Logs:Treading Water

Treading Water
Dramatis Personae AJ, Bryce	2024-05-14 "I sorta just snub people."
Location <XAV> 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. AJ dresses in her one-piece bathing suit, the black spandex feeling like a hug. Her skin itches and she scratches at her arm idly with purple-painted nails, grabbing her water bottle from the change room bench. Usually she feels as if she's alone out in there; nobody tries to talk to her, too busy with their friebd groups and all. She walks out, and once close to rhe edge takes a running leap off of the side, pulling her knees up into a cannonball. She hits the water abd sinks like a stone slightly before bobbing back up with a satisfied gasp of air. Immediately AJ sweeps back her neon phosphorescent hair, wet abd clinging to her face and forehead. She feels safe here in the water: it's a barrier where her powers can't hurt somebody, won't hurt anybody. Bryce is not with any friend group at the moment, nor with the brother he so often can be found around -- he's just trotting into the pool alone, towel draped over one (very furry in shaggy tricolor) arm. He's wearing black swim trunks, a Xavier's tee, and blue flip flops, legs shaggy as well though aside from the fur covering and thicker-than-usual pads on his soles they are still human shaped, giving a more Hobbity sort of look to his feet. The thick fur tapers off above his neck, giving way to pale marbled scales on his face and his trademark crown of bold red and purple feathers on his head. He's nearing the pool just about at the time AJ cannonballs, and though he reflexively lifts a hand to ward off the splash he's smiling bright and amused as it splatters over him. "Oh wow!" He calls out, chipper as he crouches at the poolside. "That was a big one." AJ freezes mid-seipe, her almond-shaped brown eyes widening. Immediately her hair's glow brightens and then dims, as if giving off of a "flash" of surprise. Immediately she breaks her glance, looking down at the water and considers diving under. No, she then scolds herself, no! You've been working on this, it's time to make a change, AJ! "... thank you ... " Her voice I quiet, almost inaudible over the echo of water sloshing and people chatting. "Oh!" Bryce is standing back up again, his smile a little smaller but still warm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you or anything." He waggles the end of his towel toward fading ripples in the water around AJ, and then absently flicks a furry finger against some of the water on his furry arm, which just kind of spreads the damp around. "Um, I can, let you get back to your splashing?" "No!" She blurted out, then awkwardly sinks more into the water. "Uhm, no. Sorry I just .." She swallowed down her rising anxiety and forced herself to box-breathe: in for four, hold for five, out for six. "I didn't think anyone wanted 't talk 't me ..." she admitted quietly. "I sorta just snub people." Bryce's head cocks to one side, the slight shift of his feathers making the motion look even more birdlike despite his mostly-human-ish face. "A lot of people snub me these days," he admits, and it doesn't sound particularly upset -- mostly just matter-of-fact. "Do you not like people? I could leave you alone but..." His but trails off, forehead shifting slightly where brows would probably be if his face were not covered in scales. "I just - just don't wanna hurt people, that's all." She lifted a hand from the water sge was treading, flexing her fingers and let droplets of the brackish-hued phosphorous-green-,tinged sludge bead on her hand before plunging it into the water. The froplets vanished in seconds but the water hissed when it made contact with the substance. "Ummm..." Bryce is watching the ooze curiously, though not seeming particularly alarmed. His forehead scrunches just a little further, though the scales don't scrunch properly and mitigate the frown effect somewhat. "I think most of us don't want to hurt people?" He sounds not entirely certain of this. "Were you -- planning to hurt people?" Then, with a slight widening of his eyes, "Ohhh do you hurt people when you talk to them? My roommate's, uh." He just shakes his head rather than finishing this thought. "Uhh, no, no. I just ooze this sludge that's super acidic and toxic but water-soluable. It uhm, it's really sticky, like those expanding tar-bqlls in The Incredibles. And its thick. People who get it on themselves, they-" She winces visibly at the thought and reaches up to nervously tug at at a lock of her hair. AJ twisted it nervously between her fingers. "I don't mean to like, hurt anyone at all ever. And I'm getting better at it! I just, cut it close. Sometimes." "Ohhhh. That does seem kind of annoying," Bryce says with a small and vaguely sympathetic wince. He still doesn't seem to really get what the issue is, though. He's crouching back down again beside the water, looking across the pool to a cluster of kids across the way. "That kid disintegrates anyone he touches. And the boy next to him makes people's -- okay I'm not gonna describe it but it's really scary. And a girl in my math class cooked her parents and her dog when she manifested. And my brother..." Here he trails off and shakes his head. "I just mean, like, that's -- most people's story, here? It doesn't really seem like a reason to snub people when so many of them are in the same kind of boat, you know?" "I just feel like it's safer for them if I do. My therapist says that it's because of shit I dealt with back in Prometheus and what rhy had me do there. Survival mode 'n' stuff ..." AJ swims ip to the pool edge now,deciding to let herself get closer. "Oh, well." Bryce's frown is fading, but he does not look at all sure what to do with this information. He smiles again, a little more tentative than before. "I guess your therapist probably knows best? That's their job right." "It is. I mean we talk lots about what happened... but youte right and I know its dumb I just ... a loyal stuff happened. My mind's all screwy from it and that's that. But uhh mm, I'm sorry for blowing you off a bunch in the past because you're right and I shouldn't be self-isolating - !" "I'm sorry." It sounds sincere enough, even if Bryce still does not look like he is on particularly confident ground with this situation. But then he's brightening, leaning just a little inward with a new eagerness. His voice has warmed, definitely on sturdier terrain now when he's encouraging AJ warmly: "Loneliness can be really difficult, but those are times that we can really look to the Savior. He's always there for us, even when it feels hard to connect with people here." "Oh, sure, I guess. You kinda sou d lime Mr. Wagner," AJ admitted, butbegan to goof off, gripping the edge and swayed to-and-thro. "You two go to church together or something?" "Nnno, Mr. Wagner goes to a --" Bryce catches himself before the end of this sentence, though here his mouth is twisting briefly to the side, and he finishes with a tone of being carefully diplomatic: "Not the true Church. I would love him to come to church with me sometime, though!" He's offering swift on the heels of this: "You could, too. My brother and I go a lot and you could come with. People there are really friendly." "Maybe. Maybe when it's- I mean when I feel safer to do so " AJ then thinks a moment. "Are you gonna get into the water?" "Okay!" Bryce replies, chipper. "Well just let me or Dallen know when you want to go. There's a lot of other mutants there and most of them are way more dangerous than you." His eyes widen and he's hastily adjusting: "I don't mean like they're scary they're super nice. I just mean people probably won't be scared." He's rocking slightly back on his heels, looking down at the water but then looking over to a knot of children nearby who are looking at him with distaste. He shrugs a shoulder, casual. "I don't know. I was thinking about it but maybe a different day." "Oh, okay!" She pauses, and then speaks up, "Maybe on that day, you can let me know ... ?" Her request feels awkward and desperate, absolutely cringe but oh fuck it! it's swimming. This feels safe enough! "Let you know... that I'm going to go swimming?" Bryce looks pretty confused about this request, but he's smiling determinedly through it before hitting on another totally slick save: "Oh! There's a really nice pool out by church, maybe I'll go there. You could come too. Anyway I'll let you know!" He's hopping back to his feet and -- kind of looking over towards the kids who'd been staring at him, but then determinedly looks away to smile back at AJ. He lifts a hand to wave, cheerful. "Enjoy your swim!" AJ pauses, and then calls out after him - "Yeah okay! Let me know!" With a sigh she pushed off of the ledge, drifting back into the water to continue her swim.