( have you ever opened a door you knew led to perfectly hard floor and nothing else only to find yourself dropped into a lake like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon?

yeah. that was... f u n.

spluttering and shivering, Kate barely keeps her head above the surface as reflexes to tread water kick in (necessary skills, she'd scoffed as a teenager in training. when am I ever gonna be dropped in water?) and she blinks away enough water to try and look around.

the hell just happened? and who the hell is this? )

What're you— ( welp. never mind. those two words open Kate's mouth enough that the stranger can pour a foreign liquid onto her tongue and slip away before Kate gets a chance to so much as spit it out. nothing good comes from randoms dropping stuff in your mouth, right? it's probably poison, probably part of the world's most convoluted murder attempt. which, Kate isn't about to say she's made no enemies in life, but no one who would go this far to kill her. it's impractical, and more than that—

her limbs are warm again. never mind thoughts of poison, she needs to move. let's see — water, water, random dark haired woman, water, shore!

... wait what? the woman is totally unfamiliar, with long dark hair that's entirely unlike either of the officers Marc brought with him when they met, and that's another question to add to the laundry list of things she already has: why does it appear she's alone? there's no sign of Ainsworth or Marc, or either of those officers, despite the fact that they were little more than two steps behind her as she exited.

and this woman just seems to be floating in the lake, waiting, almost as though she wants Kate to move first.

dammit all. )

Oi. Let's get to the shore.

( nothing. and while Kate can keep herself above water, she's nowhere near strong enough a swimmer to drag this chick too. this is just great.

but, luckily enough, the water shifts as an ice turtle sweeps them onto its back, speeding them both to shore without any further argument and dropping them onto land with little ceremony. sorry, girls, this turtle has a lot to do today. )

The fuck is this...? ( it's mostly muttered to herself as she levels a look of frustration towards the dark haired woman who seems utterly unconcerned by the fact she's dripping wet, staring out at the lake through a thick curtain of drenched hair.

ugh. never mind them. oi, you. random person. )

You got a towel?

( Kate, at least, doesn't plan on freezing here. )

( while snowball fights, in and of themselves, are childish, Merlin does have a point about practicing magic and that's enough reason for Kate to dive into the fray.

it's practical. that's absolutely and totally the only reason she's doing this. it's far closer to a battle scenario than, say, sitting in a classroom learning to make things levitate with her kinetic magic. there's no fire in her eyes as she dives behind cover and her heart doesn't leap in victory as she sends a wave of snowballs towards movement and hears that satisfying ah! of someone smacked by them.

absolutely not.

and so, being as practical as she is being about this, the only proper thing to do when you dive behind a wall and find someone else hiding there is to levitate three snowballs beside your shoulder and glare at the (probable) stranger. )

This wall isn't big enough for the both of us.

( a practical person would, of course, never reference anything in such a situation. it's simply an apt comment to make when you find yourself here. )

( hit me with anything else! if you wanna chat in advance, you can find me at isanghae. )