a new discovery, or lack thereof [gale]

[lucy]

Searching for a rather obscure plant by the lakeside had seemed a rather good way to spend a Saturday, especially for someone whose main interests were in that realm- botany, that is. It had seemed an exciting, even an exhilarating type of day. Lucy had gone, large, battered copy of a plant encyclopedia in hand, down to the lake to do some field research today. The only difference was that her smile wasn't exactly as bright as it had been a few hours ago, before she'd spent a significant amount of time crawling her way around in the shallow water, inspecting rocks and algae alike. She was wearing shorts and a tank top so as to not get her clothes too wet, and had her hair tied up in some form of bun atop her head. She did look rather strange, of course, seeing as her hair was a bit too long to be tying it up haphazardly with no real aim as to what the outcome may be. This did not concern her, of course, as appearance in general rarely did. What concerned her is the amount of time it took to find, well, nothing.

The world of aquatic vegetation was so vast that one could not hope to begin to understand it all in a lifetime. That did not mean, however, that Lucy wasn't willing to try. Today, however, did not seem to be the right day for searching for one. She knew it would take time and patience to find it if it was there at all, of course, and that if it was to be found, that it would be in a small amount. She hadn't really even thought out how she might extract a sample without harming it, but at least if she could actually locate it, that'd be a step up from where she was currently.

Lucy let a slight frown feature itself on her face as she concentrated on one particular section of algae and picked through it. After realizing that this, too, would lead nowhere (or at least, not to where she was aiming to go), she let out a long sigh before going back to the shoreline and sitting down at the lake's edge, a few feet from the water. She dried her hands on her shirt and opened up her book to the page that featured this rare aquatic masterpiece of a plant. She had taken quite a few notes all through the page, so all the margin space was completely used up. She had begun writing more notes in the back of the book late the night before, and had eventually given up and begun recording her ideas in a notebook, hoping to eventually write some actual experimental data on the subject as well. If she could find the plant, her next step would be to isolate it and to keep it in its natural state for as long as possible so that she could take it back home to her father and run some tests on it. It was a long process, to be sure, but such was the life of a botanist's daughter.

[robbie]

Saturdays where certainly Gale's favorites. It meant there was no classes, and none the next day either. He was taking a break from his studies to have some relaxation time. Usually he spent days like this shopping. But today he wasn't into the hustle and bustle of the real world. He decided to spend time around the castle at his favorite place. The lake. There was nothing better. He definitely fit the bill of a water student when it came to how much he loved water. He could swim all year around. And it didn't matter how cold or warm it was out he could usually be found swimming in the lake.

Swimming was his way of calming himself. His way of relaxing when he was stressed or just wanted to be away from people. Although a lot of other people had the same idea, but now that it was nearing fall most people didn't want to be in the lake. However, as he neared the lake, a towel drapped over his shoulder, he spotted somebody there. He narrowed his eyes to try to make out who it was but he couldn't. It was a girl - and she did look feignly familiar, but he figured he had seen her before as he had most of the people around. He didn't know her by name though, so why not be friendly at least?

"Those plants are pretty fascinating huh?" Gale said as he neared the girl, who was pretty into looking at the plants. "I do hope I will not be disturbing you too much if I take a swim. If so, I can always come back at another time." Oh, gentlemen Gale, welcome back. His headaches where starting to go away but he knew it was only a matter of time. The withdrawl symptoms would keep up for a while. Like a caffine addict who hadn't had caffine in days. That want and need would always be there. He glanced up at the rather large tree to the right of the lake and sighed. He had spent many times jumping off the branch jutting out into the center of the lake. "Maybe you'd care to join me? Unless, of course, this is more interesting." He said, motioning to the plants she seemed to be inspecting. "The name's Gale, by the way. Gale Harrison." He said, with a smile, his bright blue eyes watching her.

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[lucy]

For some reason or other, Lucy hadn't been expecting anyone else to travel to the lake today. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing that someone did, of course; she was merely expecting the opposite. Now that autumn was fast approaching and September was here, not as many people were interested in swimming in the lake. Lucy herself didn't care as to what season it was when she decided to swim- to her it more depended on the atmosphere of the situation and whether or not she was in the mood for a swim. But she wasn't really all that used to others sharing her point of view in most situations or subjects, so she hadn't expected someone to find today as a good day for a swim.

Then again, it wasn't like she was a psychic or anything. She could never really know for certain what anyone other than herself was going to do, of course. Sometimes she didn't even know what she would do from time to time. She tended to just 'go with the flow' as many people would put it. Lucy thought it was a rather odd term, though, as it seemed to signify water, which was the element most commonly associated with some kind of 'flow', and not everyone with that carefree personality controlled the element of water. Such as Lucy. She supposed there was a flow of wind in a way, though... perhaps she was over thinking the whole ordeal.

Lucy looked up, giving a small start, when someone spoke to her. She saw a boy about her own age who looked and sounded very friendly. It brought a smile to her pale face, for she always liked friendly people. "Oh, yes," she said cheerfully in response to his plant comment, "they certainly are. They're rather evasive at times, though." she said with a slight sigh, eyeing the water longingly as if the plant she was searching for would merely sprout out of the water upon her command.

"Of course it's fine! You can take your time, it's no bother. I think I'm about done for the day anyway, I'm not seeming to be productive at all." she said, waving a hand toward the water as if to welcome him to it. "Rather cold for a swim for most people, isn't it? You don't mind it?" she asked curiously. Perhaps he was one of those rare people who didn't mind, either.

He asked her to join him. Lucy looked down for a moment. She wasn't wearing swimming clothes per se, but she supposed it didn't particularly matter. Either way she'd get wet, wouldn't she? Not to say she wasn't already mostly wet from wading in the water looking for plants. After a moment's thought, she hopped up, taking her book with her, and placed it in the safety of the nearby tree's shady branches. She then walked back over to where the boy- Gale, as he'd just introduced himself- stood. "All right. It should be a nice break. I'm having the worst luck finding something today...." she trailed off, her mind wandering for a moment or two. She then realized that it would only be polite to introduce herself in return, and did so immediately. "Lucy Aeris." she smiled. Her last name sounded rather odd compared to his. Oh well. She didn't mind. Perhaps today was a day better off leaving as it was, without any examination.