The Power of Three

Flutter had little to say as they dealt with the fatigue of the game, and merely waited to watch the later half. When the game was over, Flutter was cheering for the side that won and also congratulating everyone equally. Mayura giggled, leading them to take a dip, but first helping everyone find places to change. She noted Aidehn's joke, and laughed a bit. "We're not the only ones. They have swimsuits for boys too." Winking to show she was playing with the joke, she continued to help the others afterwards.


Mayura and Yorie came out changed in fairly simple suits that looked almost like normal clothes- the two swimsuits matched, being the only thing that made the twins match at all. Sayaku had joined in changing, putting on shorts instead of his current attire, but otherwise wearing little else besides the blue cloth on his legs. His sister merely waited for those changing, not bothering to change herself, and joined them when going to the water.


Mayura jumped into the water with a splash, her sister sighing from the rambunctious and rowdy action. Flutter sat at the edge, taking her socks off to let her feet get wet, but otherwise stayed away from it. Seeing his family was alright so far, Sayaku turned to the triplets curiously. "A dip is good after a long day, huh?"
 
The three nodded in unison. Abbigail wore her bathing suit. It was a two piece purple and silver piece. The two boys wore identical swim trunks that were mostly silver. Even in bathing suits they matched somehow. They each made their way into the water jumping in. Adrian walked in instead of jump. The heat of the day and game melted off of them as they swam around. Abbigail's hair floated around her as she floated as well her eyes narrowed to the bright sunlight. Aidehn had been sly enough to bring a water gun and jumped out from beneath the surface squirting the water towards the girls who all squealed with laughter.

Adrian swam closer to Flutter smiling at her feet in the water. "Is it refreshing?" she nodded. He smiled when he saw the ducks walking around startling at the splashes from those playing. "Well Aidehn they've come for you." Aidehn filled his water gun and pointed. "I'm not going down without a fight." they all laughed and Abbigail who had been floating about jumped up knocking her brother down into the water. "A fight you'll get." she laughed.
 
Flutter smiled when he asked if she found the water refreshing. "I don't like water much- I'm too afraid to get in, but...getting wet is still refreshing in bits. And this water isn't too cold, so it's nice." She smiled, until she noticed the ducks having made their way towards Aidehn. It was entertaining that he was picking a fight with the ducks- even more so that the ducks seemed quite entertained by him as well. Trying to hold back a laugh, she failed and began to chuckle along with the rest.

Mayura smiled nad joined Abbigail in playing with Aidehn, noting, "Let me join in on this. Seems like fun!" She turned to her sister, who shook her head and stayed near their older cousin. Sayaku found the general scene too enjoyable to take part, finding it took too much energy just laughing and trying to hold back from doing so further. "Be careful they don't peck too much!"

"I don't know many diseases that ducks carry...But I'm fairly certain they're safe." Flutter mused to her brother.

"Yeah, but it hurts to get pecked. I used to get pecked by chickens a lot- though not as much as mom."

"Something about animals and our family..." She mused, laughing. "Rams hated you, chickens hated mom, and cats really don't seem to like me despite liking them." She turned to Adrian. "I'm envious of Aidehn who's drawn the ducks to him so well."
 
Adrian smiled. "He's seems to get along with anything that has a heart beat truly." he laughed. "Except that mother duck." Abbigail splashed at her brother when he aimed at the ducks and squirted near them but not at them. The ducks seemed interested in the stream of water falling near them going towards the splash and dipping their heads underneath to find out the source. Mayura and Abbie continued to splash at Aidehn. He ducked underneath the surface and swam between them past towards the other side where Sayaku and Yorie were in the water. Abbigail and Mayura laughed swimming towards the group.

"No... you can't splash me with them here too... they're not part of this spare the innocent?" he plead behind his now empty water gun. When he went to refill it Abbie and Mayura looked at each other in a silent contract to attack full force. Abbigail looked over at Sayaku and smiled. "Sorry." she said before her and Mayura splashed at the three without stopping. Adrian laughed. "I'm sure they wouldn't come this way... if they even seem to I'll swim away." she smiled at him and his act of chivalry
 
"You might be able to swim away, but I can't swim. On the other hand...I can get out easily enough to flee as long as I notice soon enough." Flutter smiled, his attempt at chivalry still entertaining to her in some fashion. She watched the little war of sorts that was going on, noting as well, "Their use of silent tactical conversation is very resourceful for them. Their ability to synchronize their thoughts is amazing."


Sayaku wasn't overly troubled by being splashed, and instead decided to join in, but splashing the opposing party of his fiesty cousin and Abbigail. Yorie squealed, startled, and ducked into the water momentarily before coming up enough to breath through her nose. "That startled me..." She chimed, vocal for once compared to the usual. Her sister and cousins were all surprised apparently, even Flutter despite her lack of background with the girl.


"It's hard to get a reaction out of Yorie..." Mayura mused, then smiled and splashed at her sister again. The girl whined and complained, but both seemed to laugh. Sayaku chuckled as well.


"Looks like you lost your war partner, Abbigail."
 
Abbie smiled. "This battle has been lost, but the war is not over." she smiled splashing him again. Meanwhile Aidehn filled his gun and pointed at Abbie. "That was completely correct." Abbie gave him a warning smirk and put one hand beneath the surface. She used her power to considerably cool the water around her brother. He jumped at the feel falling back into the water. No fair! he said to his sister telepathically. She snickered splashing him with water when he came back to the surface.
 
Sayaku smiled simply, unsure of why Aidehn had fallen backwards but simply finding it entertaining. His sister, however, found it more curious. As she watched the group, Flutter turned to look at Adrian curiously. "Does he normally get startled suddenly like that at home? Is he secretly afraid of water too or something?" She was confused to say the least, and that made her all the more curious- however, she seemed to drop the subject soon after. "It's nice that everyone seems like they're having fun."

As the girl watched on, Mayura got slightly interested when Aidehn fell back, holding a hand out when he came back to the surface. Smiling, she giggled a bit. "That's one way to get acquainted with an unfamiliar body of water. But a better one is to swim with a buddy, ya know?"

"I'm sure that's what his plan was," Sayaku noted with a laugh. He smiled to his dark haired cousin and then turned to Abbie. Was there more to their battle plan, or was Mayura just taking it to the next level on her own? ​Likely the later...
 
Adrian noticed it as well but he knew very well why Aidehn had suddenly fell back. Whenever one of the three siblings used their power it felt as if a heat was rising within them. Deep in their chest and core they can feel the heat rise and there have been times before when the power using had been so great that it had been near unbearable. He shook his head lightly. "No... sometimes my siblings are just clumsy."

Abbigail smiled innocently at Sayaku. Aidehn took Mayura's offered hand to stand once again. He laughed running his hand along the front of his hair to wipe at the stream falling down his face. "Buddy system sounds good especially against cheating sisters." Abbie laughed stepping a behind Sayaku. Aidehn reloaded his water gun laughing. "It's not nice to use people as shields you know?"
 
"I know how that feels. I'm rather clumsy myself." Flutter laughed a bit, trying to keep herself from remembering how friendly she seemed to be with the ground- but failing utterly. "When I was younger, my brother used to say the ground had a crush on me and that's why I kept falling- it wanted to hug me." She giggled at the memory, before turning to look at Aidehn as he was helped by Mayura. "A buddy system...By the looks of it, you'd be Yorie's buddy, huh? Sounds fun."

Sayaku overheard his sister and chimed to her, "You're his buddy. That's why he's staying by you and not Yorie. I'll take Yorie and Abbigail since there's an odd number of people." He then turned to Aidehn with a grin, watching as his cousin hugged the other boy's arm, slightly shielding herself similarly. "I don't mind being a shield. Unlike my sister, I rather like water- so you can hit me and I'll just be happy."

"You're like a fish, Saya." Mayura squealed, giggling with entertainment. "But I can swim faster than a guppy like you."

"That a challenge?"
 
Abbigail laughed, "guppy." she said poking Sayaku. While laughing Aidehn took his shot at her. She squealed swimming behind Sayaku who received the majority of the burst of water from the water gun. Adrian smiled at his siblings enjoying themselves. "I think it's time for a chicken fight." Aidehn said with a grin. "Chicken fight?" Aidehn heard Flutter's murmur. He smiled, "It's when two, two player teams battle. One on the shoulders of the other the carriers can't touch but the fighters have to knock the opponent of the shoulders of their carrier." "Sounds dangerous." he smiled. "Not if they stay in shoulder deep water and away from the edges it's quite fun actually."

Abbigail smiled. "I say we battle this out then." Aidehn grinned. "Yorie do you want to play?" Abbie asked the shy girl who merely shook her head swimming towards Adrian and Flutter. "All right then, Us two vs. you two." Aidehn said lowering himself so Abbigail could mount his shoulders. "Let's do this!" Aidehn roared laughing as Mayura mounted Saya's shoulders for the game.
 
Mayura giggled as she got atop her cousin's broad back to get on his shoulders properly. She'd only had a chicken fight as a small child with him, another cousin and her sister- but that had been a long time ago, and since then Yorie had become much more subdued with games such as this. "Let's do it, Saya! We can win for sure!"

"You shouldn't assume things, Mayura. They're still fairly strong opponents. This may be home turf, but that isn't the only issue in this fight." He had a smirk on his face as he grinned, Mayura looking down and giggling at him.

"Oooh! Big bro's getting pumped, huh? This'll be super fun!" She smiled to Aidehn and Abbigail. "Don't go easy on us and give us your best shot, okay? It's more fun that way!"

While the chicken fight started, Yorie stayed near Adrian and Flutter quietly. She looked at her cousin curiously, tugging on her arm to get her attention before whispering a question about Adrian in her ear, causing her to flush. "Ah, um, that, uh..." She was rather flabberghast by the question, which caused Yorie to smile, giggling, and move on to Adrian, whispering the same question to him. Are you Flutter's boyfriend?

Flutter, still unsettled by her cousin's question, watched as the chicken fight started without saying a word, though still worried it was dangerous. However, her heartbeat was much more dangerous in her mind, and her mind itself was troublesome as it spun at ninety miles and hour trying to contemplate an answer to an illogical question she didn't understand.
 
Adrian smiled at Yorie and watched as Flutter looked a bit confused with it all. He whispered back at Yorie, "I would like to be, but she doesn't really see the relationship eye to eye like most do and I'm perfectly okay with that. I consider myself the guy that likes your cousin and enjoys spending time with her." Yorie giggled again and swam once again closer to Flutter.

"Well then I won't go easy on you." Abbie laughed as they each bobbed atop their teammates trying to gain a good sense of balance before attacking the other. Aidehn and Sayaku both held onto their fighter's legs as best as they could as the girls laughed and attacked each other. It went on for a good five minutes before Abbie lunged trying to get Mayura to fall. She quickly averted the movement and used the path Abbie had already forged to bring her down pushing after her arm was out of reach sending the siblings toppling over. They rose from the water laughing. "nice one!" Abbie laughed congratulating Mayura who lifted her arms in a sign of winning.

"You guys sure you don't want to go against the winners?" Aidehn asked towards Adrian and Yorie who both shook their heads. "All right then, round two." he said letting Abbie climb on once again. This time she was going to try harder to knock Maya off of Sayaku's shoulders.
 
Sayaku laughed as Mayura managed to use a sly maneuver on Abbigail. It'd been a long time since he'd played this time of game with her, but they'd always been a good team. As Mayura made her victory move, Sayaku was merely grinning like the coy young man he tended to be. "Mayu's always been sly. Better to keep an eye on 'er."


"Don't give away our secrets to the enemy, Saya!" The girl pouted, but laughed soon afterwards. From afar, Flutter was giggling at their reactions a bit as well, quite to her own surprise. Mayura, noticing this, giggled and turned to Abbie and Aidehn with a grin. "Well, can't leave the spectators bored. Let's put on a good show!" She grinned happily, joinin gin on the second round once more.


Flutter, surprised by Mayura's notation, smiled lightly and turned to Yorie and Adrian. "I don't fully understand this game, but it's strangely entertaining to watch...Though it does seem to require some good strategy. Big brother still lacks that...But it seems like everyone's having fun." She giggled a bit, smiling more easily. Yorie nodded and looked at Adrian too. She felt a bit bad for him, since it was clear even to her that Flutter was dense with relationships, but admired him because he was so relaxed about his feelings comparatively.


"If you weren't afraid of water, you'd enjoy the game too, huh, big sis?" Yorie turned to Flutter curiously, who merely nodded with a giggle.


"I'm weak too, so I wouldn't fare well, but...It'd be interesting, I think, yep."
 
The second round continued for longer than the first ending in both girls falling off the shoulders. The laughter bubbled through the compound. The rounds continued with Mayura having the upper hand at most and when Abbigail was finally able to knock her down Abbie laughed triumphantly. "About time!" Aidehn declared tossing his sister back into the water. She laughed coming back out to the surface. "You're telling me! I'm the one getting the blows!" she giggled figuritively speaking.

Adrian looked over at Flutter sitting on the edge smiling over at the group of their friends. "Why are you afraid of the water?" he asked wondering the cause of her fear. He had been afraid when young after almost drowning in a pond. Abbie had used her power to displace the water bringing him back up to the surface.
 
"When I was little, I fell into a fountain during winter. It was the first time I was allowed out of my room since being admitted to the hospital, and the only water I was used to was the bath." She admitted in a small voice, curling up. "I nearly froze into an ice cube, so to speak. The water was just near freezing, but not quite enough to turn to ice. Unfortunately, the way my blood circulates, I got cold a lot faster than normal. I tend to have naturally low temperature to begin with- that's strange considering my high blood pressure, right? But...Because it was so cold...I get too nervous to get into water too deep now, because I don't want to have that overwhelming cold again. They spent hours trying to warm me up enough to calm my vitals back to normal."

Yorie gave her cousin a curious glance. She'd heard the story from her uncle, but didn't know how it had felt to Flutter at that time. This made her frown and smile almost at the same time, until she noticed a triumphant cheer. Turning to look at the game, she giggled a bit, watching her sister laughing in the water after toppling in, but it also made her think of her cousin's story.

Mayura, meanwhile, giggled ferociously. She'd finally lost. "This is the first time I've properly lost this game. You're a good opponent!" She giggled more as she stood up, shaking her hair out much like a dog, and tugging on her cousin's arm. "These guys are fun, bring them back every time from now on, Saya!"

"Hey, hey, don't put pressure on them or you'll scare them away, Mayura."
 
Abbigail smiled though she felt a pang of guilt run through her. She enjoyed spending time with their friends and their family as well but she was fearful of how they would hurt them once they had to dissapear. Soon once they were going to depart back to town, they would have to make an excuse that their parents were coming for them before their departure. They would go to wait outside the compound and once alone they would drift out into the woods in search of the first rendevouz point where they would be picked up by the underground alliance. She would hope that it would not take more than a weeks time out in the woods. Sure they were trained but to be ushered into it so soon... she was afraid.

The afternoon was winding down to early evening and the soft breezes of night were now beginning to blow. Abbie shivered lightly and smiled at her brother and friends. "I'm gonna go dry off." she mused getting out and wrapping herself in a towel walking over towards Flutter, plopping down on the earth beside her. "How are you doing?" she offered her a smile. Flutter smiled at her softly a reassurance that she had enjoyed her time out of the water as much as they had within the water. "I guess I should get out too." Adrian smiled pulling himself out of the water and drying off sitting beside Flutter. He smiled at her quickly apologizing when a few drops of water fell from his hair.