fandomhigh | Underwater Basket Weaving as a Metaphor for Organising Your Life, Tuesday, Period 2

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underwater basketweaving

Underwater Basket Weaving as a Metaphor for Organising Your Life, Tuesday, Period 2

"Good morning, class," Lulu said, as the class gathered at the pool. It was a little cooler here in Australia than it had been before, so she and Juli had decided to move back indoors. And also today's lesson benefited from a more strictly controlled environment. "Today, we're going to focus on learning a skill from my homeworld. It's not something you can master in a day, so what I'm going to do is give you the basics, and hopefully you'll be able to go away with it and go further on your own.

"Essentially, people on my world have learned to hold their breath for indefinite periods of time, while being highly active. It's something that anyone can learn, and doesn't seem to rely on any of the magical skills available on my planet, so I thought it would work here in class, as well. The primary example of where this is used is in the sport known as Blitzball; competitors play within a large sphere of water, and must rely on their ability to hold their breath while playing this very physical sport -- there's not really any way to surface for air during a game."

“This is dangerous,” Juli said firmly. “You’re not to try it outside of class, unless you’re in the presence of someone who knows what they are doing. The average human being can hold their breath underwater for approximately forty-five to seventy-five seconds. What we’re teaching you is something quite similar, but nonetheless, caution rules.” She smiled faintly, and held up a stop-watch. “Having said what the average is, let’s see what one person can do. Miss Lulu?”

Lulu nodded. "My personal best, while remaining mostly still, is up to seven minutes. Certainly not enough to play blitz, but still rather beyond the norm, as I am given to understand it." She dove into the water.

Starting the timer, Juli nonchalantly turned back to the class. “You will be attempting to stay underwater utilizing the same technique that Miss Lulu is currently putting to the test. This activity is to be done in pairs, and if we see anyone not taking this seriously we will not hesitate in landing all involved with detention. Have fun, but pay attention and concentrate.”

After a period of time, Lulu surfaced, and climbed out of the water. "How did I do?" she asked, with a bit of a smile.

Juli smiled, glancing at the timer. “Seven minutes, twenty-three seconds!" she announced.

Lulu's smiled widened a bit. "A new personal best," she said, before diving back into the water. "It's really quite simple," she continued, and then went on to ~~handwavily, because I am so not coming up with an actual explanation for this~~ explain how the trick was done.

"Well?" Juli asked, glancing at the class. "What are you waiting for? Pair up, get in the water, and we'll begin practicing." A pause, and a sly smile. "And try not to drown."

[OCD is up! Have at!]

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No drowning allowed!

Chris Halliwell

Giselle

Jeff Murdock

Lion-o

Summer Roberts

Sokka

Bender

Harry Dresden

Chat, react, sleep or, you know, ask questions.

Chris decided that this could be an interesting skill to learn.

Sokka stared, and then listened intently and took careful notes. He should have asked Rikku about this MONTHS ago.

Holding your breath underwater sound like just the thing to freak Snarf out. Lion-o decided that he needed to get lots of practice in this.

Lulu and Juli are here to help if you need it, but for the most part just pair up and time each other. Even knowing how to do the trick, it takes some getting used to, so don't be surprised if you can't do it perfectly right away.

There are waterproof stopwatches available, one per pair.

[And, yes, they ARE serious about slapping anyone who is fooling around in detention.]

Chris looked for a partner.

"Chris, right?" Sokka asked, stepping up to him. "Wanna pair up?"

"Sure," Chris said. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

"Pshhht, yeaaaah, sure," Sokka told him, waving his hand absently. "I drown myself all the TIME."

"That's an interesting hobby," Chris remarked. "Okay, so... you wanna go first?"

"...Might as well," Sokka told him. "Time me. Here goes nothing..."

He ducked under the water, and almost immediately came back up again, coughing and sputtering. "Hang on! I wasn't ready! Do over!"

He took a few deep breaths, mentally went over what Lulu had taught them, and went back down. This time he was there almost four minutes before he resurfaced.

Chris kept a close eye on the water, ready to grab Sokka and pull him up if he looked like he was in trouble.

When he finally resurfaced, Chris grinned. "Awesome! You lasted almost four minutes!"

Sokka pumped his fist in the air. "AWWWW, yeah!!! Who da man!?!" He did a little victory dance and grinned at Chris. "You're up, unless you feel like chickening out."

"No way am I chickening out," Chris said. He took a few deep breaths and tried to remember everything that he had been told.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said, passing the watch off to Sokka and heading under.

He lasted about three and a half minutes before resurfacing.

"Nice, very nice," Sokka told him. "Not as good as me, but still pretty good. You ever done this before?"

"Can't say that I have," Chris admitted. "Never was much into swimming."

Bender wasn't sure about this particular type of not-breathing. It looked a lot more work than the breathing he usually didn't do.

He snagged a stopwatch.

"Oooh, can you time me?" asked Lion-o, seeing Bender with the stopwatch.

Bender hastily assumed an innocent non-stopwatch-stealing expression. "Sure, I can do that."

He looked at Lion-o. "So you're one of those species that needs air to breathe, right?"

"Yup! I've never tried this before, but I like to swim," said Lion-o.

Hopefully this would not end badly, because there was no one else in line of succession after Lion-o.

Bender would probably pull Lion-o out if he collapsed. It was harder to loot bodies underwater.

"Okay, so you probably won't drown," said Bender, sitting down on the edge of the pool, ready to click the watch. "You first."

"Okay!" said Lion-o, diving underwater. He emerged less than 30 seconds later, coughing and sputtering. "That felt like a really long time! How did I do?"

"Not great," said Bender as he held out the watch showing 23 seconds. He'd been a little slow hitting the button. "I've seen lightning that lasted longer. How about carrying something to weigh you down?"

"I can do better than that," said Lion-o, pouting. "What should I use as a weight?"

Bender looked around, then shrugging he opened his chest and pulled out a couple of bricks. Not that dangerous. Probably. He held them out. "Try these. You'll drop like a stone."

"That should help. Thanks!" said Lion-o, taking the bricks. "Okay, I'm ready to try it again. Time me!" With that, Lion-o jumped back into the water and sank to the bottom of the pool.

Bender clicked the stopwatch on and peered into the water. It seemed longer than last time.

It was definitely much longer than last time. After a few minutes, there was still no sign of Lion-o, but there were still bubbles rising to the surface.

Yeah, Bender shook the stopwatch. Was he still down there?

Bender stuck his head under the surface for a better look.

Underwater, Lion-o was turning blue, but he didn't look too worried. He waved at Bender.

Okay. The kid seemed fine, and Bender unlikely to be accused of reckless disregard for safety.

He dipped an arm in and gave a wave, before pulling himself back up.

When Lion-o finally let go of the bricks and rose to the surface, his face was totally blue. "How long was that?" he asked Bender, totally unconcerned about the lack of oxygen.

"Not bad," said Bender, aiming for unimpressed as he held up the stopwatch. "Are you supposed to look that colour?"

"I don't think so," said Lion-o, looking at the back of his hand. "It looks kind of cool, though."

"It looks like you had an fight with a blueberry," Bender shrugged.

Lion-o shivered, but the color was slowly returning to his face. "At least the pool is heated," he said.

They're available after class for all your teachery needs!

Standard availability applies! For Lulu, that's around, SP-ish, daytime, then around late night. For Juli, that's around more or less all day.

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Underwater Basket Weaving as a Metaphor for Organising Your Life, Tuesday, Period 2

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The Assignment: Holding Your Breath

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Talk to Lulu & Juli

OOC