fandomhigh | Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

"Right, so." Duke was actually here for his class this week. Sorry, Lord High Master of All Fishes, your reign ~~of terror~~ has ended. "I was thinking of doing some surfing this week, but there are . . . no waves." He looked down at the water gently lapping at the shoreline. "Literally none. I blame our new candy colored neighbors. And that damned music —"

He shook his head.

"Anyway. There's no waves, but there's apparently a lot going on underneath the water right now, so I thought maybe we could do a class on one of my favorite ways to spend time in the water: free diving.

"Now, technically the term 'free diving' refers to any sort of underwater activity that doesn't use supplemental oxygen. So we're talking traditional fishing methods, snorkeling, underwater basket-weaving. . . . All of that counts as free diving. I'm going to teach you how I do it, though, which involves no extra equipment in the water but you, your own ability to hold your breath — and some kind of water-appropriate clothing, since this is a class and all. And we're all super excited to have our own clothing back."

Duke himself was wearing a simple short-sleeved wetsuit today. That he had not picked off a tree, thank you very much.

"Now, like most things in the world, free diving takes practice. Most — air breathing, land-based — people are not going to be able to immediately dive in and be able to hold their breaths for ages. And they probably shouldn't try. No one is allowed to pass out because they thought they could hold it just a liiiiiittle bit longer, today. But there are some techniques I can show you right now to increase the amount of time you can stay under the water."

Duke walked them through the process of a breathe up and recovery breathing for before and after their dives.

"Alright. There are some floats set up out there in case you get tired and need a break, and I'll be swimming around, keeping an eye on everyone to make sure you don't get into trouble. Now get out there, have some fun, and . . . see what you can find!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes but one room is full of things I don't know what to do with

Well that was interesting.

what kinds of things?

She sent over a picture of the study in her apartment, which had had literally nothing in it at the start of Sunday.

And now it looked ridiculous. Ironing boards, two beds including a racecar bed, way too many plants, a corner of a sofa, three diner chairs, a pool, just so much stuff.

It really would be hard to step around in there.

Okay, wow. That was in fact too much furniture.

where did it all come from??

Duke had maybe not been shaking trees and crafting things so far. Though he did have rather a ridiculous number of sea anemones already today.

I made some of it so Finn could at least stay here at parents weekend and then between the trees and having the new people give me stuff, now it's this

Rey, Disney Princess that she was, had absolutely talked with every villager she'd seen so far.

damn. All I've gotten was a fringed skirt and a pearl.

Thanks, Pascal. He'd add it to his already large collection from Larceny.

The new people are really friendly. Also look for presents in the sky

And then she sent a selfie, with a Tron/Iron Man-looking helmet on her head. Honestly she was keeping it.

presents from the sky sounds like either a really bad 90s new age album or a religious movement, Duke responded. Nice look. Perfect for yoga

I'll bring it if you bring the skirt

She did not expect him to bring it but she also hadn't managed to tease him about it yet.

sure. not sure it's any good for yoga, but it's worth trying on, right?

Sure. And I might have to do some gymnastics to get out of my apartment by then anyway

Because she was absolutely going to collect more things to trade which would end in more stuff.