Issue 1 Downtime

After making their way outside the Manor, Mizuki and Alex arrive at an open spot in the garden. Mizuki looks pretty excited. "Let's get this started." There's really no ritual for her doing anything. She just stands there, looking small and delicate. Surely she couldn't actually lift him. Especially if he was shifted to metal.

"All right, here we go," Alex said. "Give me a second, I don't work with this one much... not as easy to work with." He put his training bracelet on, then let his power play over the links until he found the one he wanted. There it is. His face twisted up in concentration, then his skin started taking on a dark silver-grey sheen, spreading over his body from his wrist. His feet actually sank into the damp earth an inch further, and his movements got a bit slower. "There. Solid osmium. Heaviest element there is." His voice had a strange echo to it, like it was vibrating through his whole body (which it was).

"Neat! Okay...just uh...stand there." She steps up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. "As awkward as this is, I don't think you want me lifting you like a groom does a bride. So this'll work!" Without waiting for his response, she bends at the knee and begins to lift. It's slow at first, and there's probably some straining, but eventually she lifts him off the ground with a bit shit-eating grin on her face. "Wouldn't...be so hard if it wasn't so late in the day!"

Alex just gaped down at her. "Okay, I literally weigh two tons right now," he said. "I'm officially impressed."

"Oh, only two? I can totally do better. It's just not sufficient lighting right now." She wasn't bragging at all, it was a legit statement.

He smirked down at her. "But can you throw me!"

She grinned right back. "You know, that was my first thought when I saw what you could do. But..." She looks around. "I don't think this would be a good place for that."

"Why not? Just throw me away from the building."

"But what if I miss? I mean...you are pretty heavy right now. Would take a lot of spinning momentum to do it. You get motion sick?"

"What, you think that if you throw me away from the building, you'll still hit the building? That'd take a REALLY bad throw."

"What? I'm not *that* bad...you know what, fine. Can you swim?"

"I... what? Yeah, I guess, why?"

"The ocean is over there." She nods towards it. "Safe to throw you there, assuming you can swim."

"You really think you can get me to the ocean? You're having a hard time lifting me, even."

"So shift to something else? Or to nothing at all. I mean if you want, that is. Kinda dangerous and if something goes wrong...well I could get in big trouble."

Alex shrugged, shifting back to flesh and bone. "Okay, there you go."

"You're sure about this?"

"I turn to metal. What's the worst that can happen?"

"...you could drown?" Mizuki says, setting him down. "I'd feel better something like this in the Danger Room."

"Then I turn metal in the water. I don't have to breathe when I'm metal. Come on! Unless you're scared, I guess..." He smirked at her.

"I'm not scared! What the heck! I didn't know you didn't have to breath. This changes things." She says and lifts him again quickly. "Hope you don't get dizzyyyy!" Spinning in circles to gain momentum, she works on timing it so that when she releases him, it's towards the ocean...hopefully.

"WhoooAAAAAA!" Alex shouted in surprise. Instinctively he turned to metal again as he flew through the air. Shit shit shit where am I going? he thought, looking frantically around to see what direction he was flying.

Luckily, she had done this kind of stuff before. At least, with random objects, that is. Seemed he actually *was* flying towards the ocean, thank goodness. Large metal flying things can't be good when they land.

Alex flew through the air!

He crashed into the sea!

He sunk into the ocean bed.

Well, shit, he thought as he started struggling to pull himself free of the muck. He looked up at the surface, and would have sighed if he had any breath. Well this sucks.

Mizuki meanwhile makes her way towards the ocean. I wonder what kinds of fish he's seeing. Ohhhh maybe some glowy jellyfishies. Or sharks... She paused in her step. Uh oh. No wait, they can't bite through metal. She continues again. No wait, they can. They did it in Jaws. Hm...maybe this wasn't such a good idea...but he thought I was scared. Pft. Shows him!

Meanwhile Kay was taking advantage of a day of mild weather and had been swimming in the sea. At least until a massive splash of water distracted her and made her swim towards the big cloud of mud that marked Alex point of impact. When she sees what (or rather who) it is she can't help but laugh.

"Did you take a running leap from the cliff?" she shouts, sounding kind of weird and distant due to the water.

Greaaaat. "I... uh... kinda dared someone to throw me from the front lawn," he admitted. His voice was also odd due to the water, but his voice still worked well enough in any medium, it turned out. He was well and truly stuck in the mud, and trying to pry himself out just caused his hands to sink in, too. He frowned, thinking it over. He did look pretty hillarious there, and the fact that he was quite obviously in no actual danger just made it more hillarious.

"So... you gonna need any help there?" she grins as she dashes around him. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell Brigid."

Alex kind of gave her a half glare that said that he didn't really believe that last part. "I don't know, can you? I can't really turn back when I'm all full of water, and I kind of weigh two tons right now." As climbing out didn't work, he started trying to just force himself forward. It didn't seem hopeless, but it did seem like he was going to end up burrowing into the ground as it sloped up over his head. Shit.

Mizuki finally reaches the shoreline and plops down on the ground, waiting. Probably will take him a while if he has to walk all the way. I wonder how far he made it out? Hm...

"Yeah, the ground's pretty bad here. Wait, you said someone threw you? From the front lawn!? Jeez! Did you pick a fight with the Hulk?"

"No, it was a dare. You... um, you know John? That guy that looks like a dragon-man?"

"Yeah, who doesn't. He did this?"

"No. It was, um, his little sister," Alex muttered. Why'd I say little? Too late now...

"Wow..." she says as she tries to grab Alex under the shoulder to pull him up. He weighs less in the water but it's still way too heavy for her to free him from the muck. "Hmm, can't you shift into, like, a metal that isn't heavy?"

"...Haven't tried," he admitted, "I couldn't turn human again, just thought I was stuck like this. Hang on..." He focused on his bracelet, playing over it with his power until he found the link he wanted. His metal skin shifted, brightening, taking on a more silvery sheen than the dark silver-grey it had been as he turned to aluminum. "There. If you can just help me get back up on my feet, I should be ok."

"Hmm... Okay, hang on." she says and starts jerking him and and forwards while she hangs upside down in the water above him, using her body to wriggle herself around for momentum. Slowly but surely the ground widens around Alex' legs and eventually he plops loose.

Alex helped by pushing with his legs, widening the holes with his own strength. And, y'know, watching her wriggle. Not that he was staring. She was just the only thing there to look at, y'know? Right.

Finally, he popped free, and scrambled to get on top of the muck to walk more normally. "Thanks. I didn't know the whole 'can't change back filled with water' thing until now," he said, a little sheepishly.

"Also, you might have drowned, so it's probably good that you can't." she nods, swimming alongside Alex to make sure that he doesn't sink back into the treacherous ground.

"Well yeah, I kind of assume that's why I can't." He moved carefully, but seemed to be keeping on the surface much better now that he weighed less than a ton and wasn't coming down at ballistic speeds.