softlyfalling | inbox;

I’ll absolutely save you with my strong womanly arms.

[ which she helpfully illustrates by standing enough to slip her arms around his waist. ]

[sooooo pleased, he leans in until they're close enough to kiss]

And give me mouth-to-mouth if I need it?

[ teasing: ]

Only if you need it?

We'll see how... needy I feel.

[rises to his feet]

Shall we?

[ she strips off her jacket, hikes up her pant legs to her knees, and then offers her arm. ]

Let's go.

[he rises and takes her arm, leaving his cane behind. they walk along the shoreline where the waves come up over the sand. eventually raven will wade into the water a little, enough for it to come up past his ankles, midway to his calves]

The water's not as warm as I'd thought it would be.

I guess since it's a really large body of water... even if it's a warm day, it's probably a lot of water to keep at that temperature.

Probably bothers me less since I run a little cold...

[ she kicks her feet through the water a little bit. tiny splash. ]

It's... nice, since we seem to be in summer, now.

[tiny splashes back at her]

[ she laughs. ]

And you're wearing black all the time, too... I don't know how you're not over-warm all the time.

I am. It's been... very uncomfortable, on some days. Zrael clothing isn't made for heat.

We get that problem a little, too, since avante has so many jackets...

Here, come on, it'll be cooler, then—

[ she tugs him a little further into the water, up to knee-deep. ]

[wades in and wobbles a bit, losing his footing and leaning on her]

Oh, you're right...

[ she catches him, arms under his shoulders, holding him steady. almost nose-against-nose. ]

Sorry about that—I didn't mean to go too fast.

You're fine. I knew you'd catch me.

[kisses her cheek]

Will you show me how to swim?

[ //////// ]

Mm, so—we'll want to get at least a little deeper, but for now—well, we're going to get wet.

So it might just be easier to sit down in the water until you're about neck deep.

Alright. I can do that.

[he does so, sighing at the coolness of the water. glances up at her expectantly]

[ she folds up next to him in the water, resting her head against her knees. ]

There's not terribly much to worry about unless you're going out farther than you can stand, and we can leave that for much later. Let's see if we can get you dogpaddling at least a little.

As long as I can learn to not drown, we can call it a success.

[rises up on his knees for a moment, and now is a good time to remind everyone that raven's white tunic is now wet and therefore sheer, and he is not wearing a bra, and the water is a bit cold so his nipples are at full attention

you're welcome]

[ THANKS

she really can't help but notice that, but. she can have... self control... for at least a few minutes. ]

Er, so—while you're not far out, if you can balance forward on your hands and just let your legs float a little... just get used to kicking your feet in place.

[he will make an attempt at floating and kicking his feet--splashing them both in the process, of course]

Like this?

Pff—that's perfect, you're doing great.

[ she scrubs at her face to get the water off, though of course she's already mostly soaking wet, anyway. ]

It's going to look a little silly, but what you'll want to do alongside that is sort of, scoop your hands backwards, like this—

[ she pushes out into slightly deeper water, to demonstrate. ]

[watches her and tries to imitate it, but immediately gets his head dunked first and scrambles to lift it back up, spitting out water

bleh :P]

... can I see that again?

[ brushes her hands lightly through his waterlogged hair— ]

Of course. Just try to keep your chin up, and resist the urge to look down at your hands. You might need to kick a little harder, if it's hard to stay up.

[ she demonstrates again, paddling on by. ]

[he tries again, and this time manages to keep himself afloat without taking a big gulp of water. and then he can't help but glance over at shrike like praise??????]

I think I've got it...

That was a lot better! You’re really getting it.

[ she’s beaming, honestly. ]

Most of the time people just like to splash around anyway, but it’s good to know at least a little like this.

[ of course if she’s going to be swimming, she’d rather not in waterlogged clothes, so she starts stripping out of her shirt to toss over onto the boardwalk. ]

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably

Re: 257 probably