Sarah
[A section of forest just outside of Newton's Cradle...]

◇ Well, this was much needed.

□ After the absolute chaos of the past week or so, River was pooped right down to the soul. Sure, she'd made it safely to Sweden, got her room set up nicely, slept through much of the jetlag, and made some friends, but at the same time she felt somewhat *Off* On a level she couldn't pin down. It wasn't mental, because a bit of guilty pleasure girlfriend ASMR and an hour spent cuddling her body pillow would've healed that sort of wound. It wasn't physical, she'd managed to find a section of the prison that was just freed enough from its snowy blanket to skate. Not emotional, either, because she'd cried no less than four times and barely felt better.

▪︎ So, with some marginally warmer clothes than usual she'd decided to go for a little stroll through the trails surrounding the prison and the suburb that lay nearby. It was a page out of her QPP back home's book, and she hoped it'd work.

• And so far? It had been fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes spent slowly walking, looking around, absorbing the crisp March air, listening to the birds sing, simply letting herself shed her worries in favour of peace and relaxation, and already her shoulders felt lighter. Maybe Arty *Had* Been telling the truth. Maybe nature was the ultimate pick-me-up. Thank God she had many more miles to aimlessly explore, huh?
Dennis
He and this tree, Owen thought, might just be the death of each other. It had given him nothing but trouble every time he had attempted to reach the top but today, today was it. A more sensible, possibly easier to injure person would have given up weeks ago, but he had reached a point of boredom, spite and determination that was impossible to pedal back from. And so, eleven metres from the ground, he made his stubborn pilgrimage up the unsolvable conifer. 

Swinging a leg up toward that one branch that he could never quite bend toward, Owen held his breath-
*And made it.* Finally made it. Stifling a cry for joy, he made a move to swing up his other leg. Unfortunately for his hard-won joy, the branch clutched tightly in his white-knuckled fist broke-
Peeled-
And snapped. 

Shield leaping from his skin instinctively, Owen tumbled down through the branches face-first, loosing a stilted stream of curses; not of pain, but of wounded pride and the *Unbelievable* Wrath of defeat. Whoops, looked like he was going for a faceplant landing-
Was that a person?!

Cried the reddish crystalline figure seemingly hitting every branch on the way down, 
"OILOOKOUTBELOW-"

*Thump.*
Hitting the ground hard, Owen groaned as (a comical couple of moments later) his shield melted back into its ether form and sank through his clothes and into his skin revealing his long, messily-tied back hair, old green plaid flannel shirt, and dirt-scuffed cargo pants. He.. Didn't seem dressed for the chill today.

He swore internally that he would check if he hit someone on the way down, as soon as he was sure all his ribs were intact.
Sarah
◇ Things had been peaceful, at least until...

□ She heard a branch snap, but it wasn't low-lying. It wasn't close, faint but unmistakable. Initially she figured it might have just been a squirrel or something, engorged off of dumpster food in town, but as she continued to walk her gut told her something was up, and just as she began to look around in a rapidly-building worry she heard the shriek of a man who, without a doubt, had to have been in trouble. Breath clutched in her throat, and she saw it, a guy falling from the sky enveloped in a shield of some sort, like a stork had just airdropped the dude from the sky.

▪︎ Naturally she jumped back, frightened by the sudden appearance of a whole-ass dude from the sky.

◆ "Ohmygod, are you okay‽" After a brief moment of catching her breath and settling her emotions she quickly closed the gap between herself and the boy, noting his dirt-stained clothes, the twigs and leaves in the rough fibres of his shirt... The strange liquid seeping through his skin. "Don't tell me you fell out of that tree!"
Dennis
"YyYyou're ok?!" Owen turned his head to face the concerned voice. "Goodgood, I didn't crush you," He wheezed, making careful, mechanical moves to pick himself up out of the dirt. 

"I, I think?" Inhaling deeply, he ensured that he hadn't re-broken any ribs. "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I!" His white-hot fury shifted into sheepish embarrassment as he rose to his full height, cheeks flushing slightly at his abysmally terrible entrance. "Another happy landing!" Perfect place for a *Star Wars* Quote. Couldn't possibly make this any worse. 

Picking a branch out of his wavy mess of a ponytail, he got a better look at his (thankfully) not-manslaughter victim. He blushed a little harder- it would have been almost comically easy for her to be pancaked from his clumsiness. A pang of old guilt rippled uncomfortably through his chest as the thought hit him. Oh no, was he staring? He was definitely staring. Like a goldfish. *Dammit.*

"Uhm. I'm Owen, and uh, usually my entrances are slightly less jarring than that..." His big doe eyes looked genuinely apologetic, even though his mouth twitched a little at the corners with amusement as he relaxed into his usual slouch. It was a little bit funny.
Sarah
◆ "Well, I mean..." She gestured to herself, a hand held up to her stomach as if it were an offering. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

□ Now that she was certain that this guy, whoever he was, was okay, a giggle left her mouth like her fright venting. Somehow, it seemed as though this guy had fallen thirty or forty feet and walked away with naught but branches in his long hair. Worse still, he seemed to be caught between guilt and embarrassment, and in all honesty she felt bad for him, even if he *Had* Surprised the heck out of her and broke her out of her meditative walk.

▪︎ At least he was fine, though. She smiled back.

◆ "Hah, yeah, perfect landing, ten outta ten." She replied, mildly amused in tone. She could see a bit of herself in his saucerplate apology eyes, a bit of her own soul within his expression. "Anyways, uh... Owen? Gotcha. I'm River!... Or, uh. Littlecreature in the chatroom? Maybe we've talked there?" She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, a nervous tell as she kicked a bit of dust behind her. Compared to his frankly lumberjack crossed with inner city yuppie outfit, she was dressed a bit warmer, her slim frame hidden beneath baggy burgundy joggers that slimmed out near the ankles, black snowboard jacket, and distinctive yellow beanie, with her leather Docs lifting her slightly beyond her standard height.

▪︎ The boots sucked for winter, but everything else was fine, and that was good enough for her.
Dennis
"Oh, yeah, Creature! You're friends with June too," He bubbled, sparking happily at the unexpected connection. "You'll recognize me as Orchidforge," He clarified a second later. Other people weren't as aware of himself as he was- have to remember that. 

River looked to him almost like how he felt- his body took up space he didn't quite know what to do with sometimes, expressions floating in distorted space, but she was compact enough that no space was wasted; the awkward humour permeating the space between them was evident in the way she carried herself.

"You're new! The one with all the axes in your room- I, ah, I play too," He continued, easing into conversation. Ice was already broken now, though haphazardly, so why not? He shoved his fidgety hands into his pockets. This was already a lot more talking than he'd expected today- he'd dug himself into more yet now, though, so nerves be damned. 

"Mind if I join you?"
Sarah
◆ "Oh yeah, June's a total sweetheart! She gave me an energy drink the other night and we just plain hit it off like lightning." It was the truth, and she felt no shame in admitting how effortless being around June had felt despite them being a virtual stranger. "Oh, so *You're* Orchidforge... Nice! Yeah... It's crazy how we all have, like, double lives here, we don't know who the heck is behind the screen name until we actually meet face to face. Kinda crazy, huh?"

□ Speaking with a slightly rattled voice, it was just a little side effect of nearly being crushed beneath the weight of someone far larger than her. She was due to be a little rattled still! Looking up – an act that required her to crane her neck slightly – she observed his facial expressions, or at least what she could see through the opaque aura that surrounded his head like most people. Through it she saw that he himself had seemingly let the whole falling out of a tree bit slide by without even worrying about his well-being, and this surprised her.

▪︎ That, and she wondered if if was possible to learn such a power.

◆ "Yeah, that's me! With my army of pawn shop guitars I've modified to heck and back..." She exhaled through her nostrils briefly. "You don't even know how worried I was about my guitars. I seriously sent them by ship to one of my aunts in Norway and then had her ship the guitars here. Ain't no fricking way I'm trusting a plane to keep my babies intact! Anyways, you play too?" She tilted her head lightly, almost like a curious dog. "That's sick, dude. Nice. What'cha play? Also, sure, I'm not going anywhere special anyways, just out for a stroll, y'know?"
Dennis
"Bass!! Electric bass, I have my Rickenbacker up in my room- I'm not sure the exact year, I got it secondhand, but I think it's mid-70s, it's this sky blue beauty that's kept me sane out here," He rambled, thrilled for a shred of normalcy. "I've even.. Figured out how to use my shield to create distortion, but, it's still in the works," Owen rambled, matching her pace. An uneven smile across his face, eyes glazed over by stars. "You know how it is, sometimes it's gloriously heavy and sometimes it's a screeching mess."

Reaching up to pick some pine needles out of his hair, he fiddled with the hair elastic. "Bloody thing always gets twice as tangled on the way down.. I've figured out how to survive a thirty foot drop straight through a tree but am more concerned with sounding like Motörhead," He grumbled, finally wrenching his hair loose. It already felt lighter as he tried to comb through it with his fingers (though, he gave that up after a couple more twigs). 

"Argh, I'm talking a lot- what've *You* Been up to? This place is looney but you don't seem to have lost it yet."
Sarah
◆ "Oh, duuude, Rics are expensive as heck! You're lucky, I'm sure it's beautiful." She spoke with a mix of jealousy and admiration. Not because she wanted a Ric, pet se, but it was more the expensive vintage aspect that made her eyes glitter with wonder. "That's pretty cool though, how's your shield even able to plug into the signal chain? I actually built a distortion circuit into one of my guitars, it sounds wonky but I kinda like it, y'know?"

□ Perfect, absolutely perfect. Out of the blue, she'd found another musician to talk shop with, a music nerd who'd understand her non-sensical rambles about guitar modding and the solo record she was working on. Starting off down the trail again she hummed very lightly, looking over as Owen complained about his hair being tangled – "That's why I cut mine short a while back," She'd butt in, "No worrying about tangles when you've barely got a head of hair to talk about." – but soon the topic was back on her.

▪︎ Peachy.

◆ "Oh, uh..." Owen was someone she'd never met in the flesh, so how truthful could she be...? He had no rights knowing any of her weird hobbies or interests, so... "I've just been... You know, adjusting to Newton's Cradle. Sleeping off the jet lag since I flew all the way from New Jersey to get here. Setting up my room. I finally have my amps, guitars, and pedals all neatly organized, so now all I need is an electric drum kit and I'm set! Aside from that it's just been... Living. Talking in the chatroom. Trying to stop my head from spinning off of my body, you know the deal."
Dennis
Hmm. Signals point to *Pressed an odd button*. Must be a boundary he hasn't unlocked yet- no worries, back to rambling about instruments. 

"Yeah, you figure it out day by day. Luckily, this place doesn't really hit you all at once, so you've got plenty of time to process," He mused. "And to innovate!" The thrill of telling someone what he had cooking up overrode the usual nerves he had around his power, making showing it off a thing he could do. "Oh, I don't need to plug it in."

Owen opened his hand and dragged his fingers along his forearm, from the crook of his elbow to his wrist. Sometimes it needed a little help. Following his fingers, the ether rose from his skin in reddish orange wisps and hardened into a crystalline form over his skin, shifting under the light like puddles of oil on concrete. It hummed its own inaudible chord, swelling imperceptibly with his heartbeat. His nerves came back to him at the sight of it, and a look of uncertainty flashed across his eyes for a moment. *It'll be fine. You haven't melted the strings, and you won't melt River either.*

"It moves," He tried. "It has these.. Invisible effects on the strings that fingers or picks don't, like it breathes, almost." He gingerly held his hand closer to River, tiny flecks of orange and gold racing across his palm and then dissipating. 

"You could probably pick up on it, you know your stuff."
Sarah
◆ "Yeah, I've noticed that." She spoke as the soles of her boots squished into the soggy dirt beneath her feet. "It's pretty nice that it just... You know, hits you slowly. Which, like, given how abruptly it seems we end up here it's almost like the darn place is designed to ease us in slowly. Also, ooh... Sweet."

□ At first, she didn't look back at Owen, but something in her head flipped – perhaps a bit of social awareness – and she turned to face the arboreal reject. Of course, though, she didn't just see flesh and bone, but instead she saw his arms encased in crystalline fire, fierce reds and oranges wafting together into a solid display of might. It was rather impressive, in all honesty, and though she could see worry in the shade of his aura she decided against commenting on it.

▪︎ After all, he surely had it under control, right? Maybe he was just a bit nervous because she was cute.

◆ "Duuude... That's awesome. That explains why your aura naturally kinda looks like a blaze." She leaned in for a closer look, her eyes widened in awe. "So it kinda acts like a pick, but it its own way? Ooh, that's. I gotta hear it at some point. We should jam! Not now, but... Sometime."
Dennis
Prickles of excitement sparked through Owen's body at those last couple of pieces. Or nerves? They were the same sensation. They were likely the same emotion, when it came to him. 

"First up. You can see auras?! Second. *Yes?*" His voice was trying to catch up with his head, skipping over thoughts that might have connected or clarified his thoughts or tone. There was something sincere in his choppy speech, unpolished and almost childish. "I, um, was hesitant to ask when you posted your instruments, but.. Brain's worried about nuthin," He beamed, an amused snort escaping his (mildly scratched) nose. 

"Sometimes you just need to face-plant out of a tree to knock your head back in order, ah?" He prayed to any benevolent thing in that there forest that whatever he was spewing made a lick of sense.
Sarah
◇ And, understandably, she could see those sparks of excitement as fuzzy cartoon stars in the otherwise nervous, skittish bands she saw around his head.

◆ "Yeah, I can see auras! It kinda just... Developed a while back." Better to keep it vague than say it was from that time she tried to kill herself, she figured. "And it's, like, everyone's got a slightly different one, and the colours, dude... They change all the time. It's like everyone has a mood ring, but, y'know... Mood cloud. I like that, heh." She kept on walking, a cheeky smile on her face. Seemingly she was proud of her joke, feeble as it was. "Anyways, yeah, I guess so, huh? Kinda like a manual reset for your brain. Also, heck yeah! Music buddies. Yee!"

□ Was that something that even made sense? Or was she just delirious with loneliness and homesick thoughts that squeezed her gut into a knotted mass? Now walking backwards, she kept her gaze trained on Owen, who was still chattering about music and jamming out like a nutcracker with a loose jaw. She could understand it, but the blues and bluish-purples she saw in his aura told her that he was worried to rattles, shaking in his core despite spitting conversation like an excited child.

▪︎ So, she stopped for a moment.

◆ "Hey, you okay? You're gabbing like there's a bomb in front of you. I know the feeling, just..." She walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "In through the nose, out through the mouth. In, out. You'll be fine, dude. Am I that cute that you've got your tongue in a knot?" She giggled, gently elbowing him in the rib. "Just kidding, I'm not cute, you're probably just a worrywart like me, huh?"
Dennis
At the sudden touch on his shoulder, Owen released an.. *Undignified* Squeak. "Whhoooopsyoucanseerightthroughmecantyou," He wheezed. Making a show of straightening his back and taking a deep breath, he lost his composure on the exhale and burst into a fit of giggles. His laughter crackled like a sparkler, spitting sparks every which way from the centre. 

"Thanks," He clarified. River was swell, he decided. "Must be leftover adrenaline- usually I'm halfway up the next tree by now-"

"I suppose I am- hah, well, you can actually gauge that by looking at the colour in my cheeks, let's see.. A lighter rosy colour indicates you're cute, a deeper strawberry tone means I've got a crush, a middling-to-severe mahogany says that I need to be rushed to the hospital, have you got a paint sample? I can't quite tell," He spewed, dramatically feeling around his face. His face was, indeed, a little bit flushed, but that was for all sorts of reasons. A lopsided smile lifted his cheeks, easy and genuine.
Sarah
◆ "Oh yeah, I can see right through people! Auras are windows into the soul, I've noticed, and the colours say a lot about how people are doing." Admittedly, she didn't sound entirely certain of herself, but that was just an artifacts of how things had came around, and the path her life had taken up to this point. It was safer to sound uncertain, she'd found out, so that people didn't take her word as law. "Anyways, dude, there ya go! Now you're fine, just gotta let the nervousness vent out. I know the feeling, it'll swallow you whole otherwise."

□ Smiling, the wide arc on her petite face and its chubby cheeks was genuine, a sort of happiness she'd been learning to reclaim from all the bullies and whatnot who had tried to rip everything away from her. Stood in place, she looked on as Owen began to run the gamut of blushes, from mild to severe, and she couldn't help but laugh at the last bit. "Pfft, guess so, but I've never seen anyone with mahogany cheeks." She'd chuckle. "Maybe that's a good thing."

◆ "But, yeah, you're right, I think, although everyone has their own shade. Some people go Dakota Red, and others go Shell pink, it's all just part of the game, I guess." She shrugged, stuffing her free hand into her pocket and producing her cellphone. Clicking it on, she checked for texts, and quickly fired one back to one of her friends. "Anyways, uh... God, when's the last time I climbed a tree...? Must be years, holy. If you're still in a tree climbing mood then heck with it, I'd be down to give it a shot!"
Dennis
"Aye, really?" His eyes opened a little wider. "Ah, you seem a touch more graceful than I, maybe you'll rub off on me." Already pulling his hair back again, Owen's eyes scanned the nearby trees for one to suit them. He was a little lanky, but River.. Was not, and so flinging her legs up above her head and muscling the rest of the way up might not be so easy. Neither was falling twenty feet, but *One issue at a time*. 

"Here! This one!" Gently but insistently linking his arm through River's, Owen led them a little ways off of the path toward a familiar tree. "I've reached pretty close to the top of this one, but that was, what, a couple months ago? There's a nice spot to sit at the top," He babbled peacefully. His voice was more relaxed now that he knew where he was going, his accent putting a singsong lilt over some of the vowels. 

"I'll, ah, try to aim away from you if I slip!"
Sarah
◆ "Dude, I'm not graceful. I think we're both just... Awkward dorks. Kinda." She chuckled. "I'd say that's a good thing but, jeez, I'm on Zoloft, so maybe don't look up to me for how to deal with your nerves? I dunno."

□ Stigma be damned, she felt no shame in admitting that much of her progress towards a better, healthier mental state was gifted to her by medications. After all, the brain was just another organ, and when other organs were ill medications were normal for it, so where was the shame in admitting that she was on meds for her anxiety? Snapped out of her thoughts by Owen linking his arm around hers at the elbow, there was a mild flush, a bit of intoxicating tingles courtesy of being generally predisposed to physical touch, but she followed along regardless, boots squelching through the soggy dirt.

▪︎ Soon enough, they were at the tree in question. 

◆ "Gee, that's a tall tree... Wow." She'd softly utter. Now, how was she supposed to climb this damned tree with a somewhat restrictive coat on? Why, by taking it off! So, she unzipped her coat, slipped out of it, and only then remembered that she was in a frankly nerdy shirt. "Oops... Uh. Don't mind the shirt." She nervously looked away, though in this case away was turning her body a bit while look up the tree regardless. "So, uh... Guess I'll meet you at the top? If I even make it. Not sure if my noodle arms'll be able to pull me all the way up, heh."
Dennis
"Aw, you'll be just fine! Hopefully. Maybe a little sore in the morning. Just pay close attention to where your feet are and you're golden!" Beckoning for her to follow, Owen began to clamber up the tree. His boots were mostly good for latching onto branches, and his hands had grown plenty of healthy calluses between playing his bass and climbing all those trees. 

"And your shirt's fine, honestly, I trust a nerd any day," He added on, pivoting on his branch to face River. There was humour in his voice, more (metaphorical) sparks jumping from his tongue. 

And so they made their way up the tree, slowly but surely, as the sun inched across the sky. Owen tried not to speed upward too quickly, offering a sturdy hand when needed; occasionally spitting out pine needles and bits of bark. One more hoist, and he seated himself on a branch for a rest. 

"All good, mate?"
Sarah
◆ "Greaaat. As if I'm not sore in the morning already." She groaned, though this soon broke towards laughter. "God, I sound like a grandma! Anyhoo, yeah, let's show this tree who's boss, huh?"

□ With that bit of reassurance came a swell of ambition. Surely she could make her way up this tree, either on her own or with the help of the more experienced tree climber, but the gap between theoretically being able to do something and practically being able to was a gap that she was having trouble bridging at first. Sure, she'd climbed trees as a kid, but it had been a while, and she simply wasn't built the way she once was, so the first couple of minutes were mostly spent getting to grips wifh how tight she'd have to grip her legs against the trunk, how to inch herself up like a worm, how to claw with her hands. It was tricky, but with the help of her newfound friend she managed to get further up than she'd have ever expected to.

▪︎ One more hoist and she came to a rest one branch beneath Owen.

"I think so..." She huffed slightly, looking down at the ground. How far had she climbed? Twenty feet? Thirty? "Jeez, though, we're so high up! I think I can see the Statue of Liberty from here!"

• What a dork.
Dennis
"Hah, and I can see *Eryri* If I squint," Owen dork-ed back, noticeably more laid-back; the effort of flinging himself up another tree seemed to have used up the extra energy he was using to be a mess, leaving behind a steady, even blaze. 

"It's nice up here, especially when the wind picks up," Owen mused, grabbing a branch above him and daring to tilt his head back a little. "Sometimes I bring music, or a snack or something; I've been crashing through branches less lately, I swear!" Another amused snort. He had, truthfully, probably been falling *More* Lately, but it had stopped freaking him out quite so much, which was a little strange. He was pretty sure, at least, that he hadn't been concussed.
Sarah
◆ "Yeah, it really is nice up here... Even if the breeze feels like it's gonna knock me to the ground." Was that even possible with how tightly she was gripping the branch? "Also, dude, you should probably... I dunno, stop falling so much? That's just plain not good for ya! I'm not your mom though, so..."

□ Giggling softly, she looked back out over the horizon, finding the view from roughly twenty five feet up to be incomparable to the view on the ground. Down there all of the trees, underbrush, and foliage meant she could barely see twenty feet, yet up here she could see Isakstad, and she swore she could see Gothenburg, though whether that patch of buildings she could see on the horizon were a suburb of the big city or if it was its own city was unknown to her.

▪︎ Not like she was a Swedish native; her Norwegian wasn't even properly attuned for this place.

◆ "So, outta curiosity..." She'd break the comfortable silence after a few moments. "How'd you wind up here?"
Dennis
The story of how he wound up here still seemed surreal to Owen, and telling it was like recounting a bedtime story to one of his littler cousins after a night of popcorn and nail-painting. 

"My power manifested suddenly. We didn't think it would manifest at all, actually- we're seventh sons of seventh sons, see, and no one thought I would count in the cycle. My moms, they used the last one as a donor, so. Patrilineal line got a little murky. I passed the age that their power usually manifested at with no issue, and then.. A couple weeks after I turned sixteen." He kicked his legs idly as he spoke, his eyes in some far-off place. 

"It started as something I thought everyone could do, yknow? I could make my hands warm on command, mess with my temperature and all that. And then, I pushed it just a *Little* Further than usual, and.. This happened." Holding up his left hand, the glove of red crystal reformed over his skin. 

"It scared me shitless, not gonna lie!" A lighthearted laugh. "I, ah, wasn't expecting it. I grabbed my dog's leash, ran outside into a thunderstorm. I.. Somehow made it out to the beach, and it wouldn't go away, and then *'crack'*, this.. Impossibly loud noise, this shooting pain, and then the rest has been mostly told to me by other people." A white lie, one that wasn't entirely false. What really happened afterwards could stay lodged in his chest just a little longer. 

"I was in and out of this murky sedative sleep for a couple of days, but it felt like weeks. My body was weak, but, my shield wasn't. I think it might've been drugged up sleep paralysis- I couldn't move my body, but I was terrified, and my shiny new defence went haywire and I broke.. Many pounds' worth of hospital equipment!" A sheepish laugh, and an exaggerated cringe. "I broke my bloody bed in half, and my arm was in a *Sling*. Handprint singed into the wall, footprints melted into the floor, security footage no one can make any sense of-" He was rambling again.

"They didn't know what do do with me, so I just. I healed, I slept, I dreamt some more, and it was.. Sugges-*Told* That I be sent here. And so, here I wound up!"

That was.. The first time he'd gone into detail about it. The story sounded different out of his mouth than in his head, try as he might to add some humour into it. 

"That's my tale of woe- might we trade, if I may be so bold?"
Sarah
◇ Well, she'd expected perhaps an amusing short tale like she'd heard from June, or some sordid confession like that girl from the kitchen the other night, but this...? This was something else.

□ Hands curled around the branch upon which she sat, the tale just kept on spinning from Owen's mouth, family history and drama and sudden manifestation and medical troubles all curled up into a three minute bundle. Admittedly it was a lot more dramatic than her own rise to power, even though part of that had been rather traumatic and thus not something she liked to talk about much. Of course, though, she felt obligated to swap stories, so...

▪︎ So she cleared her throat.

◆ "Holy moly, dude, that's... Wow. Seems like your power manifesting really turned your life on your head, huh? As for me, uh..." How in-depth did she want to go? "I wasn't *Born* With powers. Both of my parents are totally normal people, and my brother is too, but me...? Let's just say I had a near death experience when I was thirteen or so and when I woke up from the coma I could see colours around people's heads." That worked well enough. "The rest came later! Like, I tried meditation with one of my friends, and I had this really weird, brief vision. Almost like a... A dream, except I was totally awake, and white as a sheet if she's to be believed. It was *Weird.*"

• "And, as for how I got here...? Picked up a rusty can of old instant coffee while I was exploring an abandoned building and the cops found me in a catatonic state. An interrogation later and I was on my way here! Really awful, honestly, but... Heck. I'll live. We'll both live, huh?"
Dennis
"Hell *Yeah* We will. I mean, you've seen me fall from this height hitting every branch on the way down and come up - tougher stuff, we are!" Owen was suddenly aware of how much detail he'd spewed. Whoops. 

"I'm.. Sorry for dumping all that on you," He tried, sheepishly looking away. "It's a funnier story in my head, I swear- maybe I spend too much time up there." He'd be kicking himself for a while. *Always realize a second too late.*

Shifting his position so that his back leaned against the trunk, he dug the heel of his hand into his forehead. The pressure felt nice. "Some of my ancestors have been clairvoyants," He mused. "It's *Hard*, isn't it; I can't relate, but I feel for you." A mushy soup of sweetness pooled in his doe eyes. Poor kid. Visions were a terrible way to lose one's mind- but, she seemed to be at ease with it. Best to hope that she was.
Sarah
◆ "No, no, it's fine! Not every story has to be funny, it just has to have some sorta nugget of truth." She smiled back, gently swaying her chicken legs in the cool Swedish breeze from twenty five feet up. "But, heck, it seems like we both had a rough go, huh?"

□ Rough go for certain. Rough enough, in fact, that she couldn't get into the true details, and thus had to slip a white lie in when she usually didn't care for lies or deceit. As Owen shifted around she kept herself rooted in place, mostly out of fear for falling out; unlike her friend, who had a shield to break his fall, she had nothing but her own tiny, bony body, and this a fall from this height would rival even the greatest skateboard accident she'd ever had, the reason there was a huge patch of gnarled scar tissue from a bit above her elbow down to the midpoint of her forearm.

▪︎ It was a badge of honour, almost, very much unlike the sort of stories she could tell about falling out of a tree.

◆ "Yeah, it's kinda hard, y'know? I'm not exactly a clairvoyant, but I do have these visions... Past, it's usually kinda clear. Twenty-twenty vision, something like that. I dunno. The future, though...?" She hummed in discontent. "You know that feeling when you see memes from another country and it's, like, you can't understand them even on a surface level because they're written in a language you don't understand? To say nothing of the cultural awareness you'd need, and the quirks in the writing? Well, future sight's like that, turned up to eleven. It's tough, but the visions are rare so I kinda just vibe in the meantime. It's just part of my life, y'know? Kinda like you and your crystal stuff."
Dennis
"It is part of my life now, isn't it," The subtly crackling boy murmured to the chill biting at his cheeks. "It makes the cold feel nicer, I have to admit. I'm not a great landing spot, but I'm a decent hand warmer, turns out!" A few strands of dark, coppery hair had worked themselves free of the already loose ponytail they were restrained in; his cheek twitched as it skirted his skin. 

A chord rumbled from his throat, an old habit. Wrapping himself in a familiar cacophony was a comfort, the vibrations soothing something antsy in him. The chord melted into the muted tune of a song stuck in his head, the little world he lived in when he was alone tugging at the edges of his mind. 

"Thanks for keeping me company up here."
Sarah
◆ "Yeah, I feel it." A bit of wistfulness laced her voice like those of the boots on her feet. "Except my powers don't make me warm. You probably give killers hugs then, huh? Like hugging a space heater!... With a blanket or two on top. Those things are *Hot.*"

□ Giggling, she leaned back ever so slightly, looking out over the horizon as much as she could see it through the tree tops. A lot of the smaller trees were now far below the pair, but some towered ever higher, even past the apex of the tree her and Owen were sitting in. With that thought in mind, an old playground tease fluttered into her her and her cheeks flushed lightly. Yes, her and this guy were sitting in a tree, but no they weren't k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

▪︎ At least, not yet. Her cheek kisses were reserved for friends she knew better and she'd never given up her first lip-to-lip kiss.

◆ "Oh, no worries! It's kinda exhilarating being up here, y'know? And peaceful. Worryingly peaceful." Her voice dropped a quarter tone. "I should probably slink back down the tree. Visions are rare, but, uh... Usually this is the kinda mindset I'd have to be in, and God knows I'd break a lot of bones if I went catatonic and fell out." She prepared herself to scale down the tree from whence she came. "But if you wanna keep climbing then go ahead! I'll be here in spirit. Yeah."
Dennis
The space heater boy blushed a little more at that- he bet it did feel nice. Giving them certainly did. 

"Ah, good plan. I'll head down too, I think. The view is lovely, but this branch is *Not*," Owen remarked, slapping his leg like he was fixing to simply hop off of a bench in the cafeteria, rather than a branch way up in the air. 

"The way down's a little tricky; rest if you need to, it's not worth the scrapes."

Though he had long proved his durability, Owen was methodical and tentative in his trip down the tree. He was more muscular than he looked; it was evident in the quiet yet practiced way he dropped himself downward that he was solid and capable, but, almost.. Just not sure of himself.
Sarah
◆ "God, right?" She bounced lightly on the branch, mostly as a joke before, unexpectedly, a loud crack could be heard. "Uh oh. IgottagetdownbeforeiiiIAAAAAH!"

□ What was that about having to get out of the tree before she fell? In a twist of events even she couldn't have foreseen, her humorous branch bounce led to the branch breaking, and with a panicked shriek she began to fall back to the ground. In that moment her mind raced into survival mode, trying her darnedest to hit as many branches on the way down to kill her momentum. Surely it'd be less damaging overall to hit herself a bunch on branches rather than fall in a clean shot all the way down, huh?

▪︎ As it'd turn out, she was right. Fifteen seconds of plinko-esque terror later she was on the ground, disoriented yet thankfully alive.

◆ "Gee..." She quietly groaned, checking for broken bones on instinct rather than active thought. Thankfully none of them seemed broken as of yet, but her body... Oh, her poor body, how battered it felt. Rather than get up she kept herself flat on the ground, mostly to let her senses rejoin her and to give Owen a chance to get down and make sure she was fine.
Dennis
"RIVER-"
Owen almost crashed downward the same way that his unfortunate companion did, processing the branch snapping a moment later than she did. His descent certainly became more rapid, seemingly less careful of scratches and impacts. His feet hardened in their boots, absorbing hit after hit, mostly successful- of course, he slipped a metre from the ground, landing flat on his ass a little ways from River with a (frankly impressive) stream of curses that sounded a little strange out of his mouth. 

"*Shit*, are you alright, butt?" The lighthearted term of endearment slipped out mid-giggle as the hilarity of both of their descents hit him. "That was spectacularly terrible- I'm not laughing at you, I swear-" More crackling laughter; it came in loose, short bursts that *Most certainly* Weren't malicious, or so he hoped. 

"Seriously, though, I have a friend who knows first aid, don't know if they're awake- or, just, ground for another minute.. Dirt's nice, dirt's forgiving," He offered, his chest shaking with more barely suppressed laughter.
Sarah
◆ "Yeah, I think I'm o- *Butt?*" Once the term sank in her cheeks dusted red, for reasons unknown to her. "Do I look like a butt to you‽"

□ Initially coming off as annoyed, this soon broke into laughter, though every note that left her throat stung her bruised ribs. She'd really taken a huge fall, huh? Or maybe not. She was still in one piece. That was good. Laying flat on her back, she looked up at the sky, the beautiful blue abyss above her peering back, the birds overhead chirping. Brought back to the land of the living by Owen continuing to talk, she looked over at him, her bangs unkempt, her face dirty and scratched, yet her eyes were alive with the joy and hubris of being a teenager.

▪︎ Maybe it wasn't so bad to be alive.

◆ "Yeah, suuure you're not laughing at me." She snickered. "I just fell out of a fricking tree for the sake of a bit! What a dumb decision. Anyways, I'll be fine, dude, nothing's broken, just... Need a few minutes to recollect my marbles. The bag ripped and now they're all over the ground, heck."

• Well, this would surely be a core memory of her time at Newton's Cradle.
Dennis
"Ah, no, no, it's a nice thing- must be more colloquial than I thought," Owen rushed to clarify. "Too Welsh for my own good, looks like!" 

Laying back and sprawling out, he dug his fingers into the earth. It was blissfully cool, snaked with countless layers of roots and rot and *Life*, all packed beneath him. Taking a deep breath, Owen took in the rich scent of the ground and tested to see if any of his ribs were cracked. They weren't! Huzzah. 

"It was fun, though, have to admit. It's just not the same when you do it alone," He joked. "Oh, shoot, really? How many are there?" Voice again turning sincere, he was already scanning the ground for anything marble-shaped.
Sarah
◆ "Yeah, I'd... I'd say so." A chuckle followed. "Like, butt in America only really gets used for cigarette butts and oddly polite catcalling, and I'm neither cigarette nor catcall material. Have you *Seen* Me? That plank thing from Ed Edd and Eddy has more curves than me, for crying out loud!"

□ Ah, nothing like a little self-depreciating humor at the expense of her own slim, boyish body. It was hers, sure, and she should have loved it more than anything else, but deep down it was quite the insecurity. Through no fault of her own she'd wound up uniquely genetically predisposed to skeletal rakishness, and even though her entire life had been spent this way she couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if she was a normal girl, not some coin toss freak with far too much testosterone in her blood and wisps of facial hair that she had to obsessively shave.

▪︎ Speaking of which, she noticed a new pimple on her cheek, and out of habit quickly busted it.

◆ "Ooh, there we go! Popping pimples is so nice, huh? Uh... Never mind. Weird point. My marbles are all still out and about." Her voice veered towards throaty effect, trailing off as she sat up. "Anyways, I guess so, but jeez... I'm gonna need a few weeks before I get back up in the trees!... And maybe an airbag suit. Do those exist?"
Dennis
"Hah, well, I'm not sure I'm equipped to comment, seeing as society would have *Me* Flat as a board," Owen tried, miming a flat plank down his front. "Honestly, though, I've never really put too much thought into it. I've gotten hit on by people who thought I was a girl, though, that was *Strange*. I must be pretty." He twirled a loose strand of wavy hair for emphasis, rolling his eyes. 

His issues with his own body were less form, and more function; the colossal blunder that had sent him to this place had been because his body had been weakened, he and his powers turned into a tiger contained by a cage crafted from toothpicks. It caught him when he needed it to now, gods only knew how many broken bones he would have by now without the, er, *New developments*, but there was always the nagging fear at the back of his mind that his body would betray him again, that the ether would spill from his fingers again and wreak havoc on everything he touched. 

But that was another train of thought, one for when he was trying to get some sleep! Marbles. Find the marbles. 

"Pfft, yeah, that was a rough landing- I swear, these trees make up new muscles to bruise," He snorted, dabbing at a scratch on his forehead to ensure that it wasn't bleeding. "My shield's good for preventing injury, but it's not as comfortable as an airbag suit, if there is such a thing." Once again untying his hair, he swiped it over his shoulders and combed his fingers through the overgrown bangs framing his face. A couple more pine needles dropped onto his shoulders. 

"Don't push it too hard, ah? You fell quite a ways, be sure to stretch plenty; my apologies for dragging you up such a monster!"
Sarah
◆ "No worries, no need to comment. Just... Airing a bit of discontent, I guess." She hummed, a verbal shrug of sorts. "I mean, that's not a bad thing though. It happens if you start toeing the gender line; I had a gay guy hit on me once – at least, I'm pretty sure he was gay – because he thought I was a guy. So that was fun."

□ Now partially upright, she began to pat herself down again, checking for any fractures or breaks she might have missed in the initial fall. Satisfied after a few moments that her body was fine she bent her knees upwards, pressing her body against them and letting our a sigh. What a day this had been! And to think she'd only been out of the prison for about half an hour before all of this happened... Wild. Looking back over at Owen, she let out a soft chuckle as he spoke, finding his somewhat disjointed speech to be charming.

▪︎ They were going to get along just fine, she could feel it.

◆ "I'd say you're right. Maybe that's just gravity talking, huh?" She exhaled through her nostrils, tapping her fingertips against her calf. "But hey, at least you've got a shield, dude. All I had to break my fall was my own body, and gosh I'm going to pay the price for this eventually! Anyhoo... It's fine! Just... Maybe I should try some smaller trees in the meantime. Less chance to fall and hurt myself, huh?"
Dennis
"Right- yeah, *Oof* You're going to have some impressive bruises tomorrow mate," Owen wheezed as he picked himself off of the ground. "Smaller tree. Definitely. At least this way, the next attempt can't possibly be *Worse*!"

Cracking his back and shaking out his hair, the green-clad boy ensured that all his bones were where they were supposed to be. Now that the adrenaline of falling out of two trees and making a new friend had started to subside, he was feeling just a little bit cold; a feeling to be savoured, yes, but also maybe he should go inside. 

After picking up River's jacket from where she had dumped it, he strode over to her to offer a hand. 

"I can walk you back if you want; I'll tell you this, you only notice how many bloody *Stairs* This place has after you've fallen out of one of these trees!"
Sarah
◆ "Guess so, huh? Gonna be looking like a fricking jawbreaker with all those bruises!" She laughed, then winced lightly. Seemed as though her ribs had taken quite a hit. "Darn... That stings..."

□ Still seated, her thoughts were still both focused on the sky and the pains that were beginning to shoot through her body now that the adrenaline had worn off. Reality hit quick, almost as quick as the branches in her ribs, stomach, and face, and now she was paying the price as she took hold of Owen's hand and pulled herself to her feet. In itself a test, she took a few steps, seemingly checking for any sprains or fractures, and when all she got in return was the squelching of damp soil beneath her bootsoles and the general aches she was feeling she knew she was fine.

▪︎ At least, for now. Come tomorrow, she'd be one sore stick.

◆ "Thanks." She slipped her jacket back on, zipping it back up if only to keep her nerdy shirt out of view. "Uh... Sure, might as well, huh? Who knows, maybe I'm hurt worse than I think and maybe you'll have to carry me back or something. Who knows? Anyways... Trust me, I already notice *All* The stairs with my stubby legs, so..."

• She softly groaned. Yawned. Groanyawned. Yeah.
Dennis
"*Pfft.* Come now, this is no place to fall."

The birds chirped a sweet song to soothe the aches in their muscles, and the lazy clouds painted across the sky in broad, loose strokes hovered in the endless blue. The duo wound their way back to the facility, sure to remain as upright as humanly possible. No concussions, and one new friend! Not bad.

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