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[[div class="blockquote"]] [[[Friday morning |Morning]]] [[[Friday afternoon |Afternoon]]] [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/0|19:31, Cafeteria]]] [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/1|22:27, Staff Lodging]]] [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/2|22:45, Therapy Pool]]] [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/3|23:35, Site-17 Hallways]]] [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/4|Ten Years Ago, Site-17 Community Room 3]]] [[/div]] Andrea looked herself up and down in the mirror. Her two-piece still fit perfectly, even after all these years. She hadn't grown an inch, vertically or horizontally, in the last decade or so, a fact she was rather proud of despite the fact that she had little control over her metabolism and even less control over the shit she ate and drank. Sure, it was her only swimsuit, but she didn't get to the pool very often, so it was still in great shape. She'd just never felt like she //needed// another swimsuit, is all. The common knowledge was that you shouldn't let guys see you wear the same outfit in two weeks or so, and though it was a stupid rule that Andrea was reasonably sure Clef just made up on the spot that one time, she was rarely in danger of breaking it either way. She hardly ever saw anyone for long enough for her swimsuit to matter. Andrea didn't spend too long dwelling on that, though, as she knew for a fact that no matter how that sounded, she'd only be the second most pathetic person in Site-17's therapy pool this fine evening, and the only one who knew how to swim. She didn't want to be the one saddled with the responsibility of teaching Iris of all people how to swim - a skill she thought was just, like, basic human instinct, but whatever - but it was clear that she'd have to learn after her physical evaluations were fudged to get Alpha-9 off the ground in a timely fashion. //Look, this'll be good for the two of you,// Clef had said with a shit-eating grin when he handed down her newest random, shitty job that came packaged with her actual job. //Well, more for you. Gonna be hard to shutter Iris when the need arises if she never lets you get close.// He chuckled at his own euphemism, which annoyed Andrea greatly when she was going home that night and realized it was a fucking camera pun. Gathering up her towel and a small pile of swimming gear, Andrea reflected on all the bullshit research she'd had to do up until now. She wasn't a swim instructor or a lifeguard, but Iris had insisted that they book the pool so that her debasement would only be witnessed by a single other person. Clef was no help with her research, as expected, instead telling her that 'if the skip got smart' she had his 'permission to hold her down and count to 200.' Foxx wasn't much more helpful, but he at least tried to be, telling Andrea about what he had to do to teach his daughter how to swim. Which was nice, sure, but Lucille was just a cute kid who was nice to be around and didn't have a statistically significant chance of killing Andrea if she set her mind to it and got to drop on her. So, not really anything like Iris, then. Regardless, she'd prepared enough to have a plan. She'd even gotten Iris to pick out a swimsuit, which was a hassle even using an online catalogue, but Andrea supposed she couldn't blame Iris for not wanting to go out shopping with her anymore. Feeling at the very least cautiously optimistic, she stepped out onto the pool deck. The therapy pool wasn't all that impressive, just a medium-sized bromine pool of varying depths made out of slightly yellowing tile. A few mismatched plastic chairs were sitting around, with the only other things of note being a rack with swimming gear and a small diving block whose texture had long since been rubbed away. And, standing a good six feet back from the shallow steps leading into the pool was Iris, cross-armed and hunched over, wearing a... "The hell's that?" Andrea and Iris asked in unison. "Wha- I asked you first," Andrea said, recovering just a hair faster than Iris in the confusion. "What? The wetsuit?" Iris spat. "What do you mean 'what?' You //have// a swimsuit, I //bought// it for you." Andrea gestured at Iris, who was wearing a full-body wetsuit from her ankles to her neck. It was technically part of her task force uniform, being insulated and tear-resistant, but she never used it. Andrea was surprised she even knew what it was. In response, Iris cocked her head back in a haughty gesture, like that perfectly reasonable question was somehow an attack on her dignity. "//I've// got a bit too much self-respect to show up to a lesson dressed like a tramp." She punctuated her little comment with a quick up-and-down glance at Andrea's outfit, wearing an openly distasteful expression. "Just- wha- ugh..." Andrea pinched the bridge of her nose. As much as she //wanted// to hit back at Iris, that would probably only serve to make both her Lambda-2 job and her 'emotionally stunted grown-ass adult daycare' job harder. She probably should have seen something like that coming anyways. Iris' eyes darted down to the kickboard piled high with various pieces of swimming equipment. Her eyes seemed to zero in on an hourglass-shaped piece of foam that had started crumbling at its edges. "The hell am I supposed to do with those? I'm just swimming." "You need different pieces of equipment for different exercises," Andrea explained calmly. Or at least, that was how she was hoping she was coming across. "I wouldn't worry about them just yet." Iris pursed her lips but dropped the subject. Nothing so much as a quick jab about how Andrea's bikini looked like shit or how she'd rather be in her rooms, which told Andrea she was perhaps a little embarrassed. Alright, well, no use dragging her feet. Andrea cleared her throat and put her tone in between her normal speaking voice and the one she used to talk to Lucille. "Okay, so, how much experience do you have with pools?" "Oh, I just //love// heading down to the local waterpark each weekend," Iris drawled as she rolled her eyes. "Iris. Please just work with me a little here?" A slight red tinge began working its way up Iris' face, and she relented. "My uncle had a pool." A pause. "I dipped my feet in a little when I went last time." Okay, so, jack squat. "Alright, then, do you want to get acclimated to the water first?" "God, I'm not a rabies patient," Iris scoffed. "And quit acting like a babysitter, Adams, I'm not a fucking six-year-old." The insult was lacking its usual energy, but still frustrating nonetheless. Andrea scowled. "Alright, then, I won't. Go sit in the water until I say so. Got it?" She ordered. Iris bristled slightly but walked over to the steps leading into the pool, shaking her head. With a sigh, Andrea gathered up her stuff and walked behind her. By the time she set it down again, grabbed the paddleboard and a pair of goggles, and made her way over to the steps, Iris was still standing on the edge of the pool, staring down at the water with her arms crossed and her jaw grinding. After a few seconds, Andrea spoke up. "Uh... you want to get in?" "Ah." Iris startled a little at Andrea's voice, which was... a little odd, she supposed. "Yeah." Her responses were short and lacking her usual invective. Hesitantly, she held one foot over the water as it lapped gently at the sides of the pool. Slowly, she brought it down into the water and onto the step, so that the water only reached a little above her ankle. She grimaced. Andrea found herself squirming a little. She'd gotten the whole hour for the two of them, but at this rate, she had her doubts about how many more times she'd need to be here. And was Iris, like... okay? Well, not that it was her job to be the girl's therapist or anything, but her expression held more than embarrassment. Eventually, Iris got both feet down onto the step and promptly sat down. Literally just getting her feet wet wasn't //quite// what Andrea meant when she asked Iris to get acclimated, but, she reminded herself, all the guides she had read stressed how everyone learned at their own pace. She was just hoping Iris' wouldn't have been glacial. Still, she was just staring into the water. Andrea scanned the pool and didn't even see anything. In the quiet, Andrea suddenly became very conscious of how awkward she felt standing up, and quickly sat herself down next to Iris, on the other side of the handrail in the middle of the staircase. Iris glanced in her direction before turning back to face the water. The water in the pool was warmer than Andrea was expecting. It was almost pleasant, really, and while she wondered if that was for some specific therapeutic reason, she knew she wouldn't remember that question long enough to bother asking someone about it. The pool itself was pretty serene, with some filtration system pushing out small waves that lapped against the faded tiling and filled the room with white noise alongside the exposed air ducts in the ceiling. Andrea knew better than to strike up a conversation with Iris when she got quiet. That usually meant she was thinking, and tended to react poorly to being interrupted. What exactly she was thinking about, Andrea didn't care. Again, it wasn't her job to. It was just her job to know how to handle her. In the meantime, she didn't really mind just listening to the white noise. "Smells funny," Iris mumbled after a little while. "It's a bromine pool." Andrea turned her head to look at her, but Iris didn't move a muscle aside from her mouth. "Pretty sure it's cheaper than chlorine, or safer, or something." "Oh." Iris watched the water climb up her wetsuit. "...Feels like piss." It was delivered more like a simple observation than a joke, but Andrea smiled a little nonetheless. "Yeah. I think it's usually colder." "Ah," Iris responded, then went silent again. Several more seconds passed. Andrea wasn't getting annoyed, but she did want to at least make a bit of headway. Glancing at an analog clock on the wall near the locker room, she decided that she'd give Iris three more minutes before she asked her to get in. The water to the left of Andrea shifted a bit, and she looked over to see Iris opening and closing her mouth. Still, Andrea didn't say anything. Iris would either talk or she wouldn't. "Sorry," Iris said after a few more seconds. After another pause - one that Andrea failed to fill due to her mild shock - she added "For... dragging you out here." "It's no big deal," Andrea said, leaning back on her arms. "I'm sure you've got better things to do," Iris said, staring straight into the deepest section of the pool. "Away from here." That was a difficult thing to deny. "Well, we'd need to get it knocked out sooner or later," Andrea assured her. "Besides, there are worse things I could be doing right now." None came to mind, but... "Yeah, but you shouldn't have to fix-" Iris pulled her knees a little bit closer to herself. "You shouldn't have to teach me something I should already know. I shouldn't even need to be taught. It's just pathetic." Iris slowly brought her arms around her knees and hugged them lightly. "It's just more trouble for everyone." This was... a little odd, though not entirely outside of the realm of possibility. Maybe Iris really was just self-conscious about this whole thing. That would make Andrea seem much more trustworthy in Iris' eyes if she did help, which was a plus. On the other hand... well, Andrea figured she'd worry about picking her apart later. "Hey, it's fine. We'll spend as long as we need to, alright?" Andrea said in an earnest-sounding reassuring tone. She leaned towards Iris a bit, whose hunched-over body was framed by the stainless steel of the handrail. "I'm sure it'll come easier than you're expecting." "What if it doesn't?" Iris pulled her knees towards her chest, the corners of her mouth pulled back in a long frown, her eyes hard and pointed a thousand miles away. "What if I never figure out how, even if they let me? What if I never just never //let// myself?" Andrea would be more cautious about showing the naked concern in her expression if Iris looked like she was going to look back at her. She waited for Iris to snap out of whatever the hell she was doing or say something else, but when all that came to her was the sound of the water filtration system, she gulped. "Do you mean... if they let you, like... use the pool?" Andrea could tell that probably wasn't it, but she was at a bit of a loss. She turned towards Iris, and propped up one of her legs to lean forwards in what she hoped looked like a more approachable posture. "Hey, girl, you've just got to swim to save your life, okay?" No response. Andrea scooted a little closer. "Iris. It's just swimming." Iris narrowed her eyes a little bit. Then, like she was waking up from something, they slowly widened again and she turned to Andrea, pushing her legs out and leaning back from the position she curled herself up into. "Right, yeah. Don't know why I even. Um." "You alright?" Andrea asked as she leaned back a little herself, hoping whatever that was had passed. "Yeah." She nodded and turned her head away. "It's just, uh. It's been a long day." "Sure." Andrea sighed inwardly. Why couldn't the O5s draft, like, Rainer or someone who was easier to work with? "Well, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can both go to sleep." After waiting a moment for Iris to respond, she glanced back toward the clock. "You feel good to go now, or...?" "No, I'm good. Yeah, I'm fine." Iris wiped seemingly nothing from the back of her mouth and stood up, but didn't start moving down the steps. "O-kay." Andrea pushed herself into the water, creating large ripples in the mostly still water, and crouched down slightly in the four feet of water. "Just come over here." Iris pursed her lips, but stepped into the water, grimacing as she went. Well, the feeling of a wetsuit coldly sticking to your skin wasn't pleasant, but Andrea had little sympathy for something that was transparently her own fault. Eventually, though, she got down to where Andrea was wading, except now she'd finally stopped slouching for once and was standing completely straight in the water, with her eyes glancing around the empty room as if scanning for interlopers. "Right! First thing's first: dunk your head for ten seconds," Andrea said. "Seriously, Adams?" Iris frowned. "I know what water is." "Hey, there's an order to these things, okay? Don't blame me." Andrea shrugged. Iris bit the inside of her mouth and hesitated, then screwed her eyes shut and took a deep breath before bending down at the hips and smacking her face on the surface of the pool. She stayed down there for all of one second before she came back up, clearly gasping for air but somehow trying to downplay it. "Ten seconds, Iris," Andrea said as she nodded toward the clock unhelpfully. Very rarely did she get a chance to boss Iris around in return for their missions, so she was, perhaps, relishing in that a bit more than she needed to. "I know, I know!" Iris bristled. "I just... y'know..." She trailed off for lack of a viable excuse. Andrea rolled her eyes a little. "Okay, try it like this." She dunked her head straight down and straight up, wiping the wet hair out of her face with a smile. "See? Much easier." "Whatever." Iris gave her an unamused look as she slowly lowered herself back down into the water fully. Once she was up to her shoulders, she stalled, then inhaled sharply and disappeared under the water. Andrea watched the water bubble angrily as she counted to ten in her head and stretched a little. The exact moment she finished counting, Iris shot back up out of the water, once again standing straight up. She splashed Andrea a little bit, who decided, in her infinite patience, to let it slide. "Feeling alright, Iris?" Andrea asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," Iris huffed. "Look, this is embarrassing enough as-is without you acting like I'm a fucking toddler, okay?" "Hey, if I was trying to treat you like a toddler, you'd know it," Andrea drawled. She'd observed Iris thoroughly enough to know that she responded better to someone acting slightly rude to her than someone trying to, you know, act nice. Andrea assumed that she felt like people were being more genuine with her, but she'd figured that Iris would want at least a bit more patience for something like this. Well, she'd figure out just how patient Andrea would need to be once they moved on to actual strokes, and maybe then she'd be self-conscious enough to be a bit less icy. In that case, then, they should try getting there as soon as they could. "Okay, let's just move along to back floats if you're all good in the water. But, ah, wait a sec," Andrea called out. Iris grimaced at Andrea, who held out a pair of goggles. "You might want these. Helps a little bit, even if you're not trying to look for anything." Iris grimaced. "Looks like a great way to get pink eye." "I had them disinfected," Andrea assured her. She suppressed a grin of pride, having studied Iris so much she'd correctly predicted one of her hang-ups. "Y'know what, I'm good," Iris said as she held a hand as though rejecting a friend's blunt on one of those old D.A.R.E. posters. "I think I'll just, uh... Yeah." Andrea just shrugged and let her get to it. All that mattered was that she offered it, anyways, so it's not like she was offended by the rejection. Iris slowly leaned back, closing her eyes... and immediately shot back up the second water touched her nose. "Iris, you might want to hold your arms and legs out," Andrea advised. When Iris gave her a confused and mildly annoyed look, she added "It helps with surface tension and all that." "Uh, fine," Iris said, crouching down in the water a bit. Andrea gave her an expectant look, and Iris started creeping her arms down from their crossed position. "Are you cold?" Andrea asked. "No!" Iris snapped before she could have possibly processed the question. "Well, you've got your arms crossed so tightly it looks like-" "Alright, alright, I'm doing it," Iris groaned as she forced her arms down... to hold them tightly to her sides. //Oh, my fucking god.// "//Iris,// you need them spread //out.//" Andrea held her arms out on top of the surface of the water. "//Out.// Surface tension and all that." "Fine, god, will you just let me do what I need to do?" Iris spat, nonetheless moving her arms out to the side. "Okay," Andrea said in an expectant tone. Now it was her turn to cross her arms. "Give me a back float, then." After a pointed yet ultimately empty glare, Iris went back to floating. Once her eyes were closed, Andrea took a step forward, just in case. Wouldn't want to lose her job security for such a stupid reason, at the very least. Iris looked like she was doing fine, though, floating peacefully save for her seemingly agonized expression... Right up until she started coughing again. As soon as she did, her head dipped below the water and she sucked some up, thrashing all four of her limbs around. //Christ.// Andrea stepped forwards and, in the absence of a tube, quickly stuck her arms on either side of Iris' torso and lifted her clean out of the water. Iris, for her part, probably didn't realize she was out of the water before she started haphazardly smacking Andrea. "//Let me- Stop! Stop it! Put- Stop!//" Iris shrieked as soon as she could get air into her lungs. Her arms and legs didn't have any weight behind their blows, but it was still a little scary to Andrea. Despite the protests, Andrea gently lowered Iris down far enough for her legs to touch the ground, then let her go once she was sure Iris wouldn't fall flat on her face. Iris jerked herself back from Andrea, crossing her arms and balling up the fabric of her wetsuit in her hands. Her eyes were wide, and she stared at Andrea with the expression of a scared street dog. Andrea stayed where she was, unsure of exactly what to make of the situation, and held her hands up. Neither said anything for a while. "Um..." Iris wasn't moving save for the pronounced shaking with each breath, so Andrea spoke up. "Iris, are you-" "I shouldn't..." Iris looked around the room, her eyes settling back on the staircase out of the pool. "I should. I should go." Unsure of what she should, for even could, say, Andrea watched Iris awkwardly wade over to the staircase and speedwalk across the pool deck to the locker room, walking through the door and slamming it behind her. Once the noise of the door being shut finished echoing around the pool, Andrea was once again alone with the white noise in the room. It took a few seconds for her brain to catch up to what happened. Well, uh. That was. Something. She still had to teach Iris how to swim, but Iris would hate being forced to. So, maybe Andrea should push their pool reservations back a week? Yeah, that should probably be fine. Give her some space, come off as understanding, but still make sure she knows the lessons are important. God, rescheduling was going to be a pain in the ass. That was all just a waste of time. That was all... ...Honestly not something Andrea liked seeing. [[div class="footer-wikiwalk-nav"]] [[=]] << [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/1|22:27, Staff Lodging]]]| [[[devils advocate hub|Devil's Advocate Hub]]] | [[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/friday-night/offset/3|23:35, Site-17 Hallways]]] >> [[/=]] [[/div]]