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 Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:51 pm
It didn't phase Fish that this boy was remarkably like a shark. He just kicked harder, trying to keep up. If this was a contest, that was cool. He was a good swimmer. He was a great swimmer. Even Feely said so.
Fish refused to acknowledge that there could be anyone better at swimming than he was.
He wasn't going to try the whole speaking underwater thing, though. Intuition told him he'd just make a fool of himself.
He reached out an arm and frantically grabbed for the other boy's foot. He had to catch up...!
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:01 pm
Just as Fish reached for him Vox ducked under and managed to make his way out of the boy's reach, his experience at trying to avoid Rit during their previous times here while in the water coming in to play.
There was no question in Vox's mind that this other boy was quite fast, probably as fast as he was, but Vox was older. He had an edge and he knew how to use it. He also seemed a little more graceful, but that too was probably from age and practice.
"What's wrong? Can't catch me? Can't speak under water?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:03 pm
Fish just gritted his teeth and pushed himself to swim faster. The other boy was arguably too good. There really was no competing with him. Which didn't mean he couldn't try, but really.
The foot waggled in front of his face again, glowing pale in the cloudy water. Fish lunged for it again, and once again missed. He had been so close, too!
It had to be possible to catch up to him. If he just tried a little bit harder, reached a little bit further. The foot was so close! Fish reached one more time, knowing he had to catch it. It was impossible not to catch it...
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:57 pm
Vox gasped in the water as he felt a hand grab his ankle and, in a moment of pure instinct, he turned quickly and opened his mouth to bite into what ever had grabbed a hold of him.
"!!!"
He had never once thought that it could be the other child, his attention so focused on swimming and racing that his actual rival had been forgotten, and his bite was meant without any malice. For once.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:22 pm
Fish gritted his teeth and let go of the other boy's foot in surprise. It hurt! It hurt a lot! But he couldn't cry. He couldn't be weak for this other boy. Instinctively he knew the other child was like a shark, and if he showed weakness he would be gone in seconds.
Still, he didn't know of any way to fight back, short of biting, and his teeth weren't very sharp. So he didn't. He just floated there, suspended in the water, watching the other boy warily, trying not to flinch.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:48 pm
Rit looked up from where she'd been reading her book and over towards the kiddie pool, the action meant to be an idle glance, but her blood ran cold as soon as she noticed a certain Kelpie was not inside the waters as he should have been. Quickly getting to her feet and, making something of a scene as she did, Rit moved along the path to the side of the large pool where she knew she would spot her wayward charge.
"Vox! Where are you?!"
Her voice was full of anger more than worry, her heart hoping he hadn't gone off and killed someone this early into the day, instead of sounding fearful that he may have drowned or something.
"Answer me!"
Vox didn't answer Rit's call, instead opting to open his mouth and let the polluted blood he'd drawn from Fish out and into the chlorine. He didn't like the way it tasted, dear lord it tasted like swimming pool chemicals and urine. It was probably because they were indeed in a pool full of both things, and he ran his tongue over his teeth to get rid of the afterbite.
" . . . .blech."
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:38 pm
Prosper looked up from the paper he was reading and realized that his child was likewise missing from the kiddy pool. He groaned inwardly and scanned the pool deck, but saw no immediate sign of a blond-haired little boy. He put the paper down and got to his feet. Looking around, he saw another parent who also seemed to have misplaced their child.
He approached her. "They're probably in the main pool," he intoned, strangely nonchalant. Fish was, after all, in no danger of drowning.
Fish might not have been in danger of drowning, but his mood was rapidly decreasing. This was not in his definition of playing. He made a face at Vox, but still refused to swim away. That would mean surrender. He hadn't lost yet.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:17 pm
"No no no, you don't seem to understand. Him being in the main pool is the problem because it's deeper and there are more people from him to get a hold of. In the shallows it's harder to drown someone."
Rit's voice was slightly thin as she scowered the water for any sign of the Kelpie, but as the little pair were near the bottom of the deep end she didn't notice them right away. In fact, she couldn't see them at all.
" . . . If it hurts, you can leave. I didn't mean to bite you, but I dislike being touched while I'm in the water. I could consider it an active challenge."
Vox crossed his arms and let his body seemingly float, though he did have to move his legs a little bit to keep himself in one place. Even though there seemed to be no visible current the movements of others in the water was enough to sway his tiny frame.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:47 pm
"I think he'll find my son rather resistant to drowning," Prosper nodded, deducing as much as that the two boys had gone off together. He was trying his best not to worry - so far, his little boy had proven himself surprisingly resilient.
Fish refused to leave. He hung there suspended in the water, determined to make the other boy blink first. He couldn't just let this challenge alone - it was a direct assault on his honor as it was, and he couldn't stand the idea of backing down.
He grumbled inwardly in frustration, but he still reasoned that he couldn't speak under water. Not clearly, at least. Not like the other boy was doing.
It just wasn't fair.
But he stayed and stared him down. Even though his arm was throbbing. Even though the chlorine was beginning to sting his eyes. He refused to back away now.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:39 pm
"If that's the case then I'm even more worried. Once he finds he can't drown him by normal means, Vox will try and find another way to do it. Even if it means breaking whomever he's with apart."
Rit bit her lower lip and looked once more into the waters, her eyes thinking for a moment she may have seen her charge down near the deep end...with something red floating to the surface.
Well...s**t.
Vox frowned deeper at Fish's seeming honor or whatever, displeased with how stupid the other was looking, and after a moment or two his childish antics took over and he swam to the other child's side. He opened his mouth again, the sharp teeth not there but replaced with the normal set a toddler would possess, and he closed it again.
His interests had been grabbed at the fact this other could breathe underwater ( he hadn't been paying that much attention ), but he couldn't speak? Was he a fish like he looked, or did he just not know how? Vox was a Fae, his lungs didn't work normally so impossible was rather possible for him.
" . . . . "
He pointed up like he wanted them both to journey to the surface. There were questions he wanted sort of answered.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:05 pm
Fish blinked at the other boy and then kicked upwards, his pride intact. He had successfully stared the other boy down and won, or, at least, in his mind he had. Once on the surface of the pool, he swam over to the edge and pulled himself out. He looked back down at the water and waited for the other boy.
From where he was, Prosper watched Fish emerge from the water and nodded. "He's perfectly fine," he said, relieved.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:21 pm
Vox stayed in the water, his desire not to get out only strengthened by the sight of Rit standing nearby with her withering gaze entirely on him, and he surfaced enough that only his eyes and the top of his head peeked over the surface. It made him look eerie, like a drowned child from a horror show, though his hair slowly dried at the parts that was not touching the water.
" . . .cheater. I never said I wanted to get out, not with Rit standing there."
His words were actually muffled this time, bubbles against the water's surface. He wasn't going to move any time soon, Rit would have to come in and get him.
"You say that, but jesus! Look, he's been bitten."
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:31 pm
Fish glanced over to the indicated woman, and saw his father stationed nearby. He waved cheerfully.
"Issat your mom?" he asked. He crouched down and looked seriously at the boy, pupil-less blue eyes fixed on his spinning pupils. Kind of strangely mesmerizing.
Prosper had nothing to say to that, because the situation was entirely too strange. Usually didn't the other parent try to convince him that it was entirely his child's fault? And really, if you had such a dangerous child, why would you take them to a public pool?
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:43 pm
Vox continued to stare, his mind weighing out his options. Fish had come close enough that should he want to he could probably reach out and smash the boy's skull into the side of the pool and drag him under before Rit could reach. He knew he was a far faster swimmer that the woman, who only got into the water to cool off or when her boats were not floating so well, and he was pretty certain he could outswim the man beside her. He looked old, weak, and Vox was a Kelpie starting to enter his prime.
In his mind, anyway.
"Mother, no. She's merely a person who tries to care for me but simply holds me back. One of these days I will kill and eat her with no regrets."
Vox's voice held mirth, joy, and other types of things a death threat should not ever carry, and his mind once more moved to the weighing of outcoming. Drowning this boy would mean he would be killed too, or at least never let out of the house. Not trying to hurt him would mean his pride was on the line.
". . . can you drown?"
"If you're wondering why I bring him here it's because I have no choice. My sister is here and I can't leave him home alone with the other children. He'd kill Caravel."
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:48 pm
Fish stood back up, a bit frightened by the other boy's cheerfully murderous intentions, and thought about the question.
"No," he said after a while. He didn't believe he could.
"That is the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard," said Prosper, and left to fetch his child. He strode across the pool deck and put a hand on Fish's shoulder.
Fish looked up at his father.
"We're going home," said Prosper. He studied the child in the water for a moment and shivered. Prosper knew magic, and this was particularly dark.
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