The Final Test discussion
Outside of Town.
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Hidden Waterfall
Raylin smirked at Katherine's reaction. "Welcome to Paradise." He said, walking around her and going to the middle of the bridge."
"Does anyone even know about this place?" Katherine shouted over the roar of the waterfall, her voice straining. The wind blew wildly, teasing Raylin with her dress, riding up her legs to where she wore her swimsuit.
Raylin shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't build this bridge, but it's obviously old. Probably from before Crown, by how it looked before I fixed it up." He yelled back. He tied his towel onto the railing and glanced at her, before climbing onto it. "See you at the bottom!" He teased, before standing and diving off into the pool below.
"Raylin!" Katherine rushed to the side, her hands gripping the rail tight as she watched his lean figure disappear into the roaring brush of the waterfall. Her eyes strained to see past the mist to him, to make sure he was ok... and if it was truly safe to jump of course.
It seemed like an eternity passed as she waited for a sign of him. The water roared behind her, below her, and far beyond what the mist covered. He could have been crushed by rocks, or drown by a current. The fall itself could have killed him if he didn't land right.
"Raylin!" Katherine was stupid enough to jump after him but she looked around wildly for someway to get down to the base. She found herself soon refocusing to look back down at the roaring base to try once again to see a flash of dark hair, something.
A bob of a head surfaced, followed by the limp body of a male far below. He was just floating there. Not moving except for where the waves pushed him.
((Haha, the background music is "What if the storm ends?" by snow patrol. That's what i just imagined as if it was movie))"Raylin!" Katherine didn't know what possessed her, what made her so reckless as she took the dress off, ripping it over her head so she wouldn't be caught by anything as she dived into the rushing water, her legs stinging from healing from the the thorns. Her eyes searched in the water, snapping open as she was rolled and tumbled, pushed by the hard water currents. Katherine barely got a breath before being pushed down under again, stroking to Raylin's body.
A hand grabbed her and hauled her to the surface, allowing air to flood into her lungs again. The hand turned into an arm around her chest, keeping her above water as she was dragged to the shore. "I thought that might get you down here." Raylin teased from above her. "I also thought that you said that you could swim..."
Soon they were right near the shallow, Katherine in his arms. "You bastard!" Katherine cursed at him. He had scared her! She had shown a weakness of fear for him and she regretted it. "Let go of me," she whispered, her eyes glaring at him.
Raylin's eyes scanned her body, and he smirked. "Good to know you're okay." He told her, laying her on a warm rock a foot bigger than her body and flat like a table. "Just relax, okay? Neither of us is dead, and look..." He pointed to the bridge far above them. "You just jumped from there without a scratch. "He told her, a smile in his eyes. She was stronger in his eyes, not weaker. "I don't know why you're so worked up. I was just watching the bottom of the pool while I waited for you to come down." Then he thought about it and laughed. "I bet I looked dead from way up there, huh?" He chuckled, realizing that she'd risked her life thinking that he had died in the jump. That just made her stronger - thinking that she could survive something that he didn't.
Katherine just stared up into his eyes as the heated rock met her back, warming her skin instantly. It felt nice, like sand. "You looked like you were a corpse yes," she muttered, gritting her teeth. The fact that he had made her inside to jump off that scared her and she started to sit up, wanting to swim away, put some distance between them.
"I didn't think about that. I thought that you were just going to jump in after me." Raylin admitted honestly, brushing wet strand of hair away from her face. "Are you okay?"((Gtg. Gnight.))
Katherine couldn't help but bat his hand away from her face, "I'm fine," she snipped as she rolled off the rock and back into the water, disappearing under it. ((kk!))
Katherine snapped open her eyes in the water, surprised not see any living thing at all, no fish, no algae, just clear fresh water, crisp on her skin.
Raylin sighed and dived in after her, swimming to the bottom and pulling on sharp cut rocks. One came loose in his hand and he examined it, then swam back to the surface to watch it. He smiled as he turned it over in his hand.
Katherine's eyes followed him in the clear water, watching suspiciously as he pulled one of the dangers below her, the reason she was hovering. She followed him up, the sunlight reflecting what seemed like golden brown in her hair. Her eyes fastened on the rock captiously.
Raylin looked over at her. "Recognize it?" He asked, the stone looking blacker than the grim reaper's robes.
Katherine shook her head silently, finding no familiar prospects in it. She cautiously neared, inclining her head, trying to see if there was something she missed.
"Maybe this will help." He suggested, cupping his hands around the stone. "Look now." He said, holding his hands out to her to peek inside.
Katherine's eyes lit as she examined the inside, "Wow," she was breathless at the sight.
The stone glowed bright, illuminating her face. The same stones decorated her staircase.
"Is this were you got them?" Katherine could only imagine how difficult it would be to cut the gems perfect from the outer shell. Seeing it in it's natural form was even more beautiful, the sun making colors flicker inside like it was a many gems combined into one.
Raylin nodded. "I didn't know that they lit up until I came here at night once. The entire pool lights up, and the things that live in this water come out in their light. The fish glow, too. And the plants unfurl, like they prefer moonlight to sunlight. It's a magnificent sight.
Katherine was close enough now that he could touch her as she peered into the stone then to the plants to her left, seeing them shaded and budded up. "Then I will have to see it I suppose." But night was far away as she well knew.
Raylin smiled at her. "Are you still mad at me?" He asked, letting the stone drop to the bottom of the pool again.
Katherine purposely didn't answer. Let him assume as he wished, she wasn't going to speak to him for scaring her like that. Instead, she started to go under the water, to see if she can get the stone before having to talk or it hitting the bottom of the river again.
Raylin sighed. "She's still mad at me." He murmured. Fine, if she was going to ignore him, then he was going to make her talk to him - it didn't matter what it was about. He followed her under and reached out, gently undoing the ties to the top of her suit. When he was finished, he smirked and just watched from above her, still submerged so he could see clearly.
Katherine stroked up just to feel something coming undone. Ian had pulled this trick many of times on her, not for the view of course, but to annoy her. She gasped, holding her arms across her chest and turned by her kicks, furiously looking at Raylin as she broke through the water, coughing a bit to get the water she inhaled a bit underneath.Katherine tied the back of her swimsuit, tighter then usual, still glaring. She wasn't going to speak a word, let her eyes do it for her.
Raylin chuckled and resurfaced. "Come on, you've got to say something." He told her, his eyes full of happiness and the acceptance of a challenge.
Katherine's eyes flashed in the sun at him, shaking her head with narrowed eyes as she stroked to the rock and climbed up onto it, feeling the heat on her back once again, deliberately not looking at Raylin.
Raylin waded out and sat next to her. "Kat, talk to me. Please." He begged, trying to catch her eyes, or just to make her say something to him. "I don't even know why you're mad at me. You were fine when we were looking at the gems..."
In a instant, Katherine had swung around him, holding him in a death hold against the rock, behind him as her legs wrapped around his torso. Her smug voice whispered in his ear, "Alright, I'm talking." She was acting of course, waiting for Raylin to near her.
Raylin smirked. He rolled off of the rock, crushing her with his own weight against the sand. He rolled over and pinned her arms to her chest. "Good. Now tell me why you're mad."
Katherine kept her lips shut, actually disobeying his order. She didn't want him to know two things. That she was upset with his trickery and that she wouldn't be able to discuss the rebellion with Jacob. That she had risked leaving a note at the lake.
"Katherine, tell me what's wrong." Raylin said, the happiness leaving his eyes and being replaced with worry and anger.
Katherine continued to keep quiet, her eyes warning not to ask again. It was clear she wasn't about to answer him. "A girl has her mood swings," she whispered, an excuse. "Unpin me Raylin." If he didn't, she wouldn't hesitate to get him off.
((Have you read The Yellow Wallpaper?))Raylin glared at her, and suddenly there was a pain in her side. He'd never go anywhere without a way to protect himself - or fight. The tip of his blade was slowly digging into her side, his movement so fast that she couldn't stop him. "You're lying. I get to kill you if you don't tell me what's going on right now." He threatened, knowing that there was no way she'd be able to react without him first cutting her open so bad that she'd suffer from blood loss. There was a deadliness in his eyes that proved he wasn't bluffing, either. He was bred to be a killer, and that meant disregarding bonds he had in order to prevail towards one goal.
((I have not, should I?))Katherine hissed inwardly in small pain as she felt the dagger's tip into her bare side, the metal surpassingly cold. Katherine glared into Raylin's eyes. She hated how she was in this position for if she calculated right, she couldn't move without being injured. She was pinned and useless and that only fueled the rage in her eyes. Raylin would kill her, she knew that the day she met him in that sword arena.
So she decided to tell her first reason. "I hate being tricked, it's what got me abandoned in the first place. It's the fact I fell for such a childish scene. I'm angered at myself." Her voice was cold, toneless as she winced at the dagger once again.
((Nah. I'm just trying to write an essay about it, and my brain is killing me. :\))"I didn't trick you. I didn't even try to trick you. You simply misunderstood. No one did anything to make you believe something different." Raylin twisted the knife, knowing that the full truth wasn't out. "Now what else?"
((If you need any advice or something, let me know :) ))Katherine's eyes flared. Her hands opened and pushed against his chest, finding that her wrist strength was fairly weak for it strained to get him off of her. A small gasp of pain escaped her shimmering wet lips as Raylin twisted the knife. A string of curses escaped her mouth in a low mutter. Then louder and coherent, she snapped. "There's nothing else."
Raylin searched her eyes. Why won't you just tell me? He wanted to growl. There was still defiance in her eyes. She still had something else hidden. He nicked her side as he stood up, but it was nothing more than a paper cut. He put his knife back into a sheath hidden in a pocket. He sat down on the rock and ran his hands through his wet hair. His entire posture was that of defeat. Yes, he'd gotten her to talk, yes, she'd told him why she was mad, but he'd almost killed her. He'd allowed his father to seep into his mind and change his thoughts. "I can get you a bandage if you need one." He told her, his words hanging in the air like his head hung in his hands.
Katherine couldn't help the way she felt. She first started to feel sympathy as she would any but then anger rose. Good, that's what he gets for trying to use our little bet. Katherine didn't speak for a while as she laid in the sun. She never got burned, only tanned, something that was injected into her system by Crown. They wanted them to survive anywhere so in their ancestors, decided to make small changes. "Leave it, I'm not dying." Her voice was toneless. It was good this happened. It was a wake up call to the dangerous side of Raylin.
Raylin shook his head, then sighed and dove into the pool with ease. He needed to get her out of his head. He needed to get everything out of his head. He found a small opening and went inside, the cavern a small pocket of air.
Katherine Frey cursed under her breath as she started to scale the side of the mountain, risking, dangerous in every sensible way. She worked on her breathing. It was easy to spot her from the greenery, her hair shimmering in the sunlight.
((Should I bring in my other character again?))
((nevermind. I have to get to sleep. How late are you going to be up?))
A waterfall through the woods that hasn't been found by trainers, masters, or most contestants. Anyone who stumbles upon it would notice the abnormally warm water and the sense of peace it emits.