video ; @thundaga

[astraphilia]

[ the video opens up on a shot of the pool—the shallower one, not the deep one with the diving board. Reno reaches down to stick his fingers in the water, swishes them around a little bit, and then flicks the water off of his fingertips back where it belongs.

the angle changes as he stands from the edge of the pool, and the video swaps to the front camera so Reno can address it, the blue of the pool still visiible over his shoulder. although he's fully dressed, the eagle-eyed may notice that the tips of his hair are a little damp, like he'd been in the pool not all that long ago. ]

Yo. I'm Reno. [ a brief two-fingered salute, before he gets to the real meat of his question. ]

So, anybody tried out our brand spankin' new swim facilities? Specifically this one right here.

[ he gestures back over his shoulder. again: he's talking about the shallower pool! not the deep creepy monster-infested one, he isn't even looking at that one. fuck that one. ]

I'm collectin' anecdotal evidence. If you've taken a dip, mind sharin' how it made ya feel? No wrong answers.

Comments

[laserguy]

Kind of have a few other ideas in mind about how to spend my evenings. None of them include drowning or having existential crises.

[He's already doing the latter enough on his own--] Did you get a good look at whatever creature is in the other pool? Or were you too busy almost drowning?

[astraphilia]

[ maybe he COULD use a dip in the happy pool, if that's the case... ]

Nah. I tried, but between the chlorine and the bubbles and the drowning I couldn't get a good look. It was too strong to be human, though. [ he wiggles his fingers in a spooky gesture. ] My money's on sea monster.

[laserguy]

I had a similar experience.

[Lucky for them they both survived. Maybe he should investigate, but also, he doesn't want to be fish food. Might be best to put a 'do not swim' sign in front.

He leans his face against his hand, trying not to smile too much as Reno does his super accurate representation of a sea monster. It's silly, but.]

Talkin' about a sea monster living in a manmade pool? It missed its mark there.

[astraphilia]

Or, consider this: a manmade pool is the perfect place for a sea monster, 'cause nobody knows to look out for it, so it can suck down all the victims it wants as long as they're alone. Nobody's the wiser.

[ now that's drama for you. besides, joking about it makes it marginally less abjectly terrifying. ]

Sorry ya had to suffer too, though. Things like this should really come with signs.

[laserguy]

[Now that causes Scott to snort, not bothering to stop his reaction this time.]

Going for the element of surprise? Sneaky bastard. Luckily, we can thwart its efforts by simply warning everyone ahead of time, just took a couple of guinea pigs.

[A couple of unlucky idiots--

He shrugs somewhat, not seemingly bothered despite everything's that happened. It's another Tuesday.] I prefer the more simple type of hazing, but I didn't expect this place to be free of danger.

[astraphilia]

Exactly. You get it. [ an enthusiastic thumbs up!

however, all the talk of sea monsters has definitely put a damper on Reno's desire to be anywhere near the pool, so Scott is also going to get treated to a tour of the showers and locker rooms as he takes his leave. ]

You're new? [ something about the way he'd phrased that makes Reno wonder. ]

[laserguy]

[He sees Reno leave the pool area and honestly, he doesn't blame him.]

Yeah, I recently arrived in the 'newest wave,' as someone put it. I did what everyone else probably tried to do and find a way out, but I wasn't anymore successful.

How long have you been here?

[astraphilia]

Me? Last month. From what I gather, nobody's found a way to go home on purpose. Sometimes people just up'n vanish, but it doesn't seem like they have control and nobody's figured out where they get to.

[ which makes it tough to try and replicate. Reno hasn't, although he can't guarantee nobody else has. ]

Name's Reno, by the way. Don't think I said that yet.

[laserguy]

[Just straight up vanished, huh? That's only slightly worrying.]

So, we're just hoping that they actually went home and didn't vanish into a pit. [Great, fantastic, he sure loves this place.]

You mentioned it in your initial greeting, but I'll take a personal welcome. [Scott says almost wryly, not bothered by this.] I'm Scott Summers, it's nice to meet you, Reno.

[astraphilia]

Guess I did, huh?

[ fortunately Reno's thick-skinned enough not to be embarrassed. at any rate, he'd gotten what he really wanted, which was the name of his conversation partner. (he'd sort of assumed it wasn't really "Cyclops.") ]

Yeah, you too. Welcome to the city. [ he makes a broad gesture to encompass the whole weird empty place, such as it can be seen through his device's camera. ] It ain't the best place out there but it's not all bad.

[laserguy]

[What a ringing endorsement. Although, Scott would agree with Reno that it's not the worst place he's been.]

Free food and free amenities, not terrible for a place where we've been brought to against our will. Some might even consider it an improvement from their original circumstances.

[Still, Scott finds himself restless.]

Have we truly had no contact with the people who brought us here?

[astraphilia]

[ could be the city's slogan: "welcome to the city, it sucks marginally less than some other places in the multiverse probably."

Reno nods. ] Not that I've heard. They're payin' attention enough to know when we need more groceries, and enough to figure out our deepest fears, but they're definitely not the interactive types.

[laserguy]

Safe to assume they're always watching though. That's nice of them.

[He rests his chin against an open palm, barely holding back a sigh.] Hope they plan on making a grand entrance when they finally decide to reveal themselves or else I might be disappointed.