(Untitled)

[starchilde_lost]

It wasn’t like she was avoiding the waterfall, it was right next to her hut for crying out loud. It just... made more sense, that after her run, she’d take a swim in the ocean. And today, when it felt like she’d run around the island twice, she really needed to not be any place that had any kind of emotional awkwardness attached to it. So she found

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[spirited_hero]

[starchilde_lost]

Her laughter tapered off a bit as she saw Zell approaching, but all of that was short-lived when he pulled...

"Zell, did you just pull a hot dog out of your pocket?" And the giggles took over again.

[spirited_hero]

[starchilde_lost]

Oh, man, that was just... he was a cartoon. Or at least could act like one, or do the things they did - so far as things went power-wise, it wasn't too bad. Not like conversing with dinner.

"I'm glad you can enjoy it, I don't think everyone's that lucky today."

[awomanscornd]

Madelyne hangs back for a very long time before she decides to say anything. Of all the people on the island that she thought she was familiar with, things with Rachel easily feel the most strained, and understandably so. She looks just like the woman's departed mother, that's bound to make anyone a little bit resentful. There's more to it than that, though, and sometimes it feels like she spends her days just staring blankly at the pieces of a puzzle with no idea of how the big picture is supposed to look, strangely unwilling to start piecing it together.

Even that isn't enough to keep her back, though (well, not forever, anyway), when Rachel drags herself onto the shore and just lays there before cracking up like a crazy person.

"You, uh... are you okay?"

[starchilde_lost]

Oh, man, that's the icing on the cake. Of all the people and of all the days, it's Maddie who stumbles across her. Of course it is. Rachel pulls herself together, the laughter tapering off into giggles as she slowly sits up. It doesn't hurt as much as she thinks it is, seeing Maddie, but it still takes an adjustment.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I was just... talking to a dolphin. I think. That or I'm having some kind of mental breakdown my shrink is gonna love."

[awomanscornd]

"Oh, that's..." What is that, exactly? Unexpected? Interesting? All of Madelyne's potential responses somehow sound just as ludicrous as the situation itself, so she has to settle with simply keeping from laughing.

This place, seriously. She should go, just leave Rachel to her own devices now that she's done her part and made certain that she was alright, at least in the traditional senses. And yet...

"What did it say?"

[starchilde_lost]

For a moment, Rachel feels a deep pang of regret and guilt. What did it say? is not the response a rational person would give, it's the answer someone who was used to hanging out with the X-Men would say. Because things like this? That's a good day. A bad day would be the dolphin swimming ashore and trying to kill them. But it just goes to show that Maddie's spent far too long with them. And that was the real tragedy, wasn't it? If she hadn't stuck around for so long, she wouldn't have died. She wouldn't have even gone crazy.

But that's water under the bridge for Rachel, and a river yet to cross for Maddie. Just another day for her family, right?

"I was having a leg cramp, he, or she, it was hard to tell, offered me a ride back to shore. Did you know sea turtles sound like surfers?" Does Maddie know this might be the first real conversation the two of them have had since her arrival on the island and they're discussing conversational fish?

Somehow Rachel had thought it would go differently.

[leftwithmybones]

McCoy's a little wary when people start laughing like that out of nowhere and Rachel's no exception. Especially when she's splayed out on the water the way she is, which means that he's definitely concerned. He's rushing to her side in an instant, digging his knees into the ground as he looks her over. "Rach, Rachel, you okay?" he asks, voice quickening in mild panic. "What's happening?"

[starchilde_lost]

"Woah, dial down the concern, Doc." Still she's giggling as she sits up, laying a hand on McCoy's arm. The whole thing is a little ridiculous and she's still not convinced she's having some kind of hallucination.

"I was just..." She motioned out to the water. "I was apparently talking to dolphins... and there was this sea turtle..."

[leftwithmybones]

"You looked like you were having a fit of insanity," he informs her bluntly, just so she knows how she's coming off to other people. "Hold on," he says, not sure he wants to rule out the insanity just yet. "You were talking to dolphins?"

[starchilde_lost]

"Everyone has powers today, and apparently I can breathe underwater and talk to animals."

She wonders if she can talk to all animals, or just aquatic ones, something she'll have to check out when she goes home. Might be nice to talk to her birds, or people's pets. But her luck, she's limited to splashing in the water if she wants to talk to the non-human populace.

[theboywhowaited]

Rory had gotten used to seeing a lot of strange things in the last couple of years, but it was the little things that still tripped him up. With big aliens and killer lizards, the choice was easy. Run away or fight. Someone he had started to consider a friend laughing maniacally on the shore for seemingly no good reason? Rory wasn't so sure if he should jog on or start diagnosing.

He chose somewhere in the middle, jogging over to Rachel as she was regaining her breath. "Err, you alright there, Rachel?"

[starchilde_lost]

She looked up at Rory and smiled, her laughter tapering off. Of all the powers, she had to end up with ones she could use unless she was over her head in water. Real smooth.

"I can talk to dolphins, I'm awesome." But it didn't mean she wanted to get up, the cramp in her leg hadn't entirely subsided and she didn't want to fall right back over.

[theboywhowaited]

"Err..." That wasn't a response that went along well with the whole laughing for no reason thing. Rory screwed his face up in a confused frown, not wanting to come off like he thought she was a complete mental. "How d'you do that, exactly?"

[starchilde_lost]

"I don't know." She really didn't, not today when someone was walking around with multiples of themselves, and God knew what else. It was just... one of those things, almost felt like home. Crazy, potentially violent, and frustrating.

"I just know I was out there, swimming and a dolphin offered me a lift back to chore. Underwater, because apparently that's not a problem for me, either."