prose log with Sheena

[percivalthegale]

Who: Percival and Sheena (torans_playboy )
When: afternoon of the day after the journal-torching party
Where: the lake
What: swimming lessons!

The summer days at Budehuc were making the lake its most precious resource, everyone seemed to want to spend half their time swimming or wading to keep cool. After splashing around in the shallows at the beach party, Percival was certain he ought to learn to swim for real, so he could join the cooling-off revelry after he was done with duty and the stables. Having already made arrangements with Sheena, Percival did his best to finish up early enough so he could change and head down to the shoreline.

It was well into the afternoon when Sheena finally arrived at the lakefront where he had asked Percival to wait. Although clad in his swim trunks and woven sandals like the day before, he had also added a bandanna tied over his head (not too dissimilar to McDohl's) and a pair of large sunglasses (not too dissimilar to Miakis's) to his wardrobe. In one hand he held a tin thermos, and the other massaged the back of his neck as he approached. He raised it in a lazy wave before putting his hand on his hip as he took a sip from the thermos.

"Sorry, chief," he said in a hoarse voice, "I almost forgot. But never fear: I came, after all!"

Percival turned to regard his instructor with a bit of a curious frown. Compared to him, in his loose, flowy shirt with laces and the barely-broken-in swim trunks, Sheena looked...hilarious. "Er, is everything all right, Sheena?" he wondered, vaguely concerned, mostly just confused.

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde waved dismissively after he took another draught. "I'm fine! You know how it is."

To demonstrate, he pulled down his glasses to reveal the dark purple rings under his eyes, and the faded greyish-blue remnants of what appeared to be a giant circle drawn around his left eye. Several other stray lines seemed, upon further  inspection, to ghost faintly all over his face.

"Long night," he grinned. Sheena kicked off his sandals, one in each direction, and set the thermos on the ground. He took a few steps toward the water and squelched his toes into the muddy, shallow water.

"So, you ready to do this?"

Still perplexed, Percival decided it was wisest to shrug it off and not ask. Long night, indeed. "Yes, I think so," he replied, tugging the laces at his collar loose and pulling his shirt off. "I've had a long day and a hot one, this should feel good."

He stepped up alongside Sheena, setting his hands on his hips determinedly. "Besides," he added with a smirk for his comrade, "I'd best learn in case a certain surly someone teleports me into the lake instead of the baths next time."

Sheena snickered at the everpresent threat of teleportation that had been alluded by his friend, and stepped a few feet further into the water, until he was up to his waist.

"In this heat, I don't think it's surly to teleport someone into the lake. I think that's just downright charitable!" He said as he fell back onto the surface of the water. "I'd spend all summer underwater if I could."

"Come on, man! Gotta just dive right in!"

"Not when you're wearing full plate armor!" Percival reminded him, only slightly joking. He watched Sheena's movements and decided to just copy him, wading in up to his knees and then throwing himself forward rather clumsily. The water splashing into his face made him splutter and immedately cease, standing back up in startlement.

"Well, I think you need to stop doing that, then! You need... you need a summer uniform, or something!" Sheena waved, as he floated on his back. When he heard sounds of struggling, he sat up quickly, almost losing his soggy bandanna in the process.

"Whoa! Okay, okay, maybe that's a bad way to start. I guess we better do this slowly! But..." he trailed off, thinking. "Can't hold you up 'cause you aren't a kid...."

"Oh, here. Just kneel down a little and move your arms like this, okay?"

To demonstrate, Sheena moved his arms in a long, graceful arc.

Percival mentally agreed that he wasn't a child, there was no need to do anything like holding him up, and sucked up his pride in order to copy Sheena's movements, no matter how silly he felt doing it. Fortunately, no one they knew was around by the beach today, no one could see his flubs. It seemed all too easy, he had matched Sheena's pace in no time. "Well, that doesn't seem too hard," he remarked.

"That's 'cause it's not!" Sheena exclaimed as he sat up. "But, that's just the arms, and it takes the whooole body. So, we gotta move to the next step!"

"Just remember," he said, leaning forward, "since you aren't wearing all that full plate, you're gonna float! People float, unless they're weird and sink to the bottom like some reason." Like certain wind mages seemed to do. 

"So, just lean forward, move your arms like that, and kick! And if you get a little water in your mouth, don't get all freaked out."

The concept seemed understandable enough, but... "Then how do you breathe?" Percival asked to be sure. "If water is constantly splashing into your face..."

"Well, just keep your head above the water," Sheena said, glossing over the fact that he had completely forgotten to mention that. "Don't need to go underwater for the breast stroke! And if it gets real bad, just hold your breath."

"Oh....all right," Percival said, taking a deep breath to steel himself for his first attempt. He'd kick himself if he couldn't get the hang of what looked so simple and natural, especially being a water-element himself. He pushed off from the bottom and began stroking through the water, though in concentrating so hard on his arm-motions, he completely forgot to kick. Needless to say, he didn't get very far very fast.

"Kick! Kick the water!" the newly-bandannaed young man exclaimed, splashing waves of water toward Percival. "Kiiick!! Eesh!" 

Completely distracted, Percival did the opposite - he tried to feel for the bottom and realized he was out too deep. The bottom wasn't in reach of his toes. He thrashed with his arms in a bad mimicry of his previous swimming motions, as if trying to claw his way back across the surface of the water to a safe place. "Sh....Sheena!" he managed to yelp between mouthfuls of lake water.

"No, no, no!" Sheena shouted as he dove after his hapless pupil. The frustrated teacher threw his arm around Percival and pulled him up as best as he could with the leverage he had. With the knight's chest resting on his shoulder, he almost disappeared under the surface of the water.

The young blonde thought for a moment-- just how had he learned how to swim again? Vague recollections of his father unceremoniously tossing him into the middle of a pond seemed to come to mind with the 'sink or swim' mentality, but that didn't seem to be an ideal option for this lesson.

"Here, okay," he said, talking almost into the water. "Try it now. If you mess up this time, I'm pulling you under!!"

"What?" Percival spluttered, mostly into the water. Almost by instinct he kicked out, since Sheena had hold of his upper half, and it propelled them both forward. Grabbing onto Sheena's arm with one arm, Percival lashed out with the other in the long, arcing motion, and it finally seemed to work. Inch by inch, they drew closer to the shore and the area where they could both touch the bottom.

Sheena simply followed along, treading water and doing his best to let Percival take the lead. As they re-approached shallow water, he kicked his legs forward and dug them into the mud.

"See!" he exclaimed triumphantly as he pulled his shoulder out from underneath his pupil. "It's not so bad! You just gotta keep practicing that and remember not to panic!"

"Practicing," Percival snorted, coughing and wiping the water from his face. "I can probably do that. Not panicking is another matter entirely." He ran his wet hands through his hair, slicking it backwards all over again save for that one lock that drooped over his forehead. "You would think I could handle such a thing. I'm an adult, for saints' sake!"

"Hey, man," Sheena said, pulling off the now water-stained and completely useless sunglasses and tossing them to the shore. "There's just some things that get harder to get the hang of the older you get! You know, like swimming, or learning to fight, or something. It's never too late to learn, but it's easier to do it as a kid. Besides...

"I'm sure you're hardly the only person here who can't swim! I bet there's lots of people too wimpy to even get in the water."

"Maybe." Percival smiled at him. "Does that mean you'll be offering lessons to them as well?" He splashed around a bit, finding it less daunting to practice floating here where he knew he could just shoot out a foot and stabilize himself. "Swim-teacher Sheena! I can see it now."

"Oh, hell no!" Swim-teacher Sheena exclaimed with a hint of disgust on his face. He flopped into the water on his back again, careful to adjust the dripping bandanna that covered his head, and closed his eyes. "Unless one of the cute ones asks. This is harder than I thought!"

"Well, you've done well so far," Percival complimented with a sunny grin. "Thank you for being so patient with me. You have no idea how hard it is for me, as well." He sank lower in the water, nearly up to his lips, grumbling. "A mighty knight of Zexen, flailing about in the water like some hapless idiot. My only consolation is that as far as I know, none of the others can swim either. Except maybe Chris," he added with a tilt of his head. "After all, she's the Silver Maiden. She can do anything. I bet she could fly if she just decided to."

"Oooooh!" Sheena cooed like a taunting schoolboy and splashed water at his dark-haired friend. "Does somebody have a crush?"

Laughing, Percival splashed back. "I was being sarcastic! Don't get me wrong, Lady Chris is my captain and I respect her very much. But the way most of Zexen fawns over her, you'd think she was the Goddess incarnate." He grinned mischievously. "No, the one with the crush is my friend Borus. He's been in love with her for years."

If he hadn't already tossed his ridiculously gaudy sunglasses aside, now would have been the perfect time to pull them down for dramatic effect. As it was, he had to settle for sitting up and quirking a brow, still dark from marker residue.

"What, really?" he said incredulously. "You're trying to tell me that you've known her for years and you've never tried to...y'know? I mean, come on! I bet she's got a great body under all that armor!"

His voice lowered a little, as if Silver Maidens lurked in the waters of Budehuc, and leaned in conspiratorially.

"I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming, though. She's the type that'd punch you right in the codpiece if you tried to make any suggestions."

Percival leaned in closer as well, because he was not about to get caught gossipping about his captain. "That's exactly right," he snickered. "Don't think men haven't tried - and failed! Really, though..." He backed away a little. "I've known Borus for a very long time, we've been like brothers since before either of us even met Lady Chris. Once I knew how he felt about her, she was strictly off-limits. I never advance on another man's love interest."

"Yeah, yeah, that's admirable," he said, floating away on his back, kicking idly against the water. "Can't infringe on another guy like that. Your friend ever tell her about how he feels?" 

Percival let out a huge, exasperated sigh. "Of course not! Truth be told, when it comes to the woman he adores, the Swordsman of Rage is a big fat chicken. And I've told him as much, but it doesn't seem to motivate him." He swirled his arms around in the water, feeling his sense of buoyancy. "I've even agreed to stay here at Budehuc so he can travel with her when she needs an extra hand, and nothing. I swear."

"What!" he exclaimed and slapped the water to emphasize. "We are going to have to talk to his gentleman! Point him out to me next time he's here and we'll sit down and have a chit-chat about the importance of initiative!"

"Hey! I guess there's something I could teach after all!" The matter of how well he could teach it was debatable.

"Oh, dear goddess," Percival exclaimed before he could stop himself. "Teaching your methods of wooing women, is that it? Not that I doubt your prowess, Sheena, but..."

"What, is that a bad idea?" Sheena asked, rolling his gaze over to look more clearly at Percival. "I mean, I know I'm in a bit of a dry spot, but..."

A sudden realization hit the playboy-- of all the time he had spent in Budehuc, what did he have to show for it? Nothing! (Not that he had ended up with much to show at Dunan, or Toran, but that was a point for another time)

"Oh no! Maybe you're right!" he shouted, shooting up from the water. "I've lost my touch!! This is terrible!!"

Giggling, Percival sloshed backwards in the water, not really swimming anymore, just toying around. It was much cooler than sitting on the shore in the hot sun, anyway. "Lost your touch? What about May Day? Or was that a lot of hot air?" He shook his head. "I don't know, Sheena, perhaps it isn't that you've lost your touch...perhaps you're just trying too hard."

"Yeah," Sheena said with a grin, suddenly mollified by the reminder. "May Day! That was a good day. That was a great day."  

"Alright, alright. So maybe I was exaggerating a little," he clarified, kicking away, further into the deep water with a large stroke. "But still ... you think I should lay off a bit? You don't think that won't start rumors up again or anything?"

Percival's brow knit in a curious frown. "You're still worried about those rumors? Who keeps saying these things about you?  Honestly, I've never seen anything that would make me think you were anything but a ladies' man." He dared himself to swim after Sheena, remembering to kick this time and finding it marginally less awkward.

"Nah," he said, leading himself further away from the shore, "I'm not that worried 'cause I'm sure they're done, but still... maybe if I stopped with all the appreciation, they might start again?"

"I don't see why they would, unless you started making kissy-faces with a young man," Percival reasoned. The conversation was distracting him from being timid about swimming, and he followed Sheena almost without thinking just so their conversation wouldn't be shouted across the lake. "I wouldn't say stop completely, but perhaps...try to be more casual about it. Some say that a man who tries too hard looks desperate - maybe that's where the rumors come from. They think you're trying too hard to cover something up."

"Yeah, yeah, I think you might be right," Sheena said. He stopped, suddenly, and sat up in the water again. Due to the cloth's added water weight and the speed of his change in altitude, the bandanna decided not to take the trip with him and slipped off his head, revealing the faded remnants of what, give or take a few letters, probably spelled the word "PERVERT."

"Hey!" the pervert exclaimed, "You know what I just realized? You're swimming! You got it!!"

Percival stopped as well, and as a result, got a mouthful of water. Kicking frantically to keep himself up, he laughed a bit. "I didn't even notice! Well, it looks like your lesson...worked..." He tried to toss the stray lock of hair out of his eyes - it didn't work. "But it's tiring. I think I'll head back toward sho..." His brow wrinkled again. "Sheena, why does it say 'pervert' on your forehead?"

"It says 'pervert' on my forehead 'cause if I scrub it anymore it'll start bleeding!" the blonde said dourly as he grabbed the bandanna off the lake's surface. Wringing out as much water as he could, he re-tied it around his forehead, careful to cover the words up as best as he could judge in the water's reflection.  "Some jerk took advantage of me in a compromised state and wrote it there. I'm not sure what I did to deserve it, but I'm gonna have the Mark of Shame to deal with for a while, I think."

"Anyway, we best get back to shore before you go getting all tired and try drowning or something!" he exclaimed before disappearing underwater.

Blinking, Percival hesitated a moment before deciding not to try and find Sheena, wherever he went, and set out for shore, his arm-strokes far more confident now, but still carrying his head too high out of the water. He swam right up until he could find the bottom, and then trudged up the beach to where their clothing and towels were, shaking off the water like a dog. Miraculously, his swept-back hair sprang right back into place no matter how wet it was.

"AUGH!" a voice from further out on the lake cried, "why won't it wash off?!" 

Percival threw back his head and laughed. It wasn't like he'd never participated in similar pranks when he was a squire - never as the victim, though.

"It'll wear off," he called out. "Trust me."