After School Swim!

"Well, you can dislike it all you want. If there's anything I've learned from being here, it's that you can't call shots on whether you're pretty or not." A chuckle escaped him as he remembered all the girls he'd met wanting to just touch his hair. He thought it strange. Sure, it gave him a celebrity-like infamy back home, but it was completely different here.

Ciel looked down at the finger on his nose then, and a cheeky grin graced him. "Well, Miss Ethril," he crooned rather slyly (something he never did intentionally, such as rambling on in French when perturbed), "it is true. You're touch is one to be treasured."

He pulled her back into his hug then, tighter than the soothing one from before. Bathing suits be damned, she was his friend, and he enjoyed her far too much for formalities to interfere.

"Yeah I've noticed that too..." Ethril commented in a wry tone. "Supposedly I'm 'cool' because I know how to fly." She shrugged it off and grinned. She'd also learned that the people here made up their own opinions rather quickly and it was honestly nearly impossible to change them. That's how she and Feli had become friends after all. Feli had said her hair looked like honey, which Ethril couldn't ignore because of her love for honey.

"Then treasure away! For not many can claim to have been touched by Ethereal!" She giggled and grinned slyly. If someone were to ask her to describe Ciel in a few words, she have to say he was a good and wonderful person to have as a friend. He reminded her a little of Pyronim from back home, except Ciel wasn't bugging her all the time.

Ethril returned his hug and nuzzled his shoulder unconsciously. She really did miss having people to hug and to be with. It had been far too long since she'd allowed herself to follow her instincts and now that she had Ciel as her friend, she wasn't going to give him up. When a dragon claims a person as a dear friend, never will you have someone more loyal then that dragon.

"My dear, Miss Ethril," Ciel giggled, a rosy tinge hitting him then. His giggle was so feminine compared for a full on laugh or scoff to the point of embarrassment. "Well, ma'am it would seem that our pool experience has not actually been very pool-ish, no?"

He patted her back where his hand had been resting and broke their embrace. "I dare say, we should do some laps together or at least play a game."

He raised his finger before continuing. "A favorite of mine (and his creator *cough*) has always been the question game. It's exactly as it sounds, you just ask each other questions, trying to get more personal each time. Whoever refuses first loses. A crooked smile planted itself on his face once more as he finished his explanation. ((I may be headed out after I do one more )

"Oh I don't know about that, I did do some swimming!" Ethril grinned and was a little reluctant to end their hug. It had felt so good and Ethril wondered if Ciel would be adverse to her curling around him while they relaxed or something. Dragons love curling around things and people that they care about. Ethril fought back the blush that had been threatening her cheeks and pushed the thought into the back of her mind. Maybe she'd ask later.

"Well why don't we play the game while swimming? Two birds with one stone so to speak?" Ethril rather enjoyed swimming after all and why waste the new bathing suit that Fascino had gotten her? Ethril turned and sauntered back to the pool, purposefully swinging her hips before she rather gracelessly cannon balled into the pool.

She burst out laughing once she surfaced and looked back at Ciel to see if she had been successful in getting him wet with her reentry into the pool. "Since you know so much about me already I want to ask a question first!" Ethril said as she swam in lazy circles. "Ever had a pet?"

"Well." Ciel didn't even bother to wipe the water from his face and chest. He was getting in the pool after all. Instead, he folded his arms and air-walked to the spot at the center of Ethril's circles and decided to float there in the water. He settled into the water on his back with his arms stretched outward toward his head.

"Pets are a weird topic for us really. Most animals are a lot larger than we are as a people... but I think I can say I've had two: a firefly and a lizard. But those were really practice to get a dragonfly." Ciel chuckled to himself as he quickly revisited those days of his youth.

"I still haven't tamed one of those yet, but I plan to when I return home. It's every young boy's dream. Now let's see.. for you, my dear... What's the grossest thing you've ever eaten?"

"At least you've had a pet! Sistra wouldn't allow anything in the house ever! Of course I had a tendency to stalk anything smaller then me as a child to practice hunting." She had a few scars to prove it to when she tried to tackle a cat once. That had not been fun at all. Ethril grinned when Ciel went into the center of her circle. It was always fun when she got to swim with friends.

"The grossest thing..." Ethril had to actually think about that for a second. "I've eaten a lot of weird stuff while I was adventuring. I would have to say the grossest thing was this weird slime ball thing when I went to the water dragon's ocean city." Ethril almost gagged on her own words just by the memory of it. "The stuff tasted like earwax mixed with goo. I forget what it was called but I'm never EVER eating it again."

"So what's your favorite place you've ever gone too?" Ethril asked with a grin. She flicked her tail under the water back and forth to continue her slow and lazy circles.

Ciel frowned. "That sounds absolutely awful! I don't really hate anything since I mainly eat sweets and pancakes... but I suppose coconut candies are my least favorite. It's not really a flavor I enjoy."

He sighed thinking about her question. "Favorite place... I'm inclined to say the Academy, but that's a given... Ah! River took me to this place that she likes, called the Lily Palace. I wasn't too enthralled with it, but not too far there's a little water covered area where heat shoots up from under the ground. It's a great place to practice my magicks, and the life there is a lot of fun too. It's where I got that firefly as a child."

He smiled to himself. It was the one place that frogs didn't try to eat him and cats didn't dare to go. If he ever wanted to be near the water, that tiny little hot spring was it.

"Hm.." Ciel kicked a bit once Ethril cleared the area behind his head to see if he could make his own circles. If not, that was fine, he just needed to do some moving around too. "Oh! You that ears are a special place for my race. What about you? Do dragons have one?"

"I remember when the other kids in my clan and I were first learning how to fly we were taken to this little oasis in the desert so if we crashed we'd land in sand instead of a building. That oasis was so much fun to play in cause the water actually lead into an under ground cavern that we played hide a seek in! I think that was my favorite." During her adventures Ethril had gone to a lot of great places, but none as fun as that little oasis.

Ethril blushed deeply at Ciel's question. "W-well it differs with each dragon really. The clan and element can change the spot." Ethril's blush deepened considerably. "I'm a light dragon so my back is a very sensitive and special place. It's where the sunlight hits us the most after all." Ethril remembered once when Shadow had gently stroked the base of her wings and Ethril's knees had given out. She hadn't been able to look at him the rest of the day after that.

Ethril coughed softly and ducked under the water for a moment to cool down her cheeks. "Ever had someone obsess about you?"

Ciel blinked in thought. "Obsess about me...? Je ne sais pas... Well River at first I guess. She wanted to date me; can you imagine? Ludicrous! But other than that, I'd say Patrice is the only one obsessed with me really-- and not in a good way. She and River are rivals over Scotty for whatever reason. And since I'm just as close to Patrick as I am to River, Patrice takes her frustrations out on me."

Ciel grumbled to himself. Patrice was kind of a jerk. He puffed out his cheeks in irritations just thinking about her. She thought she was so fantastical because she was a light fairy? So was Patrick. And a better one at that. Patrice was just mad that she couldn't really beat anyone at anything.

"Voyons voir..." He chewed as he cheek a bit as he thought. "Just a second! Dearest, I touched your back not too long ago. Nothing happened! Am I broken?" He frowned then, slightly upset at his inadequacies. Then again, he was quite the drama llama and was probably just over reacting.

He sighed again. Rather listlessly he went on to ask, "What's your favorite scent?"

Ethril wondered what it was like to be a fairy or pixie. She'd met a great deal of races back home, but oddly enough she'd never encountered a fairy. So it was really interesting to listen to Ciel's life. She giggled when he mentioned how he thought it was ludicrous that someone would want to date him. She didn't think it was ludicrous, but then again she was a dragon.

Ethril blinked in surprise when he mentioned touching her back. She blushed and looked away from him. "No something did happen. But emotional overloads like my breakdown tend to change the effect of touching a special spot like my back. Your touch was more for comfort rather then curiosity or um...caressing. So I felt comforted and relaxed much faster then I normally would. If you were to try again now I'd react differently." What she didn't mention was that in her mind he was already clan to her. It was completely acceptable for clan members to touch each others special places.

"My favorite scent?" Ethril had to think about that one for a few minutes. Dragons had sensitive noses so most preferred subtle scents. "I like cucumber melon the best. It's sweet and not too strong."

"What is your most embarrassing habit?"

"Well, at least I may still have the touch... I'd have to say, I'm rather partial to lilac myself."

Ciel scratched his chin, pondering the latest question. "Embarrassing habit? Quite honestly, it's most likely my overuse of 'mon dieu.'" Thinking about it, he used the phrase much more often than any one else he may have known.

"For you... What's the most embarrassing thing you've done?"

((And my internet is messing up, so I will go for now XD I will respond as soon as I can thouuugh <3 ))

"Lilac is nice as long as it's not too strong." Ethril commented with a soft sigh. Dragons typically have a strong sense of smell so strong flowery scents tended to make her sneeze. Spring was a horrible time of year for her because of all the flower blooming. There was a benefit to living in a desert; not a lot of flowers.

'I knew he was going to ask that!' Ethril thought to herself as she sank down into the water in embarrassed shock. She really didn't want to answer that, but she didn't want to lose the game either! "Well...there was this one time I forgot to enchant my clothes before transforming," Ethril started to say. "When I transformed my clothes ripped off without me knowing. I transformed back in front of an elder when I got home and um...he lectured me about always remembering to enchant my clothes...while I stood there with my friends laughing." Ethril had been horrified! The elder had just started rambling on and on about responsibility and never forgetting. Luckily it had been at the school so no stranger had seen her. "None of my friends would let me live it down for weeks!"

"Have you ever spied on someone while they were taking a bath?" Ethril asked with a sly smile. She'd always wanted to ask that question to someone, but had never gotten the chance. Ethril knew Pyronim had spied on her once but she'd caught him and Sistra had reported him to his parents. He never tried spying on Ethril again after that.

((I'll talk to you later then! ))

"You poor dear!" Ciel pouted. "Still, that's quite a feat though. I actually can't enchant any clothing... Even though I simply wear a loincloth at home, I can't get it to change size with me. I've got to do my magical growths naked."

He sighed a tad too much and finally sank under the water. He didn't mind though. There are air particles in the water after all. He was able to use them to bob up and down at a depth that he enjoyed. And, much like any other air or water elemental, he could manage to breathe, so he wasn't worried in the slightest.

He cannot, however, speak underwater. So after thinking up his answer to her question, Ciel surfaced once more. He decided he'd rather float on his stomach this time and turned his head so that Ethril could still hear him.

"And quite honestly, I have never spied on anyone taking a bath. Jamais~ ....Though someone invited me once." His nose twitched at the memory. "I'd asked Patrick what happened to his hair in the bath since it took on characteristics based on his surrounding environment. I didn't watch him get naked or anything," the young sprite admitted with a blush across his cheeks. "But I did sit with him and talk while he bathed... His hair turned rather pink and fluffy, by the way," he added with a teeny smile.

"Have you ever been caught being naughty, Miss Ethril?"

"A loin cloth?" Ethril couldn't imagine going out into the world and adventuring in such little amount of clothes. Then again maybe Ciel and his people didn't go adventuring? Not everyone did at home; a lot of people stayed in their homes to work or study or something. Ethril had to admit she'd started adventuring fairly young, but only because the Elder's had pushed her towards it. "It's actually a very simple spell that places clothes in a type of storage dimension until you transform back. If you want I could teach you."

Ethril stuck her head under water to watch Ciel as he floated there. Her third set of eye lids flicked over her eyes automatically to protect them from the water. She tilted her head slightly as his chest continued to move from breathing. Ethril was curious as to how he could continue breathing. She herself couldn't breath under water, just hold her breath for long periods of time. She lifted her head above the water when he surfaced.

She smiled as Ciel answered. Mentally Ethril added another item to the list of why she liked Ciel; he was honest. It was so rare to find a male that was honest! "It's good to find a male that's not a pervert!" Ethril said with a sigh. "Sometimes when you're adventuring you never know who might stumble on your hot springs."

Ciel's next question surprised and confused Ethril slightly. What had she ever done to be naughty? Did he mean naughty in the sense of doing something bad or wrong? Or did he mean naughty as in...something else? Ethril ducked under the water and swam back and forth for a few minutes as she thought about her answer, her stomach skimming against the bottom of the pool and her tail waving back and forth in the water to keep her movement going.

"I guess," Ethril started to say when she surfaced. "I'd have to say there were a couple times." She tilted her head to think. "I like to swim without clothes, especially in deep water, so I can transform. Shadow isn't the only one who caught me. Then there was this one time I was setting up a prank on one of the Master's back home and Sistra caught me." Ethril stuck her tongue out at that memory. It had been a really good prank too! She'd spent nearly a week planning it out and setting it up, and Sistra ruined everything.

Ethril blushed at her next question. "Have you ever kissed someone?" Surprisingly enough, she and Shadow had only kissed once; the night he had asked if he could start courting her after their adventure had ended.

((JESUS THAT WAS SO LONG!!))

Ciel blew some bubbles while Ethril answered his question. "Aw that's too bad about your prank, mon cher... I wish I had such a time. I was only ever pranked on," he chuckled.

It was true. He was never a prankster. He was just a bit sassy and held himself too high above it. Once he met River, though, she made it her job to prank him as often as she could. Regardless of his requests for her to stop. She had a charm that never let him get mad at her for it though.

"Bisous? Well..." Ciel had to consider just what it was that she meant. Kisses as in on the cheek? Or kisses full on? He just assumed that she meant real, open-mouth kisses.

"Well, if you must know, it's only happened once." He closed his eyes and felt a blush speckle his cheeks. "This Patrick I keep speaking of. He's a light fairy back home. We aren't dating, per se, but we are rather close." In fact, he wasn't even allowed to have a real relationship with any fair person until his life duties were filled. It was just a mental block that had been engrained into him.

"When I first visited his home is when it happened. It'd been pouring, so his hair was rather damp, and it hung in his eyes. It was an awful grey color too, so he couldn't tell what was what between it all. I just helped him home since we'd been working together a lot in school. He's one of the two fairies that I actually get along with." A goofy smile hit him as he remembered it.

"Well..." Ethril grinned mischievously. She wasn't the pranking all the time kind of person, just when she felt the need too or when someone had irritated her. Her pranks were typically harmless but annoying. Like the time she'd turned Pyronim's hair blue. He couldn't get the coloring out for a month.

Ethril became very still as she listened to Ciel. Her heart deflated slightly as she heard him recollect his close friend in such a fond way. She missed Shadow and that loneliness probably wouldn't go away until she found someone new to focus her love and affection on. That's how a dragon was after all; a dragon's emotions tend to be so over dramatic. It didn't help that dragons lived for such a long time. She sighed softly and smiled longingly.

"You forgot to ask me a question." Ethril whispered softly after Ciel had finished talking. There was an ache in her heart to be held again, but she pushed it aside. Ethril couldn't wait to be older when she'd grow out of the constant need to be held and protected. She was an accomplished adventurer now for crying out loud! She shouldn't be affected by all these childish instincts.

"Ah, sacrebleu..." Ciel puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. He'd actually nearly run out of questions and didn't know what to ask. Unless he wanted things to get very personal... That is how the game is played of course, so why not?

He rolled over onto his back again and began doing strokes back and forth across the pool as he thought something up. Upon his second lap, an idea hit him.

"Say, mon cher?" He stopped when he was a few inches from her and sidled up to press their arms together. "I know that Shadow was your one and only, much like Patrick may one day be mine, but tell me, dearest... Are you crushing on anyone here at the Academy?" He grinned evilly nudging at her a bit.

Ethril giggled at his outburst and she wondered what his french meant this time. It was always so interesting to learn new words and phrases. Fascino had taught her everything he knew, with the exception of some phrases that were mostly lost in translation. Like what Ciel had said awhile ago, about Patrick being his 'boy toy'. How could a boy be a toy?

Ethril shook her head slightly at her own mental ramblings. As Ciel swam back and forth she ducked under the water and swam beneath him, mimicking his every move. She surfaced just before he finished his second lap so she could better hear what he would have to say. She blushed slightly at the touch of their arms and at the question. She'd never really thought about relationships before or after she'd met Shadow. To be honest Sistra had said it was because she hadn't reached sexual adulthood for a dragon yet. Shadow had been special though.

"I...well yes I suppose so." Ethril said, her blush deepening. A crush was a simple thing right? A strong feeling of emotion towards another person. She didn't quite understand the entire meaning behind the word, but she figured the basics was enough to answer the question. "I guess I'm kinda crushing on you and on Feli." Her blush deepened and she ducked under the water for a moment to cool off her cheeks.

"Do you prefer just guys?" Ethril asked the second her head resurfaced.

Ciel tilted his head in confusion as he eased up his personal-bubble breaking touch. "Feli and I? My dear... how can that be?" He turned a bit green as a thought occurred to him. "Ah! Mon dieu! Do you know what a crush is, I wonder?"

Ethril had told him that she was from an entirely different world. There was a chance that she may not even know what his question meant. After all, there were things that he had said before that she didn't understand.. He felt bad enough using French so often as it stood.

"And do I prefer guys?" He rubbed at his chin. The question was rather strange. He assumed she meant in a sexual manner, attraction and relationships and all that. But did he? He didn't think so... Patrick was just someone who really caught his eye. He'd spoken to quite a few girls at the Academy, and Ethril was someone he enjoyed being with far more than people from home even...

"Pas. Boys and girls are both fine, I suppose."

Ethril tilted her head in confusion. Had she gotten the definition of a crush wrong after all? "It's a strong emotion one feels towards another...isn't it?" She felt pretty dumb for obviously messing up her answer. It wasn't her fault! She'd only known english for 3 weeks and Fascino had only taught her what she would need to know to understand her teachers! She'd even been careful not to speak her own language so that she wouldn't forget anything she'd learned.

"You and Feli are the closest friends I've had in a long time. I care deeply for both of you." They were her clan now after all! Clan meant everything to a dragon. Clan members were the ones you depended on and cared for the most. They were the ones to comfort you and help you. They were the ones you could talk to about anything. She could definitely talk to Ciel about anything, so that made him clan!

"You keep forgetting to ask me a question silly." Ethril said with a laugh as she ducked under the water and hugged Ciel from under the water. She let go and resurfaced on the other side of Ciel.

"Pas, madame." Ciel crossed his arms and got his serious face on to give some real life learning. "Here, a crush is close to that, but it's not entirely correct. What we call a crush is when you find someone that you like a lot. As in.. someone you'd want to build a strong relationship with. One that could potentially result in monogamy, marriage, or children even."

He scratched at his head a bit. "Of course, we're only on a high school level, but it still stands. It's different from just a strong friendship... Ugh.. a question. Dear, dear... Oh. How about this then: What's your idea of a perfect date?"

"So...a crush is what leads to choosing a mate?" Ethril frowned deeply at this thought. Dragons weren't monogamist naturally, monogamy tended to disrupt a clan. "This is so confusing!" Ethril burst out as she rubbed the side of her head. "A crush almost sounds like Courting. Is that what it is? Courting?" Ethril was desperate to figure out the definition now. She did not want to make this mistake again. "Courting for a dragon is when you show your interest for a potential mate until they either accept your advances or decline you."

That's what she and Shadow had started before he had died. Their first kiss had been the first step towards courting. The next step if Shadow had still been alive would have been grooming each other; like brushing each others hair. After that they would have shared baths and a bed together. If the courting was acceptable to both of them then they would have claimed each other as mates.

Ethril calmed down and tried to get over her confusing thoughts so she could answer Ciel's question. "A date is when you spend time with someone in a romantic way right? Well I guess my ideal date would be being able to spend time with the other person. I don't really care what we would do as long as we were having fun."

"So um...I...can't think of a question." Ethril said softly and with embarrassment.

Ciel smiled, happy that she finally got it. "Yes! That's exactly right, mon ami! It is very much like this courting you speak of! I'm so glad you understand. So? Is there someone?"

He nudged at her again, doing his best to jostle her around. "And I suppose that's a suitable date. Just spending time with the one you enjoy so completely. Friendship is the best way to start one of those relationships, after all. It would make sense that just having fun would suffice."

He pushed a way from her dive under the water once more so refrain from getting too cold out in the open air. "And you can't think of a question, eh?" he asked once he had resurfaced. "Well I suppose I win after you answer mine. Give me that, and we can settle on a prize, I suppose~" he added with a wink.

Ethril blushed heavily and half sank in the water. "No one like that right now. I'd like too! But I haven't met many people here and I don't want to seem too forward." She wasn't really fully grown yet after all so taking a mate was a priority in her mind. She wouldn't be able to have children for a few more years anyway. And she couldn't just pick out a potential mate in one day! She had to know the people around her well enough to make a decision like that. Ethril looked up at Ciel and blushed. There was him...but like she had said she didn't want to seem too forward. He had his Patrick after all!

Ethril grumbled about losing but sighed all the same. "Yes yes, you win." She said as she reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. (hers this time). Ethril grinned slyly at Ciel. "So what do you want your prize to be?" She hated losing, but she wasn't a sore loser like other people were. It was just a game after all, no point in making a big deal about losing. She'd win next time!

Ciel eyed her suspiciously. "True; I suppose you wouldn't really like someone within just one day..." Even still. You at least get butterflies when you see a certain someone. But it wasn't like he could jump in her head to see that. He'd just have to take his little dragon's word.

"On to this prize business.." He pursed his lips in thought for a few moments. He really didn't believe he was going to win. He himself had just run out of questions. He had a hard enough time answering them as well. Of course he hadn't been thinking at all about what their prize would be.

He laughed at his own incompetence. Blushing a bit as his idiocy, Ciel said, "Dear me, I really don't know! What do you think is appropriate, mon cher?"