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 Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:05 pm
Indoor swimming pools were great, mainly the ones that were open year round, and as Vox slide his body through the slightly warmed (by heaters) water he kept his eyes closed and let his instincts lead the way. He could hear every movement in the water thanks to his ears, the sounds of the very few people in the pool echoed and amplified, so he could steer clear without any trouble or worries.
It seemed that begging Rit to bring him back here under the promise he'd behave had worked, and he was pleased with the result. Water, even if it was closed water, was one of the greatest feelings of home he could have. Aside from actually getting a large lake of his own one day, but that was for the future.
"Don't try and drown anyone this time, and maybe I'll let you go out of the kiddie pool into the bigger one again. You were fine in there last time, but thanks to your nature as of late. . ."
Rit's voice interrupted Vox's thoughts and he stood up in the very shallow water, a frown on his features.
Dream wrecker.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:17 pm
Fish was not really enjoying the kiddie pool. It was too shallow and smelled like too many other children had forgotten to put swim diapers on. Daddy was off to one side, sitting stubbornly on a chaise lounge and grading papers, but every so often, he'd look over to make sure Fish was managing okay. It was silly to be afraid the boy would drown, but there were all sorts of other terrible fates that could befall one at the swimming pool. Like Athlete's Foot, although Fish had webbed toes so he wasn't sure if that was really possible.
Fish, for his part, splashed about, trying to make the most of the situation, and cast longing glances at the bigger pool, where older children splashed about on pool toys and made a racket. He let out a sigh through his gills. He wanted to be there, not in some silly kiddy pool.
If Feely were here, she'd let him go in the big kid pool with her. But Feely wasn't here.
So he splashed and tried to enjoy himself, even as his splashing brought him close to a child who looked far grouchier than he was.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:29 pm
Someone is coming.
Vox looked just as he noticed someone...odd...swimming over to him, and he turned the full of his gaze onto this newcomer who dared to invade the space that he had been occupying, his mouth bent into more of a frown. He'd been happy and content in his own little area, and now this thing dared to invade?
He quickly thought about striking out and driving them off, but he knew what would come of it. Instead, he merely stepped out of the way to let the other boy past without so much as a further movement. Rit was watching him so sharp, so close, and it was not safe to try anything. Perhaps if he got out into open water, then yes, but for now it was a no.
" . . . . "
Thinking there was not much else to do, Vox sat himself down in the water and let it rise up to his chin, his mouth sealed to not let anything actually inside.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:33 pm
Fish paused and looked back at the other boy. He set his mouth into a curious little pout, and then sat down so the water came up to his chin as well. He could use his gills this way. Or his nose. How odd a sensation! He wasn't sure what the boy was doing, but he decided the water tasted funny on his gills. He got up again.
"'M Fish," he said. That was the only introduction he felt like he needed, really. "Who're you?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:37 pm
". . . . there's no need to tell you my name since the chances are that we will meet again are very slim. But -"
A look at Rit who was reading some kind of romance novel made him reconsider again about acting out. Just because she was reading didn't mean he was safe.
"...my name is Vox. What are you?"
Now it was his turn to ask, his words to the point. He had not yet seen anyone quite as different as this boy before him (he barely remembered Rook at this point in time) so he was curious. Mostly...because was wondering if he would be edible.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:42 pm
Fish had never been asked what he was before. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't so sure. "'m a boy," he said, narrowing his eyes at the other child. It was a sort of strange question. "'n I've got webbed hands, see?"
He held one out, just for show. He didn't talk about the other cool things he could do, because Feely said that was called bragging and it was bad.
"What're you?" he asked, since they were on the subject.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:18 pm
" . . a boy."
If the other could play dumb, so could Vox. He didn't feel like chattering on about what he was either, since as of late it seemed that doing so made people run and he couldn't get close enough to do anything to them.
"I'm a boy too, but I have these weird eyes. Rit says she's never seen them before on the likes of anyone."
He pointed to his own eye just as the swirl that served as his pupil spun, his mind thinking. Whenever the tiny Kelpie was in thought his eyes seemed to move . . .
"You like to swim?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:43 pm
Fish shrugged. Fair enough. Two boys in a pool. Though the other one was kind of strange. He didn't think eyes were supposed to spin like that, but then again, he didn't have pupils, so it wasn't really his job to decide what eyes should and shouldn't do. Feely and daddy both had pupils in their eyes, and he remembered there being a bit of an uproar when they realized Fish didn't.
He nodded vigorously. "I love to swim," he declared, splashing again. "D' you?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:05 pm
"Yes, I like to swim a lot. I want to be in the bigger pool, or somewhere more open. It's too shallow here."
He slapped the water with the top of his hand, displeased now despite how moments before he'd been enjoying sliding through it. Perhaps it was because Vox hadn't noticed the other up until this point, and now he felt crowded, or maybe it was just his nature to want to be mean.
"Can you go into the bigger pool?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:05 pm
Fish considered the question. "M not sure," he said finally. He looked over at the pool deck where Prosper sat squinting in the sunlight to read an essay. "I don't think my dad's watchin'," he said, and it occurred to Fish for the first time in his life that he might do something naughty.
He waded over to the edge of the kiddy pool and pulled himself up onto the edge.
"D'you want to go in the big pool?" he asked. "I wanna."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:09 pm
"Yes I do."
Vox moved and quickly pulled himself from the water and onto the concrete, his actions only because he noticed that Rit had closed her eyes for either a period of thought or a nap, and he did not want to waste this chance. As soon as he left the water all of him but his hair quickly dried, his swimming shorts looking freshly put on, and a few straw drops hit the ground around him in a perfect circle.
"Hurry up, Rit's not looking. She'll punish me if we get caught."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:35 pm
"Okay," said Fish, and followed. He wanted to ask how Vox had gotten dried so quickly, or why, because he was just going to get wet again. As they neared the pool, he passed the other boy and hopped in without much of a splash. A moment later he bobbed to the surface and treaded water.
"Come on," he said to the other boy. Weren't they going to play?
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:43 pm
Vox nodded his head to the request and dove into the water, his body making hardly a ripple as he did so. Even though he was but a toddler he was steadily growing in terms of unnatural ways, and it showed to those who cared to look.
Now in the water, in a large body, his eyes sprung open and he quickly propelled himself towards the deeper end with all the grace afforded to his kind. He cared not if the other child followed him (for now) as he was too happy to be in water that fully embraced the whole of his body.
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:24 pm
Fish grinned widely and dove after the other boy. Swimming fully underwater, he was Vox's match in speed and only a bit less graceful. Surely he'd make up for that in time once he had a better sense of his body, though.
The water was getting deeper, but Fish didn't particularly mind. He could breathe through his gills, so it wasn't like he needed to go up for air, and the ocean had been deeper than this, hadn't it? The water was a bit cloudier, but that was all.
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:42 pm
Vox was impressed that this other child could keep up with him the way he was, and he stopped to look him over with a smile as he opened his mouth to speak. Water rushed in and quickly into his lungs, but it didn't bother the toddler for a moment, as he'd been breathing the water all along. Sure the chlorine wasn't his favorite thing, but it was doing him no ill.
"Can you really keep up with me?"
His voice rang loud and clear in the water, as if he were speaking above it and not beneath the surface where it should be distorted, and for a moment he grinned and showed off his proud set of finely sharp teeth.
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