Even the stars refuse to shine {{Open}}

[raii]

The river was calm today. It gurgled quietly over smoothed grey rocks. Sari dipped her hand into the water. She closed her eyes, experiencing the coolness of the water, her mind drifting to a place she hadn't seen in years, beside a person she hadn't seen in longer. He had his future all thought out. He had the ambition to acheive it. His laugh, his smile, everything about him, showed his determination.

Dusk chirped impatiently behind her, startling her. He landed awkwardly on the ground, his short, thick legs scrambling to balance himself. He spread his rosy wings and creeled, anxious for his mindmate's attention. She smiled absently and rubbed his head. She still wasn't used to him. She loved him, of course, but she was used to being alone. This new presence, it kept her from feeling lonely, and at times was quite welcome. Others, she wished she could have peace from the clingy fire lizard. Dusk huffed angrilly, puffing out his chest and standing on his hind legs. "Oh, I didn't mean it that way! I just would like you to be quiet when I'm focusing." His expression softened but was still angry. "You know I love having you around." This was enough to make him content, so he launched himself at her, fastening himself to her left shoulder.

Sari shook her head fondly. Her brown hair, usually completely straight, had a slight wave today. It was warm today, and the breeze lifted her hair from her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless shirt, the soft color of today's blue sky. The shirt was loose, hanging formlessly over her upper body. Her skirt was equally loose, flowing down to her ankles. It was a pastel purple in color. Sari was barefoot, of course, her calloused feet creating tiny impressions along the shore.

The fire lizard's back claws were digging into her shoulder, but she wouldn't push him off until she was ready to run. She needed connection, simplicity, peace. One she had reached this, she nudged Dusk off her shoulder. He understood and hovered beside her. Then she ran, and Dusk followed.

She didn't notice though. She was focusing on the steady beat of her feet. Left, right, left, right, she thought as each foot hit the ground. The need to think, the need to analyze every day life, vanished. It dripped off her skin with beads of sweat as the words consumed her mind, as involuntary as her heart beat. Left, right, left. She didn't know how far she had run along the river, but by the time she collapsed, breathing heavilly, the sun was high in the sky. She sat down under a tree, shading herself from the now harsh sun rays. Dusk curled up on her belly and took a nap.

She stroked his back absently as she let her mind wander where it liked. To her dismay, but not to her surprise, it chose Meir. She gazed into the sky. He would've been proud of her. He'd been determined to be a dragon rider. I want to get used to being called M'ron, he said, after he'd finally been searched. No one doubted he would Impress. He just had that feeling about him. He was destined to be a dragonrider, she'd thought, destined to be the greatest dragonrider ever.

That was before. He wasn't here anymore, not like the trees or the grass. He wasn't even like the wind. He was gone, gone gone gone. There wasn't even a trace of him left anywhere. Ironically, he died on the place he hoped to start his new life. Well, he received his deadly wound then. An over-eager dragonet had shoved him aside a little too roughly. Hours later, he was gone. A being with so much potential, gone forever.

That's when she swore to live for him, to Impress, to become his legacy. She'd always admired the riders, but being a dragonrider was for strong people like Meir, not little sensitive weaklings like Sari. Regardless, she hoped to Impress. Her brother would have been so proud if she did. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Though the death was stale, many years past, she still mourned Meir's death, and knew she would for many more years. Acknowledging that, she shifted her attention to the presant, which actually wasn't going bad. She had a friend, a fire lizard, and a chance to become a dragonrider.

The sun bathed her in a soft, comfortable warmth. The golden light danced behind her eyelids, creating lazy patterns. The tenseness faded from her body, along with all thoughts of her dead brother. Without even realizing it, she was lightly dozing in the noon light under the tall oak.

[mierce]

With a hand held up to his brow, Cer'c peeked out from under the shade at the treeline. Coming from Blossom, he was not unfamiliar with summers on the southern continent and generally found them enjoyable despite the temperatures. This year though. Hot damn! He squinted at the blinding light reflecting off the surface of the river and frowned. One would have thought the network of tunnels in the canyon walls that was Selenitas Weyr would have offered some sort of reprieve, but it was also damp, danky, and smelled a bit too much like a ditch.

Oh why-o-why was the sun out? Cer'c sighed and lowered the hand to his side and immediately turned his back to the river to look at his companions. "Let's go for a swim." he stated.

Harmonyth shifted in her spot between two trunks. It was a cozy fit with her hide rubbing against bark that was annoyingly warm despite being in the shade, but it was the only place where she could be almost completely in some sort of shadow. She looked out towards the river, the lids of her eyes slitted in an attempt to block out more light. The water did look appealing, but... There is no shade in the river. From his spot on the green's back, Cuprite seemed to share the sentiments as he gave a disagreeable chirp.

"It will be okay!" Cer'c smiled and promptly stripped off his single thin white tunic. From one of its pockets, Eee tumbled out and landed with a thud on the soft soil. The brown flitter uncurled from his ball and looked up annoyedly at his human-pet. Cer'c simply broadened his smile and swept Eee up and against his chest. He looked up at his clearly unconvinced dragon. "Come, come! You, too, Cuprite."

Without waiting for a response, he turned around and skipped out into the sunlight and towards the water. Harmonyth followed closely behind, unwillingly letting Cuprite hitch a ride in the shade of her partially unfurled wings. Within a minute, Cer'c had already waded out into chest water and Harmonyth even deeper until she could comfortably submerge herself.

"Come," he said, extending a hand towards Cuprite. The bronze flitter hopped onto the boy's wrist, then walked along the length of his arm to settle on his shoulder. Chuckling, Cer'c set Eee on his head and draped his damp shirt over his head so that both lizards were decently covered. It wouldn't do for either of them to die from over exposure to the sun.

With preparations ready, he started walking against the current with exaggerated leg and arm movements. It would almost look like he was attempting to jog in slow-motion as a joke. Harmonyth watched Hers curiously. She could sense restlessness in the boy, but could not understand why he chose to expend his energy in this manner. The confusion was mostly concern though, as she had heard of many people falling ill in this weather, especially when out under the sun for too long.

Well, they didn't really move very far as Cer'c chanced a peek towards the bank and noticed a body lying in the grass. A body! The sudden excitement he felt spilled over to his dragon who in turn felt a touch of concern, maybe even panic. She lifted her head to get a better look and sent Cer'c an image of the scene. Yes, it was indeed a person lying on her back.

The boy quickly turned towards the shore, splashing through the water towards land. He stepped heavily on the soil, his waterlogged footprints clearly imprinted in the medium through growing lighter with each step away from the river. Harmonyth trailed after him, her every step making what would have been an amusing squish were the circumstances different.

Upon reaching the body, it became apparent that it wasn't exactly a body since the girl was still very much alive. Cuprite emerged from his perch on his human's shoulder and landed on the girl's chest to peer directly into her face. Could it be heat exhaustion? Concern creased Cer'c features as he pondered this. He knew nothing about the symptoms and so he did the most logical thing and decided to simply try to wake her. With Eee and wet shirt still draped around his head, he knelt and poked at the side of the girl's stomach. "Hello? Helllooooooooo~"

[raii]

Sari was really quite tired, and she had a dreamless sleep. She felt a pressure on her chest and mumbled something incoherently to what he assumed was Dusk. Then she felt someone poke her stomach. Her eyes opened immediately, her dark eyes surveying her blurry surroundings. There was a young man, wet from swimming, probably. “Hellooooo…” he called.

A million things rushed through her mind, still in a dazed, half-asleep state. Where was Dusk? Who was he? What was going on? She recalled running, then resting, then sleeping. She looked up to the sky. She hadn’t been asleep long at all. The sun had barely moved. “Uhhnnn…” She sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

She looked around anxiously, unable to spot her little Dusk. She glanced back at the unidentified male, suddenly embarrassed. She didn’t do good with new people, especially when they startled her in the middle of a nap. She looked down at the ground, flushed. “I…uh…hi…” she said in a tiny voice. She took a deep breath and composed herself. “Oh, uhm, what’s going on?” She said, louder this time.

Responding to his mindmate’s voice rather than her thoughts, Dusk flung himself out of a near by tree, directly on to her belly. She made a soft oof sound as he landed. He turned to the fire lizard on Sari’s shoulder and gave a possessive hiss. He wanted fire lizard friends, but Sari was all his.

Sari placed her hand on the pink-tinted brown’s head, and he made a soft purring sound as he nuzzled his head into her hand. “Sorry about Dusk…he’s…the jealous type, I suppose.” She promised herself to remember to reprimand him later, in private, though she doubted he would remember such a small incident then. “Oh!” she exclaimed, realizing she’d forgotten to introduce herself again. That was the second time a rider had surprised her, and the second time she’d forgotten to introduce herself. “I’m Sari.”

[mierce]

Cer’c leaned back to give Sari room to sit up properly. She seemed a bit perplexed at the circumstances and he wondered if this was a symptom of heat sickness. The anxiousness in her eyes and her slurred speech didn’t exactly do anything to convince him otherwise. He was just about to grab her arm in concern when her voice cleared up. It was now Cer’c turn to be a touch confused.

It seems that she just woke up, Harmonyth offered, stretching her head over Hers for a closer look at this human female. Cer’c tilted his head, a hand coming up to rub his chin. Watching her interaction with the firelizard seemed to jive with his green’s assessment. I guess that’s all it was.

Cuprite jumped up in the air at Dusk’s reaction. Did that lizard just hiss at him? Unbelievable! The bronze quickly filled his chest so that it appeared large and hissed right back at his offender. He didn’t want this female human. He had his own! HIS OWN! As if to prove his sentiments, Cuprite flitted over back to Cer’c, landing on the lump that was Eee that atop the human’s head.

The brown fire lizard stirred underneath the wet shirt, twisting in annoyance at the totally unwelcomed weight. “Whoa---“ Cer’c sat upright and attempted to grab a fire lizard in each hand to quell the fight that had broken out in his hair. All for naught though, as by then the agitated brown had already tangled himself and the younger bronze in the shirt so that they rolled to the ground in a giant lump.

“Hey now--“ Cer’c twisted around on his heels to untangle his pets. Harmonyth, in turn, hissed a warning at her little cousins to shut up and behave but to little avail. The two were like siblings at each others’ throats. Well, Cuprite most likely as Eee was just on the ground still half in the shirt, making angry noises at the bronze. “You two, behave!”

Cuprite snapped his head towards his human-pet. He clearly wanted to give that presumptuous fat brown flitter a piece of his mind but reluctantly gave in to his human’s wishes. With one lass hiss towards Eee, Cuprite lit upon Cer’c shoulder to peer apprehensively at the girl’s flitter. Was this one going to be trouble as well? Eee on the other hand was not done being angry and continued to jump in place while squawking up at the bronze’s back.

Sighing, Cer’c turned around to the girl again and flashed an apologetic grin. “Ahaha… sorry about that. And for waking you.” The apologetic grin morphed into a generic sheepish smile. “I thought you had passed out from the heat and needed help. Guess you’re all right.” Turning to Dusk, he playfully bowed to the flitter. “Sorry, sir. We meant no harm.” Did flitters understand other humans? He didn’t know.

When Sair introduced herself, Cer’c’s smile broaded. He enthusiastically thrust out a damp hand towards her. “Why good afternoon, Sari. How do you do? I’m Cer’c.” He leaned forward a bit to see her face a little clearer. Oooh, this one is cute! Keeping this assessment to himself for the moment, he sat upright again, the smile never wavering. “Do you normally nap out in the open? Is it comfortable?”

In his opinion it was, but he has not met a girl since Dicerra who really shared the same sentiments towards bare-backed camping, so to speak.

[raii]

Sari shrugged. "I don't usually fall asleep outside, but it is pretty comfy in the sun." She smiled. "I was just tired from a long run." Sari heaved herself up, displacing the brown fire lizard. When she settled, he perched himself haughtily on her shoulder. "And honestly, I really should be apologizing for his behavior. He's very young and very...tempermental." She said it in a soothing, fond tone, so the queen-like brown would not take offense.

"I guess you understand though. Fire lizards are lots of trouble." She stroked Dusk's head gently, and he made a soft purring sound. "But very sweet...when they want to be." She gestured to Harmonyth. "What is your dragon's name?" she asked, smiling at the large green admiringly.

Dusk looked at the other fire lizards, who seemed not to like him very much. Although he would prefer to have friends, he very pointedly ignored them, as though he didn't care whether they existed or not. He had the same attitude towards the dragon, who had captured his Sari's attention and admiration, and to the boy as well. He didn't like to share his, but didn't want Sari unhappy. He curled his tail around her neck gently, as if to protect her should any of the shady creatures try to steal her from him.

Sari picked up on his agitation, and scratched gently under his jaw. Dusk huffed, turning away from the others. Sari flushed. "I...I'm really sorry, he seems to be in a bad mood today. Don't take it personally. Are you hungry?" she asked him. He just stared at her, as if to say I'm not moving. She smiled, somewhat embaressed.

[mierce]

Cer’c shifted so that he was cross-legged, hands clasped over his ankles as he leaned forward in rapt attention. “You were running?” he asked somewhat breathlessly. “In this weather?!” Amazing! His eyes widened as he sized up the girl. She was short in stature, so maybe that lent itself well to not overheating? Maybe?

A genuine smile crossed his face again as Sari apologized for her fire lizard. “Oh, it’s quite all right.” He laughed and gestured behind him with a thumb. “After all, there are these two to remind me of it every day.” Cuprite frilled (sort of) at his human-pet’s words, then tossed his head in mock dismissal. This only elicited more chuckling from Cer’c as he nuzzled the bronze affectionately. Luckily, Eee had since lost interest and had settled for lying on his back, his stubby legs sticking upward. Upon Sari’s inquiring of whether Dusk was hungry, a light went off in Cer’c head.

He extended on leg out so that he could dig into the pockets of his very drenched shorts. They weren’t very deep, but the water made the fabric stick together. After a moment, he pulled out a balled up lump of wax paper. “Does he want food?” he asked, setting the wax paper on the ground and excitedly unwrapping it. The excitement only lasted a moment though, for it quickly became apparent that the dried meats inside were no longer dry. In fact, they were quite soggy. Why the boy thought crumpled wax paper would be waterproof was a mystery, but he clearly did not expect this despite nearly submerging himself completely in water.

“Well uh…” He brought a hand back to scratch the back of his head. “I’m sure it’s still edible!”

Cuprite chirped, looking questioningly at the pile of soggy dried meat. At length he hopped down from his perch and pecked at a piece of meat. Hmm… he supposed it would pass.

“Ahem. Uh that would be Harmonyth,” the boy continued, looking proudly at the green (and relieved for a chance of topic from his fail offering of food. The dragon cant her head to the side as if debating, then bowed her head to the female human. Hello, she said softly. Cer’c faced Sari again, a grin nearly splitting his face in half. “We just impressed during Millieth’s clutching!” he explained excitedly. “It was soooooo cool!!!! She was so tiny when she was born and now look! LOOK! I can ride her now!”

Harmonyth turned her head slightly, feeling a touch embarrassed.

“What about you, Sari? Have you come to impress, too?”

[raii]

Dusk sniffed at the soggy offering. He flicked his tail haughtilly. He deserved only the best meat. Sari laughed. "I think Dusk is a bit too picky for them." She listened as Cer'c introduced his dragon and excitedly described how she had grown. She laughed. "Wow, that's impressive!"

“What about you, Sari? Have you come to impress, too?”" he asked. She grinned and nodded, a soft twinkle in her brown eyes. She'd wanted to Impress a dragon long before Meir, and long before she'd ever come to the Weyr. Just seeing the majesty of the dragons, and meeting dragons like Peppeth and Harmonyth, it made her want to Impress even more.

"I'd love to Impress. I love all creatures, especially dragons." Dusk huffed angrilly, and she stroked his head. "Fire lizards too, Dusk. Don't worry." Dusk pulled back, in a mood now for no apparent reason. He sent her an image of the candidate barracks and spread his wings, leaping into the air. Sari sighed.

"He's very grumpy right now," she apologized. "He doesn't like when he doesn't get enough attention. I think he needs a nap." She stood up carefully, combing her hair back into place. She planted her calloused feet into the ground and gazed out onto the glimmering water. It was a soft blue, reflecting the hot sun. She looked back to Cer'c.

"Do you want to go swimming?" she asked. "It's awfully hot, and I haven't been swimming since I've come here."

[mierce]

Cuprite hopped and chirped triumphantly at Dusk. Hah! Yes, leave. Leave leave. Go away. He was the king here! While the bronze flitter celebrated by the pile of soggy meat, Cer'c smiled brightly at Sari and stood up as well. "I hope you Impress a dragon, too! It's soooo awesome!" He twirled in excitement, feet just avoiding smooshing his pets into the ground. "If you need help with lessons or chores or anything, I can help you, too!"

Harmonyth peered curiously at her human. It may do to pay attention to lessons yourself, she teased to him privately. She might have broadcast the message for Sari to hear as well, but she was still a little apprehensive about communicating directly with another human.

Heeeeee~~

Ignoring his dragon, Cer'c took Sari's hand. His grip was loose, simply borne from his own excitement at finally (?) making his first female friend at the Weyr. "Yes! I would love to go swimming!" Without waiting for a respons e from the girl, Cer'c skipped towards the river bank, turning around only when he was about to cross the threshold between shadow and sun.

"Come come come!" he shouted, hopping and flailing his arms.

[raii]

Sari laughed. He was so excitable, it gave her a bit of excitement, even though she was usually calm. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She lightly jogged towards him. As she reached him, she untied a leather strap around her wrist, using it to tie her hair back in a loose bun. She smiled at him, her brown eyes squinting in the harsh sunlight.

He was nice, much nicer than any other boy she had known, save Meir, of course. Besides Meir, all her brothers had been rather rude to her, dismissing her as useless or unimportant. The hold boys didn't understand her, and treated her poorly, often teasing her because she was different. She spent most of her time alone, so that immidiately meant she was a freak.

She wasn't used to people of the Weyr either way. She'd met a handful of people, and all of them were nice to her. It almost made her rethink her preference of nature to humans. Almost. Being around other people could be enjoyable, but she still prefered her oldest friend.

"Let's go!" she said. She didn't have to take off her shoes, but she removed her belt knife, and the deep purple scarf around her waist. She wrapped the knife in the scarf. She'd bought it at the gather, and had carried it around since, worrying about the possibility of another attack. She dashed into the water, the splashing drops turning spots of her skirt a darker purple. She continued into the water until she was up to her waist, before turning towards Cer'c.

[mierce]

It took a great deal of effort for Cer’c to not outright squeal in glee. This was great! He watched her splash her way through the water, still a little surprised that he had finally found someone who didn’t need a whole lot of prodding to loosen up and actually have some fun. At her prompt, he nodded. He had already stripped out of his shirt (in fact, Eee had already twisted it into a sopping dusty lump) and he had ventured out barefoot that morning, so he simply half skipped, half hopped into the water. As one may expect from such antics, the boy did not make it very far before his happy face turned into surprise. He leaned back with arms flailing as a foot violently breaking through the water. “Yaa---“ A moment later, he had disappeared under the water.

Harmonyth shifted uneasily from her spot, head flicking left and right in an attempt to find Hers. Cer’cLove?

While the green neared the conclusion to head out into the water herself and attempt to fish out her rider, Cer’c let himself get carried a bit by the current as he fumbled to right himself. Thankfully he and water got along like old friends. Just like him and mud. Hmm… would mud get jealous?

The thought lingered at the forefront of his mind when he finally surfaced a few feet from where Sari stood. He took a deep breath of air through the thick curtain of black hair that was plastered to his face. The boy quickly brushed the hair from his face. He couldn’t tell as there was no mirror, but the locks were now sticking out from the sides of his face, sort of like a mangy canine. He squinted, spinning around in place looking for Sari. Upon spotting her, he proudly stood up, arms extended in triumph. “Ta-Da!” Harmonyth might have giggled had she not been so worried just moments prior.

[raii]

Sari's smile turned to shock as Cer'c slipped under the water's surface. "Cer'c!?!" She stumbled towards him, until she lost sight of him. Suddenly, he popped up right in front of her, smiling goofilly. "Ta-da!" she heard him say. Shock turned to surprise as he jumped out, but releif almost immidiately after. Then she laughed. "You're funny, but be more careful. I thought you were gonna drown!"

Smiling now, she submerged herself in the water. She hadn't been swimming in months, and it was especially pleasant because of the heat. Her body had been somewhat sweaty from running and sleeping in this heat, but the water washed it all away. She popped out of the water, her entire body seeping wet. Her hair, which held a slight curl (which was rare) was now bone straight, weighed down by the water. A couple strands of hair stuck to her face, and she brushed them off.

Pinning her hair back didn't seem to work with water, seeing that it managed to escape anyways. She untied the leather thong and retied it on her wrist. She pushed her hair back. "It's so refreshing!" She playfully paddled around him. Swimming gave her a similar elation to running, though more playful and less thoughtful. She lost her self-consciousness, her fears, everything.

She splashed him, grinning slyly. She dove under water, to avoid a splash in return. She held her breath as long as she could, and being a runner, it was rather long. She needed air eventually, and popped up, gasping for air. It filled her lungs, somewhat sweet and filling her with releif.

[mierce]

Cer’c scratched his head sheepishly at Sari’s playful chiding. “Sorry~~ the rock was slippery…” Thankfully she wasn’t angry. In fact, she looked to be really enjoying herself. He watched her, noting with increasing appreciation--as fifteen turn old boys are apt to do when in the presence of attractive girls--of how cute she looked. He wasn’t really sure what to make of these feelings other than that he rather liked Sari despite only meeting her; the way her wet clothes clung to her body whenever she rose out of the water was certainly no help in clearing his thoughts, either.

So, he set about doing the most logical thing which was to splash her except she got him first! Well, he was wet already but still…! His mouth hung open in exaggerated surprise as Sari grinned slyly at her and disappeared under water. “Hey!” he shouted to the spot of water where the girl was just moments earlier. “Oooh I’ll get you!”

The boy ducked under water and forced both eyes open. She appeared huddled under water. Doing what Cer’c didn’t know but from the lack of frantic movements he assumed that she was not in danger of drowning. Mentally grinning to himself he surfaced briefly for air, then ducked underwater again and began swimming circles around her, waiting for her to surface. Of course, he didn’t expect that Sari would be able to hold her breath for so long, forcing him to go up for air a few times. He certainly was not making for a good fish of prey…

When Sari finally popped out of the water, Cer’c twisted his back and angled towards her legs and attempted to affectionately rub his back against her legs like some sort of aquatic feline. Purr purr~~

[raii]

As she emerged, Cer'c began to rub his back on her legs. He purred, and she laughed. He was so silly, so unique. Somehow, he was entirely unexpected. Everything about him was. For example, she'd expected him to splash back, but he'd done this silly feline rub. Then, there was the soggy meat incident. It wasn't all silly, however.

For example, she didn't know why he talked to her once he found out she was okay. Most boys she knew didn't give her a second glance, as she was that nature freak. The girls, held a somewhat pompous attitude towards her. Well, they'd grown up in social circles, and she hadn't really known many besides her brother.

The most strange thing was that she felt comfortable around him. He was like her brother in that way--kind, friendly--but different in others--silly, chatty, immature. The only real similarity was how she felt around them--comfortable. Other than that, he was so different. She found herself blushing, and quickly turned away, towards the shore.

After her complexion returned to it's usual coloring, she turned back to Cer'c, grinning. "I can't beleive I hadn't gone swimming yet, it's so fun!" She bent her legs until her chin was just submerged under water. Her eyes gleamed playfully.

[mierce]

Inevitably, Cer'c ran out of air. He twisted around, planting his feet on the rocky river bed and pushed himself upward. His back broke the surface first, followed by a dramatic rise of his torso and head. Water streamed off the ends of his thick-ish hair creating an arch-like shape in the air as he straightened his back. Fortunately for Sari, her back was to him at the time so she didn't get a nice spray of water to the face.

Wait, her back was to him?

Cer'c wondered if maybe his kitty act may have offended the girl. A little concerned, he leaned forward, hands behind his back to try to get a peek at her expression just as Sari turned around, a definite grin gracing her face. Her words greeted him like welcomed relief that she wasn't angry. He returned to smile, though a twinkle gleamed in his eye.

"Well, this is hardly swimming," he declared, fists on hip and chest puffed out. His challenging expression made way for a goofy smile as he pointed to a boulder further downstream. "Race ya!" he announced, winked, and promptly ducked under water without waiting to see whether Sari would agree to it. In fact, it didn't even occur to him that she might not want to swim race because really, who wouldn't?

Orienting himself towards the boulder he started kicking towards the goal. He was not a graceful swimming by any means, and flailed more than stroked. But he knew how to float and not drown which to Cer'c was as good as anything. And so he moved his arms and legs as fast as he could at the heavy expense of technique and efficiency. Such was the way this boy's mind worked...

[raii]

Before Sari could react, Cer'c dove into the water. "Hey, no fair!" Sari wasn't much of a swimmer, surprisingly. One would think that with a runner's endurance, speed, and stregnth she would make a fine swimmer. Although she had a natural boyancy and grace playing in the water, she lacked the ability to efficiantly move through it. As t been she started swimming, it was obvious she hadn't been taught very well.

Her arms somewhat haphazardly crashed into the water, utilizing much stregnth for small stretches of distance. Her legs thrashed, scraping the bottom every so often. She'd taught herself to swim, so the fact that she could move was impressive. She could do a slight paddle, of course, but that was slow. The stroke she was doing now (which looked to be a cross between the front stroke and drowning), was even worse.

Eventually she gave in. She flopped onto her back, seeming gracefull again. She floated, kicking her legs very gently. She moved incredibly slowly, but if she had kicked any faster or stronger she would probably have lost her perfect float. "I think I'm winning!" she cried, laughing.