Calmly hanging around...

[Crypt]

Liam breathed deeply, evenly, doing his best to calm his mind. Old instincts died hard, and the fight or flight response was a little too strong for him to overcome more often than he wished. Still, there were a few things he could do to calm down.

Getting away from the people at the pool had been the first step. He'd bounded along on all fours, running with speed he hadn't used in a long time, and had disappeared into the trees in a flash of dark red.

Now he was carrying out the second part of the normal routine, hands gripping the opposite shoulders, wings wrapped tightly around him.

Upside down.

The toes on his feet gripped a thick branch, their hand-like anatomy wrapping firmly, nails digging into the wood in deep grooves. His long hair had fallen out of its ponytail and hung below him, water dripping from it and drying in the breeze.

His eyes were closed peacefully, his breathing slow. It was so similar to the way it used to be. Sometimes he could feel the trees calling to him, beckoning back to the wild. Simpler, more dangerous, his blood pumping with the hunt every night... There was nothing like the rush of the chase. Fresh was always better.

Still, he'd sacrificed that knowingly in return for something that he hoped was better. And reheating blood from packets in the fridge he had in his room wasn't quite so bad... he'd tasted worse.

[Loa]

Alani had jumped into her swimsuit when she heard a bunch of kids were at the pool. Alec, one of the younger boys at the school, was practically screaming in the halls about Paige being in a tiny bikini. Alani had run to the window to see who else was out there and saw there was a large group.

Cal, who she really wanted to hang out with again, was there, so were Paige, Warren, and that blue guy who had helped fight Sabretooth. And Liam. She never thought she'd see him at the pool, heck, she never saw anyone at the pool except for the kids whose powers involved water (and they made even she feel a little inadequate sometimes).

So Alani had rushed back down the hall and tore through her dresser trying to find the right suit. Red? No, stupid, not red, that's like a love color. She threw the red suit across the room. She pulled a blue one piece from the drawer and held it in front of her. Looking in the mirror, she smiled.

"Hi! I'm eleven! Ugh!" She threw the one piece over her shoulder.

She yanked out a purple bikini that was way too small on both the top and the bottom, one her friends back home had begged her to buy. She held it up.

"Hey, Liam, I'm a big tramp." The purple bikini joined the mess.

Searching deeper, she found a rainbow colored one. She started to pass it over, then went back. It was one of her favorites, but at first thought, it seemed too young looking. But do I want to look old? Do I want to look young? Okay, I want to look eighteen. That's a good age. She pulled the suit out and held it up.

"Hey, Liam, you um...like swimming? I like swimming." Oh God, I like swimming? I sound like a retard. "Hi, Liam! Wanna make out?" She laughed out loud, then took a deep breath. "Hey, Liam. Haven't seen you in a while!" She gave herself a big smile.

Okay! That could work!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alani ran outside, her flip flops slapping against her heels and an X-towel slung over one arm. When she reached the pool though, Liam wasn't there.

"Wha-?" She said aloud, her mouth curving into a pouty frown. Then she noticed everyone looking to the tree line and followed their line of sight. There she saw Liam disappearing into the foliage and her eyes went wide. What did they do to him? She wanted to go yell at them, thinking they most likely made fun of how he talked or something like that, but she couldn't get herself to do it. Though she had become a lot more extroverted since coming to the school, and especially in the last few weeks, she still wasn't ready to do something like that.

She went around the pool area in a wide arc, and then broke into a sprint to the forest edge. At the line where the lawns and the trees began, she paused, looking into the dark woods. Even in the bright sunlight, very little of it made it into the forest.

She thought of the fight with Sabretooth that had happened there only a few days earlier, and then thought of the howl that had woken her and the other from their sleep, and she shuddered.

"Liam?" she called from the forest's edge. "Are you in there?"

[Crypt]

"Liam? Are you in there?"

Pitch black eyes shot open, bright light stabbing at them for a moment before they adjusted to the dim light among the trees. It was still slightly uncomfortable, but at least he could see.

He had turned away from the treeline, but his toes released the branch and he dropped swiftly to the forest floor, spinning in midair and landing crouched, his back still to the light.

He knew Alani's voice, heard her heavy breath from running. She was standing at the edge of the forest, and Liam had no desire to go out there yet. Instead, he stood, goggles still on the ground in front of where he'd landed, his wings flaring up and out, guarding his face from the brightness. "Here, 'Lani."

[Loa]

Alani heard Liam's voice and immediately knew he wasn't going to come out. Whatever had scared him had driven him into these scary woods, so whatever it was must be pretty scary if this was what he considered safe.

Deciding that her powers would hopefully handle whatever wolves, mutants, witches, or vampires were hiding in the woods - after all, no one could really touch her if she didn't want them to - Alani brushed a few low branches out of the way and ducked inside.

She saw him standing in between the trees not too far from the edge of the woods. She had never seen his wings away from his body like they were now. The sun broke through the trees in several spots, and the rays that touched his outstretched wings created a halo of light outlining them. He was sort of scary there in the dark...and kind of heroic looking as well. She didn't know which she thought more, but she did know how she felt about him. He might look scary sometimes, but he was nice, and goofy, and funny...whether he meant to be or not.

"What happened?" she asked. "Were they mean to you?"

[Crypt]

Breathing evenly, he stood still as she walked up behind him. He could hear every footstep she took as they crunched leaves on the ground, every movement against the trees as her skin rasped the branches. Standing still, eyes closed, he felt comfortable, in his element. Much like the bats that had roosted with him in the old church, he knew Alani wasn't there to hurt him; the only other noises in the woods were the small animals populating the trees and the faint laughing and splashing from the pool.

"No, not mean." He slowly turned, his wing still held up in front of his face to guard against a bean of light that tried to shine through the canopy. "Just can't swim."

He'd gotten used to the idea of taking a hot shower. The feeling of being clean was something he'd only gotten used to recently, and he enjoyed it. But his anatomy kept him from taking a bath, and he'd certainly never been in a pool of water large enough to swim in on purpose. "Don't need water."

[Loa]

As he slowly turned towards her, she once more felt fear and excitement fill her. He was obviously a frightening sight in some ways, but his face...it was so...gentle? She almost thought young, but that wasn't right. She was younger than he was, at least by a year or more.

He was shirtless, again, and she didn't fail to notice it. She suddenly felt very embarassed, realizing she was wearing a bathing suit in the woods. When everyone's almost naked and swimming around, it's not a big deal - but I'm just standing here like I'm in my underwear! She folded her arms over her breasts and took a step back towards the forest entrance.

"Liam...," Just do it, Alani, just do it! And don't say "I like swimming"!

"Do you want me to teach you how?"

[Crypt]

Liam's black eyes focused on her, following the strange tattoos as they travelled her face and shoulders. The tip of one wing twitched as a leaf fell, brushing it, and he blinked slowly, watching her as she crossed her arms over her chest. His eyes followed the swirling designs over her arms before they travelled back up to her face, watching her mouth move as she spoke.

"Do you want me to teach you how?"

His wingtip twitched again, though this time without a leaf to bother it. Water was far, far out of his comfort range. The only liquid he was 100 percent capable of handling was the rain as it beat down on him - he was from Scotland, after all; rain wasn't just inevitable, it was the national atmospheric pastime - and every instinct he possessed was screaming for him to leave off trying to swim forever.

Still, it had been suggested by the blue man that he learn to deal with places and conditions he might encounter, and water was one of them. And looking at Alani, he had that strange twisting in his stomach again. She seemed to know what she was doing.

His tongue wet his lips carefully, avoiding the sharp teeth, and he closed his eyes for a moment before saying, "... yes?"

[Loa]

Alani had the urge to take Liam's hand and walk with him back there, but then she thought that if people saw them holding hands, it might turn into a rumor around the school. Heck, she knew it would. Even though she thought she wanted it to be truth and not rumor, she didn't put out her hand to him, and instead motioned for him to follow her.

The two of them emerged from the woods and walked slowly back to the pool. It was obvious Liam was very nervous to get back in the pool, but she was really glad he was. And if she could actually teach him anything, that would be even better.

[Crypt]

Picking the goggles up from the ground in one of his feet, Liam passed it off to the opposite hand as he walked forward, pulling them on over his head and positioning them over his eyes. Following Alani out of the woods, he grimaced as the sunlight pierced through the goggles before they'd had time to fully adapt to the brightness.

Heading back to the pool, Liam felt his stomach sink again.

Water.

[Animaux]

[Con't from "Poolside"]

Cal flopped over in the sun and yawned. She was sprawled on a chaise lounge, a little puddle of water forming on the patio beneath her where her hair splayed out over the slats. She opened her eyes to slits and saw Liam coming back with Lani.

Wonder if he's gonna try swimming again. Heehee. Good luck...

She raised a lazy hand and gave the two of them a little wave. But the warm sunlight was sapping the energy out of her, and she flopped it back down and closed her eyes.

[OOC: Cal won't be any trouble ; ).]

[Loa]

Alani noticed Maggott running off towards the school, and for a second throught the pool had emptied out.

Wow...that was fast.

Then she saw Cal basking in the sun and smiled. The shape-shifting girl waved to them and Alani happily waved back. She hadn't talked to Cal in a long time, and was excited to see that she was doing one of Alani's favorite things.

She turned to Liam suddenly. "Hey, I bet Cal is really good at swimming! Should I ask her to help?"

[Crypt]

Liam waved half-heartedly, his wings drawn slightly tighter around himself. He'd realized that it had been Cal in the form of that... fish thing, and he could tell she had found the whole thing amusing, something he wasn't too thrilled about.

"Hey, I bet Cal is really good at swimming! Should I ask her to help?"

Liam's head dropped slightly, his wings closing a bit more. "Help?" The thumb on one wing twitched in agitation. "Her? No. Won't help."

Suddenly, knowing she was going to be watching, he felt less sure than ever about trying the water.

[Animaux]

"Her? No. Won't help."

Cal's sharp hearing caught that just as she was drifting off. She would have said "What? I could help."

But instead she said "snnnnnnnnnnnnght...... hm. snnnnnnnnnnnght......................... hmm."

[OOC: I don't know why I bother. *lol*]

[Loa]

"Her? No. Won't help."

Alani was frankly surprised by Liam's reaction. She had thought that since both their mutations were both animal-like...

I guess that was pretty categoristic of me.

"I'm sorry..." she began as she turned back to look at Cal. But the other girl was fast asleep already, snoozing in the bright sun. Alani giggled a little. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry anymore."

She moved closer to the pool, starting toward the deep end, then thinking better of it and walking to the shallow end.

"Are you ready?"

[Crypt]

Liam watched Cal out of the corner of his eye, her snores rattling around in his ears. Well, that in itself was a comfort of sorts. It meant that unless she woke up, he wouldn't have to worry about ridicule, and he planned on being as quiet as possible to make sure that didn't happen.

Following Alani around the edge of the pool, he looked down at the water suspiciously. He didn't trust it, the way it moved, looking so peaceful for the moment. He knew it was all a ruse; the water was trying to trap him, take him down to the bottom. It would stay perfectly fine until the moment he stepped down those steps that Alani was leading him to, and then it would rise to swallow him whole. He just knew it.

Gritting his teeth, he stopped in front of the stairs into the shallow end. It couldn't actually be as deep as it looked. He'd seen people standing in the water before, and they were shorter than he was.

Unless the floor had deepened since then. Or maybe it only stayed still for people who were sure of what they were doing.

"Are you ready?

Nodding and shutting his eyes tightly, Liam stretched one foot forward and dropped in into the water.

[Loa]

Alani sidestepped with him into the pool, moving her eyes from his face to his feet. She didn't want him to go too fast, but she didn't want him to stop either.

She felt a little silly teaching someone her own age to be doing this, but everyone had to learn somehow, right? She really didn't want to see Liam interact with Coach Campbell. He might end up flying all the way back across the ocean to Scotland after one of the coach's "inspirational" lessons.

"You're doing great, Liam," she coaxed. "Let's keep moving..."

The two of them were on the second to last step, and Alani was realizing how happy she was at this moment. She was in the pool like she had wanted to be, and she was alone with Liam, which was nearly impossible at this school, and she was helping him...hopefully.

[Crypt]

Liam felt wet. And cold. Water was definitely cold.

He slowly edged his feet forward, taking the steps one by one, his eyes still closed tightly. Once his toes curled over the edge of a step, he shifted his balance and lowered himself farther, more of his body sinking into the liquid.

Cold!

His wings were stretched far up and out, the membranes desperately feeling the breezes that swirled around them. Arms stiff at his sides, his nails dug into his palms as he took another step...

And gave a powerful shudder as the bottom of his wings sunk into the water. His eyes snapped open nervously. He was cold, he was wet, and he couldn't feel the wind on the bottom of his wings.

It was as though part of his wings had died.

His entire body tensed. "Cold..."

[Loa]

She could tell he was nervous, but she didn't think he actually felt cold until he said so aloud.

Alani gave a little laugh and smiled widely at him, still guiding him into the water.

"Trust me, Liam, this is pretty warm!" She motioned to the sunny cloudless sky. "It's a beautiful day today."

Alani wanted to brag about surfing during rain storms and swimming at midnight, to show him this water was really warm, but she knew that bragging was what it really was. Just do a good job teaching him and you won't even need to show off, she thought and then was surprised at the soundness of it. I sounded like my mom just then!

Alani reached for Liam's hand, then pulled back and pushed backwards into the water. She moved her arms forward, propelling herself through the shallow end, then stopped about five feet from Liam.

"Think you can walk over to me?" she said with a smile.

[Crypt]

Licking his lips nervously, Liam looked around at the water. It was still peaceful and calm; the only disturbances were the ripples, their rings swirling around him as he shifted.

It really wasn't that cold, he supposed... the night air was certainly chillier. It was just that he could still feel the wind then.

Shifting his wings slightly to reassure him that they were still all there, he began to notice different currents; the water had its own swirling motion that moved across his wings. It wasn't the same as the comforting breezes above the liquid, but it was something.

Swallowing, he watched with wide eyes as Alani swam a short distance away, her arms splitting the water. It was obvious to him that she was in her element here as much as he was in the sky.

"Think you can walk over to me?"

Liam's brow furrowed, and he watched the water as it shifted. She seemed so far away with all that water between them. Carefully making his way down the last two steps, his breath hitched as the water moved past the tops of his legs.

Cold! He wished someone had thought to warn him that it would be colder there than anywhere else.

Glancing in Cal's direction, he was relieved to see that it still looked like she was asleep. Focusing back on Alani a few long feet away, he slowly edged forward sideways, the balls of his long feet never leaving the bottom of the pool.

And then he was standing in front of Alani. He looked around in a mix of pride and confusion, glancing back at the stairs. The distance didn't seem so great now, the water wasn't as menacing. He looked back at her with his crooked, animalistic grin, teeth sharp in the sunlight.

[Loa]

Alani barely resisted hugging him as he reached her. Instead, she shook her hands with joy and hopped a bit towards him, both actions being the restrained beginnings of the aborted hug.

"That was awesome, Liam!" She had to struggle to keep her smile under control. Seeing his own smile for the first time was so exciting she thought she might faint and drown. And that would totally be okay right now.

"Okay! Are you ready for the next step?"