A Thousand Lies and a Good Disguise [Zac]

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

She couldn’t believe she was really doing this.

After she had sprinted away from the lake as fast as her legs could carry her, L.C. realized what she had agreed to and cursed. Swimming lessons with Zac sounded like a torture created by the most creative yet heinous torturers from the deepest pits of hell. Not because he would make a bad teacher, because she was certain that he could teach her just fine, but going swimming involved a lot of skimpy clothing (if you could even call it that) and he would no doubt turn up the flirting to its maximum potential. The boy was relentless, and she was bound to slip up bad sometime. She almost did at the lake, but she restrained herself.

Skipping out would not have been a bad idea, but before she had time to think about it, she had gone out and bought a cheap swimsuit in the magical land known as Goodwill and it was too late to go and return it. So, on her Tuesday afternoon after school and power training, L.C. stomped her way into the girl’s pool locker room and threw her clothes into a horrible rusty orange colored locker, pulling on her swimsuit as she fiddled with it, looking in the full length mirror before grimacing. She was ghostly pale all over, her skin showing no sign of ever seeing the light of day.

The suit showed off her waist and her hip bones seemed to jut out in a comical fashion, making her wish that she could gain some weight for once in her life. Most girls would wish otherwise, but L.C., staring at that mirror, felt like a sack of bones. She practically was flat as a board- that why she bought that top specifically, because her lack of a chest made the rest of the suits look too big. The lady at the Goodwill helped out a lot, thank God. She knew L.C. pretty well from all her bargain shopping. She made nineties grunge look back in style on her, and that made her amazing in the book of L.C., which was always a good thing.

Clad in flip-flops and a swimsuit, the teen grabbed her towel to head to the pool, stopping as she passed through a room of showers with a sign on the wall. ‘WASH BEFORE ENTERING AND AFTER EXITING THE POOL.’ ...What? “We’re getting wet anyway...” L.C. muttered, sitting her Hello Kitty towel (stolen from an old dorm mate) down on a bench before turning on a shower head. Expecting it to be quick and painless as it flickered to life above her.

“FUUUUUUCK!!!” She screeched, obscenities rattling off the walls as the frigid water rained down on her, making her shiver as she stood in it, face angled toward the floor, teeth clenched. It turned to lukewarm after a few moments, but it was too late; the chill already made it to her bones and she shivered violently for a few seconds. She stepped out and shut the infernal device down, wrapping her towel around her as she stepped into the main pool area.

It was quiet- Zac hadn’t arrived yet. She looked around, expecting him to come out of nowhere, but he was nowhere in sight. She checked the clear blue water but found nothing, so she headed to the shallow end, only three feet deep. She didn’t stand in it, but she instead sat on the side, half wrapped in her towel as she realized she had completely forgotten to put a hair tie in. It was still wrapped around her wrist. Oh well.

“This is not going to be good.” She muttered under her breath, looking toward the deep end warily.

[Zachary LaRousse]

~swimwear!

Zac has got to love his phone’s calendar-reminder alarm.

As it was, despite the extreme enthusiasm the boy showed days before, the scheduled swimming lesson between him and L.C. unconsciously slipped out of the boy’s mind. While the said thought lingered and popped from time to time during the day and the day after they met, life happened soon after (read: he discovered he had so much to do for the coming week), causing it to be bumped to the back of his mind, pushed behind by piles upon piles of thoughts about homework and tests, that it was inevitably (and regrettably) forgotten.

Cramming so hard over the weekend (and the night that followed soon after), the smug teen couldn’t help but wish that he had some sort of off-switch. How he would love to ‘shut down’ for the time being, or at least be allowed to ‘hibernate’. Without caffeine or adrenaline, his body’s slowly experiencing that down that came soon after the ‘high’, making him feel so sluggish and heavy. He even struggled to stay awake during his last class, yawning every two seconds that his mouth felt rather stretched already.

He made a beeline to his room the moment the bell rang, jumping on his bed with his arms spread and burying his face in his pillows without even changing his clothes. Within seconds, he was already snoring snoozing.

Five minutes later though, his phone rang. Rang, vibrated and all that stuff. The first few rings were promptly ignored, earning only a slight grunt and a wave from the boy’s arm. The wave backfired though, as instead of throwing the offending object/sound away, it put Zac’s phone even closer to his face, effectively startling the boy and making him fall off his bed, waking the boy up. A growl akin to an hungry lion’s escaped the boy’s lips as he angrily grabbed his phone, but his mood changed soon after when he finally saw what was written on the screen. “Fuck!” he shouted, jumping up and grabbing his swim stuff as fast as he can. Hopefully L.C. wouldn’t be too mad at him for being late.

He ran to the gym’s pool as fast as he could, tripping a few times in the process, hoping L.C. hasn’t thought that he has ditched her and has already left fuming. His worries were alleviated however, when he saw the familiar pale-white figure not far from him. “L.C.!” waved the boy, panting hard as he walked over, “Sorry I was late. My last class extended so much. I totally did not forget about this.” He even added a few strong nods at the end to make his case sound even more believable. As if that would work. “Let me go in and change real quick.” And with that he ran into the locker rooms and changed into his swim jammers. (He would’ve worn his red Speedos, but he’s not sure if L.C. would like it, at least openly).

“So, let’s get started?” asked Zac as he got out of the changing rooms, stretching his arms from side to side as he went. In a more relaxed state, it was then that L.C.’s swim suit caught his eyes, making him smirk almost instinctively. “Nice. Where’d you get it?” he grinned, holding his arm out to tease L.C. and play with the frills, “Love the frills by the way.”

ooc:
Sorry it was so late. Muse has been all >.<
- Jam

[/justify]

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

L.C. sat for a while at the edge of the pool, shivering slightly when the room’s temperature got to her. Her hair didn’t feel so cold, but her body was frigid. She curled into a ball and waited for Zac, watching the water lap against the sides of the pool in three-four time. She hummed and tried to match with the beat, but she failed so she grew quit again. Five minutes passed and she frowned. If he forgot, she would kill him. He was the one who offered, after all.

After seven minutes he showed up, winded from sprinting there, in all likelihood. “About time!” She shouted, flinching as it echoed throughout the large room. She didn’t realize that would happen and vowed not to yell again unless it was for a good reason. (Like if she was drowning, for example.) She bit back a smile as he waved to her and she lifted a pale arm and waved back, pausing to look at a freckle she had forgotten she had. Looking back to Zac, she raised her eyebrows at his paper thin excuse. “Yeah right. Whatever, as long as you’re here.” She waved him off to go change as she stood, waiting for him to leave before adjusting her swimsuit. She folded her towel and set it on the row of metal bleachers a few feet from the poolside. She checked her top and bottom again seconds before he came out.

Watching Zac stretch shouldn’t have been a sight she wanted to see, but looking at him from top to bottom, dressed in nothing but a pair of (very tight) swim trunks made it much better to watch. She almost forgot to look disinterested for a second, and stared before realizing he had said something. “Yeah. Starting.” She looked to the water warily, not liking the depth, before looking back to him in time to see him snaking out an arm. She backed up a few steps and waved almost in a comic fashion at him.

“Hey, hey. No free feels.” She joked, frowning as she adjusted the suit. “I got it at Goodwill, the used clothing store.” She clarified it for him because she doubted he knew about it. “Only coast three dollars, top and bottom.” She looked so proud of herself, and she fiddled with the frills once he commented on them, smoothing them out carefully as she walked over to the steps entering the pool. She paused.

“Ah, you first.” She gestured to the chlorinated blue water, trying to delay her inevitable failure. She wasn’t sure she could even float, much less swim.

[Zachary LaRousse]

swimwear!

Stretching and Zac had never been the best of friends really. May it be in swimming or in just your regular work outs, the smug teen has this thinking that warming up isn’t as important as it’s all worked up to be. It also doesn’t help that he sees the routines involved extremely boring and, in his words, ‘just not my level’. No matter how many times he’s been chastised by his coach about it, he still skips over the said exercises, cutting the recommended repetitions into half at the least.

This time was (supposedly) no different. The smug teen was just planning on doing two reps instead of four, possibly inviting L.C. to join him on a third one before he drags her off to the deeper end of the pool (should he overcome his laziness, that is). He was just about to do that when his suddenly saw the Maiden in the middle of what he playfully called a ‘trance’, causing him to smirk and quickly redo his plans. Eager to please, he decided to stretch for a bit longer, doing the complete routine, even doing a few extra reps if only to show off more. “L.C., I know you’re liking what you’re seeing,” he teased, slightly inching towards the girl, “but seriously, you should stretch for a bit too. Unless of course you want to suddenly develop cramps and whatnot in the middle of the pool and be forced to cling onto me for dear life. We wouldn’t want that, wouldn’t we?” A bit forward, but then again, when has Zac been subtle?


“What? No fair,” he protested, trying to act cutesy by pouting and batting his lashes when L.C. told him that won’t be allowed to touch the frills. “Used clothing store?” As much as Zac would like not to offend L.C., he did flinch a bit when she said something about buying it from the used clothing store. While he likes that the girl is economical and has taste all the same, he couldn’t help but feel a little weird about it. “Did you wash that properly then? Please tell me you didn’t just buy that then put it on almost immediately after.”


“I don’t think so.” And with that, Zac promptly sneaked up behind L.C. and gave her a little push, grinning widely as he accomplished his dirty deed. Knowing that the girl may panic soon after though, he did cannonball-ed in soon after, just so he could placate the would-be raging beast. “Nice dive L.C..”

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

Faking a gag at his statement, L.C. covered her mouth and made a motion like she was going to vomit. “Oh please, spare me. I’d rather go through Chinese water torture.” It sounded similar to what they were planning on doing anyway- or was that waterboarding? Yes, waterboarding was right. (Only L.C. would know so many forms of torture. She didn’t just pull ‘Iron Maiden’ out of thin air after all.) He urged her to stretch and she sighed, bending forward to press her hands flat against the cold tile of the floor before lifting one arm and touching it back down, doing the same with the other until she heard a substantial pop from the middle of her spine. Then, just to freak Zac out, she straightened up and bent backward, cracking sounds traveling down her spine until she reached farther and farther back, touching her hands against the floor before pushing off, straightening back up.

The final crack echoed through the room in a very satisfying manner.

The flinch Zac gave off did not get past L.C. and she did narrow her eyes, wrinkling her nose at his statement. “Augh, that’s disgusting. Of course I washed it.” She wasn’t stupid, after all. In fact, she had washed it twice, for good measure, even though the tags were still on the thing. “You do that for all clothes, used or not. Ew.” She had been washing her own clothes since she was five, and God forbid she ever get a stain on anything in front of Magda. That woman was relentless in her pursuit of clean clothing. The mere idea of a stain on a white shirt sent that woman into a conniption fit. All of her clothes were washed by hand, clothesline dried, and hand sewn when torn. She was a regular old sweatshop worker when it came to clothing, but what did you expect from a gypsy woman with nothing better to do?

Of course, thinking about Magda like that cut L.C. off from the real world, and she only came back once she was pushed into the pool. She yelped and it got cut off when she hit the water with a clap and promptly sank thereafter. She felt her feet and her backside hit the bottom as the water swirled around her and she surged upward, breaking the surface with a sputter and a cough- water had flooded her mouth once she came in. “Don’t-” She cut off with a cough and she pulled her hair out of her eyes. “Why would you do that?” She wheezed, leaning on the wall as she spit water into the pool’s gutter, watching it wash down the drain. The water tasted weird, like it had too many chemicals in it, and it was cold and the air felt even colder. She sunk in to her shoulders and rested her chin on the side, hands latched to the edge with white knuckles gluing them in place.

L.C. turned to Zac with a glare and straightened back up slightly. “Do that again, and I’m leaving.” She was never one to take abuse from him, even if she did (somewhat, a little) like him. “Got it? I can’t swim. I don’t even think I can float.” Something about her body fat and iron content, she never paid attention when they talked to her about her body chemistry anymore.

[Zachary LaRousse]

While normally such outright expressions of dislike, insincere or not, would be enough to deter people from even continuing, as with Zac, it only fueled him to tease even further. As it was, his ego was good at somewhat twisting the sensory information he receives, making L.C.’s bashing sound more like an inflator-y element to his ego instead of being the one that could possibly burst it. “Whatever stops the tears L.C., whatever stops the tears,” he grinned as he shook his head and waved his hand in front of him. He was just about to ask the Maiden what the Chinese water torture entailed when she began bending over and doing her brand of stretching.

Fuck.

As he watched the girl contort herself into rather inhumane positions, Zac couldn’t help but get that growing feeling that, well, something bad will suddenly happen. You can say that he was somehow expecting a pop, but even then, he still squirmed very much so when the first of the disturbing sounds suddenly reverberated through the walls.

From his oh-so-proud stance, he gradually curled into a ball, his eyes shut tightly as he tried to drown the cracking-popping sounds out and thought of more pleasant thoughts. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work. Instead the sounds got even louder for him, his overactive mind making him feel as if he was the one who is having his spine cracked (much like when he first saw Vincent’s unique piercings). He felt as if someone just squished his balls and forced it inside his body, placing it just underneath his trachea.

“Fine L.C, fine. I get it. You’re a circus freak, I know that,” he said, his palm and forehead feeling a little too sweaty for comfort. He does know that his statement might be rather offending, so he quickly softened his features, smiling as he continued, “But please spare me. I have a feeling I’d die rather early if I see any more of your displays, no offense.”


“You could’ve just called me you know,” nodded the smug teen intently, finishing off his stretching, “Could’ve bought you a new one and all. It’s not like they’re that expensive.” One of the upsides of the boy being a huge show-off is that he is in no way stingy. Just ask Ann.


The animal mimic was grinning widely when he emerged from the water, promptly brushing his wet hair back in what seems like a poor imitation of those shampoo commercials, complete with the exaggerated head shake and cheesy wink. “Why not?” Apparently it still hasn’t dawned on him that L.C.’s fear of the water is quite unlike JD’s.

“Aww L.C., lighten up.” He slowly approached the girl, absentmindedly wrapping his arms around her neck from behind, resting his chin on the female’s shoulder as his hands played with the frills. “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t jump in soon after you know. That, and I could’ve simply carried you and thrown you to the deeper parts of the pool. And I didn’t, right?” As if that would appease the Maiden.

“It’s because you’re too tense. Relax. Inhale, exhale.” The smug teen promptly untangled himself from L.C., holding on the pool’s side, taking in deep breaths. “This’ll help you relax. Watch me.” He took one big breath and promptly submerged himself, bending his knees and slowly releasing the air he had through his nose as he rose up. He did it thrice before turning back to L.C. “Want to try it out now?”

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

As Zac began to flinch and curl into the fetal position as she stretched, L.C. couldn’t help but produce a lazy smirk as she watched him from her upside down position. She wondered how much of her contortionist tricks she could do before he passed out entirely. Her smirk only came off when he called her a circus freak, and that was the part where she gritted her teeth and looked ready to punch him. She was about ready to slam him in to the floor and work him over before she noticed that he really did look like he was going to be sick. She bit her lip and knitted her eyebrows together in a concerned manner for a moment until he smiled. Then she relaxed. “I thought guys liked flexible girls.” She said in an off-hand sort of way, letting the innuendo hang there for a couple of moments before she left him to the images likely popping up in his brain.

L.C. barely understood boys, but she understood sexual innuendos just fine. She did hang out with Vincent, after all.

Looking at her swimsuit and back to him, she felt almost underdressed. She really could have gone and spent more money on one. After all, it wasn’t like she was doing anything with all the money Sean had been giving her anyway. Maybe she’d go shopping with Estelle and get a real swimsuit or something over the weekend. “I don’t want you to spend any more of your money on me.” She muttered, remembering the last two dances they went too together; both disastrous in their own ways. “I’m not your girlfriend.” The last part was so quiet she barely heard herself say it, and she pretended like she hadn’t said it at all as she recomposed herself. No, despite all his blatant flirting, Zac would not know she liked him yet. She would keep him at arm’s distance for a while. She had to get used to not trying to kill him.

Not killing him was looking to be tough as he emerged from his leap into the pool, trying to look suave as he threw his hair back and winking. She wasn’t sure whether it was water or bile she gagged on as he did- they both tasted the same in her throat by that point. God, what was in this water? She tried to wave him off, but her crept up behind her and with a faint reddening of her face, she realized how hard ‘keeping him at arm’s length’ would be too. His chest was touching her back. His arms were around her neck. She glared at the proximity of his hands from her chest and waved him away from those maddening frills, but she still didn’t make a move to get him away from her. She almost felt safe, for a moment.

So, when Zac let go and moved to the pool side, she felt a tinge of disappointment before she pushed it away. She tried to do as he said and relaxed, taking deep breaths before she realized it just made her chest rise and fall even more. Oh, now she got it. Or, at least, she thought she did. Reminding herself Zac was a cunning pervert, she watched him sink under the water and blow bubbles upward. She watched them bubble to the surface and she frowned as he came up, looking at him, then the water. “As long as you don’t hold me under.” She warned, giving him a good glare.

She paused, grabbed hold of the pool’s edge, took a breath, paused, let it out, prayed in her head, took another breath, and submerged herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she went under.

Immediately she had to grip the poolside harder as she felt herself get dragged downward, the water seeming to pull her down like an anchor. She blew the bubbles out her nose like Zac, listening to them under the water, before yanking herself back upward. It seemed to take a lot more effort than it was supposed to- she needed both her hands on the edge to lift herself out. She opened her eye and shook her head, looking into the water. “Why do I keep sinking?” she wondered aloud, before realizing how stupid it sounded. “I mean, I feel like... I never sank this much as a kid.” That sounded stupid too. She frowned harder. “It feels like it’s pulling me down.”

And that sounded stupid too.

[Zachary LaRousse]

The smug teen let out a sigh of relief as L.C. promptly ended her ‘captivating’ display of inhumane flexibility. If he had not known that the girl can project lethal spikes from almost anywhere on her body, he’d actually think her power’s more along the elastic, rubber-band-esque side of the meta-human spectrum (if there was such a spectrum anyway). “God L.C., you know I like you and all that, but I can’t help but think you’re in a mission to have me die early,” he smiled and shook his head, color slowly coming back to his cheeks. It was a good thing she ended it when she did really; judging by the lingering taste in his mouth a few minutes back, he’d probably be barfing should the display continue really.

He sat down for a while, breathing in deeply as he tried to collect himself. His smile turned into a smirk when he heard some semblance of an innuendo escape LC.’s lips, chuckling to himself at such an unexpected remark. “First the short shorts and now an innuendo? So you really aren’t as immaculate and pure as I thought you were?” he teased, laughing a bit louder at the moment as his unnecessary sweating ceased, “While I couldn’t really say if most guys do like flexible women or not, I could say that cracking spine sounds are definitely not something I’d find erotic. It’s quite the opposite really.”


Hearing L.C. protest about the thought of him giving her stuff only made him even more driven to do so. He never really was good at following instructions anyway. “You are my girlfriend,” said the mimic with a smirk, raising his right eyebrow just slighty and putting his hands on his hips. “You’re a girl and you’re my friend. Hence, my girlfriend.” Cheesy and cliché. Hooray.


If there’s anything remotely redeeming about the boy, it would be that he’s rather stubborn whenever he puts his head onto something. Driven by that huge ego of his, he wouldn’t really stop until he’s got what he’s wanted. It would need some really drastic event to make the boy change his mind. (Case in point – being rejected by Ann to the dance and seeing her with the Dwarf soon after). Keeping the boy at arm’s length is hard enough as is when he’s just his plain nosy and annoying self; to say that L.C.’s case is quite Herculean is the understatement of the century really. (Well, maybe not the century, but you get the point).

“Of course I would L.C. I’d love to see you struggle and drown and die with my hands,” the boy teased, his voice ringing with sarcasm as he gave the Maiden a rather impish smirk. He even put his hands on her shoulders and gave it a good push just to ‘prove his point’. Good job Zac, that’s really quite encouraging.

Arms crossed and leaning back on the wall, Zac silently watched as L.C. lowered herself, did the whole air bubble exhaling exercise he showed her and pulled herself back up. To his eyes, nothing seemed off. So he was rather confused when L.C. told him something was. “What do you mean? Like you’re somehow made of iron or something?” He asked, joining the girl in the whole musing-aloud thing she’s started. “You’re not like Wolverine right? You know, metal alloy bonded to bones and such?” He doesn’t really know much about L.C.’s power (he doesn’t really ask too much about it anyway), but as far as he’s concerned, it doesn’t make her beep in airport checks. Or does it?

Zac came into the pool thinking it would be the perfect time to flirt with L.C. Who knew he’s going to have to employ his mind and actually think?

[/blockquote][/justify]

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

Calling L.C. his girlfriend was possibly one of the most frightening things Zac ever did to her in his life. Just hearing the sentence made her tense up for a moment before whipping around to look at him, stumbling to catch her balance. She had barely opened her mouth to protest when she found he had already reassured her that she hadn’t agreed to any consensual relationship with him at any point. She wasn’t one for becoming intoxicated, but Zac seemed to be very persuasive, not to mention she had a tendency to say things without thinking. The swimming lessons were proof of that. “Friend is a pretty loose term at this point.” She couldn’t help but correct him, however slightly. She could handle being friends with Zac, being his girlfriend was different. Even his telling her that he liked her earlier made her twitch more than a little on the inside. Part of her was relishing the idea while another part was rejecting it with every fiber of her being. She felt like she was being split in two.

And if Zac was stubborn, L.C. was too; and twice as much if not more so. She was born and raised a stubborn child, and if she had to pull out all the stops to keep Zac away, she would. (Lies.) The contortionist bit was a great advantage for her, but her disadvantage was her height, or lack thereof. She couldn’t keep a six foot tall boy away from her if his arms were longer than hers. There was just no way. The fact that she couldn’t keep her head on straight around him was hard enough, the joking and flirting was just an added confusion bonus.

“If you do that, I swear to GOD I will spike you.” She wasn’t kidding either- when he pressed his hands on her shoulders she made certain that the spaces between were rimmed with iron. The smirk didn’t even get him off the hook; she just raised an eyebrow and looked at his hands, signaling he best lay off before she made him do it herself. For a moment she took pride in that. How many other girls could get him to do what they said? Not many. To her, that made the battle all but won already; winning the war, however, was the hard part. It wasn’t over until the fat lady sang; this was merely intermission.

Yeah. I don’t know what she’s talking about either. Moving on.

At least he acted serious when she came up for air, which she was thankful for. “Something like that. Might be my body chemistry.” The side effect trainers and the researcher all but raved about her body being so different from everyone’s. They talked about biological toxicity and bone density and her immune system like her body was the best thing since sliced bread. All she really cared about was her ability to function, otherwise she didn’t care about the biological mumbo jumbo they threw at her. Now she was starting to wish she had asked some more questions. “My bones aren’t iron. I just have tons of it in my blood.” She had never been in an airport, so she assumed she didn’t set off the detectors. She had enough of it that she had to be kept away from students with metalkinesis, lest they pull spikes right out from under her skin. That wasn’t pretty.

She waved her leg around in the water for a bit and felt the resistance- it was like moving through molten lead. “I can’t move without some effort.” She looked to him, eyebrows knitting together. “Maybe it’s just normal. I’ve never really been this deep before.” She wanted to chalk it up to jitters weighing her down, because thinking there was something more sinister under the surface just made her sound paranoid.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Well, at least she didn’t spike him or anything, right?

Despite the fact that he’s quite sure L.C. isn’t as savage nor as brutal as he once pegged her out to be to him as she once was before, he still couldn’t shake the thought that she might just get off the edge in any given minute and suddenly prick him with her spikes, or at least threaten to prick him with one should he not stop with his seemingly mindless comments. (He’s fairly confident that she won’t stab him again, not after what had happened that fateful February night anyway). While he does feel for certain that his advances aren’t being wasted, he has a feeling that the Maiden’s pride is somewhat holding her back (completely ignoring the fact that him being quite a renowned flirt is affecting the authenticity of his deed, because it’s definitely not his fault). It’s just dawning on him just now that L.C. does have some kind of image she might want to protect, very much like him really. “I like loose definitions. Means I can stretch it a dozen times over and take a couple of liberties, right?”

Within just moments, Zac got what he asked for. Hooray unexpected spiking. “Oww,” he muttered, thanking that his reflexes acted as quick as they did before any further damage was done, “I wasn’t going to do it for real. Sheesh. I’m not Vincent you know.” It was a good wake-up call though; it confirmed all that musing he had just a few moments ago. He now knows that despite her becoming a bit soft around him, his work wasn’t finished just yet. Not that it would stop him anyway.

Zac was at a loss, that’s for certain. “Body chemistry? Hrm. So the iron in your blood is significant enough to hold you down? Like, you’re heavy and not-so-buoyant because of the iron, is that what you’re saying?” And he was rambling. Darn it. He knew he should’ve listened more to his biology and/or chemistry classes. “I’m lost. Totally. Sorry.” Zac doesn’t really admit such ineptitude that easily, so that just means he’s really got nothing new to throw into the table. Zilch.

“Yeah. Maybe you’re just a little scared,” he chuckled, sticking his tongue out to tease the Maiden, “Panic does have a tendency to pull you down much more than usual.” Or at least that’s what he remembers from the pool first aid seminar he was forced to attend to as part of the swim team a few years back.

“Well, let’s just try a few more exercises. Maybe that’ll help soothe your nerves.” He promptly grabbed the edge of the pool and forced himself into a ‘streamline position’, keeping his body – arms, legs and all – straight to make it float for a bit, then kicking his legs up and down slightly. “Think you can copy that?” he asked as he stood up once more, wiping the water off his face. He held his arms out and bend over a bit, just so they’re submerged just slightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold you up.”

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

As Zac started talking about her body chemistry and his thoughts on it, L.C. couldn’t help but stare and blink at him as he spoke, the content of his words going in one ear and out the other before ascending to some higher plain directly over her head. She nodded for a moment in tentative agreement before stopping to shake from side to side in opposition before stopping altogether, confused. “I caught about half of that.” That was a lie; she hadn’t even caught an eighth of that. L.C. wasn’t stupid- she had been a real science wiz as a child. But for some reason Zac wasn’t making sense. Maybe she had some water in her ears and it was making everything mushy. She couldn’t tell.

One thing she did know for certain was that Zac was right; she was scared. But she wasn’t ready to let him know it any time soon. So, she gave him a glare and raised her fist, leaning forward as if she was going to punch him, trying to make him flinch before looking back to the water. “We could test that. I’ll hit you, we’ll see if you sink.” Yep, this was how it was with L.C. Two steps forward, one step back. At least she was giving him warning this time around. She could just give him another scar to show off, like the one she was glaring at right now as she convinced herself that hitting him again would not be a good thing.

She watched Zac grab the edge of the pool and did likewise, watching as he stretched out and started kicking. The splashing echoed through the room, bouncing off the high ceilings, and it rippled across the pool all the way to the other side, spilling water all around. She grabbed on and attempted to do the same... only to find that when she managed to get into it, her legs would promptly sink back down, along with the rest of her. She tried again and attempted to kick, managing to only get one in before, once again, her legs sank. She gave it another go with the same result.

What Zac had said was finally starting to dawn on her a little at a time. She pushed off the bottom of the pool and kicked with all her might, but it was in vain. She got in three good kicked before her legs plummeted down. She wasn’t even aware of him holding her up. If it wasn’t for his arms under her torso, the rest of her would probably be sinking. She shrieked and stood up away from the wall, smacking the water in anger. “I can’t do it!” She hit the water again, her fist like a bomb smacking the ocean as a cascade of water shot up and shot down. “I keep sinking!” She bit her lip as the full extent of her problem hit her. She could not swim. It wasn’t a matter of not knowing, she just couldn’t. She physically wasn’t able to swim. She turned away from Zac and stood there in the water for a moment as she looked down, feeling like she wanted to cry.

But whenever L.C. got upset, she didn’t bawl. She got pissed instead.

“GODDAMMIT!!!” She screamed, hitting the water multiple times with all her might just to take her rage out on something other than Zac. She finished after a couple dozen hits, the volume of which had water splattered onto, of all things, the ceiling. “It’s not fair.” She didn’t even care if Zac was there to see it. With or without his presence, this was a new low for her.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Under normal circumstances, Zac would’ve cowered and backed down the moment L.C. flashed that fist of hers. While he doesn’t really like it himself too, those spikes are just too powerful for their own good that it would be incredibly foolish to try and stand up to them (just look at what happens to the goth Verax on a daily basis). Unfortunately for L.C. though, this time around, they’re in a different terrain. One where Zac feels most comfortable while the Maiden’s anything but.

“Hit me and I’d float,” he said blankly, trying to sound at least slightly irritated with the way L.C.’s been acting. In his mind, L.C.’s bravado is slowly getting old. “If I won’t die, I’d be unconscious. Either way, my mind would be blank and I’d float naturally. I’m not much denser than water, and I highly doubt you are too.” Density is mass over volume after all, and L.C. is (at least in his eyes) way less than him in both aspects.

Stubborn as a mule (wouldn’t be surprised really if he’s channeling the said animal right now), the mimic is rather firm in his belief that it’s all in L.C.’s head. He simply can’t make heads or tails of the reasoning that it’s because of her powers; he remains firm that unless her skeleton’s bound to a metal like Wolverine, he sees no reason why she shouldn’t float. Ions aren’t that heavy, aren’t they?

It was only when he helped hoist her body up did he feel the strain L.C.’s been complaining all the while. The girl was so light when she’s out of the water, her being that heavy made his eyes widen like saucers (her weight was still manageable by his standards, but the stark contrast was really surprising). Being wrong was something he’s definitely not used to. After all, part of what made him so cocky is that he’s right nine times out of ten.

“I-” He was just about to apologize and all that when the Maiden’s outburst suddenly happened, his arms instinctively covering his face as water came at him splash upon splash. This is the first time he saw L.C. upset about something, and he could honestly say he prefers the angry-furious L.C. over this one. At least when she’s angry, Zac has an idea on what she might do – strike the offender. But this time, the ‘offender’ is intangible, and he highly doubts he can do anything that might alleviate L.C.’s pain. Unpredictability is never good when a raging Lyra Camille Milliner is involved.

Confused as to how he can help, he cautiously walked towards L.C. and wrapped his arms around her, ensnaring her in his version of a bear hug (nope, no bear-channeling involved though). It was cheesy and incredibly cliché, but the boy was out of other viable options. It’s not like he can suppress her powers for a while to let her swim or anything anyway. “Life really isn’t.” In an effort to keep the hug chaste and clean, he kept his chin on L.C.’s shoulder as his right hand went on to pat her back.

“Come. Let’s go out for ice cream. I’ve drank enough chlorine to last me a lifetime anyway,” said the boy as he pulled out from the hug, smiling as brightly as he can. “I know a good place downtown. Unless of course healthy snacks (like salads, blegh) are your idea of comfort food.”

ooc:
IZ CRAPPEH. ZOMG. I apologize. D;. Anyway, I do hope I got the whole sinking!L.C. right. Haha. I'm still hazy about how I should go describe it and all that. Mah bad. :3.
-Jam[/justify][/font]

[L.C. Milliner]

**outfit

“Not if I hold you under.” L.C. muttered darkly, and that was the end of it. She had Zac were grating on each other’s nerves, which only proved, in her mind, that they could not possibly be compatible in any way, shape, or form. They could barely go ten minutes without wanting to murder one another, how would they ever be compatible in, dare she say it, a relationship? (Not that she’d ever consider dating him. He probably was already dating someone else.) There was no way she could stand him, let alone whip him into shape, if she had to. It was no secret Zac slept around; she had heard quite enough of his ‘exploits’ to last her a lifetime and she was certain she hadn’t even heard half of them. He was a player- a player she should be staying away from.

Yet here she was, stripped down to what was essentially a glorified matching bra and panties set, splashing around in a swimming pool with him. Alone. That was about the farthest from ‘staying away’ she could get without losing quite a bit of her integrity.

Her outburst certainly didn’t do anything for her other than get her soaked. As the water began to settle, she took deep breaths, hanging her head to glare at the offending liquid. If her scowl had been any stronger, the water would have started to boil under the intensity of it. As it was, it kept making tiny waves, settling back to its placid state. Zac was likely stunned- probably afraid she would spike him again. She had heard him start to say something, but he had abruptly ended when she had her tantrum- for the best, really, because she would’ve likely told him to shut his damn mouth.

The hug came as a surprise, to say the least. She stiffened underneath it, waiting for him to do something stupid like pick her up or swing her around or dunk her under. But it was just a hug, nothing more, and it was warm. Comforting, even. That and he was pressed against her back again. At least this time she didn’t blush like a sixth grader who had seen a cute boy she ‘liked’ without a shirt. She nodded and sighed in acceptance when he pointed out that life wasn’t fair, a saying Magda frequently would remind her of whenever she caught little Lyra staring at the number tattooed to the inside of her arm. It was a reminder of an era long past that, hopefully, would never be repeated with any group of people.

Lyra had seen what the Holocaust did to people firsthand. The very idea that it could happen to her or any of the students at Hammel terrified her. But that was a thought that crept up on her only occasionally, and she pushed it away now, frustrated with herself for thinking about it. She had the weirdest thought process sometimes. Maybe she was depressed? If not, she would definitely chalk it up to being in a macabre mood.

Zac’s proposition left L.C. silent as she considered, weighing both of her options equally. Saying no meant she would have to go off and sulk somewhere by herself, an activity that was never as fun as it sounded. It got boring rather fast. But saying yes meant that she’d likely have to endure another one or five of Zac’s ego-boosting moments, which were not as few and in between as she wished they were. But ice cream was ice cream and food was food, so her stomach ruled over her head.

“Sure. I like ice cream.” Correction: she liked food. The fastest way to her heart was through her stomach. “I’ll go change.” She pulled his arms off and pulled away, wading through the pool before stopping and backing up a couple steps. One arm wrapped around his waist quickly in a sort of half-hearted excuse for a hug, and her temple touched his arm, her head turned sideways. She could see the scar she had left on his opposite shoulder from where she was standing. She held the pose in silence for a moment. “Thank you for trying to help me.” She muttered, trying to sound at least a little bit grateful, before she waded off, climbing out of the pool to wrap her hello kitty towel around her.

“See you in a bit.” She called nonchalantly over her shoulder, disappearing into the locker room as if she hadn’t just, for a split second, shown him a sign of actual affection.