ɪ ɢᴏᴛ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ sᴛᴏɴᴇs ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴘᴏᴄᴋᴇᴛ

[persequor]

[ Alone at the indoor pool, Arya grabs one of the pool chairs and throws it in the water. She does the same with the next. The one after has a heavier frame. It's a little difficult with only one hand, but she drags it toward the edge. It makes an ugly sound as the metal scrapes the floor. ]

Comments

[secondchances]

[Steph wasn't planning on visiting the pool today, but holy hell that's a lot of noise.

She enters to see a kid tossing pool chairs into the pool. Um. Okay. She'll just stand there and watch for a bit. This is new.]

[persequor]

[ Heavy one in the water, Arya turns to fetch another one. She stops when she notices Stephanie.

A beat. ]

What?

[secondchances]

[Another beat.]

That's not what they're for, you know.

[persequor]

I know.

[ And she grabs another chair to throw in. ]

[secondchances]

[Ah, angry youth. Makes her heart hurt a bit, thinking about Damian. She wanders over, peering into the pool to see how many chairs are already in there.]

What did they do to you?

[persequor]

[ Sprained wrist and all, she holds the chair over her head and then throws it in the water. The joint hurts like hell, but it's a good sort of pain. Distracting. And it goes away. ]

They were here.

[secondchances]

[Her voice is vaguely familiar, but she'll wait a bit before mentioning it.]

Lots of things are here. You're not going to try tossing me into the pool, right?

[persequor]

[ Arya looks from Steph to the pool and back. ]

You could jump in. Make my task easier. [ She points to a section of pool that remains miraculously chairless. ] You can try there.

[secondchances]

I think I'll pass. It's winter, if you haven't noticed.

What's wrong?

[persequor]

This is winter? It's hardly any different from summer. [ Her summer, she means, which could get cold enough for it to snow. ]

[secondchances]

What? You're crazy. Did I miss the part where I need to wear a jacket during the summer?

[She'll let her ignore that question.]

[persequor]

Mayhaps not yours, but during mine, a jacket isn't enough. You need wools and furs and the like. We have summer snows. I've yet to see a single snowflake here.

[secondchances]

Summer snows? No way.

[She'll sit on a surviving pool chair.]

It's snowed every winter I've been here. Probably just a matter of time. Christmas isn't Christmas without snow.

But by the sounds of it, you probably have snow all year 'round, huh?

[persequor]

No. Only sometimes. Unless it's winter. I think our last winter was four years long. Summer's lasted ten so this winter will probably be as long. Mayhaps shorter. I think it'll be six years this time.

[secondchances]

And I thought a few months of winter was a pain. I can't imagine that, but my bones feel cold at the thought...

[persequor]

Yours are short too?

[secondchances]

Compared to yours, yeah. We maybe get snow four months out of the year.

[persequor]

Why are all your seasons so queer? Everyone I've spoken to say they last perchance three moon's turns.

[secondchances]

[She laughs a little.]

You're the one with seasons that last years. I think you're the odd man out, here.

[persequor]

No. That's normal.

[secondchances]

And "short" seasons are normal for me. [So there.]

[persequor]

For you. They're still weird.

[ Letting Steph have her chair, she hunts down another one. ]

[secondchances]

You're a lot chattier in person.

[She watches her go about her chair drowning. No harm in it, really...]

[persequor]

No, I'm not.

[secondchances]

Are too. It's not a bad thing, you know.