[OPEN] I Want to Swim Away, But Don't Know How...

[treadwater]

Who: Undine and You
When: Mid-May, after the Battle Royale
Where: Pool Deck
Summary: Trying to remember how to relax
Warnings: Discussion of the event and violence possible


1. Flyers
Hand-written flyers on Serena Eterna stationary are posted in a few public spaces. Perhaps you run into Undine while she has an armful of them, sticking some up in the library or Playback or around the seating area of the Windjammer. They're fairly plain, words hand-written and a vague silhouette-style drawing of a person doing a swim:

SWIM LESSONS AT POOL DECK, 3PM-5PM

Apparently someone's looking to do something productive in the aftermath of all the things.

2. Swimsuit Shopping
Of course, Undine's going to stop and find herself a new, flattering swimsuit at the new Tommy Bahama before the lessons. If you're a friend, she might encourage you to join her. It's always an interesting time for her, shopping. Blue hair can clash with a lot of things, if she's not careful, but she also doesn't want to lean matchy-matchy. That's something she does in her transformed form, and she doesn't want to evoke that same sort of mood now.

"Alright, so here's the question: paisley or floral?" She's holding up both suits for a second opinion.

3. Lessons
Swim lessons go here--Undine starts everyone out in the shallow end, getting to know their level of comfort with the water. Luckily, she found some kickboards and floaties on the sports deck, so she can give lessons at all levels. She's an encouraging teacher, a bright smile on her face the whole time.

4. Free Swim
Once lessons are done, Undine gets herself a virgin pina colada from the pool bar and sits at the edge of the water, dangling her feet and relaxing. Now's a good time to talk to her about anything on your mind. Or maybe, maybe to get her to talk about what's on hers.

5. Wildcard
Same bat time, same batchannel: darkersolstice or darkersolstice#9463

Comments

3.

[decohere]

As much as she enjoys the hot tub, Ava has outright avoided the pool. She has absolutely no idea how to swim, which seems a poor idea when surrounded by water. So when Undine puts up her flyers advertising lessons, Ava makes all sorts of lame excuses about why she's too busy to go.

But she lurks around, watching to see if too many people show up, before dipping her foot cautiously into the water.

It's cold. Fuck that. "Anyone drown yet?"

[treadwater]

"I'm not going to let anyone drown while I'm giving lessons. I was a junior lifeguard the summer before I had the dream and became a magical girl, you know." She had grown up in a very different world, had been swimming since a very young age. She treads water, looking up at Ava.

[decohere]

"Hn," she comments. Feigning disinterest rather than admitting fear. But she sits down at the edge, sinks her legs in, and tries to acclimate to the temperature. Slowly kicking them back and forth, trying to keep her legs solid enough to move them through the water rather than allowing the water to move through her.

"So does it work like that? Your magical element matching things you already like?"

Free Swim

[lightconductor]

Watson didn't partake in the swimming lessons. He can swim well enough, certainly. Lessons from a teenage girl seem unnecessary. But after the fact, he comes over in his swim trunks and swim t-shirt, and lowers himself carefully down on the edge of the pool as well -- carefully, because he had to leave his cane over there on a deck chair.

"Swimming lessons are an interesting idea," he says, quietly friendly.

[treadwater]

"Interesting-good or interesting-bad?" Because it's just such a euphemistic phrasing for that comment that Undine has to check. She may be a magical girl, but she still sort-of, kind-of wants approval for the things she's doing sometimes. She's still just a kid, in some ways.

[lightconductor]

"Interesting-good," Watson says, with a chuckle. "There's something rather wholesome about it, and we haven't had a lot of that, lately. Did you have much interest?"

The water is nice, at least, a luxury amidst the horror.

Free Swim!

[light_mischief]

Today's not a day for heavy exercise, and so Skulduggery isn't here at the pool to run his laps. It's a good time to stop obsessing over their terrible situation as captives and maybe just take a stroll. (Easier said than done, because this skeleton cannot turn his thoughts down. But it's a thought, and it counts!)

He hasn't seen Undine since -- well, since they'd met. He hardly wants to consider the excursion at all, especially now. It's as good a time as any to see how she's holding up, but perhaps without actually asking that. (Seems to be a hard question to pose towards people you watched die. Who would have known?)

"Hello, Undine," he says, coming up to stand beside her at the pool's edge. "How's the water?"

See? Completely normal. Nobody died and mysteriously resurrected here!

[treadwater]

"Wet, chlorinated, awful for my hair. But it's water, and I'm watery enough to feel at home in it. It's been nice to do something that sort of feels...I don't know, useful. Like it might be good for other people, instead of..."

She trails off with a shrug.

[light_mischief]

"Ah. Yes."

Skulduggery leans his weight on one foot briefly, then settles down to sit cross-legged next to her.

"Good idea. It's important we remember what normalcy feels like."

4

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy's not dressed for swimming. Not least of all because she refuses to step foot into the new store that opened up, she will literally die before she enters a store that even looks like it's catering to people from Florida. But the trauma thing doesn't help either. Still, she's here, and she plonks herself down beside Undine, keeping herself a little bit back from the water.

"I didn't get to say, I thought your dress looked nice at the party."

Because of the whole 'stabbing the captain' thing, you know.

[treadwater]

"Your suit looked really nice, too. I couldn't help but feel a little bit like you and me were dressed up for prom or something." She's a few years shy of senior prom at Future's Promise, but it's May now, which is prom season. "Except that most girls don't bring a sword to prom, at least not where I'm from."

[saltwaterlungs]

"We don't really do prom in France," she says too quickly to cover her ears going red, "but proms probably have less stabbing in the places where they happen. There's probably usually not usually an evil necromancer at regular proms either. Just principals, who are probably as bad,"

She tries to joke. Fucking hell, of course complimenting the dress would leave her open to a counter-offensive, Darcy chided herself for getting sloppy and careless.

2

[pineapplesalmon]

César has to rub his beard at the question. He's wearing his new moss green vest, the belt bags, etc.

"... honestly, get both if they fit. That way you can air dry a suit after washing it to extend its life and always have one to go."

[treadwater]

"Oh! That's a very good idea. The floral one's even reversable, so I can get three looks out of the two suits." She grins broadly. "You're pretty smart, Uncle César."

Congratulations, you've been adopted by a teenager.

[pineapplesalmon]

"'Uncle'?" César looks surprised for a moment, then pleased. "Ha, keep forgetting I'm an actual adult, still. Three looks you definitely can't go wrong with. I've got two swimsuits myself, even."

He can't complain about being adopted; he's realized he needs younger people in his life.

3

[pointofhonoria]

When Crabb comes by, she's notably... not actually dressed to swim. Her shirt's not fully buttoned, the arms are rolled up as are the legs of her pants, and she's wearing no shoes where she dips her toe briefly in the water, but that's it. The swimsuits available are all a darn sight more exposing than anything she's used to, alright, so maybe she wants to scope this out before she metaphorically and literally takes the plunge.

She doesn't know how to swim so well, which, yeah, she figures might start to be a problem when they're stuck out here in the middle of an endless ocean. Now, she doesn't expect to find the lessons being done by a teenager, but she supposes she hasn't been thinking too hard about the non-zero number of youths aboard this torture ship in the first place.

"Good idea you've had, here. Been many folks need it?"

[treadwater]

"There's been a good few. People are keeping me busy. Are you, ahm...planning on swimming in that? The fabric's going to create some drag in the water. You'll be working harder than most people swimming, like that."

But she can definitely work with this if she needs to.

3

[wimdy]

[ venti is indeed, relying on a floatie while in the shallow part of the pool. he isn't a bad swimmer but it's clear this really isn't his element.

still, he kind of feels like he'd like to improve...! ]

Miss Undine--! [ ....... he calls her name kind of on some kind of strange reflex, wanting a bit of help without really knowing what exactly he needs help with, funnily enough. and now he has to try to think of a not-stupid question. ] A-ah, what... what's your favorite kind of swimming style?

[ he probably means like, type of stroke or something. ]

Re: 3

[treadwater]

Breaststroke, I think. It feels most natural, instead of being something where you have to coordinate your limbs. But you need to be a little comfortable with the water first, with your whole face being under the surface.

[What, she actually has thought about this question before.]

2. it's here, the bahama

[broshaw]

Sharky's made it his personal mission to find the end of the restocking abilities to the Tommy Bahama. Actually, scratch that, because it really applies to all the stores. The luxury of being able to walk up a few decks and just take what you need, no questions asked, is one that he's been indulging in over and over (and over and over) again since he's gotten here.

Also, he straight up refuses to do laundry, soooo he needs the extra clothes.

He's trying to decide if he actually wants or needs a purple shirt when he is asked by somebody for... an opinion. Sharky's got tons of those, but not many related to clothes... But maybe there could be a trade here. Opinion for an opinion!

"Uhhh, that one," he says, pointing at the paisley one because honestly, frills are cool and menswear doesn't get to have them, which sucks. NOW he holds up his shirt and says, "Is this, like, cool ugly or just ugly ugly?"

[treadwater]

She considers for a moment, leaning in to look at the pattern. "It's a little busy, but I think if you wore it unbuttoned over a neutral t-shirt, it could definitely look cool. And if you wanted to go over the top, find some hibiscus flowers and stick them in your beard to match."

Do you really want to take advice from a 14 year-old magical girl? If so, this is the type of advice you're going to get.

Wildcard - Bubble Tea?

[draughtsman]

Lucius is on vacation. He may have tasks he's got to go do, tasks that look like work if you squint, but he is supposed to be doing exactly no work for the duration. This is how he justifies going shopping down the promenade and this is how he justifies trying a new type of food that he has neither heard of nor seen before.

He is dressed just about as touristy as is possible and is staring at the choices before him at the counter. The shop is very small, not even the size of the sundries, but it sells something edible, he's sure of it. Or is it a beverage with weirdly shaped ice? The ghost behind the counter isn't fessing up so Lucius is debating just what to add in.

"Is this like ice cream, or...?" he asks, mostly to himself, and squints at the words. "Lychee Popping Pearls?"

He stares.

"Is this...English?"

It looks like but only about 75% of these words make sense individually, let alone in concert.

[treadwater]

"Do you have much of a sweet tooth? I can help you order something to your taste. They do coffees and teas and frappes--but I've always been a fan of bubble tea with tapioca."

A girl with a dark complexion and bright blue hair approaches, wearing a handkerchief hem dress and wide-brimmed straw hat from Tommy Bahama. She's probably around the same age as Darcy, but she smiles more easily and genuinely seems to want to help.

3.

[hellonspectacles]

Palamedes never learned to swim, a fact that had been perfectly normal where he came from. For one thing, based on both natural aptitude and tradition, necromancers tended to stay away from sustained physical activity. For another, there just wasn’t a lot of room in the Library for a swimming pool.

But now he’s trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean. And just a few days earlier, he and Clarke had managed to get themselves briefly stranded miles from the Serena Eterna in a lifeboat that, frankly, was barely seaworthy. Even if he never became a strong swimmer, Pal is starting to think that maybe he should learn how to keep himself afloat by his own power.

He shows up poolside at the appointed time in his new tropical themed swim trunks and, incongruously, a notebook and pencil. Surely there would be readings to do and diagrams to study before they got to the practical lessons. Right?

[treadwater]

"That notebook is probably going to get soaked through if you try to bring it into the pool, you know." She giggles softly. "Swimming is the sort of thing you learn by doing Pal, so put that down and come into the shallow end here with me."