Doing My Best Mole Imitation

[Olivia Chance]

"Oh trust me when I say I would totally forgo the motions if I could. I've always sucked at athletics." Although she wasn't so bad at them now apparently, if the session of snowboarding with Devyn on the ski trip was any indication. Then she realized what had been said.

"Wait...the Inherited? Your people? They know power control?" Forever the student, Olivia was now massively interested. She'd been researching power control, powers, and the DNA behind them for a while now. It was the book tucked under her arm in fact.

[Demi Smith]

Demi snorted slightly as Olivia admitted that she'd forgo the athletics of it. "Uh, keeping your body honed is part of really getting good control," Demi insisted. of course, this was coming from one of the leanest, fittest fourteen year old girls to walk around the school, but that was neither here or there really.

As opposed to the talk about Demi's people again. Demi sighed at Olivia's questions. At least the idiot wasn't calling them a cult or being incredibly stupid about it. It was a nice change of pace, really, and made Demi more inclined to answer instead of just go about kicking butts. She still had to work on covering up her hole though: she didn't want anyone else to know about this entrance.

Thankfully, Demi could do both: "The Inherited are, like, us," she said, kicking dirt as she explained. "Everyone who has been destined by the Divine Will to have powers and abilities, putting us above the idiot norms. And yeah," Demi looked up at Olivia, "my people totally studied this stuff for, like, ever. We go back to Ancient Greece, where the first Inherited were gods," Demi scooted and dragged some dirt in, moving a little less gracefully than she would normally. "But what's cool is the Flow: that's the training art and stuff. It's also what makes me so much better at the power thing than all you other idiots," and to demonstrate, Demi paused, thrust her arms out, and jerked back. A thin layer of dust scooted effortlessly across the hole, sealing it off completely. Sure, a good punch would send it going in, but that wasn't anything to worry about now.

[Olivia Chance]

"It is? Nobody told me that!" Olivia threw up her hands and sighed. She was tired of everyone witholding information.

"So not helpful that no-one thought to tell me that." She shook her hand before smiling and listening to the girl talk about her people.

"Sounds like a cross between religious beliefs and history. Interesting. I'd love to know more. You see, I'm researching powers, mutants, and anything to do with them. How powers operate, history of mutants...anything. I find it all so interesting. And...I kind of like your explanation of why we have powers. I figured it was genetic and that's how it was determined. But...I got my powers and I was in a totally crappy situation when they manifested. Even if fate didn't dictate whether you got powers or not, I think it has some effect on when the powers manifest themselves." She shrugged.

"As for the martial art...it would be cool to know more. I can use all the help I can get. Plus, it looks more powerful, yet graceful. I think the forms might work well with my water powers."

[Demi Smith]

Demi snorted. She definitely wasn't impressed with how the school trained people, and this... person served as further evidence of why Demi shouldn't be feeling too thrilled with things. And... and she actually didn't seem to be calling Demi crazy or insisting that the Inherited were some kind of cult or something. That had Demi giving Olivia a guarded, slightly skeptical look, which was decidedly different from her usual ticked off look.

"Well, yeah, powers come out during hard stuff," said Demi. "Unless you're, like, in a totally peaceful life or something. I don't know about that crap, but everyone knows that if you really want powers, you just have to jump off a cliff or something," and yes, Demi had actually tried it. She'd gotten caught in the process, and it had not gone well for her.

She folded her arms, again considering Olivia. "It is graceful, it's, like, designed to be awesome and used by Inherited," she looked Olivia over again, "and it does work super good for Hydrokinetics, since, like, you guys have to be thinking of Flow anyway," Demi had another break, eying Olivia with that same quasi-skepticism, as if she were still waiting for the other shoe to drop. "So you want me to kick your butt and train you then?" Because that... sounded kind of appealing to Demi, really.

[Olivia Chance]

"Umm...as long as I'm learning things while you're kicking my butt. And that you don't harm my books. Or my bones or brains. Then we're good. I just want to be able to do work afterwards too. I still have so much research on powers to do and I look forward to it all. Yes I'm a total nerd. I'm aware of that. But regardless, I'd appreciate it if you took those concerns into consideration and didn't break anything." She smiled, shrugging. She thought about the whole jumping off a cliff thing and shook her head. Her emotions were locked down, so it was no problem talking about her feelings.

"I don't really remember much about my manifestation because my memories about it are repressed. But I'm reasonably sure my brother was being an asshole as usual. I remember a baseball bat in his hand. And believe me when I say he wasn't the type to be into sports. Unless hitting kids and making sure they didn't tell anyone at school counts as a sport. It certainly took him some effort to cover up." Olivia took a defensive position with a smile.

"Come at me! I'll do my level best!"

[Demi Smith]

Demi rolled her eyes. "Every beating's a lesson," she said, practically spitting the words as if they were obvious and Olivia should have totally picked up on that. The bit about broken bones had Demi rolling her eyes, let alone the nonsense about books. "Uh, we don't hit books, at least, not literally," Demi mumbled the last, mostly because she'd made that mistake a little while ago.

Though before she could continue, the girl just kept on going, this time spewing out her life story. Demi had no idea why she was doing all that talking: she pretty well just tuned Olivia out after about the first sentence or two. Yeah, Demi didn't really pay attention until Olivia got into a "defensive position."

"Uh, yeah," Demi said, giving Olivia a "seriously" look, "I'd flatten you in about one push like that. And one," she held up a finger, then pointed it at the hole, "I'm not fighting near one of my tunnels. I worked real hard on those. Two," she held up another, "we get in trouble for fighting here. So, like," Demi shrugged, "we'd have to go the the training field or the arena or something. You should probably wear stuff you don't mind getting ripped too."

[Olivia Chance]

"Oh okay. Training rooms would be okay. I wasn't aware that causes trouble. I kind of blend into the background. People don't really notice me enough for me to get in trouble, if you know what I mean." She chuckled.

"My whole wardrobe is stuff I don't mind getting ripped. Clothes don't matter. And my wardrobe isn't exactly gorgeous. Best stuff in there is my uniform."

[Demi Smith]

Demi let out a harsh laugh when Olivia stated she wasn't aware. "Yeah, they're, like, really strict about it," she said, looking around again. She wouldn't have been surprised to see a staff member staring at her from around a corner or something. There wasn't, but that was totally the sort of thing that the staff around here would definitely do to Demi.

While Demi looked, she listened to Olivia insisting that her clothes weren't anything that she was worried about. Demi looked back at her, eying the clothing herself. She supposed it would do.

"So, like, does that mean you want to go now?" Demi asked. She looked around, squinting to try and see if there were any clocks around. Oh well: "Not like I got anything better to do," she shrugged, looking back up at Olivia.

[Olivia Chance]

"Sounds like a plan to me as well. To the training rooms we go! But...wait...is an inside room a problem with you because there won't be actual soil for you to manipulate for, say, demonstrations? Is that a problem? I mean, I can just burst some water pipes or use an exploded fountain. My powers have been rather unpredictable in the area of the training rooms so I'll have no issue finding water to manipulate. It's the manipulating that's the problem, not the finding of a medium."

[Demi Smith]

Demi nodded. It sounded like they had a plan, though she wasn't quite as keen about heading for the training rooms instead of the field, for precisely the reasons that Olivia started thinking of. That didn't stop Demi from snorting though, or from snapping her arms, ending with her hands stretched wide.

Dirt flew up from the ground, leaping to cover her, again sliding along Demi's skin. "Yeah, the dirt thing's not a problem," she said, giving Olivia a cocky smile, "and you don't have to worry about water either. We'll just find one of those rooms that has a water basin and some drains and stuff. They set them up for people like you. And to clean out the blood."

That last statement had Demi grinning even broader. She gestured for Olivia to follow and started walking at a decent clip. Demi had been at the school long enough to know where everything is, well, everything that mattered. Hey, she even knew where the library was, since she helped save it and all. But the training rooms were practically programmed into her.

Though Demi figured she should probably say something too: "It's mostly about being calm and making sure your brain knows exactly what you want to do," she said, nodding. Yeah, that sounded good.

[Olivia Chance]

"Staying calm should be no problem. And my brain can get confused, but I also know how to sort out those signals until I know what they're saying." She smiled and walked with Demi.

"So how does all that help you find dirt in the training rooms?"

[Demi Smith]

Demi snorted. Yeah, easy to say that staying calm wasn't a problem here, when nobody was doing anything and they weren't training. Demi was so going to end up flinging that back at Olivia in a bit, when the girl was frustrated at not getting a pose right and not getting something. She might be calmer than Demi, but she was still a person.

And apparently Demi had overestimated her intelligence: "I have dirt on me," she said. She flicked her arm, and the dirt gathered on it slid out into a ball, leaving her arms a good deal whither than they had been, her clothes almost perfectly clean. "Always do. It's stupid not to go around without the stuff you can control," she snapped her arm back and looked Olivia over. "You should have, like, a water bottle around your waist or something."

She walked a bit faster, practically springing with every step. It just felt so good to have someone actually listening to her for a change.

[Olivia Chance]

"I have a small vial of water around my neck. Water gives me a sense of peace when it's around, so it's like something to help me feel calm. And...I always carry a water bottle in my packsack wherever I go. Whether I get thirsty or whatever. I'm not stupid. I know to carry that stuff. I'm not completely dense." Olivia looked at Demi, thoroughly unimpressed by the tone. She followed Demi, her hands on her hips with an eyebrow arched.

"And...that's the excuse you use to explain why you don't take baths, isn't it? I have that sinking feeling." She laughed. She was teasing.

[Demi Smith]

Demi nodded as Olivia talked about having some water on her. "That's a good start, but, like, you shouldn't just have like a normal water bottle, you should---" she paused at the completely dense comment, narrowing her eyes. "You want my help or not?"

The bit about bathing had her snorting and looking away though. "I bathe often enough," was all she said, her voice a little wounded. Some people had made those same comments, especially back when she'd first gotten here. She'd proceeded to punch them until they realized the errors of their ways. And now nobody made fun of her any more. Quite a few of them did edge around her though...

"At least water's more common than earth," she said, remembering some of her early lessons. "Though we all suck when it comes to air people and some of the fire types. They just seem to pull stuff out of nowhere," Demi gestured, pulling some of her own dust and letting it blow away for a moment. Though she did immediately lash out with the other hand, pulling it all in and to her, returning back to her shell.

[Olivia Chance]

"Yes I want your help." She smiled.

"I was saying I wasn't completely dense. Bringing a bigger source of water has occurred to me. But there's really no point when I just blow things up. I can't control water, so carrying too much on me is kind of pointless." She sighed and shrugged.

"And...I didn't mean to hit a nerve. I was just teasing. Sorry." She smiled slightly.

"Well the air types can literally pull their power out of thin air. And fire...there's a certain amount of combustible material pretty much anywhere. They could probably just carry a lighter and be totally good."