sixthiterationlogs | ψ come away little lass come away to the water

ψ come away little lass come away to the water | SWIMMING MINGLE OTA

WHO: E V E R Y O N E
WHERE: The waterfall
WHEN: During the hot weather in late May
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: PROBABLY NAKED. cw your warnings in individual threads.
STATUS: Open. THIS IS A MINGLE, have at it, tag around, you know what to do. If you want Finnick, let me know in the comment subject!

He wouldn't actually say it was really hot yet, but it's definitely getting to the sort of temperatures that make Finnick miss swimming. There's no substitute for the sand of a beach underfoot, the reassuring roar of the surf, the taste of salt in the air, but there is at least water here, tumbling down from the waterfall and flowing through the canyon until it disappears into the rocks to the south. And he knows from constantly checking his fish traps that the water is deliciously cool.

He's tested out a few spots along the river for swimming, and it's good to be in the water again, after being kept out of it for so long by the harshness of the winter. Not swimming doesn't feel right to him, and it never has. He's never spent this long somewhere with a winter this cold, and he can't remember ever going this long without swimming. So Finnick's been testing the water out since before it was probably what most people would consider to be warm enough to swim. It had helped that he and Annie had some gifts to hunt for in the river, but those have long been found, and now it's just for relaxation.

The calmest, most relaxing place he's found so far for swimming in the river is the pool at the foot of the waterfall, where the water plunges into the canyon crisp and cool from the heights of the cliffs. It's deep around the falls, and it's big enough to swim, and Finnick spends most of the hottest parts of the day there.

So whenever he hears someone talking about the heat while he's dropping food off in the village, he suggests they try the waterfall pool. Word's likely to get around, so he won't be entirely surprised to find other people stopping by the falls.

When they do, they're likely to find him swimming around the deep part near the falls, stripped down to his underwear and, from the grin on his face, having the time of his life. It's clear just from looking at him that he's good at this, moving through the water with a confidence and grace more like to a sea-creature than a man. He's in such a good mood that he even calls out to greet many of the people who approach.

Of course, he's not the guardian of the waterfall: everyone's welcome to stop by whether he's there or not. Once or twice, there's even a moose to be seen standing at the edge of the pool taking a long, relaxing drink.

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"Yeah, I'm happy now. I wasn't sure until I hit the water, though," Jean said. She wasn't the type to take desperate risks most of the time and jumping off had seemed like a good way to break a leg but everything worked out. It was exciting in a way she rarely let herself be and she was glad Moana could bring that out in her.

"God, when can we do it again?"

Moana laughed and pulled Jean back towards the shore. "Right now!" There wasn't anything stopping them though the trek to the top of the tree was a rough one and Moana was bound to get tired soon. She'd been climbing and jumping for a while now and even her endurance had it's limits.

"This time you can jump first."

It was a lot faster this time around, mostly because Jean knew exactly which branches would hold her weight and which wouldn't after shimmying up the tree the first time. There was a kind of rhythm to it, a way to test it, and she would never be as naturally inclined to it as Moana was but she thought she might be able to learn eventually.

"All right, here I am. Jean Grey, force of nature!" she shouted, letting out a whoop as she dove down into the clear, blue water.

Moana smiled and waited for the water to settle before jumping off and shouting into the air. "Just try and slow us down!" The water splashed around her and once again she emerged with a smile.

"Oh that one made me dizzy." She laughed again, pushing her hair over her shoulders as she turned towards Jean. "Have you really never done things like this before?"

"No, I tend to play it pretty safe," Jean said, shrugging. She was sheepish about that but her naturally tendency was to be fairly reserved and quiet. Being here in the village had forced her to open up a bit and come out of her shell. Moana had definitely helped with that a lot too. It was hard to keep to herself with someone like Moana around.

"Back home, I didn't have a lot of friends."

Moana stared at Jean. "I find that a little hard to believe. You're really nice and fun to talk too." Her hands skimmed over the water and a frown pulled at her lips. "And you have great ideas." The dancing class had been her idea in the first place.

"Actually. I don't have a lot of friends on my island either." Though for very different reasons. "Maybe that's why we make such good friends." Moana smiled again, her expression bright and hopeful.

"Back home, there's no one else quite like me," Jean explained. Her voice grew a little softer as she spoke about it because it had been a long time since she'd been that lonely, frightened girl in a school full of people but feeling entirely alien and alone.

"Telepathy, what I have? It's not a really common mutation," Jean said. "The Professor had it but he didn't have telekinesis like I do - that's moving things with my mind. Telepathy is hearing thoughts. Anyway, mine was really strong back home and that made people afraid of me."

Moana thought about that for a moment and then nodded her head in a decisive fashion. "Well, you are always welcome to read my mind." Since what she says was usually what was on her mind. Moana only ever told white lies and that was specifically to get people to do what she wanted when asking nicely didn't work.

"I'm not afraid of you. I never will be." There were very few things that Moana was really afraid of.

"Back home." She paused and frowned. "Well I'm sort of odd. Compared to the others on my island. I'm also the daughter to the chief, so one day I'll have to take his place." One day soon if her father had anything to say about it. "I don't know how people really see me but there was always this distance. I'm not sure anyone really understood."

"I can't read minds anymore, everything went silent a couple weeks ago," Jean said, shrugging a little helplessly. It was something she was still bothered by and she thought she would continue to struggle with it for a while. At the second, though.

"Daughter of the Chief? That's pretty important. Means you're going to be running things eventually, right?"

"Powers or not. I'm happy to be your friend." Moana didn't know how it felt but she knew that it probably wasn't easy. She reached for Jeans hand squeezed it tightly and then splashed her.

Like real friends do.

"It is important and it does but there are things I need to do before that." Like being Jean's friend. That was important too.

"Well, I'm happy you're my friend too," Jean said, splashing Moana right back. Maybe she could have done with a little less water in her face but Jean was prone to being serious and quiet and for some reason, she wasn't like that around Moana. She was free, in a way, and much more relaxed than she'd ever been in her whole life.

That could only be a good thing.

"Well, one day we'll be actual adults with responsibilities but right now, I guess, we're still in between. We're too old to be teenagers but we're not old enough to be responsible - at least not compared to other people."

Moana laughed and raised her palms to guard her eyes from the spray of water. There were times to be serious and times to be fun; for Moana those times were often merged into one.

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "On my island we'd be adults. There is no in between." That awkward in between was something that Moana didn't really understand. There were many in the village that treated her like a child when she was about to take over the village for her father.

"When you're a mutant, you have to grow up fast. Most humans don't like us," Jean explained. It was a dangerous thing to admit to being a mutant for the most part but here it didn't really seem to matter. Humans and mutants seemed to co-exist and, besides, Jean didn't have her powers here.

"You have to watch your friends get hurt, get killed. It makes you grow up fast."

"Why don't they like you?" It was evident that Moana didn't understand. She knew people who were different, those gifted with skills. Weren't mutant's similar in that respect, people who could do something others couldn't?

"I thought it'd be a good thing. It means that you're really good at something."

"People tend to be afraid of what they don't understand and people don't like what they're afraid of," Jean said, shrugging a little.

"People think we're dangerous. Think about it - I can read people's minds. I can make them do things they wouldn't normally do. Would I? Never. I would never, ever do something like that. But the average person who doesn't have a defense against that just has to take my word for it. A lot of people don't trust easily, especially when it comes to someone who is way more powerful than them. Humans, mostly, fear us and hate us."

Moana's expression fell, her fingers tracing lines in the water. "I'm sorry. I know I can't change that but I wish it wasn't that way." Everyone was different and Moana thought that it was a good thing.

"I know I'm just one person but I'm not afraid of you."

"It means a lot to me," Jean said, smiling a little in pure relief. She had never really had a close friend, much less one that was human, so Moana was unique on both accounts.

"I wish more people looked at it the way you do. We wouldn't have so much violence and hate in the world if they did."

"Then... I'll try and make them see." She decided firmly though she didn't know how she'd do this but she was going to. For Jean.

"Until then, we should swim." Moana smiled, hoping to add some levity back into the conversation.

"Swimming, yeah. I think that's a better way to pass the time," Jean said, splashing her friend with another torrent of water before kicking away, hoping to swim far enough and fast enough to escape any retaliation.

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ψ come away little lass come away to the water | SWIMMING MINGLE OTA

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