The Affinities

Jo trounced up beside Maddie, dragging Ariana with her. "Hey. You're...Maddie, right? Seems like that Andrew guy is usrping your position as Haley's right hand woman." She cast a hateful glare at Andrew's back, "Stuck up snob." "Anyway....you seemed kinda down. I figured I should assure you I'm not a terrible person." she gave Maddie and Ariana a wide grin.

 

As Keel followed behind the others, he heard two converstion going on. Out of the two, he could head Jo explaining to Maddie that's she not a terrible person. Personaly he never thought thatshe was one, he just hope that she wouldn't lead the others into trouble.

 

Jellal ignored everyone else's conversation and walked up next to Keel. "So, any thoughts on what we should do?" He asked.

 

Ariana burst out laughing. Dear Jo... How unsubtle she was. " Really subtle, Jo," said Ariana still laughing.

 

Haley looked at Andrew, he'd called her their leader. She knew she had sort of taken control and just wanted to make sure all her friends were okay but in a group with so many big personalities, she'd never thought of herself as actual leader. She wondered if the others would agree but even Andrew himself, wasn't the type of person to follow people lightly and he respected her enough to call her that. Even if she had been acting like one, the way he'd said it so matter of factly, sounded like it was official. "I'm leader? Thanks." She said quietly.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid because of what I say. You guys actually managed to come up with a descision almost unanimously, I do not want to ruin that. It's just..." She paused, still unsure if she should say. "I have an affinity with the air. I like to be free, I don't like to be trapped, caged somewhere I can't escape from. We're going into a town where we have to pretend to be someone we're not, we can't use powers and one slip up would destroy everything. But that's not the main thing I don't like. From what it sounds like I won't even have anywhere where I can just be myself and use my powers. I'll be trapped in this lie 24/7 and with no escape. Even at the orphanage I found somewhere I could go just to be myself and get away from it all, that's how I cope."

 

"Nothng so far." Keel replied.

 

Andrew was taken aback with Haley's true feelings about this plan. She had seemed like she was all for it, but now he knew that that was her being strong. A little further back, he could feel that some people were talking ill about him, but he didn't pay much attention to that. "That's a reasonable worry you have. How about we have an addendum to the plan? We'll only stop by Jo's village for her to do whatever and to stock up on supplies, before we continue to trek north to the safe place that I know of. Then we can discuss more if need be there. How about that?" he explained trying hard not to sound too exasperated on the 'whatever'. "Besides," he added, "I'm fairly certain that you're not the only one who has qualms with the current plan."

 

"I see." Jellal said, slightly disappointed that neither of them knew what they were going to do. "Well, we'll think of something. Anyway, you should probably know about the wager i had with Andrew."

 

Haley looked at Andrew, that plan sounded good to her though she was still worried, "Perhaps but you've already planned it all out. Would the others even agree to that? I really don't want to cause arguements and make people unhappy. Didn't you say the sae place was too far away? I really don't want to ruin this for everyone just because of my silly fears." She paused, "I'm sorry, I'm probably being so arkward. I would like that on the condition everyone agrees to it, it doesn't cause arguements and it would work for everyone. You guys really don't have to go out of your way for me." She looked down, she supposed she wouldn't be the only one who would go crazy after a while if they didn't have somewhere to go to take their tensions out. It would help if they could resolve group matters in total privacy too. She still felt so bad after they'd all agreed on this for being silly and not just getting on with it. She shouldn't have told Andrew but it was too late for that. Though she was glad for talking to him, it felt good to get if off her chest though she didn't really want to burden him. It was almost like old times with them together again. She liked that.

 

Maddie smiled slightly at Jo as she spoke kindly to her, dragging Ariana along with her. "Yeah, I'm Maddie...nice to meet you." She stroked her hair out of her eyes before beginning to fumble around with her hands shyly. "I guess...but she seems happy with him around again, plus I'm sure it'll be a nice change from me." She glanced over at Haley and Andrew as they spoke to each other, wondering whether their relationship was more than just "close friends". She looked back towards Jo as she spoke once again. "Oh, I don't think you're a terrible person at all...maybe a bit reckless at times...not that that's a bad thing." She added quickly in case she came across the wrong way, giggling quietly as she heard Ariana's comment towards Jo.

 

Jo's grin remained in place and even shot a sly wink at Ariana. "Yeah...I suppose I am pretty reckless. But, hey, it takes real strength to admit your faults." She regarded Maddie carefully and chuckled, "Ah, don't worry about it. You're fun. I bet Haley misses you talking her ear off. Your element...it's water, ain't it? Ah, either way, I know something interesting to show you." Jo rooted around in her pockets, her tongue sticking out in frustration until she pulled out her hand and snatched Maddie's hand. Dropping something smooth and slightly heavy into her palm. "I call it a which-a-ma-call-it rock." A pure blue rock sat in Maddie's palm, sparkling like the ocean waves.

 

Ariana laughed when she heard what Jo called the rock. "If you don't know the name call it...Mizu ganseki! Water rock!"

 

"And what are the stakes of said wager?" Keel asked.

 

"If i win, Andrew backs down and joins us in our fight against the humans. He'd prove to be a valuable ally if we did get him in. And if i lose, we try to accept humanity and live in peace with them. But me losing isn't likely." He explained. "If the humans accept us when they find out we're wizards,i lose. If they try to drive us out of town, i win."

 

"Interesting, though I doubt that well be accepted if they find out who we really are. But you never know, some might warm up to us while other don't." Keel said.

 

"If that's the case then i assume we'll call it a draw and everything will stay the same. Jellal replied to him. "So then, what's your story?"

 

Maddie gasped sharply as Jo suddenly snatched her hand up without warning, trying to pull away sharply, thinking she was going to get hurt in some way. However, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in complete awe as Jo placed the sparkling and fairly weighty blue rock into her hand, mesmerized by how pretty it was. "It's so beautiful...where did you find it?" her voice was shaken by the sheer marvel of being able to see the rock, or the "which-a-ma-call-it" rock as Jo had dubbed it. A bit away, a faint murmur could be heard from some of the others -from what she could hear it sounded like it was coming from Jellal and Keel- most likely discussing what was the aftermath of events would be, however she was too drawn in by the stone that she had no choice but to ignore them, as if the stone was commanding her to focus on it alone the longer she gawked at it. Finally, as Ariana corrected Jo about the rock's name, her concentration broke off and she managed to move her other hand at last to stroke the stone's extremely smooth surface.

 

Jo grinned, "I thought you'd like it." She considered Ariana's name for it and shrugged, "Call it what you will, it's yours now. I found it beside the most amazing river when I first started running. It led me to a lot of cool places and finally..the orphanage to meet you all. I don't need it to lead me places now, so I figured it'd be better off in your hands than dropped on the ground for some weirdo to find." Jo thought back to the damp cave and the tiny river flowing through it. Someone had thrown it at her from inside the cave. Jo had fled as quick as she could, with the rock in hand before they could come outside.

 

Andrew furrowed his brow as he thought about how the others would have to agree to the new plan. He doubted they would, with all the apparently new enemies he made. Turning back to Haley he said, "Well, of course it'd be a somewhat long trek since it's sort of in the mountains. It's an old abandoned ski lodge, probably funded by some rich people for winter vacations a while back. Back when vacations could exist. But anyway, I'm pretty sure the group probably wouldn't mind camping out for a couple days to get there. Ulrich and I could build another earth hut of sorts. Course, both of us would have to have a good night's rest afterwards, but hey. That's how this ability works," he finished as he looked at his right palm. "Who do you think we should break this plan out to first? How about your friend? She's probably been wondering what we've been talking about," Andrew suggested as he looked back to see Maddie with Jo and Ariana enchanted by some sort of gorgeously blue stone. Awww crap. They got to her.

 

"Well, there not much to tell except that both my parents fully supported the rebellion and they tried to force me and my brother to join. While it worked for him, I was still on the fence about joining. Eventually they both died and my brother vanished." Mentioning his brother again Keel wondered whether he was alive or dead. Eventhough odd were that he was dead, he still had no proof that he was.