fandomhighdorms | Saturday morning swimming lessons at the pool!

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Saturday morning swimming lessons at the pool!

Having had a great deal of fun 'sneaking' downstairs to the pool, Charlie turned to Graham with a grin. "Ah, nothing like the smell of chlorine in the morning!"

It really was a shame that the pool was used so rarely because it truly was a wonderful place!

"Maybe once we've got you comfortable with swimming we could throw a pool party down here," Charlie suggested.

It was a great place for it, lots of room, little locker rooms for changing or a quick shower afterwards, even a sauna. If only it had a hot tub, the place would be perfect.

But who knew? Maybe there was one hidden away that Charlie just hadn't discovered yet.

"Okay," she said, stripping off her outer garments to reveal a sleek one piece bathing suit which matched her purple hair. "I'm just going to put my clothes in the changing room and then we can get started!"

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Graham probably looked slightly silly, with a (very) newly purchased pair of swim trunks (it's not like he'd really ever expected to go swimming before!) and a t-shirt underneath his cloak, but he really couldn't leave his room without it. He was, however, definitely taking that cloak off now, because not only did he not want it to get ruined by the water, but there was a good chance the water could leak into his pockets and start filling them and draining the pool, and then where would they be?

He respectfully bounced his eyes away from Charlie shedding her outer layers a few seconds after the fact, before taking care of his cloak and folding it up to set on a poolside chair because he didn't much like the idea of it being too far out of sight.

"It might be a while," he chuckled, somewhat nervously, "before I get to that point, but a party down here would be pretty great!"

"Until then we can just have the secret pool all to ourselves," Charlie said with a grin. "It will be just as much fun."

She nodded in approval of his swim trunks and t-shirt. "Perfect. Now, first things first, let's get in and get wet."

Charlie sat on the edge and dangled her feet in the water. "So nice to have a heated pool here!"

After another moment of uncertainty, Graham decided that he was going to ditch the t-shirt, too. The last thing he needed was for it to end up weighing him down, right? The fewer obstacles against swimming he had the better, and, who knew? Maybe some of that work he'd been putting in at the gym to buff up for the Tournament of Knights was finally starting to pay off and show up.

(It wasn't).

Then he went to join Charlie at the ledge, sitting beside her as he tentatively dipped his own toes (well, quite a bit more than toes, really, with how much leg he had) in the water, too. He sort of looked down at the water with another swell of concern (what if he actually couldn't swim at all? And Charlie was just wasting her time and he was going to make a big, waterlogged fool of himself? His confidence about this from yesterday had quickly disappeared when faced with the actual prospect of it), but then grinned over at Charlie.

"Hey, do you think maybe they heat it," he mused, "with a big dragon that lives underneath even this?"

He knew, of course, it was probably, as with most things around here, ~electricity~, but it was much more fun to pretend it was dragons.

Charlie wasn't about to let anything happen to Graham. He'd be safe and by the end of the morning he'd at least be able to doggy paddle. If necessary she'd practiced a charm that would let him breathe underwater for brief periods of time and she was prepared to use it. And she didn't care about buff. Not that buff wasn't nice, but Charlie was an equal opportunity appreciator of pretty much all body types.

"Ooh," she said. "A dragon, yes. Or maybe one of those magical salamanders! Smaller and more convenient than a dragon, but equally hot."

"But you'd probably need more salamanders to heat a pool this size," Graham pointed out, with his grin growing a little more, "so, really, it's a matter of what's more efficient, right? Lots of little guys doing a lot of little work, or just one big guy doing one big job."

After he said it, though, he knew which way he leaned on that one. "I think the more salamanders is a better idea, actually. Being the only guy doing it sounds pretty lonely, even if I think dragons tends to like being by themselves most of the time. But not always, because then why else would they be kidnapping princesses all the time?"

Then he remembered, quickly, that dragons in Charlie's world seemed a bit different than the ones in his.

"Where I'm from, anyway," he hastily added.

And thus a new legend was born with families of salamanders heating up the pool - and perhaps the Onsen - passing the tradition down from generation to generation with the occasional black sheep (?) of the family taking off to other climes and causing random heated springs.

Charlie liked that idea, is the narrative hadn't been clear enough, and was quick to share it with Graham. "So maybe these salamanders will be terribly grateful that we're here using the pool so all their hard work doesn't go to waste," she finished.

As for dragons, in Charlie's world - or at least the one adjacent to hers dragons were relatively social, at least within their family groups, though the females who were bigger and more dangerous than the rest, tended to be a bit praying mantis

"Thank you, salamanders!" Graham called out, pleased and beaming at the way his voice echoed and bounced against the walls of the large space, in a way that made him certain that they were sure to have heard his gratitude even from below the pool. "Keep up the good work!"

And, boy, this conversation was sure going to cast some interesting light on a future situation that Graham may find himself in one day, when he would have to employ the help of not exactly salamanders, but newts to help ensure his survival and the survival of many of his most loyal subjects.

He then leaned in toward Charlie a little, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Do you know what sorts of things salamanders like? Maybe we should bring them something, to really show our appreciation?"

Edited 2023-03-11 14:02 (UTC)

"That is a very good question, and one for which I have no answer. Maybe the squirrels know?" Charlie suggested. "But I'm sure they do appreciate being thanked and recognized."

So she raised her voice as well to yell to the (probably) fictional salamanders. (But one never know, did one?) "Thank you, salamanders! We think your awesome and amazing! And... If you could see your way clear to making a hot tub here, that would be an amazingly nice bonus to add to the pool and sauna you already heat. But in any case, thanks!"

Charlie slid into the water, ducking briefly to get her hair wet as well, before resting her arms on the side to continue chatting with Graham. "When you're ready, just slip on in and hang onto the side like this. The water is beautiful - thank you salamanders!!"

Graham had been grinning up at the ceiling a little, enjoying how Charlie's additional message also filled the space thanks to the acoustics of the pool, when she slipped into the water, and he felt a little brick of nervousness drop into his stomach. He'd been sort of enjoying the conversation not just for the fun fancifulness of it all, but also because it had been working as a great way to delay the inevitable. He looked back over at Charlie with a faint chuckle.

"They do good work," he said, "those salamanders..."

But his rate of return on delaying was getting pretty small, and he knew it was always best to just jump right in and hope for the best, so he took a moment to just bolster himself, take a deep breath, and did exactly as she said--slipping off the side, into the water, and turning to hold onto the side.

Tightly, and with another, still somewhat nervous, laugh. "You're right," he said, "this is nice."

Mildly terrifying and nerve-wracking, sure, but that sure was a nice water temperature, yup.

Charlie smiled over at him. "Excellent job. You'll find that this end is actually shallow enough that you can probably touch the bottom on your tiptoes." She demonstrated. "So now hang onto the edge and just bounce a little. Get a sense of just how buoyant your body is."

She bounced a bit. "See, your body just keeps floating up!"

Graham looked a little skeptical at first, since he'd spent more than enough time thinking of himself just sinking like a rock. But, really, if you thought about it, he was much more stick than rock, and what happened when you threw a stick in the water? It floated. So, with that in mind, Graham grinned a little as he jostled himself up and down a little, pointing his toes to try and see how much bouncing it took to touch the bottom.

"Then how do people sink, if they just float back up?"

"You need a little bit of effort to start afloat," Charlie said. "Let me show you."

She pushed away from the wall and floated on her back, arms outstretched, legs out, head back, moving in just small enough movements to stay mostly flat and buoyant. "Lots of surface area, very calm, just let your body rest."

She switched to being vertical, treading water while she talked. "This way the top of your head will still tend to stay above water a little, but your mouth and nose will be under water which is when people, rightly, tend to panic a little."

She demonstrated again, letting herself sink down for a long moment before kicking up to the surface. "And once you're panicking and flailing it's harder to calm down and get yourself floating again. But between floating and treading water," which she was doing again, "in still water like this you can stay afloat with minimal effort practically forever."

She smiled at him. "And of course with me here, you're beyond safe. Want to try while I hold onto you?"

If he was willing she'd help him lie on his back while she 'supported' him underneath till he relaxed.

Graham twisted his body so he could watch and listen without letting go of the edge, his toes also still reaching for the bottom of the pool and feeling grateful every time they managed to brush that reassuring surface.

And when Charlie finished, he let out a slightly nervous laugh that he tried to make not sound so nervous.

"So just don't panic," he reiterated, maybe a little panicked. "Easy-peasy."

But of course he wanted to try it, because appearing brave and bold and willing in front of Charlie was far more important than potentially drowning.

"So, just...lie back, spread out, and....think buoyant thoughts?"

"And know that I will not let anything happen to you, Graham Cracker. May the Aunties haunt me forever if I do," she teased. "But yes, I'll be holding on to you and I'll make sure you are perfectly safe."

"Here I would have thought the Aunties were already intending to haunt you forever regardless," Graham pointed out, a bit cheekily, with a grin to match, but that did do wonders for helping him relax, especially when the realized, "after all, you can't spell haunt without a-u-n-t!

"But, okay." He gave a firm, determined now. "On the count of three. One....two...three!"

On that last count, he let go of the edge, put out his arms,and leaned back with a deep intake of breath in anticipation for whatever may happen next.

Charlie had her hand firmly under his back to make him feel safe as he floated. "See, you're doing it. No, no, head back, just relax, I've got you."

Of course as soon as he raised his head to say he had it he was going to start to sink, but she was prepared for that too. Soon he should be floating pretty easily though.

Honestly, Graham's first reaction was one of disappointment that his excellent joke about haunting had gone by without remark. Sure, Charlie was probably focused on catching him, but he would happily suffer drowning if it meant appreciation for his comedic wit.

But he didn't raise his head, and he focused on making sure he didn't, murmuring the directive to keep his head back and to relax under his breath so he didn't forget...

Sorry, Graham she'd laugh with you about it later, right now she was floating you around the pool a little till you were back near the wall. Once there she carefully moved her hand away and let him float on his own.

She didn't tell him, though, she just waited.

Graham was definitely aware that he was moving a little, as Charlie started to float him around, and he tensed up, just slightly, when she did. Breathing out, he reassured himself that it was fine, Charlie had him. Because of that, he was also pretty hyperaware of the pressure of her hand, so when she moved it away, he tensed just that little bit more and almost....almost succumbed to the small burst of panic that made him want to flail, so he breathed out again and wanted to turn his head but repeated the mantra about not raising his head (he figured turning it was along the same lines) in his head.

Then, quietly, he whispered, "Am I doing it right?"

He hadn't drowned yet, so that felt like a good sign!

"You. Are. Floating!" Charlie says, grinning from ear to ear. "And I'm still right here if you need me, but you are doing it all by yourself! Now just close your eyes and feel how cool it is to just let the water support you like that!"

"I'm floating!" Graham repeated, his own face practically splitting with his grin, and he laughed. "I'm really doing it! I'm floating, I'm--"

"--getting way too excited," he realized, as he felt himself bob or dip or something that seemed to threaten the precarious balance he seemed to have struck to allow such an amazing thing, so he tried to take a deep breath and center himself again, and, most importantly, to do as Charlie suggested, closing his eyes and just...feeling it.

"This is..." He declared, in a bit of an awed whisper, "awesome."

"See," Charlie says with a grin. "I told you. Okay, Now we're going to work on treading water and the elegantly named 'doggy paddle!"

Charlie wasn't going to let anything happen to Graham. She'd even practiced a charm that would let him breathe under water for brief periods of time to use of absolutely necessary.

And as for buff... Charlie didn't care about that. Sure, buff could be nice, but Charlie was an equal opportunity appreciator of pretty much all body types.

For now she was content to sit here and let Graham become comfortable with his feet in the water before they moved on to whole bodies in the water.

"A dragon," she said. "That would be remarkable!! Oooh! Or maybe a magical salamander! You know, just as good at heating things up, but smaller and more portable!"

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Saturday morning swimming lessons at the pool!

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