Had A Bad Day (Open)

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira was out of his mind. What in the world was thinking? Akira thought he would be able to jump from the high dive. It was just like the low dive, but only higher. He thought his fear of heights would get to him. He was wrong. Very wrong.

He was laying flat on the board. He was white knuckling the sides of the board. His eyes were squeezed shut. He tried to coax himself to either backup to the ladder and climb down, or to jump. The second option was impossible. So Akira had get himself to the ladder. It wouldn’t be hard, but his body was frozen and would not move.

The only other thing Akira could think of was to call out for help like a little sissy. “TASUKETE! HELP! SOMEBODY!” His voice was filled with distress. Hopefully somebody would help the Japanese teen down.

***
tasukete=help

[Kitrana Moore]

If one was to listen to things people say, then one might believe that cats often avoided water.. Tubs, pools, sinks, puddles, rainy days.. one would imagine that cats simply preferred not to experience them or indulge in them.. Ordinarily, perhaps, this would be right. But then Kit wasn't all that ordinary.

Just because she wasn't the strongest swimmer didn't mean it wasn't a great way to burn off excess energy.. and so when she'd found her way to the pool to act like an idiot and do just that, she'd been quite surprised to hear someone scream for help almost immediately after stepping out of the girls locker room. Her head immediately turned to the source of the sound, and Kit was torn between bursting into laughter and simply facepalming. Some guy was apparently on the highdive and having second thoughts about being there.. Silly boys.

So up the ladder she went! With surprising speed, too. It wouldn't be long before a very short girl in an expensive-looking one-piece was staring tilt-headed at whoever this was, terrified and clinging to the diving board.

"Ya know, if you can't even get to your hands and knees, there's like.. no chance at all that you're gonna be able to climb down the ladder. The express route really is probably the best option. Need help?"

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira flinched at a voice talking to him. A girl was who came to Akira’s rescue. Now she was probably thinking that Akira was a wuss. The stuck Japanese teen cleared his throat. “I can get down. I just wanted to see if anyone would come.” He was so lying through his teeth. He tried to build up his confidents. Akira wanted her to go so he didn’t look like a wuss but at the same time he was very happy that someone had come to rescue.

His confidents and male-ly pride fell apart. “Wait. I need help.”

[Kitrana Moore]

Kit had shrugged and had one foot back on the ladder immediately after he'd lied about not needing help... And shook her head and sighed when he retracted the previous statement. Poor guy actually looked quite a bit like he was emotionally-scarringly embarrassed.. Like he'd had not only the blood but also the confidence drained from his body. Yeah.. Kit figured she aught to actually help him.

"Alright then. Pleasantries aside, there are two ways down from here. The first is the walk of shame and you will likely remember it for the rest of your life and use it as an excuse for why you suck every time you face a challenge, at least subconsciously. The other way - which is the way this is gonna go down - is that you either jump or I throw you." If Akira actually paused to take a look at Kit he would likely see how toned she looked... Plus, given the fact that this was Hammel, he wouldn't have any clue if she had super strength or if she was a kinetic.. So even if she would have been lying (which she wasn't) he had no way to know she couldn't follow through on her threat.

"Alright.. Relevant facts include the following: pain is temporary, even if you completely botch the dive it won't kill you, and you could actually survive a fall onto solid ground from this height.. So I'm gonna give you about 10 seconds to jump before I peel you off this diving board and throw you to the center of the pool. I can only imagine your pride is already hurting a bit.. So my reccomendation is that you focus on it instead of your fear... Ten.. Nine.. Eight.."

[Akira Koizumi]

“WAIT! W-w-wa-wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait.”

It was clear that this day was going to haunt Akira for the rest of his life. The girl was right that there was no way Akira could walk the path of shame and go down the ladder. So the only two options left were either Akira man up and jump or he could have a girl toss him off the diving board. The second option was full of shame that would never leave. Akira only had one option that wasn’t full of shame.

“Wait. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll ju-jump.” Akira was certain that he was going to die. The next step was for Akira to stand, but his body was frozen to the board. Hopefully she won’t push him off for taking too long.

[Kitrana Moore]

Kit stopped counting and rolled her eyes when Akira started sounding like a broken record on crack. "You'll jump? Good. Then quit freakin stuttering and jump!"

She waited for another ten or so seconds before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, come ON. Look, it's been way more than the ten seconds I was counting down. Do it before I get to you, or you're getting tossed."

And she started walking..

If Akira didn't give it up and let himself fall before she got there, Kit would literally grab his wrists and yank his hands free before pulling him up to stand.. holding him standing up if he wouldn't stand on his own. Probably a pretty funny sight, too.. A tiny four-foot two girl manhandling some Asian-looking dude on a diving board. "Last chance. Jump with me or get thrown. If you just do it you can regret it on the way down. It'll be over before you know it. Not gonna count down, but you have five seconds."

After those five seconds, if Akira didn't back away and jump or fall on his own, Kit would drop down, put a shoulder in his stomach, and heave.. Akira would find that she was deceptively strong.. if he hadn't already gotten that impression when she'd yanked his hands free. Cat shifters. Strong little things.

[Akira Koizumi]

Okay, Akira. You can do it. Just stand up and jump. You’re on the low dive. You jump from the low dive all the time. Akira managed to ball himself up. Hold the side bars. He grabbed the side bars. Yup, nope, his legs weren’t going to hold him even holding onto the side bars. Akira was hunched over with wobbly legs, his arms holding onto the side bars, and he was staring at the ceiling. It was quite the picture.

Akira had a really strong feeling that the girl was going to push him. She had given Akira more time than she said she would. “Jump together?”

[Kitrana Moore]

Kit brought a hand up and smacked it to her forehead, just breathing for several seconds. "Dude, you really need to man up a bit. Yes. Together. Now. And when I saw now, I don't mean 'when I count to ten'. I mean keep your legs together and spot your landing so you don't do a bellyflop because--" And she bull-rushed him, catching his stomach with her shoulder and shoving him right off the diving board.

"--this is happening! LOOK DOWN." She would push him away from herself as she fell so that they both had enough space to hit the water without hurting each other.. trying to push him in such a way that he stayed mostly vertical....

And in a matter of a few brief moments, they would hit the water, Kit surfacing almost immediately and looking for Akira.. because if dude was too scared to have instinctively penciled when he dived, he might seriously be in enough pain that he couldn't move.. and given that she'd shoved him off the diving board maybe felt like she was obligated to make sure he didn't drown.. So if he wasn't swimming to the surface, she would swim to him, grab him, and keep his head above water until he snapped out of whatever he'd snapped into.

Which, just for reference, was not an easy thing for a four foot tall supernaturally dense catgirl to do.. Treading water on it's own was exhausting.. holding up a catatonic Asian dude while treading water with one less arm was hell.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira suddenly was pushed forward off the diving board as the girl shoved her body weight into Akira. Once Akira was in the air falling towards the water he knew he had just a few seconds before he hit the water.

Because Akira wasn’t ready for the girl to push him, his form wasn’t the best. He had three ways to hit the water. A painful belly flop, a bad cannon ball, or he could try and a good landing. His mind was racing and he tucked himself into a mess cannon ball. It was not at all graceful.

He hit the water and went under. HOLD YOUR BREATH!! Akira held his breath and swam up to the surface. Once his head got above water, Akira spited out the mouth full of water. He coughed. He pushed back his hair. He looked up to the high dive.

Akira looked to the other person floating in the water with him. Akira finally got to see what the girl looked like. “Arigato.” He looked back and forth from the girl and the high dive.

[Kitrana Moore]

What did Kit look like? She was four foot two, had straight baby blue hair, and was wearing an expensive cream-colored one-piece bathing suit. Her skin was rosy, her eyebrow was raised, and she was staring directly at Akira. "Welcome."

She gestured to the boy to follow her and started swimming toward the nearest ladder.. ignoring it completely when she got there and hoisting herself out of the pool on her own, turning to sit with her feet in the water.

"The hell were you doing up there? Seriously, what would you have done if nobody had been around to shove you? Stayed up there till you passed out? Freaking stupid i-- ....Sorry.. What I meant to say was 'now get up there and jump off that freaking highdive'. That's how you're going to repay me for my kindness. You've done it once, you can do it again. Go."

Kit's expression would leave very little room to consider whether she was joking or not. When Kit had to be responsible and reasonable, she also got serious. And right now she was serious.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira followed his savoir to the edge of the pool. He climbed up the ladder and sat on tile floor. Akira ran his hand through his wet hair. He was trying to regain his mind and pull himself back together. What would Akira done if no one came to his rescue? Akira rather not think about that.

Akira’s heart sank when the girl said for him to jump off the high dive. The color that was coming back to Akira’s face disappeared quickly. He stared at her with wide eyes. “Anata wa kureiji desu ka?” Akira looked up at the high dive then back to her. She was crazy. “I just got down!” Akira’s mouth hung open. There was no way Akira would be able to go up there again and jump down by himself. Actually he didn’t jump he was pushed.

***
anata wa kureiji desu ka= are you crazy?

[Kitrana Moore]

"Okay, dude. First thing, I speak German and a little Dutch, I don't speak Japanese.. or whatever that was. Second.. I know you did. When you fall off a horse you gotta get right back on it. Why? Cause if you don't get over your fear and and get back up there, it'll haunt you forever. So we are going back up there and you are jumping yourself even if I have to carry you kicking and screaming up the ladder and throw you off twenty more times. You're gonna do it.. and you're gonna be glad you did." She flicked her hand to the side and when she held it up again her nails had changed into black, pointed, thick claws.

"Now you get two options. You can go up there and I'll just follow you, give you moral support, maybe even jump with you.. or claws get involved and you get dragged. 'No' isn't an option, buddy. You know it's safe, you know you won't get hurt, it's all in your head and we're gonna fix that before you leave today."

Was Kit being unnecessarily forceful? ...Yup. Why? ..She wasn't sure, to be honest. Maybe her time of the month was nearby, maybe she just needed to bully someone in a productive way, maybe this asian guy was prettier than her and it gave her issues... or maybe she knew what she was talking about and was actually trying to help the guy. He had asked for help. Giving a man a fish only fed him for a day, but to really help him one needed to teach him to fish. Overcoming Akira's fear by force, one time, still left him afraid. If, however, Kit could threaten him into mustering up his own confidence, he would have it for the rest of his life. Blam. That one. That's what she was doing. Or.. if it hadn't been, that's what she was doing now.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira’s eyes got wider than before, if that was even possible, as her nails turned into claws. This girl was not joking around. She was dead serious. Akira totally believed her when she said if she had to drag Akira back up there. Which was scarier, the high dive or her? Both where scary to Akira.

He most certainly didn’t want those claws to get involved. He slowly stood up. “Boku wa ikimasu.” Akira was not happy but those claws were very persuasive. He took two steps and then stopped. “Anata no namae wa nan desu ka? Eh, I mean, what’s your name. I’m Akira.” Maybe Akira would be able to stall a little bit. But he didn’t want to push his lucky too much.

***
boku wa ikimasu= I’ll go
anata no namae wa nan desu ka= What is you’re name

[Kitrana Moore]

Kit didn't let Akira stop, though.. She'd been up right after him, and when he stopped he'd find that he had a palm pressed to his back. The palm that had those fingers with those claws. "Nuh uh. Keep moving. Walk and talk. This is happening. You're going to do it, Akira. My name is Kitrana. Call me what you will, including 'crazy bitch' if you feel like you need to, but get your ass up that ladder. I'm involved now and I'm not letting you leave till you smack your fear upside the head and jump from the high dive."

If he continued trying to stop, he'd get another indication of just how strong Kit was as she literally pushed him. Given how short she was (four foot two) her hand was just above the small of his back, giving her pretty good leverage.. plus there were claws that could motivate him. Was Kit usually this cruel? ..No. But then she didn't see this as 'cruel' so much as 'tough love'. Because getting to be bitch and helpful at the same time was like a double positive.. and actually pretty fun. Not to mention well worth it in the end if she did convince Akira (even under threat of injury) to overcome his fear.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira could feel Kitrana’s hand pushing him. She wasn’t going to let Akira get out of this. The only way for Akira to get out of this situation was to jump from the high dive.

He stood at the bottom of the ladder. Akira paused, but not for too long for Kitrana was behind him with those scary black claws. The Japanese boy started to climb the ladder slowly. Only if he could think of some way to get out of the situation. He stopped. “I have to use the restroom.” Akira was going to go down the ladder, but Kitrana was right behind him blocking his way down the ladder.