Water Twirling {Open}

[Eleanor Brennan]

Day two at the new school and Nora was spending her down time at the lake, she had sought it out as soon as she got here. Being that her specialty was water she had this sort of need to be near it, it wasn’t like fish obviously who would die without it but more of a gentle pull like waves on a beach crashing down on and shore and pulling back drawing her closer to the water.

Classes were done for the day and she had some time to kill before finding something to eat and heading back to her dorm. Sat on the grass by the lake she had pulled out a small portion of the water and was just messing around making it spiral around her circling like a mini whirlpool. Nora had developed these basic skills over the last 4 years while studying at a similar school in Australia, so while she was new to this school she was old hat at controlling this aspect of her power.

There weren’t many people at the lake today as even though the sun was out it was far from warm, growing up in Australia Nora was more accustomed to the heat and was decked out in jeans, boots, a tank top her warmest jacket. Despite the fact that the water brushed up against her clothing as she twirled it around her she was able to keep it from soaking in.

Part of her mind wandered back to Australia, even though she was of Irish decent Australia was her true home it was where she grew up, it was where her friends were and her memories. She half wondered what sort of people she would meet here what friends she would make and how they would differ from those back home. While part of her brain pondered this the majority of it was on her water manipulating, it had taken her allot of training to be able to multitask in that small way and it made life easier and a whole lot less wet. She was notorious for trailing off into internal monologues or thought processes so had ended up dumping the water she was working with on herself plenty of times while training in Australia.

Though she could still easily lose focus and cause the same to happen when unexpected interruptions cropped up, she was just lucky that she had the ability to then draw the water out of her clothes and hair again when it happened one of the first things she learned to master which came in very handy.

[Jackson Smith]

Jackson could always find comfort in the rippling water of the Lake. It was one of the reasons why he went there so often - he could center himself, bring himself back down to Earth and stay happy. It was almost like an addiction, but it wasn't harming him.

He himself had quite a strength in his own powers. He explored them on a regular basis, finding something undiscovered every once in a while and building on it. And since he had some spare time, he wanted to be doing just that.

Jack's smile beamed as bright as the Sun in the sky, a smile that was genuine and relaxed and something he needed to do more often. The number of times he'd brought himself to fake smiling was depressing. He had donned a shirt and some dark jeans, nothing too complex at all. He wads comfortable, and that was what mattered.

He was in his own little bubble when he reached the water's edge, practically oblivious to his surroundings. He knelt down and touched the water with his fingers, greeting the expanse of liquid as he always did... but something was off. The water shuddered a tense feeling through him, something... what was it... he glanced up and around, concerned. Until he found the reason why the waves were so stiff - someone had beat him to it.

Of course, he knew there were others like him, but he hadn't actually met anyone else with his ability yet... he was excited. And nervous. And worried... and also excited, did I mention that? No matter, he approached the girl as she played with the water.

Instead of saying anything, however, he sat cross-legged next to her and practically copied her, pulling out a portion of the liquid and teasing it, whipping it around in the air. It spun and swirled like a viper of the air, zooming around swiftly and elegantly, darting around. He had to concentrate a fair bit, but he was enjoying himself all the same. And he hopedd this was a good enough conversation starter for the girl he sat next to.

[Eleanor Brennan]

Nora half noticed when the new guy approached the lake bending down on the other side of it, she hadn’t thought much of it at first just stayed where she was sitting on the grass toying with the liquid that floated around her responding to her will. She did begin to wonder about him slightly as he strolled over to where she sat and folded himself on the ground next to her before he began to manipulate his own portion of water following her lead.

A smile broke out on her face almost instantly, she had known a few like her back in Australia and had hoped to meet some here so she was thrilled to have that happen here and now. “Nice moves” she spoke easily to the guy sitting beside her without breaking the flow of water swirling around her though she did notice some had landed on her clothes a little. She couldn’t keep up the entire act when distracted but she didn’t do too badly.

Other then the two of them there were maybe one or two other people around the grounds near the lake and although she noticed them look over for a brief moment they made no move to come over and turned back to what they were doing. Smiling at that point she loved the academies for the fact that she could practice her power in plain sight and people didn’t stare and point and make a big deal about it.

That was nice after how much her parents had freaked out when her powers first started to manifest looking at her like she was insane or some sort of alien she loved that she fit in here and her power was nothing weird.

[Jackson Smith]

She had amazingly bright hair. That was one of the first things he noticed. It almost felt ironic in a sense - someone with such a fiery colour on their head being an aquakinetic, but he wasn't complaining. And he wasn't about make a remark about it either. Not yet, anyway. He had time for compliments later.

Jackon's actions became a lot simpler when she spoke, a pretty instant response to brain needing to concentrate more. Instead of whipping around, his water now floated as a few small spheres in the air, chasing each other at a jogging pace. He smiled, "Thanks, but I was only copying you, so I should say the same." His eyes followed her kinesis for a moment, before going back to his own liquid - he felt some of it come loose at the lack of concentration. He tightened up the shapes and flicked his vision back over to the red-head, "Nice moves." He echoed back, grinning cheekily.

Jack didn't recognize the girl. Her's was not a face he had seen on a regular basis, but she seemed too old to be new... maybe he'd just timed his lake visits badly for the last however-many years it had been. "I'm Cam-" he stopped himself, correcting his own words, "Jackson, by the way, Jackson Smith." He wasn't Cameron, at least not right now he wasn't. Since he used to be called by his middle name, and he had introduced himself as such many times, the mistake was an accidental slip of the tongue. No, Cameron was his introvert, the one who liked reading and singing and Pokemon and being alone, sometimes.

But Jackson was the popular one, class clown, joker, entertainer, however you wanted to put it. Jackson was the man he was now, Cameron was the boy he had been before. He was still an introvert though... it was funny how he was more closeted about his introversion than his sexuality. The weird ways that life worked.

[Eleanor Brennan]

Nora noticed how much his water play slowed when she spoke and when he responded, she remembered being at that stage where multitasking was hard causing her manipulation of water to really slow. It had taken her hours upon hours of practice to be able to hold a conversation and keep the water flowing around her and this was how she had done it sitting with her other water kinetic friends they used to sit in a circle all working on their twirling while trying to hold a conversation until it was almost second nature to do both.

Though the more water she tried to manipulate the harder it was to split focus but for the small amount she had control over at the moment it was pretty easy for her to share the focus around some. She grinned as he through her own compliment back at her, she didn’t miss the cheeky grin he threw her either “Nice to meet you Jackson I’m Nora” she said easily she never used her full name when making introductions she preferred to be called Nora the Eleanor so that’s how she introduced herself that way there was no confusion. Though she sensed some confusing with Jackson, why had he started to say something else Cam... before changing him mind to Jackson.

Maybe he had a split personality or something, either way she was sure if he wanted her to know he would tell her all in good time so for now she just mentally shrugged the strangeness of it off. “So Jackson are there many other Water Kinetic people around this joint or is it just you and I?” She asked casually she already missed the little group sessions she used to have back at the Aussie Campus and hoped there might be a few more of them here so she could get in on something like that again. She had already enrolled in the swim team, no surprises she loved swimming.

[Jackson Smith]

Jackson wished he could multi-task with the ease that this girl seemed to demonstrate. Maybe she was a lucky one, born with this amazing ability and able to do it as easily as breathing. But that wouldn't be possible... everyone had to be trained. It was like how you had to learn to walk - there was no getting around doing it or life would become very difficult. He considered asking about it... maybe later.

"Nora." He repeated, implanting the name in his memory. Jackson eyed up her smile and it just made him grin wider, "Cute name. Nice to meet you too." He replied. She didn't mention his name slip, so he was glad. Explaining the whole Jackson/Cameron situation easily confused people. Some asked why he went by Cameron in the first place; it was his middle name after all. Some didn't see the point, why change names? If you were going to go by one name, stick by it, they said. Don't bother changing it. And then one or two would kind of understand but not really know what to say.

In simple terms, if Nora asked, Jack would try his best to explain himself, but there were no guarantees that it would make any sense.

Jackson didn't know any other aquakinetics, really, so he shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. It might just be the two of us." He knew a lot of people and a lot of their powers. Maybe he'd missed a few people out? Who knew. And there were probably others out at the different schools around the globe... how many other mutant schools were there? Hmm... Jack hadn't a clue.

He was curious of Nora though. Surely he would've know of her before now, especially considering her power... maybe he'd been ignorant? "So... am I right to assume you're new around here?" He asked as politely as he could. It would be awkward if he was wrong, but... it was best if he knew anyway!

[Eleanor Brennan]

Nora nodded it was a shame there weren’t more with the power of Aquakinesis at the school but it was understandable. “Well if there are I am sure at least one of us will find them sooner or later and in the meantime you will just have to put up with only having me to annoy you and practice with” she said with an easy smile. She giggled a little as he asked if she was new and nodded.

“You are correct sir! I am new not only to this strange and wonderful school but also this strange and freezing country” she said pretending to shiver slightly for emphasis. This caused the water she was twirling to vibrate with the motion as well which was really kind of a cool effect she noted. “I spent the last 6 years since my power activated studying in Australia” she added on, she didn’t want him feeling bad about his own ability with the power by thinking she was brand new and this accomplished it had taken 6 years of hard core training to get to where she was.

“So Jackson, how about you? How long have you been here?” she asked she loved learning about people and their stories whether they were mutants like her or just regular people she loved to know what was behind the smile or the sad looks or the nervousness depending on what front the person put on. Jackson seemed to be the first option, what was behind that smile? She had a feeling whatever it was it was good; maybe it was the name slip from earlier that gave her this impression, which was defiantly a story she would have to investigate at some point in the future.

During the conversation her twirling was becoming lazy the fine form was disappearing becoming slower and less graceful but none the less it stayed up drifting lazily around her more like the current of a gentle river now as opposed to the intricate swirls she had been doing previously. It didn’t matter to her though she just loved being surrounded by water it was like an addiction, some people smoked, Nora spun water.

[Jackson Smith]

Put up with? Annoy? Jackson chuckled, this girl seemed to be the opposite of a pain in the ass. The idea of hanging around with her on a regular basis (which she seemed to suggest with her choice of words) sounded very appealing to the boy, who's own manipulation was gradually getting slower and slower. Those balls of water were now chasing each other at a walking pace - he'd drop them soon if he wasn't careful. "I'll have to up the anti then, won't I?" Jack smirked, "Can't have anyone around here more annoying than I am."

When Nora confirmed his suspicions, Jackson, he listened with intrigue. It wasn't that cold, was it? He regarded how her movements affected the water she was playing with with a raised eyebrow and a grin; it was cute and the water looked silly as it wobbled a little in the air. Very amusing.

But oooh, Austrailia! Jackson had been trying to work out her accent... he'd never been 'down under' himself, but he'd always wanted to go! Granted, he wanted to visit many places around the globe, but Austrailia sat near the top of that list. "I might be very slightly jealous, then." He grinned, 6 years... so she was in the age range of 17-19, really. If Nora was average. She didn't seem average. In a good way.

Jack grinned at the question and sighed contentedly, "Well, I've always lived in Kalispell. Know the town inside out." He didn't see how that second comment was necessary but it didn't hurt to say it. "I've been at Bellefonte for... a little over 5 years, I'd say." His power had come to light in late October when he was 12... that had been a fun day. Not something his past self would believe, but hey ho. "And I've been coming here ever since."

Jackson wasn't about to pull out his life story. Nora didn't seem like some kind of manipulative control freak or anything (unlike somebody he knew), so he'd be... comfortable to tell her anything if she asked. Not that she would. "Any reason why you left the Outback then?" He asked, raising his eyebrows and turning his head, losing just the right amount of focus to drop his water.

Woops. He tried to recover quickly but in the process of doing so he managed to swoop the water around and very close by to the pair of them. He really needed to get a firm hand on this, once and for all. It wasn't like he couldn't control the water, it was just... he struggled to keep his focus... focused.

[Eleanor Brennan]

Nora chuckled as he declared he would have to up the ante apparently he was supposed to be the most annoying person here. She grinned as she pulled a portion of her twirling water free and flicked it in his direction it would either hit him or he would catch it depending on how much attention he was paying to his power. Back home her friends and her used to do that all the time randomly ambush each other with water attacks as they were practicing so they learnt to multitask or get wet.

Nora missed Australia it was where she had grown up, granted she was Irish by blood but she was Australian by upbringing and that was how she liked to be viewed, as an Australian. “No need to be jealous, maybe one day I’ll drag you back with me and you can meet my other water bending friends” she spoke with an easy smile, Nora’s approach was more often than not to make friends first and let enemies evolve if they so chose but in her eyes they always started as friends.

“Oh cool so you’re like a local even before being hauled off to a special school.” She spoke with a nod and a grin, she was slightly shocked that he didn’t have a better handle on multitasking with his power having it for 5 years but she had to remind herself that not everyone was as dedicated as herself. Some people weren’t keen to push themselves to the point of passing out as she had done on multiple occasions. He also didn’t appear to have any other water benders to practice with outside of class time.

Nora pulled her attention back to Jackson as he asked her why she left the Outback, “I wanted to do something more than this..” she paused in her answer, turned her attention back to the water she played with picking up its momentum and spinning it through the air in multiple directions around her before slowing it back down again to be a lazy river dancing around her. “There weren’t any teachers in Australia who could help me so I came here in the hopes I could learn more about the healing aspect of water bending” she spoke with a shrug she didn’t even know if coming here would help maybe there wasn’t anyone here who could teach her either but it was worth a try right?