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"Now Corwin, don't flail about like that... The water isn't very deep, and I'm standing right here, buddy..."

James sighed, and gave a withering glare to some other parent who was staring at his tattoos. She quickly backed off, and went about trying to teach her daughter to use a kickboard. None of that for Corwin. He had to learn to doggy paddle, and right now, it was more like the 'cat-in-water-flail' than anything else.

Corwin splashed his way back to the steps in the shallow end, although he didn't get out. He wasn't afraid, he just couldn't make his legs work against his body's inclination to panic when introduced to water. He tried again, striking out into the blue of the wave pool, trying to get all legs to work in unison. Dad had said it was something like 'running underwater' - so he tried that. And was turning out to be too heavy. It seemed the faster he tried to swim, the less distance he got, and the more he started to sink.

James moved closer, and lightly held his son's sides, holding him up in the water so that he wouldn't feel like he was sinking. Since Corwin was getting to be heavy, this was a bit of a chore.

"Alright. Try it again. Kick with your front left, and your back right, then alternate. Let's try it again."

Mikhail's splashy entrance soaked Corwin and James alike, as James lifted one hand to fend off the water, and Corwin didn't have time to. Of course, since he was just splashed he had to retaliate. Not even noticing James had let go of him completely, he struck out on his own toward the other dragon-child, a mouthful of water at the ready. THAT idea went out of the door when he felt himself starting to sink again, and panicked, flailing and splashing all over the place, and giving Mikhail a thorough soaking while he was at it, until James came to 'rescue' him by holding him up again.

"Where is your guardian, kiddo?" James asked the other child, after looking and making sure he wasn't drowning. It didn't look like this one COULD drown. Too light and airy. "Do they know you're over here in the wave pool?"

Corwin, for his part, stopped flailing once he felt James had a good hold on him, and gave the kid a curious glance. He didn't say anything to him yet - as he was really focused on trying not to drown just now.

"Ah!" He smiled up at the other man. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is James, and this is Corwin. Your son did a very nice splash-spin entry into the pool and soaked the both of us. Will you be coming into the water? It's comfortable."

Corwin struck out on his own again, but this time back to the stairs, where he sat, miserable and dripping, looking at the water. He WANTED to go in, and to have fun like the rest of the kids seemed to be doing, but he was just too heavy...

James got an idea, and climbed out of the pool, moving to his beach-bag, and taking out some straps. He popped open the valve on the side of one of them, and inflated it - repeating with the three others... and then fastening the straps around his son's legs, and one, longer strap, around his middle. Then, Corwin didn't feel quite so much like he was sinking. He struck off into the water again, this time without James holding him. He wanted to get that pink kid back for splashing him.

James also pulled a deflated pool toy out of the beach bag before sliding back into the water, and blew it up, capping it, and throwing the ball at the two boys, hoping they'd play with it. He sighed, and relaxed back into the water with the other father, chuckling a bit.

"It's true what they say about taur children, isn't it? Four legs are faster than two. Keeping up with Corwin on land is difficult at best, impossible at worst."

He sat on the deepest step, and relaxed even more, going into a backfloat - but only halfway. Still could see Corwin.

The dragon child, for his part, enjoyed being able to actually swim with the floaties, and made his way toward the other, batting the ball at him with his tail as it came over. That, he was used to. He used to play ball with his tail all day long, so it was easy to translate that. Striking out toward the pink boy and the ball, he found that he moved much faster if he used his tail, too. As sort of a rudder. So tail went into the water, and he started waving it back and forth to move a bit faster, and steer toward a potential playmate.

James laughed again. "Yes, the height does help." He reached up to rub the back of his neck lightly, self-conscious about the tattoo there. Luckily, his hair was down, and it was difficult to see. "Then again, I taught Corwin from an early age not to wander too far. It helps to have a bag of something he likes to munch on nearby. A lot like dog training, I guess... I always keep a bag of choco-bits near. I can't understand why he likes those things, but they're whole-grain, and he loves them. So they're good 'reward' material. I had to devise the system early. He and his sister... well, they don't always get along. It helps to have incentive to do so."

He watched the boys, wary of what Corwin might attempt. This was the first child, other than Seraphie, he'd seen 'like him' after all.

Corwin swam closer, and nudged the ball to Mikhail with a bat of his hand.
"C'mon! Let's play!" he said, stilling his tail so he wouldn't move forward anymore. "I'm a rainbow dragon. That's what daddy says." He stuck out his tongue a bit. "You're pink!"

"Well... no.... His biological sister is taken care of by MY sister. We've never really seen eye to eye. I think she took Seraphie shopping, actually. Something like that. Seraphie is more bird than dragon, so it might be for the best she doesn't learn how to swim. Wet feathers and all." James explained. "I suppose it would make them technically cousins, but they are twins...." He shrugged. "I don't know. I just know she's his sister, despite what MY sister says in the matter."

Another long sigh, as he dived under for a moment to get his head wet. The sun was intensive most days, but today it was pleasantly intermittent. Right now, it was behind a cloud, so the entire pool was pleasant and warm, without any sun in anyone's eyes. "Whatever the case, he is my son. No matter what other people think or say. I've gotten really rude comments from some mothers. No fathers, though, oddly enough."

Corwin grinned, and swung his tail in a wide arc behind him. The water lit up like a neon sign with prismatic rainbows that danced off the surface of the water and the bottom and sides of the pool. He swished his tail back and forth a few more times just to show off.
Some human children from the other side of the pool started to swim over to take a look, but were pulled away by their mothers and fathers. Some of them started crying because of it, and Corwin immediately looked down and away.

"That always happens." he said quietly. "People don't like my rainbow tail."

One of the human children, a little boy, batted another ball at the two dragons, and was quickly splashed by another, slightly older, boy from behind. This started a splash-war as the oldest of the three boys now swimming near Corwin and Mikhail... got the two dragon-boys involved as well.
Two men about James' age, swam over to the other side of the pool, and lounged with the other parents.

"Looks like our kids have taken a liking to yours. I'm sorry for the other parents in this pool. No matter - they'll be gone soon enough."
The blonde of the pair shook water out of his shaggy hair, laughed, and relaxed back onto the wall. His very obvious husband - a black haired gentleman with brown eyes - swam to the other side, and lounged there.

"My name is Steven." the blonde said. "And this is Kent. Those are our kids playing with yours. The one in the pink swim-trunks is Stephen, the blonde is Carter, and the brunette is Taylor."

Stephen - the oldest of the brothers - splashed Corwin all over, and received a thorough soaking from the dragon's tail, laughing the entire time. Taylor, the youngest, tried clambering onto Mikhail's back, trying to ride him like a floatie. It seemed like a good idea. Carter sighed, and swam over to get a pool noodle from the deep end, swimming back, and offering it to his younger brother in lieu of drowning their new friends.

"Hey! We noticed you from over on the other side. Wanna play with us? We're gonna play Marco Polo."

Steven shook Konstantin's hand, and smiled. "Pleasure. I'm sure Mikhail will get along great with our trio. They're used to the unusual, so they won't flee or be scared like the rest of the kids in the.." He paused, and looked around. "Look at that... seems our boys have all got the pool to themselves. That's nice."

He crossed his legs underwater, and checked his waterproof watch. "Plenty of time left before close, too. Did you folks come here just to swim, or was it more of an all out 'water day' like with us? Carter loves the Slides here, and Taylor can't get enough of this wave pool. I know Stephen has a favorite ride, but I don't remember which one..."

"The Twist 'N Splash." Kent said. "It's always been a perennial favorite when we come here. This year's been great for finances. This is our second time here this season. Work's been kind to the both of us."

"Who's the other?" Steven asked, looking toward James.

"Oh - his name is Corwin. Despite his fierce appearance, he won't eat your kids." James joked lightly. "My name is James."

"Nice to meet you both. Say..." Kent started. "We're taking the kids out to dinner after this, and ice cream. Do you want to take along? I certainly don't mind the company."

James nodded a bit. "Sounds like a good idea. Corwin would probably love some frozen treat or another. And as long as they have taur seating..."

"The place is Celebration's." Steven said. "It's got games, toys, prizes, lots of fun food, a good atmosphere... The boys love it. And it's good food. They get all sorts, so yeah - there's taur seating."

Another nod, and James smiled. "Alright. I'm sure Corwin will have fun this evening, thanks for the invite."

"No problem." Steven said. "Konstantin... what about you?"

"And I'm Corwin." the dragon child said, grinning. "Yeah, what's the game?"

Taylor accepted the noodle, and clung to IT instead of Mikhail's back for the time being, while his oldest brother explained the game.

"You divide up into two teams, and one 'Marco'. Everyone swims as quietly as possible to different sides of the pool while the Marco has his head underwater. It's like Hide and Seek, only with teams. The team who has the last person the Marco hasn't found, gets to choose the next Marco." said Stephen, gesturing to the different sides of the pool.

"So the idea is to NOT get caught. The Marco has to close his eyes, and can only shout 'Marco!' to find where you are. The rest of the players HAVE to yell 'Polo!' back if they're above water. The other players can either shove the other team into the line of the 'Marco' - or just try not to get caught themselves. Either way is fun." Carter continued. "And no pulling other players underwater. Taylor can't swim very well."

Corwin listened with rapt attention. The game sounded absolutely enticing! He could swim quiet... he was SURE he could. But it might take some practice....

"Alright." Stephen said. "Since I'm the oldest, I'll be Marco first. Ummm... Mikhael, you're with Taylor, and Corwin, you're with Carter. Remember, the team who gets caught last gets to choose the next Marco! I'll count to ten underwater, so you guys better get swimming!"

Stephen ducked his head underwater after taking a deep breath, and both Taylor and Carter started off toward the opposite ends of the pool. Corwin attempted to move quickly, but his feet were causing a lot of splash, and making Carter laugh a bit, as he quickly reached out to pull him over, and 'nudge' him to the center of the pool where Stephen wasn't.