Owner	Pose
Warpath	Needing to take time to check on the farm operation, Jimmy took the weekend. He decided to drag Shannon along since she could stand a break from school like everyone at times. Sometimes it is good to break from the ins and outs of the school. After all the work is done for the day he leads her down to a pond towards the back of his farm. The water is as clear as a swimming pool and probably safer to be swimming in all told. It's peaceful, something the X sorts could use more often.
Shannon	A change of pace was good sometimes, trading the ins and outs of studying and training for good, honest work. Some tasks around the farm, Shannon was not too familiar with. However, working around the horses, and dealing with keeping their stalls clean, that was something she was -very- familiar with--a chore she often took on around the stables back at school. When work is done for the day, though, she changes into a very modest black one-piece swimsuit, ties her hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way, and heads for the pond along with Warpath.      With a little sigh of pure delight, she wades right into the water, soon sinking into the cool liquid up to her neck, and just allowing herself to float free. "God, I haven't just gone swimming in a pond like this since Camp Pinewood," she murmurs. "Even at school, I stick to the pool for swimming. Kind of miss this a little. Maybe I oughta make a point of swimming in the lake sometimes."
Warpath	Walking into the water, he goes in as far as she does, almost capable of sitting down and still having his head over the water level. There is something about this place that seems to give him energy she doesn't see in him back at the mansion or around the city. His swim wear is just basic shorts. He takes a few deep, steady breaths, and then dips his head under to get his hair wet. While he is under for a few seconds, he does come back up without any trouble,"There is something alive swimming in the lakes and ponds instead of the concrete." he replies finally,"Not just the fact there are things alive in the water with us either. There is an energy within the natural water bodies like everything else natural. The pool is just a place where there is water."
Shannon	"I can believe that," Shannon replies, floating on her back in the clear, still waters of the pond, her wings spread out atop the surface. Despite being partially submerged, they remain dry, leaving little doubt that if she had to get airborne straight from the water, she could. "Man hasn't messed with it, with chemicals and just... taken the life right out of it. Plus, it touches the Earth directly."      Indeed, she seems to just bask in this idea, this connection to the natural world. It was something not many students seemed to just take the time to savor and enjoy. Sun and shore, earth and sky, it was all just one perfect moment of peace.
Warpath	The difference between him in the pool and in the pond is very obvious. When he is in the pool it is for excercise. Nothing more. Here he is at ease and strangely far more still that she is used to seeing him. Various critters make noises in the evening air that just aren't present at the mansion either. As if thinking it over for some time he tells her,"If you get in trouble and have to go to ground, make your way here. The management know to bring you in and keep you safe until I get here." Subtle he isn't. He's anything other than predicatable,"If I go to ground this is as good of a place as any to start here."
Shannon	Turning her head slightly in the water, Shannon just regards Warpath for a moment. It was almost as if she were looking at a spirit of nature made mortal, so still was he. This was someone in their element. An element she might only have some small inkling of by comparison, but still, the difference was plain to see. "Thank you, shik'isn," she replies. "Hopefully, it'll never come to that."      Still, the world they lived in, the chaos and madness that all too often had a field day, could one day make that necessity very real. One is not nicknamed 'Trouble Magnet' without good reason.      She smiles a little bit, looking up towards the few puffy clouds that floated through the early evening sky. "Did I get a chance to tell you that my gifts are actually starting to change a little, for the better? Dr. McCoy's been helping me out with that, and... well, it's the first time in two years since Josh Foley, that anybody's really actively tried to help. And it's working."
Warpath	"You're welcome." he comments softly. The water ripples around him a little as he talks,"It shouldn't come to that, but there are no guaruntees. Hence the plans." The nickname isn't lost on him of course. "You mentioned that your powers were starting to evolve the other day. I am glad to hear that things are progressing." he adds, still barely moving even with the words,"I would have helped you if I were able, but that's out of my wheel house."
Shannon	"I know you would have. I think maybe others would have, too, but the way things worked for so long, they were worried about my safety. So I was getting used to just... trying to push back those gifts and not use them. It didn't feel right but it would feel worse asking for help, because to practice... someone would have to be hurt. And that's not something I would readily ask of anyone." Shannon just lets out a sigh and smiles, and for a moment, it's as if a large weight's been taken off her shoulders. "Someone stepped forward, though. That took a lot of guts, and a big heart."
Warpath	Slowly he changes his poistion in the water and lays back to float for a while as well. There is something amazing about water. It's one of the only things that can hold him up without any trouble,"It is bad to ignore your gifts, but yours was hard on you in its development. You had to modify the way you did things. That takes another point of view sometimes."
Shannon	"I wonder if anybody else understands that, or if they think I'm just some crazy kid with a crap gift. Nobody ever really asks -why- I do what I do." Shannon smiles a bit more as they both float in the pond, Nature itself cradling them and keeping them safe. "What other point of view do you mean?"
Warpath	"Everyone saw it as just some crazy power or crap gift." he replies,"Someone that was able to see past that or was able to see the core of it showed a different point of view. I was always wary of you using the power, but that was just because I didn't know how to fix it so it wasn't doing you harm. It was outside my abilties to aid you so I was always wary of it."
Shannon	"Part of me wants to be really angry that nobody took that point of view for a long time. But I can't be, because it was just everyone's worry for my safety. Now, I just hope there's enough time before I graduate to really set things on a better path." Shannon smiles a bit wider. "Using my gifts the new way, it can still tire me out sometimes. It takes a lot more effort and energy for now, and my appetite goes crazy. Sometimes, I slip back and the gifts work like they always did, or if I'm -really- tired and did too much. But it's getting better."
Warpath	"I can start an open account at the pizza place you like." he replies when she talks about the appetite going up,"Just make sure it's for you and not half the school." he teases mildly,"Like any weapon your ability will have to be honed and forged into something you can control and just because you graduate doesn't mean you have to leave the school. Most of the teachers are graduates after all." he explains,"Like any weapon it can do you harm despite your being careful."
Shannon	"Suppose I could see if there was a way I could stay on and help out in the Wellness Office. Heck, even Dr. McCoy thought that might be a possibility when I asked him about that. I still want to continue on to med school, though." Shannon almost grins as she looks over at Warpath, moving her limbs lazily in the water, making small ripples that refract the light of the setting sun into a million shards of topaz and citrine upon the surface. "There's so much I want to do still. This is going to be a wild year."      Mention of the pizza place has the young healer in training almost drooling, and there is a very unlady-like grumbling in her general vicinity. "Do you mean the one in Salem Center? They've got some of the best salads and sandwiches, too...." Her enthusiasm is tempered, though, with the reminder of one's gifts being honed possibly being harmful despite taking great care. "Yeah... I know. But at least I can work on keeping that to a minimum."