Apr 08 13:53:21 106 PA
From Chronicles
Apr 08 13:53:21 106 PA
Kingsdale - Harry's Gym
By far, the most popular attraction of Harry's Gym is the pool. Fully olympic in size it ranges from three to eighteen feet deep and is kept extremely clean. The public is almost always present here, except in 'exclusive' swims. Sometimes, there are lots of children present -- especially during the day -- but morning and evening tends to have only adults here, most of which are interested in swimming for the sake of working out. There are almost always lifeguards present and the water is quite warm.
Late afternoon finds the pool mostly devoid of the children that come during the day as more mature patrons begin to test the waters. Some swim laps, others relax in the hot tub, gossiping about the day past. Tirzah emerges from the change room in her bathing suit. A very tight glossy white one piece that she's not especially proud to admit fits snugly perfect. As that means it shows her lack of figure and boyishly firm muscles. As such she's not one to dally out of the water and display herself, she jumps right in, sinking to the bottom of the deep end.
Leonard emerges into the pool area looking little different from moments before, save for the lack of footwear and shirt. Either his shorts are multi-purpose, or his swimwear is part of the same ensemble as everything else. The only color contrast to the black trunks (other than his pasty complexion) is the white towel thrown over his shoulder. He arrives in time to just catch a rear view of Tirzah before she enters the water, which is surveyed in that brief moment as he steps towards the spot from where she dove.
Tirzah sits on the bottom for a few minutes, blinking to let her eyes get accustomed to being submerged. An occasional bubble escapes her to flee to the surface as she gets acquainted with the water. After about two minutes she finds herself settled and tests her muscles by pushing off the lower walls and floor. Becoming fully comfortable her vibrant hair makes a chaotic halo with the near weightlessness of the depths. Then folding her legs underneath her she launches herself back towards the surface to catch the lip of the pool's edge.
Whereupon Leonard stands, and was apparently observing given his words. "I'm glad you mentioned your breath-holding beforehand. Otherwise, I might have become concerned, as I would have drown had I attempted that." A smile comes down upon her. "Twice, even. At least you'd be easy to find in the water if you stayed too long." His towel motions towards her vaguely enough that he could refer to her suit or hair, or even both.
Tirzah shrugs, not concerned by possibility shoe could be down too long. "I could traverse this pull a dozen times before running out of breath, so too long really isn't an issue. If it werent for the dots in my vision towards my upper limit, I could forget to cvome up at all though." She admits. Then looking over Leonard she notes his pastyness with her reply. "And one could say the same for you."
Leonard chuckles and glances down at himself, then nods. "I suppose so, which is likely a good thing." He lowers himself to sit at the edge, immersing his feet into the water. "I would hate to waste my endearing near-end in the hopes of rescue, only to learn the attractive lifeguard failed because she couldn't find me."
Tirzah snickers at Leonard, finding the possibility amusing. "Oh I don't think that fates are that cruel, or at least, there would be more to it than that." She offers weakly. "So do you swim?" She asks, seeing if that will take the topic of their conversation in the pool.
Leonard nods in response before pushing himself off the edge and into the water, leaving the towel behind. He is submerged for barely more seconds than her minutes before surfacing. The hand on the pool's edge likely did most of the work, and may have never fully left. "Yes, I swim. Two or three times, even, including now." Now their conversation is in the pool, in multiple ways.
Tirzah snickers at Leonard. "The you are perhaps a better swimmer than you are a dancer?" She asks with a humorous grin. "Lets see how you improvise." She challenges, slight warning to her pushing herself down under and reaching to snatch Leonard's leg and pull him down as well.
Leonard sucks in a breath at the comment, even if it was more for reply then preparation. Half the air is lost in a sputtering of bubbles as he's pulled under, but he recovers enough to not help drown himself. He has no desire to be a dead lamb. Several blinks are required before his vision clears beneath the water and Tirzah is relocated. A mild glare and wet smirk are aimed her way before his resolve and/or oxygen dwindles and his first paddling attempt is made towards the surface.
Tirzah smiles as she takes in her small victory. Her grin truly predatory, but fun. A grin a Lioness would give to a cub. Sinking back down she gathers her legs under her again to push herself back up to catch the lip and perhaps resume the conversation.
Her deeper drop is welcome, giving Leonard time to get his brief sputtering out of the way before she resurfaces. He greets her arrival with a less stern smirk than he wore beneath the water. "I don't even need to ask whether you enjoyed that... and to think, for a moment, I dared wonder if Sage was the one between you two that I should worry most about."
Tirzah almost loses her grip as she laughs at that. "Oh my, you must be getting to know Sage quite well then. What is the nature of this affiliation?" She asks, curious, not threatened. "I know your with Vixen, but your spending a lot of time with Sage, enough to make part of me slightly jealous. And now you seem to be getting quite close, lie a little brother even." She notes.
Leonard lifts his free hand to point to her. "You are the one that started this, in a sense, but Sage is... safe." It is a choice of term with multiple interperetations, and intentionally so. "She isn't the only one attempting to practice, afterall."
Tirzah smirks and nods after a moment of thought. "I guess I did. An unexpected boon to my actions. Its nice to know that when I'm off with work or otherwise detained she still has some fun. Though you cant protect her like I can I imagine." She observes, giving Leonard a considering look.
Leonard chuckles. "At least I can be amusing in some manner. She seems to emulate you in many ways, in your absence." A brow then arches at her assessment of him. "I'm not certain what type of protection you feel she needs so badly. The grandiose knight in shining armor I may not be, but I'm not impotent, Tirzah."
Tirzah blushes freely. "I didn't mean to imply 'that'." She states in her defence. "It's just though I worry about her, and don't want her vulnerable without me around. Well when your close to someone you need to feel necessary. So elements that infringe on how indispensable one is can cause friction. its purely psychological, and ridiculous, but its how we feel." She explains.
Leonard pauses as he realizes his verbal error, and takes her blush as it having the opposite effect. "That was a poor choice of word, I'm sorry." The remainder of her explanation does not improve his thoughts, either. In fact, he seems to sink an inch or two further into the water as he exhales a sigh. "Oh, I am rather well aware of that feeling, ridiculous or not..."
Tirzah smiles warmly at Leonard, glad she is not the only crazy one for having such feelings. "Great, then you understand perfectly. I always thought you did, but its reassuring to hear you say it. And I wouldn't worry too much about your choices of words with me. I'm very considerate to alternate meanings, and like to pounce on them when I can. or use them, with my own words."
Leonard manages a meager smile. "I've noticed. The pouncing, that is. As for the understanding, I'd almost wish I didn't. Feeling unnecessary has been a part-time career, although it didn't exactly involve anyone I was close to, until now."
Tirzah gives Leonard another considering look as something occurs to her. "You havent found it yet?" She asks, though her expression shows she's uncertain how to define 'it'. "Hmm, does she give you something you don't have alone?"
The barely surviving smile curls to a smirk. "It? I'm not entirely sure which of many choices that could be... but, yes, she does, and has. Then again..." His shoulders roll slightly and his gaze travels to the water across the pool. "I don't have anything to measure 'it' against. First, I was pleasant company, then some sort of... fling, or a student, then ...something more. I think." After the rather rapid rambling, he takes a purposely slow, deep breath. "Now, I seem to resemble a runner, and jealous of an ideal." Leonard's eyes return to her. "You were there, at that ceremony. That was the first time she's been within arm's reach for more than five minutes, and four of them were spent on higher priorities."
Tirzah grins, recognizing some of the things she's gone through with Sage, and still goes through from time to time. "We all start out as something else. Sage and I truly started when I was still with Sebastien, clinging to a fantasy knight in noble armor. But the man under the armor was different than the knight that rescued me. One night, I invited Sage over. We had some drinks, I offered a massage. She almost gave in that night, luckily for us she had the sense of self to show restraint. I don't think it would have work out as well if we did go so far so early." She tells Leonard openly. "Now she's my balance, a scale on which I can measure myself. I'm her protector, in all things. We're not really complete apart anymore. That's what you find."
Leonard's venting has passed, at least for the moment, and a softer, if tentative, curl touches his lips as he listens. "Well, now that I'm not turning my back to flee from becoming some sort of meal, I can understand Sage's temptation. Of course, Vix isn't tame in any sense of the word, either, which might be what began... things in the first place." He regards his poolmate a moment before adding. "Although she isn't open. Honest, yes, and often to blunt brutality, but not open. I can't say we balance one another, as you described, and if there is any lack of wholeness when we are apart... It is apparently mine alone."
Tirzah snickers at the description of Vixen, finding it apt. "I'm often tactless as well. Honesty however is a trickier subject. My words are always truthful, but sometimes i pick them to lead someone in another direction. How I say and what I choose to say mean a lot to me. So I'm manipulative, but i like to be, and if its benevolent what's the harm? Sage however, is a clear healer, a mediator in all respects. She'll look at me and see what I need, whether i like to admit it or not. She'll even use my own trick to make sure I get it. Kinda makes us meant for each other I guess." Then considering his further words she smiles encouragingly. "Balance is my thing, my code as a warlock, everything needs balance. its how I define things, how I decide what needs to be done. I imagine you have your own thing that Vixen can provide. However what you provide to her may be harder to extract since she's so fiercely independent. There will come a point though, she'll ask you for something that will seem so simple to you. That's when you have it. Latch onto it, provide it." She suggests, so simple, yet immensely cryptic.
Leonard receives and absorbs her words, and a smile rekindles for the first time in several minutes. "She has asked me for many things, but nothing of a personal nature, really. Perhaps she doesn't have need of anything yet." His shoulders roll in a shrug before his other hand also adds itself to the pool's edge. "Maybe she never will. I was the one to press matters beyond her initial, blunt wishes, so perhaps the fault is mine." Lest he sink further into the water, such as below his eyes, he presses himself up and out of the water. Once he rises to his feet, he looks down to Tirzah with a lifted brow over a smirk "I think I now know you better than I know her, and if you consider me a lamb... What does that say of her?"
Tirzah shrugs lightly, not sure what to say at first. "To me she's a raven, an odd pairing from my perspective. But maybe it can work. Maybe Vixen just needs another person to help her realize just what she has. Maybe she doesn't yet know. I don't rightly know, but I think you over step things in saying you know me better than her. You know what I want you to know, but there is so much more. I think it could be the same with her, but she's not ready to want you to know everything. Maybe she's afraid of what you'll think if you do." She offers in insight.
"That is alot of 'maybe's, but maybe you're right. Or maybe she was right with the things I chose to question or overlook." Leonard looses another sigh, one that seems to visibly deflate him. "Either way, I didn't intent to pour this upon you. It's not yours to ponder, and I've interrupted your swim. I hope you will still enjoy it." A rather meek, lambish smile is offered in apology.
Tirzah smirks, seeming to shrug it all off. "Don't sweat it, such things are something I like to ponder. Very different from the type of fair thats expected from me in my normal course. Feel free to seek me out to talk again some time." She offers with a smile. "That smile, you remind me of a story when I was little. Lambert the sheepish lion." She compliments with a wink and then lets go of the ledge to sink itno the depths and resume her exercises.
Whether intended or not, her parting words replace the smile that sparked her memory with one rather more genuinely mirthful. Not that it is seen as he turns and carries it with the rest of his pruned self back to the changing rooms and beyond.
