Damsel In Distress…? (Izzy)

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was never one to keep a strict schedule when it came to exercise, but she was starting to feel a little trapped inside the Hammel grounds. Although the thought entered her mind that she could call her uncle to see if he wanted to hang, the thought didn’t stick around long. She needed a few more days to cool down from their last encounter. And she had a feeling he might need some time as well.

So, she decided the time was ripe to go for a run.

She left the Hammel grounds early in the morning and made her way towards the lake. Although she still didn’t think the area would be any fun to hang out in, she was hoping she wouldn’t meet many students along the way. She’d had her fill of lame weirdoes her fellow students to last a while.

With her headphones cranked above most people’s comfort level, she took a path around the side of the lake, actually enjoying the physically activity. It was times like these when Harmony felt like the master of her own path. No parents, or other adult relatives, around to tell turn down the volume. Or remember to drink plenty of water. Or to watch her step.

Although that last one, she probably needed to hear.

The path took a turn closer to the lake and after slipping in the mud, Harmony fell head over heels down an embankment towards the water below. She let out a yelp just before she splashed into the water where it was about ten feet deep. Normally Harmony wasn’t an awful swimmer. But with her clothes, especially her tennis shoes, on she was having some issues making it back to shore. Sputtering water, she clawed her way through the water, more furious at the situation than scared that she would drown.

[Izzy James]

Izzy dove into the water after the girl.

Because there were some things you didn't think about. For example, Izzy didn't stop to think about the cell phone he'd stuffed in one pocket, nor the watch around his wrist. He didn't think about the fact that he was still wearing sneakers, socks, khaki shorts, and a loose shirt over a sleeveless one. He didn't stop to try and remember all the rescuing stuff that he was supposed to know. Mostly because nobody went around teaching Colorado natives how to lifeguard.

He did know that he was a decent enough swimmer, and that he could probably help the girl. He knew he could definitely help her if he could manage to focus his power and slow down time for either him or the victim. As it was, he was just hoping to make it in time.

His arms were slicing through the water, his feet kicking steadily, and had just reached the girl when he became quite aware of how much he was wearing. Focus! Focus, focus, focus! Izzy was trying to control time, to bend it to his will and either speed up himself or slow down time around the girl and the water.

For once, it seemed to respond. Probably because adrenaline had a tendency amp up powers. Possibly because Fate just felt like being kind. Either way, time was turning to jelly, and the boy was suddenly in reach of the girl.

"I'm here to help!" he managed. Trick was, he was still working out the how, and was swimming around the girl as he attempted to do just that.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was making progress, slow progress, towards the shore when a boy dove into the water and swam up to her. If she hadn’t been so busy trying not to be pulled under by her soaked clothing she may have noticed that he got to her very quickly. She attempted to shove him away, only managing to sink herself under in the process.

“I’m….fine,” she said, sputtering up more of the cold water. “Get outta my way before you make me drown,” she attempted to push him again. And again sunk under herself.

Resurfacing once again, she started to swim towards the shore again. She was starting to get a little tired but she wasn’t at the point of allowing, or asking, this boy for help. Not yet anyway.

[Izzy James]

So maybe, just maybe, the whole jumping in thing had been a bit premature. Izzy stared, blinking, feeling the water tugging at his shoes and weighing him down. He could barely keep himself afloat in this, and the girl, at least Izzy thought it was a girl, surely couldn't do as well as him. Then again, maybe her special power granted her the ability to transform into a fish or swim really, really well. Sometimes, Izzy just wished there was a complete list of all this stuff, so he wouldn't get confused.

"I'm not gonna make you drown," insisted Izzy. Weird, but the world around them was definitely going slower, but the girl herself wasn't. This had to be the first time that Izzy had actually managed to slow down someone beside himself. It made staying afloat stupidly easy though, since they sank at least twice as slowly as they would normally.

"Look, I'm not going to leave you, okay?" insisted Izzy. He swam around, moving to be next to the girl. The water continued to suck as his shoes, and he could have sworn he had felt one drift into the water. But there were more important things to worry about now. Like getting them both to shore.

"I'm just going to hang out here," he said, swimming near her. "And, uh, keep doing this," he waved at the slowed down landscape around him. "So if you need me, I'm like, here."

But oh, how it was tempting to just throw his arm around her and start paddling for the shore.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony also felt one her shoes slide off as she kicked towards the shore. She had a feeling her Ipod wasn’t going to be working well after this either. “Stupid lake,” she mumbled to herself.

She was trying to move her way past the boy, but he was keeping up with her just fine. When she looked at him, she noticed for the first time the effect he was having on their surroundings. She looked intrigued and amazed for a moment, before she remembered she was trying too busy being pissed. “I said I don’t need your help,” she said.

Her other shoe fell off as she crawled her way onto the shore and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Laying there to catch her breath, she looked at the boy. “You could really help me if you had a towel or something,” she said, pulling off her wet socks. She pulled her Ipod out of her pocket and confirmed that it was long gone. “Just great,” she mumbled, tossing it to the ground.

[Izzy James]

Okay, so maybe the girl hadn't needed Izzy's help. At all. Which made the older boy feel quite silly, swimming there, his clothing being sucked off by the water. A blush started creeping up on his face, and he started mumbling apologies as he dragged himself onto the shore. The girl, (yes, now that Harmony was on dry land, Izzy could tell that much; he was used to his little sister, after all) seemed more or less alright: much more concerned about her possessions than her person, which probably meant that both were more or less fine.

Izzy laid back onto the bank, closing his eyes and cursing himself for being seven different types of idiot. He'd lost a shoe, destroyed his cell phone, and for what? He'd like to think his little slow down time trick had actually helped, but the girl talked differently, and Izzy simply didn't know what to believe at this point.

"Sorry, no towel," muttered Izzy. He peeked an eye open, turning his head slightly so as to look up at Harmony. The girl was looking at her Ipod, then throwing it in disgust. Feeling guilty for some reason, Izzy picked up it. He stared; he focused; his brow crinkled slightly, and suddenly time rewound itself for the Ipod. Blinking, Izzy stared at the playlist that had suddenly pulled itself up.

"Is that Eminem on there?" he asked, looking over at Harmony. "Aren't you a little young or something?"

He was still sitting there, holding the device stupidly and looking at the girl.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was considering pulling out her phone and calling her uncle so he could give her a lift back to Hammel for a hot shower and some dry clothes. But she had a feeling he would either A) shove it in her face that she actually did need him, or B) not bother picking up the phone at all. If her phone even worked after a jump in the lake anyway.

She watched as the boy picked up her broken Ipod. “Go ahead and keep it,” she said. “It’s long gone. Consider it your payment for your heroic acts.” She noticed he was concentrating hard on the stupid thing. When he asked he about Eminem, she jumped to her feet and grabbed it out of his hand.

“You fixed it!” she said, hugging him. She stepped back, a little embarrassed and stared at her feet. “I mean…uh…thanks.” Shoving the Ipod back into her pocket, she looked up at the boy. The initial anger at him was starting to fade. He’s not so bad after all…useful, she thought to herself. And kinda cute.

“You gotta name, hero?” she asked.

[Izzy James]

Izzy glanced at Harmony as she offered him the Ipod, almost tempted to take her up on the offer. His own phone lay in his soaked pants pocket, likely ruined from his latest act of stupidity. Thankfully he was pretty sure his family bought the super insurance policy. Even if they hadn't, he was still going to wind up handing the now fixed device back over to the girl anyway.

The sudden hug though, that surprised Izzy. Especially after he'd already figured the girl to be one of those tough "don't need anybody" sorts. His eyes widened and he stiffened for a few seconds, before relaxing and patting her back with one hand, trying desperately not to be condescending. That was one thing Lynsey had always been getting onto him about.

"Don't sweat it. Least I could do," offered Izzy, shrugging off the compliment. Now that the adrenaline was fading, he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything more with his powers. In fact, he was pretty sure that he'd get in trouble for just fixing an IPod, though Harmony had seemed pretty torn up about it at the time. Seemed more interested in asking his name though.

"Izzy," he said, grinning, "like 'is he really that stupid?' Only without the other parts."

He rose to his feet, wincing as he heard a squelch come from his remaining shoe. He sighed and reached down, pulling off the footwear and dumping the water off. He looked to Harmony while he kept trying to arrange his clothing.

"What's your name? And are you a local or a student?" he asked, again realizing that he could've just gotten into major trouble for using his abilities in front of a non-meta. For once, he was hoping the random person he ran into actually shot lasers from their eyeballs or something.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony grinned at Izzy’s explanation of his name. “I’m Harmony,” she said. “As in I had a stupid hippy mother.” She made a disgusted for a moment to show her feelings towards her name and the person who had given it to her.

She stared wringing out the edge of her shirt, wondering if there was any hope of retrieving her shoes from the bottom of the lake. Most likely not. Oh well. At least her Ipod was functioning.

“Student,” she said. “At Hammel. I’m gonna guess you are too, since you’ve got the whole slowing down time thing.” Considering her current state of drenched clothes and at Izzy’s similar problem, she was wondering how to get back to Hammel. “Are you old enough to drive? Cuz I’m not really up for a hike back to school with soaked socks.”

((OOC: sorry this is so crappy...))

[Izzy James]

"I've heard of those," said Izzy, nodding. He'd run into a few friends with dumber names, though: "Harmony's actually a pretty name though, so it could have been worse. Your name's not something like Wildflower or Daffodil or something."

He finished dumping water out of various orifices, and had moved on to attempting to squeeze drops out of his own clothing. Which might work a little better if he hadn't started at his pants and worked his way up. He caught on after a few tries, and ended up as dry as squeezing could manage. He did give up entirely on shoes and socks though, hoping that his poor feet could handle the walk.

Harmony had been talking while Izzy had been squeezing, and as he finished up, he turned to respond. "Yeah, I go there too. I suck at using my power though. I mean it works, duh, but I can't actually get it to work the way I want it all that often."

He shrugged. That was probably why they were putting them through all this anyway. Straightening, he smiled at Harmony again, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sorry, but I'm a year off from driving. If you want, you can borrow my shoe. At least you won't have to do the whole barefoot thing all the way back,' he wiggled his own toes, then bent down to pick up his shoe, handing the still wet sneaker out for Harmony to take, if she wanted. Next he'd probably offer a long piggy back ride, but they could work up to that at least.

{Pfft, hardly crappy. Don't sell yourself short, or I'll be forced to show you what really crappy RPing looks like}

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

“Don’t tell me it could be worse,” Harmony said, grumpily. “You’re not the one who has to live with it.” And that was only the first in the long line of mistakes Harmony had for her mother. But we won’t go into them all right now.

She smiled at the information that Izzy went to her school, but it disappeared quickly. “Yeah, powers working the way you want them to…that would be amazing if it would happen. I mean what’s the point. By the time you figure out all this control stuff you’re too old to actually enjoy them. Ya know, have a little fun?” Although Harmony joked about a career as a bank robber if she got a handle on her powers, she probably wouldn’t have the guts when the time came. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone.

However, it would be nice to pop in wherever she please, as well as out.

“Your shoe?” she said, realized that Izzy had lost some things in the lake as well. “I’m not really sure that one shoe will be much help. But if you’re offering, maybe you could just carry me.” She meant it as a joke, having no idea that Izzy was considering offering a piggy back ride.

((Is that a challenge?))

[Izzy James]

"Keep telling you; it's pretty, so stop worrying," insisted Izzy. Budge? Izzy? Pshaw, you must surely be thinking of someone else. Still, he was grinning from the response. Probably had something to do with him linking Harmony to his sister Lynsey in his mind. Though he was pretty sure that Lyn wasn't into the whole gansta rap stuff. Pretty sure. Probably.

He chuckled, half from his own thought, and half from Harmony's admission of powers. "Preach on, sister. I'd kill to actually be able to stop time whenever I wanted.'

At least he knew he had more punch than most people his age. In fact, his "punch" actually scared him from time to time. Did everybody with time control have that kind of power? Stopping time and speeding it up and doing God knows what to other people. Well, his power wasn't helping him now; superstrength or endurance would be more useful. Or flight; flight was almost always good.

"Alright, no shoe," agreed Izzy, shoving the sopping shoe into his pocket as best he could. The thing stuck out absurdly and flopped as Izzy moved, but he knew better than to throw it away. If nothing else, there was donation.

He moved over to Harmony, his grin widening yet again. "Well, we can always try the piggyback thing, if you want. You look light enough, and I'm an experienced carrier of girls."

He nodded, then tilted his head, clearly waiting for Harmony's permission to pick her up and start moving.

{once had someone who shifted persons and tenses three times in one post. Trust me; you'd have to try to be a bad RPer}

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

“Dude, seriously lay off the name,” she said, starting to get upset. But she felt a little bad about it. Which was out of character for her. But after all, Izzy did fix her Ipod. And he was pretty cute. “Please?”

She smiled again when Izzy chuckled. Although it was nice to hear another student share in her complaint about the lack of control their powers came with, it was a little discouraging as well. She had hoped to have things a lot more figured out by the time she was fifteen. She kicked at a few pebbles with her bare feet.

She perked up a little at the piggyback idea. Although she wanted to take him up on his offer, she wasn’t sure that would do much for her tough reputation. Still, he seemed so willing. And it would be such a long walk.

“Alright,” she said, prepared to hop up on his back. “For a little bit, I guess.”

[Izzy James]

Nod. Got it. Drop the name. Izzy could read angry girl fairly well, thanks to far, far too much personal experience. He had to fight to hide a smile though. Because there was still the very real possibility that Harmony possessed laser vision, or some other freakish power that would enable her to decimate Izzy in one go.

He also noticed her looking a little down, possibly even kicking at rocks. Didn't seem to last too long though, considering she was getting ready for the piggy back. Izzy backed up and they managed to more or less get into position. One leap, and Harmony would be on Izzy's back, and he'd have his arms safely around her legs. Assuming she didn't go for the choke hold, they'd be perfectly fine. If she did, well, Izzy was used to that too. Again: younger sister.

"Ready?" he asked, looking over his shoulder and giving Harmony a smile. "Don't worry about me dropping you or anything. I'm stronger than I look. Mostly. Though you are so carrying me the second half."

And with that, he started off, moving at a decent paced walk, especially considering he only had the one shoe, and that squished when he walked. Rhythm was everything though, and soon he was setting his. Even hummed a little under his breath, helping to set the pace. He'd carried backpacks that weighed only a little less than Harmony, so he totally had this.

You know, so long as the path to the school didn't go uphill or something.

"So, how long you been going to Hammel?" he asked. Might as well make stupid, small conversation. Better than the alternative. He still hummed while waiting for an answer though, letting that internal melody out.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was glad Izzy dropped the whole name thing. She really didn’t want to get into a fight with the guy offering to carry her back to school. Besides she was starting to like him, just a little.

“Ready,” she said as she climbed onto his back, trying not to choke him too much. She was really starting to wish that her teleporting skills were more under her control. It’d be nice to just appear at the school in the blink of an eye. She decided not to mention it to Izzy. He’d probably think she was useless. Still that would mean she’d have to leave Izzy behind. Unless she’d be able to teleport him too. Something to ask the trainers about…

Her thoughts were inturrpted when Izzy started humming. She would have joined in, but either he was making up at tune as he went along or it was a song she’d never heard. Still it was nice to know he was a fellow music lover. Even if he didn’t approve of her taste in music.

“Not long,” she replied. “I’m still learning my way around. How about you?” She figured he would have been there for a while, since he was older. And he seemed to have some sort of control over his ability. It gave her an idea. “What are the power trainers like at Hammel?” Even after her brief conversation with her uncle, she was still worried about them being some sort of drill sergeants who loved punishment.