rakuen | The water line begins to rise

Characters: Dave Strider and everyone ever
Format: Any/Whatever
This log is: Open
Location: Mostly Pool; But eventually Black 2-A
Summary: Despite being told otherwise, Dave still goes to work. He ends up buying memory charms and heads over to the pool to try and swim a little. Swimming at this time of year is stupid. Dave thinks this is incredibly stupid.
Warnings: Sad attempts at swimming, stupid Striders, feelings everywhere, language, and whatever labels you can attach to a Strider, maybe mentions of death

The best way to keep his mind off things? Ignore it completely. It was such a useless tactic. Something that would backfire on him eventually, if it hasn't already. It's becoming more obvious that sleeping is becoming harder for him to get. And with that small memory charm tucked with his other ones, he was beginning to wonder if he should just yank it off and leave it off somewhere. At the same time, this memory was something that belonged to another Dave. A memory he didn't seem to even own. It scared him and confused him. On one side, it couldn't be that he had forgotten it. His Sis was alive and well. She was a message away on his PDA. On the other, he felt like something was amiss. Whenever he thought about it, it hurt. In many ways. Well, mostly in the form of a headache. But his heart ached too. It left him slightly panicked. Even if Bro wasn't who he grew up with, it was still a version of Sis. A version that died. And it freaked him out. It just added on to whatever else plagued his mind.

He got up early (did he even sleep? he can't remember) and headed to work. Things were always slow and mostly mundane. He liked it that way. Just letting whatever music played in the shop to distract him for those few hours. While he was weary, it was nice. He stopped by the shop. Recette wasn't there, but the mayor instead. Weird. He left with two memory charms. He wasn't sure who would get the second one yet, but he knew where one of them was going.

Of course, instead of giving it to said person, he ended up redressing and headed to the pool. The lake was still somewhere he refused to approach. Of course he's still scared. Even if he denies it otherwise.

He threw the towel to the side and stood at the shallow end of the pool. He just stared blankly. Dave must have looked so awkward. Skinny and pale and covered in freckles. His trunks, a bright red that contrasted strongly with his skin. He finally put a foot into the water and almost wanted to go back to the dorm. Holy shit it is balls fucking cold. Who the hell actually enjoys this bullcrap??! He grit his teeth and finally settled into the water. He could at least tread water to some extent. Actual swimming? Not so much. Oh, dog paddling. If you could call his sad excuse of paddling as that. Most of the problem?

Dave didn't want to dip his head into the water quite yet. That feeling of suffocation still lingered in his mind and he was still trying to ease himself into it. Treading water is really fucking hard to do when you're shivering your ass off. God, he's already considering getting out again. Why is it so goddamn cold? Isn't spring supposed to be warm or something? Dave never ventured too far from the shallower side, but he was getting better. Even if it was slower than he hoped.

If you hadn't caught him at the pool, you'll probably catch him heading back to his dorm, shivering under his towel and smelling strongly of pool water. A hot shower and maybe he can get to sleep tonight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi!

[ Walking over to him, dressed in a nice bathing suit. In a two-piece, it's obvious that she starved for four months. No one should have the right to be that skinny. But at least you can't see her ribs as much any more. ]

Are you here for swimming too?

[He's always a bit sad that Jade is still so skinny. Of course, he's kind of skinny himself. But he was skinny for different reasons.

Dave nods at her, not able to reply through his PDA anymore.]

[ She's holding down actual, delicious food now! This is good! ]

Do you want to go underwater with me? I brought goggles. [ Look at that, two pairs. ]

[He wants to say no. Because what if he freaks out and makes a fool of himself? But then he remembers, Jade wouldn't force him into the deep end. If he freaks out, he can just stand up.

She'd make sure he didn't drown and she wouldn't laugh at him.

He held his hands out, nodding a yes to her.]

[ She gently leads him into the water -- down the stairs, into the three feet area. Shallow and easy, she thinks. This is the same way she learned how to swim. ]

You have to put the goggles on, so you don't get water in your eyes. [ A smile, and she hands them over. ] Make sure you let bubbles out through your nose while you're underwater!

[He pauses for a minute. Well, since it's Jade...

He slips Sis' shades off (he needs to ask for his old ones back. He doesn't care if they're broken, he just wants them), leaving them at the edge of the pool. He fumbles with the goggles until he puts them on.]

'You'll make sure nothing bad happens right?' [He's trying to not cling to her too obviously.]

[ She takes his hand, patting it reassuringly. ]

Nothing bad will happen. I promise. If you start to run out of air, you just stand up. You can pull me with you!

[He gives her a more confident nod at that. He can do this. This is baby steps.]

[ She smiles. ]

On three, we'll take really deep breaths and then go underwater! Make sure you blow air out of your nose while you're underwater, so you don't breathe any.

Are you ready?

[He adjusts the goggles over his face then gives her another nod.

Okay. Don't breathe water in. That's the exact opposite of what you want Dave.

He can do this.]

One......two...three!

[ She squeezes his hand, takes a deep breath, and ducks underwater. ]

[Dave takes a deep breath and follows under. For a fraction of a second he feels the wave of panic wash over him. His grip on Jade's hand tightens and he almost considers going back up. He opens his eyes though and stares back at her.

He can feel his heart in his throat, but he just floats in the water. Wow. Okay...this isn't so bad when you're not drowning.]

[ She smiles at him and waves with her free hand. Jade actually seems at home in the water, crossing her legs and floating to the bottom. But she doesn't let go of Dave's hand, instead carefully squeezing it and mouthing "Having fun?" ]

[He glances around him. Actually, this is pretty cool. Even if he's still pretty sure that his heart is about to burst, he could slowly get used to this.

He just...dumbly nods at her.]

[ Not too long after that, she points up with her free hand, giving his own another squeeze. Pushing off of the bottom of the pool with her legs, she springs out of the water, taking a deep breath.

Hopefully Dave gets the example and follows suit. ]

[Dave follows suit, breaking the surface. He shivers slightly, the cold air unwelcoming. The water was nice compared to the chill.

But it was relieving. The feel that he could surface instead of the first time he was in water.]

[ She grins at him. ]

How was it? Are you okay?

[He starts writing letters in her palm.]

'It wasn't that bad. But now I'm freezing. I'm afraid to ever get out of the water with the offchance of freezing to death. That's too ironic. Even for me. I will just grow fins and become the cutest chlorine merstrider. The best there could ever be.' [What are you even saying.]

[ She waits patiently as he spells out all the letters. ]

I'll hug you, and you won't be cold any more. And then we'll get fluffy towels, and maybe we can find some hot cocoa too!

'Hot cocoa sounds good right now. You think they'll have dessert in the cafeteria?'

[They can eat sweets and drink hot cocoa until they puke. And just curl up under blankets. That doesn't sound too bad actually...]

We can sneak some, like ninjas! [ She laughs, beginning her wade out of the water. ] Do you want to watch a movie? Wait...do we even have any movies?

[He follows after her, using her back to keep tracing letters.]

'I take food back to the dorms all the time. Ain't nothing. And I don't know. I haven't watched any since we got here.'

You do? [ She looks over her shoulder, a little startled. ] I've never done that before!

'Yeah. We can go make a pillow fort and just hoard some food. Basically the best idea.' [He usually didn't eat in the cafeteria during dinner. He preferred eating back in the rooms by that time.]

[ Jade doesn't usually go to dinner anyway, she's a meal skipper. Which is probably not good for a girl who's only been eating regularly for two months, but oh well yolo. ]

I'd like to make a pillow fort with you!

(no subject)

knightime - 2012-06-21 11:37 (UTC) - Expand