WHO: Jasper Atwater WHEN: Evening of December 10 WHERE: His kitchen SUMMARY: Jace finds he has more of an affinity for water than he realized. WARNINGS: Blood
"Ahh-ruff."
Jace turned his head, looking away from the vegetables he had been dutifully chopping into bite-sized pieces for the fried rice he hoped to be eating in short order, to look down at the pitifully begging face of Riptide, his dog. At the attention, the dog's ears twitched before he slumped down to the ground, face in his paws and eyes looking hopefully to his owner.
"Mate, we both know you don't like broccoli," Jace reminded the dog, as though he could understand anything he was saying.
"Ruff."
Jace let out a snort of laughter, not unlike the exhale of breath that Riptide had released to show his displeasure. Taking a piece of broccoli, he tossed it to the floor and the corgi quickly jumped to his feet and snatched it up -- only to immediately spit it back onto the floor.
"Told you." Jace turned back to chopping, then made the rookie mistake of glancing away and immediately sliced into his finger. The knife clattered to the counter as he breathed a curse, holding his hand up as blood began to quickly ooze from the wound and down his fingers. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was just relieved that he hadn't started cutting the chicken yet, while also fearing that, from the amount of blood he was looking at, he was going to need stitches, if she was home yet and would take pity on him.
Even as all of this occurred to him, though, he crossed the small kitchen and turned on the sink, leaving a smudge of red on the faucet. As soon as the water started to pour, Jace thrust his hand under the stream. He winced as the water cleared some of the blood and he saw just how deep the cut really was. Yeah, he was definitely going to need stitches. Maybe he could count on Caty feeling sorry for him and being willing to give him a ride to the ER, so he wouldn't have to struggle with his car.
Just as the thought occurred to him, though, Jace realized that the flow of blood was stemming. He slowly began to straighten up as he realized why. The cut was healing. Rapidly.
"What the -- "
He pulled his hand from the water, just as the wound closed. Flipping his hand back and forth, as though he had somehow been mistaken as to where he'd cut himself, he found nothing but the smooth skin of his hand and a faint line where the injury had been. He then glanced around, seeing the blood on the cutting board and knife, where it had dripped to the floor, and even where he had turned on the faucet. He had cut himself, but somehow he'd also healed himself.
Jace's gaze went back to the flow of water. The cut had started to heal when it touched the water, but that was impossible. Wasn't it?
All at once, flashes of what could have almost been memories raced through Jace's mind. A hurricane of ice and water spinning around him, protecting him from the weapons of ghosts. An explosion of water created by him from the middle of a volcano. Manipulating water so he could walk on it, could use it as a shield as protection. Kissing a blonde girl at the bottom of a lake. Though the flashes weren't coherent enough for Jace to get much out of them, he understood the theme. And while he hadn't fallen victim to any of the dreams that the rest of Dunhaven seemed to be battling… he had a feeling that was about to change.
Glancing once at Riptide, who was not paying him any attention as he instead sniffed around at the broccoli he'd spit out just seconds before, Jace looked at the flow of water that was still emptying into the sink. Feeling like an idiot, he extended his hand toward it and simply beckoned toward him.
Nothing happened.
Furrowing his brow, he felt an odd tug in his stomach. This wasn't really what he wanted. This was purified water that was nothing like the ocean that he'd grown up adoring, wild and impossible to control -- for most. But it was still water. And if the ocean felt like a possibility, surely this was too.
Slowly, the flow bent toward him before it suddenly was lifting from the sink, snaking through the air and around him as he beckoned it. It was beautiful. It was absurd. It was him.
Suddenly, Riptide let out a loud bar, startling Jace. His concentration broken, the water fell all around him, soaking the tile and counters of his kitchen, as well as the dog himself. It should have done the same to Jace, but it hadn't. Not a single part of him was wet.