brb, jumping off a cliff [liam]

Liam wasn't as much scared for himself as he was for Marisol. Is this really what clio at Redfern did for fun?

Yet, he took her hand. It was small and warm and fit perfectly in his. "I'm ready when you are," he said, staring dubiously over the edge.

Kyrie wasn't sure she was as ready for this as Liam was. She wasn't a fan of flying, though she had to do it often. Hurtling at the ground at breakneck speed was on the bottom of her "I'm ready when you are" list.

"Let's go then!" Marisol exclaimed, leaping off the edge with Liam and their daemons. As they flew downwards through the air, Marisol remembered exactly why this was so much more fun with another person than by herself.

Now, there was a trick to jumping off the Falls. You had to use your eilemaiden to slow yourself down to a safe speed at the very last moment, before letting yourself fall into the water safely. As they approached the bottom she began to swirl some air up to slow them down, until they were hovering about three feet above the water.

Then she grinned at Liam and, still holding his hand, dropped them both in.

Liam found himself wondering exactly how old Marisol was when suddenly she jumped off the edge, pulling him down with her.

The ride down was unlike anything he'd ever felt. As a Cuir he'd had his share of flying, but never before had he raced a waterfall. The spray of the water hit his face during their free fall, the wind rushing up around him. Adrenaline coursed through his body as they fell headfirst, still holding hands.

As they neared the bottom, he felt Marisol slow the air down, creating a cushion for them so they wouldn't smash into the water at full speed. She was powerful, for a clio still in school. Impressive.

They stopped three feet above the water, daemons included. Kyrie was hyperventilating, Liam was grinning. What a rush! He was about to say so when suddenly he felt the air fall out from under him and he and Marisol fell into the river without warning.

He surfaced with a sputter and a laugh.

He wiped his face off and shook his hair out of his eyes. "Wow!"

Marisol surfaced too, pushing her wet hair back and out of her face. Bar appeared shortly after, paddling around her in a circle. "See? See? What did I tell you?" she said to Liam, who was laughing. "Isn't it fun?" She leaned backwards so she was floating on her back. "Nothing like a jump of the Falls."

Maybe she would invite Carter and Skye to come to the Falls with her again, after she apologized. For the first time, she was really having fun again.

Kyrie did not share Barbaro's taste for the water, and swam to the side, muttering. She picked her way out of the river and turned her butt to the others. Humph.

Liam couldn't stop laughing. "That was--the most--incredible--thing!" he said in between bursts of laughter.

How had he never done that before? "What a rush!" His body was still coursing with adrenaline, his heart pounding. What an amazing feeling, completely letting go.

"I told you!" Marisol exclaimed, laughing too. "That's why I couldn't believe you hadn't done it before! I try to take all the new Cuirs at school to do this."

Maybe when Liam settled, he was just too busy with overloridian stuff to go out and try things like Falls jumping. That would make sense. She could skip school, but he couldn't exactly skip running an eilemaiden.

She swam over to the edge and pulled herself up so she was sitting, her feet dangling into the water. She wrang the water out of her hair and shirt. What a good day this had ended up being.

"I can't believe I've never done this before," Liam said, although he really could if he stopped to think about it. He hadn't let himself enjoy anything for as long as he could remember. Simple walks in the woods with Kyrie had been the most enjoyment he'd had in ages.

"How long have you been doing this?" he asked her, swimming up over to her and pulling himself up to sit on the rock next to her.

"Um, since I settled, almost a year ago," Marisol said thoughtfully. Wow, had it really been almost a year since she settled? That was crazy to think about. "It took me forever to convince my friends to try it."

Kyrie's ears perked.

A year? Liam wondered how old that made her. He had to be at least five or six years older than her.

Almost a year, Kyrie amended.

"Almost done with school, then?" he asked, wondering why he cared so much. Did it matter how old she was? They were just hanging out.

Kyrie felt uneasy.

"Yep! Next year," Marisol replied. "And let me tell you, I cannot wait. I hate school."

Even though she was already seventeen, Marisol didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life. She had kind of thought about going into athletics, which didn't require good grades or anything. She definitely wasn't interested in business, medicine, history, or any of that stuff.

Liam felt content with her answer, though it amused him that she was so eager to leave school.

"Is it that bad?" he asked her, swishing his feet through the water. He'd always wondered what it was like at Redfern. A boarding school away from parents sounded like a kid's dream. Apart from the homework and classes, of course.

He wondered what the teachers and staff were like. And then he wondered why the only school in all of Amelia was located on Martha's Vineyard. Why didn't each eilemaiden have their own school so that students didn't have to be boarded on an island far from home? He made a note in his mental things-to-think-about list.

"It's not actually that bad," Marisol admitted. It wasn't like they beat the kids with rulers or anything. Most of the teachers were nice and she had friends there. "The whole classroom thing just isn't for me. I'd rather be out doing stuff than sitting at a desk."

Except lately, when you'd rather lock yourself in your room, Barbaro commented. Marisol sent him a mental glare.

Liam nodded his head. He could get that. "I can respect that," he said to her. "I feel that way a lot, too." Too bad he couldn't graduate and leave his responsibilities behind.

"Have you thought about what you might want to do after that?" So many of his choices had been made for him. His career, where he would live... He didn't exactly envy those who had a wider range of free will than he did, but he did wonder what you would do with all that freedom. If he could have lived anywhere, where would he be right now?

Of course he already knew the answer. He'd be in Cuir, with Hope. Doing exactly what he was doing now, because that meant he would be with her.

Liam shoved those thoughts away. Maybe he'd go see Hope again later.

"Ummmm. I don't know," Marisol said slowly. "I like sports and stuff. I'm pretty good at them. I'd like to do something along those lines."

Her parents, though they were very supportive clio, were always trying to get her to think "more seriously" about her future plans. They didn't think being an athlete was realistic enough, and wanted Marisol to have a backup plan. Her, Skye, Carter and Jeanine used to all say that if their plans didn't work out, they would just put their money together to buy a boat and sail around Amelia. They hadn't been serious of course, but the idea of it had been amazing.

Then reality came along and crushed that dream into pieces. Even if it was just a dream, something that could never really happen, Marisol was bitter that she couldn't even have the fantasy of it anymore.

"Sports, huh?" Liam had never been very athletic, but he admired clio that were. "You're very talented with your eilemaiden, so I shouldn't be surprised," he told her. He was still impressed by her stunt with the waterfall.

"Aw, thanks," Marisol said with a small smile, looking down at her lab. It was always nice to get a compliment from a kind, handsome man.

They chatted a bit more, with Marisol feeling much, much more comfortable than she had when they first began talking. She didn't even realize how long they'd been here for, until she noticed the sun was hanging awfully low in the sky.

"Oh no! It's so late, I really need to get back to the island," she said, jumping to her feet. "It was really, really nice meeting you, Liam."

She paused for a second. Oh, just ask him!

"Do you think I can see you again sometime?"

Liam stood up when she did, stretching his back muscles. He was smiling, going to return her comment on being nice to have met each other, when she asked to see him again.

"I wouldn't mind if you have something else like this in mind," he joked, nodding at the waterfall.

I'm not sure it's such a great idea, Kyrie told him.

Liam was shocked to hear her say that. Usually she begged Liam to try to hang out with his friends, and here he was making a new one and she was being disapproving.

She's seventeen. She's in school. And I'm not sure she wants to just be friends. Kyrie did want Liam to get out more. And she'd been waiting years for him to move on from Hope. But this was not the direction she'd been hoping he'd go.

Liam brushed her off. Marisol was just a nice girl. They got along. But there was nothing between them. She was cute, yes. But Liam wasn't interested.

"On a weekend next time though, okay?" he added with a wink. Marisol probably blushed or something, and the two of them decided to meet up the weekend after. Doing something fun that Marisol "couldn't wait" to show him.

As Liam flew home, he realized he couldn't wait, either.