{SCE} Breath In Your Body

[Lucy James]

Sometimes Lucy wondered how someone who had spent the past fifteen years dancing ballet managed to be this clumsy. She had scouted the area (mostly to get away from everyone) and she had found a small river of some sort in the forest a few minutes away from the camp. She had then opted to walk closer and then walk along the rocks next to the water. Somewhere along the journey, her foot had slipped on one of the rocks, and well...

Before she knew it, she found herself down on all four. The water reaching to her elbows and mid thighs. Her clothes were soaked for the most part and her hair was stuck to her face; dark tendrils clinging to her skin as if trying to suck out the last ounces of life she had left.

Sighing, Lucy shifted and brushed the back of her hand against her pale skin, tucking some of the hair away from her face and behind her ear. She sensed the power nearby, but didn't bother turning. Her head dipped forward as an almost resigned sigh fell from her lips. Pursing them, Lucy had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Take a picture. It'll last longer," she pressed out.

Just what she needed; being stuck in the middle of a forest in APRIL, soaked to the bone. Wonder-fucking-ful.

[Nico Martell]

"I would, but they took all our devices," said Nico as he carefully walked over to the edge of the little stream. He, too, had headed out this way to avoid the others. Though unlike Lucy, he just found them more tiresome than anything: a near constant drain on his already dwindling patience and energy supply. No, he'd rather just spend time sitting by the stream, watching it and sort of thinking through things.

And then who should appear but his old friend Lucy. Nico had watched her, noting that she hadn't really noticed him. The brow jacket and jeans did blend in fairly well. So he'd approached on the splash, and now stood near the edge of the stream.

Nico nodded, then gestured for Lucy before holding out his hand. He figured the first thing she'd want to do was get out of the damn wet and get on dry land. Then he'd have to figure if he really wanted to shuck off his jacket to cover this bitch or not.

Well, he'd just have to see how she reacted, now wouldn't he?

[Lucy James]

Rolling her eyes at the familiar voice, Lucy turned her head. "Fair point, well made, Pablo." She smirked a little at that. Nice was one of the few people on this trip that Lucy actually didn't mind. Maybe it was because he hardly talked, or maybe it was his obvious indifferent demeanor or take on everything. It was hard to find anything about him that was particularly annoying.

Lucy shifted then, her eyes dropping to his hand; her gaze grew a little more cautious then. For a moment, she debated not taking it. After what had happened with that food girl, Lucy had become a lot more vary when it came to touching people, but nothing about the boy screamed danger or "I have to eat every five minutes", so Lucy figured she was safe.

For now.

Taking his hand, the brunette pushed herself up. When she found stable ground to stand on, she let her hand drop from his and took the last few steps out of the water and onto the dry land. Brushing her hands down her pants, the power mimic tossed the boy a quick glance. "Thanks." She then straightened herself up and spent a moment looking the boy up and down. "I take it you're not a fan of this thing, or the people either," she noted.

Hey, maybe she was lucky enough to freeze to death?

[Nico Martell]

There was that moment of tension. Nico could almost feel it. People did have those every once in a while, and he swore that he got them more than most. They just seemed to figure that his silence or his seeming indifference meant more than it really did. Not like he was plotting to gun everyone down or even do anything remotely destructive. He just didn't want to get involved with anything.

Lucy eventually took the hand, and Nico helped pull back, getting the girl onto solid ground. As they did, he noticed that she wasn't just wet: she was dripping. The clothes clung to her in a way that had him staring for a moment longer than he would have normally, long enough to figure too skinny before pulling his attention back up. Her comment had him letting out a rough laugh, running his hand through his hair and turning to look.

"Not especially, though seems like all my friends are here," he had to add that last since, well, it did seem as though that was his luck. He looked back at Lucy again, shrugging into his jacket. His eye went up to hers, the question on his face: can you handle the wet or do I have to do something about it? Because hell, for all he knew, she could control water or light herself on fire or God knows what.

[Lucy James]

Following Nico's gaze, Lucy nodded at that; she supposed she could understand that. It seemed as if everyone she interacted with too, was on this trip. Though, she figured she interacted with people on a whole different level than the boy did. He didn't exactly strike her as the type who slept around. "I guess I know what you mean." Quirking her brow then at the way he was looking at her, the brunette's eyes rolled to the back of her head.

"Don't worry about it; freezing to death would be a relief at this point." Her hands moved to her hoodie then, pulling it up and over her head. She started twisting the fabric to get most of the water out of it before putting it back on. She figured she'd have to dry up sooner or later, and well, she wasn't all that worried about the consequences. Lucy rarely was.

Hanging it over one of the branches coming out from a nearby tree, Lucy's hands moved to her singlet as she started twisting that as well (without taking it off, mind). Her eyes moved back to the boy then as she clicked the tip of her tongue against the back of her teeth. "What are you here for, anyways?" From what she'd seen, he wasn't the type to start any trouble, apart from being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Nico Martell]

Not going to freeze. Well, that technically answered Nico's question. He still felt a bit like an ass for holding onto his jacket, but he wasn't the idiot who fell into the damn stream either. So he watched for a while longer as Lucy twisted out of her sweatshirt, putting the thing on a limb. So, she clearly didn't have a power that would instantly dry anything. It was spring, but she had to be pretty freaking cold.

"Thought that was obvious," he said, looking back, "I'm getting away from people."

Unless she meant more in general, as in why did they decide your Mexican ass needed to go in the woods with all us criminals. If that were what she wanted, she could be more specific about it. Nico shifted his stance again, his gaze returning to the sweatshirt.

"We should probably head back," he commented. He looked back at her, again quirking his brow, once more asking the unasked question if she had an actual power that would help here. he knew that some people got nervous about their powers, which had never made any damn sense to him. It was like trying to hide your gender or your skin color: not like everyone here didn't already know you could do something. Just own it and get on with it already.

[Lucy James]

Tossing him a sharp glance, the brunette simply grinned. "Not what I was asking, but I can dig that." He answered much in the fashion she would have, of course she could respect that. The kid was an asshole from top to toe; good. She much preferred that over an idiot who'd cling to her leg and beg for her love and devotion; dear god. The spring break trip had been a total disaster, and not only because that moronic teacher had jumped off the boat in an attempt to save her drugs after tossing them out there in the first place.

The level of intelligence on some people.

"By all means. No one's forcing you to stay, but I'm not going back yet." She had no reason to go back. Apart from the obvious anyways. Then again, Lucy had never claimed to be very bright. She was prideful and stubborn, which showed time and time again. Like now; she didn't want to go back, so she'd rather freeze. 

And yes, she realized just how counter-productive that was.

However, Lucy couldn't quite shake the feeling that the boy was waiting for something. Or maybe expecting something. "Why don't you just spit it out, whatever it is that has you so deep in thought?" She turned her attention back to her hoodie then, pulling it from the branch as she started whipping in the air in another attempt to rid most of the water from it.

[Nico Martell]

Well, at least she was willing to take his answer. Nico had to fight the urge to try a laugh or something like that. Instead he ended up keeping the quiet, which worked well enough. Though he had to raise his brows as she talked about his heading back and leaving her there. He had to snort at that. Yeah, because clearly he wanted to head back and join in another song circle or get sent off to bootcamp or whatever the crazy staff wanted.

"You got a power that can help or you just like shivering?" came out before Nico could really stop it. He could generally put up with people ribbing him for an extended period of time; he'd grown used to it after all. Lucy just happened to have the sort of personality that brought out the best in everyone she met, apparently. Hell, part of the reason Nico hadn't offered his jacket is because he half expected her to just jump in the damn stream again.

For now though, he was moving, figuring that he should at least clear an area for her to sit down in. He could create a wind buffer or something. He should be offering his body heat too, but the last thing he wanted was to offer anything suggestive, even if he could see most of what she had to offer right now.

[Lucy James]

"No." The answer was simple and short. She tossed him a glance then before sighing. Pointing at herself, the brunette elaborated. "Power mimicry; i copy other people's powers and sense them. Not particularly handy in this kind of situation, unless you happen to be yet another fire breather." Though, considering how he hadn't offered already, she doubted it. Well, either that or he was an egoistical son of a bitch - which was also believable. Lucy had come to learn that people weren't always what they seemed from the first impression they offered.

That didn't stop her from judging them and brushing them all under the same carpet of course.

Her blue eyes then started watching him as he moved, curiously furrowing as she stepped to the side. What on earth was he doing? Pulling the hoodie back over her head, she struggled getting the damp fabric over her skin and body. Once it was done though, Lucy offered the boy her full attention.

"What are you doing?" Her eyes narrowed further as her expression changed from curious to vary; when you'd been through the shit Lucy had, trusting people wasn't something that came easy, and it almost became a habit to watch people's every move.

[Nico Martell]

Power mimic? Nico paused for a moment, looking over at her. He'd stopped clearing the area, though he definitely heard her question about it. He supposed it did have to look weird from her perspective, but he wasn't about to elaborate further on it. he just kept staring, trying to figure if the idea he had in mind would work.

Well, he didn't see why not. It couldn't hurt. "Are you any good?" he asked, arching his brow. Realizing that would just result in a snarky comment and more questions, he went ahead and added: "Because my power might actually help. I phase." he held up a hand, reached for a nearby tree branch, and waved a few times. He had to focus, but he could at least buzz through a branch without much trouble.

Hey, look what happened when you trained for a year. Somewhere Nico's trainer was shedding a tear and they didn't know why.

[Lucy James]

Furrowing her brows, Lucy watched as the boy's hand "phased" through the branch. "How, exactly, is that going to help me again?" She had problems understanding what he was trying to get at. She didn't quite see how phasing through a solid object would help her get rid of her wet clothes - or even dry them. But she figured the boy would tell her soon enough, and if he didn't, then oh well.

"I mimic people's powers as well as their control, so I'm only as good as whoever has the power I mimic," she explained with a shrug. It was both a curse and a gift, she figured. Sometimes, it was nice to mimic powers of people who had a lot of control, but it wasn't always as much fun to mimic powers where people lacked all sense of control.

And not all the side-effects were that pleasant to be around either. Which made it even more tedious that she couldn't always control when she mimicked people's powers. It was just one of those things she had to get used to though. It wasn't like she had much of a choice, as she hardly wanted to do power training with that awful, awful trainer.

[Nico Martell]

"Drop the water?" Nico pointed out. He didn't mention that phasing through the water might be a bit difficult. At worst it would end up putting the water inside your body, which seemed to be a vast improvement to having it dripping wet. It wasn't as though Lucy would be trying to get through a stream or a river or something, just lose the bits that were attached.

Nico added another shrug, figuring that there really wasn't anything else he could add to that particular thing. Clearly he was ready for it: he looked right at her to further confirm that. Nico didn't wait long before continuing getting an area cleaned. If she wasn't going to phase or head back to camp, then she'd need a spot to hunker down. He supposed he should offer to pull close and use his body heat or something, but he definitely didn't want her to get any ideas.

Nor did he really want to get near all those elbows. He practically shuddered at the thought.

[Lucy James]

Furrowing her brows, Lucy looked from the boy, to her wet clothes and back to the boy again. "So, wait," she began, holding up her hand. "You want me to phase... Through the water.. Which is on me, and not coming from another source... Right." Her eyes dropped to her sweater and she pursed her lips. Because that didn't sound complicated at all. It didn't help that Lucy had absolutely no experience with this kind of power either. Though, she figured it was at the very least worth a shot.

So... How exactly did this thing work again? Looking at the boy, Nico, with furrowed brows, Lucy stepped closer until she could put her hand on his shoulder. She could feel her power activating and mimic his. She then stepped to the side and kind of just stood there, looking down at her shirt.

She then tried moving to the side: nothing happened. Okay, that didn't work. Obviously. "Uhm," fell from her lips as her head tilted. "How, exactly, do this work?" She lifted her eyes to look at the boy. It was not a situation the brunette found herself wanting to be in. She was so far out of her element it wasn't even funny.

[Nico Martell]

Nico sighed as Lucy repeated his idea in a way that made it sound even stupider than it did in his head. He raised a hand up to brush back hair, letting out a deep breath while he tried to figure out how exactly to explain it. "The stuff, water and crap," he said, lowering the hand, "it usually just sort of sucks in you, in me, when I phase. Since the body's got water..."

Lucy moved closer as Nico trailed off, and he stopped to look at her. He felt the natural tension go through his body and he nearly pulled up a hand to punch her. He managed to control the impulse though, recognizing that she probably needed contact for her power to work. Sure enough, Nico felt a touch.

Then they both stood in silence. It didn't really bother Nico: Silence was kind of his thing. But he still ended up looking at her, wondering what she was trying to figure out. "Uh," he said, licking his lips this time, "you have to sort of... picture yourself going through something. Honestly it happens to me more by accident than anything. I'm kind of surprised you haven't done it already," his eyes went down to see shoes, since he knew that those flat out never phased right.

[Lucy James]

Nodding at that, Lucy had to admit that now once she'd gotten an explanation, it did make a lot more sense. "Okay.." she said, her brows furrowed. That didn't sound very pleasant, but hey, she figured it was a lot better than freezing to death. Then again, that wasn't particularly hard to top. For someone who had lived on her own, Lucy knew a thing or two about being cold. Really cold. Not even this could quite match up to a rough winter with minimal heating.

Picture herself... going through something. Okay, she could do that. "Wait, what about my clothes? Do they..." She smiled a little at that. "If this is an attempt to get me naked, I have to admit it's very clever." Joking, of course. The guy didn't strike her as the type who would have sex with anything other than a rock. He had a similar personality too. Maybe that was why Lucy didn't mind him being around. She suddenly understood why that scrawny kid in first grade was talking to rocks. She could surely see the appeal.

Taking a few steps back, Lucy closed her eyes. Picturing herself moving through the air and the water stuck clinging to her body, Lucy's brows furrowed slightly. There was a suction, tingling like sensation and her eyes opened, blinking slightly. It had kind of felt as if her entire body had dissolved before being rearranged again, which had Lucy feeling a bit.. Odd. Lowering her gaze, the brunette started patting her clothes, her eyebrow quirking somewhat. "Huh." Her body felt oddly tingly. It was a weird sensation, as if she was losing blood flow, without really losing blood flow.