A Dip in the Pool

[Allure]

Veronika took off her adorable Juicy Couture velor suit and folded it neatly, heaving a sigh of relief that it wasn't gross from sweat. It would have been a waste of a cute suit had I gotten sweaty. Of course I am in good enough shape to not sweat too much at these meager exercises. And now I get to outshine that harlot and show everyone the proper way to show tasteful amount of skin. She took grabbed her towel and laid it out by the pool, picking up her cell phone to check her messages. She stood up and flipped her hair, modeling her new bikini for all to see. I thank my supermodel mother for such a body.

Ah Mama has called inquiring her visit to the school. Oh she must meet Heather, in fact I will have her spend the day with us. And mother would simply adore Kris and Hardlight. And I need to go shopping again, it is just not the same ordering clothes online. Veronika closed her phone and took off some of her jewelery, placing it in the adorable beach bag she had with her. She walked over to the water and went down the steps gingerly, testing the water. "How wonderful, the pool is heated up! Thank heavens, I may have frozen!" she said out loud with a giggle.

Veronika moved her hair back and took deep breath before she dived in the water neatly, her body encased in lukewarm water. She swam under the water for a moment before her head popped up and she stood at the four foot deep part of the pool, moving her wet hair out of her face. "The water is very nice," she gave the verdict, being the first in the pool.

[Tempest]

"Heya Veronika," the thirteen year old greeted stepping onto the tiled floors surrounding the pool.

Tia would've much prefered to just sit alongside the swimminpool and watch the others - and perhaps talk to Veronika, who'd just resurfaced. The only reason Tia'd decided to come to the pool in the first place was 'cause of Veronika. Sports meant group work, which meant Tia having to talk to people, which she wasn't all that comfertable with, and seeing she'd already spent a period of the day with Lorelai, she'd concluded on spending the rest with Veronika. Tia sat on the edge in her black-less black swimsuit, dipping her thin yet well built legs into the pool.

Tia pushed herself up against her hands, gradually letting herself down into the water. She lead herself underwater, staying still underneath for a couple of moments, her eyes wide open - before letting herself back up, and pushing her black locks away from her face. Uh, say something Tia... er, whatsup? No thats stupid. Arg. This conversation stuff isn't easy. Even when you like the other person. Gah! Well, Veronika will probably come up with something to talk about - i'll go along with it - she always comes up with something to talk about...

[Aqua]

The groups of teams dispersed into the usual various activities. Like her best friend, Heather headed over to the pool. She looked to Gavin and wondered if he was going to try and get her back for punching him. Now was usually the time during gym where he would try. Thankfully he wasn't going to be the swimming type and go play basketball as usual.

When it came to her powers, she truly wanted to master them as much as possible. As of right now her ability to control water had increased in gallons. Thanks to her training in the pool and getting back in shape with Shadowkat, Heather could form plenty of shapes and sizes of water. When it came to converting their density however, it was difficult. Heather finally understood where the ability to change water into ice came from. But it was still a challenge. For now, only small amounts of water could be turned to ice (usually the size of ice cubes or slightly bigger).

Once arriving to the pool, Heather removed her form fitting work out top, exposing her team colored bikini. She wasn't really huge about showing as much skin as it did but it was the only bathing suit she had (it was either that or nothing). She then giggled at Veronika for checking her messages. Ah that girl is always so silly. But she is an amazing person and friend. I'm so glad we were able to find so much in common.

Concentrating on her form, Heather stepped to the deep end of the pool ready to dive. Her sweat bottoms were off and over where her other clothing was placed. Breath in.... breath out, she focused on her technique. Since water was her element, she was practically in heaven. She needed to know her element and be within it, able to control it to her will. That meant she needed to be a top swimmer as well. Finally after controlling her breathing, Heather dove into the pool with perfect form. She wished there was a high dive so she could actually try REAL diving. However this was fine as well.

After feeling the lukewarm water all around her, she felt refreshed and so relaxed. She was able to hold her breath for a little over two minutes now (way better than the previous thirty seconds). She finally resurfaced and tested her powers, using the water to hold her up:

[D'mnchyld]

"I'm going to the pool Sean. Less chance of some rough stuff to make me bleed." She stretched up and kissed her boyfriend on his neck and cheek. K'8 had been so happy with him in the time since returning from Limbo, her second home, that it had flowed over into her personal relationships with almost everyone. She was no longer the scary-goth, she was now the friendly-goth and she liked it.

This newfound feeling of belonging was evident in her lack of cutting. She hadn't even thought of raising a blade to her skin for the longest time, and the last time she played basketball with the gang she took an elbow to the face and feared her nose might bleed. Thankfully it didn't but it reinforced her whole fear of her powers. She had never before been frightened of her demon friends, but after all that had happened she wasn't sure she would ever be able to use her mutant gift again.

She gave TuneUp a big hug and rushed off nearly with a skip to her step as she went to the huge Olympic sized pool. Slipping out of her sweat shirt and loose cargo pants she smiled at the other girls and waited for them to wince at her scars. She wasn't bothered by it really anymore herself, but sometimes her reminders of her old cutting days were too much for others to handle. "Hey how's the water?" she asked as she went to the edge of the pool and dangled her feet in.

[Torri]

Thankful that for once she had remembered to wear a bathing suit under her gym clothes as she had forgotten to do many times before, Torri made a bee-line for the swimming pool where it seemed only girls where going toward. 'Good thing too, i always worry if people think i look funny in a bathing suit. Does green make me look weird? I hope not...' "Hi ... " she squealed, slipping off her work-out clothes and standing by the pool side for a while in her green and black polka dot one piece.

Not longer than a few seconds had passed before she half jumped into the water and submerged her head with eyes scrunched shut. The whoosh of the gushing water past her ears sending her head into a small minute of panic as it always did before she heard them pop as she resurfaced. Squealing again the youngest Acolyte waved over at Aqua, moving back the hair from her face. She liked Heather, she was really nice to her. Some people still where closer to her than others. And Aqua was the first mutant teen she had ever spoken to, something about that made her special.

[Aqua]

Heather concentrated on having the water guide her across the pool. It was one of her favorite tricks to do, surfing the water. She believed that Ian would kill to have that power but he seemed to be doing well with his new persona on everything lately. Everyone knew about him and Haven. And to be honest to herself, Heather still didn't like her any less since the previous two months. Plus having Lorelai know about their whole relationship was a bit careless on their part. But the New Mutant kept to herself and didn't state her opinion about it to anyone but Veronika.

Surfing to the opposite end of the pool, Heather smiled warmly to K'8. She barely noticed the scars anymore and was able to find a good place with the goth girl. "Comfortable," she replied. Heather then attempted to raise the water level and her height. Torri coming over made her smile again and nod. She couldn't raise her hands for that was her source of using her power. "Hi." She couldn't help but giggle. "Get your butt in here."

Then her happy mood was ruined... again... by none other than Gavin Croft. Hearing her name she turned to look at him. Even though he attempted to hit her in the back, the ball wound up hitting her straight in the nose. "AHH!" she screamed in shock and pain (well not really painful at all but it was the principle of the matter). She lost her concentration and fell into the water. OH MY GOD HE IS DEAD!! she thought angrily.

After resurfacing, Heather displayed her "cute angry" face which was fully genuine, and stormed out of the pool. With her, she grabbed the volleyball and approached the basketball court. She then threw it right at Gavin's head, but was aware of the fact that she would most likely miss her target. He was in the air and she wasn't really putting much effort in aiming properly. "GAVIN!" she yelled. "GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK IT!!!"

[D'mnchyld]

"Hey Torri!" k'8 said with a slight wave as she decided the water was great like Heather said it was. "Yeah lets get in there and-" seeing the perfect shot of Gavin right into the face of Aqua D'mnchyld couldn't help but laugh. It was not meant for her face, at least k'8 hoped it wasn't but the way Heather turned right into it was perfectly timed...like something in a movie. It was Hilarious and she threw her head back and laughed.

"OH....Oh....oh man. THAT was funny!" Katie said. She stood up and dove in swimming underwater for a good length before surfacing. She hoped nobody was going to throw anything her way, but she didn't have any enemies now so she didn't really have much to worry about. "This pool is so great...heated like this it's awesome!"

[Allure]

Veronika giggled at how Gavin and Heather were together. It is adorable in an odd way. I suppose I could deal with it if Heather develops a crush on that boy. He is the more acceptable freak. Unlike the slashed up Zombie here. I hate having to pretend to like these Neanderthals. At least Tia is here. Though she needs some work, shes coming around nicely. She swam over to Tia and reached out of the pool to grab a kick board so she could stay afloat.

"Allo' Tia," Veronika greeted the youngest Paragon that she took under her wing so to speak. She charmed her just enough with little effort and reeled the girl into her 'inner circle' so to speak. Veronika saw potential in the girl and was slowly molding her into a perfect showcase of who she accepts in her inner circle. Tia learned by now when to keep her mouth shut and when not to, and how to act in regards to the team.

She kicked her legs up and splashed them out of the water to show off in a way. "Ah Tia just look at those two? It is ah, how you say, to get a room yes? It is simply adorable," Veronika said with a giggle before swimming to the edge of the pool and propping her elbows in on ledge. She watched those playing football, her eyes slightly narrowing when she saw Katana. "Tia tell me something. I plan on talking to Chase about Katana. I do not think that she is right for the Paragons. It has been two months, and she has yet to work well with any of us for an unknown reason. I feel she weakens our team and even Sky now has given up. It is obvious this must be a unanimous decision with our team to have her transferred. What do you think?" Veronika asked with a voice laced with concern, but inside feeling venomous at how useless the girl was as a person.

[Tempest]

Oh great, more people. Tia sighed before she went underwater again, Ouch, who's screaming? she resurfaced, taking in some oxygen before watching Heather storm out of the pool heading towards the basketball court. Tia rolled her eyes; this was so typical of the two. Though, they did tend to amuse her quite a bit, but oddly enough, it never seemed to show on her face. Her eyes moved back around the pool - pretty much for the sake of it. The Acolyte scares me - she looks so... uh... sickly sweet and adorable. It's kinda creepy. Oh, and the New Mutant... she's er... creepy too. Her comments revolved around her mind as Veronika's sweet voice echoed in Tia's ears.

"It's amusing," Tia replied spelling her thoughts out pretty simply, her voice carried its usual dead tone, but her face seemed to carry a little more expression than usual. "I think it's a good idea" she enouraged in response to Veronika's suggestion. It's about time too! "Katana's too confused in her head," Tia allowed herself to say with a roll of her eyes, "I mean, one second shes pissed off, the next she's crying, later she's apologising. She needs to make up her mind." Tia shrugged, she'd seen enough of Katana's behaviour in the past two months, "She kinda needs a life," Tia added, speaking the words that first came to her mind. When it came to Allure, Tia'd more or less spell out exactly what was in her mind.

She shrugged casually, pushing her knees up to 'cycle' her legs in the water. Her eyes shifted away from Veronika, spotting Heather comming back towards the pool looking pretty annoyed. "Heather's... uh... annoyed." she commented. That was one thing she'd sort of 'caught on' whilst hanging out with Veronika, Tia'd now started commenting on things she'd see, may it be in her head, or spoken out loud.

[Torri]

’Allure looks really pretty today! Ooooo I really wanna look like her, but that might be hard. She’s so pretty and well spoken, she uses real English. I wish I was old enough to be her friend, she’s really nice and I really like her but it’s like Ian and Nikki, they’re too old for me to be tagging along. I don’t know what they talk about sometimes and they don’t make sense sometimes. Too bad I’m not older. I don’t like being the youngest, Tempest doesn’t talk to me that much either and she’s my age.’ Torri sighed a little inside her head as she swan around her wee corner silently, she adored the red haired Paragon. She was as much an idol as the models in the magazines she found around the girls dorm rooms. Each one of them making her wonder if being a shapeshifter would help make her really pretty. She wasn’t interested in boys much anymore, Riker upset her still and although she had taken a while to cry over it and leave the subject alone she was still not quite ready to be too close to anyone.

Sometimes it felt to the little blue eyes Acolyte that she was simply someone who coasted along with other people. Her past was as much of a mystery to them as her reasons for being so why. She was not ugly really, she had been called cute far too many times for it to be that; so the idea of feeling self conscious was not an obvious answer. Still, sometimes she wondered if it would be better telling just one other person. What could it hurt? She could make a friendship grow stronger, reveal her past and how her relationship with her mother was so disintegrated it would make Decay feel jealous. This school was her only home since she left, there was no going back to Scotland to her house now. It was no longer a home so she refused to call it that.

Heather leaving was a little bit annoying for her, as she didn’t talk much to the other girls at the pool and even if she admired them it was still a little weird being alone with them. To pass the time silently the tiny girl bobbed under the surface and crossed her legs, her eyes scrunched shut, screwing up her face so she didn’t breath in and drown. It was a big step learning to swim in the first place. More so that she had taught herself. Her reasons for doing so where personal and brave in her eyes. Her only problem was … who was she going to talk to? Shaken from her wondering thoughts, she breathed out hastily as an image floated through her head, one that made her panic. Made her scared. She head heard Heather swearing and was shocked at how angry her usually calm friend was. It too was a little scary.

[Aqua]

Grumbling to herself, Heather looked back to Gavin one last time before heading to the deep end of the pool. She dove, again in perfect form but with more power than necessary. She was still ticked off at the Acolyte. He doesn't know what's coming to him... NOT AT ALL!! she thought bitterly. She needed a good attack, an ambush rather for the winged mutant and as she swam below the surface of the lukewarm water, ideas started to overflow in her head.

Heather resurfaced after a good two minutes. She was proud at how skilled of a swimmer she was becoming. She was stronger both in speed, and strength that two months before. And when it came to her personality, Veronika was able to loosen Heather up a bit. She didn't take things so seriously anymore and was way more easy going when it came to practical jokes. It's just that today Ricki sort of ruined Gavin's attempt to make everything better.

Swimming over to Veronika and Tia, Heather sighed and stroked back her long strawberry blond hair. Her blue eyes shimmered from the sunlight and reflection from the water. "I'm going to get him back so badly," she finally said.

[Allure]

Veronika turned to look at Tia and put on a bit of a grim facade. "It is unfortunate that it has come down to this, but after all our team practices and meetings that Nightcrawler likes to hold and all our attempts, and yet she continues to behave like that towards us... well it is time for a change. Our team's harmony is ruined by her and I feel she weakens our team. I will speak with Chase about it after the class and then to Lian, Sky and Kris. Then we can hold a meeting with Nightcrawler and discuss this situation," she finished pushing her hair back as Heather swam up to them, still looking quite furious.

Glancing at the football game one more time, Veronika moved her attention to her best friend with a small giggle. "You two are absolutely darling no? When should I be expect you to skip class and take over our room?" she teased her friend with a giggle. In the past two months, the two girls became roommates and shared one of the bigger rooms since Veronika had quite a bit of things. Her father donated a heap load of money to the school and was currently negotiating the prospect of donating horses to the stables again.

Veronika went underwater to swim away from her friend in jest. She was a rather good swimmer, with a smooth and fast breast stroke. She bobbed her head off and gave a cute laugh at her friend's face. "Tia save me!" she yelled in giggles as she continued to swim away.

[Tempest]

Tia rolled her eyes at Heather, "Soak his wings," Tia suggested her tone dead, sounding as if she wasn't the least bit interested - which was partially true, she couldn't really care less, but seeing she was sorta close to Heather, she didn't particularly want to be rude and blank her. Tia's eyes shifted back around the pool out of boredom, Why... does Torri look so... terrified? Goodness, Tia shifted her eyes away from the read-head acolyte.

The slightest of smiles touched Tia's lips as Veronika swam away, 'asking for help'. Tia took in a deep breath, before going underwater, tapping Heathers leg on the way as an indication for her to join her, as she swam beneath her red-head friend using more force than required, before popping up in front of Veronika. "Boo." she muttered with a slight cough laugh following her rather dead exclaimation. "Uh, Heather - Veronika, wanna race?" she added her eyes flicking from one face to the other. Veronika or Heather would probably ask the New Mutant and the Acolyte - Tia'd never really... properly spoken to them, and neither did she intend to unless nessecary.

[Aqua]

Heather's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "NEVER!" she replied to her best friend. With that she splashed her as Veronika swam away. She then smirked and shoot her head. When it came to Gavin and Heather, she never really thought about being with him in that way. It was clearly their business and their business alone, but everyone always enjoyed commenting their antics and practical jokes on each other. It's just us having fun, she thought to herself. Isn't it?. She brushed off her thoughts and looked to Tia.

"I want to hurt him Tia not hurt him. His wings are delicate when it comes to water." She found that out the hard way when she shot a strong jet of lake water towards him once she was able to get down from the tree (with his help of course). It wasn't a lot of water, but still hurt him nonetheless. She felt horrible about it but Gavin was able to get her back by pushing her into a giant bush. It took a lot of combing to get all of the twigs out.

Feeling a bit warm, Heather sunk her head underwater again and then resurfaced. She was able to hear Tia's proposal just as she came back up. "I'm up for it," she replied with a smirk. "And I promise no powers." Heather knew that her friends would be at a disadvantage. But even without her powers, the New Mutant was strong and a good swimmer thanks to her training. Swimming over to Veronika and Tia, Heather waited to see if Veronika was game.

[D'mnchyld]

K'8 could see the little group of girls collecting on the side of the pool like so much flotsam and she shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind of anti social behavior. Life was all new now. It was a fresh start and she wanted to believe the best of her fellow mutants.

Her hope for herself and the future she wanted for her friends and fellow humans, mutants and non mutant alike, was not what had been glimpsed by her during the whole situation in Limbo. She wasn't going to become that woman, she wasn't going to lead an army of demons to conquer and enslave humanity for food and other pleasures of the flesh. She had thought long and hard on the whole thing after all that she was witness to and the difference between who she was and who she was going to be really came down to her.

Swimming over to the group of girls she said "Hey can I race too?" It was a simple enough thing to ask, but it took a lot for her to do so. It was really outside her comfort zone to ask to be included in anything, but she had done the soul searching and was ready for the rejection if it came. If she didn't get included she would do her laps anyway, but it would sure be a whole lot more fun to race. It wasn't even like this one little thing would turn her towards evil again, she was well beyond that point.