it's not a matter of inexperience. even if his line of expertise was the front crawl instead of the backstroke, he wouldn't have been able to beat her. she was entrancing in theory and in practice, the gliding sleekness of her slender form only eclipsed by her ease in the water, undeterred, like she was made for shores silted with the essence of the sea. and oona shone, glinting bright scales refulgent under the glare of noonday by his side and gaining on him without an ounce of resistance. kicking out in forward propulsion, makoto never allowed even a margin of disappointment to slip in when she slipped past him entirely. belatedly, his palm grazed the slab they denoted as their end goal long after she finished.
grappling the ledge, he heaves himself onto the ledge, laughter careening in his lungs, some effusive tumble of soft humor and glancing disbelief. ]
Wow. ... Wow, I ... I lost! I really put my all into it, too. I tried so hard to win.
[ there's not even a hint of acridity in his tone when he claps the flat of his palms down over his kneecaps, gazing back at oona with an expression caught between oozing fascination and yielding remorse, as he'd been completely outstripped by her in the last leg of the race. ]
Thank you for taking me seriously, Oona. I always, always wanted to have a race just like this.
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it's not a matter of inexperience. even if his line of expertise was the front crawl instead of the backstroke, he wouldn't have been able to beat her. she was entrancing in theory and in practice, the gliding sleekness of her slender form only eclipsed by her ease in the water, undeterred, like she was made for shores silted with the essence of the sea. and oona shone, glinting bright scales refulgent under the glare of noonday by his side and gaining on him without an ounce of resistance. kicking out in forward propulsion, makoto never allowed even a margin of disappointment to slip in when she slipped past him entirely. belatedly, his palm grazed the slab they denoted as their end goal long after she finished.
grappling the ledge, he heaves himself onto the ledge, laughter careening in his lungs, some effusive tumble of soft humor and glancing disbelief. ]
Wow. ... Wow, I ... I lost! I really put my all into it, too. I tried so hard to win.
[ there's not even a hint of acridity in his tone when he claps the flat of his palms down over his kneecaps, gazing back at oona with an expression caught between oozing fascination and yielding remorse, as he'd been completely outstripped by her in the last leg of the race. ]
Thank you for taking me seriously, Oona. I always, always wanted to have a race just like this.