ArchivedLogs:Poolside Journalism

Poolside Journalism
Dramatis Personae Ghost, Kelly
In Absentia	2013-12-01 Ghost talks journalism with Kelly during a swim.
Location <XS> Pool
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. The pool wasn't exactly a popular place this weekend, but it was still open at least, and a few of the students splashed and swam its length during its open swim hours today. Kelly was hoping to be one of them... but so far he hung out on the shallow end a bit sheepish about the prospect, towel around his neck, T-shirt still on, and his colorful tropical trunks still dry as a bone. He had gotten as far as sitting over the edge and letting his feet dip in the water, his leaves shifting in the blue choline scented stuff. His flowers on his head were wiggling softly on their own and a few of his vines had sunk into the water to tease its surface, but mostly he just watched his own reflection. Emerging from the women's locker room is Ghost, clad in a green swimsuit and swimpants, of the technical variety. With a pair of swimgoggles on her forehead, she heads towards the lanes, feeling the water, before spotting Kelly. "Hey, Kelly! Water's nice, isn't it? I think it's heated, but it's still pretty cold. Better than swimming in the lake, atleast. Even though that's forbidden. Shh.". She smiles, looking up to the lifeguard, a staff member, before getting ready to dive into the lane. Hearing Ghost, Kelly put on a smile for her and looked up. "Oh yeah, I like it down here, and cold isn't so bad, I mean... once you get used to it." But looking at her outfit, Kelly arched an eyebrow and asked "Gosh, you go all out, don't ya?" And while he kept teasing the water, he reached forward to give it a test with his hand fully. "The suit makes it easier to gain speed than a dumbass bikini. Besides, I don't want all that showing, especially if I have to climb a wall. And usually I always have to climb a wall.". Ghost says this back to Kelly, before diving straight into the lane. She makes good speed, going to the other side, before touching the wall and doubling back, pulling her head out of the water, huffing. "I doubt I could have done that with a bikini.". Kelly laughs as he watches the girl make quick pace across the lane, he shook his head in disbelief. "Wow, you on the swim team or something?" he asks as well. "I used to get in the pool as much as I could, but I never tried to do it /fast/ like that, just you know, float and relax." Saying this he started to get some of his gumption back and took off his towl. "And yeah, I guess showing off is... not always a good thing." Ghost laughs back. "Nah, not on any sports teams. I'd probably be barred from a few of the sports due to heightened reflexes, and, well, I have a newspaper to tend to, so, yeah.". She stretches her arms in the air before preparing to launch off the wall again. "Also, it's good exercise.". She's then pushing off again. Woosh! Slipping his shirt off, Kelly dips on in the pool with a whoosh, causing quite the wave to come out from the chubby mutant. When he comes up he's relaxing quite a bit. "So you can smell really good, have heightened reflexes, AND can climb on walls? You're like... a ninja or something." Kelly says approvingly, but a bit bashfully, with his shirt removed his full extent of his mutation is obviously visible, bark and patches of plant grown embedded on his shoulders, chest, and sides... with his right side much more grown over than his left. "I guess you really take the newspaper seriously, huh?" "Purple Ninja.". Ghost smirks, laughing, as she emerges from the water again. "My hearing's also pretty good. Don't whisper when I'm in the room, basically, it won't help.". She smiles, noticing his mutation. "Gah, does that bark hurt? Looks pretty painful.". She begins stretching again, as she replies. "The newspaper is my life, pretty much. I take it more seriously than everyone else in the club combined. Going to be a journalist someday, gotta start small, but gotta put passion into it.". Of course THAT makes Kelly even more self conscious and he sinks down under the water. "Uhm, n-n-no, it doesn't hurt... its... just sort'ta part of me..." he manages to blush out a bit ashamed, as he starts to float there. "And b-b-esides, lots of Ninjas are purple... at least in video games... and... like... being a ninja's gotta help when you're trying to be all reporter-y right?" Ghost sort of brushes her hair back as she notices Kelly get nervous. "Oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to make you feel bad. Curiosity got the better of me.". She is still stretching, as she continues. "Yeah, I know what you mean. And yup, stealth totally helps with getting scoops. I just hide on the ceiling and listen in.". She then kicks off again, woosh! "Well, what kinda story are you working on right now?" Kelly wondered, as he swam a little across the water, trying to force himself to relax again, his thorny vines spreading out like sea weed around him. "I mean, what kinda stuff do you like to write about here? I'm not really sure my abilities are gonna come in useful for anything, unless I wanna be a farmer, and I so /do not/ want to be a farmer." "My most recent story was about the zombie plague and honoring the students that died of it and stuff.". Ghost is pretty much done with her laps, just floating in the water. "I like to write about anything that's actually entertaining but all that stuff gets shot down so usually, I just write about sport events and recent news and all that. But as what was discussed yesterday, I'm pretty much shot down like every single article. Except for the boring shit.". "The zombie thing couldn't have been boring at all. But... I guess having to talk about the friends you lost made that one a tough subject. But I guess every story you could right would be close to you here. The staff sure isn't going to let you write anything too mean, that's for sure." Kelly agreed as he swam closer to her and dived under the water in an attempt to come up on the other side of the girl. "Meh, everyone had enough zombies at that point, including myself.". Ghost begins to sniff, as she instantly knows where Kelly is. When he swims up on the other side of her, she quickly splashes him if he rises, laughing. "Ahaha, nice try. Like I said, I hear/smell all.". Ghost stretches, kicking her legs back. "Yeah, no, they wouldn't. That's why the club shoots it all down." "Gah!" Kelly says, his face clenching as he gets splashed, and then he splashes back in a laughting bit of revenge, trying to soak the purple ninja back! "Jeeze, you weren't kidding!" He says as he moves away, trying not to get his thorns tangled in anything or anyone. "Well, if you /could/ right one story, one they wont let you, what would it be?" "The purple ninja never kids.". Ghost splashes back, slightly making this a splash war, until the life guard tells them to cut it out. "Any story..probably one about those Magneto terrorists. They've all been pretty much shot down for now because apparently it's disrupting, but I think it'd be a very interesting thing to write about. Even though all the newspapers write about them except school ones, pretty much.". "They're just making us look bad." Kelly says with a huff, when they're brought up. "Not that everyone doesn't already have enough reasons to hate us." But shaking his head, he wonders "Still, I bet... well, your take on things would certainly be different than anyone elses. Why don't you give it another shot, see if it works? I mean... you can always go on about journalistic integrity and, uhm... freedom of speech and stuff." And then Tim blushes as he says: "Or heck, you can always just go rogue. I'm sure setting up a blog or uhm, a newsletter would be easy enough." "Thought about it, but, I bet they'd crack down on it eventually. This is a boarding school, after all, I don't think freedom of speech applies as much.". Ghost sighs, stretching her arms. "I could send you some of my work if you'd like. It's probably not going to go anywhere, atleast someone reading it would be good.". She sits against the wall, floating. "Though maybe a blog will work.". "If you want, that's cool. Not exactly an English class person... but I'll give ya some thoughts on it." Kelly admitted but bit his lips when he thinks he notices some of the other kids looking his way. It may just be his imagination, but the giggling from their direction doesn't help and he starts to slip out of the pool. "Get a sponsor, like... a teacher to back ya, it's a lot harder for 'em to clamp down on a teacher doin' stuff than it is just a kid." He says as he gets up and scampers towards his towel. "I... gotta go." He says sheepishly. "Yeah, I'll send it to you later.". Ghost smiles, as Kelly decides to leave. "Oh, alright. Cya!". She then looks back at the lane, stretches her legs, and decides to go for another lap, kicking off. WOOSH!