fandomhigh | Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

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Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Mae was actually pretty excited for her classes this session, and thus showed up to the docks for swimming a little bit early. She hung around, kicking her feet, and watched her fellow students arrive.

Then classtime started, and there was no sign of the teacher.

Several minutes went by, and still no teacher.

She was just about to mention the fifteen minute rule sacred to lazy students everywhere when she had another idea instead.

She hopped up on a pilon and waved her hands in the air. "ATTENTION SWIMMING WITH THE FISHES CLASS! I am your substitute teacher Mae Borowski! You may call me Lord High Master of All Fishes! Our scheduled teacher has been eaten by a manta ray or possibly kidnapped by giant crab monsters, so I'm taking over." She pointed to a pile of snorkeling equipment. "Today we're going snorkeling. With . . . whatever the hell happens to be in the water right now. Probably manta rays and giant crab monsters. I don't know. Stick a mask and fins on and go find out."

That was all you had to do as a teacher, right?

"Oh! You should probably try not to drown. Thanks!"

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Like your teacher has been replaced by possibly the least qualified person on the whole island.

Astrid Magnussen

Danny Williams

Okuyasu Nijimura

Grog Strongjaw

Shuri

Stark

Wonder about the giant crab monsters, maybe?

Honestly, giant crab monsters or not, it was hot enough this week that Astrid had already been planning on just floating around and wishing she was back home in California or Mexico if the teacher didn't show up, but this? She was definitely okay with this as well.

It definitely beat just going to work. And she might be willing to admit that it beat just floating around and brooding, too, but the margin there was a bit thin.

That's right, once you're in the water you'll see a variety of harmless shark species swimming around with you. Try feeding a Caribbean reef shark. Maybe dive down to say "hi" to a nurse shark. How about a leopard shark? There's never been a single recorded instance of them attacking a human! The angelshark doesn't even look like a shark. And the whale shark might be crazy big, but it's interested in plankton, not people.

Snorkeling with sharks would at least manage to tick at least the brooding box on Astrid's swimming agenda a little bit, between reminding her of a variety of Ingrid's often indistinguishable Mexican lovers telling her about a variety of dangerous and not-so-dangerous fish at late night beach parties when she was young to what Claire might have thought of all this, probably wringing her hands even though they were clear of any present danger. And it didn't take long for her to just be wrapped up by the way all the various sharks moved and how the light through the surface of the water moved with them, filling her head with potential drawings and paintings that she'd be eager to pursue if it weren't for the fact that she just felt so at home and comfortable in the water, in a way that made her not want to bother ever getting out. Maybe she could find a way to be transformed into a Zora, like Sidon, and just never have to leave...

So, Grog was a little nervous about being in the water, which was why he'd signed up for this class in the first place. But it was really really hot and the water wasn't, so Grog made his way in. The sharks actually weren't that scary since Grog could stand up in the water. He... wasn't brave enough to use the snorkel though, sorry.

The snorkel over Stark's usual mask looked exactly as ridiculous as you might expect and was about as comfortable so it didn't stay on for more than a moment. He stood at the edge of the water, holding the snorkel, considering whether to take off his mask for a bit and finally decided that the glow might be too frightening or too attractive for whatever creatures were under the water.

Of course, this meant he couldn't stay underwater long once he got in, not even to admire the whale shark. So he was treading water and occasionally dunking himself to look at the sharks.

Prepare to be aggressively shrugged at if you ask her why she thought she should take over class today.

"Lord High Master of all Fishes, huh?" asked Astrid, who did eventually have to get out of the water, despite her best wishes, because she was honestly more likely to just turn into a raisin before ever turning into a Zora. And she knew she had to at least say something about Mae's overhaul of the class before she left, or else she'd spend the entire rest of the day regretting the fact that she hadn't. So she grinned faintly at the other girl, wringing some water out of her long hair.

“I was on the spot,” Mae said cheerfully. “Do you have a better title for me?”

"No, it's good," Astrid assured her, because she definitely didn't think she could come up with anything better than that. "Weighty, without being too cumbersome. I feel like you need a crown or something, though, or maybe a sceptre..."

Don't encourage this, Astrid. You knew what happened when Mae got a hold of sticks...

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

"Ooo, a scepter! One of those big heavy ones with the spikes!"

That was a mace, Mae.

"I think that's a mace," said Astrid, who honestly only really knew that because of museums. "But I guess it could have spikes. I was thinking something more like with a fish motif on top, though."

Because, you know, the title.

Mae gave that concept due consideration.

". . . Fish can have spikes. . . ."

"Pufferfish definitely do," Astrid agreed, ignoring that part in her brain telling her that this was terrible, she really shouldn't. "Or a lionfish, maybe, but the pufferfish would be easier to make."

"We could make it out of, like . . . soda cans?" Mae theorized. "I've never tried to make a scepter-mace before."

"Neither have I," Astrid admitted, and if she wasn't where she was right now, she'd have figured that most people would have had to admit that. "But I like that idea. It makes a strong statement for your lordship while also being good for the enviroment. Recycling is good for fish, so you're already proving to be a benevolent leader, Mae."

". . . Yes," Mae said, nodding firmly. "That is exactly what I was thinking."

It had not been what she was thinking.

"I need a stick."

Astrid was definitely convinced that that was exactly what Mae had been thinking, too. Completely...

"Shouldn't be too hard to find a stick," Astrid allowed, already looking around a little for good stick locations. "I mean, unless the woodchucks have been through here recently..."

"An underwater stick might be more appropriate," Mae mused. "For the Lord of all fishes and all."

"Which most of the sticks will be now if the woodchucks have been through here recently," Astrid pointed out, then grinned a little. "I'm not too snorkled out yet," said she who would pretty much live in the water if she could, "I think we could find one pretty easily."

"Yes!" Mae threw her arms up in a victory V. "You're the best!"

And something about that hit Astrid in an unexpected way that she wasn't prepared for, even though she knew she was tailoring her responses in a way that she figured would maybe get a reaction out of Mae like that. Maybe it was because she had been tailoring her responses that way, but it wasn't as if she hadn't been tailoring them to herself either. But all of a sudden, she just felt an odd almost panic in her chest, as her face filled with heat and a redness she hoped she could blame on her pale skin's tendency to burn quickly in the sun.

There was a moment where she didn't know what to do with herself. It didn't even mean anything, it was just Mae getting carried away in her excitement, that was all, it...

So she turned, and she ran, toward where the snorkling equipment was, for once actually glad for her long legs because they might give her a decent head-start.

"Last one to find a sceptre-stick has to abdicate her throne!" she called out as she rushed toward the snorkels and the water and away from her own awkwardness.

And until she said that, Mae had been sure that she'd somehow fucked up their whole friendship, though she had no idea how.

But hey, maybe Astrid was just just-as-awkward a Mae was herself.

"Usurper!" she shouted, and bolted after her. "Pretender to the throne! You'll never unseat me alive, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Duke is off getting his canon started this week, since Thursday is the tenth anniversary of Haven's pilot airing. And also he has had a VERY HARD WEEKEND. SO HAVE A MAE INSTEAD.

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Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

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Snorkeling with . . . sharks?????

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