The Pool, Thursday Night

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew had heard that there was a pool in the basement, but, not being much of a swimmer, he had never really been to see it. So armed with a towel, some water wings, and a big pink styrofoam noodle, he embarked on a quest.

It was a short quest, as the way to the pool was pretty clearly marked, and he was pleasantly surprised to find the water warm upon dipping his toe into it.

Floating there was nice. He could almost convince himself it didn't feel like like the weight of the world was pressing firmly down on his shoulders. Plus, when he slapped his palms down on the water, it made a really cool plunking sound.

[ooc: the pool is open!]

Comments

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Keeping her nocturnal adventures to the realm of the indoors today, in an almost prideful (to maintain the topic of today's class, of course, and revel in the fact that it was her favorite) to get better at mastering the stairs, Adah had bothered to risk the ones that would lead her down, down, down into the basement of the dormitory. Her head, filled with too much Poe and too much boredom, had been filled with fanciful ideas, particularly ones of enemies bricked up to die in madness and starvation in the bowels of the building, only to be dashed across the wall like a smattering of blood from a headwound when she found that the area beneath where they slept was not filled with potential beating hearts long since detatched from chests, but of a swimming pool, well kept, reeking of chlorine...

...and rather full of people. She blinked, leaning against the entryway, watching, waiting which would be the first idiot to suggest she come join them for a little swim.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew was rather baffled at how quickly his solitary watery refuge had become overrun. He had no idea the pool was this popular.

He looked up from where he was floating and nodded at the girl in the doorway. He didn't see a towel, so he trusted she wouldn't be adding to the ripples that were messing up what had once been a nice predictable bob.

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Adah, briefly, acknowledge the nod with nothing more but a slightly linger, mostly dull glance toward Andrew. To be honest, those ripples in the water were more interesting, and her eyes drifted away from him towards them, her own head making small bobs as she counted them, counted the time it took one of the light swells to make it until it was interrupted by another one, killed by another, joined with another one and changed direction. The chlorine stung both her eyes and her nostrils, a far step from the muddy, forsaken waters of the Kwilu. Her head tilted thoughtfully but she remained quiet where she was.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew frowned, and with a subtle flutter of his hand, turned away from the girl in the doorway. He would wait a few moments before spinning around, and hope that she would take her vacant stare and somewhat creepy vibe elsewhere.

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

With how much trouble it took to get down here, only to discover a damn pool? Fat chance. But the turning away got a slightly satisfied smirk out of Adah, a slight straightening of her hunched shoulders, as she caught it in the corner of her eye.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

He was a little surprised to find her still standing there when he had completed his slow rotation in the water, and he looked at her a little closer, trying to recall if he had seen her around. Poor girl. Something about her led Andrew to conclude the she must be kind of slow. He regarded her now with a sympathetic expression and wondered if maybe she was lost.

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

The sympathetic expression, which Adah caught in her slow, silent observance of the people in the pool, from the blonde girls she didn't know to the kid that she'd had a food fight with that one time, earned Andrew a quirking of an eyebrow and a tilt of her head. No one else was bothering to pay attention to her her; why was he? She was half tempted, lowering her chin in a slight attempt to darken her gaze which brought some of her hair forward to mask it instead, to wave a hand at him, a shooing gesture, like a woman to a dog or a child, telling him to go on, go about his business, play in his little pool with his innertube like the other children, careless because it wasn't like they had to worry about alligators, although drowning was certainly still a possibility. But she didn't. She just gave her head a slight quirk in the hopes to get more hair to fall forward over her face, but none did. Instead, she lifted her chin again, lifted her eyes, away from him, toward the ceiling, checking it for cracks. Her Poe-induced mind was hoping to find drifts of mortar drifting down, catching in the unnaturally clear water of the pool, polluting it, but not enough for anyone but her to notice.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew almost called out, worried that the girl might be exhibiting signs of an impending seizure. Then he reminded himself that he had no clue what the signs of impending seizures were, and relaxed a little. Too bad there wasn't one of those dogs around - the ones that bark when someone is about to go into an epileptic fit.

There really should be more dogs like that in the world. And a lifeguard. One of those would be handy as well.

[withoutverona]

Romeo would not be that idiot, but he did pause in some aquatic acrobatics long enough to register Adah's presence and wave in her general direction.

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Which was fine; Adah was patient, and she knew that idiot would probably come around eventually. With everything it took out of her to get there and for what it was worth, she planned on not going anywhere for a while. After catching the wave from Romeo, Adah tilted her head slightly, eyes settling quietly on him as if taking a moment to access the aquatic acrobatics he had recently ceased. She didn't raise her hand in a wave back; she actually didn't do much beyond that glance in response but, if he was paying attention, if the chemicals of the water hadn't stung his eyes too bad, he would notice a short, brief, jerking inclination of her chin in silent acknowledgment, in wordless, nearly motionless greeting.

[withoutverona]

Romeo registered the nod, but did no more than acknowledge it with a smile before diving back under. He couldn't say he *knew* Adah, not in any significant way, but he had picked up that talking at her when there was nothing specific to be said was, at best, energy wasted.