A Friendly Icebreaker

It was a Monday evening, several hours past when school was dismissed. The homework load was light enough for the rest of the day to be spent exploring more of the campus. The amount of homework assigned to them that day was the equivalent to that of a kindergartners’. Likely just to give them time to adjust regular life at Starlight Academy and prevent them from running away again. This left them with more than enough time to adjust, but also enough stick their nose in places where it probably shouldn't be. For the past week they explored different parts of the campus each day with all the free time that they had. Today, they were visiting a lake nearby the campus.

Bored of just people-watching, Klef approached the edge of the lake and studied the transparent icy film that lied on top of the water. Through the ice, they could several fish dash past, reflecting the sunlight like a coins in a fountain. Their mouth gaped open. “ H-how do you guys move? How are you even alive alive? Isn’t it frozen under there?” They asked to the school of fish, despite knowing that even if they could talk, Klef would still be unable to hear it through the thick ice.
Maybe it wasn’t actually that cold, maybe the fish weren't defying the laws of nature, but one thing was for sure, Klef lacked a firm grasp on how ice worked. “ Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out… “ They bent down pressed both of their hands against the ice.

Only three seconds later, Klef learned exactly why the fish survived what they had perceived to be harsh condition. Perhaps the ice was thinner and more fragile than expected or Klef wasn't as light as they thought, either way, the ice cracked. The ice was harder than they had expected before it started to cave in and fill the shallow area with chilly water. It took a few moments before their survival instincts kicked in, they quickly made it to land before the ice gave in.

Klef brushed off almost falling completely into the lake like it was no big deal. What bothered them was the empty feeling in their pockets. Part of them wanted to say good riddance to all the crap they had stashed inside, until they realized a very important relic to them would be sleeping with the fishes.

“ Hey! Can someone help me? I dropped something in the lake! “ Klef shouted loudly with their hands cupped over the sides of their mouth. As usual when they lost something important, both of their eyes projected a blue light onto the cracked ice in hopes of finding their pocket knife. Surely someone could be of use, whether they had extremely long arms or psychic. After all, Starlight Academy was a school for the gifted.

@Saberteck

A bewildered expression appeared on their face the moment they glanced down. Unless they were jumping, sneakers didn’t dangle in the chilly air. Surely, this had to be someone else’s doing, unless they suddenly could fly. That or they had died of hypothermia from falling into the icy lake and were ascending into some sort of afterlife. Either way, they wanted to be put down immediately, they were not prepared for death at fourteen years old nor did they enjoy not having total control of where their body went. Lucky for them, Klef was only (lifted up) for a few seconds at the very longest. The voice sounded familiar, but they were more concerned about retrieving their pocket knife than arguing with a stranger over their wellbeing.

They sprinted back towards the frozen over lake towards him, the closer they got the more familiar his face appeared. He looked like someone that they had already met before at the Pirates Feast. Telekinetic powers, blond spiky hair, a juice box, it all checked out to be no one other than Jared, the vampire who they briefly talked to while getting ‘drunk’ off apple juice.

“ You’re name’s Jared, isn't it? Well, something kind of important slipped out of my pocket when I fell through there.” They answered, gesturing to cracked ice. “ The lake’s super deep and murky, so I'm guessing you’ll need these bad boys to find it.” Klef told him, leaning towards the edge of the lake, slightly more careful than the last time.

“ Oh! It would probably help to tell you what I lost, well, I don't think the school allows it, but I brought a pocket knife and it’s going to be sleeping with the fishes if we don’t do something about it soon.” Their hand pointed to a small crevice where the water was exposed as their eyes glows. “ It’s riiiiiiiiiiight there!”

@Jared Hollander

Klef peered down onto the lake, the vague shapes started to disappear into an icy blue abyss as the glowing in their eyes faded. The fact that the lake felt miles deep was unsettling to Klef. It was hard to see that far down. They took the pocket knife from Jared before proceeding to slowly inch further away from the lake. “ Pfffffft…. I wouldn’t have drowned in there! I would’ve been just fine in that water!” Klef stated defensively, vastly overestimating their nonexistent swimming abilities. “ But… Thanks!”

Hearing him say how the school had bigger things to worry about than a pocket knife was both a relief and an insult. On one hand their prized possession wouldn’t get them in trouble with the teachers, but it also could mean that they were a weakling compared to other students. “ That’s true I guess… I mean, you wouldn’t understand, can't you like suck blood and float around? But my pocket knife the only thing I have against these people, what else is going to keep me from being charred or mauled? … Knowing the exact location of my grandmother’s house?” Klef joked, pointing at their eyes.

@Saberteck @JaredHollander