Ever Feel Like Jumping (Issac)

[MaKayla MyKa]

MaKayla's feet were dangling off the edge, a slight kick to her swinging legs as the her fingers gripped firmly to the edge of the rocky cliff-side. She exhaled a deep sigh as she gazed into the horizon where the sky and the ocean blues converged into a single thin line. Her eyes drifted down towards her sole-less feet. Rouge whitewater hiccups crashed against themselves far before reaching the cliff walls, for which only the strong solid blue breaths of the ocean could reach.

The crashing waves sent salty mist into the noonday air. MaKayla took a deep breath, tilting her head back in reminiscence over the familiar smell of crisp ocean.

"Ahhhh.." she audibly sighed, releasing the same air she once held at home.

This spot, and her habitual fishing trips were the closest things she had to home. She missed being out on the water with her father and brother, taking in the big haul. . . She often worried how they'd carry on without her strength.

It was then that she noticed her train of thought. She reacted by slamming the back of her foot into the rock with self frustration. Cracking and breaking large rocks off of the rock-face, sending them tumbling off of the walls and into the living water. She winced as the rock broke skin.

"Eh.." She extended her legs, eyeing new born pebbles embedded into her skin. She pulled her legs up, crossing them yoga style. She picked the black stones from her heel, tossing them to the sea while observing the damage.

[Issac Haxton]

        For many people in the United States, the middle of Winter would be characterized with cold temperatures, snow, ice, and other natural hazards typical of a Winter-touched terrain. Not here, however. Here it was still debating whether or not Summer would end, it seemed. But hey, there was plenty of sunshine, which was something Issac actually liked about the island. Sure, it wasn't highly comfortable here, but it was easy to relax, what with the plenty of isolated locations dotting the local geography. Issac felt like exploring this particular day, so he decided on traversing the outer edge of the island, happening on a very lightly worn trail wove into part of the immense forest on the island.

        What he found actually was a bit of a shock to him, mostly as he thought he heard a loud thud come from this direction. As the trail petered out at the edge of the forest, a breathtaking cliffside view of the ocean opened up ahead of him, the sun shining brightly from above as the crisp smell of ocean air wafted in Of course, there was something that drew attention from the craggy terrain and the commanding view of the ocean, and that was be the lone figure sitting cross-legged at the cliff's edge. They were a really slender girl, her tanned skin accented by a set of off-green hair as she seemed to pick at her legs. She also wore a rather unusual outfit when compared to most of the students, mostly appearing as patchworked old fisherman or sailor clothing, reworked into a slightly-more-flattering-than-is-necessary ensemble. Obviously, she was a sea person, but Issac couldn't tell much more from where he was.

        So the difficult question arose in his mind: Should he turn back and leave her be or venture forward and try to strike up a conversation? The latter thought gave him a laugh; Him? Converse? That was a hoot. But in honesty, he really needed to talk as much as possible. The more he talked to people, the better he understood the general populace's thoughts of the island and how beter to shift the opinion one way or another. He had plans, that's for sure, but he was severely stretched on manpower, resources, and information, and there was only one way to fix part of that. He mustered what social courage he had and shuffled closer to the girl before speaking up slightly, his calm voice more than likely just barely audible.

        "It's, uhh.... quite the sight, isn't it?"

[MaKayla MyKa]

MaKayla picked the final pieces of obsidian-esque rock from her foot, biting her tongue as she removed it from her torn skin. She couldn't help but watch as she did it, the rock peeled back the first layer of skin, revealing a raw patch of tender flesh. 'You've had worse.' she thought, reminding herself of previous injuries, like the time she'd almost crushed herself under a overflowing net of desperately flopping halibut. That was not a good day for anyone.

She pressed the stone between her thumb and forefingers thinking about crushing it. But she decided it best to toss it off the edge like the others, before looking back solemnly out to sea with a sigh.

She didn't look back to the young man who approached, truth be told she didn't realize that he had even been there until he spoke. She thought briefly about the words, deciding that this person was not a threat and was not going to try anything funny. She didn't feel like getting in a fight today. She just needed to get away from the school and the fights and all the prefect obligations for a moment.

"Yeah..." She took another deep breath of the thick watery air again, moving her hair from her eyes to look back out to the water. "... It's a slice of home." Her thick Louisiana accent came drawled and sullen from her lips, the words weren't quite Cajun but it was certainly Louisianan. She exhaled, the air unfolding from her lungs as she uncrossed her legs, dangling them off the edge once again as she sunk into herself.

[Issac Haxton]

        This island was becoming more and more of a hassle as the days wore on. The constant fighting was distracting, so much propaganda was spewed out for both the Battlefront and Prefects, and to top it off, some people acted so oblivious to what happened here, theythought they didn't even have powers. One girl he overheard had telepathy and simply believed she had hundreds of different imaginary, invisible friends who didn't even notice she was listening to them. Just hearing that made his head hurt. That was one of the many reasons Issac spent most of his free time exploring or away from the school in general

        The girl's presence was rather surprising in many ways. Not a large amount of people left the school other than for ferry rides to the mainland nearby, and certainly not to relax at the edge of a cliff. Not only that, she was fairly calm to not be startled by sudden speech from a person she probably didn't realize was behind her. Not at all like a lot of the idiots on the island. And yet, he knew that nobody deserved to be here. That was something he knew without a doubt. It was thoughts like this that he was able to push aside his usual reclusiveness and talk now. She was obviously from the southern US, maybe even Louisiana. And she spoke rather plainly, as well. Seeing as she didn't talk much, he was forced to initiate the conversation further, something he was worse at than talking in general. However, the girl did give him an in to use, and he would capitalize on it. He trudged quietly towards her side a couple feet away and glanced to the horizon as well, now able to clearly view the crystal-like waters below, as he spoke to her again, this time much more clearly.

        "It does? You must of lived somewhere pretty breathtaking, then."

[MaKayla MyKa]

Company wasn't something she expected on a cliff-side. Truthfully, she felt the individual was perfectly kind and acceptable. It was only his talk of home that gripped her. As if the mem'ry had induced a state of reclusiveness, an uncommon feature for MaKayla. "Yeah... Looks a lot like it from 'ere." She spoke calmly and simply. The same shoreline had taunted her for the two years she had been at Ashford. The horizon didn't seem to change much at all from time to time. The only difference was where she sat, before it was home, now it was a long forgotten slab of rock.

What she needed was a distraction, a release, something that didn't involve slamming her heel into a rack face. A brief glint formed in her eyes as she thought about a previous experience in that spot. . .

"Also happens to be the best place fer cliff diving." A sudden glint in her eyes outshone the gloomy subject of home as a momentary smile snuck itself into a smirk.

[Issac Haxton]

        To be perfectly honest, it surprised Issac that he was talking as much as he did to a stranger. Granted, he told himself it was strictly to observe and record, though that made him feel like a Watcher from Highlander. Granted, that kind of situation might have been a lot more preferable than actively talking to someone, as far as he was concerned, but he obviously wasn't in that situation, so he had to deal with it.

        He wasn't quite sure how the girl felt about his statement about her home. Hew words were those a generally cheery person would say, yet her tone was flat and calm. It made no sense to him. Was she happy he brought it up or not? This was yet another reason he left talking to others. Speech patterns were not his forte, and he was worried he might say something that would cause an issue in the future. It didn't matter too much longer, though, as the girl spoke again. Now she was talking about cliff-diving. And the way she said it made him wonder a bit: Was she really one to get excited over cliffdiving? Somehow, that thought worried him a bit, but he kept his calm, collected expression going, clearing his throat slightly. His last statement may have been a lie, but his past was not something he let anybody know.

        "Really?I... don't suppose I would know. I've never gone cliff-diving before."

[MaKayla MyKa]

He hadn't? This information was first a bummer. This person wouldn't understand the need behind such a thrilling plunge into the unpredictable ocean.

But then again, she had someone new. This was no simple moment, this was opportunity. The boy's response didn't deter her, it motivated her. She perked up at his words, turning her head to take her first look at the young man. He seemed fit enough.

"You've never done it?" She feigned disbelief as she dropped her tone in question with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well," she continued, pulling her legs up from the edge before popping onto her feet in newfound excitement. "we gotta fix that. Now, don't we."

She had presented her own distraction with a wink and a side glanced smile as she walked further away from the cliff's edge past the boy. 'Been awhile' she thought to herself as she started to unbutton her top, facing away from the boy. She slipped her shirt off of her slender shoulders to reveal a bikini top, the fabric rolling off her back revealing her supple figure.

By chance she had plans for swimming earlier that day. Unfortunately for her, she had to postpone; a pair of pyro-kinetic first years with too much time on their hands had made sure of that.

Those were the perks of being a prefect. Nobody gave a damn if the place burned or if people got hurt. The battlefront sure didn't seem to care about keeping the peace. If anything they were there to disrupt it. Too many fights because the battlefront made an enemy of the prefects and fought for something that didn't exist: freedom.

A couple years of staring off into an all too familiar horizon will make any individual feel a bit caged. There was no use in fighting. The only thing worth doing here was keeping peace. But MaKayla wasn't sure if peace existed either.

A distraction was well needed.

[Issac Haxton]

        This girl was odd to Issac. Not many people find comfort in sitting on the edge of a cliff. Then again, who was he to judge? Of all the things he could relax to, one of them was playing games that involved brutally beating the crap out of various things, from random thugs on the street of some rendered city to soldiers in a war zone to the forces of whatever heaven and/or hell was depicted. Doesn't seem relaxing to some, but it was something that let Issac just shut away his mind.

        Cliff diving, however, was an entirely different story. How was it someone could get excitement out of that? It seemed implausible, yet the newfound excitement in the girl's step was an indicator to the opposite. She doesn't honestly plan to have me jump with her, does she? he nervously thought, compounded by the look she gave him. This kind of diving is what you did to avoid a hail of gunfire or chase crazy escapees, which oddly reminded him of a not-to-fond time from before. Bloody Dolphin Mimic... Couldn't breathe right for days. The thought passed through him as he shook his head to clear his thoughts, now distracted by a more pressing matter: The girl was stripping down right in front of him. How in the world was this normal? He almost immediately turned away and took a couple steps to distance himself. This was ludicrous. How was he supposed to pretend he was no good at this, and how was he supposed to materialize swimming trunks? He was light controller, not a miracle worker. He slowly calmed down his erratic breathing, hoping it wasn't too obvious. When he finally calmed down, he quickly cleared his mind so he could speak without too much trouble, voice faintly cracking for a split second before he spoke up.

        "Umm... I d-don't think you accounted for this, but... I don't have swimming trunks. Besides, you don't really think you can get me to jump... do you?"

[MaKayla MyKa]

"What? Never seen a girl in a swimsuit before?" She flirtatiously poked fun as the boy turned away from her in her swimming suit. A slight red in his cheeks. Issac was an introvert at work.

"You got boxers don'cha?" She stated as if it was the obvious solution, tossing her clothes aside before measuring the distance between herself and the cliff's edge with her eyes. She'd need to clear the rocks below if she were to be successful in her jump.

"Can't make you do anything," she assured the boy. It was a simple truth of nature, something that was not to be trifled with in life. "Ain't gunna make Ya do it, but if I wanted to, I could always throw Ya." She teased the obvious introvert, though she never thought that the teasing could make someone like that curl up into a ball, or further shrink into themselves. She hadn't said it to draw him out either, it was meant more like an relaxed statement than temptation of a threat.

She just wanted to have fun. And she was the kind of person to change her mood like she had just changed out of her clothes, quick, proficient, and seemingly out of nowhere.

She took another step back, deciding she'd need more room to get s running start.

[Issac Haxton]

        To say Issac felt awkward around the fisher girl would be a slight understatement. There was a reason he wasn't an undercover agent. Him talking to people and trying to coerce information was far below his strong suit. Granted, he /might/ have overreacted to a girl changing into her swim suit, but it still wasn't something he was accustomed to dealing with. The girl's poking words weren't helping either, though he tried to power through the embarrassment. He was a tower of an individual with the capability to bend light to his will, albeit, with limitations, but it was something to be respected. Yet he cowered and shrunk to a girl in what amounted to water-proof underwear. He thanked the Lord on High that his partner Liam didn't see him like this.

        "Y-you say that, but.... I can't let you jump alone... If something were to happen, you'd be stranded. I can't have that happening."

        He responded in an abrupt manner. He was being completely honest to the girl, even if he knew that, more than likely, the odds of someone attacking her or her being caught in a perilous situation in the water wasn't very high. Whether it was by government protection or natural occurrence, the island was relatively safe from storms and there was no one around, much less anyone who seemed the type to be aggressive. Still, he started to pull his clothes off, wrapping them together before balling up the materials nearby. He was unsure this was really something he should be doing, but he couldn't really back down. Begrudgingly, he shifted to a spot near her, trying to get into a runner's stance. Turns out, his unease of the situation unintentionally made him appear as if he were new to the experience as a whole.

        "Guess I'm doing this... b-but, if I may... how far do we need to jump? I don't want to jump too far or too little for... obvious reasons."

[MaKayla MyKa]

"You gotta jump. . . Like really far." it was plainly spoken advice. "The further you jump the better off you are not hitting the rock. . ." She had tested it before, a shallow drop or a mere step off of the cliff would make for an easy suicide. She looked over to the boy, he looked incredibly uncomfortable, as if he'd never done it before.

"You ok, there?" she asked, her tone changing once again, "I'm gunna go on three. . ." she said it as if this allowed him to follow, or to lag behind. "One. . ." She adjusted her stance, taking a breath, thinking about her company. He was an odd kinda guy, but he was willing to be uncomfortable and he even seemed willing to jump off of a cliff with her. For her safety none the less. Was he serious? She played with the thought a bit, he didn't even know her name. She didn't even know his. The entire situation finally weighed on MaKayla, but she couldn't stop herself from jumping off the cliff. It was what she came for, after all.

[Issac Haxton]

        There weren't very many things that could put a person like Issac on edge. When you've been through the real-world definition of hell and back again, nervous starts to fade from your vocabulary as something you use to describe yourself. Still, there was nothing like a nice calm conversation about cliff diving to put the brown-haired young man on edge. What was it that caused him to be on edge was something he pondered many times. Usually, it was his self-doubt at play. Not being confident in knowing what to say or do always made him nervous. He wasn't trained to be talkative or social.

        "A-alright... I'll take your word for it." He muttered the words, though it was loud enough to be heard over the crashing waves below. It was hard for him to speak up properly, given his concentration was mostly focused on breathing properly. Keeping calmand focused on something so simple is what kept him sane all these years. It had to help a little. He simply breathed in and out, waiting as the girl started her countdown. His mind counted internally with her, something he did without a second thought. His body practically froze until the last second. The moment she said "Three," he bolted straight for the cliff, working his hardest to keep in line with her. And at the cliff's edge, he reactively did the one thing he normally did on a jump, and that was to launch himself out as much as he could. He sure went flying, given he just flashed 10 meters in front of where they were at first. Sure, when he looked down, it turned out his regular jump would have been more than enough, but better safe than sorry was his main motto, after all.