Long Island Sound

~Esmee~

"Focus," Alvie says from her perch on a large, dark rock. Easy for her to say, since she basically gets to relax and tell me what to do.

I close my eyes, feeling the orb of water floating before me two feet above the surface of the sea that washes over my knees. Opening them, I focus a large amount of energy into the liquid, heating it rapidly. It begins to shift and bubble as it comes to a boil, starting to steam. I grimace, trying to keep it up.

I spread my arms, steam encasing my form and spreading out across the area. Alvie says something, but I don't quite hear it.

{ Nikko }
I'm hiding behind some rocks. Totally not creeping on them.

Nope.

~Esmee~

I continue for a few minutes, collecting, releasing, sustaining, and increasing the steam. My hands feel clammy, but now that the initial energy drain is done with, it's just average hydrokinesis.

"How are you doing?" Alvie calls out.

"Fine, fine, but getting all that water to turn into steam was a bi-"

"Esmee."

"-iiiiig pain in the butt," I finish, gathering up all the steam between my hands and letting it swirl about, as if trapped in a crystal orb, or whatever they call them.

"However, it's coming easier, isn't it?"

I nod, back still turned to her as I mess around with the steam some more.

"Good. I believe you're ready to use this as a more regular combat tactic, on a smaller scale. Once you improve your speed, this could be incredibly useful to you."

I let out a silent laugh through my nose. "Like for boiling people's clothes?"

"I suppose, if that's all you can think to do with it on your own," she says, probably crossing her arms and making that blank face of resignation as usual.

"Or making spaghetti," I say, looking over my shoulder with a grin.

I was right. She looked just as beyond caring as I suspected. It reminded me of how frustrated she would've gotten in the past if I made a comment about using godly powers as a stove or something.

"Yes. You could make spaghetti."

"I should have a party sometime. I cook pasta or something for everyone without any machine things. It would be awesome," I think aloud, playing with the steam absentmindedly.

"I'm sure it would be."

"You don't care," I mutter.

"That's correct."

I make a face at her and look back to the sea.

~Xavier
I wade out into the water, shirtless although my clothes wouldn't get wet anyways and wait for Lilith.

~Lilith~
I trudge through the water in my navy blue bikini, staring at the water with apprehension.

~Xavier
"Alright, are you ready?"

~Lilith~
"No, I'm rotten to the core."

"Yup," I say, looking at him and nodding.

Reina-
I look for somewhere to go, eventually deciding on the coastline. I chill out on the sand, going over a little case file/report/letter from one of the campers. It wasn't really important, but they were complaining how their cabin-mate is a crazy psychopath who collects blood.

~Esmee~

"If you want to be done now, you may. I have no other plans for this session."

I glance back at Alvie when she speaks, then convert the steam back to water, watching it drip down back to its source. "Alright. You looking to get out of here, or..."

When I look back again, Alvie's walking away, preparing her crossbow for something. It's like she's looking for something.

Frowning, I sit down in the water, then lay back, closing my eyes.

Reina-
I start taking notes on the letter, the paper pressed against my thighs as I write in blue pen. "Use Mood Matrix on Kathleen," and "Make sure the person stolen blood from is ok; Talk to the accused." I sigh, setting the paper down near my waist and look up. This girl was helpless, but as her 'defense attorney' I had no choice really.

{ Nikko }
'ABORT, HERE SHE COMES ABORT NOW!' I shout in my head as Alvie begins to near, my heart racing.

'Gods, please spare me for another day. . .' I add as I began to scramble away from my rock.

~Alvie~

"Larson."

I offer nothing in my tone.

{ Nikko }
"I don't know this Larson you are talking about," I awkwardly laugh, freezing in place as I was in mid walk.

~Alvie~

"I believe you do; unless you suggest that you do not know yourself, which would actually be a somewhat thought-provoking statement, and therefore I can conclude that it is not what you meant."

Reina sits up; Her gaze is locked on Alvie and Nikko's direction, a single eyebrow raised as she pulled herself from the sand.

{ Nikko }
"I'm going to pretend like I actually understand over 75% of that. . ."

~Alvie~

"What brings you to the Sound, Nikko?" I ask, examining the immediate area. "What were you doing back here?"

{ Nikko }
"I was chilling, you know getting some fresh air. I was also, uh, collecting the sea shell things. Uh, shard things," I turn around to face her, giving my best grin.

~Xavier
I take a deep breath and focus on my cryokinesis. After a couple of long, intense moments, the water begins to freeze into a flat oval. After a few seconds it completely solidifies, the board being more or less complete. I focus, causing the edges to fall off so that it becomes streamlined.

"What do you think?"

~Alvie~

I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. I don't call apon the Judge just yet; he'll most likely confess the truth without it.

Reina pops up from behind Alvie. "He's lying, but you probably knew that. It's just he shows an obvious emotion of surprise/fear/shock. Usually that means someone is lying. If he was being honest about the shells he wouldn't have shown any notable emotions on my Mood Matrix." She shrugs.

~Alvie~

"He would also likely have several in his current possession if that were true," I say flatly.

"That's also very true." Reina replies to Alvie, "So, does the accused have any seashells in his posession?"

{ Nikko }
'Crap.'

"Um, I was actually just curious what you two were doing, so I was watching. . ." I sigh in defeat, knowing I was screwed either way, "and no, but my shoe does," I say, taking off my shoe and dumping the sand and seashell shards out of it.

~Alvie~

I nod. "Next time, I believe it would be more practical for you to simply approach and ask."