12.17 -- So, the staff may have been a bit out of it this past week, but we were just busy celebrating the end of the semester by partying way too much. Now that that's all over, it's time to focus on Free Falling. We're gonnna introduce an event as well as a great new way to make money for your characters! It's gonna be hella exciting, stay tuned! BLU OUT ~
AKA: How Ash decided it was time to learn how to code v5 and ended up making a site. Obviously I'm no pro, so if there's something that I messed up and you can help me fix it, please do that!
- PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES BEFORE JOINING! - TRY TO REIGSTER YOUR ACCOUNT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S POKEMON AS THEIR USERNAME DOING SO MAKES TAGGING MUCH EASIER FOR THE STAFF
feeling at peace [ hiruka / open! ] | FREE FALLING (A PKMN RP)
WELCOME TO ATLAEA
Welcome to modern day Atlaea; if you're here, it means you have the powers of a pokemon inside of you. We advise that you apply to the university and start your training in one of four subjects: battling, coordinating, healing, or pokemon history and begin your journey towards becoming the very best like no one ever was!
It wasn't often that Cas would wander off alone. He was usually much too skittish an unconfident to do anything alone. However, after having visited the beach for the first time last year with a couple of his very few friends, he found that he felt at home when he was at the beach. Around bodies of water in general. He loved the not having to wear shoes, and the ability to just sit or wade in the water. He'd never swam in water before, though. He'd brought a towel and bag with him, with a quiet buzzer he'd placed inside the bag in case he got turned around. Cas had not been submerged in water before, either; he'd only had water in his ears after taking a shower, and he'd never really taken a bath, at least not deep enough to submerge himself. He was being bold, doing this alone, but for once in his life, he was confident about it.
Reaching into the bag he'd brought along, he set the electronic buzzer to go off every few minutes. To the average person, they wouldn't be able to hear it, due to the sound of the waves, the sound of the birds flying around, and the general commotion of other beach-goers. However, there was currently a lack of beach-goers, but that was completely fine with Cas. Less people around to watch him embarrass himself, if it came to it.
Tightening the drawstrings on the bag, Cas laid out the towel to welcome him when he was finished with swimming, whether it be only a few seconds, or a few minutes. He wasn't planning on staying out in the ocean for too long. Cas threw off his tank top, and it landed in a heap next to his bag. Inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, he made his way toward the water, taking careful, deliberate steps. There were enough noises here to allow for him not to click his tongue to 'see' what was around. His first step into the foamy sea water sent a shiver up his spine, and a smile found its way to his face. He paused mid-step for a bit, enjoying the force of the water as it flowed over his exposed skin. Then, without hesitation, he strode through the water quickly, until it was deep enough to go under.
The feeling was truly amazing. He felt like he was in a completely different world, and he wasn't even that far out. He had no idea how to swim, but judging from how it was described, it didn't sound too hard. Thankfully for him, it came naturally. He kicked with his back legs and pulled himself forward with his arms, rhythmically. It wasn't long before he realized he hadn't been breathing--but then came to the realization he didn't have to breathe. This frightened him a little, but he attributed it to his affinity with water. He wanted to put it to the test.
Underneath the waves, deep in the water, Cas found out that not only could he hear better, but there was always something making a noise, causing echoes throughout the water, painting a clear picture for him, or, as close to a clear picture as he's ever got. Surrounded by water, able to 'see' better than on land, he was sad he'd not attempted this sooner.
Eventually feeling his body tire, Cas made for the surface. As soon as his head popped out, he winced a little at how uncomfortable the noises above water were. Underwater, they had been clear, smooth. Now that he compared the two, it was like someone trying to learn to play the violin for the first time, as opposed to someone who had experience. He wasn't sure what direction he'd gone in, in relation to the shore, so he stayed as still as he could, waiting to hear the buzz. Thinking he'd gone too far out, he began to panic, but then, to his left, he heard the buzz, ever so faintly. If it was that quiet for him, he knew he'd definitely gone out further than he'd expected. Surprised at himself, he began swimming back to shore, and eventually found his feet touching the wet sand after a minute or so of swimming.
Taking time to wring out the water he'd accumulated in his dreadlocks, his first thought was, damn, I'm going to have a hell of a time re-doing my hair, before hearing the buzz once again. He made his way toward it, and eventually felt the cloth of the towel beneath him. Without hesitation, he flopped himself on his back. The sun was in a different position; by his guess, he'd been swimming for a couple of hours. A couple of hours?! The thought of him being submerged for that long surprised him, and scared him, but then he was curious. It's something that could definitely benefit him. Somehow. Maybe. Who knew?
Lost in thought, Cas closed his eyes and placed his hands on his chest, breathing evenly, almost wishing he could share his discovery with someone.
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 11, 2014 18:36:13 GMT
Considering Hiruka had nearly drowned herself in a bathtub once, the fact that she managed to make herself go to the beach was proof she was getting over her eccentric fear, at least to some extent. Salty air wafted through her frightfully messy hair, her straw-woven hat barely giving much safety from the salt's reach to her scalp. The sun was warming her skin in a way that was refreshing, however. Surely, with warm sand beneath her and the warm sun up above, the beach wasn't a bad place.
Her eyes caught on to a stranger wringing out rather long black bundles of hair- well bound together, in her mind, and looking much easier to deal with than her curls that would knot themselves worse than her shoe strings if she unbraided them. The confidence she sensed as he so easily landed on his back was mesmerizing somehow. There weren't that many people to her, but there were enough. But none seemed quite as relaxed after their swim as that fellow.
Wandering towards him out of instinctive curiosity, Hiruka smiled when she was hovering over his face, knees bent to the point her skirt was dipped lightly in the sand below. "Looks like you had some fun out there, huh mister? The beach is pretty amazing. Swim or sand, the sun makes everything nice and warm, don't you think?"
The sound of someone approaching caught Castiel's attention. He hadn't told anyone he was coming here, and he hadn't noticed anyone following him. And, even if they had, they'd have been waiting a while for him to finish his swimming. The pattern of the footsteps was not one he recognized, and the light way they were carried led him to believe that it was a female approaching. He tensed up a bit, hoping that whoever it was would just be passing by, but as the person drew nearer, he tried to relax and calm his worries as he realized that they were not passing by, but coming to him.
As she kneeled down and stooped over him, he was for the most apart aware of her proximity to him, but wasn't sure of her exact positioning since she was above and behind him, and that was something he was still working on; pinpointing exact positions of things behind him. He could easily tell if someone was approaching, but as for telling height, weight, and so on, he hadn't quite got the hang of that. Her question somewhat surprised him, and he wasn't sure how to respond. "Uh, yeah, definitely... I think anything with water and wide open space is nice," he said quietly. To be honest, the temperatures had never really bothered him, and when he was in the water, despite how cold it had been initially, it felt perfect temperature-wise and he couldn't tell a difference between that and now. "Pardon my, uh, awkwardness, but... I don't think we've met?" he said, still surprised that anyone would come up to him to start a conversation. He supposed there really was a first time for everything.
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 11, 2014 21:49:14 GMT
His explanation of the water and open space was interesting due to her mostly being interested in the open space part- but it was good to hear his reasoning, and to see that he was genuinely happy having been there. As he continued to try to keep his calm enough to speak to a stranger, she smiled as he noted they hadn't met. Oops! Her mistake. She really didn't think that far ahead!
"Ah, sorry. You just seemed to be having so much fun it made me curious." Giggling a bit to herself, she kept herself steady in her posture while smiling down at the fellow's face, hair tickling the back of her neck as she shifted her head slightly to the side. "I'm Hiruka. It's nice to meet you, stranger who likes wide open spaces and the sound of the sea. Or at least, I'm guessing that's part of why you like it. You can hear it even if you lay down like that, after all. Have you tried keeping a seashell at home to listen to it when you can't go out?"
She'd heard, anyway, that they sounded similar. Not that she tried it, but she had to admit, the sea was a pretty place- as long as she didn't fall in.
Castiel made a sort of nod attempt at Hiruka's introduction, his eyes still closed. Well, at least she seemed to be friendly. It still worried him, though; if he was with his friends, he wouldn't be so worried, but he could hear his own heart racing faster than usual in situations that made him uncomfortable, because right now, he was by himself, susceptible to pretty much anything. "Nice to meet you, Hiruka. I'm Castiel," he returned the introduction. Attempting to be polite, he opened his eyes, revealing off-red eyes. He was able to tilt his head back and fixated his gaze on Hiruka, or at least that's what he'd lead her to believe.
Had he kept a seashell at home to listen to it? No, he hadn't. He wasn't even sure what seashells were. He'd heard of them, but never owned one. "N-no, I haven't... This is my first time alone here, and I've never gone swimming, so..." he said semi-awkwardly, shifting his unseeing eyes downward, like he'd been told a normal person would when they were embarrassed. His friends had adapted to his handicap, but he'd also adapted to semi-normal interactions with people who didn't know he was blind. "I've never seen a seashell before, so I probably wouldn't know one if it hit me in the face," he admitted. True on both accounts. One, he really wouldn't be able to see, and two, he'd just know that something had hit his face, but not the specifics. "I just find peace in nature, especially around water."
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 11, 2014 22:40:43 GMT
"Well I sure hope a seashell never hits you in the face! They're really hard after all. Though I forget what they're made of, I know some of them are the shells of hermit crabs. I'd rather just play with the crabs though..." Giggling happily upon seeing his open eyes, she mused, "Wow~ you have such neat eyes. I don't see red eyes often except in photographs. And usually they're ones I take, because cameras hate me."
No, cameras didn't hate her. Technology itself hated her. That, or it was just naturally afraid of her- but somehow, she could barely hold a cell phone without it breaking [oh, she broke a lot of them eventually, though]. "I can't swim myself. I guess you could say it's more fear than inability. But...I really like the sound of the sea and nature. Though, I really love trees the most. It's sort of like...The trees are my home! Maybe you were once living in the sea too?"
Last Edit: Dec 11, 2014 22:41:09 GMT by Hiruka Azalea
Cas wasn't sure if it was visible or not, but he could feel himself blush when she commented on his eyes. He'd been told they were red, but he didn't know what color was, and he suspected he never would. It wasn't often that he'd get someone to comment, let alone compliment, on his eyes. In fact, he usually just kept them closed around friends and while playing at venues. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't really compare it, because it was rare for him to be out in public without at least one person tagging along, or vice versa. When she referenced the photographs, he just smiled and nodded, not getting the reference. He knew of photographs, but he'd never bothered to learn the technical terms, or even basic ones, such as 'blurry' or 'red-eye.' They'd be hard to explain to a blind man, anyways, and that was the main reason he was clueless about that particular subject.
Cas nodded his head in sympathy, sort of able to relate to the fear of doing something, rather than the inability to. "This was my first time swimming, but it seemed to come naturally to me," he said, his nervousness going down a notch. Trees were her home, huh? Maybe everyone had their own place they felt at home, or activity that made them comfortable. "Maybe... perhaps in past lives or something, we were all creatures of some sort. I could've lived in the seas, and you perhaps in a heavily forested area?" he suggested.
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 11, 2014 23:11:06 GMT
"It'd be fun if I lived in a forest, but...That means this is the first time in our lives we've met, huh? If in a past life we lived so far away, after all. Though, there are animals that live in multiple places...But I doubt I'd have survived the sea. I nearly drowned myself when I was little trying to take a bath. Which is sorta kinda why I'm afraid to swim."
Redness covered her face- she didn't normally just blurt that particular part out. Sure, she was honest and would clearly state that she couldn't swim, or that water startled her beyond high heavens. But mentioning her childhood trauma [which honestly she was afraid would get her laughed at for such a simple thing] was new. But it was a bit of a relief- even if she was covering her face with her hands to hide the way she was blushing.
If only she knew he couldn't see it even if she kept her face open. "You look like you had a lot of fun...So you definitely belonged with the sea at some point. Next time, I'll watch you swim. Maybe I'll be able to learn someday that way...Because if someone else can conquer their fear, I should work harder to do it too, right?"
Sniffing at the air again, the salt tickled her nose. "The sea...Is still so nice though. Even if I can't swim...I can still enjoy it without touching the water. And there are cute fish living in it too. And it lets me meet new friends when I come to the sea too. It's really amazing, don't you think? The world itself is. And it feeds us so many nice things, too."
Shrugging, Cas began to muse more on the concept that they had past lives, or something similar. "Well, I mean, our ancestors, if you study our history at all... weren't exactly the same as us. We've evolved, adapted. I'm sure the way each of us has adapted is in part something to do with our ancestors," he said. He got quiet real quick when she mentioned she'd almost drowned taking a bath. He didn't know what to say to that. He'd never gone swimming, yet earlier he'd done it like he'd been able to all his life and it was just waiting for him. Not to mention the fact he didn't even have to breathe underwater. It was like he was getting his oxygen elsehow.
An idea came to mind. "I've been teased and ridiculed all my life, even by my own family. It's not the same as what you went through, but I have a fear of being around strangers and other people, because I'm afraid they may try to take advantage of me, or I'll hear more ridiculing comments or something..." he said, his mind floating back to him leaving to go to college his first year. His own sibling had refused to see him off, and had earlier stated that he didn't deserve to go to college; he was using his own handicap as an advantage to get special treatment and attention, and should be ashamed of himself.
Her next question puzzled him. Work harder to conquer her fear? Well, it wasn't like it was going to happen over night. If this truly was a fear, and she hadn't been put up to talking to Cas by a group of sorority girls or something. "Who knows... depending on how willing one is to overcome a fear, and how bad the memories and emotional scars are, you may never truly get over something, but it wouldn't hurt to try," he said. Why was he talking so much? He was starting to get comfortable talking to this almost complete stranger. Normally, he'd have high-tailed it out of there by now, but something kept him there.
"The only way I can enjoy things are by smelling them, tasting them, feeling them, and hearing them. I guess that's why I enjoy music so much," he said, a smile coming to his face as he remembered the last time the band had practiced. "In the water, I feel at home. In nature, I feel at peace. I like getting away from crowded, noisy areas, even if it's only for a little bit... the world is certainly amazing. And there's so much we haven't yet discovered, whether about the world itself, or ourselves."
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 14, 2014 16:44:00 GMT
"I'm not really good with history, honestly. I only really understand ancient remedies and stuff...The rest kinda ends up going in one ear out the other." She was being honest: history and combat weren't things that seemed to fit in her head at all. While she did have a slight fascination with the past, she preferred to help push the future forward by healing those in pain, so they could keep moving. It wasn't until his later comment, however, that left her wondering if he needed some healing himself.
Listening carefully, she began to wonder why he'd be teased or used by people. He seemed like a nice guy, but that wasn't enough for people to take advantage of, right? He also had a seemingly good intellect, after all. And he knew he got taken advantage of- so clearly, he probably understood it more, right? "I don't see why anyone would try to treat you unfairly. Maybe it's just me, but I've always felt that family is only those who you trust. Those who treat you poorly don't need your trust. They aren't good people if they plan to just use you or call you names, don't you think? They don't deserve the time."
Smiling a bit, she was starting to realize what he was concerned over- particularly when he mentioned only four of the five senses that he found helped him. "I don't mean to sound rude...But is it possible you're blind? You didn't mention you enjoy seeing things, but you said smelling and tasting things make you happy. And hearing and touching them. But not seeing, so..." Slightly red, unaware if he could see it, she still unintentionally tried to hide her face. "S-Sorry, I don't mean to ask an unfair question. It's just...I didn't realize it until you said something. I can see why it might be hard or why people might be mean, but...I still think it's wrong if that's why they're being mean. I mean...You're really smart, right? You talk about really complex things. Whether you can see or not, your perspective of the world is really something. It's awe-inspiring. So that people treat you badly...I still think they're definitely wrong."
Calming herself, she stood up tall without concern for what his eyes could and couldn't see, hands poised well on her hips. "I feel most at home in trees, but the trees survive with water...So being afraid of water makes me a hypocrite, I'd say. I need to work harder to fight my fear and swim too. Then, one day, I'll be able to find my own strength too!"
"Well, we all have our own interests and fascination with certain topics. I'm a healing major, so it'd make sense that I'd have knowledge of healing in general. However, I also have a fascination with certain points in history. Battling, though... not my forte. I'll leave that to the others," he said. Cas was surprised at the honesty of this stranger, and was even more surprised at himself. How he was having a normalish conversation with Hiruka. He liked her personality; she seemed focused on the things that mattered to her, and seemed to mean well. There weren't many out there who were focused on the well-being of others.
Cas let out a soft laugh at Hiruka's response. As nice as she was, she seemed a bit naive as well. Naive and innocent. He hoped she would stay that way, for her own sake. "There are cruel people in this world. I am a little more susceptible to the uh... darkness that some people seem to possess," he said. "I don't really have a choice in some cases. I get desperate enough, and get taken advantage in that way. It's made me a lot more cautious and, uh, shy..." he said. "My own family I wouldn't even call family really. I do have a few close friends, though, and I'm grateful for them."
A smile crept to Cas's face at Hiruka's good listening. She'd noticed he hadn't said he enjoyed seeing things. "You are correct. And it's not rude. It's just something I don't usually say outright, and it's usually something most people know anyways," he said.
"I've never been in a body of water before today. I was underwater for around two hours before I came back up. I felt at home, relaxed, like I was meant to be there. I think that if you're sure about it, then one day, you'll overcome your fears," Cas said. He had his own fears he had to deal with, but those were a bit different than the fears Hiruka had.
"I understand that feeling. I'm a healing major as well- because I just want to make people feel better when they're not feeling well. I also have a strong interest in things like cooking and nutrition. Though...My older sister probably helped push that too. She's a good cook, and she's really good with plants. I think her love of plants helped make me want to play in trees more as a kid. I used to try to climb as many flowering trees as I could to pick the flowers off for her."
Slightly embarrassed, she instinctually tried to hide her face again upon her awkward rambling about her sister. Hiruka already knew she had a family complex, but it still made her embarrassed to admit- and the joy actually helped flush her face most of the time. Even if he couldn't see, she could feel it. It was an instinct at this point, despite her out there nature.
Hearing Castiel calling himself shy, she looked at him rather quizzically. "Shy? You seem perfectly sociable to me. I mean, you're talking to me perfectly normal, aren't you?" A slight giggle slipped through her lips, as she put a hand near his arm- but not close enough to touch. She kept her hand near to his shoulder as if trying to let the sound show her whereabouts to give him a choice. He relied on the other four senses. Surely, somehow, a hand on his shoulder could either be too much or just right. She wasn't taking chances quite yet.
"How do most people know though? If you didn't say anything that made it sound possible, I wouldn't have known. I wonder if you only really deal with psychic people?"
Another laugh later, she was rather surprised by his later terms. "Wow...That's a long time. Didn't you at least come up to breathe? Are you able to breathe under water, Castiel?"
