The little bitty waves

[mitochondriaaya]

The elastic strap was suppose to go around her ankle. Of course, the board she'd gotten hadn't exactly come with instructions (that she saw anyway), so she had it kinda tucked in the shoulder strap of her swimsuit. She couldn't find her flip-flops, but she did remember sunblock! That as the important part right?

The boys had promised to teach her how to surf! Or wake surf...or wade, or something. She could swim a little, and she didn't think they'd be going very deep, but this was her first time to the beach that wasn't poking at tide pools. She felt kinda...grown up.

Yep, very grown up with a board almost as big as she was.

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

"We can do that later come on you've got to see there's a pod of dolphins c'mon you've gotta swim with them they're so cool!" it's. Pretty much all one word with the way Dilan bleated it out, and Braig was nodding emphatically, although his commentary was calmer.

"Have you ever swum with dolphins, Aya?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Whaaaaat?" It was hard to hear him when he spoke all in a rush like that? "Okay!" She had no idea what she'd agreed to but the boys were excited? Naturally the boogie board was getting dumped on the beach and...

..."No? I saw a show though, that said dolphins are actually mean. Are they?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Not our dolphins." Dilan assured her, "They're pretty awesome and you can pet them and everything."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You have pet dolphins?!" Naturally she had to assume that since they said 'our dolphins'. "How do you keep them from running away?!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Well." Dilan looked for a quick, easy way to keep Aya safe and ended up with, "If they're Crayola coloured they're nice dolphins. These are purple."

[mitochondriaaya]

Blink. Blink. "Okay!" They were purple! And smiley from what she could see and..."Hey! That guy is poking your dolphins!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"They're more like everybody's dolphins." Dilan gave her hand a squeeze and then headed into the water, "Come on! I can't hold your hand while swimming, I'd sink."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh, like a class pet?" Which was an 'everyone' kind of pet? "Okay!" She was following him cheerfully! In that running, high stepping kind of way as she tried to cut through waves. Hmmm, were the dolphins out in deep water? She wasn't good with water over her head yet.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sorta, yeah." Close enough. The dolphins were out there a bit, but Braig met them before Aya would have a problem and said; "Hey, monkey. Cling to my back and don't choke me, okay? I'll take you the rest of the way too them and hold you so you don't have to swim."

[mitochondriaaya]

Sorta was good enough for her! It meant she wasn't going to freak over other people poking dolphins! When Braig met him she was bobbing up and down with every wave. It amused her enough that she wasn't panicking every time her feet left the sandy bottom, but it wasn't the best sign for going farther. Solutions were awesome though. "Like a koala!" She promised.

Which meant, apparently, hands gripping his shoulders instead of his neck and legs wrapped around his waist!

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yup. Just don't choke me...grab my hair if you need to pull hard." He had a hard scalp, but hey! Shoulders worked too.

The boys swam out to the dolphins and each grabbed onto a back fin, "Go ahead and pet." Braig told her while Dilan petted, patted, and generally babbled biology at his dolphin friend.

[mitochondriaaya]

Not choking! Not pulling hair! Totally squealing in his ear when they get into touching range? Well, yes.

Patting was like petting right?

[sliceitwithwind]

Close enough for the dolphin. It took a bit of time for it to get it's fill out of being patted, but then it nudged at Aya, and rolled a bit in the water, and then nudged again.

Braig said; "If I climb on and hold you, do you want to go for a dolphin-back ride?"

Dilan? Was gripping with both hands and being carted all over the area.

[mitochondriaaya]

Hang on, hang on, IT WAS TRYING TO TALK TO HER! That or it wanted something from her pockets. Treats? What did one give a dolphin?

WAIT! She didn't have pockets in a swimsuit!

Thankfully Braig was, apparently, fluent. "YES! Having two of us ride won't hurt him will it?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Nope, they're very strong. Okay, slide over onto it and hold tight onto it's fin while I get on." He turned to the side so she could slide over easily and paddled water until she was settled, then slipped on behind her and put his arms around her to hold onto the fin as well. "You okay?"

[mitochondriaaya]

EEEEEEEEEEEEE SHE WAS SITTING ON A DOLPHIN EEEEEEEEEEE!

She did manage to remember to hold onto the fin, despite her mental squeeing! "Yes! I'm okay! Is the dolphin okay? ARE YOU OKAY?" Naturally this was addressed to the dolphin as she bent over his fin.

[sliceitwithwind]

"He's fine." Braig promised, "He'd let us know if he wasn't." He gripped the dolphin with his thighs, and it took off into the water, arcing (but not diving) and speeding along.

[mitochondriaaya]

"How? Do the squeak? Or click? Ohohohohoh, Morse code?!" she had learned about Morse code. It was a clicky code! Used on ships! Dolphins could totally have heard it!

THEY WERE MOVVVVVVING! Yep, her questioned trailed off into a giggly, wet scramble to hold on tighter.

[sliceitwithwind]

"He'd roll us over and I'd have to swim you back." Braig grinned, keeping a strong grip on both Aya and the dolphin as it darted around and squarked at other dolphins.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh...that makes sense!" She pried one hand off the fin to carefully pat the dolphin, just to make sure he knew she didn't intend to do anything to deserve rolling? Oh wait, what if it didn't like patting? "SORRY!"

Eep.

Hee hee!

"Hey, there's Dilan! HEY DILAN! Yours is GREEN!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Uh huh." Dilan called back, keeping a tight grip and not waving. He didn't float worth a damn and would be embarrassed if the dolphin had to rescue him.

"Don't worry about it." Braig says at the sorry, "Just don't yell, okay? Remember, I have sensitive ears."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh, right, sorry." Did dolphins have ears? Should she lean down better so he could hear her whisper?

Yes, this would be Aya stretching and twisting sideways trying to check for ears.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Aya! Stay still!" Braig said, gripping her around the waist, "Just enjoy the ride, okay? We can talk to the dolphin when we're done playing."

[mitochondriaaya]

She WAS enjoying the ride! And looking for ears!

Wait, Braig was smart right? He was totally smart! "DO they have ears?" At least she straightened up and tilted her head back to look at...the bottom of his chin.

[sliceitwithwind]

"They have ear holes." Braig agreed, nodding slightly, "Don't put your fingers in them, okay? It's not nice."