ArchivedLogs:Poolside

Poolside
Dramatis Personae Jack, Rictor	2015-06-15 '
Location <XS> Pool - B1
Like any indoor pool, the room is lined with tile and smells faintly of chlorine, the rippling water occasionally casting wavy reflections across the walls when the sun shines through the high, narrow windows at just the right angle. Unlike many, the facility is respectably large, of Olympic length and of sufficient breadth for a respectable number of lanes, with an array of retractable diving boards set up at the deep end. Being that the school is on break and summer is under way, the pool isn’t seeing too much traffic right now. The lake, on the other hand, has seen a sharp uptick in numbers as students are spending much of their spare time outdoors. This doesn’t bother Rictor much. In fact, it’s his preference when it comes to swimming. To him, it’s not so much recreation as training. Rictor’s not alone in the pool, but he does a big part of it to himself. The lanes on either side of him are free and most of the less active students are wading around on the opposite end. Some are louder than others, but Rictor doesn’t hear them right now. He’s busy freestyling from one end of the pool to the other, each of his strokes and breaths a steady and measured act. Sure, Jack had been swimming out in the lake a lot ever since it warmed up. He did still use the pool though. Like today. He decided to head to the pool since it was right there and he was already down in the locker room. No need to head all the way outside when he can swim right there. Of course it's hard to notice Jack when he's dressed to swim. Just a pair of floating trunks making their way to one of those free lanes. The invisible teen stops on the edge to watch Julio for a few moments before jumping into the water himself. It's an odd sight when he's in the pool. Still just floating trunks but sharp eyes might catch the ghostly outline of a person when he starts moving. He waits for Julio to get closer to his side of the pool before starting to freestyle as well. Rictor has been going at for a while now, but it might not show until he reaches the end of the pool, grips the edge tight, and pulls himself out the water. With a quick twist, he does a 180 and sits himself on the edge, feet and legs still in the water. His chest heaves as he breathes in deeply several times, fatigued. The swim cap and goggles he’s wearing are quickly removed and set to the side before he goes about rubbing his eyes and shaking out his “swim cap hair.” As his breathing slows he continues to recover, Rictor notices that he no longer has the side of the pool to himself. This normally wouldn’t be something to take much notice of, but in this case he’s watching a pair of trunks move more swiftly than they ought to through the water. “Hmm,” he considers thoughtfully, mind and body still ramped up from the exercise. “Someone lose something?” Jack's a pretty quick in the water, pushing himself to go from one end of the pool to the other. He's close enough to Rictor to hear him when he asks that question. Slowing down, Jack treads water and looks around. Now that he's still, a general outline of him can be seen where water runs down over him. "Huh? Who lost what?" he asks, eventually looking up at Rictor. Rictor sucks in one last big lungful of air and lets it out with a whoosh as Jack makes himself known. More clearly, at least. “Oh, never mind,” the older man says, waving the topic away literally with a swipe through the air. He then adopts a more relaxed pose, leaning back against downturned palms down to gaze at the student with sharp, yet tired, eyes. “It’s Jack, right?” Hopefully there’s only one such student, otherwise it would be worse than dealing with twins. Drifting closer to Rictor so they don't have to be as loud, Jack offers an unseen smile. "That's me," he replies. There are other people that can turn invisible around, Jack's just the only one without an off switch for it. "There's more people down here than I thought there'd be today," he remarks idly. His tone hints that he's not as tired as Rictor. No, Jack's still pretty energized and awake. “Really?” Rictor asks, turning to get a reading on the pool’s current population. “I guess right now the pool’s as good a place to be as any.” His gaze works its way back to the invisible young man. “I remember when I was studying here, this place got packed. Then again, it’s been a while and memory is often faulty…” His voice trails off at the end and he gives his head a good shake, sending water from his hair flying. Seems to serve a purpose as he looks more alert after. "Yeah, I figured more people would be out at the lake," Jack answers. "Then again this is my first summer here so I don't know how it normally goes," he admits with a laugh. "How long ago were you a student here?" he asks curiously. The invisible mutant moves closer to the edge, resting his arms on it so he doesn't have to tread as much. The headshaking gets him hit with a couple drops of water but he doesn't seem bothered at all. He's swimming in the stuff after all. Rictor has to think about this, and he does so by biting his bottom lip and scrunching his face in a way that draws out wrinkles along his brow and around his eyes. “I came here well over ten years ago. Damn, I’m getting old,” he says matter-of-factly. “Still, not much has changed over the years, though from the enrollment lists I’d say there are many more students now than then. “What brought you here,” he asks, well aware of the weight such an answer might hold. "That's not that old," Jack replies. "Now if it were fifteen years..." he trails off, just teasing a little bit. He listens quietly to Rictor talk about the old days and enrollment rates. It's interesting to know some of the school's history. There's a pause as Jack is asked that question and he lets out a breath. "Well...I had nowhere else to go. I was living out on the streets and I'd run into a lot of students and a teacher or two from here before," he explains. "But after I ended up having to ditch well...everything," he clears his throat slightly and blushes invisibly. "to get away from some cops in the middle of a snowy winter, Peter and Professor Micah found me fishing a soggy hoodie out from under a car and after a couple days at Professor Micah's place, they convinced me to come here." The story gets a few nods out of Rictor, who notes the events but doesn’t really respond to them in a truly empathic way. “I suppose it’s good that they ran into you when they did. This place loves to hand out fresh hoodies. I still have my old one somewhere, I think.” Reliving a little bit of history is also nice for Rictor, whose breathing has normalized now. “I hope you’ve settled in well.” Jack chuckles a bit. "Yeah, I'm glad I let them talk me into it," he says. "I've got a couple of the hoodies. Apparently too many according to some of my classmates," he pauses a beat. "Well, former classmates. They graduated," he explains. "I guess I'm well settled in," he adds after a moment. "If it's okay to ask, Professor...how'd you end up at the school?" Rictor offers a smile and inclines his head a bit. He doesn’t speak for a moment while collecting his thoughts, but when he does he says, “I don’t know how much you know about Mexico, but you probably know things are volatile down there, and sometimes things happen.” He shrugs and adjust his position on the edge of the pool, leaning forward this time. “The professor found me after just such a thing. There was an earthquake, you see, and I was only twelve. The Professor is pretty good about knowing when these sorts of things involve a twelve year old boy in a very specific way, you see.” Jack listens quietly, his attention on Rictor. Not that it’s easy to tell just by looking at the blank space where he is. The water dripping off his hair gives a little indication where he is at least. "Wow, so you can make earthquakes?" he asks, surprised and impressed by that news. "Good thing the Professor found you though." “That’s a part of it,” Rictor tells Jack. It’s unclear if he’s referring solely to his abilities or also his story, though he’s likely including both. “And you’re right, I’m very grateful to this place for helping me after that ordeal.” He reaches forward and dips the fingertips of one hand just under the surface of the water. After a moment, ripples form around those tips, though there’s no movement of his hand to coincide with it. The ripples slowly increase in violence until it appears like the water is boiling around his hand. “Otherwise I might not have learned to control it the way I have.” Jack makes a curious little noise when Rictor puts a hand in the water, the ripples making unseen brows arch. "Whoa," he murmurs quietly as the vibrations increase and the water goes violent. "That's...even cooler," he adds after a few moments of though. Rictor smiles and lifts his hand out of the water. The ripples subside and he places his hand back on the lip of the pool. “You know, when our powers manifest we’re usually too quick to judge them. We say that we control something or take on the characteristics of something else. What you learn here, though, is not what you’re a master of, but what you are. When I was younger I always thought I would once day master the Earth’s seismic forces. Eventually, I came to understand that I’m a force altogether my own. I wonder, Jack, what you are.” It's not easy to tell, really. The slight way the water droplets dip and run off the invisible form and the shift in the water are subtle indications but Jack's shoulders slump slightly as he listens to those words. He's not as optimistic about his abilities. "Right now, the ghost of lost swim suits," he jokes a little. "I...I don't think I'm going to be the master of anything," he adds. "I'm just a guy stuck in perma-ghost mode." “That’s just the point,” Rictor says, almost cheerily. “You don’t have to master anything to figure out who you are. I think once you realize that it becomes easier.” He scoots back a bit and lifts his legs out of the water, pulling his knees to his chest and setting his feet on the ground. “I know we’ve just met and I’m super old, so what do I know, but it’ll take some time and that’s not such a bad thing.” With a push, he stands and collects his goggles and swim cap from the floor next to him. “I have to go, Jack, but I’m glad we talked. If you ever need anything, come find me. It will be good getting to know you.” "I'll settle for not being a complete failure," Jack remarks idly. He watches Rictor stand, humming a little. "Thanks, Professor. I'll keep it in mind," he says. He starts to lift a hand to wave but remembers he's not even wearing sleeves to show that off so pushes back into the water. "I'll see you later," he chimes, getting back to swimming.