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Post by Ru'Thor on Aug 4, 2006 15:09:22 GMT -5
Dylan's throat tightened, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably as she mentioned her father, sympathizing easily. He might have murdered his own parents (not on purpose, but it was still murder- or manslaughter), but at least he knew that if they had found out about his abilities, they would have kept him safe. The idea of not being able to go home wasn't new to him, though, so he knew how Melissa felt.
Unable to comment about her situation, he said, "I'll tell you as much as I can, but- but I don't know much. For all I know I might've led them here." The very thought of them watching him now send shivers down his spine. "But... I'll help you as much as I can. If they don't know I'm up here, they have no reason to come. And maybe we can actually stay hidden. But I don't know." He shut his eyes for a moment. "I feel like I don't know anything anymore. All the rules have changed from- from before I knew what I could do."
Dylan shook his head quickly. "Sorry, I- I talk too much. I think... I just need to rest for a while."
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Post by Lali on Aug 6, 2006 13:24:34 GMT -5
Nodding a little, Melissa said quietly, "Alright. Come with me, I'll show you where I've been hiding. It's not visible from lower down the mountain. The snow hides it..."
The snow... She bit her lip suddenly. The moment she'd thought of it, its weight had settled back into her mind with stifling intensity. She had been gone too long without explaining herself. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed Dylan's hand, starting to turn and head back up the path towards the pool and the waterfall. It was the quickest - and as far as she knew, the only - way to get up to the cave.
"Come on," she said hurriedly, "this is the quickest way home, but I don't know if I can get the waterfall to carry us both."
That reminded her, and, under her breath, she began to mutter the waterfall chant. It had grown more and more elaborate the longer she had been up here, and where initially it had been a simple wish that the water would obey, and bear her along with it as she forced it to flow uphill, it was now a fairly lengthy entreaty. But she was certain that the day she faltered or got a single word wrong would be the day that it all failed and she went tumbling to her death.
"Water bear me," she whispered, "carry me, support me, sustain this weight. Neither sink nor fall, rise up and hold me high, lift me from your pool, break not beneath my feet but stay strong and raise me up. Flow, I beg you, against the pull of gravity, and take me back to the snow from whence I descended. I command it, the snow commands it, you, also, must command it. Be merciful."
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Post by Ru'Thor on Aug 15, 2006 10:30:45 GMT -5
"Hey!" It took a minute for Dylan's legs to catch up with them, and for a while he felt like he was being dragged along. "Carry- what? The waterfall?" What on earth was she doing? What was the hurry?
He nearly tripped over something on the ground, and stumbled a bit as they neared the water. She was muttering something. He couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like some sort of chant. And... she was going to pull him into the pond.
As time passed, Dylan had developed a hatred of being wet. It felt like he was being suffocated, like his skin couldn't breathe. Running towards a body of water, whatever size, with no sign of stopping, was not something he would usually find himself doing. She's going to drown us both!
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Post by Lali on Aug 17, 2006 10:39:45 GMT -5
As Melissa came within a few metres of the pool, the water suddenly surged up for a brief moment, then flattened unnaturally, undisturbed by even the ripples caused by the waterfall. The stillness spread away from the shore they were approaching, turning the whole pool to glass, and then stopping the waterfall in its tracks. The cliffside cleared as the water stopped falling, and then was obscured again as water from the pool began to rise up and flow uphill.
Melissa stopped, letting go of Dylan's hand as she dropped to one knee and started undoing the laces of her walking boots. Glancing up for a second, she said, "Take your shoes off. It's rude to tread mud into the water."
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Post by Ru'Thor on Aug 18, 2006 13:43:05 GMT -5
"Whoa..."
Dylan didn't move for a minute or two; he simply stood, staring, as the waterfall began to flow back up the mountain. "That's..." He laughed nervously. "And I thought I'd seen it all!"
He looked back over at Melissa as she spoke. Rude? "How would water..." He groaned and shook his head, sitting down and taking off his dirty sneakers without bothering to untie them. He examined his socks- once white, now stained with dirt and grass- and shed those, too, shoving them into the toes of his shoes.
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Post by Lali on Aug 18, 2006 15:59:55 GMT -5
With the quick ease of practice, Melissa tied her shoelaces together and hung the boots - socks tucked inside, like Dylan's - around her neck, twisting them together once so that they were less likely to fall off in the ride uphill. Eagerly, she moved forward to the side of the pool, then glanced back at Dylan before stepping onto the water.
She gave a sigh of relief and relaxed as the surface rippled slightly, but didn't break beneath her. She was beginning to feel better already - being in, on or around water had a nice, calming effect on her, and she was, in a sense, going home.
"Come on," she said calmly, holding her hand out to Dylan again.
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Post by Ru'Thor on Aug 18, 2006 16:08:13 GMT -5
"You're kidding." Dylan didn't move, his hands holding his shoes by the still-tied laces. "I can't... I'll sink!"
First meeting another elemental up here... then the waterfall flowing uphill... there were only so many crazy things that could happen in one day. Instinct had convinced Dylan that the second he set foot onto the water, he would fall, be unable to breathe while the cold pressed in on him-
Stop it. His hands were shaking, and his eyes were on the water, not Melissa. Don't panic. She knows what she's doing. "I hope," he added under his breath, stepping forward and taking her hand. He paused for a moment, teetering between land and water, before he stepped off onto the glassy surface.
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Post by Lali on Aug 26, 2006 8:45:57 GMT -5
The water dipped beneath Dylan's feet like a taut sheet, but didn't break. Melissa seemed relieved for a moment, then turned and started walking, a little more careful than usual. She placed her feet flat on the water with each step, making sure she didn't risk breaking the surface by beginning to walk further forward on the sole of either foot.
She pulled on Dylan's hand to make him walk with her.
"See," she risked saying, "it's not that difficult."
And it wasn't that far to the waterfall, either, although the distance seemed more than she remembered now she was having to convince the pool to support two people. She was fairly sure everything would go smoothly - after all, she'd said the waterfall chant perfectly, getting the rhythm as well as the words precisely right.
Although, it occurred to her, the chant applied to one person. Perhaps she should say it again if she was accompanied by someone else. She would have to change every "my" and "me" to "his" and "him", but it made sense to repeat it...
So, again beneath her breath and as quietly as she could, she started reciting the waterfall chant for Dylan.
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Post by Ru'Thor on Aug 26, 2006 13:22:42 GMT -5
Despite her reassurances, Dylan still felt like he would fall through at any second, and without meaning to, his grip on her hand tightened. Don't think about it, he told himself, looking away from his feet. Don't think about it, don't look at it, don't listen to it...
So he turned his ears to the only other sound he could hear- Melissa's voice. He couldn't hear the exact words over the sound of the water, but it was something to listen to. "What are you saying that for?" he asked suddenly, swallowing.
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Post by Lali on Aug 27, 2006 8:41:19 GMT -5
"...and take him up to the snow. I command it, the snow commands it, you, also, must command it. Be merciful," Melissa finished, managing not to falter too much as Dylan spoke to her. She'd been concentrating so hard on making all the right changes to the chant that, rather ironically, she'd almost forgotten Dylan was there. Now she flinched a little, and tightened her grip on his hand to take some of the pressure off her own fingers.
Oh. He'd said something, hadn't he?
Glancing back at him, she was surprised to see how nervous he was looking. Blinking a little, she paused in the middle of the pool and said, "Sorry, what did you say?"
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Post by Ru'Thor on Sept 9, 2006 9:15:32 GMT -5
"Don't stop." Dylan hadn't meant for his voice to be so sharp, but he couldn't help it. Being out over the water had him jumpier than a rabbit.
"Sorry... I mean- I just wanted to know what you were saying, that's all." It hardly seemed important, but maybe talking would keep him occupied until his feet were back on solid ground again.
OOC: Short! ^_^"
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Post by Lali on Sept 13, 2006 9:50:46 GMT -5
OOC *jumps up and down* One post more and you break 400!! Whoot!
IC Melissa blinked at him for a moment, then carried on walking, slowly. She was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I was just saying something... I have to say it to make the waterfall carry us. It won't work otherwise."
She didn't see what had Dylan so worked up. They were just on the water - they were perfectly safe. She'd said the chant right, for both of them, so the waterfall would behave itself, and nothing else normally went wrong. She'd have to explain to him about the cave traditions when they got up there, though. And he would probably have to introduce himself to the snow, otherwise it might object to his presence, but otherwise everything was fine.
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Post by Ru'Thor on Sept 27, 2006 14:31:24 GMT -5
"Oh. Um... okay."
She had to use words? That was different; he'd never had to say anything to use his own powers. He tentatively brushed his fingers against one another to feel a reassuring spark of flame, and breathed easier as it lit, though it was gone quick as a flash.
Relax, he told himself, keeping his fingers pressed together as though the spark was still there. It won't be long. You won't be standing here long. With these thoughts, he let Melissa pull him along, concentrating carefully on putting one foot in front of the other in front of the other in front of the other...
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Post by Lali on Sept 29, 2006 13:44:28 GMT -5
After a mere ten more steps, Melissa reached the waterfall, and walked straight into the rising column of water, without a thought for Dylan. She held onto his hand, certainly, but her mind was full of water, and her eyes were unfocused as she looked up through the ascending droplets to the top of the cliff.
The water flowed around her, not lifting her yet. It would only start to carry them once Dylan was in the waterfall as well. She understood that vaguely as a consequence of the double waterfall chant, but somewhere deeper she knew that her control of her powers was responsible.
It was just so much easier to deal with things if she pretended she was normal, but she'd worked out how to ask water nicely so that it would do things for her. That way there was nothing strange about her. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to be scared of.
Her eyes focused a little, and she said softly, through the hiss of rising water, "Come on. Quickly."
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Post by Ru'Thor on Oct 16, 2006 14:11:55 GMT -5
Dylan didn't move for a brief moment, his instincts holding him back. Bad things would happen if he stepped any further forward, he just knew it... but he'd already accepted Melissa's help. There was nothing for it. A part of his mind reminded him that he wasn't made of fire; it was the fire in his head and his heart that was afraid. He, Dylan, a human being, would be fine, if a little uncomfortable.
Swallowing once, he stepped into the stream of water with Melissa.
He did not drown. He did not smoke and go out like flame. He just succeeded in getting very, very damp.
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Post by Lali on Oct 20, 2006 11:13:00 GMT -5
The water rose, spreading beneath their feet in a long oval, the surface holding strong despite their weight. Melissa blinked slowly, and stared at the clifftop as they were lifted up towards it with increasing speed. Droplets soared up around them, soaking them both to the skin, but there was nothing to be done about that. Asking nicely wouldn't stop water from happily seeping into the nearest absorbent surface.
They reached the top of the waterfall before long, and were carried onto the backwards-flowing stream. At that point Melissa shook her head sharply, then let go of Dylan's hand and bent over to pat the water as they both sank in, ankle-deep, until they were standing on the stream bed.
As she said, "Thank you," and turned to step out onto the spiky grass beside the water, the stream slowed, and then began to flow forwards normally again.
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Post by Ru'Thor on Nov 12, 2006 13:32:12 GMT -5
OOC: Feel free to throw rotten fruit, rocks, or giant anchors at me for keeping you waiting so long on this RP.
IC Without much regret, Dylan hurried out of the water and onto dry land, shivering. Melissa was thanking the water. That was crazy, but then again, somewhere between lighting his building on fire and that 'waterfall chant', he had established that most things in life were crazy.
Dylan, on the other hand, would try to maintain his sanity. "Thank you," he said to the girl, starting to wring the water out of his shirt. He leaned over to see the height that they had just scaled in a matter of minutes and shuddered. "You live up here?" he asked, stepping away from the edge.
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Post by Lali on Dec 4, 2006 12:21:04 GMT -5
OOC Ptfth – I’ve kept everybody waiting all month. You’re innocent as… a very innocent thing. *nods firmly*
IC Melissa nodded, assuming that his thanks had been directed to the water (of course) and that the question was to her.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “The snow,” and she gestured at the rising whiteness that started on the rocks a few metres away from them and just went on from there, “won’t let me stay any lower for too long. But I don’t mind. It’s warm enough in the caves, too, because of the hot water pools.”
And she gestured for him to follow her, setting off along the snowline to find the entrance to her cave – which was rather well concealed, thanks to the kindness of the snow.
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Post by Ru'Thor on Apr 4, 2007 15:57:44 GMT -5
"The snow won't... let you?" Dylan was definately put off at that. They didn't seem to be as simillar as he'd first thought. "It tells you what to do? I don't understand..." He soon lost interest in that, however. "Did you say hot water pools? As in, ones that you can get to? That are warm?" He suddenly seemed twice as eager to get where they were going. "I don't like water much," he said, "but it's hot, so I'm sure it'll balance out. I'm dirty and I'm freezing."
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