I hopped onto the lowest branch of the pine, getting both feet onto it before reaching up and swinging to the next branch. The bark was cool and rough under my hands and feet, damp and slightly sticky with sap. Rainwater stuck strands of hair in my eyes, and I paused between two branches, awkwardly balanced on a hand and foot thirty feet off the groud to shove the offending locks back off my face. A low boom of thunder rolled over me, the tree pulsing ever so slightly with it, the bass note penetrating my bones. I reached the top of the evergreen, perching in the slightly swaying branches and glancing around. Seeing what I wanted, I dropped down a few branches, my footing sure on the branches I hadn't been among for gods knew how long. I hopped lightly from that branch to another, part of a higher tree, and proceeded to swing and pull myself to the top of that one.

That was better. This was my tree; I came up here when it rained or, like tonight, thunderstorms rolled by. Another flash of lightning, this one I saw. The thunder came in a low, strong wave, and I felt the bass thump in my skeleton once again. I sighed contentedly, wrapping an arm around one branch and propping my knee against another. Nothing had changed here, in these woods. The trail cut through from the backyard to the creek had been overtaken, a tree had split and fallen, but that was natural; that was right. This was right. This tree had been here when I'd first arrived. It had grown during my time, slightly, and it had remained after my death. It was still here, now. And apparently, so was I.

The hair had somehow managed to shift forward into my eyes again, and I shook my head vigorously, spraying water like a dog. No, I was not going to think about that. I was going to sleep tonight. I wanted to sleep tonight. I hoped I would. . .

"Hail, friend!" a voice called from below, and I started, leaning out to glance through the wet foliage.

"Fuck you!" I called back down to Ivan's blonde head, grinning up at me.

"Oh, really? How'd your girlfriend feel about that, I wonder?" I wished for a rock to drop on his head. "What're you doing monkeying around up there, anyways? Gonna get yourself struck, or fall, and I know Krissy dearest won't like that!" I rolled my eyes, wondering how to make him go away. He probably wouldn't, though. Pity.

"I'll be fine. Oi, come up here yourself -- maybe you'll fall yourself." This was met by a laugh and a glance around.

"How'd you get up there?"

"Up the pine, hop over. Don't actually go falling, it'll be messy."

Another laugh, and he started up the pine. Ivan was a fast climber, agile for all the shit he put himself through. He was perched near me in probably a minute an a half, rocking back and forth on a branch below me. He peered around through the rain, glancing amusedly at the ground.

"I can see why you like it up here. 'S nice." He flashed a grin at me, blonde hair plastered over his sapphire blue eyes. "Bit wet, though."

I rolled my eyes, watching a fork of lightning shoot down from the distant sky.

"It helps clear my head." I glanced at him -- he was looking out, eyes on the blurry grey horizon. He wore a hoodie, soaked through and unzipped, over an equally saturated dark grey muscle shirt. Or maybe it was light grey -- the fabric was, after all, soaked and clinging to him. Clinging in a way that, as a matter of fact, would have had Faeren all over him, if the young elf were that sort of person.

A flash of thought made its way into my mind, and I saw myself -- dripping, jeans sticking to my legs, shirt unbuttoned and clinging to every contour of my torso, green eyes flashing from behind soaked black hair.

Maybe I should have worn a different shirt.

A loud crackle sounded, very close after a flash of lightning. I watched the light streak across the sky, then glanced at Ivan. This was his element, after all.

His face had an odd sort of smile; his eyes were distant, not quite focused on anything, but still watching the lights play across the sky. His lips curved up at the edges, like a little boy upon waking up Christmas morning, happy but not sure why, yet. The faint crackle of electricity in the air, brought on by the storm, seemed somehow more intense in his immediate area, making the hairs on my arm stand up on that side. The ends of his hair were curling up a tiny bit, as they always did when wet -- probably a result of the latent electricity in him. The air of power in him seemed amplified by the storm, and I was reminded that he was probably very capable of killing me. Or at least, doing me serious harm.

He turned to me then, sensing my eyes on his, and grinned. The aura of muted, powerful enegy about him didn't lessen at all, but his eyes were. . . softer, somehow, than usual. Less of the manic gleam they nearly always showed at least a hint of.

"This is pretty nice," he repeated, but in less of a sarcastic tone. I gave him a smile back, surprised by the sudden tameness and power he showed.

"Yeah," I murmured, half to myself. I looked around the surrounding area once again. "Kind of puts things into perspective. . . "