{SF} When Volunteering Gets You Soaked

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled nervously as she looked out through the cage at the handful of people around there. Part of her wanted to protest yet again that she was not a good fit for this particular assignment. It probably would've been better to get Mr. Castle or Toby or pretty well anyone who could actually provoke students to action in some form or fashion. Instead there sat Charity, wearing her one piece swimsuit with a t-shirt over it and feeling like an idiot.

She had helped suggest a dunking booth. It had sounded like a good idea to raise money. she could see from the student running the till that they'd already put away almost a hundred dollars and it hadn't been open that long. Sure, she'd only just gotten up there, but that didn't mean that the booth hadn't been operating for a while.

Charity took a deep breath and leaned forward. "C'mon!" she called to the students, looking around. 'Who wants a chance to dump a trainer into the water? You know you wanna take a shot! Someone's gotta try to dump me into the water. I'm all dressed for it and waaaaiting!"

That worked, right? it felt like it did...

[Olivia Chance]

A dunk tank. That was somehow quite funny. She walked up.

"Make way." She couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a beachball, honestly. But that wouldn't stop her from soaking the trainer. She wasn't a hydrokinetic for nothing. She threw the ball. Surprise surprise. It missed the target. But that wasn't the end of things for her. She looked at the water and put out a hand, focusing her hardest on it. Her nose bled a little, but it was fine. She made the water rise in a large glob and she maneuvered towards the trainer's head. It wasn't there yet. She was going slower intentionally so that if the trainer wanted to move she could. Olivia couldn't help but smirk. All this mischief. If only Martin could see her now he'd be so proud.

[Charity Croft]

Well, at least Charity didn't recognize this one. She looked at the girl as she approached, feeling her power starting to kick in. Something involving...

not throwing, that much was certain. The throw missed the target and Charity let out a hissing noise through her teeth. "nice try! Maybe you should wind up and--" water, something involving water. Charity nearly found herself saying it, just barely able to stop her lips and tongue from flapping. Instead she looked up, seeing the ball of water coming.

"Hey, that's cheating!" she said, squirming and trying to see if there was a way of getting away from it that didn't involve falling in yet more water. "You're supposed to hit the target!" Charity gestured toward the outstretched arm. She was already starting to wonder what she'd done to this particular one to get this. Or maybe the girl just thought this was fun? Charity supposed she could see that, but these kids had her trained to jump right to "going to attack me."

[Olivia Chance]

She was still busy focusing. She heard the call of cheating dimly, but she just let the water blob drop. Then she brushed her hands together and laughed, the water in the tank waving slightly with the glee she felt.

"Hey, you're a power trainer. You should see it as a victory for the school. Right? Right." She still couldn't stop laughing.

"The look on your face...sorry I just couldn't help it...having so much water nearby can either make me feel peaceful or mischievous depending on the nature of what the water's being used for." She took a towel from a nearby booth and hung it over a railing.

"Here. No hurt feelings I hope? It was still very fun. And if it makes you feel better, that did require a fair bit of skill on my part. I'm still kind of getting the hang of my powers."

[Charity Croft]

the water dropped and Charity just managed to get out of its range. The girl who'd been wielding it was laughing, and again Charity couldn't quite tell if it was with malicious glee or just the regular version. She almost immediately pegged Charity as a power trainer, which was a little odd as Charity couldn't recall having met the girl before. then again, maybe word about her had gotten around? It was totally possible, right?

"It's fine, really," Charity mentioned, adjusting herself again. "The festival is supposed to be a fairly safe space for it and all," though something told her that wasn't really much of a concern for this girl.

She also watched as the girl grabbed a towel that was, for whatever reason, hanging on a booth and walked it forward. The cage and container Charity hung out in was pretty good at covering her from the outside, so it wasn't like she could lean over and grab it unless Olivia flung it up over the edge.

"Well, manipulation like that can be trying," Charity admitted, looking curiously at the girl. Her power was kicking in, giving her feedback. "You'll also need to master the forms and such, since it seems like yours is kinda more physically tied. Learning from martial artists or something could work for that." Charity readjusted herself, trying to get into a better position. She did have a job to do, even if her power and other job was practically demanding her attention.

[Olivia Chance]

When the woman went on about manipulation being tricky, Olivia grinned.

"Aha! I guessed right. You are one of the power trainers. As for physically tied, technically it's tied more to my emotions than anything. If I'm feeling angry, my powers lash out. Sad and...well it's water so I haven't quite figured out its' reaction to that yet but...yeah."

[Charity Croft]

Guessed right? Charity put on a slightly nervous smile about that. They were technically in public, so it might not be the greatest thing that she'd been so easy to peg as a trainer. Then again, that was coming from a mutant student who'd just used her ability and stuff. Plus, the girl seemed really enthusiastic about learning how to control her ability, which made her so refreshingly different from Charity's usual students that the trainer couldn't help but be excited.

"Well, those powers are usually either physical or mental, but occasionally emotions can, like, mess with the way your brain processes stuff," Charity pointed at her head and wiggled a few fingers before readjusting and lowering it again. She found herself staring at Olivia then, and could practically feel her power clicking into place, offering her gut instincts built on the knowledge. Of course, it just looked like she was staring all too intently at the girl for several long seconds without saying anything or even blinking, and Charity's wide eyes probably made the whole thing look like being ogled by some strange doll or owl.

[Olivia Chance]

"Yeah. I think my emotions are fairly heavily linked due to my manifestation. I've researched it quite a bit and that's the only logical explanation really. Quite interesting though. Sorry to make things awkward for you." She smiled. The woman was then staring at her for a few long seconds.

"Do I have something on my face? Spinach in my teeth or something? Maybe that corndog had too much mustard?"

[Charity Croft]

Emotions were often linked to manifestations. There was that whole surge of hormones thing that obviously explained how the whole thing worked. Charity was tempted to say as much, but the power had sort of seized control over her for those moments, practically forcing her to stare at the young girl while everything lined up in her mind.

Which of course didn't go unnoticed. Charity started and looked at the girl, blinking. "What? oh, no, that's, uh, my thing," she gestured sort of vaguely, not wanting to quite outright say as much, despite what the previous discussion had just been about. "My power latches onto others with them and I start to figure out precisely how their power works. Usually I can figure it out about as well as someone who has it, better than some..."

Charity trailed off, not that she found this conversation boring or anything, but simply because of the fact that she probably should be trying to get more people to throw balls at her and attempt to dunk her in water. Charity couldn't imagine what had her hesitating on that front.

[Olivia Chance]

"Oh." Olivia chuckled.

"Well if you feel like puzzling it out at some point, be sure to let me know. I'm Olivia Chance, one of the regular students. And I can't currently figure out my power myself very well. All I know is it reacts to my emotions and has a tendency towards protecting me. There isn't very much about it that I actually truly know, but I love it just the same." She shrugged.

"Also I assume if that's your power perhaps you're involved in power research at least in part. That's the field I'm planning on entering when I graduate, so it would be interesting to talk to you."

[Charity Croft]

Did Charity feel like puzzling it out? Sort of? She was tempted to offer that, but, well, she wasn't sure that taking the sort of route was the best way to go here. She still felt bad about having to be a little circumspect about the whole thing. Not like she'd really chosen the venue for their conversation, but still, it felt a little rude. The girl kept going on about her power and Charity could feel her own practically reacting to the suggestions.

"Uh, training, actually," she said as the girl continued. She nodded as the girl continued. "But I'm willing to talk if you want." She offered a smile. "Just look me up," another nod and Charity shifted, looking out into the crowd. Someone had already stepped forward to knock her into the tank: they were just waiting for Olivia to shift now.