Outdoor Adventures Time! Tuesday, period 1

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

“CLIFF DIVING.”

The class met this week on the edge of the preserve. Eliot, who had a large bag of supplies slung over his shoulder and a walking stick, gave Parker a bit of side-eye.

"Yes," he said. "After we hike out to the cliffs."

“Right, that,” Parker agreed. “I brought wetsuits again.” She pointed to a few duffel bags. “Because it’s warm out, but the water is still cold. And if you want to dive in just your clothes, that’s okay. I brought towels. But you might regret that is all I’m saying.”

"Those of you not into throwin' yourselves off cliffs," all, like, three of you, "I'll be setting up some campfires at the top. If you're interested, I can show you. If not . . . I got stuff for s'mores."

Parker was maybe rubbing off on him.

“Or you can do both,” Parker pointed out. “If you wanna dive for a bit and then decide you’re not up for it again. Or vice versa. No limits, people.”

"Only requirement is the hike," Eliot said. "Which you might wanna get used to, since stuff we're doin' on the island is all gonna involve walking to it. It's a shorter one today, though, only about ten minutes. Keep an eye out and see if you can spot any of Fandom's weirder wildlife."

Like those green deer people always talked about. Eliot hadn't really seen one. He wasn't chatty enough.

“Let’s get going, people! Hup hup hup!”

That last bit was for you, Eliot. Heee.

Comments

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well you are a good cook," Kathy pointed out. "Lunch yesterday was really great, thank you."

Not that they needed to talk about the not-a-date anymore, Eliot.

"Parker doesn't strike me as someone who cooks." Call it a hunch.

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"If Parker had her way, she'd be living on chocolate and those cereals with the little marshmallows."

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"But what about vegetables?!" Sometimes you just needed a salad!

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"I know, right?!" Eliot shook his head. "Her and Hardison both. It's like they're allergic to natural coloring and flavors."

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"So, what? Do you have to slip tofu in with the ground beef when you make hamburgers or something?" Kathy asked. "Or do you just threaten no dessert unless they finish their greens?"

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"I scowl at 'em until they humor me. Once they actually take a bite they realize that it's delicious and eat the rest."

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"I could see where that might be effective," Kathy said. "Your scowl game is strong."

She'd been on the wrong side of it. She knew.

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"Wouldn't be much of a hitter if I couldn't stop some of the fights before they even happen."

Er. Wait. He wasn't going to use that term around the students, was he.

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hitter?" Kathy asked, mulling that over. "Sounds better than 'beats 'em up guy.' Or even enforcer, kinds."

What? Was she supposed to be surprised?

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"Never much liked the term 'enforcer'," Eliot admitted. It'd been one of Moreau's favorites. "Hitter's nice and simple. Descriptive. I've also been billed as a 'Retrieval Specialist', but that's more sort of a parallel job."

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"...Because you go in and judiciously hit people until you've retrieved whatever it is that you were looking for?" Kathy asked.

Hmmm. Kathy looked up at him thoughtfully. "You know how we talked about giving me self-defense lessons before?" she asked. "Could those be expanded to knife-fighting, too?"

She still didn't think she could actually ever use a knife on someone. But that didn't mean it wouldn't be a useful skill to have.

Re: Diving! With Parker

[vdistinctive]

"There's a little more strategy involved than that," Eliot said. "I built up enough of a rep that sometimes they just gave the thing to me when they heard my name. But -- yeah. Essentially."

He was still a little proud of that. Sure, these days it was more likely to lead to a "I heard you'd gone soft" and a big, irritating fight as the young punk tried to prove himself against him, but still.

"I can teach you to use a knife, yeah. If you're sure you want to learn. Your, uh, particular skill set could work well in close-quarters fighting."

Re: Diving! With Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded, eyes serious. "I don't--I don't know if I'll ever be able to use those skills for real? I hope I never do. But, all the same, I'd rather know how and just kick ass at practice than need those skills and not have them."