[SCE] Force of Nature

[Selina Taylor]

    As soon as she was positive that most people were asleep, Selina crept out of the camp to the lake she’d seen earlier in the day. It was beautiful crystal clear water and she wasn’t one to waste opportunity. Selina quickly stripped down and waded into the bitterly cold water, a shiver running through her as the water reached her bare thighs. She then took a deep breath and dove under, feeling the cold constrict her lungs. It was so refreshing though, she didn’t care.


    Selina then swam a ways out until she couldn’t touch the bottom of the lake and tread the water, admiring the full moon shining down on the lake. This was what she’d been looking forward to since the first time she’d heard about this whole wilderness trip thing. Just her, the moon, the water and whatever fish decided to swim by. She’d actually checked with the park about possible leeches in the water and they’d assured her there were none, so she didn’t worry about it.


    Selina floated on her back, staring up at the star-filled sky and smiled at the pure joy of being out here. Nature had always had a calming effect on her, and being surrounded by her natural element was heavenly. She slowly swam back to shore after a few hours had passed and was about to get out of the water when she heard something… or someone. She stayed in the waist deep water and stared into the darkness trying to make out what she could. Selina wasn’t shy or modest, so her nudity didn’t bother her in the slightest, but she wasn’t exactly eager to be caught out here by one of the chaperons either.


Lucy James

[Lucy James]

Standing on the shore, Lucy's head tilted curiously to the side as she stepped forward, looking towards the somewhat familiar girl with a stoic expression. She recognized her face, but she wasn't entirely sure where she'd seen her from. Sure, she'd seen her on the bus and all, but even then there was something familiar about her that Lucy couldn't quite place. Ah well, she figured it didn't really matter in the end. Few things ever did.

At the very least, Lucy could congratulate the girl on her obvious lack of shame. She was comfortable in her own skin, which was something Lucy could both admire and relate to. She too wasn't the type who got shy because of a little nudity, whether that meant looking at others, or being the nude one herself.

Pursing her lips, Lucy knelt down on the ground, resting both her elbows against her knees as she lowered her hand to dip the tips of her fingers into the water. "Bit cold for a midnight swim, ey?" she said, her Southern accent being a little more obvious as she spoke now than what it normally was. She flashed the girl something of a wicked grin then before shrugging. "Don't worry. If you cramp up, I'm sure someone will hear you and come to your rescue."

She offered the girl an almost innocent shrug at that.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina walked up out of the water once she noticed it was merely a female student, and made her way to the towel she’d left on the shore, “Not to worry, I have a rather reliable way of warming back up again,” she replied with a smirk as she dried out her hair. The girl didn’t seem put off by being around nakedness, so Selina wasn’t worried about covering up. “Though having two people involved does help the process go faster,” she added jokingly as she loosely draped the towel over her shoulders and sat down on a rather large boulder near the side of the lake to wait until her skin dried more fully.

    Selina looked out over the lake from her perch, “Besides, drowning here and having a lake like this be my grave… it wouldn’t be so bad,” she thought out loud. Though, if her body disintegrated in the lake and somebody swam in the lake or drank the water… Selina would kind of feel bad for them… or laugh, depending on who they were. Selina wasn’t suicidal, but death didn’t scare her either. Ever since she was sixteen the reality of death and dying had never been far from the forefront of her mind, and she’d come to terms with it relatively early on. Everyone was going to die sometime, and unless she did something really stupid she probably wouldn’t have much control over the circumstances, so why should she worry over it?

[Lucy James]

The suggestive manner (although jokingly) in which the girl was talking brought a ghost of a smirk to Lucy's lips. "I 'spose that's right," she said, nodding. She made no indication to move. Instead, she simply watched the girl; it was nice to see someone that wasn't as tightly wound, and who wasn't continuously trying to force her out of her shell. The girl moved towards the boulder then and Lucy propped herself back on her elbows as her gaze moved up towards the clear sky. "Though, considering the bunch you're on this trip with, finding someone to help surely shouldn't be a very hard thing." After all, just the twins alone were sexual to a maximum.

"There's worse ways to go, I agree," she nodded in agreement. Drowning was supposedly not as bad as one would think. Sure, there was that bit about suffocating, but Lucy remembered reading somewhere that it would also release chemicals in your brain that made you both disorientated and incredibly happy. Maybe there was something to it. Tossing the girl another glance, Lucy's head tilted. "Hey," she began, furrowing her brows as she studied the girl. "You're that girl from the club."

[Selina Taylor]

Selina laughed and glanced at the girl, “That’s true, but they’re most likely asleep at the current moment and I don’t fancy waking one of them up for a mere quickie… though I’m sure some of them wouldn’t mind,” she added with a wry grimace. It would also give whoever she chose far too large of an ego if she woke them up in the middle of the night over anyone else here. She didn’t fancy having to expend the energy to explain that she was just using them for sex. Selina merely nodded to the girl’s second response before staring out at the lake again.

    Selina turned back to face the girl though, when she said she recognized Selina from a club and then studied the girl for a second before she merely nodded. “So I am,” she replied simply. If this girl expected any sort of apology, Selina wasn’t the one to give it. Selina had honestly forgotten most of what had been said that night, as her anger had clouded her memory, but she remembered the fact that there had been a confrontation for however brief it was. Selina was too tired to care right now though. "Funny how life works out."

[Lucy James]

"Most of them probably wouldn't," the brunette drawled. Though, she was cynical and generally tended to think the worst of people, so she wasn't exactly the best person to turn to in terms of opinions. She would always fall onto the most negative aspect of something. Then again, it wasn't like Lucy cared, or thought that the girl particularly cared, so she didn't really bother saying anything else about it. There was little need of it, and Lucy quite honestly, had very little interest in talking about the various students she'd been 'lucky' enough to get stuck in this hellhole with.

Lucy didn't expect an apology, just like she didn't plan on offering one herself. She had been fairly intoxicated that night, and even if she'd wanted to, she probably wouldn't be able to remember the full length (or lack thereof) of the conversation they'd had. "Aye, I 'spose that's right," she replied, pursing her lips as her gaze wandered over the still water. 

She just wanted this trip to be over with so she could return to her daily routine of getting either high or drunk. Sighing, Lucy pulled out the small plastic back containing the weed from the pocket inside her bra. From the other, she pulled out a roll of papers. Pulling out one of them, she put it back before placing it onto her knee. Taking some of the weed out of the bag, she put it against the paper and rolled it. Licking the sticky side, she pressed her thumbs along the line of the paper before removing the ends. Closing the bag, Lucy put it back into the pocket before fishing out a lighter. Flicking it, she lit one of the ends of the joint and placed it against her lips. Taking a deep drag, she held it in her lungs for a moment before releasing.

She then held it out for the other girl and quirked her brow, "Want some?"

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smirked and shrugged, “Perhaps you’re right.” Her own world-view wasn’t exactly filled with rainbows and sunshine, but she occasionally tried to believe that people weren’t all giant sacks of shit. She never had real high expectations, but Selina was willing to eventually give the benefit of the doubt after a while, but only if the person had repeatedly proven their worth. Selina laid back on her rock and rested her head in her hands. People in general were such a depressing topic to focus on.


    Selina glanced back at the girl when she heard plastic and smiled in admiration of the girl next to her, “That was clever,” she complimented. Not that she hadn’t hid things in her own bra from time to time, but the thought of hiding weed there had never really crossed her mind. Then again, weed was more her mother’s thing. Selina watched the familiar process of rolling a makeshift blunt with limited interest and grinned when the girl offered her a hit, “Thanks,” she said as she took the joint and took a drag. It had been a while for her, but Selina hadn’t forgotten the feel of it.


    Selina slowly exhaled before handing the joint back to Lucy. “It’s probably been two or three years since I last did that,” she admitted. It felt good, but Selina preferred alcohol as her go to poison, since drinking was more therapeutic to her. Drug trafficking had been the hallmark of the gang that had ruled their little neighborhood in Santiago when Selina had been younger, so she figured her choice had something to do with that. She’d never really fought against them or anything since that type of stupidity was usually only found in movies, but she hadn’t been overly fond of the gang either. "By the way, I'm Selina."  

[Lucy James]

In Lucy's case, the drugs had started out as a way to cope with everything that happened around the time she was twelve. After a while though, Lucy had actually found herself enjoying it, and one thing lead to another and she'd tried new things and explored more options. "Huh," the brunette nodded at the girl's words. Yeah, no, Lucy didn't think she would be capable of going that long without. Going to bed sober, whether that meant alcohol or drugs, wasn't an option for the girl. If she did, she was generally haunted by nightmares and memories she'd rather not dig into. The drugs and the drinking was her way of escaping, and nothing would make her change that.

Accepting the joint as it was handed over, Lucy's lips pursed. "Lucy," she replied with a court nod before bringing the joint up to her lips. Taking another deep drag, the brunette's blue eyes wandered over the still water again before finally let the smoke sink to her lungs and watched as the smoke slowly drifted towards the dark sky up above.

"So, Selina; what horrible crime--" she actually rolled her eyes at that. "--did you commit to get sent all the way to boot camp?" The last two words were uttered with something of a grin. It was obvious that Lucy didn't at all take this thing seriously, and in no way would it change her attitude for the better. Honestly, she didn't even understand what the teachers hoped to accomplish by bringing all the troubled kids to one location and forcing them to spend time together. Didn't they know that misery loves company?

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina laughed at the question and shrugged, “I suppose it’s because I wasn’t a good enough girl in high school, but I’m not entirely sure,” she admitted with a wry grimace. Charity had said that this wasn’t about her past, but she didn’t trust that woman in the slightest. Selina wasn’t exactly going to delve into the fact that she’d killed a man, as there was the high probability that Lucy wouldn’t even believe her in the first place. Besides, it wasn’t something Selina wanted to be known by anybody at the school if she could help it. Being ostracized wasn’t quite as romantic as it was made out to be.


    “And you? What horrors do you claim?” Selina asked with a teasing smile as she leaned back on the rock and stared up at the vivid stars above. One thing about being in the mountains and out of the city was how bright the night sky could be. Selina felt herself relaxing and caring less and less about her recent troubles. “Or are you an innocent volunteer?”


    Charity had mentioned that there were a few who had actually wanted to come to this place. Though Selina could understand infinitely well the desire to get away from Bellefonte, the idea of choosing to go along on a trip for students the school had labelled to be trouble didn’t seem like it would be too appealing. Selina steered her thoughts away from Charity, as Selina still hadn’t fully made up her mind about their conversation, and she didn’t want to get wound up about it right now.

[Lucy James]

Nodding at her words, she supposed she could understand that. The girl seemed reluctant to really detail it any further and Lucy was okay with that. She had no real interest in the girl or what had brought her here. It was nothing more than unimportant small talk. It wouldn't effect either of them on a deeper plane, and most likely, the two of them wouldn't interact further after this. Lucy was wholly okay with that. There were few people Lucy bothered to stick around for a long amount of time - or even meet again.

The next question had Lucy smirking somewhat as she turned her head to look at the girl again. Shrugging at first, Lucy's shoulders slumped and rolled back. "Innocent? Hardly," she snorted. "I have a habit of verbally abusing people." Her smirk widened slightly. "And as you can imagine, few teachers enjoy having a student talk back." Of course, there was a lot more to it all than just that, but at least the girl got the gist of it. She honestly doubted she had to go into further detail about it all.

No, it was obvious that Lucy didn't at all wish to be here. In fact, she'd much rather be back at her dorm room, or even better yet, away from the school and everything that surrounded it. Sadly, she wasn't quite that lucky. A sigh fell from her lips as she took another drag from the joint.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded with a wry smirk, “Tell me about it.” She’d been trying to be nicer to teachers lately, not for the sake of any sudden empathy, but merely because she had no desire to end up on trips like this… and look how well that had turned out. Selina was so tired of trying to be something she wasn’t for the sake of covering up a past that would be held against her regardless of how hard she tried to make up for it.


    Selina glanced at Lucy, “Chastity one of the ones who doesn’t strike your fancy?” she asked with a sardonic grin. The woman had quickly earned a high place on Selina’s shit list and that wouldn’t be changing any time soon, no matter how much the pathetic woman groveled about wanting to “help.” Selina frowned slightly as she recalled their earlier conversation and forced her anger to the back of her mind. The woman came across as being the wrong kind of ignorant.


    Selina wasn’t forgiving on her best days, and Charity had pushed all of the wrong buttons. Selina wasn’t looking forward to spending the rest of the week around her. Avoidance might be her best bet. If she could just stay away from the woman except for in situations where she didn’t have any other choice, maybe she could survive the rest of the week.

[Lucy James]

The fact that the brunette girl used the nickname "Chastity" caught Lucy a little by surprise. Her head tilted slightly before her lips cracked into an almost wicked like smirk. "I swear, there's something seriously wrong with that woman," she drawled, her head shaking faintly. No one acted like that without there being some serious mental issue prodding at the back of their mind. Like, the simple fact that the woman had tried forcefully hugging her the first time they'd met was alarming enough, but then she ran around acting like a ditzy five year old? Dear god.

No, even Lucy had to admit that this trip would have been a lot easier to get through, had it not been for the simple fact that that damned teacher was running around calling all the shots. Heck, it even seemed as if she annoyed the other teacher - then again, it seemed as if just about anything annoyed him.

How much easier it all would have been had he been in charge instead of the clinically stupified woman who acted more as if she'd come right out of a cartoon than a real human being. "Guess we're just shit outta luck with this one, huh?" Lucy grinned.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smirked and nodded, “Where the hell did the Academy go to find someone like her?” she asked in mild wonder. Had she asked, perhaps the woman would have explained just how the creature that Charity was came to be… or maybe the guy knew. Selina had dealt with ignorance and ditziness amongst other things, and she’d seen some really weird shit in her days at high school, but Charity was something else entirely.


    Selina also had the distinct feeling that if Charity were the only supervisor out here, she would have been done in by the other students before the first day had ended. Selina sighed as she tried to figure out how much she really wished that that had been the case.


    “Guess so… Though the woman seems to be terrified of bees. I kind of want to search for a hive just to see what she’d do if it ended up in her tent,” Selina admitted with a cruel grin. She wouldn’t truly go through with such a thing… unless she was positive she wouldn’t be caught or get into trouble with the school. Selina still cared about what her mom would think… though part of her knew her mom was more likely to sympathize than not, she also knew Katerina would be disappointed. The temptation was still present nonetheless.

[Lucy James]

"No idea," Lucy replied honestly. It wasn't as if she'd actually cared to find out. She'd experienced her fair share of useless teachers in her lifetime. Bellefonte was no exception. Though, she figured every school had that one person that just got on everyone's nerves like woah. What did they expect? That a bunch of troubled kids with issues was going to fall for that horribly annoying "the world is made of glitter" act? Please.

Curiously, Lucy tossed the girl a glance. Mimicking the girl's smile, Lucy chuckled. "Oh yeah? Guess I'll have to remember that for the future." She wasn't going to go through the hassle of approaching the woman unless she had to, but it was a nice thing to keep at the back of her mind at any rate. Lucy was hardly one to say no when such useful information was offered up.

She wondered briefly, what with her brother having wasp wings as his power, if that would at all affect the teacher. It would surely be amusing if all Lucy had to do was mimic his power and chase the teacher down. Not that she would, but still.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded and kept her silence for a while after Lucy spoke, her mind drifting off to other topics and her focus fading in and out. “You didn’t happen to sneak any alcohol into your bra as well?” Selina then asked with a grin. What she wouldn’t do for a drink right now. A glass of wine and a good book out by the lake… that would be heaven. Selina almost smiled at the thought, perhaps she was a slight romantic at heart.


    Selina sat up slowly and stretched, realizing that she wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight. It was one of the nights where she’d see the dawn with energy to spare and end up exhausted around noon. She didn’t mind, but she just prayed that tomorrow wasn’t a day that Charity had events or whatever planned.


    “By the way, what type of power got you stuck in this twisted institution?” she asked in curiosity as her mind wandered back in the direction of the school. Selina still had no idea what to make of the school she’d ended up in. At this point, she figured if she kept her head down and graduated on time, she wouldn’t ever really have to make up her mind how she felt about it. It was just another step to get towards her goal and that was all it ever would be if she could manage to get out of there in four years.