[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

[treadwater]

Undine brings over a platter of treats--sweets and savories alike, probably more than the two of them will be able to eat in a sitting.

"So, how're you enjoying shipboard life?"

[draughtsman]

Lucius eyes the plate of tiny fancily cut sandwiches and cookies with a look of combined disbelief and skepticism. This is really something they can just...have here? He plucks one up--cream cheese and cucumber it looks like--and pops it in his mouth as she asks her question. Once he's swallowed, he makes a sort of strained expression--he knows he has an opinion that runs counter to most people but, honestly:

"You know, I kind of like it here?" he says, quietly, with a conspiratorial note. "Oh sure, it's extremely cursed. It's a haunted barge of the damned stuck in perpetual limbo but...the food is very good. Also beds! They are very nice beds."

He takes a cookie and gestures with it.

"How are you liking it?"

[treadwater]

"The beds are nice, I guess. And not having, you know, responsibilities like in the real world, I'm not going to complain about that, but..."

She pauses, looking at him for a moment as if checking to see if the question's a courtesy, or if she can spill her guts a little.

[draughtsman]

He recognizes that brief pause, the look that asks if he actually wants the answer. It's odd to see on such an adorable face, but there all the same. He cocks a brow at her as he takes a bite of his cookie.

His expression says: go on?

[treadwater]

Her voice is softer, and she drops a little of the sunny cheer she's been showing him, letting him see beneath the chipperness to what she's actually like.

"The part that's the absolute worst is the explaining. The times when I tell people about myself and my world and they look at me in horror, when what I'm talking about is just...how life is, where I'm from. It's all I've ever known, and it's very clearly not how things are for them, and it makes me feel so alone and so...bitter, every time it happens."

[draughtsman]

Oh, that hits him much harder than he expects and, he realizes guiltily, that is half of her point. He frowns a little and sets his cookie aside.

"Yes, that's...hard," he agrees with as much sympathy as he can show without it looking like pity. "I've felt something like that a few times."

But this really isn't about him. He leans in a bit and gives her a smile.

"Do you want to tell me? I promise to reign in the horror."

[treadwater]

"I kind of don't want to tell you right now, I just want to whine about it." She ducks her head, looking down at her drink. "Maybe later, I'll go into details. For today, I don't want to ruin the tea party completely."

[draughtsman]

"That's fair," he says gently. He's curious but he's not about to hound the girl, not when she's staring at her boba tea like it's personally disappointed her.

"Hey, want to know something dumb about where I'm from?" Lucius asks, cheerfully cha ging the subject before it drags them down further. He smiles and picks up a new type of tiny sandwich from the tray.

He has no fun (age appropriate) gossip to share, but stupid pirate stories have been a hit with most people thusfar. If that fails, he can just grill her about menu options until he can order drinks in this place.

[treadwater]

“Yes, absolutely. The dumber, the better.” She does perk up a little, grabbing a petit four to munch while he tells her.

[draughtsman]

"Alright," He clears his throat and sits up straighter, his boba drink held in both hands on the table. "So, hi, I'm a pirate, that bit's important. Well, it used to be when we bedded down on a ship we'd have hammocks. Terrible for sleeping, hammocks, but they stow away nicely so Captains don't usually care if they have awful back support.

"My lovely--friend--Pete was trying to help me out because, honestly, I just could not stand another day of sleeping in a hammock or on the deck or else I was going to scream. So he gets it in his head that he needs to make bed, for comfort, but all we have to stuff it with are the sails, or rope.

"He can't quite take down the sails without anybody noticing, but rope, rope we have everywhere. Can't walk across deck without literally tripping over it. It's absurd--anyway, we have all this rope but it's the big, thick, harsh kind.

"He gets together with a few of the other mates and they try to like...tie it together in a big net? Not a one had ever made a net, not once, because they're pirates not fishermen. Not big on fundamentals, pirates.

"Well, nighttime rolls around and we're about to join Captain for the story he's reading to everyone, but I cannot find half the crew it feels like. Very odd stuff. I wouldn't have been surprised if they all wandered off to--play badminton or have a jam..session--but I checked all their usual spots and couldn't find a one of them!

"Then I hear Captain give a shout and come out on deck and all of them, Pete, Fang, Ivan, Frenchie, John, are all caught up in this bizarre--"

He pauses and tries to gesture, letting go of his drink to pantomime...what can only be translated as a spiky ball. If he'd known what they were, he would have compared the sight to pulling tangled Christmas lights from a box.

"--little mass of rope and men, they'd slipped while trying to mount the thing and all the little knots they made gave out and left them all coiled up and swinging from a yardarm. They were all so embarrassed that they just ignored me calling for them and hoped they could swing back over the deck without anybody noticing.

"They were fine, of course, but I think a few of the crew hurt themselves laughing at the sight of five full grown pirates dangling from a pole over the ocean." He feels that is a pretty good story and takes a sip of his boba. "The sweethearts explained what they planned, apologized, and decided to just be dolls and let me lounge across them for the night. Best bed I ever had. Until here. These are good beds."

[treadwater]

"Okay, wait-wait-wait. You're a pirate and your captain reads stories to the crew? That's the most adorable thing I have ever heard in my life. Also, the mental image of you lounging across half the crew is the second-most adorable. I had never heard about pirates doing anything like that before."

She laughs, clearly delighted by everything going on here.

[draughtsman]

Her laugh is adorable and her delight is a much better look than the dour strain of a few moments ago. Lucius is pleased as punch as he sips his drink.

"I am and he does. He had a library with him, free for the crew to use as they like, but found out I was the only one who could read. Tragic, yeah? He decided it would be best if he read to everyone, instead, so they could enjoy the books too."

He plucks up another sandwich.

"He does the voices for all the characters, it's very entertaining after a day of wanton piracy."

[treadwater]

"What...what sort of piracy do you actually do? Like...are you someone who goes out and hurts people, Lucius?"

She would be a little disappointed to hear that. Not surprised, though, given.

[draughtsman]

"Me?" He grimaces readily, and recoils a little. "No, I haven't got the stomach for it."

It's true. He'd normally be more hesitant to admit that, pirates being how they are, but she is not a pirate and there's something just...comforting about her presence. Maybe it's just how nice she is? It's hard to say.

"I was...am a pickpocket? I mostly just take notes and write things down now."

[treadwater]

"Please don't pick people's pockets on the ship? You can get everything you need here without stealing from anyone. Alright?"

She gives him the cutest pleading eyes ever, the way only a teenage girl who's innocent and full of light can.

[draughtsman]

He considers telling her he's been retired for a long while, but she's so adorable and her eyes are so sweet and pleading, that he just smiles and nods.

"Alright," he agrees. "But only because you asked so nicely."

He pops the little sandwich in his mouth and takes another sip of his boba.

"Do you want to know anything else about pirates?"

[treadwater]

"Anything you want to tell me. I remember dressing up as a pirate for Fright Night one year with my best friends, when we were in elementary school." Admittedly, a pirate's not like most monsters, it's a more historical human evil, but also something that only exists in stories in her city.

[draughtsman]

"Oh there is just so much," he says with a laugh. "Quite a lot of which is not great stories, if I'm honest, but there are a few fun things tucked away in the bunch."

He wants to ask her why in the world she would dress like a pirate, or what that even entails, but settles for something a little more pressing.

"What in the world is Fright Night and why do schoolchildren dress up for it?"

[treadwater]

"Fright Night is when little kids dress up as monsters and villains and adults give them candy, and it's suppose to appease the spirits of the real monsters that come out every night."

Remember how she said her world was fucked up and people keep reacting to that? Here's a hint of why they react.

[draughtsman]

Of course there are real monsters, have people not seen maps??? There's dragons all over the edges of them. Also Blackbeard's dad was murdered by the actual Kraken. He doesn't bat an eye at the idea of spirits and monsters, even though he probably should.

"That sounds like a really fun holiday," Lucius says. His straw makes a gurgling sound as he finishes his drink. "When I was a boy all we did was work. Occasionally there was Sunday mass. Which pirate did you dress up as?"

It would have to be a famous one, he suspects, if they were a great enough pirate to count as a villain or monster.

[treadwater]

"I didn't dress as any specific one, just general piratey style clothing. I had a tricorne hat and a sash and some boots that made me feel really confident and stompy. In my time, pirates are just stories--no one really goes out on boats anymore, because it's not safe to leave the city, and there's no big lakes or anything nearby, just a river."

[draughtsman]

"Wow," Lucius says. Both his brows rise as she speaks and he tries to picture this bizarre world where people don't go on the ocean. Sounds...European.

"So the ocean must have been a real surprise for you?"