exsiliumlogs | (open) welcome to the exsilium transport swim team!

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(open) welcome to the exsilium transport swim team!

Date & Time: August 6th, Afternoon
Location: Hold Training Facilities Swimming Pool
Characters: open to all! heard of it, completely ignorant, stop on by! threadjack! cr!
Summary: The first meeting of the Exsilium Transport Swim Team
Warnings: N/A

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Collette was down and rearranging the towels on the bleachers by the far wall. All those invited were either going to show up or not -- and new people might stop by hearing voices from inside the arched hall of the indoor pool.

Either way, it was a great distraction for her, and she hoped it would be useful for those who wanted to learn or practice swimming, or just have fun diving after rings and pulling them up off the bottom of the pool. Not to mention, maybe people would start diving!

And so it was that the person arranging the whole thing sat in her suit in her borrowed wheelchair (manual when she'd come over in her electrical) at the poolside, examining the lifeguard whistle around her neck with the stopwatch, and leaning over to poke at the lifeguard buoy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Xerxes Break doesn't know how to swim. Xerxes Break doesn't know he doesn't know how to swim. All he knows is - this isn't the Cretaceous. And - there's certainly no sunshine here. And finally - there's something wrong with this water!!!

Obviously it's the fault of the water that he isn't floating. Without salt to keep him buoyant, nor waves to ride, he is doing a spot-on imitation of a stone. He thrashes about to keep his head up, but it's noisy and inefficient and exhausting. He gives up, finally, clinging to the side of the pool and breathing hard. Defective, evil-smelling water...

Perhaps some kind soul will give him some tips. Or water wings. ]

[perhaps caught in a moment when his head is actually above water, the sound of someone laughing -

laughing a little guiltily.]

[ At this point, he has just sucked in a mouthful of water and he is very seriously annoyed.

The sound of laughter doesn't improve his disposition. ]

Eh?

What's so funny?

HAhaha - [Snickers quickly squashed. CAUGHT. She will be rising from her comfortable seat on a poolside bench momentarily, and considering disappearing.]

[ He's had enough of this. He hauls himself out of the water and sits at the edge of the pool with his legs dangling in it. He contemplates getting up and leaving.

But.

That would mean that the awful, evil-smelling water wins, and he can't have that. He twists around towards Rin and beams at her. ]

La la, it's Little Miss Rin, isn't it? Come and sit down next to papa, okaaaay~♥

[Abruptly a theatrical and not entirely faked gagging noise. Perhaps the faint splish splish of retreating footsteps, the auditory clue of a voice changing position...]

I should have known you'd be here...

[SUPER SERIOUS. Yeah, she pretty much did know, given Collette said he... was on... the swim team...]

Whyyyyy so cold? How hard-hearted you are, cruel girl!

[ He stays put, by the pool, for the moment - but it's tempting to chase after her, to leave this water, this bane behind, for a while. He wavers. ]

[as much disdain in her voice as anyone could muster, and oh, mustered it is.]

Yes. Yes, I am. Goodbye, Xerxes Break.

Fine, fine~! I didn't want to fool with a silly girl like you anyway!

[ He stands up. And then, with his toes over the edge of the pool and bending his knees, he jumps back in. It's a huge splash, feet first (he has no idea about diving). The water closes over his head and he disappears. ]

[she jumps at the splash - that's a lot of water spraying every whichaway! then turns to glance back at him, frowning. More than anything a bit puzzled. She watches him flail around under the water, then the white head breaks surface. Called sarcastically:]

You're going to drown in there! Tilt your head back!

[ He'd had the idea of finding the bottom of this pool, and pushing off it with his legs, hence the initial plunge. He might have been successful if he'd jumped off the diving board, but he doesn't quite make it. Which means he floats fairly slowly back up towards the surface, and not well because there's little about him that would actually float: he's all bone and sinew. Finally he starts thrashing again, and manages to bob up enough to take a breath (is someone yelling at him? he can't hear clearly in the water) and decides to head for the side of the pool again.

Except--he's not entirely sure where that is, he's become a bit disoriented. He sets off in a direction with his inefficient thrash-paddle, trying to keep his head completely out of the water, which is unfortunately parallel to the side of the pool, not towards it.

If he had decent lungs, it wouldn't be a problem, he's strong enough to do this all day, but as it is, this sort of thing requires way too much air. ]

[Rin sighs! Of all the damnable nuisances...

She glances left, glances right. Is someone else paying attention to this? A monitor is not immediately evident. She takes the plunge, hopping in with pointed toes and waving her arms until she pops above the surface. She's not great at this either, but a little more equipped for it than break as she sets out after him, kicking furiously and reaching for his arm the moment she judges she's in range.]

[ He's not panicking, but he is definitely tiring, and as his paddling and thrashing slows, his head sinks lower down and goes under. More thrashing, and he's able to bring it up again and catch a shallow breath. But there's a small voice in the back of his mind that is saying - give up, give in, let the water engulf you.

His continued existence is more a matter of will than anything else. He's alive only because he cannot die yet, but what if he can? He's tired...

And then Rin's hand closes around his arm and jolts him out of his reverie (which only lasted seconds, but felt far longer). He thrashes and sputters: ]

Wha-at?

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[ It's small, petty revenge for the whole ordeal back with Oz's acupuncture session that keeps Lavi from helping out right away.

Instead he stays where he is for a moment, treading water on the other side of the pool while he watches Break flounder with amusement until he finally takes pity and swims over. But only once the show is over and Break is clinging to the side, of course. So really, not exactly a kind soul. ]

Need a hand, ol' man?

[ He doesn't place the voice immediately. He first met Lavi as a child, and then spoken to him only once since, as a teenager. Add to that the echoing of the room, the background splashing, and his own ragged breathing--well, it's difficult. So he rearranges his features into a neutral expression. ]

No, I'm fine.

[ He is, after all, safely holding on to the side of the pool. He is, by unfortunate chance, in the deep end (he didn't know there was a shallow one). ]

[ Lavi arches an eyebrow, obvious skepticism and amusement seeping into his voice. ]

Ya didn't look fine a moment ago.

[ But no okay, he shouldn't tease what he's guessing to be a blind man (considering previous circumstances and lack of recognition now.) ]

At least let me take you to the shallow end.

[ ...

Okay wait. NOW he makes the connection. ]

You--

You're that kid!

That again?

[ He can't even be bothered to let his temper flare this time, so all Break gets is an exaggerated sigh. ]

I'm turning twenty soon, y'know. Not a kid.

[ Here, let him make a point by putting his BIG hand on Break's head. ]

Also, it's Lavi. [ Pat, pat. ]

[ Break generally has excellent instincts when someone is attacking him. But a head-pat he wasn't expecting. He can't help startling--

That's... that's a big hand. As big as Gilbert's. No--bigger. ]

My, myyyyy~! Kids grow up soooooo fast, nowadays. Hahahahaha!

[ He has pushed his voice into a light sing-song, bubbling over with laughter. He's annoyed (by Lavi's tone, the head patting, and the fact that he must have grown so tall), but doesn't want to give Lavi the satisfaction of showing it. Besides, he's begun to put together what Lavi is saying and doing. ]

So you've, ah, you've sorted out a way to get around in this awful stuff, hmmm?

[ As annoyed as he is with Lavi, he is much more annoyed by the water. ]

[ Nice recovery! Even though it doesn't really fool Lavi, but he'll play along, matching the tone with a cheerful one of his own. ]

I was just stuck looking like one before, is what I've been sayin'.

[ But he's made his point so he retracts his hand and moves back into water a bit more. ]

Yeah, it's different from what I'm used to, but it helps I already know how to swim.

[ He doesn't even sound smug about it! Mostly because he knows he doesn't have to. ]

[ Well! This fellow Lavi knows how to swim. Obviously the thing to do is ask him how.

RECORD SCRATCH

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no. ]

Well then. Don't let me hold you up. Carry on~!

[ The stupid water might annoy him, but more than that he hates hates hates hates asking for help! ]

[ Yeahh somehow Lavi's not surprised at that reaction in the slightest.

But he's not going to ditch Break now. ]

I'm one of the instructors, it's my job to help y'know. So . . .

[ He'll be reaching to grab Break's arm to give it a gentle tug. Time to get you to the shallow end, old man. ]

[ Wow cut that shit out, you dumb kid before somebody slices you into tiny tiny pieces--

--wait. His sword is with his clothes. Damn. He contents himself with jerking his arm away and snapping peevishly. ]

I don't need any help, what gave you that idea!

[ So snappy, it's almost impressive.

Lavi does the infuriating thing of laughing as he throws his hands up in front of him. ]

Oh, I don't know, the hopeless splashing around you did before? Aren't ya here to learn?

[ Xerxes Break is used to having athletic endeavors come to him effortlessly. All he had to do was watch someone do something for a while, and then he could do it too. Except for dancing. Or any other team sport. But anything he can do on his own is easy.

But he has never seen anyone swim before. His inefficient paddling was fine in the super-salted water of the Cretaceous, but here it's a different story. He's not figuring it out on his own, because the whole concept of being suspended in water, without anything solid to press against is still very foreign. He needs training, otherwise he's going to have to give it up.

And that would disappoint Collette.

He considers all this, glowering resentfully. Finally he murmurs: ]

If you're going to touch me, tell me first.

[ It's grudging assent, without further explanation. He strongly suspects Lavi knows he's blind, he and Lenalee must have spoken. ]