Let's Go Swimming ! | OPEN

[Sevanna Greenwood]

Winter. It was not the time for swimming, nor was it the time to be sun-tanning along the shore of the lake. There was barely any visible sun peeking through the clouds, let alone enough to actually burn a persons skin; unless they were that vulnerable. But at this time of day, there was no sunshine. It felt like midnight because it was so dark outside.

Sevanna stood on one of the fishing docks facing the water. She flipped her hair back behind her shoulders, taking in a deep concentrated breath. Her shirt, leather jacket, jeans, and snow boots were piled on the edge of the dock. The only clothing hanging on her body was her yellow two piece swim-suit; not made for frosty dips in a lake. She stared at the calm ripples of the murky lake water. Snow lined the small beach area in muddy clumps, and the sky was a dreary gray-ash color. It was the shade of white that created a dead atmosphere during the cold season.

"Alright, time to practice."

Ms. Greenwood readied herself, taking small baby-steps on the tips of her toes toward the edge of the dock. She could feel it sway, barely, but she could still sense that the surface supporting her body was not stagnant. Sevanna raised her arms above her head, and with a single graceful movement, her body leaped into the air, angled downward like a bird diving for fish, and sank deep beneath the icy black water.

At first her flesh felt as if it were being pelted with needles; millions of them all at once. It stung and any normal persons reaction would be to get the hell out of the blackness immediately. Any average person would have wanted to escape the pain. Then again, who would deliberately hurl themselves in a semi-frozen lake while wearing a bikini after the sun went down? Very few.

Sevanna fought it, and struggled to stay calm and composed. She needed to relax and let her body take it's natural course of action. Her hair swirled all around her and her eyes were squeezed shut. Slowly, as she began to float back to the top, she propelled her arms to swim under the dock.

She would force herself to stay under the dock-under the icy water-for as long as she could handle it. Anyone would think she was trying to kill herself by drowning or catching hypothermia, however, that was not the case. Vanna was training her body to adapt to the cold temperature while at the same time challenging her ability to also adapt to long periods of time without air. This entire process would drain her energy, but the harder she trained herself, the easier controlling her power would be.

She could already feel her body warming, and her lungs began to ache less. Somehow she began to breathe in through her skin. It wasn't like normal breathing; Sevanna felt like a fish.

As she was holding herself under the dock, her hands pushing against the algae-covered wooden planks of the structure, Sevanna could sense the vibrations of someone walking on the dock. Had someone been watching her? She had sworn she had been alone before she dived....What must they think?

[Rayne Lancaster]

Late night walks. Besides the fact that it is freezing cold and he couldn't feel his toes, it was a nice night. Looking up, you get confused if you are looking at stars or slow-moving snow flakes falling from the sky. It was cool though, but really he should be asleep. Fiddling with a stick he had found on the ground, he walked around Pilot ridge for a bit before going back to his dorm. The sadness of wanting to go to bed early at the age of seventeen. But his roomies were probably tucking in, so hitting the hay was only convenient. But soon he found himself near the Lake.

The big lake he might say and another thing, he found himself a bit amazed that the Lake hadn't frozen over. It wouldn't surprise him if the water was like a icey cup. But then he saw the most totally spazzy thing. His English teacher casually jumping into the water.

At first he smirked. It was strange, but then again what about their school wasn't. His arms crossed eachother as he planned to walk passed the dock. But then he realized something. She had been under or out of sight for at least two minutes. Unless she was a fish meta or something like that, in which she wasn't, it was definitely time to worry. And so he did. Walking up on the dock, he tried to hear for her or something. But nothing. This is where his paranoid freak-out side kicked in.

Getting to the end of the dock, he crouched down to call out. "Ms Greenwood? Hello, are you there?". He called out to the water, but even now he was freaked. "Oh my freakin god, where is she?" he said to himself and then looked over the side again. And teacher's though students were troubled. He could definitely debate that argument now.

[Sevanna Greenwood]

Five minutes now? Ten? Twenty? Ms. Greenwood tried to remember, curling her lips in a disgusted look when her fingers dug deeper into mushy wet algae. It felt repulsive. The tingling sensation was now a cool numbness pulsing through her blood. And her breathing came at a slow steady pace. Last time I lasted forty-five minutes... But last time she didn't have a funny feeling in her gut.

She couldn't see, but she could sense. Vanna was well aware of every sound, movement, and object around her. Not everything was clear, most things came out, as she would say, "fuzzy" or "blurred" but she knew something above her had changed. The vibrations had stopped; however a muffled, liquidy, noise rang on the outer edges of her hearing range. What IS that? A concerned voice perhaps? Rambunctious teenagers? A dog? Was something dying...?

Cautiously Sevanna began to push herself along the dock, moving closer to the noise. She didn't even make it to the end before it disappeared. Whereas the churning in her stomach did not cease. Was she in some sort of danger? It was the only explanation she could think of for the upset stomach. Looks like I'm going to have to quit and try again...

Ms. Greenwood let her body float to the surface on the side of the dock. Carefully she raised her hands out of the lake to grasp the dock for support, and then she hoisted her upper half out into the open air.

"Rayne...? Rayne, um, Lancaster?" Sevanna raised a wet brow at the boy. He probably couldn't see it, for her hair was in a tangled mess around her head.

Face to face with one of her students, Ms. Greenwood puzzled over the weird feeling in her gut. Her eyebrows furrowed, but as she looked over the area, everything seemed to be alright. No danger. No harm. Sevanna then began to worry about the appropriateness of a student seeing a teacher in a bikini until she really studied Rayne's face.

"Oh God sweetheart, are you okay? You look like you just witnessed a murder! Oh, wait! You must have seen me dive. I'm alive, I'm fine, okay? I was testing my meta gift. I can adapt to my enviornment in order to survive. This is natural for me. Uh, Rayne? "

Most of her little speech was strained, her body hadn't fully switched back into the whole-breathing-air-through-the-mouth-and-nose-thing yet.

[Rayne Lancaster]

There was no answer. Not a bubble implying someone releasing breath, not a ripple to show someone moving. Nothing. Rayne felt like he was going to choke, and he took a step back. Holy shit, was a teacher dead? And not just any teacher, but a nice teacher like Ms Greenwood. Rayne isn't a suck up to the teachers but this teacher was great. And he is a sensitive person, and possibility of someone he knows dying brought a slight tear to his eye. Or possibly exhiliration, but turning he whipped out his phone.

His breath was rough and worried, his mind spinning out of control. Could he do something? Could he save her? Maybe he could, but a part of him doubted. But 9-1-1 was still able to be dialed on his phone. Putting the phone to his ear he waited impatiently. That is if they do answer. What if they didn't? But then he heard something. A woman's voice, asking his name. Rayne lowered the phone and turned to look to her, and his eyes went wide. Unless she was a ghost or zombie coming back from the dead to eat his brains, she was alive. A very positive thing at the moment. He felt much more relaxed yet still on edge as he ran his hand through his hair from that little panic attack. "Oh thank god".

"Yeah, natural for you Ms. I just freaked out a bit there. But you adapted, so you wouldn't of died. I just look - like the biggest idiot right now". He could feel his face turning a shade of read in the dark cold night. He wouldn't expect anything else by someone jumping into the freezing water at night. But it was a teacher. Swing and a miss for Rayne tonight.

[Sevanna Greenwood]

“Nope, no dying today.” Ms. Greenwood smiled. “And you don't look like an idiot. I would be freaked out too if I had been in your position. When someone dives into a frozen lake and doesn’t come back up, it’s still frightening, even when you live in a world full of humans with special powers. Thanks for worrying though, but you can relax now.” Her body bobbed in the water as she kicked her legs in gentle circles. She smoothed her hair back in place and then blushed. Sevanna forgot that she was in a bikini in front of a student. And a male student at that.

The few weeks she had actually taught at Hammel, she didn’t know Rayne to be the type to spread jerk-like, crude, rumors about anyone. He didn’t seem as if he were a mean type of guy either. Rayne actually appeared to be a decent kid. But what did she know? He could have a gang of guys prowling the area, just waiting for him to pull her top down and run off with the rest of her clothes. Sevanna doubted this, but as a teacher and a human being, she had to take precautions. She didn't have a clue that he was gay.

She didn’t know whether it would be appropriate for her to just step out of the water how she was or to make him turn around. Rayne was too concerned for her safety, she thought, to do any harm or to pull any pranks. Even so, he was her student and she was his teacher. The less he saw of her bare skin, the better it would be for the both of them because in the back of her mind, she knew her yellow two-piece swim suit was in no way conservative.

“Rayne, I’d like to step out of the water now, and seeing as I’m your teacher, I do not find it appropriate for you to see me as I am. Could you please turn around for a moment while I dress, hun?” Ms. Greenwood asked, not wanting the situation to turn awkward. Her toes were probably all wrinkled and raisin-like anyway; it was time for her to dry off.

[Rayne Lancaster]

Looking down at her, he could tell how cool she was. She didn't pity him but - unlike many people - put herself in his shoes. He smiled at her and then realized something. That if he wasn't gay, this would be a party and a half. He had half a mind to lend a hand for her to get out of the water, but would she accept it or do the protocol teacher stuff. Rayne decided to keep his hands in his pockets. It was cold anyways.

It was then that she asked him to turn around. Now he felt like a pervert. He was obedient, smiling and giving her a big nod. He didn't want to seem like a creep. "Oh yeah, definitely. So sorry". Turning, he took a few steps forwards off the dock and still looked forwards. He got out his phone and checked the time. It was 9:43 and he really should get back. But he didn't want to leave Ms Greenwood yet. She might not be okay. But then he heard something.

Looking upwards, he saw it. It looked like a pack of dogs running at them in the darkness, but dogs didn't make that noise. Dogs didn't make that much destruction in their path. The hill facing the dock and the lake, smothered by trees and bolders was throwing out dozens of large boulders at Rayne. Oh my god, it's a friggin rock slide!

He yelled in terror as a bolder hit a rock and bounced towards him. Rayne dropped to the ground and it missed barely. The pounding of them came as they encountered them. Rayne held out a hand and was lucky enough to send a telekinetic push at one of them. Causing it to off course 90 degrees and into the water. Ms Greenwood! Turning, he yelled. "Ms Greenwood! Look out!". The rocks kept coming and Rayne waited for the opportunity to run to her. He did and stood on the dock but then a bolder came. It hit the dock and smashed through it, causing a ripple effect through the rest. Before Rayne knew it, he had fallen into the freezing cold water. He went to rise but another boulder fell. It landed on his stomach and anchored him down. Rayne was falling slowly in the depths of the lake. He couldn't breath, he couldn't see. And it seems that metas shouldn't only just look out for the supernatural disasters anymore.

[Sevanna Greenwood]

Sevanna opened her mouth to compliment Rayne on his politeness, and that he should be heading home, but she was cut off by a sudden intense rise of pain in her gut. Her left hand flew to her pelvis, and she fell to the dock, grasping it with her free arm. Remember the weird feeling she had in her stomach earlier? It never went away and now she knew exactly why.

She heard them before she saw them. She felt them before she heard them. Rayne didn’t have to say anything for her to know what was coming. The woman experienced dangerous life threats almost every day. She was a magnet for them. Halfway onto the dock, Sevanna’s eyes were the size of quarters, and her ears were fanned out-unnoticeably-to tend to her hearing.

At that moment, her instinct was to save herself. Her body was not meant to adapt to save anyone else. Adaptation didn’t work that way. Sevanna could hardly control what she did in times of life or death, but why would she need too? Her body accomplished most of the struggling and the fighting on its own; it didn’t need Sevanna’s conscious thoughts getting in the way. Rayne completely vanished from her mind.

Her muscles moved impulsively, pushing Sevanna backwards into the icy lake water. Rocks hit the lake at the same time she did-one after the other. She watched as they sunk passed her arms and her legs-another tumbling next to her head. They trailed along paths of bubbles which were mesmerizing to watch. Sevanna admired them as she huddled her body up against the dock, silently praying that it would hold.

Plunk. Plunk. Plink. Pebbles and petite rocks fell into the lake like rain. Rain. There was something to the image of rain that reminded her of something else entirely. But what? Rain…Rain..? All she could think about was surviving.

“OH DEAR GOD! RAYNE!!” Ms. Greenwood screamed under water, choking, flailing her legs, and forcing her body to swim her up for air. How could she forget about Rayne!?

CRACK! The dock exploded into pieces.

Sevanna was thrown a good few feet from the dock. A huge wave crashed over her, sweeping her under the broken wood. Her body did not hesitate to swim for shore as she re-gained control.

Rayne. Live. Rayne. Shore. Rayne!

Struggling with herself to willingly go find Rayne was the hardest thing she had done in a long time. But she managed plunge herself deep into the water to search for him because when she looked on land, he was nowhere to be found.

She squinted in the blackness, and expanded her senses to 'feel' for something peculiar in the lake. Something warm and giving off heat. Something with a heart beating. Her hands hit a rock-a gigantic rock. Using all the strength she could muster, Sevanna tried to shove the damn boulder out of her way, but when she did, her hands caught grip of something else. Something soft that felt like fabric. Fabric and skin.

"Rayne!" Vanna screeched again under water, this time excited. She hugged the boy close to her chest, hurrying herself to swim to land. It felt like ages. But eventually she was dragging Rayne's not breathing body out of the water and onto the sand. The avalanche madness was done.

"Rayne, hunny? BREATHE!! Please breathe!" Ms. Greenwood's eyes streamed salty tears, though you could hardly see them because of the lake water, as her hands thumped down on his chest. She had to get the water out of him. She just HAD to get him breathing again. He couldn't die on her. Sevanna could NOT have someone die because of her again.

Sevanna panicked. She had no phone. Rayne was still not breathing. He was deathly cold. And she wasn't sure if CPR would work. Her body temperature was naturally hotter in the winter...She desperately pressed her body against his..still thumping his chest. Still pinching his nose and breathing air into his mouth....

((OOC: Just ask if I need to change anything or shorten, I don't know if I went to far or not. ))

[Rayne Lancaster]

He fell. Slowly but surely, he went down and down and down. The thud of hitting the bottom of the lake occured, and the full pressure of the boulder took effect on Rayne's stomach. He grunted, holding his breath and trying to get it off of him. It wouldn't work, and he tried to focus to telekinetically push it off of him. No luck. He was alone. He was on his death bed. His watery death. It was soon that he couldn't take it any more. The air escaped in bubbles from his mouth. He tried to move it one more time until he began to feel light headed. He couldn't deal with it anymore. His head touched the sandy bottom and he closed his eyes. Everything went dark and he was colder then ever. It was then that - well - he died.

It felt like forever. It was like a forty-eight hour sleep, and soon as he felt the hands on his chest and the pressure, things started racing back. He could hear the words of Ms Greenwood, he could hear her concern. Then slowly, he opened up his eyes. His bright brown eyes looked up at her. His throat felt like it was on fire and his chest felt like it had been pondered with a hammer. And his stomach, like it had been ran over.

He felt horrible, and then he coughed. A splutter of water shot from his mouth and over his face, coughing hard. He had just died, and it hadn't even hit him yet. But the cool breeze against his skin felt like it was cutting him. He was so cold, and shook in the cold as he looked up at her. "N - No one is dying today". He laughed slightly, still breathing heavily but trying to show Ms Greenwood that it was all okay. He was alive, he was fine and she had done great.

[Sevanna Greenwood]

No.

If he died….How would she ever forgive herself? Sevanna couldn’t forgive herself-couldn’t even think-about the other time….The time when she was so naïve. But this time, this time she knew what she was doing. And so if Rayne did not make it, surely she wouldn’t be able to either.

Water continued to sputter from his mouth but Rayne did not breathe on his own. What if his ribs are crushed? I should have saved him in the first place! Oh dear God….He should have been my first priority. “Rayne, please…” She glanced up at the blank sky, signaling to God to give her a break just this once. “You can punish me but not him. Leave him out of it.”

If he had a cell phone it’s probably destroyed. My dry clothes are gone, somewhere in the lake, so I can’t even give him that….As she studied the problem at every angle her brown eyes leaked more tears. It looked like she would need to carry him over the hill to her car, unconscious and possibly…already…dead, and drive like a lunatic to the nearest hospital. I don't even know where a hosital is! Ten minutes had gone by and Rayne still wasn’t breathing. It was time for Sevanna to reach utter freak-out panic-attack mode.

“Okay…okay…” Ms. Greenwood tried to coax herself to stay calm, but her voice cracked and was very hoarse. She was going to attempt to lift the boy and get him to a hospital…

‘N - No one is dying today.’

Rayne said after coughing more water from his mouth. Sevanna's mood lit up like fireworks on the 4th of July. He was alive!

“What hurts? Is anything broken? Can you feel your toes and fingers? What does two plus two equal?” She wiped at the moisture on his face and held tightly onto his hands, trying to warm them. Does he live with his parents or at the school? Sevanna had so many new questions now, but she waited patiently for Rayne to answer her before throwing anything too complicated at him.

“Thank goodness…no one is dying today.” Vanna chuckled at his humor-which was a big relief- and placed her hands on his cheeks. He was shivering. I’ll have to get him to the car. The car has heat….