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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 18, 2012 20:52:45 GMT -5
[atrb=style, width: 250px; height: 20px; background-color: dad7f1;] [atrb=border,0,true] [atrb=style, border: solid #5e569a 4px; width: 250px; float: center; padding: 10px;] you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you
I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME
nell wiped her forehead with the back of her hand as she stepped back and observed the umbrella she'd wedged into the sand. she wondered if there was a method one needed in order to keep it standing upright, some sort of system that prevented it from toppling over. the sand did not provide enough density to keep it in, and so she looked at the lopsided umbrella with a smile, thinking good enough. it was a rainbow one, like the beach ball she had brought, going all out with the entire thing. luckily she decided to forgo the straw hat, though she did have one she would have happily worn. as it were, she wore one of the only expensive things she had, her carrera sunglasses. but her nose was indeed covered with a layer of sun screen like a lifeguard, so she couldn't avoid all beach day stereotypes. she did have an excuse--her already freckled nose was sensitive to such extreme sunlight.
it had been a while since she'd been to the beach, and she wished she'd gone there more. the huge lake that more resembled an ocean enticed her. the girl loved to swim far out, past where she should probably go, and imagined that far off shadows of places were distant islands that have yet to be explored. she didn't fear any kind of creatures, especially because it was a lake instead of the ocean. and when it came to oceans, she loved to swim out to the sandbars. she heard that sharks liked to lurk around them, but again, she had no fear of them. if she thought about it, that would be an awesome way to go out. death by shark. but she had no death wish, and obeyed the lifeguard's whistle, which she heard a lot thanks to her wandering ways.
a break from school was also nice, even though this year had gone very well. she had finally decided on her major, and she did well in all her classes as she usually did. sometimes when she got her transcripts she wanted to show them off to her father like any other child, because he used to be the one she wanted to impress. he was the one who taught her everything, though. but the part of her that would always be bitter withheld the idea of making him proud. she had too many mixed emotions about him to decide how she felt nowadays. from learning he cheated on her mother, to him defending her from rafael, to his sickness that turned out to be a parasite...things would always be complicated between them, it seemed. but she wondered, would he be proud? did he still want to be the father he never could have been to her?
nell frowned and sighed as the umbrella toppled over. "really?" she said, picking it back up. even though knox was there, she stubbornly refused to ask him for help in the same way anyone with an ounce of pride would refuse anyone to open a jar for them. she was a fierce, independent woman who could put up her own beach umbrellas. and knox was essentially her guest whom she'd invited out to the beach. after spending more time with him, she found that she enjoyed his company a lot. of course, she'd found him adorable the moment they met thanks to a misplaced cat. she wondered how the feline was doing, and assumed that he was back with his owner, the girl knox had been cat sitting for. she would have taken the thing home with her if she hadn't found someone who owned it, but it turned out she didn't have to thanks to knox. and to think, they were neighbors all this time.
squatting down, she scooped the sand up to make a mini volcano around the umbrella, this time guaranteeing that it wouldn't fall over. afterward she fell back on her haunches, burying her hands in the sand. the shade was a nice break from the frying sun that seemed especially horrible on the beach, as always. it was the first time she wore a bikini in years, satisfied that the scarring on her stomach was unnoticeable enough that she could pull it off. it was nice, having confidence in her body when she lacked that in other areas. "wanna go swimming now?" she asked the earth boy, looking over her shoulder. she could do anything on the beach, play catch, build a sand castle, but the fun part was the wide open water. she could spend all day swimming, even if it meant prune fingers.
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Post by KNOX CAESAR KETILL on Aug 31, 2012 17:32:20 GMT -5
[cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | [th][bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true] | tag ! stark && nell ;; word count ! 780 ;; setting ! lakeside beach ;; outfit ! red-and-white swim trunks ;; [cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | Knox watched her efforts in trying to get the umbrella into the sand, torn between amusement at her stubbornness and concern that he should be helping. She hadn’t asked for it, and, though he was tempted to, he didn’t offer. He didn’t want to demean her pride or something by implying that she was unable to place a beach umbrella into the sand solidly enough for it to remain there. He hadn’t brought an umbrella for himself, mostly because he trusted the sunscreen he’d spread onto his skin. If he was indeed desperate for shade, he could ask for that, probably with his usual blush because he would be embarrassed for not being prepared in the first place. He couldn’t stop the smile when the shade-provider collapsed again, tossing a bit of sand into the air as it landed again. He sat up, crossing his legs and watching her. She’d invited him here. This was her business, most likely, and definitely more so than his own. He wasn’t sure if he could help out with the umbrella anyway. His hands would probably just get in the way, because the umbrella base wasn’t very large and he probably wouldn’t be very helpful unless he was holding up the umbrella and steading it as she dug and rearranged the dirt.
Sand wasn’t very stable as it was anyway. It flowed and collapsed on itself. Sure, it could be packed so it was nice and solid. Usually, that was with the assistance of water or some other liquid. Unfortunately for her, they were fairly far away from the lake-water, partially because he knew he was a coward and he was more comfortable over here. He preferred the solidity of the non-solid sand. It didn’t make sense in his mind either, but he didn’t want to be closer until it was no longer avoidable.
He froze when she suggested swimming. He remembered the day at the beach with his parents. His throat felt as though it were closing up, as if someone had reached a hand around his neck and made a fist. It seemed bother unfair and just overall threatening. He couldn’t go swimming. He took a deep breath, lips parting afterward with every intention of saying something, maybe even turning down her offer. He felt as though he shouldn’t, although he really wanted to. They were at the beach. Swimming was sort of a given, especially considering the clothing choice of the day. They were called swim trunks for a reason. You were expected to go swimming in them. Why did he have swim trunks anyway, when he had absolutely no reason to go swimming in general? He preferred his parents’ pool to the lake, because it made him nervous, especially the deeper part of it. He was sure the lake was deep enough for him to drown in it. He wasn’t sure if there were currents or something, even though this wasn’t the ocean and there weren’t technically tides (were there?). But water was still a powerful thing. It could still possibly pull him under.
A swallow tried to clear his throat. No words came up, nothing came to mind. He just needed to convince himself, somehow, that he was going to be fine.
The shallow end. He’d stay there. Just hang out in the water. His gaze roved over the wells of liquid as they reached for the sand and retreated, reached and retreated, back and forth. God, he was never going on a boat. He’d probably get seasick from the motion of the water beneath the thing. But then, Nell wouldn’t let him drown. Hopefully. She seemed like a really nice girl, after all, though he didn’t know her quite as well as he’d like. Of course, they’d only known each other a little while, and they weren’t as close as he and Raine. He wasn’t as close to anyone as he was to Raine, though, so it wasn’t a fair comparison. He still failed to doubt Nell in that, though: she wouldn’t let him drown, no matter how embarrassing it would be if she had to save him. And the water would offer a pleasant reprieve from the unpleasant heat. He didn’t like the hot weather for which summer was famous. He cleared his throat again, then nodded slowly. “Ye-yeah. Sure. Sure.” He hoisted himself up from his beach towel and stretched, twisting first one way and then the other to make sure he would end up too sore or crampy. His muscles shouldn’t complain too much, considering he jogged daily and hadn’t skipped out that morning either, even if the movements were different. |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 31, 2012 20:50:59 GMT -5
[atrb=style, width: 250px; height: 20px; background-color: dad7f1;] [atrb=border,0,true] [atrb=style, border: solid #5e569a 4px; width: 250px; float: center; padding: 10px;] you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you
I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME
nell was a naturally acquiescent person. it could be said that she had no desires of her own because she cared deeply about the desires of others. and her one true goal in life was to be there for other people, that's what she wanted to succeed at. of course, she did have her individual personal and did not base it on what others liked, but she was agreeable enough that if someone wanted to watch a certain movie or do a certain thing, she'd go along with it. she simply did not see a reason to argue over trivial matters like that, for one, and the other reason she did not protest was because she kept the other person's interest at the top. if she wanted to do something, she could do it by herself or a friend who would agree to it. she was not in the habit of forcing others to do anything. which was why she felt the incredible guilt when one of her plans went wrong. devin came to mind, of course, but luckily sandra had talked her out of the whole zoo release fiasco. nell was also a natural activist, and she liked to joke that it was because of her earth elemental background. they were all do-gooders, and of course she wanted to help the animals and the trees. she just wanted to help everyone, so it was nice to have a group like the earths around.
including knox, even though it was sometimes funny to view him as an elemental like her because they rarely saw each other in the school setting. neither of them hung around the dorms too often because they were both college students, and as neighbors it was much easier to visit the other at home in the hollow. then again, it was easy to view everyone as just a normal human when they did not have any sign of their element. she usually liked to walk around with flowers in her hair or vines growing around the strap of the bag she usually carried, but she was careful about what she did so she would not be in trouble with the government that she'd grown to fear so much. more than the fear of being taken away herself, she feared being responsible for others getting in trouble. as in-tuned she was to other people's needs, she picked up on the time it took knox to answer her usually simple question. with him, though, it was always different. whereas her other friends would naturally and easy respond to things, he had a stutter that required time to sit and listen to what he said. she didn't mind; she liked giving that time over. and she simply thought him too endearing not to listen to. nell didn't want to demean him by informing the boy that he reminded her of a puppy, but he did.
in any case, to her this did not seem too natural. he almost appeared afraid, and she wiped her sandy hands off on her legs. there was no way that any part of her body would be clean, anyway. "you don't have to if you don't wanna," she said, not aware that he might have any aversion to the wide open lake. it almost looked like the ocean, but she wouldn't really know much since she'd only seen it a few times, both when she was on vacation with josh. she watched as he stood and brightly said, "all right then." she also stood, not worried about leaving everything behind, maybe being too trusting of strangers around her but believing that no one would steal anything from a beach. she pranced over to the water, placid and calm and the lack of large waves a reminder that it was just a lake. there were little ones, however, and as she stepped into the water she did a little dance. "'s cold," she said, waving her arms around in an excited little dance. "think we should like, dive in or something." she had gotten pretty good at swimming mostly because she just loved it. she took her time, even though she had only learned it a couple years ago. nell was a late bloomer in most regards, but she liked to believe that she had a good grip on the things that she did learn.
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Post by KNOX CAESAR KETILL on Sept 8, 2012 22:13:49 GMT -5
[cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | [th][bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true] | tag ! stark && nell ;; word count ! 905 ;; setting ! lakeside beach ;; outfit ! red-and-white swim trunks ;; [cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | He was relieved he hadn’t brought anything too valuable to the beach, or he would have been paranoid about losing something upon his return. Of course, the crime rate in Maple Hollow was fairly low. He suspected it was, in part, due to the small community—considerably smaller now that there were no humans left in the town. It had felt oddly deserted lately, ever since they’d returned. He no longer worried about having to hide his secret, a secret he shared with nearly everyone in town, of course. He thought it was kind of the government to allow the families of the elementals to stick around, which he appreciated. He didn’t think it would be fair to drag off teenagers, throw them into a foreign environment, and not let them tell their parents or guardians what was happening. Despite the distance between himself and his own parents, he couldn’t imagine being very happy if that had happened to him. Honestly, he wouldn’t be happy if it happened now—being torn away from his circle of comfort distressed him greatly even in theory. He liked his little center and had absolutely no desire to escape it, nor to branch out. He was satisfied staying at its center. Toeing the line failed to appeal to him; crossing it was worthy an anxiety attack.
The water didn’t quite give him a panic attack. It just made him nervous. There was such power in the waves. Of course, there was also beauty. He could appreciate that, though he usually had to be a significance distance from it or viewing it through some form of other media. Water reflected light beautiful, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the refraction of the sun’s rays blew out the spectrum of reds, oranges, and pinks so famous for those times of the day. He knew why they were considered romantic, though he had yet to make a judgment of his own whether he agreed with this. What confused him, however, was that sunset was more appealing to most than sunrise. Sunset, to Knox, represented an end more so than a beginning. Why would an end be conducive to a relationship, unless it signified the end of a previous one? For that reason, he preferred sunrise. It was quieter, too, because most of the region was unlikely to yet be awake. It was softer, with light crawling across the land in shades that seemed to turn the air gray. It was so peaceful. Sunset, however, buzzed with activity as the nightlife slid from the shadows of basements and people headed home from work through heavy traffic (if you lived in a crowded area). The ocean didn’t reflect that grayness at sunrise, as far as he was aware, and it wasn’t sunrise or sunset now anyway.
The shy little earth did not actually wish to get in the water, but he felt I was only appropriate. They had come here for that very purpose after all, though he hadn’t quite connected the dots when he’d agreed to show up. “It… It’s fine,” he replied after a moment, trying to give her a smile. It wasn’t a lie, by any means. He didn’t say he wanted to go into the water, after all. He simply meant to brush off her doubts. Ease her fears, as he was failing to ease his own. His gaze flickered over the moving swells. The movement was still a gentle one, though he knew even lakes could be incredibly violent under the correct circumstances. These weren’t those, however, so he should be unafraid. Was there anything to cause his fear? Nothing reasonable. Maybe he had a phobia. Those were irrational. But then, he wasn’t quite freaking out and he probably wouldn’t even when he reached the water and became partially immersed in it.
Having followed her to the edge of the water, he stopped just before the wet sand, looking down as clear turned to white foam on the little rocks. He heard her exclamation and looked up again to watch her, letting an amused smile paint his features. She probably loved the water far more than he ever would, but perhaps she could teach him to appreciate it for more than its aesthetic purposes. Perhaps she would help him get rid of his fear, even inadvertently, as he ahd absolutely no desire to share with her his foolish anxieties. If she wanted to jump, she could, but he wasn’t about to. He did not believe that doing things suddenly, like ripping off a band-aid as the cliche went, made them any easier. He felt it shocked the system, and doing so was unnecessary. Easing into a tense situation just seemed like a more intelligent situation. “Go ahead,” he murmured, dropping his gaze once more to the water. He shuffled his feet forward until the icy liquid touched his feet, though it wasn’t as unpleasantly cold as he’d expected from her exclamation. Maybe that was just because he liked warm weather, though. He shrugged it off and waded slowly in, keeping his gaze on the water, until the water was up to his mid-thigh. He lifted his head and looked for her again.
“You okay?” he asked, keeping the question short so he wouldn’t stutter. He was doing pretty well in avoiding that. How long could he keep up the streak? Unfortunately, not long, but he could hope. |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Sept 10, 2012 9:44:31 GMT -5
[atrb=style, width: 250px; height: 20px; background-color: dad7f1;] [atrb=border,0,true] [atrb=style, border: solid #5e569a 4px; width: 250px; float: center; padding: 10px;] you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you
I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME
it may have been that nell was observant. it was true, considering the what she was studying now. she'd finally decided on her major being psychology, the study of the individual mind. it was something she'd found she was good at -- people. more than the fact that she was observant, she liked people. that was what really helped her in life. she paid attention to people because she liked being around them, she liked listening to them and finding out about them. there may have been reasons behind this, the fact that she had been so sheltered away may have helped, but it was truly who she was right down to the core. she lived for other people, she lived for their smiles and their happiness and catching them in private moments when they think no one else is looking. so maybe she saw more about knox than she should have, but one thing she never liked to do was jump to conclusions. she had been raised by a man who told her everything is bunk until you have the factual evidence. she lived by that in most areas.
but knox said he was fine with it, and she decided that if he really didn't want to go in the water, he might have found an excuse. she didn't know what was going on in his head, how the cogs were moving in his brain. she wished she had that kind of insight sometimes until she remembered how fun she was discovering things about people through experience. having everything about a person up front? that was not so fun. "swim time!" she said, clearly more excited than he was. she loved swimming, simply enjoyed being in the water. she wished she could go to the ocean more often just for that, but they weren't too close to the coast. maple hollow was so isolated that it took hours to drive anywhere outside of it. so she was satisfied with the lake they had here, and hey, it was pretty damn close to the ocean. as long as she could swim, she would be happy. and she still needed a little bit more practice, all things considered.
she noticed knox's hesitance, the fact that he seemed more content in staring at the water than actually venturing into it. her suspicions may have been disregarded easily before, but now it was pretty obvious that he wasn't too keen about going into the ocean. she didn't want to make it known that she had this suspicion, whereas someone else may have told him this. she didn't understand how anyone could not like the water. well, her fiance did that, but it was an aspect of him she accepted as fact now without really questioning it. like his vegetarianism and on that train of thought, the fact that he could forget to eat. the latter did not please her usually, but she made sure that he was kept healthy whenever he decided that work was more important than his own body. she looked out at the lake. she sympathized, but she could necessarily understand because adored being waist deep in the water with all the fish swimming around her legs. she wasn't afraid of the unknown down there. it was a lake, though she did hear of lake monsters. nessie was one, right? in any case, she just wanted to flail around in the water like a little kid. like she never got to before.
she nodded her head, but her arms circled around her body to keep herself warm. she didn't want him to worry, as hesitant about the water he seemed. her mind made up excuses, though. maybe he'd eaten a big meal earlier and didn't want to get sick. or maybe he just heard a legend about someone drowning in here. she hadn't heard any of that, and while years ago she might have chalked it up to being a foreigner, now she was glad to realize that she knew all the ins and outs of maple hollow. that didn't mean to say she wouldn't get lost in it, but she knew a lot of the news and the legends and all the things anyone growing up there might have known. she liked that feeling, it was like she actually belonged there. she so rarely got to experience that and it was reassuring, really, she could belong somewhere.
warming up to the temperature of the water -- it must have been about sixty-eight degrees farenheit and twenty degrees celcius -- she waved her arms at him. "come on, it's no fun for me to swim alone!" she called to him as she started to back a little deeper into the water, slowly getting acclimated to it the further she went. "you get used to it after a little--" she stopped short after she tripped over a rock and went under, reemerging after a few seconds, and laughing. she wiped the water out of her eyes and spit out some of the water she had swallowed. after she felt a little bad, but then thought of everything else that must have been in the water and figured her spit was not the worst of it. "i'm fine, just a rogue rock." okay, so rocks did have business being in a lake, but it had still hurt, banging her foot against the thing. it was throbbing, but at least the water was cool and would keep it from swelling or anything.
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Post by KNOX CAESAR KETILL on Sept 29, 2012 0:33:21 GMT -5
[cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | [th][bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true] | tag ! stark && nell ;; word count ! 834 ;; setting ! lakeside beach ;; outfit ! red-and-white swim trunks ;; [cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | What was he good at?
His gaze flickered over the waves that cascaded and lapped against his waist as he considered the question itself for a moment. How often did people wonder about themselves what they were good at? Not whether they were good at something, but what that something was in their whole being? He didn’t know. He didn’t remember contemplating it himself. Sure, he knew it was a common question in job interviews: what are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How do you plan to overcome them? But he’d never applied for a job. He hadn’t yet needed to and he feared for the day he would. He knew he would stutter through the interview, that his verbal communication skills were too poor to properly represent his intellect. Was he even capable of doing something outside of school? He hoped so, but he didn’t know. He didn’t know, realistically, what he should do with his life. And that was where the question played a part.
What was he good at? Really good at? What marketable skills did he have? Did he have any, or did he only have skills that applied to the world of school and would never reach beyond? He didn’t have answers for the questions. He wished he did. He wished he knew what the world would be like in three or four years when he graduated and actually had to enter it. He wished he could predict that slice of his future only so he could prepare to meet it without fearing for his own life in one manner or another. He didn’t want to just survive, though that was the whole basis of the question he was asking himself. He wanted to flourish. But could he do so anywhere outside the school? He couldn’t even do it there.
Or had he? Had he, in his years at the academy, grown and prospered? The thought stumped him. He’d grown physically, as any teenager of the same age did. He hadn’t, however, grown socially. He was just as shy as he had been on day one, even though he now had a handful of friends with whom he spent time doing what could be considered socializing. Humans were social animals, however, and it was a rare exception when someone truly enjoyed being completely lonely. Everyone craved company at one point or another. He was glad he had more than one friend, for that, because it meant he wasn’t reliant on someone’s schedule if he desired company. It wasn’t likely for all his friends to be busy at exactly the same time, after all. Admittedly, the friends were few, and this heightened that possibility, but he still felt it would be an extreme coincidence if their busyness coincided with his own desire for company. That wish was so infrequent in itself that he knew not to deny it when it arrived, for his own sake.
His nerves were tested quite wonderfully when he noticed her speech cut off and darted to get closer to her as she went under, his heart pounding not from fear of the water but from fear of harm coming to his new friend. He didn’t want her to get hurt anymore than he wanted to give a speech in front of an angry mob whose pet peeve was stuttering. He grabbed for her arms, trying to help her up, but she was escaping the wet grips of the lake herself, laughing, which baffled him all the more. Had he nearly drowned, he’d be sputtering and coughing. He didn’t see the humor she did. Of course, it was likely that he didn’t see the humor because his own sense was severely limited. Raine had complained before that he was too serious for his own good. That he needed to loosen up. That he needed someone to do that to him. That last bit always disturbed him a bit. It just sounded unpleasant, like they were supposed to pull his bones apart and increase his flexibility unnaturally. Despite her laughter, therefore, he felt the need to ask, “Are you sure you're okay, Nell?” His brow furrowed in worry for the girl, his teeth cutting into his tongue after his lips formed the question.
It reminded him of something else, and, before his usual sociable desolation could step in and hold up a hand, he asked softly, “Are you typically a strong swimmer?” What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? How do you overcome them? Do you want to overcome them? Are you proud of your skills? There were so many things people forgot to consider. He knew Raine was a tremendous liar. He also knew that pointing it out to her would only embarrass her. It was probably because the strength was not one society valued. If they had been raised among criminals, thieves, murderers, and the like, she probably would have been rather roud of her acting capabilities. But they hadn’t, and she wasn’t. |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Oct 3, 2012 14:39:04 GMT -5
[atrb=style, width: 250px; height: 20px; background-color: dad7f1;] [atrb=border,0,true] [atrb=style, border: solid #5e569a 4px; width: 250px; float: center; padding: 10px;] you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you
I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME
nell couldn't be called a very powerful swimmer. she had only learned very recently, when she first came to the academy actually. she had made friends with the water students rather easily, and whenever they wanted to take a dip in the lake, whether it be at the academy or in the hollow, she'd wade in the shallow end or sit on the shore building a sandcastle. it wasn't until she was with her friend tas that she actually started testing out what she could do. slowly she evolved from the doggy paddle to actually swimming and having races with other water students. which, she now thought, was not very fair considering they had element on their side and a hell of a lot more experience. it didn't bother her much. she did it for the fun and the sport, even when she got competitive. it was all in playful fun. unfortunately, some people didn't take it the same way. that's why she loved playing with the kids at the daycare. sports were easy, they hadn't gotten to the age where they had to prove themselves in everything just yet.
being that she wasn't the most powerful swimmer, she should have been much more panicked when incidents like this happened, where she whacked her foot off a rock and began sinking like one. but she wasn't afraid of the water, or drowning. she didn't feel the panic. only slightly, when she realized that it felt like a force pushing on her, but it wasn't enough to be mistaken for claustrophobia. all she had to remember that it was wide open. strangely, that comforted her at times like this. the vastness of the lake, how large it was and how she would not be able to meet the end of it very quickly. that instilled terror in people that were drowning and needed something to hold onto, but for her it was as reassuring as emptiness could be.
nell rubbed at her eyes, clearing the water out of them, and saw that knox had come closer. she shook her hair out. she had kept it up, little strings of hair clinging to the back of her neck, covering parts of her tattoo. usually, she kept it down, especially for work. when she was at the daycare it was especially important, at the concert it wasn't so much enforced, but at the casino she had found they had rules against it. she would never be cutting her hair short now -- she left her hair down all the time when she worked. at school, she was glad for the freedom of leaving it uncovered. now most of her friends knew she had it, and it inspired them to ask a few questions. and usually, she didn't like questions. however, there was a reason she had gotten such a personal tattoo. that way, when people asked, she could tell them that a young girl once told her the greatest truth. she had that truth printed on her skin so that the only time it would be lost was when she ceased to exist as well.
she spat some more water out before giggling again, not realizing just how confounded her friend was. "right as rain, mi amigo!" she told him, giving him the thumbs up sign. "pretty sure this is gonna bruise but eh, it happens." that's how she treated most injuries. anyone who knew her understood that about her. especially avery, who she came to a lot with a shrug and a half-smile saying "you know how it is here." she didn't make a big deal out of any of it. she just left it be. "hey, you're in the water!" she said, as if that was the greatest thing at this point in time. it made her inexplicably happy at that point, wearing a goofy grin as her foot throbbed as if to remind her that she had just hurt it and that she should not be smiling like that right now.
she flapped her arms in the water, creating little waves and smiling to herself. it was one thing she never seemed to stop doing, smiling. she made a soft sound of curiosity when knox started in on his question, thinking about it for a moment before she answered, "no typically. i mean, i only learned recently. but i know that i'm gonna get better! i swim all the time!" her views on everything were optimistic, so there would be no reason for swimming to be left out of that. she even threw up her arms in excitement over this claim. no, she didn't usually flail around in water and doggy paddle half the time, but she couldn't exactly do laps at this point in time. she could only get better, though, that was her belief. "do you know how to swim?" she questioned, lips pursed as she thought of what the answer might be herself. it might explain why he hadn't been particularly keen on diving in and swimming around.
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Post by KNOX CAESAR KETILL on Oct 27, 2012 1:05:12 GMT -5
[cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | [th][bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true] | tag ! stark && nell ;; word count ! 1 001 ;; setting ! lakeside beach ;; outfit ! red-and-white swim trunks ;; [cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b] | Knox wasn’t ready for children. God, no. He could barely picture taking care of someone else’s children. He wasn’t strong enough to boss them around or tell them what to do or how to behave. He doubted any but the most well-behaved of children would even think to obey the shy elemental that he was. He’d probably be more scared of them than they could ever be of him, especially when they grew up, unless he attempted something crazy like an earthquake. He wasn’t nearly that powerful, though he suspected there were definitely students at the academy who could if only they put their minds to it. Determination could do so many things for a person. It could also be their ruin.
He was probably going to ruin himself with his writing somehow. Maybe he’d wander into the forbidden land of erotica to make up for his complete lack of sexual activity. If that ever did happen, it was more likely that it would take years for him to get that desperate. He wasn’t too interested in sex, from a mostly logical perspective. He knew it was natural. He knew that people generally enjoyed it (rape excluded). He’d even witnessed Raine’s little obsession. And yet… the organs involved definitely made him shudder at the thought. You peed from the same place from which you were supposed to reproduce. Who had made up that bodily structure anyway? It just seemed so… unclean. Maybe that was why sex was frequently termed “dirty.” He didn’t know. His mind so rarely wandered there. It was unfamiliar territory. Unfamiliar territory was normally uncomfortable, perhaps even frightening.
Fear. Fear was a thing with which Knox was ultimately familiar. He did not enjoy it. He doubted anybody did, unless you counted an adrenaline rush as fear.Fear generally meant that there was something wrong. When things when wrong, the only person left smiling was generally the one who knew a way out or who had someone on whom to blame whatever had happened. Drowning was rarely to be blamed on any particular person, unless the lifeguard wasn’t paying attention or the death was a homicide or a suicide. Sometimes, if the body was found in water, it couldn’t even be identified as those, depending on the state of decomposition.
He wanted to shake himself. Weird thoughts.
At least he recognized that the phrase was Spanish, though he wasn’t sure what it meant. Nor was he entirely sure what “right as rain” meant. What was right about rain? It rarely fell to the right, nor did it generally fall at a perfect right angle to the ground, especially when there was wind. Rain was good for the vegetation and the earth, but that didn’t mean it was “right” in any way. When something couldn’t be wrong, could it be correct? God, he was just confusing himself further, wasn’t he? Unless, of course, she happened to be speaking of their mutual friend. He just watched her thumbs rather than replying, finding no words except the previous onces to express concern as she mentioned the bruise that would form. At least it was no worse.
It was no large accomplishment that she made him blush again when she pointed out that he was standing in the water. The way she said it… it made it sound as if it was a great accomplishment, something to celebrate. Maybe for her. For him, it only reminded him of the unsteady back and forth of the tide and the knowledge of currents that could exist even in such shallow water. Currents could be powerful. They could tear a perfectly capable swimmer under themselves and drown the able-bodied. His fear of swimming was perfectly justified, and not only in his experience. That experience simply let him know what he was avoiding by swimming, and why would he complain about missing out on something so unpleasant? Water filling up your throat and mouth, your lungs as it replaced the oxygen, even though there was oxygen in the water. Two for every hydrogen, he thought faintly, looking around as he let his fingertips graze across the top.
Standing like this was by no means an unpleasant experience on his own, even though he was nervous and a bitch twitchy. If anything jumped out at him, he’d metaphorically jump out of his skin. He’d probably not step foot near the beach again for a while, even on his daily jogs. He’d reroute. It was easy enough. Just run in the other direction. Besides, mixing up the routine would be good for his body so it wouldn’t get too used to any one set of exercises. Variety was good. This was variety, then. He was taking a walk through water, not on it, and he wouldn’t need to do s again for a long while if he had any say in it. At least, in a pool of water. He stilled planned to shower, maybe even take a bath, though the alter rarely appealed to him. Why wallow in your own dirt?
To him, it felt like she was inadvertently digging up dirt on him. She was asking if he could swim. Well… that might require more words than he was generally comfortable with. At least there weren’t six of Nell standing right in front of him. He wouldn’t get out a single intelligible word if that were the case. “In… in theory…” he admitted after a moment, cleared his throat, and continued, “But… I… I wouldn’t… make any pro-promises… f-for practice-practice.” His gaze shifted away from her again and to the water. It made his shorts balloon out a little, as if he were standing on a gas pump or something. It was easier to watch the red fabric than to watch her face. He really wasn’t helping the conversation. He considered asking another innocent question—why are you so enthusiastic about swimming?—but he had a feeling it would come across poorly and didn’t dare. People made him quack in his figurative boots. |
[/color][/size][/font][bg=000000][atrb=align,justify][atrb=border,0,true][/td][/tr] [tr][td] notes ! I managed it after ages and ages. But we can still end it if you prefer, hon :3 ;; [cs=2][bg=060606][atrb=border,0,true,b][atrb=cellspacing,0,true,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,10,true][atrb=width,410,true,bTable][/td][/tr][/table][/center]
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