& do you see what i do? [altair]

Skye didn't much like this girl, she decided, or at least she didn't like her attitude towards complete strangers. She was used to being around pretty hot-tempered people, actually -- being associated pretty commonly with Fire elementals, she was pretty used to the insanity that came with it. This, however, was some other rage that was pretty much off the charts, and it wasn't that Skye had never had anyone shouting at or threatening her, or that she'd never seen people going completely crazy, but she'd never seen it this unwarranted, and that made all the difference. Altair, she decided, if that really was the girl's name and this wasn't -- er, Rowena, she believed... well, whoever it was, the girl was crazy, and not in the amusing way. Well, okay, maybe a little amusing. She kept her face straight, not allowing herself to give away what might look like a smile or a laugh. Fire elementals. Raging, hormonal, teenage Fires who couldn't keep themselves in check for more than a few minutes at a time. Altair exemplified this.

She didn't respond to what Altair said first anyway, just nodded when she confirmed that Skye had been right, this was in fact who it was. She didn't seem as angry as she had before, either, which was Skye's first hint that maybe she'd thought Skye was someone else -- or maybe she was just hoping that Altair wasn't always this angry for no good reason. "No, I wouldn't expect you to," she answered blandly, still not sure she liked or trusted this girl much. She knew that there was, though, the underlying question of, How the fuck do you know me then, in that case? Maybe she should head it off first. "No, I've just seen you around. And I know your sister, a little, too." She knew of Rowena a little, at least, though she wouldn't say they were particularly well-acquainted -- it was more that she knew her as they had the same element. Skye wondered if Rowena would even be able to name her, either, but it didn't matter, because here she was talking to Altair, and she was being more than rude, if Skye allowed herself to judge. She didn't notice that the apology had gone unacknowledged, either, but in the few seconds she'd known Altair, this didn't surprise her much at all. She didn't try to say sorry again, instead saying, "Well, whoever you're so angry at, I doubt it's me, so." Or it shouldn't be her, anyway.

Well, the other girl was intelligent at least... or maybe just logical. Thunders weren't notorious for being too social, she was aware, so it would have made sense that they'd mainly associate within their own element... thus making Skye's most likely element Thunder. It wasn't an incorrect guess, but Thunders and Fires did get along pretty well, also. She could think many Fires were annoying, irrational egomaniacs, but that wasn't going to change much about the alliances. Of course, she had her friends who were Fire, too, but Skye was neither a trusting nor a social person; good friends were few and far between. "That's right," she confessed with a nod anyway. She probably shouldn't get into all of that other nonsense anyway -- not only would it be incredibly random if Altair hadn't asked, which she hadn't, but it was generally discourged not to get along within the alliances. Skye wouldn't admit that she was about to let some high schoolers push her around, but really, doing otherwise would be more trouble than it was worth at this point, when she was a year and a half from leaving and being done with the Academy for good. It wasn't that she hadn't enjoyed her time at school, but the Academy had plenty of issues, and she doubted that she was going to miss them. "You're... Fire?" she asked, though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer, based on what she knew already and the girl's demeanour thus far.

Altair was, though, much more tolerable when she wasn't so needlessly angry, and Skye was glad that she seemed to have calmed down a bit. Being yelled at for no proper reason wasn't something she'd have chosen. "Ah," was all she said to show she understood, averting her eyes to the backpack now too. She'd assumed before that it was Altair's, but by the way she looked at and held it, this didn't seem to be the case. It had to be somebody else's. "What did they do?" she asked, resisting the urge to tack on a what did you do to the end of it. That just seemed rude, though she didn't doubt that Altair certainly had done something as well... but the Waters really were abnormally defensive of the lake, which Skye thought was pretty understandable. It was too bad the school didn't have an enormous field of lightning rods anywhere nearby or something. She would have gladly given up the dungeons for... well, many things, really, though water didn't turn her off as much as she expected it did for many Fires. (Apparently Altair wasn't one of said Fires, though, if she'd been hanging around the lake. Skye couldn't think of many Fire or Thunder elementals who would have chosen that.) "What were you doing by the lake?" Altair's question surprised her, too, and she frowned, looking upwards at all the steps still waiting. She couldn't even tell how far up she was. "Gave me something to do," she said finally, shrugging a little bit, realizing that she didn't have much of a solid reason for being here. "You?"

So Altair was the Fire leader. This information was for the most part unsurprising too, but she was actualy mostly perplexed that she hadn't known this already. It was generally well-known who the leaders were, wasn't it? She realized she hadn't been paying much attentio this year, even though it was already June -- she considered that maybe she should get on that, but in the end, she didn't really care enough to. She hadn't even really been particularly active in the last war -- at this point, there was little anyone could do to persuade her that any of this alliance business was a good idea. There was also, she was sure, nothing good to come out of having these leaders around being in charge, so to speak, of the elements, probably especially when it came to Fires, because that meant there was much riding on the attitudes of a few choice people. She didn't say any of this aloud, though, just smirked a bit at Altair's joke (because she couldn't even deny how undoubtedly true it was for most people in opposite elements) and nodded. Altair the Fire leader, then. Skye wasn't sure how to feel about her.

"Ah," she answered to show she understood, nodding a bit. She wondered whether the Waters had done it on purpose, but didn't ask. That seemed a bit too... fair. Things were rarely fair when it came to the alliances and the way they felt about one another. "That's harsh," she commented lightly, though more in a frank way than a critical one -- hopefully even Altair couldn't take it to mean that dumping someone's things all over the grounds could be a bad idea. Skye was a little better at keeping things to herself than that. She could certainly understand the desire to take revenge on them, though -- Waters really could be pretty annoying at times, and she would have probably done... well, she couldn't say the same thing, because Skye rather prided herself on being a little better than that, to be honest, but maybe something similar. Especially if it were on purpose, but of course she didn't know if that were the case at all. She nodded at what Altair said next, though. "Well, right," she said. "I guess it'd be pretty nice to be out there... Too bad there's always Waters hanging around." She realized that it was only natural that Water elementals would be drawn toward the lake, but it did make it a bit difficult to really go out there. Skye liked water, even. It was just sad, really.

She hesitated for about a fraction of a second before following -- she'd been on the way up there anyway, she figured. Sure, she'd been planning on doing this alone, but really, the alternative was refusing and walking all the way back down the stairs without even seeing the top, so this was definitely much better. Skye just followed silently, not bothering with an answer seeing as Altair had already turned and started to continue her ascent. Fair enough. Skye wasn't much of a talker all of the time, either. She followed a few steps behind Altair, not saying anything and not hearing anything either, so the climb continued in silence. She reached the top and lingered, leaning against the doorway as she watched the younger girl dumpt he entire contents of the unknown Water's bag, out of the window. She walked over in time to see most of it hitting the ground, then watched the now empty bag fly down as well. Definitely harsh. "Nice," she said in a flat tone, not sounding sarcastic with her comment, but not really meaning it either. "You don't mess around when it comes to getting back at people, huh." She watched as the bag -- falling very slowly because it was empty and kept catching the breeze -- finally landed. People below were scattered now, too. "But no, it really isn't that exciting here. Probably a waste of a climb all the way up here..." She turned around to inspect the room they'd gotten to -- there was a door on the opposite side, and she was sure behind it there were more stairs heading up to the actual bell chamber, but they probably weren't allowed up there, so this boring place was really all there was. At least it was kind of quiet and peaceful -- except for the two of them, of course. "Hm? Oh, my element's doing fine," she said without really thinking about the answer -- she probably wouldn't have been able to come up with anything more legitimate, anyway. Altair wasn't wrong; they really were pretty detached. "Same as normal, I guess. How's yours?"

Skye just nodded wordlessly, not one to go on about whatever harshness she may have experienced in her life, and certainly not the type to have the patience to listen to others talk about theirs. It didn't seem Altair would go on anyway, but she could never tell when it came to Fires. They were on the whole not as reserved as Thunders, who were never very forthcoming with information about themselves, but she didn't think there was much of a pattern with them. Some were quite private people, but then others yet were much more casual when it came to talking about themselves. No, as far as she knew they were different from Thunders in that respect -- there wasn't much of a standard. Skye, on the other hand, had the uncanny knack to occasionally make people think they understood her. Sometimes it came in handy. She was sure that she could count the people who even came close to fully understanding all on one hand. "A kiddie pool, eh?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't think the Fire leader of all people would be willing to toss them as much as that." Skye wasn't really saying she agreed, but it was true -- Altair, like most Fire leaders, was clearly not fond of the Waters at all, and would probably not be all too willing to give them much if given the choice. (Of course, Skye remembered Josh being Fire leader, too... It seemed like quite a long time ago now.)

This much was definitely true, and Skye nodded her agreement. "That we do," she answered blandly, not sounding particularly threatening but still more serious, though she had the traces of a smirk on her lips. Whatever she thought about the chasms between the individual elements, she definitely belonged at least in personality with the Thunders. The way Altair said it, it didn't sound like a particularly bad thing, and Skye certainly wouldn't consider it negative either, but she knew that others would disagree, the same way people disagreed with dwelling in the past and holding grudges in general. Skye considered it, personally, more of a benefit -- it was best, especially around the Academy, not to be too trusting and forgiving of others. "Guess people had better not go around crossing us, then," she added mildly, looking down out of the window rather than at Altair. Fires were more... spontaneous. They were irrational, and hot-tempered, and it was easy to set them off, but when they did go off, it was mostly quick and... well, not painless, but at least the offender-turned-victim could count on it being over quickly. Thunders were far more vindictive than that. She looked back over at Altair once she noticed that she was being watched, and nodded. While Skye was sure she and the younger girl had very different ideas of exciting (she remembered being a teenager, too!), she had to agree that things had been very dull around here, especially as of late. Skye wouldn't complain about the dullness -- it was better than the otherwise endless supply of teenage drama -- but she did have to admit that it made life pretty flat and boring. "I guess castles are pretty cool. But you know. Who knows when shit is going to hit the fan around here anyway?" It made sense as a question, but didn't sound like one coming from Skye -- she wasn't really looking for an answer.

"Much as I've heard too, don't take it personally," she answered frankly. She wasn't particularly well-connected to many people, actually -- a select few, and not more than that, at least not on a personal level. She could say, though, that at least she was acquainted with many, especially Thunders, even if she wouldn't even consider all of them friends of any sort. "You know how it is." She might, but Skye probably knew it better. There was nothing like being on the inside when it came to Thunders, typically because with a few exceptions they were far more introverted than the aggressive Fires or the obnoxious Waters. Skye did listen with interest, just a little, to Altair talking about the Fires, at least until she realized that it was basically the same as usual. She'd never known Fires to stay out of trouble, especially not as teenagers. "Nothing to worry about if it's the same as usual, I guess," she said, deciding that this was better than saying something about how Fires were troublemakers, even though Altair had kind of already said the same thing first. "But yeah -- a bit peaceful, I guess." Not that she was an Earth... or, sorry, not that she was much of a pacifist at all. It was more along the lines of thinking that wars were for the most part unnecessary and started over stupid things.