Off the deep end (avec Spencer)

[Tanner Larson]

Well, Tanner, you've done it again.

The blonde stood by the side of the pool, arms folded tightly across his chest, fully aware that the only thing keeping him from shivering was the fact that his internal temperature was higher than that of the average human. All he wore at that moment was a bathing suit - black with large red and orange flowers, like something you would see a Hawaiian punk wearing - as his blue eyes looked skeptically down at the water lapping gently against the concrete sides. His flip-flops - also black - were over with his towel by one of the chairs along the side of the large room, while his shirt and backpack - which he took with him everywhere - sat in one of the lockers back in the locker room. He felt, well, exposed, mainly because he was, and his eyes moved away from the water and towards the entry into the women's locker room, wondering when Spencer would come out. Why did women always take so long in the bathroom, anyway? They'd gone in at the same time...

The casual observer would be justifiably perplexed to see Tanner in the pool; he made no secret of his utter disdain for large bodies of water, and in fact had managed to get out of the swimming unit of gym class each year after causing a fairly large scene several years ago - one which, with any luck, was now entirely forgotten by the rest of the student population. But a few days ago, while making casual conversation with one of his newer friends, Spencer, he had found out that she could sort of "breathe" underwater for short periods of time, which had led him to admit that he was afraid of water in larger quantities. Spencer had offered to help him get over this, and since Tanner had absolutely no spine whatsoever, they had arranged a time for them to go to the pool together.

So now here he was, standing half-naked in the pool room as he waited for Spencer to come out of the locker room and try her best to help Tanner at least work up the courage to get in the water without going ballistic. Were Zac to come in at this moment - something he found himself thinking about a lot, as Zac did always manage to come at inopportune moments - he would have punched the boy's lights out just as a precautionary measure. But really, Tanner was the one who deserved the punch: why on earth had he agreed to this? He knew how water made him feel. Heck, he could already feel his heart racing just looking at the vast expanses of water stretching out behind him, and was in fact surprised he hadn't run screaming from the room yet - and this was something that had crossed his mind as a possibility several times since walking out here. Why was he putting himself through this?

He was crazy. He just knew it.

[Spencer Ellis]

Spencer, being the incredibly kindhearted girl that she is, would have been amiss if she didn't try to help her friends out with their problems. And Tanner's problem - an irrational and nearly crippling fear of water - was definitely one that she thought she could help with. She was certainly no stranger to water and had spent a lot of her childhood playing in pools and lakes with her older brother. And she was no stranger to aquaphobia either considering that Sammy, like Tanner, was a pyrokinetic and had an equally strong aversion to water.

But Spencer had one tiny little problem of her own and it was a problem that affected the vast majority of teenage girls; she was extremely self-conscious about her body. And that was the reason why she had been in the locker room so long. She'd covered her simple one-piece bathing suit with an oversize t-shirt that fell about midway down her thighs and covered most of what she considered to be her problem areas. But still, her legs were showing more than she was comfortable with, and she'd spent quite a while standing in front of the mirror trying to pull the shirt down. It was only after several minutes that she realized that Tanner was waiting for her and she sighed, throwing her hair up into a messy ponytail, tossing her towel over her arm, and finally exited the locker room.

"Hey Tanner." She said with a faint smile, looking about as self-conscious as she felt. But he looked... terrified. "It's okay." She pushed aside her insecurities in order to be reassuring. "It's only water. It isn't going to hurt you." Of course that was easy for her to say, though she doubted it was easy for him to believe. "We'll just go slow, okay? And you don't have to get all the way in the pool if you don't want to." She certainly didn't want to traumatize him, because then it'd be even harder for him to get over his fear.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner was starting to wonder if Spencer was playing some kind of cruel joke - making him stand there right next to the water while she laughed her ass off back in the locker room - and was about ready to leave, when suddenly he heard her soft footsteps coming up from behind him. He turned to see her approaching him, with some large shirt covering most of her body. Protective gear, he determined. After all, water was dangerous, and he imagined all of that chlorine and stuff just made it even worse. Heck, it could kill him if it wanted to; he would have to be on his guard at all times today. But now that he thought a bit more about it, he had seen the other kids going into the water shirtless before... did they have some sort of special immunity? One could never be sure at a place like Hammel. And the pool here at Hammel was the only one he had ever really been to before; they hadn't had to take swimming lessons back in middle school when he was still going to public school back in New Jersey. He shuddered when he thought about the first time they'd had to take swimming lessons here, back when he was only thirteen; he just completely broke down in front of the rest of his gym class and eventually had to be escorted away crying uncontrollably. Good times.

He listened to the girl's words, wishing they'd had the comforting effect that Spencer had clearly meant for them to have. But he just couldn't believe that it was okay, that this water wouldn't consume him the minute he stepped in. It just looked so... bottomless. He forced himself to look away: he wouldn't deal with it until he absolutely had to. Not wanting to seem stupid, he turned towards Spencer, a somewhat quizzical, somewhat helpless expression on his face. "Should I go put my shirt on, too?" He asked bluntly, suddenly feeling inappropriately undressed. He looked towards the water skeptically; it was all its fault. Sensing its anger at his accusation, he looked quickly away again, flinching involuntarily. There was no way he was getting in that pool, no way in Hell.

[Spencer Ellis]

She giggled just a little at the look on Tanner's face before shrugging. "You can if you want to? It doesn't really matter." She would kindly neglect to say why she was wearing the t-shirt if she could get away with it. It wasn't important in the grander scheme of things. Reaching out, Spencer gently grabbed his forearm. "And really, it's okay. Why don't you start by taking a few deep breaths first?" Spencer had seen the way he glared at the water, as if it had caused all the bad things in the world, and while she felt terrible that Tanner was so scared, she wasn't going to just let him chicken out.

"I'm assuming, based on the fact that you don't stink, that you've bathed before." There was another small laugh, hoping that a little bit of humor would relax him. "Just try to think of the pool as big bathtub?" And with a pat to his arm, Spencer moved to sit at the edge of the pool, patting the stretch of concrete next to her. "Here, sit next to me." Folding one of her legs up underneath her, Spencer let the other dangle over the edge and into the water. "And no, I won't splash you. I'm not that mean."

Tucking a few strands of escaped hair behind her ear, Spencer lightly swirled her foot around in the water. "And hey, the water's heated. I mean... it might still feel cool to you... but it's better than it being at its ambient temperature?"

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner was confused when Spencer informed him that he didn't need to put his shirt one: so then why was she wearing hers? Did he need it to keep afloat? Was she trying to kill him by having him go into the water without the proper protection? This was maddening. Of course, had he only known the real reason behind the presence of the shirt in question, he would have felt utterly terrible for making a big deal about it, even if said big deal was only in his head. He didn't think pretty girls like Spencer could have bad body images - although he supposed he, too, had low self-esteem in areas that were perhaps unwarranted.

He twitched slightly as Spencer took ahold of his arm, muscles tensing for a second before relaxing once again; he hadn't been looking in her direction at that moment, and so he had been convinced, even if only for a moment, that some hideous sea monster had reached up out of the water and was about to drag him down into the murky depths. He nodded his head slowly, silently, and proceeded to follow her advice by taking several long, deep breaths, chest rising and falling as he attempted to get himself under control. "Yeah, I take showers," he said, nodding his head. "Showers don't bother me. Neither does a little rain, or puddles or stuff. Just... a lot of water. Like this, or the ocean." He shuddered now. "Just... so much water," he added, shaking his head. He chuckled nervously at her joke, crouching down slightly - but he simply couldn't sit down, not so close to the water, not with his body just mere inches from the edge. "I think I'm okay standing," he said, his eyes glaring down at the leg that was now submerged in the water. He was half expecting it to disappear suddenly, and it was all he could do to stop himself from grabbing onto the girl and pulling her out of the water to safety. "I'm good up here," he repeated, nodding his head fervently, arms crossed even more tightly now than before. Still he continued to look down at that leg. "Are you sure you should be doing that?" He asked worriedly.

[Spencer Ellis]

Still smiling, Spencer watched his nervous progression to the edge of the pool and his failed attempts at relaxing. She had plenty of patience, perhaps an endless amount, and she would gladly sit there all day coaxing Tanner into a more comfortable state around water if she had to. "Well it's a good thing we're not at the ocean then, because that has sharks. There's absolutely nothing in here... except my foot. And that doesn't bite." Giggling, Spencer leaned her weight onto her arm, looking up at Tanner. "You know, you're less likely to fall in sitting down than you are standing up. Lower center of gravity or something like that." And if Tanner fell in... she had a feeling that would be game over.

Spencer lifted her leg out of the water when she realized that Tanner was staring at it. "See? Skin's still attached, toes are all there, and I'm not screaming in pain. It doesn't hurt, I promise!" She wiggled her pink-painted toes for effect, then let her foot drop back into the water. "I wouldn't make you do anything that was dangerous, you know that, right?" The ocean was one thing, full of creepy crawlies and jellyfish and sharks and Spencer had seen a lot of those Discovery Channel specials on the deep ocean, and those disturbing creatures scared even her. But the pool was perfectly safe and surprisingly empty today, which she hoped would make it easier for Tanner to focus on her gentle coaching than panicking about other students splashing around and being loud.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner gulped at the mention of the ocean. Even the word gave him the willies. Sharks didn't scare him so much - he knew what sharks were, and that they didn't often attack humans; it was what he didn't know that scared him more than anything. Who knew what else was lurking down there, just waiting to take a big bite out of Spencer's leg? But even the threat of sea monsters was not what truly scared him about large bodies of water. It was just so... daunting. All of that water, waving around like it was taunting him, beckoning him forward... he could drown in it. He knew he could. That was what it wanted. But he was no fool, and he was going nowhere near that water.

He remembered a time, a long time ago, when his powers had first manifested. He'd set fire to his own house as he and his mother were baking in the kitchen. He remembered his mother grabbing onto him and racing out the door as the alarm blared all around them; she had been so composed, so in control, and he'd just screamed and screamed all night. He'd watched as the firetrucks raced down the street, their alarms even louder, and had watched as the firefighters blasted his house with those large, powerful hoses. So much water. The fire put up a fight but slowly died down until there was nothing but the smoke that curled up into the air and was gone forever. So much water. Would that happen to him? He was fire, wasn't he? He was always hot, at any rate. Would he die like the fire, the water destroying every fiber of his being until all that was left was the smoke? Was that what he would be reduced to, just dissipating steam?

But Spencer seemed so sure that nothing would go wrong. He could still see her foot; clearly it was okay, and this was confirmed when she took it out of the water and, besides the fact that it was now dripping, there was nothing wrong with it. He nodded his head in agreement; he trusted her, even though they didn't know one another terribly well, but something about her presence was more or less comforting. He became determined, then, to at least sit down as Spencer was doing: it was now or never. He began to crouch again but found that his body was revolting; he just couldn't bring his knees to lower themselves more than a litle bit. Taking a few steps away from the pool, he again began to crouch down, and after a few moments was sitting cross-legged four or five feet from the edge. Nervously, he began inching towards the edge until at last, his entire body shaking, he was sitting right next to Spencer. After a few moments of just sitting there, quivering, eyes locked on the water, a small smile appeared across his face. "I did it," he said softly. Not that he had done all that much, but this was the closest he had ever been to the pool. He could smell the chlorine more strongly than ever, and the waves lapped gently at the edge of the pool -not high enough to touch his feet, but just inches away. He turned to Spencer. "I did it," he repeated.

[Spencer Ellis]

Had Spencer been telepathic, had she known what he was thinking, she would have tried her best to talk him through it. If she had empathy, she could actually calm him down. But no, she had nothing of the sort. And more and more she was wishing she had a useful power. All she could do was try to be as soothing as possible while Tanner quarreled with himself internally. And really, this was his battle. He could have given up at any point and ran back to the safety of the locker rooms, but he hadn't yet, and Spencer was proud for him that he hadn't done exactly that.

She watched as he sat down several feet from the edge of the pool, still giving him that reassuring smile, waiting patiently as he figured out his own pace. There was no use in rushing him, he was either going to end up next to her at one point or he wasn't, it wasn't her place to decide how that was going to happen. However, the minute he came within arm's reach, Spencer reached out and laid her palm on his arm. "There you go." Giving him a little pat on the arm, she spotted that little smile almost immediately. "You did it!" She congratulated, her face lit up with a bright smile. She almost hugged him right then, but she wasn't sure if that would have made him uncomfortable or not, so she refrained.

Unfolding her legs, Spencer let the other one join the first in the water, leaning back on her hands. "If you can, just try to let your feet hang in." Turning, she looked at Tanner. "You don't have to do it right away. If you still need time, that's fine. But it'll be a good way to get used to the temperature of the water." She stopped swirling her own legs so the water would be calmer, perhaps less intimidating to Tanner. "Maybe try to focus on something else, like... hmmm... oh! How's that culinary club you were talking about?" Tanner had mentioned it briefly before and Spencer thought if maybe she could get his mind on something he enjoyed, he might be more capable of relaxing poolside.

[Tanner Larson]

Most Tanner's age would be absolutely humiliated by this situation. Here he was, struggling to do the most simplest of things, and being congratulated when he was able to do it. He was like a child being potty-trained, that was how regressive it was. But Tanner - usually the rather perceptive sort of fellow - was much too consumed by his own horror to acknowledge anything more than these minor trials and triumphs. It was a somewhat sad sort of situation, but a necessary one if he was ever going to get over this crippling fear.

And he did appreciate the girl's comforting touch, even if he wasn't used to such physical contact. Her congratulatory gesture widened his smile, and he nodded his head in celebration as well. But he didn't even acknowledge her suggestion that he put his foot in the water: that simply wasn't happening, at least not yet. He wasn't ready for such a feat; there was simply too much risk there. But when she brought up the culinary club, his eyes lit up. "Oh, good, it's going good," he said, nodding his head. "Well, we haven't had our first meeting yet, that's later this week, but there will be at least four of us, so I'm really excited," he said. As he continued to talk about the club - where they would be meeting, the recipes he wanted to try - one of his feet casually slipped out from under him, and moved slowly into the pool. His eyes were on Spencer, and he was smiling as he spoke, so it wasn't clear if he was even alert to what his own body was doing - or perhaps he knew but was so absorbed in other matters that the fear just wasn't there. But his foot touch the water, and then went under, and still he talked.

"But we still need to find an advisor; I was thinking-" his eyes trailed away from the girl and finally came to rest on his submerged foot. He spoke no more words, just looked at the water as it gently lapped around his ankle. It tickled. He kind of liked it. Without thinking or saying anything else, he shifted to allow his other leg to dip in as well. Both feet were now in the water, and he was sitting on the very edge of the pool, looking intently down. The water had made little ripples when his second foot had slid in. They looked interesting. He continued looking. He realized then that the water was sort of murky, cloudy. He couldn't see the bottom, couldn't tell how deep it was. The tickling around his ankles began to itch, and it felt like he was being tugged at. Oh God. Something was pulling him down. Something was trying to pull him down into the water. Something was trying to drown him. It was the water. It was going to kill him. It had led him into a false sense of security, and now it was going to pull him down and suffocate him, fill his lungs with water and watch him fizzle, just like the smoke.

He jumped out of the pool and screamed bloody murder.

((In case it wasn't obvious, he's imagining it. I didn't want you thinking I was introducing an actual sea monster into this thread XD))

[Spencer Ellis]

Listening intently while Tanner outlined his plans for the club he was starting, Spencer smiled and nodded at all the right places. She was genuinely interested, of course, and not doing such solely for Tanner's benefit. Spencer was even considering joining, although she didn't say that out loud just yet, if only so she could impress Sammy. The boy loved to eat, no matter how scrawny he was.

Her attention was drawn away from his face at the movement, her eyes darting down to watch as one of his feet slipped into the water without incident, and her smile grew twice as big. She wasn't sure it would work, but he was actually doing it. Spencer's hand lifted to cover her mouth, a habit she'd developed after discovering that after a certain point, her smile was not exactly pretty to look at. In fact, it looked downright ridiculous. But when his second foot joined the first, Spencer had to hold back an exclamation of congratulations. She probably shouldn't have been so excited about the boy simply putting his feet in the water, but when she considered just how intense his fear of the pool had been, it seemed like a giant leap forward.

But it was painfully short-lived.

Tanner's sudden movement and scream startled Spencer and for a moment she just sat there, staring at where he'd once been sitting, before actually turning to look at him. "Tanner!" She pushed herself up, rushing to his side, and taking his hands without hesitation. "Tanner, calm down, it's okay." She tried to sound comforting, giving his hands a gentle squeeze in hopes that it would bring him back to reality. "Nothing happened, you're fine. I promise!" She honestly didn't have a clue what had caused him to freak out like that, just that it had happened so suddenly and whatever it was had scared Tanner almost senseless.

[Tanner Larson]

There was no question that Tanner was freaking out. The boy was practically in tears, for Christ's sake, as he screamed and screamed, arms flailing even as Spencer took his hands into her own. He wasn't even looking at her, eyes glued to the water as though certain it was going to rise up and attack him at any moment. He lost his breath quickly and replaced the screaming with loud, desperate gasps. He was shaking his head now, shaking it fervently back and forth, in response to Spencer's please that everything was okay. "No, it's not," he said as tears began to fall from his eyes. "I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna go out." Just like the smoke that rose off the dying flames, curling into the night sky and disappearing forever, without a trace. The water would consume him, and all that would be left is the steam. He clung to Spencer now, shaking violently, his head still shaking back and forth. "I won't wanna go out, I don't wanna die," he said, taking a moment to just stand there, head resting on the girl's shoulder as he cried. Were his faculties more fully intact, he would realize how foolish he looked and would at least go into the locker room before breaking down, lest anybody come in and see him like this. But he was simply too consumed by his own fear to think of anything else.

Finally he pulled away from the girl, biting his lower lip. "I can't do this, I wanna go home," he said, turning back to look at the water skeptically every so often. He was motioning towards the locker room, where he could quickly grab his stuff and race back to his dorm room. He couldn't do this; he just wasn't strong enough, and it was a mistake for trying and making Spencer deal with him. He was calming down somewhat now - he was still shaking, but he was no longer screaming and the tears had all but subsided - mostly due to the fact that he was several feet away from the water, where he knew he was more or less safe, but he knew he wasn't going to be okay until he was out of the pool room.

[Spencer Ellis]

Tanner was crying.

To say that Spencer was not expecting that was definitely an understatement. He'd looked terrified, yes, but that he would actually be screaming and crying like his life was in danger was a complete shock. It didn't help that the relatively empty room caused his screams to echo and she was pretty sure that anyone that might happen to hear would think that Tanner was being tortured. And even before she could process that, he was clinging onto her, and she did the only thing she could think of, folding her arms around the taller boy and gently rubbed his back. She'd only ever seen Jem cry before and even that was usually just because she was laughing so hard or because Zac had said something rude and insulting to her. Never from sheer terror.

"You're not going to die, Tanner. You're not." But she really didn't know how to handle this, so she just let Tanner cry on her shoulder, just saying calming things to him until he gathered himself together. When he pulled back, Spencer surveyed him to make sure that he was indeed okay, before nodding. "Yeah, I think that's enough for today." It would have been cruel to keep pushing him towards the water after that little display and he was still shaking, which was more than enough proof to Spencer that this session was definitely over.

She gave him a little pat on the shoulder. "Are you going to be okay now?" She was worried to leave him alone, but his stuff was in the other locker room. "You can get changed and I'll meet you in the gym?"