[Action throughout the day and Open!] Playing in the rain.

[notyourutopian]

Of all the things Eleanor had discovered in Luceti that had been impossible in Rapture, the rain was probably her favorite one. It had taken her some time to adjust to the idea of it, to be fair, since in Rapture the sound of falling water generally meant something horrible had happened and a section of the city about to flood, but up here on the surface it was just...normal.

Weather in-and-of-itself was a new concept, honestly. Occasionally the big storms up on the ocean's surface would cause churn in the water around the city, but never anything more than messy water and unhappy whales. She'd loved the snow too, and bright sunny days and brisk, windy days, but rain was her favorite. Maybe it was just how it was a callback to home without being so close as to make her dwell on the negative things.

Which was why she didn't particularly find any reason to try and avoid it the way so many other people seemed to. In fact, she made a point of going out in weather like that, with the large, old-fashioned purple umbrella she'd acquired last summer. It hadn't rained all winter, which she knew was normal but had still been a bit of a frustration, and now that it was doing it again, she'd practically bolted from school at the end of the day to go for a walk.

And that was where she could be found for the rest of the afternoon, wandering about in her long black skirt and simple red jacket, her umbrella resting on her shoulder, a faint smile on her face. She would stop for a while to sit under one of the awnings by the shops and read, listening to the rain, then head back out for another walk. She'd picked up a pair of heavy-duty boots, and someone might happen to catch her hopping into a puddle with them to send up a splash and then laughing softly to herself.

Even during the height of the thunderstorm itself, she was (probably foolishly) walking around with her umbrella.

[ooc: People can run into Eleanor anywhere in the village during the rain, or yell at her to come in out of the lightning if they like. She might even listen!]

Comments

[notyourutopian]

I kind of like it, though. [She said with a little smile.] There are worlds out there that aren't awful, you know? Where people are happy and things are...normal.

[She's silent for a moment before she turns to him.]

My name is Eleanor, by the way.

[lordhotman]

Yeah...

[From what he's heard there were some pretty awful worlds out there and some others that were much better off. His was somewhere in between. Things were still complicated back home, but it was getting better.

When she turns, he looks back at her.]

My name is Zuko.

[notyourutopian]

Nice to meet you. [She gives a little bob of her head, but doesn't offer a hand to shake or anything. But her smile is perhaps a tad teasing.]

So are you hiding in here until the rain stops, Zuko?

[lordhotman]

[Zuko frowns disapprovingly.]

I'm not hiding. I'm just waiting it out.

[Cause really who likes getting soaked?]

[notyourutopian]

Isn't that the same thing? [She looked back at the rain for a moment, then back at his disapproving frown and sighed.]

I'm only teasing.

[lordhotman]

[He just rubs the back of his head.]

No... maybe.

[He offers her a small smile.]

[notyourutopian]

Hmm.

[Eleanor studies him for a moment, her expression thought.]

Okay. If you weren't stuck in here, where would you be going?

[lordhotman]

I came here looking for swords, and then I was going back to the house.

[He couldn't quite call it home yet.]

[notyourutopian]

...Well, did you find a sword? Are you finished?

[Eleanor leaned to the side a bit to look out at the various weapons. She didn't need one, so she'd never really come in here again after she'd retrieved her gloves when she'd arrived.]</small.

[lordhotman]

[He shakes his head.]

No, I didn't find what I was looking for.

[notyourutopian]

Hmm. I'd offer to help, but I know less than nothing about swords. No one has used them in centuries where I come from. Not for anything except maybe dueling. Somewhere.

[She hesitated.]

Probably not, honestly.

[lordhotman]

[Zuko shakes his head.]

That's okay, it's not that important.

[notyourutopian]

[She nods her head to him at that, trying to decide if she should push, and then shrugs.]

So you're just going home? Which building do you live in?

[lordhotman]

I live in House 56 with my friends.

[So it's a bit of a walk.]

[notyourutopian]

Fifty-six.

[Give her a moment, she's picturing where that is.]

That's a little far, yes. Hmm. But...

[She seems to be talking to herself, and then she grins.]

I can get you there without getting wet, if you like.

[lordhotman]

With that?

[He gestures to the umbrella.]

Don't you think its a little small for the both of us?

[notyourutopian]

[She glances at the umbrella for a moment, then laughs softly.]

Not quite, no.

[Instead she held out a hand for him to take.]

[lordhotman]

... Okay.

[So he takes her hand and just waits to see what she has in mind.]

[notyourutopian]

[She smiles, a bit hesitantly. She's only tried this once before with another person.]

This might feel a little weird.

[She opened her umbrella with one hand and her knee, then held it over both of them...and suddenly, he'd feel himself being enveloped in a purplish energy, and for a second, everything in the universe would seem to explode...]

[And then they were standing on the lawn outside of his house. In the raging thunderstorm. Under an umbrella. Whoops.]

[And Eleanor looked a bit dazed, stumbling back a step and looking like she might fall over.]

Woah, that was farther than I realized...

[lordhotman]

[... Okay that was definitely not what he was expecting. As soon as they arrive he instantly lets go of her hand, his face one of shock. However he quickly snaps out of it when he sees her stumbling and reaches out to catch her.]

What WAS that?

[notyourutopian]

[She is only unstable for a moment, but she offers him a grateful smile at the steadying hand, taking a second to press her own into her head as if she could ward off a headache before she stands up straight.]

Ah. Teleportation? I've only tried it with another person once before, and not...quite that far.

[She looks a bit sheepish.]

1/2

[lordhotman]

[Teleport-what? Zuko has no idea what that is and it about to ask when suddenly the air feels charged and he remembers their in a thunderstorm. Crap. He knows that feeling well. Without having the time to say anything, Zuko instead pushes Eleanor aside. Just before a bolt of lightning, perhaps attracted by the sudden teleportation, streaks from the sky.

His arm outstretched, the lightning strikes and is absorbed at his fingerstips.]

2/2

[lordhotman]

[The electricity courses through his body before it is released from his other hand. The lightning being redirected right back into the sky from where it had come.

And this is why its dangerous to play in thunderstorms.]

[notyourutopian]

[Given the way Eleanor's teleportation ionized the air around them, it was no surprise there was suddenly a lightning strike, though her fear was replaced by shock as she watched him...catch it for lack of a better term. And then hurl it away.]

H-how did you do that?

[lordhotman]

Firebending.

[A simple explanation, but he'd rather talk about this inside and thus directs her towards the house.]

You should stay here until the storm passes.

[Cause yeah, don't want that happening again.]