Issue 1 Downtime

Theresa was sitting on the edge of the pool closest to where the hot tub was. Her eyes were glowing brightly and anyone who walked between her and the hot tub would feel a warm, humid breeze blowing from the hot tub out over the colder pool water. Nothing else obvious was happening, but Theresa still seemed pleased.

((Open))

Kay walks in, wearing her uniform/one-piece swimsuit. She awkwardly waves at Theresa from the other end of the pool before diving into the water headfirst. A couple moments later her head pops up out of the water near Theresa. "Whoa, it's way warm here."

"Thank the hot tub," she said with a grin. "How's it going, Kay?"

"I'm great. What about you? I've barely seen you around lately."

"Been keeping myself busy. Studying and stuff. Nothing really exciting unfortunately."

"No news can be good news sometimes, right?" she smiles.

"Eh. I could have come up with some sort of really exciting story involving international espionage and lightning-fueled explosions, but that requires effort. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, homework, meeting lizard people in the Savage Land, rescuing Regan from Hell, watching movie with the Headmistresses daughter. The usual." she grins.

"Okay, your life has been far cooler than mine. Spill."

"Well, we've been doing a lot of calculus and..." she grins. "Okay, so, I totally overheard Mister Stanton and Miss Kaltiera talk about some kind of mission to a base they found in the Savage Land, right? And I figured, hey, I know where the jet is and stuff cause I got to fly on it when they rescued us from Kraven. So Brigid and me totally snuck into the hangar and his in one of the storage compartments on the jet. It was kinda cramped but also really exciting 'cause Miss Kaltiera almost smelled us on the plane. And when it landed and everyone left we totally snuck out to take a look at the jungle."

"That is pretty awesome."

"And then we... kinda got left behind when they had to take off in a hurry, so we made our way through the jungle to get to Bri's parents and we met a lizard-lady on the way there who totally helped us fight off some raptors and Brigid was all 'branch to the head, pow! And the lizard-lady totally snapped one of their necks, it was really crazy!"

"Now I'm jealous," she smiled.

"Well... it was less awesome when we made it to Bri's parents' place and her dad got a little angry about what we'd done and had to fly us back in his own jet..."

"Yeah, I same him glowering around campus. He's one scary man."

"Seriously! Way scarier than the dinosaurs. I got to meet Stompy though and he's so cute!"

"Did you get to ride him or just pet him?"

"Just petting, everyone was too angry for me to ask if I could ride him."

"That's a shame. You'll have to go back then sometime I guess."

"It'll probably be a while before they let me visit now."

"But you will eventually get to visit."

"Plus I already did and it was pretty awesome. Scary too, but the jungle is amazing!" She may have already pushed aside the more scary parts in her mind in favor of romanticizing the experience.

"They've always looked that way in the pictures. I'd like to go see one someday, just to watch the weather patterns."

"They're probably way crazy. On the flight back I got to look out the window and it just goes from jungle to mountains and then just ice everywhere."

"Yeah, that's probably some crazy patterns. Might get lost in those for a while."

"Sorry I didn't ask you to come along..."

"S'okay. I probably wouldn't have done it. I don't have the guts you do."

"According to Bri's dad it was stupid, not brave." she says, making a scrunched up face.

"Can't it be both?"

"I guess." she chuckles.

"So what's this about the Headmistress' daughter? I didn't know she had one."

"Neither did she. She was who they rescued at that base in the Savage Land! She doesn't remember anything except that base, so I've been showing her stuff like movies and music to bring her up to speed." she smiles maybe a little too brightly.

Theresa took a good look at Kay. "And you like her," she said with a slightly teasing tone.

"Maybe..." she says, sinking a little deeper into the water until just her eyes are sticking out.

"Oh don't be like that," she said. "It's just you, me, and the pool."

"Yeah, but we used to be a thing and I don't wanna make things weird." she says awkwardly, her head rising out of the water again."

"We were a thing. And it was nice, but I'm honestly happy for you. We're still friends right? I'm allowed to be happy for a friend."

"You won't feel weird if I tell you that I totally wish I had the guts to make out with her?"

"Okay, that is a little weird."

"See? Not that it matters, I'm not even sure if she knows what that is. Or whether she likes guys or what." she half-mumbles into the water.