I8: A Sort-Of Proposal (Open)

[Jennifer Tarasova]

Jennifer was sitting in the common area with a laptop on her lap, frowning at the screen. She seemed to be flipping back and forth between some sort of presentation software and something looked suspiciously like a spreadsheet.

[Ayami Morita]

"Pfft. Boring spreadsheets," Ayami said, looking over her shoulder.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"What information I could find on children living in Lambeth and their ages. Boring I guess, depending on what one intends to do with it."

[Ayami Morita]

"And what DO you intend to do with it?"

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Make a proposal to X-Corp and the university about either opening our pool once-a-week for swimming lessons for children or..." She brought up a web page, "I found a closed recreation center in Lambeth that I've done some preliminary fact-finding on restoration costs. It may be a case of short-term solution/long-term solution, but I want to present as many options as I can."

[Ayami Morita]

"Why?"

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Because I can?" Jennifer smiled, "More seriously, swimming is good exercise and a worthwhile skill to have. And depending on how many children get involved, it could be excellent PR for the university."

[Ayami Morita]

"We've tried that. Got a bunch of flatscans screaming on our doorstep."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"That's why I plan to start with Lambeth. Work mainly with mutants at first."

[Ayami Morita]

"You think that'd HELP?"

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"I don't think it'll hurt. It's at least worth a try."

[Ayami Morita]

"Pfft. Not worth the trouble it'll bring."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not asking you to help then isn't it?"

[Zeryn]

This was about the time that the Lord of Atlantis came in from the dorms. As usual, he was shirtless, in leather pants and bare feet, and making it look very natural, especially considering the persistently-wet shimmer of his skin. "Ah, I hope that I am not interrupting anything, my ladies," he said, seeing that he'd walked in upon a discussion.

[Ayami Morita]

"Of course not. I was just leaving."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

Jennifer gave a quiet, exasperated sigh and then smiled at Zeryn, "Of course not." Near her, water in a glass formed a small and obviously angry tempest, though it remained confined to the glass.

[Zeryn]

"Ah, excellent," he said to Jennifer, not looking like he'd have stopped anyway as he came into the room. Oddly, as he passed within a few feet of the table, a section of the water in the glass calmed, like the bubble of Zeryn's influence was passing through it. He didn't seem to notice it at all, either. "In that case, fair currents to you," he added, bowing slightly toward Ayami.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

Jennifer blinked for a moment and glanced at the glass, which immediately calmed down entirely.

[Zeryn]

Zeryn glanced over at Jennifer as he surveyed the room for a place to sit. "Something amiss, my lady?" he asked politely.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Just trying to propose a program to teach children, especially mutant children to swim. But it involves crunching numbers, something I'm not very fond of and it makes me irritable."

[Zeryn]

"Ah, a noble cause!" Zeryn said warmly, smiling at her. He peered at what she was doing. "And what sort of numbers are you speaking of?" he asked curiously.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Well, I have some numbers on the number of children in the Lambeth district and I have them broken down by age," she said, pointing at some of the columns on the screen, "but I need to estimate average attendance based on swimming lesson attendance from other areas of London. With that I can give the X-Corp and the University an idea of expected participation so they can weigh costs and benefits."

[Zeryn]

"Oh," Zeryn said, looking at the numbers. "Is that all?"

"How do you teach a child to swim?" he asked curiously. "Would they not just drown on the first failed attempt? I've always wondered that..."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Well, first, you teach them how to do things like tread water and float. You get them used to the water. And they're always supervised so if they start having trouble you can get them out of the water."

[Zeryn]

"Ah, so you teach them after they know how to speak. Sensible enough, I suppose, I'll admit I hadn't given it much thought," Zeryn said, looking over the numbers again and starting to make odd, unfamiliar characters on a sheet of paper.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Not many people do I suppose," she said, watching him. "So where are you from?"

[Zeryn]

Zeryn closed his eyes for a moment, his expression one of a person who's just realized he left his wallet at home. "My appologies, introductions, of course." He turned to her, bowing slightly at the waist. "My name is Zeryn, of the southern Pacific currents. What you people would collectively refer to as Atlantis."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Ah, intriguing. I'm Jennifer Tarasova, from quite a few places."

[Zeryn]

"Indeed? You claim more than one dominion? Quite impressive," Zeryn said, honestly. He frowned, looking at the paper, and wrote something else down with a motion that implied finality. "There," he said. Then, frowning and looking slightly embarrassed, he translated the gibberish symbols into actual numbers that Jennifer could read.

Apparently, all that would be needed to teach the children to swim were four sharks, three month to sufficiently train them, and a rather large quantity of fish to feed them.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Well, I've just lived several different places," Jennifer said by way of explanation. She looked at the numbers and couldn't keep herself from giggling a little. "Zeryn, I was planning on teaching the children to swim myself and recruiting a few others to help teach. I don't think sharks would be necessary."

[Zeryn]

Zeryn cocked an eyebrow. "How do you teach children how to swim without herd-sharks?" he asked, clearly confused.

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Well, probably not swimming as you're used to it I'm guessin. First you teach them to tread water and float. Then you start teaching them how to move around in the water."

[Zeryn]

"Well, having the sharks couldn't hurt..."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"A lot of people are afraid of sharks," she said.

[Zeryn]

"Really?" Zeryn asked. "I've seen pictures of people with... dolphins, so I didn't think there would be a problem. Sharks are much less likely to do something untoward to a person." He frowned. "Hm. Well, if you say so, I suppose that it could be done without sharks."

[Jennifer Tarasova]

"Most people view sharks as predators, but they don't view dolphins that way. Probably has to do with the shark attack movies that were popular years and years ago."

[Zeryn]

"Oh, the shark-legion training documentaries?"

[Jennifer Tarasova]

Jennifer decided to humor him, "If you want to call them that, sure."