sink me in the water.

[feferi]

"Hello! Welcome to the Bayville Aquarium! Have a nice day, and enjoy your visit!" These words repeated from her lips each time someone walked through the automatic doors. To be honest, she never ever got tired of it. Feferi Song was one of those girls that actually enjoyed her job. Well, considering that the Bayville Aquarium was her favourite place in the entire world -- besides the Manor -- it couldn't be helped that she would actually work here. Being an aqua-mutant, it was expected of her, although she could've gone the alternative route and worked somewhere entirely different. But no. She had dreamed of working here since the first day she came to Bayville, and when she got the job, it was an absolute wonderful feeling. Feferi felt absolutely comfortable around the giant tanks filled with dangerous sea creatures, and gallons upon gallons of water. Looking around, and seeing that no one else was coming in, for at least probably a few minutes, she decided to take one of her many strolls around the place. She got up from the office chair and moved out from behind the desk. She was so lucky that she didn't have to wear the usual uniform that everyone else did. Instead of the polo shirt and pants, Fef was dressed in a white tank top, with a light pink floral skirt, coming up to her waist more or less. Yeah, she was one of those hipster girls. Various colours of plastic bracelets were around her wrists, and from her necklace was a gold pendant of the Virgo symbol. Her feet were in white wedge sandals, and she walked gracefully into the exhibits. Her dark brown hair was swept back, and kept with a golden yellow elastic band wrapped around her head. Underneath her normal clothing was a white strapless bikini, though you really couldn't tell that unless you actually knew Feferi.

Chocolate brown eyes looked into the giant glass tank of water, casually following the fish as they swam about in their man-made home. She sighed, knowing the feeling of being trapped in a tank sometimes. The gills on the sides of her neck seemed to prickle and open up a bit as she thought about it. Extra oxygen was being poured into her system, and she clapped her hands up to the skin, and she felt them close. The light-headed feeling that usually came with it was gone and she went back to normal. Fef knew she had to be careful with that one. Her gills weren't exactly the easiest to hide, especially in water. On land it was fine, because her hair covered her neck mostly, or she wore scarves. Going back to looking around, she walked slowly, examining each tank for what was probably the thousandth time for her. She could've gone back to the welcome desk to see if there were any more people that needed greetings or even information, but the voice in her mind telling her to look around was winning and she went forward with her journey.

Soon she was at the shark tank and she sat down on the bench. Feferi could watch the sharks all day, considering that they were the closest things to dolphins that the aquarium had. Well, kinda. Sharks weren't dolphins and dolphins weren't sharks. She leaned back against the wall and sighed. She guess this could be counted as her break. Maybe, maybe not. She hardly ever left this place when it was her shift. She only left to go back to the Manor, sleep, eat there and then do her schooling. Being a mutant was tough on her, especially with her power being so out in the open, even if it was slightly covered up. The story was that she had tried to commit suicide when she was younger, by slashing at her neck and her sides, at the age of eleven; no one knew why. That wasn't the truth, that was just the age that her waterbreathing power had fully developed, and so had created gills for her to breathe properly, although they didn't really help on land, seeing as her whole cardiovascular system had been changing from the time she was born. She always wondered if having a dad would've helped her through whatever time that was; she also wondered if he had been a mutant too. She never knew him, and never would. Eyes blinking, they remained on the shark tank, just looking about.

[Ethan Ackerman]

The aquarium was not a place a 21 year old male would normally go by himself. Most young adults that went to the aquarium either worked there, or went with their friends or their families. Ethan Ackerman was not a normal 21 year old. He did not have a bunch of friends to hang out with, or any real family. He was more of a loner, someone who would rather be by himself, and do things by himself than be in a big crowd. Ethan did not dislike crowds, he actually quite enjoyed them; he loved sitting on the sidelines just watching people be stupid. That is what he thought of them. Stupid people.

Ethan had been thinking about the stupid people when he walked through the front doors not even paying attention to see if anyone was around or not. Usually there were many staff members of the aquarium, running around trying to please everyone. Ethan did not like them much and never really paid attention to them, and as long as they did not bother him, he did not bother them. Most of the time. Sometimes Ethan would pull a prank on one of the staff members usually by tripping them or using his powers to stretch his hands out and knock stuff over. He loved seeing people panic, and that is exactly what the staff did when something was out of place.

Ethan chuckled at thinking of a certain prank he had pulled on a staff member the last time he was at the aquarium. He never really came to the aquarium to see this fish, even though they were really cool looking. He just loved to hide in the shadows and watch the people; tripping them up if he could, or using any of his prank items on them. One of Ethan’s favorite places was the joke shop. It sold everything that could be used for pranking people and Ethan went there daily. Ethan looked at a tank he was at which had all kinds of fish in it. He stuck his face onto the tank and began mimicking the way fish move their mouths. He entertained himself like that for a minute then simply just walked away from the tank, the fish beginning to bore him. Ethan began whistling as he looked around at all the tanks. One of his favorite tanks was the shark tank. As he whistled he headed towards the shark tank.

When Ethan came to the shark tank he noticed a girl right by the tank. A smile appeared on his face as he realized she probably did not know he was there. Ethan stood there for a few seconds thinking of how he could scare the girl. Not giving a damn if any one person saw him use his powers (He did not use them in front of crowds because he was not stupid), he stretched his hand out towards the girl, and stood there as his arm grew longer, towards the girl. Ethan was behind the girl a few feet away so he figured she would not even realize that his hand was stretching towards her.

It did not take long for Ethan’s arm to stretch all the way to the girl and he gave her a sharp tap on her right shoulder. He then gave her a tap on the left shoulder. He was sure he would confuse her as most people would for one, make noise approaching someone, and two, they would not tap both shoulders. Ethan knew it was a lame prank but he did not care. A prank was a prank no matter how stupid it was. As long as it made him laugh, which it did, he enjoyed it. Ethan began laughing as his arm began to shrink back to normal size. “Scared ya didn’t I?” He said to the girl. He then leaned against the tank, and looked at the girl waiting for her response.

[feferi]

Feferi yawned a bit, feeling tired. She hadn't slept well for the past few nights, and that was probably a result of not going to sleep in the swimming pool at home like she usually did. Not all the time, mind you, but most nights. On the days that she wasn't in her usual watery bed, she was inside on a regular bed. And it felt strange to her. Despite sleeping in a bed most nights and most of her life, she had gotten accustomed to the water surrounding her. Dry land was difficult to get used to a lot of the time. She shifted in her seat a little bit, trying to get comfortable. The benches in the place weren't all that comfortable, but it was something rather than standing there in her shoes. Feferi leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs, and in turn, resting her chin on her hands. Her eyes moved, following the sharks closely. Everytime a new one passed by, her eyes would move to that one. It looked as though she were going back and forth between all of them. She should have just chosen one to follow, but that was no fun to her mind, now was it? She felt sort of like a cat, playing with the little fishies, but she was no cat. She was a fish herself. A fish out of water, so it would seem.

She knew by now that she should've gone back to her desk, but she didn't of course. Feferi was going to stay right there, basking in her element, wishing she could go swimming right about now. It had been a few days since she had been in any sort of water, and she knew that sometime within the next few days she had to go, or else she'd 'dry up'. Usually, she drank water to keep it under control, but she still had to swim to get the full effect. Feferi looked around from the direction of the tap, seeing no one was there, she shrugged it off. She really wasn't the type to be surprised, considering all the things that she had seen her new life. When the tap came on the other shoulder, she looked back. Really? Only amateurs would do such a thing like that. Pranks were becoming lamer by the year, or so she thought.

A young man stood there, grinning, his arm stretching back into place. Her eyes widened a little bit, but not enough to really show her surprise. She hardly ever got visitors that were like her in here, not including those from the manor. She moved her hair behind her shoulders in annoyance, and fiddled with her bracelets. "On the contrary..." she replied, watching him move towards her and the tank. "Bit lame, don't you think?" she wondered. He appeared older than she was, and yet here he was at the aquarium, playing pranks on innocent girls. He was technically the first 'outside' mutant she encountered here, probably because those that came didn't like showing off their powers, or they didn't want anyone else to know about themselves. This obviously wasn't the case here. "There are probably a ton of better things you could do with that power..." she said, glancing down the hall to make sure that no one was coming, especially her boss. She couldn't have the risk of being fired for this. Most businesses were anti-mutant, and she didn't want this place to become one of them. "But here isn't one of them..." she added. She was ready for him to try her. She was in a place filled with water, all around her. Bring it... she thought to herself. She stood up and looked at him, blinking.

[Ethan Ackerman]

After Ethan had tapped the girl once on each shoulder, he had leaned against a tank and watched the girl to see what her reaction would be. She did not jump, and didn't even look that surprised which was disappointing, but Ethan was sure she was surprised, even if it was just a little bit. She seemed to hide it really well though. Just the thought of her being surprised was enough for Ethan to laugh at her. He figured if she was surprised it was probably more to the fact that his hand had stretched all the way too her, but she did not jump up, scream, and run away, which told Ethan that she must be a mutant like himself. It would have been more satisfying if she had screamed and ran away, but he really didn't care if she was a mutant or not.

The smile on Ethans face disapeared at what the girl said. He frowned a little bit at her. "Well, it might have been lame to you.." He said as he paused, then continued "But I thought it was hilarious" He said as he grinned at her. He really did not care who thought his pranks were lame. A prank was still a prank, and Ethan loved pulling pranks. The girl had then continued talking, and Ethan just watched her. As she spoke the words "There are probably a ton of better things you could do with that power", Ethan seemed to kind of look off into space as he imagined what else he could do with his power. He then came back to reality, and stood up straight against the wall. "Yes, there a 'ton of better things' I could be doing with my power, but I chose to come here and use my power to tap you on the shoulder. You got a problem with them, hm?" Ethan said as he stared at the girl. By the tone of her voice, and what she said, she did not seem to care too much for someone trying to pull a prank on her, but Ethan did not care. He never cared who he pulled a prank on, he even pulled pranks on the brotherhood members whenever he could.

"I just came here to hang out, that's all. I am not causing any trouble. Well, not too much trouble anyways" Ethan said as he laughed. He noticed that she had stood up, but he chose to ignore it as he shook his head and looked around "Some people just have to learn to have some fun" He said as he walked up to a tank and started poking it with his finger trying to get a school of fish to move. He was getting bored already and was thinking of what other prank he could pull on someone.

[/size]

[feferi]

"I live in a place where kids pull pranks like that every day... sorry if I'm unimpressed..." she said with a shrug. She could tell that he was disappointed by her reaction, and she fiddled with her necklace. Feferi fixed her skirt out of awkwardness. She really didn't have much interaction with unknown mutants, considering all the ones she knew she had basically grown up with. She looked at the tank once more, deciding to ignore the tension that was obviously growing in the room. "Sorry... I'm not meaning to be rude..." she finally said, looking at a hammerhead that just swam by. She looked at him when she followed it to look at the guy again. She didn't know what had come over her. She was supposed to be relaxing, and here she was being rude to visitors. Not really something that was typical with her. Fef figured that it must've been the small overload that was getting to her. "I'm Feferi. Feferi Song..." she introduced, hoping to break the ice somewhat or so to speak. Fef watched him move to look at another tank, looking in the fish at that one. She sighed and shook her head, waving her hand slightly. The water behind the tank moved the fish without them swimming at all and she smirked slightly. Feferi was about to speak when her boss came up behind her. "There you are, Fef... We need you to handle a situation..."

[/i] the woman said, nodding her head at the tank, most preferably the shark one. Most likely, one of the other staffers had dropped something in the exhibit during feeding time, and only now just realized it. Feferi sighed and looked at the tank. Great, what thing do I have to rescue this time? she thought to herself, but she'd do it it, only because it was her job, and it would keep her from getting fired if the place ever didn't allow mutants. She nodded and began to put up her hair into a ponytail.

"Give me a sec, and I'll be right back to apologize some more..." she said to him, heading off and following her boss. She began to take her skirt off, just as her boss began explaining what had been dropped. She needed to know what she was looking for. A bag. Really? Who was stupid enough to drop a bag in the shark tank? Maybe it just slipped? That's what she figured, and now she was the one who was going in to get it. One might've thought her stupid for doing this. Swimming with sharks with out any gear or bribery. Well, it was what she lived for and she had swam with much worse in her years here in the town and it's odd school for gifted kids. They walked through the 'staff only' door, and she resumed to undress fully. The white bathing suit was revealed and she made her way to the shark tank by herself. She rubbed the skin on her neck, and looking down into the water, she gracefully dove in. It took a couple of seconds for her all of her gills to actually start working, but when they did, it was no different than breathing in regular air. She could feel them open on her neck, and on the sides of her torso, and she breathed out a stream of bubbles. She looked around, trying to avoid some of the creatures at all costs. No bag anywhere. Looking around, she traveled over to the window, winking at her prankster. Now, that one had to have been a shocker to someone.

Finally, she found the bag, and grabbed it. Swimming by the window one more time, she surfaced and breathed in the strange sensation of oxygen, all the while her system still was running with water. She threw the bag up on the ledge, and climbed out of the pool, her gills remaining there because of the water still on her skin. That tended to happen as any form of liquid was a trigger, as well as thinking about water, which was a lot of the time it was. She grabbed a towel, her teeth chattering. She came out of the tank room, grabbing her clothes and putting them back on, despite being soaked to the bone. It was always coming out of the water that was such a glubbing problem, and this time it was no different. She handed the bag to her boss and walked back to the outside of her 'swimming pool'. "So.... sorry again..." she said, wrapping the towel around her tighter.[/blockquote]

[jasonbarnes]

Being a small town by most people standards Bayville didn’t exactly have a lot of places for a teenager to hang out after school. But then, Jason didn’t want a place to hang out, he wanted a place to kill a couple of hours and hopefully avoid anyone from his school. Hence his visit to the Aquarium; an attraction mostly frequented by families with young children and the occasional overly-sentimental young couple.

Walking through the automatic glass doors Jason approached the front desk to find it unoccupied; usually there would be someone there to greet everyone who walked through the door – must have been a boring job – but no-one was there. Shrugging and putting it out of his mind he walked away in the direction of the tanks.

Jason walked through the exhibits slowly, stopping every now and then to look at a colourful fish or something before moving on again. Eventually he reached the part of the aquarium where they kept the sharks, arriving just as someone in a uniform left carrying a dripping wet bag. Jason stopped just around the corner from the corridor where the shark tank could be seen as he heard a girl speaking. He didn’t want to intrude on anything and draw any unnecessary attention so he’d just stay here until he knew what was going on.

[Ethan Ackerman]

"Eh" Ethan had said to the girl as he shrugged off the comment about her being unimpressed about his prank. He really did not care what she thought. As long as he got a laugh out of the prank, he was fine with it. She had then apologized to him, and introduced herself. Ethan watched her wondering if her attitude was going to change again. Once he figured it was safe, he introduced himself. "I'm Ethan Ackerman" He said, happy that she was in a better mood. He was the type of person to almost always be in a good mood. Usually if he wasn't in a good mood it was because his favorite shop had unexpectedly closed for the day, or someone had really pissed him off. But mostly he just walked around with a smile on his face and trouble in his eyes.

Ethan had then moved towards another tank. He looked at the fish as he tapped on the glass trying to get them to move. Since he was looking at the tank he didn't notice Feferi move her hand, and the water in the tank move, moving the fish. He did see the fish move, and he noticed that they hadn't actual swam out of the way. He turned to look at Feferi to ask if she saw what happened, when a woman came up to her and spoke to her. Ethan assumed it was her boss or someone higher up than her because of the way she reacted towards the woman. "Okay dokey" Ethan said when Feferi said she would be right back. Ethan would have told anyone that he didn't care if she came back or not, but inside he did care. Feferi was an interesting person, and Ethan liked interesting people. He wanted to talk to her some more to find out more about her. When Ethan was interested in something he became really focused on it. If something bored him then he usually paid no attention to it, but he was pretty focused on Feferi, and he watched her as she left.

Once Feferi had left Ethan sighed and looked around at the tanks. Nobody was around and Ethan was starting to get bored. He looked closer at the tank where the fish had somehow moved. He tapped on the glass a couple times as he stared at all the fish. He then sighed again and went near the shark tank. He was extremely surprised at what he saw. Feferi was in the tank, swimming without any gear on. Ethans mouth dropped open when he saw her. He soon realized that he was giving her the satisfaction of seeing him surprised, something she had not given him. He quickly shut his mouth and watched her swim off. He then shook his head and sat at the bench that was by the shark tank. He stretched himself out and waited for Feferi to come back. Feferi had soon reappeared with a towel on. Ethan examined her, and then shook his head when she apologized. "That was great" he said referring to her swimming in the tank. "Even if I had a power like that I still wouldn't dare swim with sharks. You must think you are a mermaid or something" He said. He then moved his legs off of the bench to give her room to sit down. "I figured you were a mutant because you weren't that surprised to see my power, but I never guessed you'd have a power like that. Must be pretty cool" He said as he grinned at her.

[feferi]

Coming back to a better mooded person was something that made Feferi happy. She didn't mean to upset him in any sort of way. She was actually like that with her friends that would come into visit her and cause trouble. It was nothing personal. She did not want to get fired because of them. Actually, she didn't want to get fired at all. Who would? Well, people that didn't want to work at an aquarium were a part of that list. She sighed and continued to dry herself off lightly, trying to keep her bikini from showing. This wasn't the place to be dressed like that, and soaking wet -- even if it was a place that dealt with water. She would've gotten dressed, but she didn't want her clothes to be wet to, so she had left them hanging in the coat rack while she dried. It would take awhile, but it was kinda fine. Hopefully, people wouldn't get too upset about the wet floors or anything that were caused from the water dripping off of her and from her soaked hair. She gave a light smile to her new acquaintance.

Feferi's smile became brighter and she gave a light shrug, trying to play humble. It was her job, she did as she was told. Considering she was around aquatic mutants a lot, she never really got the satisfaction from them like she was getting now. She looked at the shark tank, continuing to dry herself off. The slits in the side of her neck and on her body were still noticeable. She didn't mind though, they were closing slowly, and the lightheadedness wasn't effecting her all too much. It was much easier for her to adjust to air after being in water for a short period of time. "Thanks... and they're actually big softies," she explained. "But only after feeding time..." she added. She grinned at his statement. She had been called mermaid before, nothing new. It was her mother's nickname for her, only because she spent so much time in the water. Feferi's mother had no idea what her daughter was. "People are always surprised. Especially when they see these open up," she said, pointing to her gills, her finger moving from her neck to her side. "I'm a waterbreather, if you haven't guessed it already..." she added, stating the obvious. She looked at him, nodding. "Yeah. It is, actually... However, it's nothing like being Rubber band boy," she said, with a small chuckle. Despite all that before, Feferi actually thought it was a cool power herself. She readjusted and re-wrapped the towel around her, looking back at the tank again. She could feel her cheeks grow slightly warmer, and the normal feeling of regular breathing was starting to come back into play. She sat down next to him, careful not to get too close. She didn't want to get him wet after all. Her eyes glanced from the tank to him, once more before moving back to the tank.

She sighed and just watched the tank, just like before, as if it were a calming process. Suddenly, she seemed to be pulled from her thoughts and looked around. Feferi had a sixth sense for when people were lurking about, listening in. "Hmmm. We aren't alone anymore..." she said. It wasn't really a power or anything. Just one of those female intuitions that just knew when people were eavesdropping. She supposed she had gained it from living around the Manor for so long, picking up habits and quirks here and there. She turned her head slightly at an angle, able to see who was standing there. Another young man. She smiled. "You know, you can come in... It's a public place... don't let our conversation stop you from enjoying the aquarium..." she called out, going back to her previous position of just sitting there. In all honesty, she didn't mean to call him out, but eavesdroppers were something of an annoyance to her. Might as well be included in the conversation that she and Ethan were having, the more the merrier right? Then she realized that she still hadn't gone back to her post. She was lucky that the boss hadn't come back out and told her to get a move on to the desk. However, still being dripping wet and bikini showing wasn't the best way to greet people and their families. There was the excuse that she was working in the tanks, but unnecessary.

[jasonbarnes]

Jason stood frozen in place, still hiding just around the corner from the two people as he eavesdropped on their conversation. They were… he didn’t even know what to call them, but they had powers, they were like him; how they could be so open as to talk about it in public like this he didn’t know.

In a moment of rashness he stepped out around the corner and into their line of site, getting his first look at the both of them. They looked, well, normal; the guy looked like a regular guy, a few years older than Jason but aside from that just like any guy Jason would normally expect to see roaming the halls of his school. The girl was closer to his age – and wearing nothing but a bikini and a towel though he tried not to pay too much attention to that – and normal as well except for some lines along her shoulders and neck that looked like scars more than anything.

He hesitated, realising that he was about to go over and talk to two people who he had never met before while they were in the middle of a conversation, something a little more bold and forward than anything he had done since coming to Bayville. He was about to leave, thinking if he was quick enough he could leave without them noticing him, when the girl did just that, noticing him and trying to draw him into the conversation.

Realising he was trapped Jason put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie to hide them and stepped forward into the corridor. He walked till he was within reasonable speaking distance but stopped after that, still keeping some distance between them; he definitely wasn’t joining them on the bench.

“You’re… not normal”, well, that would make a good first impression. “You have abilities, like me. I’ve never met anyone else…”

[Ethan Ackerman]

(Sorry it's short)

As Feferi dried herself off Ethan couldn't help but check her out. She was a very pretty girl and Ethan had a hard time pulling his eyes away from her. Besides her good looks Ethan had noticed the slits in her neck. He assumed they were used for when she was swimming in the water. "Huh?" Ethan said when Feferi spoke. He hadn't been fully paying attention to what she was saying. "Oh. Right. Yeah, you couldn't pay me to go in there" He said to her. Ethan nodded at Feferi when she mentioned about the slits in her neck. "Yeah, I figured those are how you breathed underwater." he said, wondering what it would be like to breathe underwater. He figured it would probably be pretty cool. Ethan laughed when Feferi called him rubber band boy, and he watched as she sat down next to him, noticing that she sat a little ways away from him. "You don't have to sit so far away. I'm not afraid of a little water" Ethan said grinning at her, assuming she sat so far away because she was wet. It never crossed his mind that she might not want to sit beside him because she didn't like him. Ethan didn't think like that.

"Huh?" Ethan asked when Feferi said they were not alone anymore. "How do you know?" He asked as he looked around. At first he didn't see anyone else until a guy walked towards them. "Oh. That's how you know" Ethan said. The guy then spoke and Ethan laughed at what he said. "No, I guess we are not normal. But who is nowadays?" Ethan said. He then stretched out a bit and looked at one of the tanks.

[feferi]

She had noticed his looking, and she knew that it couldn't be helped. She was constantly in a bikini, no matter where she was, even if she did have clothes on over it as well. Feferi was used to it. Used to the gawking, the wolf whistles, the charms that were pulled. She rarely took any of it to notice though. She was a bit of a dunce when it came to that department. But this... this she was noticing. Maybe only because as she continued to dry off, she had been secretly looking at him too. She laughed aloud, the clarity of it ringing throughout the small room. Of course that was going to be his immediate reaction. No one liked to swim with sharks, Feferi was the only water mutant that she knew of that swam with them, at least in this type of environment. She didn't know what they were like out in the real ocean. Then again, she had never been to the real ocean. "I'm being truly serious here," she said with a smile on her face. "They really aren't that bad. I've been swimming with them since I was fifteen... Haven't been bitten once," she added proudly. It was a true statement, one that she loved to share and brag about. It was a major accomplishment, especially since she never wore anything to protect herself from the razor sharp teeth that would probably tear her apart in a moments' notice. However, she was smarter than that, and only swam after the sharks' feeding time. They were less prone to attacking or anything after that time period, so she always made sure to go in after that.

Feferi nodded, feeling a normal intake of oxygen in her system, and realized that both sets had closed up for the remainder of her being dry. "Not to mention my whole entire cardiovascular system is altered from a normal system..." she explained further. "I'm like a humanoid fish in most cases, so you calling me a mermaid isn't really far from the truth," she added a smile coming to her lips. She took the towel and wrapped it around her head for a few seconds, using her secondary power to free her hair of most of the water from it. Removing the towel, the dark brown locks were now almost completely dry, though a bit frizzy and curly -- which was what usually happened to her hair after a good swim. She re-wrapped the towel around herself again, and did the same thing to the rest of her. She looked at him, and blinked, scooting closer to him slowly. There wasn't that far of a distance between them, so after a few scoots, she was very near him. "Most people don't like being wet in normal clothing," she stated, looking down to her well-pedicured feet. She looked back at him smiling. "But, it's nice to know that you aren't afraid of a little water..." she said, a twinkle coming to her eyes. She formed a little water ball in her hand from the drippings on the bench, and sprayed a fine mist at him. "Consider it payback for tapping my shoulder..." She grinned at him, sticking out her tongue for a second before it popped right back in her mouth, followed by the grin from before.

Feferi looked at the new-coming young man that had just joined them. He had stopped a few feet away from the bench. She smiled, and chuckled. "Being normal is so overrated..." she added to Ethan's statement. Normal was overrated. Feferi had learned to love her power as soon as she figured out what she could do with it. Being underwater for an indefinite time, and being able to control it was pretty much the most awesome thing a seven year old could ever think of. "In fact, to us, I guess you could say that being normal is like being the freaks," she said. She had actually heard that in one of her classes yesterday, and it seemed to fit the dialogue that was being thrown. "So we're normal, and everyone else are the freaks..." She watched her new friend stretch out, while her chocolate pupils remained looking at the kid. "I'm Feferi Song, it's a pleasure to meet you," she introduced.

[jasonbarnes]

“I don’t know, I think I’d prefer being normal…”

Both of these two seemed so at ease, so comfortable with themselves; he couldn’t imagine talking openly about his abilities like they were, he couldn’t imagine thinking of himself as normal and everyone else as strange. Until about a minute ago he had thought that he was the only person like he was, that was practically the definition of ‘freak’.

“Oh, Jason, Barnes…”

What more could he say? He finally had confirmation that there were other people like him; he had always wondered but though if there were they would be better known. What did you say in the face of a revelation like that? Well, there were a few questions that came to mind, ‘are there others?’ being the prime one in his mind but it was a little difficult to work that into the conversation.

[Ethan Ackerman]

Ethan raised his eyebrows at Feferi when she said she was serious about the sharks not being that bad to swim with. "Wow." He said, wondering why a 15 year old had been swimming with sharks. "Did they even nip at you?" he asked, surprised that the sharks would not have even tried biting her. He still would not swim with them even if paid to. Ethan looked at Feferi, as he was really interested in her power, especially when she talked about her cardiovascular system being different because of it. "So your nickname is mermaid then?" he said, grinning at her. Ethan raised his eyebrows again as he watched her put the towel on her head to dry her hair, then pull it away to have her hair almost completely dry. Ethan tried hiding the surprise from his face. He figured it was part of her power, and he thought it was really cool.

Ethan smiled when Feferi slowly moved closer to him. He was glad that she wasn't afraid to get too close to him, as when she was finished moving they were sitting pretty close to each other. "I don't mind the water at all" He said, smiling at her. But what came next, he didn't see coming. Feferi had created a small ball of water, and before Ethan could move away he was sprayed with a mist of water. "Hey!" He said as he leaned a little away from her. "That wasn't fair!" he said. He then laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him. "That's just not fair" He said again to her. He knew he had deserved it though. It hadn't been nice of him to try pranking her when he didn't even know her, but now he knew to expect to be paid back if he ever pranked her again. "Alright, I guess I deserved that" he said, grinning at her.

Ethan nodded at Feferis comment to the other guy. "Yep, we are not freaks at all. We are completely normal" He said as he used his power to stretch his arm and hand over to Feferis shoulder, and tapped on her shoulder before shrinking it back to normal. He then laughed. "Not freaks" He said to the new guy that had introduced himself as Jason. "I'm Ethan" Ethan said, as he looked back at Feferi and winked at her.

[feferi]

Fef shook her head, then pointed to her head. "Along with the waterbreathing, I also talk to fish mentally," she said, thinking she sounded crazy. It was one of the many perks, including enhanced agility, which she really couldn't use in the small tanks. "So... I could just tell them to leave me alone, or go bother some other fish...," she said. It still might not have helped. Whenever she said that she swam with sharks, for fun and not money (although, sometimes that was part of it), people looked at her like she was the craziest person in the entire planet, not exactly the smartest fish in the water, if you get what I mean. "Only for my Mom... she started that, but mostly everyone calls me Cascade; and no... not like the dish soap," she said, her face turning slightly serious. "It's another word for waterfall, or wave..." Feferi explained. She had only got the name after she had created a tsunami waterfall replica for her natural disasters class, but most people thought it did have to do with the dish soap, which annoyed her to no particular end. "But if you want to, you can call me Mermaid, if you think it suits me better..." she added nonchalantly, looking away from him a little bit too quickly for her liking. She honestly had no idea what she was doing here. Mostly winging it, and not enough thinking about it.

Silently, she gulped. To be completely and truly honest here, this was her first time alone. With a guy. Without anyone else around. There could've been plenty of moments like this at school, but to be honest, she wasn't really interested in those guys. She had grown up with them, and everyone was more like family to her there than potential love interests. Feferi started to laugh when he kinda... freaked out. She doubled over, her laughter filling the entire room and beyond. It was quite possibly the most hilarious thing she had ever seen. Everyone usually reacted like that, but it was funnier for who knows what reason. "Oh, and sneaking up on me and tapping my shoulder's fair, is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat up and wiped her eyes of the tears that were appearing in her chocolate eyes. "Yes, you deserved it. You're lucky... I could've dumped the entire thing on you," she replied to him. He wasn't that soaked. It was just mist. It was better than the bucket trick that they pulled last week on their boss. Only, they didn't have a bucket. She smiled back at him, biting her lip slightly. " We're even now, even if my prank was more impressive..." she quipped, wiggling her eyebrows. She gave him her towel. "Here, if you want to dry off..."

Feferi shook her head lightly. She used to think like Jason, especially when she had first gained her power. Why couldn't she have been born normal? Why did she have to have these stupid powers? Why her of all people? In time, she grew to love it, as much as the water that she had naturally loved from an early age. Maybe being this way wasn't entirely bad at all. Sure, the gills were a little unnerving at first, but what kid wouldn't be freaked out when your skin started to separate, and your whole biology began to change into that of a fish's. Suddenly, she felt the tapping on her shoulder and she looked around, a grin on her face. "Don't make me empty the tank and flood this place..." she warned, a small smile hinting on her lips. "So normal," she said after Ethan introduced himself. When Ethan winked at her, she felt her cheeks grow warm, and she looked back at Jason, a bit flustered. "So... uh, what brings you to the aquarium, Jason?" she asked, making conversation.

[jasonbarnes]

Jason didn’t reply to Feferi’s question at first, he was too busy watching the way Ethan’s arm stretched far further than any normal person’s could to tap the girl on the shoulder. But then that was the point wasn’t it? None of them were normal; despite what they both tried to say they were freaks of nature.

But now he knew he wasn’t the only one. If Feferi and Ethan had powers too, then there would be others like him as well. Dozens. Hundreds. Possibly thousands. The thought made him more comfortable; things didn’t seem so bad now.

“Oh, just… passing the time I guess.” That was as close to the truth as he was willing to admit, he couldn’t exactly say ‘I can’t go anywhere people my age usually hang out because if I run into anyone from my school I’ll be harassed out of there’.

Jason lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence after that, trying to think of something to say to keep the conversation going. “So, what is it that you can do exactly? What are your… powers?”