[PRP][DONE] Unconventional Swimming Lessons [Anxo x Sindri]

[Menelie]

As he was about, frankly, most things in his life, Anxo was of two minds about this little "swimming lesson" he'd agreed to. On the one hand, there was no way this wasn't going to be just....so awkward. On the other hand, his father put him up to it, and he'd almost definitely been put up to it by Gran. On the other other hand, how friggin awkward was it that Anxo had an uncle so much younger than himself. On the other other other hand, Anxo definitely wished he'd had someone to show him the currents when he was a youth, and felt so different from everyone. Although, how different could he say he was now? With Naiads of so many shapes and forms inhabiting the lake these days, his own appearance hardly merited comment. Still, being a teenager was a challenge, even if you did look like everyone else.

Anxo sat cross-legged on the lakebed at the agreed spot to meet as he waited for Sindri to show. He braided his long hair into a plait, then coiled it around itself to form a knot on the top of his head. Wouldn't get in the way, this way.

He hoped he'd recognize Sindri when he arrived; he hadn't really seen the boy since he was small, and he'd definitely had a tail at that point. But, Father said he'd grown legs as he'd aged, so he supposed that's how he'd know. Even with all the varieties of Naiad here, still weren't many with legs.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Sindri was mad at the world.

Or, well, mostly he was mad about these stinking legs that he'd just woke up one day with instead of his tailfin. It wasn't the fact that he had them per-say that was an issue - he'd kind of been worried he'd end up like his siblings Autumn and Pearl and be unable to go onto land because he wouldn't grow any like they didn't (never mind they were adopted in the first place). But rather, he was mad that his normal means of transportation had been disrupted. Plus, now he had a tiny, little tail right above his butt instead - how embarrassing was that?! Kadri certainly made sure he never heard the end of it, the stupid eel. Why, he wanted to go over to him right. now. and give him a piece of his mind, but that would have to wait until he was done with his plans for today.

As a matter of fact... in his newfound annoyance, Sindri had gone and forgotten why he was even awkwardly doggy-paddling in this direction in the first place. He wouldn't do something as embarrassing as going outside without a good reason.

Well crab cakes.

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

Anxo recognized Sindri almost immediately. Although the boy certainly favored his father, Gran was unmistakable in him, in the rosy pink that he himself shared. He tipped his chin up and waved a greeting, then swam over. The poor boy was certainly having a time of it; at least Anxo'd had legs from the get-go.

He realized as he approached the youth that he hadn't, uh, planned anything. What the trenches was he supposed to say? "Er, thanks for coming," he began haltingly. "I know Gran--er, your mother--must've put you up to this and I can't imagine hanging out with me is how you'd prefer to be spending your afternoon." He scratched his hairline nervously. Great start, you huge weirdo.

"Um, anyway. You probably don't remember me, we haven't seen each other in a long time. I'm Anxo. You probably know Xoana more than me, I know she used to come and mind you and your brother. She's my daughter." He was feeling more ancient by the word.

"I guess I'm to teach you to swim with those legs of yours." He almost audibly winced.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Sindri's head turned as he caught some unmistakably-pink movement out of the corner of his eye and, upon looking over, saw someone with legs who very much resembled his old babysitter Xoana... which he confirmed by saying he was her father. "Huh... You're Xoana's dad?" Weeeeeeird.

As his older nephew started to stumbling in his words, a singular thought popped into the teen's head which he, given that lack of filter many his age tend to have, repeated without hesitation, "Woah... I forgot that mom and dad are, like, ********' old." Yes, he did learn that piece of colorful language from his paternal grandfather (don't tell Kel!). "Oh, uhhhhh..." Well damn all the little fishes he was so getting told on. Ugh this was so awkward he could just disappear. He averted his eyes and played with a strand of hair - a nervous tick he very well may have picked up from his mom - as his body slowly floated down until he was 'standing' on the decorated path. In retrospect, it didn't make a ton of sense why the naiad had paved roads and the like when they could all swim, but he didn't pay it much further mind.

"But I can totally swim, even with these things." He just kind of sucked at it.

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

The youth's next words caught Anxo off-guard and he laughed. It broke some of the tension for him. "Yeah, they are pretty ********' old," he agreed, still chuckling.

Anxo, too, let his body alight on the pathway so he was standing. He was tempted to get defensive about Sindri's next comment, but he stopped himself. The boy was right.

Suddenly, watching him there, Anxo suddenly felt like a teenager himself again. Anxious, insecure, defensive, and, most of all, ashamed of his own body. He'd felt like an outsider for most of his life. And now he was determined not to let Sindri feel like that. This new line of thought helped Anxo know what to say next.

"Sure," he said with a shrug. He'd learned from his own daughters that when relating with teens, you had to pretend like you didn't care. "But can you swim as fast as your brother?" A little friendly competition might be motivating for him.

"I mean, you can go home if you want. I'm just here as a favor to your mother. But I've had a long time to learn to swim properly with these things and I wouldn't mind passing along what I know. But if you're not interested...."

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Oh, he wasn't gonna get in trouble for swearing? This one must have been one of the 'cool nephews' he'd heard about - good to know.

Sindri's eyes wandered and he crossed his eyes as Anxo had his moment of internal monologuing, somewhat wishing he could just go home and hide from everyone until he got his tailfin back... If he ever got it back. He hadn't thought about what he would do if he was stuck with these legs for the rest of his life - it hadn't even occurred to him as a possibility.

His attention snapped back with a self-satisfied smirk as Anxo spoke and appeared to agree with his assessment. Yeah, that was right, he totally knew how to swim already. EZ. But his smile twitched and then took on a pronounced frown at his nephew's needling. "Well of COURSE I can't swim as fast as him with these things! They don't have any fins or anything and the water goes right through them. It's, like, SUPER stupid for a naiad to have 'em." He decidedly did not apologize for tangentially insulting Anxo's own legs since, as far as he was concerned, he was just spitting straight #facts.

"What, can you actually swim faster than my dad or somethin'? Can you swim faster than Xoana with legs? I doubt it - that's just stupid."

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

There Sindri went, reminding Anxo of himself as a teen again. Neither of them had asked to have legs, which were most certainly not suited for life underwater. But underwater was where they belonged--or at least, where Anxo belonged--and so he'd had to make the best of it, and be the best leg-swimmer possible.

"Well, I wouldn't know about that," he began, making an open-handed gesture, "I've never raced your father." Anxo snickered at his little joke before continuing.

"The thing about legs, is you're right. It's super stupid for Naiad to have them, which is why most of them don't. They aren't built for deep water swimming. I'll teach you how to be the most efficient, but the facts are that you'll probably still lose in a race to anyone with a tail down here." He watched for Sindri's reaction; this can't have been the news he was hoping for.

"There's a silver lining, though. You know who else has legs? Surface dwellers. Where do they swim? On the surface of the water. Your legs--and I have tested this--are gonna be more coordinated and powerful at the surface than a Naiad tail." Anxo remembered a very silly race he'd had with Mnemo at the surface. At the time he was certain she'd thrown it to make him feel better, but on the occasions they'd gone to visit Dysmas he was more sure that legs were actually better suited for surface swimming than tails.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Sindri crossed his arms and he replied, almost with a snort and with more than a little unnecessary pride, that, "Well he could totally swim faster than you. For sure. Cause you have legs and he has fins." It was common sense after all. He huffed and rolled his eyes in that manner so many teenagers do as Anxo began lecturing him on stuff he pretty much already knew. Like duh legs weren't as good for swimming.

He furrowed his brow at the 'silver lining,' thoroughly finding it incomprehensible. "What's it matter what the land pae do or if I can swim better than naiad on the surface? I don't live up there, I live down here, in the water. I've never even seen the surface. How's that gonna do me any good? Are you actually stupid?"

Ah yes, the feisty tongue of adolescence.

The thought of leaving the lake hadn't crossed his mind even once in his young life - Gramp's stern teachings about how nasty those land pae could be, when combined with Grammy's laments about how troublesome it was up on the surface, was convincing indeed for one without need to question their teachings. "You're, like, basically telling me that I'm not even a real naiad. That I have to leave to be good at something. And I don't really care what you think about yourself, but that's, like, SUPER not cool, even though you seemed like the 'cool nephew' type." Weirdness that he was berating his adult nephew aside, yeah, the kid had reached that point where he was just angry and angsty and really wasn't in a mood to be reasonable.

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

For the love of....friggin teenagers. Anxo was glad that his girls had grown out of this stage where they, all at once, needed your attention and rejected it when you offered. Though the youth's words definitely ruffled Anxo's scales, he resisted the temptation to tell him off. He hated conflict, and even more, he bristled at Sindri's attitude.

But then, he'd also been incredibly defensive as a teen. He recognized the insults as things he used to think about himself. Yeah, Sindri was definitely projecting.

And so Anxo inhaled deeply and made an open-handed gesture. "Look, I'm not telling you anything. I'm just trying to h-" NOPE DON'T SAY HELP "-offer what I know. If you're not interested, I get that." Anxo shrugged again. "If such a time comes that you've learned all you can on your own, and you'd like to hear from someone who's been dealing with this s**t for longer than you, your mother knows where to find me."

He started to turn to swim away, but did so slowly, in case Sindri wanted to reconsider his choices.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Sindri's arms were still crossed and he was still practically huffing with angst and frustration as Anxo's (thoroughly justified) rebuttal came. Though for what it was worth, it shied short of directly telling the teen off. Sindri wasn't much for noticing subtleties, so that meant exactly one thing in his mind.

Argument = ******** yeah.

That said, it did get him thinking a bit more on something unrelated to the purpose of what he was previously venting about and, without any of the hostilities from moments prior, his tone came out rather confused instead. "Why do you put up with being a shitty naiad with legs if you could be a better land pae anyways?" Okay... any semblance of tact was missing, but at least he wasn't being intentionally provocative.

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

Sindri's question gave Anxo pause, and he let himself slowly fall until his feet touched the bottom again. He turned back toward the youth. Could this be....a small moment of sincerity?

"I used to ask myself that a lot. Especially when I was younger and trying to figure out who I was and where I belonged." He folded his arms across his chest, almost protectively, as he shared his heart. "I'm half-angel, after all. I could easily have chosen a life on land. My brother did." He sighed a bit. He'd never really understood Dysmas' decision to leave the lake, but he seemed happy.

"But I couldn't do that. This is where I belong. I know in my heart I'm a Naiad, and I'd rather be a shitty one with legs than not be one at all." A slightly choked chuckle escaped his lips.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Sindri's face took on an expression of mixed confusion and indignation, as if he wholeheartedly could not fathom the words coming from Anxo's mouth. "Why do you have legs if you're half angel? Keele and Peaches are too, and they have fins. Where are your wings then anyways?" He honestly, truly, simply did not get it. Or get anything that happened to do with Anxo. Every time the adult spoke, Sindri grew more and more confused and more annoyed.

"And why do I have legs then? Mom and dad are both naiad..." Could that mean he wasn't actually one of theirs?

No! This was stupid and he didn't like it! And it was all Anxo's fault that he was feeling all kinds of a certain kind of way! His face scrunched up, but it was less clear what emotion, if any, it showed.

"This is stupid. I'm going home."

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

The barrage of questions took a second for Anxo to process. He made a sort of strained noise. "I don't think all those questions have answers. The world is mysterious. The Waters can be....chaotic." He had to admit he was also curious how Sindri had come to have legs, after looking like a normal Naiad child from two normal Naiad parents. Strange things tended to happen at surface-dweller parties.

"The only one I can rightly answer is about my wings. I've got 'em, but they suck. They're made of water." Anxo unfurled his wings as he spoke, which would be barely visible, appearing to just be water that moved in a different way than the rest of the water around them. A slight shimmer would be about all that Sindri could see. "They don't do much for me underwater, so I keep them tucked away. I haven't ever tried to fly with them. When I go to the surface, like to visit Dysmas, they feel heavy, like I'm carrying pails of water on my back." He often thought his form was a punishment, like he shouldn't exist, being from two worlds that couldn't reconcile.

Anxo tired of this conversation, and so he didn't protest when Sindri declared his intent to leave. He shrugged amicably. "You know where I am if you want to talk more."

Daisicle