wade into the water with me, wash my body down

[waiting]

WHO: Rick Bradbeary Bradbury and all you poor fucks who signed up for this or anyone who wants to gatecrash!
WHERE: Coney Island Boardwalk and around the City!
WHEN: December 29, 1PM until January 1st, midnight.
WARNINGS: Naked people, animals, probably a lot of cursing.
SUMMARY: It's all fun and games until someone turns into a polar bear.
FORMAT: Poster's choice!

this post is meant to cover the day of the swim itself and subsequent days after! there will be threads for the swimming/mingling; feel free to start closed/open threads for the following days, or start logs on the main comm, whatever floats your boat! indicate if threads are closed or open and i'll keep them organized on the main post. o/

REFERENCES
OOC PLANNING POST | F. A. Q. AND GUIDELINES

PRE-SWIMMING
Bradbury | Kate | The Shade
"Wild Tiger" | Rikku | Feferi
KITT

IN THE WATER
Bradbury

ON THE SHORE
Bradbury | Kate | The Shade
Jane Vasko | Roy Harper | Spike
James Bond | Bight

Comments

[waiting]

[ He notices her when she arrives -- she's hard to miss -- but can't seem to decide on whether or not to approach. Eventually, with a conciliatory cup of hot chocolate, he makes his way over, offering it to her. ]

Glad you made it. [ He'd almost thought she wouldn't, in short. ]

[gevurah]

[ In spite of their previous run-in, Kate did come here to have some fun in the midst of all the stress in her life right now. She doesn't hold anything against Bradbury, honestly... it's just she hasn't figured out where she stands in all this herself. ]

Wouldn't want to miss this. [ A pause as she takes the cup. ] Thanks.

[waiting]

[ The cup, she'll find, is filled with plain chocolate; Bradbury doesn't quite think it's a good idea to get tanked when they're about to be diving into cold water. He thinks Kate, like him, would prefer to have his limbs relatively coordinated. Just in case. ]

There's a lot of people here. [ His tone is neutral, but the flicker of his eyes over the imPorts in the area is uneasy. ]

[gevurah]

[ She has to wonder what that's all about. ]

Better than no one showing, right? [ She brings the cup to her lips, the warmth tickling her face before she takes a long sip. ]

[waiting]

Shitty things happen when too many imPorts get together. [ Is what he offers, by way of explanation, a wry smile on his face. It's a horrible to thing to say, but in his experience, it's proven true. Between Venezuela and the way the City itself seemed to attract crappy luck in general... ]

You've probably noticed.

[gevurah]

[ She's trying not to assume the worst already. After all, she came here to leave behind those downer thoughts for the day. ]

Are you thinking about calling it off?

[waiting]

Nah. [ He shakes his head, and squares his shoulders, offering her a wry grin. ]

I figure if anything happens, we can handle it. Besides, it'll give the people who said swimming in winter was crazy a chance to laugh their asses off and say "I told you so."

[gevurah]

Ugh, please don't say that.

[ She's got a lot of pride and dignity that she doesn't want anyone stomping on later if this goes awry. ]

[waiting]

Sorry.

[ He, on the other hand, has resigned himself to never having pride or dignity at all. Bradbury shoves his hands into his coat pockets, staring out at the distance. ]

[gevurah]

[ Awkward silence. ]

See anything interesting?

[waiting]

It looks a lot like the view from home.

[ The words come out abrupt, and a little rawer than he meant for them to be, and he grimaces. ]

Sorry. [ He's had a lot on his mind the past few days, and on top of the whole missing his kids thing he has every year anyway, it's getting a little fucking much. ]

[gevurah]

It's... okay.

I'm sorry about the other day.

[waiting]

[ That surprises him, if the way his gaze swings around in confusion is any indication. What for? is practically visible on his lips, before he catches himself. If she doesn't feel like elaborating... ]

Don't worry about it. [ It's probably evident that he isn't all that sure what she's apologizing for. ]

[gevurah]

[ Maybe everything. There's still a sense of unease, but she tries to ignore it.

She looks out over the water again. ]

Looks a little like Gotham Harbour. Hopefully the water's not like soup.

[waiting]

Hopefully. [ It's the second time she's mentioned Gotham to him, but now that he thinks about it, she's never talked about where exactly she's from. ]

You mean Gotham as in Gotham... City, right? [ He doesn't recognize her the way he does the Riddler, but he's the first to admit he doesn't know jack shit about comics, and the sudden idea (he so often forgets it's possible) that back home, she might be a fictional character is unsettling.

Looking at her, though, he can't believe that you can learn everything about a person from what's been printed on a piece of paper. ]

Is that where you're from?

[gevurah]

Yeah.

There's a lot of us, I know. [ Yep, their esteemed Deputy Mayor. Kate has never felt comfortable with him being in that position of power. ]

[waiting]

Seems like it. [ He agrees, quietly. He's thinking of the Deputy Mayor too. ]

Guess it must feel kinda weird, huh?

[gevurah]

There's something off about the Porter. I wonder why she favours us.

Well, our Arkham inmates, anyway.

[waiting]

Who knows? Maybe she likes celebrities. [ He shrugs. ]

Though you'd think she could've brought some of the big heroes in while she was at it. I mean, come on. Where's Batman when you need him?

[gevurah]

[ Hahaha. ]

I wouldn't call Nygma or Poison Ivy a celebrity. [ Nygma might be the most visibly "sane" of the bunch, but she knows how it goes with those Arkhamites; they snap eventually. Dent did, Nygma could someday, too. ]

[waiting]

[ Ugh, Poison Ivy. Considering he indirectly owes his recent death to her poisoning him, that's one Gothamite he's in no hurry to encounter again. ]

Right. [ And that's all he'll say on that. His opinions about the Deputy Mayor... well, he figures they're not a secret, but he didn't come out here to talk about the job. In fact, he came here to get away from it. ]

So. New Year's resolutions?

[gevurah]

[ He had gotten under her skin again in Venezuela. After Dent, Nygma was pretty good at doing that. It's too bad she couldn't sock him again like she did a long time ago. ]

Hm, I hadn't really thought of any this time.

[ She pauses to think. ]

Stay away from insane people. I think that works.

[waiting]

That shouldn't be a resolution, that should be a fucking motto. [ He makes a face as he says it. But really, neither of them want to discuss crazy people, do they? ]

Either way, sounds like a good plan to me.

[gevurah]

Have you spoken to Matt?

[waiting]

No. [ He grimaces, shifts his weight onto his heels, then glances out over the water. ]

Maybe after this, I will.