↳ underwater

　　　↳ ᴇɴᴅ ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ. ↰

@✧　Zale Cirillo Celes innocent excitement deflated at the other's snort. His shoulders fell and he slumped in his tub of ice, but not for long. The nervousness of speaking to this aggressive stranger had him up straight soon enough. "Really?? Oh, that's great I've never met one of you before!" Celes relaxed upon learning the other was an elemental like he was and his pale blue lips spread into a bright smile, much warmer than any ice he could produce. Blink. "!!!" His smile fell and he recoiled, his grip tightening on the rim of his tub. The man shook his head and Celes let out a nervous giggle. "Oh- you were kidding... that's good.", he mumbled faintly, glancing to and from the other elemental a few times before daring to settle his gaze on the other completely once more. "Zale~", he hummed and repeated the name in silence, committing it to his memory. He nodded. "I think...", he looked around suspiciously and then leaned forward to whisper: "the ice knew I was a little scared of entering the water." He pulled away again and d the edge of his ice tub affectionately, silently thanking the ice for being so nice to him. He didn't catch the other's cold, inquisitive stare immediately as he was looking away and answered with a casual sing-song tone. "Because I want to see o-" His words cut short when Celes finally saw how the water elemental was looking at him. "I don't want to hurt them... I'm not a bad person!", he whined in protest and stomped his foot against the bottom of his tub. The air around him cooled and the surface of the water within a meter's radius around him crackled as it froze. Clearly, the ice did not approve of the water elemental's hostility.

@✧　Celes After the rushed explanation reached his ears, Zale found it very hard not to snort with amusement. Dragons? Surely there was a few, but they likely wouldn’t want to make themselves known. Besides, this was a modern day - even Zale had not come face to face with many dragons. “Not a dragon. I’m a water elemental,” He corrected simply. He paused at the mention of a master and looked rather unamused all of a sudden. What kind of a man allowed himself to be ruled by another in this day and age? As funny as it was, watching the strange pretty man float in his little ice shell, Zale’s fluctuating mood did not stay a good one for long. “You’d find out whether you can swim if I broke it,” He pointed out, then shook his head. No murder for today, he had a reputation as an innocent upstanding member of society to uphold. “I’m Zale,” He introduced after a long moment. “Your ice - does it happen against your will? It seems to protect you.” He thought maybe it was contact with water that triggered it. A self defence mechanism with drowning. But then, if he was an ice elemental, he should feel as much kinship as Zale did with the water. His gaze turned inquisitive, as cold as the ice surrounding the other. “Why are you searching for dragons?”

@✧　Zale Cirillo Celes could feel the other's apprehension and it made him nervous. He didn't to be treated with hostility. It hurt his feelings and made him sad. His hands drew to his chest, crossing protectively, timidly, while he endured the fiery man's glare. Seeing the other emerge and leave his sight, Celes followed and moved up to the surface, now floating in his block of ice like it was a barrel. The elemental held onto the edge of ice tub, fingers curling around the solid material. Once again, he was met with hostility, but now the guy looked a bit friendlier. Despite the other's tone, Celes loved meeting new people and introducing himself, so he jumped on the opportunity without hesitation. Or at least, that was the intention when he opened his mouth, but fear got the better of him. "Please don't! I don't know if I can swim, I wanted to try to learn today but I couldn't get into the water so I thought I could walk on it and at least look down at the fish and maybe some dragons but then you broke the ice so I fell in and I thought maybe I can swim now but I still can't so please don't break it I don't know if I can swim!"- He had gone off on a bit of a tangent and needed a few seconds to remember that he had actually wanted to introduce himself. "I- I'm Celes! An ice elemental! Are you a dragon? You seem as... energetic as master said dragons are." Celes' cold eyes sparkled like snow in the sun as he stared at the male. His little tub of ice was still bobbing up and down on the ripples of waves.

@✧　Celes When the sickly pale creature finally crashed into the sea, Zale finally got a good look at him. Unhindered by the water in his natural habitat, the elemental span around to take in the appearance of his apparent foe. If Zale had not been trying to keep his footprint in the city quiet, he surely would’ve dragged the man by his hair along the beach for daring to disturb his one rest day. But, he could be nice, sometimes. Suspicion followed as he glared into the other’s eyes, far too soft compared to the ice that surrounded him. Zale’s head dipped up from the water and he let the salty liquid fall from his mouth. His voice would not carry well under the water, and he wanted the man to had his snarling. Now he’d emerged, he looked considerably less feral, hair slicked back and dripping, the fire in his hollow eyes fading some. The apology had satisfied him, a little. “Who are you, and what do you want? I don’t know the nature of your abilities, but I will not hesitate to try and smash the ice surrounding you.” If it had been another mood he was in, Zale might’ve asked about the nature of his powers in quite a friendly way, but not after seeing a face just inches from his above the water.

@✧　Zale Cirillo Celes' eyes widened when a face appeared before him, just under the glass-like ice. His sharp brows raised in surprise, blue lips parting into a soundless gasp. The elemental was too taken with joy from seeing someone - something out here to notice the man's angry expression. He had a wild appearance: thick hair that floated around his head like a fire, thick, expressive brows and rather cute heart-shaped lips. That is what Celes was staring at, thinking about, when the creature shot its hand forward. Celes flinched back at the aggressive motion. The ice cracked and Celes stumbled, rolling into the water. This time, no shield above the waves held him back, even his subconscious was too startled to react. Instead, he plunged into the salty ocean, shock written over his pale face. Unlike the person he now stared at, his clothes and hair did not drift freely in the water. The immediate area around Celes had frozen, making it appear as if he was inside a block of ice - which he was, actually. Yet Celes moved freely within it as if it were the water that filled the ocean. The ice floated at the surface, leaving Celes submerged in its icy protection around eye level with the other. "I- I'm sorry!", he cried out, his voice projected into the other's mind. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

@✧　Celes Zale was taking a day off. Such a thing never happened - the water elemental had far too much to do. When he wasn’t working a job to remain in cover in the city, he was training, pushing his body to its physical limits. His last attempt at slaying his enemy had been a failure. He would not fail again. But, after a few long days of working until he stumbled, weak at the end of it all, he decided with hesitation that it was time for a break. After returning to the only real home he knew, the salty waves lapped around him eagerly. He missed the water a great deal in his time away from it. Beneath the waves, he lingered, hair turned wild by the water around him. Zale had been about to surface - when a sheet of ice opened up before he face. The former hero scowled, anger fizzing up like a shaken bottle. Merciless to the poor soul atop the ice, the water elemental his hands up to try and break it and make him fall. It would serve him right.

@✧　Zale Cirillo It was a beautiful day and Celes was looking for something dumb to do. Not dumb, fun. He tried to take a bus to the coast, but got kicked off for being too cold, and thus ended up walking most of the way. Still, now he was here and the ocean lay before him. Celes' body hummed with excitement. His long hair and robes fluttered in the fresh ocean wind, his sickly pale complexion a stark contrast to the warm yellow of the sand. The setting sun lit the sky up in blood red, its light dying the wide ocean the same colour. It was a breathtaking sight. Celes, unable to wait any longer, rushed forward to the small waves. Alas, his first step was not that into clear waters. In his excitement, he froze the water under his feet. His expression fell, crystals forming in the corners of his eyes and soon spilling out, hitting the frozen ice he stood on. But, Celes wouldn't let this disappointment stop him. He walked on. If he couldn't walk in the water, he would walk above it and so he did! It was not as easy as he thought it would be, because he only froze a small area below him and the waves made the surface rock unsteadily. He fell once but even then didn't touch the water and instead fell onto a newly formed patch of ice. Celes grit his teeth and pulled himself up. He walked on for more than a kilometre and then knelt down on his little island of ice, peering through the transparent surface down into the depth. Master had told him some dragons were sure to live in these waters and Celes was determined to see one.