Private Getting Away for a Bit

Aria deliberately let the depression topic die as she skipped over it to focus on what Jasmine had determined she wanted to do.

The sudden nervousness and deer-in-the-headlights look was more or less what she'd been expecting but Aria simply smiled and gave her hand a squeeze, keeping a loose hold of Jasmine's hand for the moment. Then she chuckled with amusement, not having expected the idea of swimming.

"Swimming it is. Actually, I know just the spot. Do me a favor- close your eyes and hold on tight. I promise nothing bad will happen."

She might not have known the intricacies of that particular river but she had been on the island enough to know a good spot or two. When Jasmine was ready she held onto her and dropped the two of them through a portal.

There was only a short drop of a foot or so into the cushioned squish of damp dirt. The soft trickling of the stream was instantly replaced by the cascading shower of water falling from a somewhat near small cliff and they were now standing at the edge of a moderate pool sized freshwater basin by a small waterfall.

"How's this?"

Aria kept Jasmine cradled close to her as they went through the portal and then for just long enough for her to catch her bearings again. Mostly following Jasmine's lead on how long it was before she was comfortable enough to let go.

Aria laughed at the sheepish look from Jasmine. "Exactly! But a little water won't hurt. Don't worry about it for now, let's just go for a dip." For her part Aria pulled off her own light jacket and put it by Jasmine's. She paused, considering whether she should strip down a little further but... yeah, she decided to hold off and not let Jasmine have to deal with that too.

She strode confidently over to Jasmine and then further into the water. "Come on, no worrying. I promise things will be 100% ok," she cajoled softly as she tried to pull Jasmine along with her.

The clothes were of course not designed for this, but with the idea of spontaneity reigning, Aria simply resolved to keep a watchful eye and keep things moving along with the flow of it all. Slowly but steadily moving deeper until she was being circled by the grinning girl.

Aria ducked down beneath the surface for a moment and then came back up, brushing her hair out of her face. Amusingly the halo over her head had only just barely broken the surface of the water, almost like a magical lily pad. Blinking the water from her eyes Aria nodded. "That's fair, I agree. But you have to admit, I was right about going with your gut right? Things are allowed to go ok, or even go well sometimes."

With that she flicked her fingers across the water, sending a small spurt of droplets towards the circling freshwater shark.

Aria laughed along with the joke and nodded. Then slowly extended her hand towards Jasmine to take if she wanted. "Come on, I think we can get a little bit closer to the waterfall if you want."

Either way she did start to make her way in that direction. Leading on with the ever-present glow of her halo. "Hey now, you're the one who decided we should take a dip. I just made it slightly easier than having to search for water. We'll call it a mutual invitation, because I probably wouldn't be doing this either if you hadn't agreed to come along."

Aria clambered up onto the rock as well, pressing close and putting her arm around Jasmine so neither would fall off accidentally. "It sure is pretty, yeah," she replied while looking over at Jasmine.

She took a few deep breaths and then closed her eyes, smiling and just enjoying the company for a few minutes before the waterlogged hair and clothes started to get to her a bit. "Good thing we already have the firewood. We're gonna need a pretty decent one after this. But no regrets. Brilliant idea of yours this was."