Early Worms (Izzy Suou)

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny flung out her arms, inhaling deeply of the early morning air. The clouds hung low in the sky, a deep, threatening grey, but so far no rain had appeared.

If rain did fall Hammel was only a sprint away.

The blonde glanced over at her companion, a grin creeping across her face.

"So have you ever thought of doing the morning run as a dog?" She inquired, pulling her hair out of her face with a scrunchy.

That was why the two girls had met out on the training fields; Ginny was always looking for someone to run with in the mornings, and Izzy was one of the few Hammel students willing to indulge her. It didn't matter that she was only visiting for the weekend; rain or shine, holiday or school day, she couldn't miss her morning run.

"Or would that not give you the same benefits? I'll bet you could way outrun me as a dog, though."

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Izzy cast a furtive glance at the cloud heavy sky before giving her new-found friend a shy smile. Rain might be nice but it brought an unwanted third party to their morning exercise, one that would send the younger girl skittering for shelter. Shaking the thought from her mind she turned her attention to the tall blonde beside her, nodding.

"Yes, but I can't control the shifting yet. It just happens. Running as a dog is fun, but different. It's not as hard, not as much of a workout." Another glance at the sky and then Izzy bent to inspect her shoe laces, retying and double knotting the loops, before straightening.

"Sunbae do you think it's going to storm?" Izzy kept her eyes from wandering away from Ginny, a decisively hard task considering her concern. Ginny was the first person to befriend Izzy since she came to the school a short time ago, which was a very good thing. With the college student running beside her she didn't have to worry about running too far and getting lost, which she would inevitably do and probably more than once. She stretched as she waited for the answer, casting another set of quick glances at the sky.

[Ginny Campbell]

"Oh." Ginny responded, shrugging dismissively. "That's okay. My dad was stuck at Hammel for ages because he couldn't control his power. At least, that's what mom says."

Unsurprisingly, her father didn't ever bring that up, at least not with his daughter. However, shifting was supposed to be relatively easy to master, as far as powers went. Far easier than a power that was closer to a sixth sense.

At Izzy's question her eyes were drawn upward, toward the murky sky above.

"Umm. It could. I forgot to check the weather before we came out." She admitted, hands straying towards her thigh before she remembered she was wearing cotton shorts without pockets; her phone was in her tote, which was sitting in a locker in the gym.

"Why, is that a problem? We could always run back inside if it starts to rain..." She suggested, unaware of her younger friend's fears.

[Deleted]

"My brother says it can take awhile, but he mastered shifting in a few years." Izzy nodded her head, her ponytail bound hair bobbing with the movement. "Actually I'm kinda used to not being able to control it, though it would be nice since I wouldn't have to worry about shifting in the middle of class." Dropping the subject she tangled her fingers in the hem of her plain t-shirt.

"Uh, no it's not. Rain never hurt anyone." She answered quickly, bouncing on her heels and hoping that Ginny didn't notice anything weird. Rain wasn't what she was worried about, but she wasn't going to admit anything. After all fifteen year olds weren't supposed to be afraid of thunder and people would probably laugh at her, which was not something she wanted.

Rolling her shoulders she slid her left foot back, bent her knees and held her arms up like she was running.It was a mockery of a typical track runner's starting stance and an attempt to make Ginny laugh. "Shall we go Sunbae? See if we can outrun the rain?"

[Ginny Campbell]

"Right?" Ginny agreed, not noticing the subtle signs of discomfort that Izzy was displaying. "Unless you're a witch, then I guess you'd melt. But we're not witches, and we're not cake, so melting isn't a problem."

She grinned brightly, amused by her own analogy, then laughed at her friend's joke and attempt at physical comedy. "If you can out run the rain anywhere it would be Hammel."

She dropped into a crouch alongside the other girl, then counted slowly.

"On the count of three! One...two...three!"

As the words left her lips she shot off, the soles of her shoes slapping against the dew-wet grass of the training field. She didn't wait to see if the younger girl would follow, assuming that she would.

The wind flung her ponytail forward, making her glad she had pulled it up instead of allowing her hair to stream free; running was somewhat more difficult with hair in your face.