Outside the air was unusually warm for so late in the season. It didn't help that they'd all worked up an uncomfortable sweat in the club. They did their best to ignore their discomfort as Luc lead them towards the esplanade along the river's edge, eventually stopping at a cute little dessert boutique. They got their ice-creams and meandered further down the boardwalk, well past all the night-time activity. They were comfortable in each other's company and enjoying the taste and temperature of their icy treats. Sierra had just finished her ice-cream when they paused near a jetty. It was small and wooden and reminded her of the one she'd spent the whole of summer camp jumping into the river from. An idea sprang to mind and she glanced over to Devon to see if he might have thought of the same thing. He had.
"Remind you of something?" he asked with a grin as he tapped the boarding with his shoe.
She nodded and grinned.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked, unzipping her boots with one eager eye on him.
His grin eased into a broad smile as he started pulling his shirt off.
"Hell yeah! Let's do it!" he replied eagerly.
Seconds later they bolted off the jetty in nothing less than their underwear.
The water closed in around them like ice, causing them to lose their breaths instantly.
"Holy sh..." Sierra's voice trailed off as Devon shushed her quietly.
"Whoo hoo!" he shouted joyfully, like the freezing water was the best thing on the planet right then.
Sierra caught on quickly.
"Oh man, this is amazing!" she shouted loudly, still struggling to breathe while she paddled about.
They glanced up and saw intrigued faces staring down at them. Anthony and Ken's disappeared, but the other's stayed there staring at them.
"What are you doing?" Luc hissed. "We shall get in trouble."
"Oh come on! It's after one in the morning and there's no one else around!" Devon shot back.
"Come and join us. You know you want to!" Sierra encouraged.
Karina, Adele and Senka vanished from sight.
"Adele come back here," Luc scolded.
A few minutes later, she did come back - in her underwear. The poor guy nearly dropped dead with awkwardness, but she chose not to notice. She gave him a big bear hug, told him she loved him and then leapt off the planking with everyone else.
There was a lot of shouting and commotion as the swimmers realised that they'd been duped. Sierra and Devon laughed knowingly, their bodies starting to get used to the frigid water.
"I could have told you all that the water is cold this time of the year," Alyssa remarked with a grin as she stood and started stripping.
"Not you too?" Luc asked when he noticed.
"That is a silly thing to ask a nix!" Alyssa shot back. "Besides," she added slyly as she slipped out her last bit of clothing and headed towards him, "I won't be going in alone!"
One big shove sent Luc hurtling into the water ahead of her. Everyone laughed as he surfaced, spluttering for air at the shock of the unexpected, cold water against his hot skin.
Alyssa swan-dived gracefully into the water after him. When she came up for air a moment later, she finger-shot her panties up onto the decking. Sierra glanced at her in surprise, but Alyssa only smiled back secretively then dove under the water again, a small flash of silver glinting in the moonlight as her hips followed her head. The water went eerily still where she'd disappeared and then seconds later the nix launched herself over them in a wide arch of water droplets, skin and scales. The spectacle was breath-taking! Alyssa's entire lower half was covered in scales that tapered off unevenly onto her torso and her legs had somehow merged to form a very impressive tail. There was something of a spikey dorsal fin along her spine, making her look a tad grittier than the average mermaid image. Her long golden hair sent water spraying in every direction, and as she hit the water she twisted and thrashed her tail to give everyone a playful splash. Sierra suddenly got it: a nix was so much more than a simple child's fable! The sprite was so real, so full of life - she was mind-numbingly incredible!
The gang splashed and laughed until it was virtually impossible to endure the frigid temperatures of the water any longer. Sierra headed back to the jetty to get out, her teeth chattering uncontrollably from the cold. She wasn't the only one. She reached the safety of the quay at around the same time as Ken and reached up to grab the woodwork. A little spark jumped between their almost touching skin, surprising Sierra and causing her to release her hold and jump back.
Sierra was shocked. She couldn't believe that something that had been completely ruling her life for weeks until just over a day ago was now so completely under control that she'd actually forgotten about it!
"Sorry," she muttered as she waded a little way off to climb out where no one would be too close to her.
The skin walker finally emerged shivering and hugging her body, her eyes searching for her clothes desperately. She didn't find them, but they found her. Ken held out her dress, jacket and boots with a soft smile that creased the corners of his eyes adorably.
"Thank you!" she remarked as she took them with genuine gratitude.
"You know, I wouldn't mind," he remarked gently as he watched her attempt to pull the stretchy dress over her wet skin.
"Mind what?" Sierra inquired, distracted by the task at hand.
"If you touched me," he replied as Sierra's head erupted through the neckline of the garment.
Sierra stared at him blankly, unexpectedly surprised by the declaration. Ken smiled sweetly back at her.
"It could be kinda cool having another kitsune around," he reasoned with a casual shrug.
"I agree," Alyssa told her as she approached while still fighting on her blouse.
She wrestled strangely with it for a while and, seconds later, her bra was dangling from her fingertips. Stripping off their delicates wasn't a bad idea – they were still cold and wet and were bound to soak through to their clothes in time. Some of the others started to copy her while Sierra looked at her questioningly.
"You can touch me," Alyssa announced. "I like you," she reasoned, "and besides - it would be nice not always being the only woman who has to be naked around the team all the time," she informed Sierra.
Sierra started having second thoughts about touching a nix.
Well that's sweet and all but...
Karina approached, smiling happily for the skin walker.
"I knew it wouldn't take long," she remarked as she wrung her undies out. "They'll all accept you sooner or later."
"Some of us later rather than sooner," Senka noted decisively.
The ladies glanced at her questioningly.
"I like you, but I have my reasons," she told Sierra bluntly.
Sierra wondered if her reasons had something to do with what she'd seen under the shower door. That left only one more. Everyone turned to look at Anthony.
"Oy! Don't look at me like that," he protested defensively. "I have my reasons too!"
"He's worried the transition will trigger his aggression," Ken explained with an apologetic glance at his friend.
"Yeah," Anthony confessed with a passive shrug, "and let's just say that you won't like me when I'm angry."
Sierra's mouth twitched as she tried to hold back her mirth.
"What, do you turn all big and green or something?" she asked him with the straightest face she could muster.
Devon, Luc and Adele chuckled behind him. Ken wanted to, but he didn't dare right in front of his friend.
"More like big, black and dangerous," Ant informed her, apparently missing the joke for the moment. He threw an annoyed glare at his friends.
Oh no – he's killing me...
A weird snorting sound escaped Sierra's mouth as she attempted to hold back a laugh. It was too much to resist.
"So... what exactly are you now then?" she reasoned with an attempt at sweet innocence.
Devon and Luc started howling with laughter and Ken began his own impersonation of Sierra's weird snorting sound.
Anthony scowled and crossed his arms menacingly, but his better nature soon won out and he smiled broadly at her, finally seeing the humour.
"I guess you've got me there," he remarked, scratching the back of his head stupidly.
"If Adam thinks he can stop me from destroying stuff afterwards, you can do your skin walker thing to me too," he decided.
"Thanks!" Sierra replied while she wondered just how bad his rage issues had been in the past.
She brushed her musings aside and turned to all three of them.
"You have no idea what it means to me to hear you all say that. Thank you!"
Some meaningful looks passed between them, warming up their still cold bodies from the inside out.
"We should move on," Luc suggested, "before someone comes and begins to ask questions."
He'd stripped down to his boxers, his wet clothes balled up in one hand. He looked painfully cold, but the warm air would likely start helping soon. Anthony threw his jacket over Luc's shoulders while Adele cozied up to his side to provide body warmth.
The group made their way along, laughing and chatting like they'd known each other for years. They stumbled into a large park filled with interesting sculptures, benches and children's play areas. Sierra's eyes fell on a carefully pruned bush. It had been trimmed into the shape of a man bending over to pick a flower.
"That is just too much to resist," she remarked as she grabbed Devon's wet boxer-briefs from him before he had a chance to protest.
Seconds later, the leafy man was wearing underpants, the top of his bottom showing above the waistband. Maybe it was the earlier alcohol, the late hour or the massive release of tension amongst the group – it could have even been all three – but the team found it extremely funny. Inspired, they ran around trying to find ways to dress up the other topiaries and sculptures with their own underclothes. The results brought tears of laughter to their eyes. In the end it was only Luc who was still in possession of all of his clothes.