angele, personally, thought it would be really cool to see somebody walk through walls...just not...her wall. Either way, she flopped down onto her stomach on her comfy bed, waiting. 11:35...11:38...The minutes seemed to crawl by slower the longer she sat around waiting. Of course, she was last, but still. Ah well. 11:45 rolled around, and Angele had gotten sleepy, eyes closed, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Blinking blearily for a moment or two, she yawned as she pushed herself up...and nearly fell over when she realized who it was. Tip-toeing over to her doorway, she smoothed out her braid, just in case, pulling the handle open. Standing outside her door, looking furtive and almost a little bit anxious was...Not Ariel? Angele looked confused for a moment. It was that boy...Dimitri. What? She had thought the whole thing had been planned out. Ariel would teleport into the hallway, just outside the dorm room, knock, and lead them the safe way outside. Worst came to worst...Ariel would teleport the both of them outside, although she had stated before that she hoped it wouldn't happen. Teleporting more than one person made her, in her own words, tired as all hell.
So then why was this kid here? She put her hands on her hips, opening her mouth to exclaim (or complain...one of the two) about the fact that he was here, and not outside, and he was going to get them both in trouble. Without waiting for so much as a sound, Dimitri put one finger over his lips, reached over into her doorway, and pulled her out into the hallway, motioning for Angele to shut the door behind her. Feeling slightly bewildered, she did so, staring at him. Now that they were out in the hallway, no matter how much she wanted to complain, she didn't dare, lest some teacher with very strong hearing (She was sure there was more than a few...) hear her. Dimitri avoided her gaze, before grabbing her hand, seeming slightly embarrassed. Angele blinked, staring at him harder--if that was possible-- than before. Just what in the hell did he think he was doing?! Hmph. Dimitri started walking off down the hallway, leaving Angele with no choice really, but to follow after him. As they walked(or tip-toed quietly, rather), Angele happened to glance down at their hands, curious as to why he was still holding it. There was just one tiny problem. Her hand. Was made. Of water. Holy shit.
Letting out a small yelp, she attempted to jerk away from Dimitri...which, thank goodness, he didn't allow, because although she hadn't figured it out yet, the moment her hand left his, it would've splattered onto the floor like normal water, leaving her with a stump, and a very complicated process to try and get it back to normal. Although to be fair, he should've warned her first. Dimitri's eyes widened as she yelped, and he suddenly slapped his free hand over her mouth, and the two of them collapsed into a puddle of water.
It was the weirdest feeling in the world to Angele. Impossible to explain what being a puddle of water felt like. Her mind was a little...thrown. How to react when you weren't really contained inside something? But then again...that just brought up too many questions to think about. Especially when one was a puddle of freaking water on the floor.
If she could have yelled at Dimitri...oh, you'd better believe she would've been. Without realizing it, Dimitri moved both of them down the stairs, doing the best he could to keep them both together, and moving, without losing any body parts in the carpet along the way. The wings had been a little more than he had bargained for...but he had it under control. He hoped. As long as he could keep her quiet long enough to explain after he de-liquefied them, then he would be good. But Ariel had been tired, teleporting back and forth, and Angele's room was so far from the stairs and the doors to the outside...It was just easier to do it this way. A puddle of water was a lot easier to miss than a girl with wings and a tendency to dress in white. Like she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb in the dark hallway.
Either way, before long, the puddle had moved out to the patio in the backyard of the mansion. The party was nowhere near here, but Dimitri wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up without starting to loose bits and pieces. Slowly, but surely, the water pulled itself together, slowly reforming the boy from the feet up. As soon as his head was back to normal, he pulled up on the puddle of water, starting to reform Angele. In under a minute, he had her all put back together, and although feeling somewhat tired, he was rather pleased with himself. After all, that was the first time he tried it. Just...don't tell Angele that.
Although her body was reformed rather quickly, and mostly without incident (She could've sworn she had 7 bracelets on instead of 5 though), Angele's mind took a little longer to catch up. Her muscles weren't quite reacting right, and her knees weren't quite supporting her. Just as she thought she was going to collapse face first onto the concrete ahead of her, she felt a pair of arms slid under her armpits, supporting her, and keeping her from doing a face plant.
"Don't fall."
Well duh. Angele rolled her eyes, doing her best to struggle up and stay standing under her own power. Her muscle control was getting better, but...she'd probably stay wobbly for a few more minutes. Better than she had expected. Considering that less than a minute ago, she was a spot of water on the concrete. Speaking of which...
"What the hell was that?!"
Dimitri sighed. He had been waiting for that. Hauling Angele onto her feet, after making sure she could stand up without stumbling, he started walking off the patio, talking as he did so.
"It was either that, or you wouldn't get to come at all."
Angele stared after him for a moment. She had been hoping he would've just been an ass so she could've stayed mad about it. But noooo, had to have a good explanation. Ugh! Looking faintly stormy for a moment, she soon realized that she should follow after him; after all, she only had a general idea of where the party was. Even if he was a stupid boy that turned her into a puddle of water without warning, quite possibly the most disorienting moment of her life, including when she woke up with wings.
"Well...you could've warned me!"
Dimitri rolled his eyes, stopping abruptly to turn and look at the blonde girl following him. He was just a little annoyed. He went through all that trouble and exhausted himself and she was just going to stand there and complain about it! See if he helped her again. Jesus Christ. He started walking again, leaving the concrete far behind, walking across the soft green grass of the backyard, having only the moon to guide him back into the forest.
"If I had warned you, every teacher within twenty meters would've heard. Did you want to come out, or not? I volunteered, I didn't have to get you."
Angele bit down on her lip, hearing the tinge of bitterness in his voice, whatever anger she had left vanishing. Uh oh. He sounded mad. She had made him mad, hadn't she? Angele couldn't stand it when people were mad at her. Wings fluttering nervously again, she sped up her pace to stay abreast of Dimitri, staring down at her feet as she walked. And so it continued, for the next five minutes, the soft grass quickly giving way to the carpeted area of the woods behind the mansion. Chewing on her lower lip, she tossed around ideas in her mind. She could ignore him...or...well...
"Sorry." Angele crossed her arms over her chest, glancing away from Dimitri. She would just die if he looked smug about this. "Thanks for coming to get me."
She kept her face turned towards the dark forest on either side, the faint strains of music starting to reach her ears. It sounded like techno...or dance music, or something like that. Fallen leaves crunched under her feet, even in early August. It wasn't cold outside, or even cool, even though it was midnight. Angele was glad she hadn't brought a sweater or anything. Laughter sounded from a clearing up ahead, and slowly, but surely, Angele was sure she could see firelight filtering through the trees. Well. At least she knew where she was going.
Dimitri still hadn't said anything. Angele was terrified that she would look over, and see him laughing at her. Great. Just great. She knew she shouldn't have apologized, she should've known! He was just going to hold this above her head for the rest of the year, she should've predicted it.
What she didn't predict was feeling a hand at her elbow pulling her to a stop, and a voice in her ear.
"There's a big hole in the ground if you keep walking straight along the path."
Angele smiled faintly. So it wasn't quite a "you're welcome", but she'd take it.
"Alright..." She glanced over at the boy beside her, who was currently very determined to keep his eyes focused ahead of him, and nowhere near her. She used her free hand to tuck some free hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear. Without even realizing it, her wings brushed against the tree branches. They were still a little distance away from actually being able to see the clearing, but the fire lit up the surrounding area like a beacon. There was no way you could miss it. Angele only hoped that they had picked a spot far enough out for the teachers to miss. She wondered if telepathy worked while you were sleeping...
"So...You come from Egypt?"
Angele was startled back into reality by the boys voice again. An attempt at civil conversation? Well this boy was just full of surprises, wasn't he? Clearing her throat, she nodded, although nodding was rather hard to see in the dark forest. Bringing her hands together, she fiddled around with her gold bangle bracelets, 7 on one hand, 5 on the other (She was totally convinced that two were missing now), staring at the forest floor in front of her instead of at Dimitri beside her.
"Yeah...Desert and all."
She could've sworn she heard a faint chuckle from his direction.
"Really? That's cool...Ever see the pyramids?"
Angele rolled her eyes. Everybody always asked about the pyramids. There was so much more to Egypt than ancient dead people.
"Been in 'em. My parents were archaeologists, they do a lot of digs around there...It's just really hot, and dusty and stuff. Being in the same room as a three thousand year old mummy? Kind of interesting, I guess." It was, in a way. Angele absolutely adored Egyptian mythology, she had become nearly obsessed with stories about the Goddess Isis when she was 5 or 6. Stories about the ancient goddess were better than any fairytale, and if her parents had been any other, they might have found that weird. Instead, they were delighted. Angele had a golden Isis pendant on a long delicate chain, sort of a good luck charm, and she couldn't quite remember why she wasn't wearing it right now. It probably would've been a good idea. "Not my idea of a fun Saturday night though."
That was probably the longest sentence she'd said since the moment her plane touched the ground at La Guardia. For a moment, she looked surprised at herself, but quickly masked it. God forbid he know how shy she really could be. She heard another noise from his direction, and this time she was sure it was a laugh.
"Wow."
Angele lifted her gaze to Dimitri for long than a second or two since the first time she met him.
"Wow what?"
Dimitri laughed again, apparently finding something funny about what she had said. Feeling faintly miffed, Angele stopped walking, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
"Wow what?"
He was going to laugh at her for being some kind of freak, wasn't he? Wasn't enough that she had wings, nooo, she had to have a weird background, compared to most people here anyways. She didn't know anybody who had hung in and around graves for most of their life.
"I was just thinking that most girls I know would panic at the thought of going into a dusty old tomb with some three thousand year old mummy. You just sounded kind of annoyed."
Angele blinked, letting her arms drop to her sides. Every time she wanted to be mad, he had to turn around and make it very hard. Turning around to walk backwards, he grinned at her, his mood apparently having vastly improved since he first went upstairs to get her.
"You coming or whaaaaAAAT!"
Dimitri disappeared from view with a crash, tripping backwards into a bush. Angele could only stare, before bursting out into gales of laughter.
"Oh...my god. Are you okay?"
Clenching a fist for a second, she relaxed it, a small ball of light, no bigger than a baseball lit up the little area, illuminating Dimitri who was currently sprawled in a bush. Groaning slightly, more out of embarrassment than actual pain, he pushed himself up onto his elbow, wincing. His pride hurt.
"Yeah..."
Angele stifled her giggles, offering him her free hand, the other one holding the ball of light aloft.
"Need a hand?"
Dimitri looked releculant for a moment, before considering the state of his bruised backside, and even worse, battered ego. Ah well. Couldn't get much worse than that anyways, even if he was accepting a hand from a girl. Putting his hand into hers, he allowed himself to be helped up, brushing off his pants the moment he stood upright. He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of "thanks", before he was oh, so rudely interrupted by a voice through the trees.
"Hey! Winged girl!"
Angele rolled her eyes, looking faintly annoyed at the (very) unimaginative nickname. Turning her attention to the right, she watched a boy, somewhat older than herself, come crashing out of the bush, staring at Dimitri who still looked somewhat disheveled thanks to his meeting with the bush, and at Angele, holding up a ball of light. She remembered Jack. The kid with the pale silver skin, not shiny and metallic like the kind of silver that her jewelry was made out of, but sort of...like...tinted silver. Kind of hard to forget him really...Couldn't remember how old he was though.
"What?" She sounded more than a little irritable.
"Riiiiight..." Jack drawled, raising an eyebrow at the two of them, drawing many conclusions as to what had been occurring moments before he pounded his way into the forest.
"Shani said one of her spirit things said you were coming. Thought you might've gotten lost or something, or maybe water boy forgot to get you..." His eyes roamed over to Dimitri, who didn't look altogether pleased at the implication that he was entirely incapable of sneaking someone out of a bedroom. Hello, he deserved a bit more credit than that.
"But I see that was entirely not the case." A faint smirk pulled against the corners of his lips, although if it was malicious or not...well, that was something Angele simply couldn't decide for herself. "Hurry up, the beer is going fast."
He turned away, crashing back through the brush, shouting out something to his fellow group members that Angele and Dimitri were alright, and like four seconds away from joining them. Angele sighed, shaking her head, muttering something about how she didn't even like beer, and couldn't someone have gotten her a coke instead? Glancing somewhat helplessly over at Dimitri, she shrugged, motioning towards the path now carved out for them by Jack's loud entrance and exit.
"Shall we?"
Dimitri met her eyes with a faint smile, nodding. Stepping ahead of Angele, he made his way towards the flickering firelight and a group full of friends. Or...hopefully they were friends. Making enemies with kids that had superpowers...yeah, not the best idea. Glancing over his shoulder at Angele, who was still harboring last minute self-doubts about this brought about by the mention of beer. She was not here to drink, and she hadn't ever really been in a situation where that was possible. But that didn't matter much to Dimitri, and he waved her on. They were here for a good time, right? Can't have that standing around in the forest, probably getting full of poison ivy. He didn't know, he wasn't good with plants and stuff.
"C'mon, we're gonna miss all the fun."
Angele relented, picking her way through the remaining underbrush.
"Fine. But if I get smashed, I'm blaming you."
Dimitri's laugh rang out through the clearing again, joining in with the laughter and conversation from the 8 other people in the clearing.
Half an hour later, a slightly more subdued group had all picked spots around the fireside, sitting on the ground, the chatter not having ceased since the moment the party started. Everybody, and everything was interesting here. Most of all, who could do what. More than once, Angele had been pestered to do some flying, and more than once, she had pestered somebody else to do something. Now, sandwiched between Ariel on her left, and Dimitri on her right, in the warm glow of the firelight, and the slight bout of freedom that a sip of Dimitri's beer(after he had implored her to try it; after all, Alianne had gone through so much trouble to get it, and they were going to be totally dead if/when Wolverine found out) afforded her, she was seriously considering it. After all, according to everybody, the Xavier Institute was way out in the middle of nowhere. Who was going to see her flying, especially at this time of night? Maybe someone at the mansion. But her mind hadn't processed that far ahead. Just the thought that the only civilization for miles was the mansion was intoxicating. So she could fly out here. That was very, very good.
She grinned across the flickering flames at Gabriel, the older boy with wings. Already, just from the small amount of time she had spent talking to him, Angele could tell that she had found a kindred spirit. Gabriel had wings too, and he was from across the ocean, just like her. Angele had never been to Italy, and Gabriel had never been to Egypt, but it was the fact that both of them weren't American, was an instant piece of common ground. They didn't like the McDonalds here, and neither of them were totally convinced about going to Wal-Mart, and they both agreed that food and culture was better back home. Instant friends. He shared her semi-exasperated look, although he seemed a touch more amused than she did. Gabriel had been getting the same request from everybody else all night. Fly, fly!
Finally, ever so slowly, he hauled himself and the bulk of his considerable wings up(the wing span was bigger than Angele's, for sure; but then again, he was also taller, and probably weighed more, so it was for a good reason), voice tinged with amusement, and an Italian accent.
"Alright, alright! I shall fly if the lovely Miss Ritaka shall join me. And only if!" He was not about to put himself in the spotlight without sharing.
All eyes turned towards a rather startled Angele. She certainly hadn't been expecting that. Oh damnit, now she was put on the spot!
"Uh...Gabriel...I don't think--" Angele's protests were rather rudely interrupted by Gabriel himself, coming around the fire to her side.
"Of course you can!" He leaned down under the pretense of helping her up, muttering into her ear. "Don't leave me hanging here." He did not want to have to fly by himself in front of all these people. Besides, this would be something new. He'd never met another person with wings.
Angele bit her lip, accepting Gabriel's help as he pulled her to her feet. She brushed some pine needles and dirt off the back of her skirt(Pastel skirt dirt bad idea. Skirt flying even worse idea).
"Um...okay..." Angele looked upwards, mentally scanning for branches or something that could impede upward travel. She never had to look for branches at home, but she did have to watch for power lines, and the like. Never want to get yourself tangled up in one of those. Gabriel let go of her hand, walking a small distance away from the fire, tapping his foot as he waited for Angele to follow. Angele did so, although only after looking around at every one of the eager faces. Just for this, she was going to make everyone else show off what their powers could do too. Hmph.
Standing beside Gabriel, she flexed her wings outwards. Not quite fully grown back yet, but good enough for a short jaunt around, which she was sure this would be. Glancing at Gabe with eyebrow cocked, she motioned upwards.
"You first."
Gabriel grinned, a small spark of excitement evident in his eyes. He'd never met someone so similar to himself, and he was sure Angele felt the same way.
"Race ya. First one to the bottom of the cloud wins!" Without waiting for so much as a yes from Angele, he shot off, careening in the moonlit sky above the campfire, and the mansion. Angele gaped for a moment, before suddenly letting out a laugh, taking off after him, any other thought that had been worrying her mind left behind on the ground. She was flying again!
Pushing towards the low cloud, she caught up to Gabriel easily. He may have bigger, more powerful wings, but she was lighter, and speedier. They were almost evenly matched. Angele outstretched her arm, encountering the cool wetness of the cloud moments before Gabriel put his head through it. Shooting through the small cloud and coming out the other side rather damp, Angele let out another laugh, matching Gabriel's chuckling. Slowing her ascent, she shivered as the cool air of the higher altitude reached her, the shouts from down below barely heard. Glancing behind her shoulder at Gabriel, she grinned, throwing her hands up.
"This is amazing!"
Gabriel's guffaw reached her ears long before he did, coming up alongside her a few moments later, his voice louder than normal to be heard against the wind rushing past her ears, chilling them.
"Isn't it always?"
Angele grinned, nodding. It was always amazing. Flying was beyond anything she could ever imagine, and if there was no other reason for her wanting to stay a mutant, that was it. That was the only one she needed. Soaring through the air, completely free of anything and everything...Certainly nearly made it all worth it, didn't it?
"Oh! I slipped the surly bonds of Earth..."
Angele glanced curiously at Gabriel beside her. A smile on his face, his eyes were focused straight ahead, looking out for anything that might cause trouble.
"What was that?"
Gabriel blinked, turning his head to look at her with surprise.
"You don't know it?"
Angele shook her head, fly away bits of hair getting in her face. She was glad she had thought to braid it before coming out here, or else it would be an absolute nightmare once she got back to her dorm.
"Nope."
Gabriel shook his head, muttering something under his breath in Italian, thereby ensuring that Angele couldn't understand a word.
"It's a poem called "High Flight"...I'll have to show it to you tomorrow or something, I think the man who wrote it really understood what this--," He motioned around them, this meaning flying. Gabriel was convinced that only someone who really knew what soaring was could write a beautiful piece of work like that. "--Feels like."
Angele grinned, and nodded. Somehow, she hadn't pegged Gabriel for the poetry type, but hey. Whatever floats your boat, right? So engrossed was she with the possible workings of the boys mind, that she didn't notice when an obstruction suddenly presented itself in front of her, and she collided right into...Jack?
With a surprised yelp, and a moment or two of tumbling head over heels with the ground coming up at a sickening pace before she righted herself, she shook her head, looking upwards, wondering if she had been hallucinating.
Nope. The silver boy was still up there, a hundred or so feet above her head, waving and grinning with a touch of arrogance. It took a little bit for Angele to register that he was sitting on a silver platform of some sort. His power, presumably, she thought she remembered him saying something about silver plasma earlier that day. Pushing herself up again, she drew level with Jack, and consequently Gabriel, who didn't look too pleased.
"Hey man, you shouldn't sneak up on her like that, she could've crashed."
Jack shrugged, sitting back on his palms, the disk stretching out to meet them.
"But she didn't. It's cool."
Angele hmphed, crossing her arms and making a small noise of displeasure in her throat. The fact that he seemed so entirely unconcerned that he very easily could've sent her plummeting to her death didn't exactly sit well with her. The slight motion of bobbing up and down that accompanied her wings flapping kept her from fixing Jack with a real glare, but the feeling was there just the same. Not cool man. Not cool at all.
Jack shrugged off the negative vibes he was getting from Angeles' (and Gabriels') direction, waving at something behind the pair. "Oh, hey Shani. Didn't know you could fly."
Angele blinked, and did a mid-air pirouette to see behind her. Sure enough, there was Shani, sitting on the back of something big and white and see-through. Angele didn't know what spirit summoning meant before, when Shani had introduced herself, and received her code name. She sure as hell knew what it meant now.
Gabriel, likewise looked nearly as surprised as Angele, although his jaw absolutely dropped when he spotted Vince up beside Shani, somewhat unsteadily, apparently riding on a jet of air of his own creation. Angele laughed, crossing her arms.
"You're all copycats!"
Artie AKA Darkart swooped past in a...hang glider?! Angele's wings momentarily stopped beating the air in an effort to understand where exactly he had managed to pull a hang glider from. She voiced as much, crossing her arms. Hmph.
"I drew it!"
Angele blinked. Drew it. Right. Now she had two powers figured out for sure, Shani's and Artie's. When he had said 'drawing' as his mutant ability, Angele nearly laughed. Drawing? That didn't even make sense. She could draw, any four year old could draw! Would that make Leonardo DaVinci a mutant too? Of course not. So she had secretly thought that, out of all the mutations, Artie's had to be the worst.
Oh how wrong she was. Before she knew it, Alianne had hypnotized her way onto the back of another creature of Shani's summoning, and all but 3 members of the team were airborne, wheeling around in the great moonlit sky, playing some sort of modified version of tag.
On the ground, Dimitri pushed a stick into the fire, looking distinctly disgruntled. Ariel, the orange skinned teleporter, looked less than happy, although not overly annoyed. She often stood out; this was just another way of doing that. Glancing over at Dimitri, she stood up, making her way over to the cooler, still half-full of beer, and whatever else Alianne had thought to bring out. Cracking it open, she pulled out a bottle of some sort of alcoholic something or other, glancing over at the lonesome boy by the fire. They were the only two left on the ground. Figures.
"Want something?"
Dimitri shrugged, shoving his stick into the fire again, apparently attempting to light it on fire. Ariel rolled her eyes, dropping the cooler lid. Cracking open the glass bottle of, she took a sip, making a face as it slid down her throat, not exactly fond of the startling and bitter aftertaste. New York had disgusting drinks. Plopping down on the ground by the lonesome water manipulator, she watched him for a moment or two.
"...So what are you mad about?"
Dimitri glanced up, blinking.
"What?"
Ariel shrugged, taking another sip. It tasted bad, but it was still a drink.
"What are you mad about?"
Dimitri stared at her for a moment or two, the pigment of her skin more pronounced by the flickering flames of the fire. They had plenty of firewood to last them another hour or so, maybe long depending on how they rationed it out.
"I'm not mad."
Ariel rolled her eyes again, fixing him with an unreadable stare.
"Let me re-phrase. Are you mad because you're not up there with them--" She motioned upwards, the laughter and shouted jokes of their classmates echoing in the trees around them. "--Or are you mad because you're not up there with her."
Dimitri stared at Ariel again, swiftly dropping his gaze soon after.
"I'm not mad."
Ariel sighed.
"Jesus Christ, I thought we'd last at least a month before somebody was tempted to tap that. That being any of them, not necessarily her." Ariel mentioned, just to clarify.
Dimitri looked a little flustered, and more than a bit annoyed.
"You're blunt." He stated, very obviously, since he was hard pressed to think of something else to say that wouldn't incriminate him...or...not not incriminate him. He knew how girls talked. Boy, did he ever know.
Ariel laughed, taking another swig out of her bottle.
"Comes with the territory babe, comes with the territory. Just...try and keep it in your pants, okay?"
Ariel had to duck as a semi-burnt stick came flying at her head.
Okay, so originally it was going to be a LOT longer, but as of right now, I hit a creative wall(Not just in this, but in all my RPs too, dunno what it's about really, because I'm totally psyched about writing this; It's my outlet for fluff and explosions.) Anyways, the original third part of this chapter will become part one of the next.
The good news? I already have it written out, yay!
The bad news? Now I need to write the rest of it.
Le sigh. I should go see a movie or something.
-Katieface