first stroll in ages [open]

[Raymond De Vries]

Ray was walking toward the lake with his earphones in, blasting music in his ears. It was a hot day and very still, perfect for swimming. Ray had decided to actually walk down instead of just teleporting. But this wasn't just a spur of the moment idea. Early that day, shortly after Ray got out of his bed he decided that he wasn't going to use his powers until the morning after. That was the spur of the moment idea.

It had been harder than Raymond had expected it to be. He had gotten so used to instantly being places, walking had taken up so much time. Still, Ray got to appreciate nature and the commotion of life. He hadn't been around either of those things much lately.

There was a bright sparkle in the distance that caught Ray's eyes and he knew he was close to the water. He had planned on hopping in the lake and swimming around for a few hours, or at least until the sun started going down. That idea had gone out the window when Ray came to the realization that he was wearing jeans half way through town. Oh well, Ray thought, I'll just put my legs in the water. He figured it was still worth it -going down to the lake- only because he was already half way there and was holding onto the pact he made with himself.

When he had gotten to the lake, Ray stopped quickly and gave the place a quick scan. not many people here, he observed, happy. He wouldn't necessarily mind company but that's not what he came here for. He finished looking around and began to walk toward the water. Once he got about 10 feet away, Ray sat down and took off his socks, shoes, put down his ipod and rolled his jeans up and above his knees.

Ray got up, looked at the lake and pondered. well, I guess I'm breaking my promise.He threw his shirt off, suddenly pumped up by the sight of the lake. He ran off the dock and dived into the water. The cold surprised him when he hit it, but the water was very warm for the temperature it usually was. When his head poked up Ray had the biggest smile on his face, being in the water. "I really am a fish," he thought out loud, saying it louder than the whisper he originally intended. The Pants he was wearing were heavy enough that the weight was obvious on Ray, but he ignored it.

He looked out onto the beach with a new sense of joy in him, taking a good look at everyone and everything around him. After a minute, he took a big breath and leaned back, starting an arm-less back stroke.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

After all of the heartbreak, all of the pain and lies and bull crap she’d dealt with in the past few weeks, Adrianna needed out. She was so sick of watching her back constantly at Hammel and she didn’t even feel safe there. Not when she was alone, or with Levi in the other room or even when she was with her boyfriend. Her very distraught, distant, and lying boyfriend. Adri had pushed back all of the anger she’d held for him, but it was still there. Deep within her heart, she expected the worst from him.

It had been a month or so now, since she’d told him she loved him and he had yet to tell her how he felt. Eventually, she was sure she’d give up on him. It was only a matter of time until he left her anyway. After all they’d been through, she still expected it. She still saw it coming. Especially now that she couldn’t give him the reprieve from the darkness that had surrounded him in the past few weeks. Ever since Odion and him had fallen out, he hadn’t been the same. And though Lani had said he needed her, she still felt as if it wasn’t her he really needed. How would he know either way?

All drama aside, she needed out.

Jogging was her best bet, but staying at Hammel would only cause more of a headache. Her control had been lagging lately, and being near a large group of metas had her head pounding. The only other place she’d ever gone out running was in Pilot Ridge at the lake. It was a pretty big place, easy to get to and whatever. Adrian got changed into simple running clothes, short shorts and a tank top. After lacing up her tennis shoes, she grabbed her ipod and went out to her car.

As said previously, it didn’t take long to get to the lake, and once she was there she didn’t waste any time getting out and finding the trail. She stretched a bit and once she was ready, set off down the little paved path that went around the outline of the lake. Though she often attempted to tune out the world when she ran, she kept the music more in the background and listened to the sounds that surrounded her. Passing by after one lap around, she glanced over and saw a guy, someone that had to be close to her age, getting into the water. For a moment she envied him. It would have been nice to relax in the water, but running was what she’d been dressed for and wasn’t about to strip down to her underwear just to cool off.

Her heartbeat was accelerated and her muscles ached. It had been a little too long since she’d done any long-distance running. So, she wandered over to the edge of the lake, a few feet away from the guy’s belongings and sat down, knees pulled up to her chest, eyes set out on the water.

[Raymond De Vries]

Swimming was nice. If Ray could be in that lake everyday, he would definitely do it. Swimming with only his legs made him tired though, not to mention the 5 pound jeans he was wearing. Before he knew it, his legs were burning hot chunks and as heavy as lead. Ray stopped swimming and floated there, using the motion of his arms to stay up.

After a minute, he started looking around again and saw someone sitting a few feet away from his belongings. Right away Ray was alarmed that his i-pod was there, ready to be taken by anyone who saw it and happened to want one. I Don't have enough money to buy another one, I need that! Ray thought as he edged his way toward the dock. He was at least 100 feet away from the edge and was getting increasingly paranoid about his i-pod getting stolen. It was too far away to see any details of the person. "Shit!" He said quietly to himself, I'm not getting there fast enough!

The last thing Ray wanted was to fall through on himself and teleport before going home, but he was going to have to now. "I was already planning on teleporting home," He said to himself, persuading himself that it was okay to teleport.

Ray looked over to where his stuff was, putting the picture of when he was over there in his mind's eye. He stopped moving his feet and arms and made a 'standing-up' position. He quickly began to sink down but Ray wasn't worried at all because he would be on land shortly. Ray went into his mind and turned that switch between the picture in his mind and reality.

All of a sudden he was out of the water and at the beach. He ended up teleporting a half foot above the sand, so he fell down to the ground. He landed it though, putting a leg back for support. He could feel a little bit of extra fatigue from the teleport, but he was so used to that by now, he barely even noticed.

Once he balanced himself out Ray looked down to see all of his belongings untouched. Then he looked over. There was a teenage girl, about his age he suspected, sitting there, looking out toward the lake. And she looked good. Really good,

Ray started walking to the girl, automatically planning to start up a conversation, but walking was a little hard. Ray looked down to his pants to see them covered in water. He looked up and smiled at himself for not remembering about them.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Teleportation was something that seriously freaked Adrianna out, not so much people that could teleport, more of the feeling she got when teleporting. She’d done it once, recently due to her extra power training sessions, but she refused to do it more than once. She didn’t want to specialize with teleportation, it was creepy and made her feel like her insides were not where they were supposed to be. And she was terrified of the idea of losing a limb while doing it. Those things happened, and she didn’t want to have to deal with it.

So, when she noticed the guy that had originally been in the middle of the lake, now standing only a few feet away from her, she shuddered. All she could feel from his power was that scary stomach dropping feeling that was associated with teleportation and the ‘aura’ if you will around his power. If she was looking straight at him and up close, she assumed the color would match that of his eyes. It was again, typical of most powers that she saw. Each specific power had it’s own feeling, each individual person had a color associated with them. Strange, but easy to identify.

Adrian didn’t know why he had the sudden urge to teleport back to his stuff rather than just swim to shore, but she wasn’t a mind reader at the moment either. Either way she was too busy to really notice much, lost in her own little world. The music humming in her ears quietly as she stared with a sort of distance in her usually warm, comforting brown eyes towards the lake.

It wasn’t until he started to make his way closer to her that she began to actually notice him. Adrianna’s eyes traveled from the lake up to him, where he stood much taller than her while she was sitting on the ground. The way he was hobbling towards her almost made her smirk, water and jeans weren’t the best combination, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, only the right side of her mouth quirked up. Clearly he was too busy paying attention to her than his clothing malfunction. Shocker.