The Ranch

Swimming lessons (1)

At a point in time before Tih's first trial with Major Jax.

"Since we have some time off, wanna go relax and hang out at the lake?" Kai offers to the people eating breakfast with him.

"I have some time." Sherlock agrees.

Lucien shrugs.

"I'll take that as a yes." Kai smiles, satisfied.

They head to Lake Phil in the evening wearing swimming trunks they had to buy in the shopping district. Luckily, Tih was recognized as a regular customer and they were given a discount thanks to Phillip frequently dragging Tih around the marketplace.

Sparse trees encompass the area around the lake. The group of four finds a clearing to settle down.

They put down their bags and strip down to shorts. Faint muscle can be seen on each body after living on the island for over a month.

Tih follows the others, showing his pale body without an ounce of defined muscle. He walks across the dirt and steps into the shallow water with the others.

This spot is especially nice because there's a short cliff to the right and someone's attached a rope on one of the trees to swing over the water.

Kai is the first to run over. He tightly grabs a knot in the rope and moves a couple steps backwards before taking a running leap when he reaches the edge.

He swings across the water, letting go at the farthest and highest point the rope will take him. Bringing his legs into his chest, he makes a loud cannonball.

Lucien prefers lazily floating in the water. Kai continues moving back and forth between water and cliff. Sherlock does a mix of both, landing faceplants more often than not.

Tih looks at the large grin on Kai's face and follows him up the cliff. Kai notices this and encourages him," You wanna give it a try Tih?" His wet hand pats Tih, making a slapping sound. Kai grabs the rope for him.

Tih holds the rope and lifts his feet of the ground," Wait you need to hold the knot-" it's too late. Tih swings away, gripping the rope as gravity tries to pull him down.

He lets go like Kai, but waited too long and didn't go as far out, but this would end up being a good thing, as it took time for the others to realize Tih was drowning and rushed in to retrieve him.

Meanwhile, Tih is standing underwater, inhaling more water as time passes. He notes that the rocks under his feet are rounded and weirdly slippery.

When trying to recall if he's seen slippery rock before, he's pulled out by Lucien who was the closest at the time.

He drags the light child to the edge of the water before checking his condition," You okay?"

Tih looks at him confused. Did he do something wrong?

"...nevermind." Lucien mumbles after seeing his concern gone to waste. He and Sherlock leave after checking on him.

Kai feels like he should be used to this by now," You don't know how to swim?" He has to ask a stupid question.

Tih shakes his head, water leaks out of his previously plugged ears.

"..." Right. Of course he didn't. Kai sighs heavily after the sudden scare. Then he offers," Want me to teach you?"

Tih has no reason to refuse.

Kai takes him to the shallow end, about hip deep for him and belly button deep for Tih.

"Bend your knees until you feel your body move along with the waves."

Tih follows instructions.

Kai tries to decide what he should teach first. The obvious thing would be the simplest method, doggy paddle, but considering how easily Tih picks thing up, he has more variety to choose from.

An almost devilish grin covers his face as he thinks of something funny. It was decided like this.

Kai spent the next half hour thoroughly teaching Tih how to dolphin kick for joke's sake.

Somewhat to Kai's expectations, Tih learns it quickly. Out of his expectations, Tih swims like a motorboat. His speed could beat any gold medalist easily.

Kai and the two on the side who were watching the show watch Tih zip by in a daze. Their collective thought goes like this,"Ah...as expected..."

After a few hours, dinner time arrives. They dry themselves out and unfold a picnic blanket on a relatively flat area.

Kai brings over a bag full of various sandwich ingredients. The variety is to allow everyone to make what they prefer.

Lucien makes a BLT, Sherlock a turkey, ham, and provolone, and Kai puts together a PBJ. Tih copies the others and makes a sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomato, turkey, ham, provolone, peanut butter, and jam.

"...is that gonna taste okay?" Kai wonders.

"Remember that one time during breakfast, we were watching the staff make potato salad, then Tih mixed his tray of food from the top floor. It looked absolutely disgusting, but he still ate it all in the end." Sherlock doesn't worry about it.

They watch Tih take a bite, his expression remaining the same after swallowing and going in for a second bite. Not seeing any kind of tell, the three focus on their own meal.

The finish their sandwiches, pack up, and head back to their dorms as night falls. Kai was so entranced by Tih's swimming, that only after laying down to sleep did he remember that that was the only thing he taught Tih was the dolphin kick. He slaps his forehead.