Ari laughed and ducked, thoroughly enjoying himself. Tasha winced a little at the noise level and moved as far from the group as she could without being out of sight or earshot.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
He used his arm to send a wave of water at Amy, grinning ear to ear.
Tasha leaned back against the rocks and closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath. It'd been a long week.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
As Amy and Ari continued to splash, James let himself float with the flow of the slow-moving water. For the few minutes, as he did so, it was peaceful and restful. With the water rushing past his ears, all he could hear was the whishing of water, and it was fine. That was, until he bumped into something.
All she felt was something come in contact with her side. And, being the usually-alone, often-fighting-for-her-life individual that she was, her instinct was hit first and ask questions later. Thus, James quickly found his face in contact with her hand as she jumped back and reflexively slapped him before she fully registered who it was she was hitting.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"F***, sorry, James," she apologized simultaneously. "Just, reflex, didn't mean to, uh, you good?" she asked, her sentences merging together in a semi-comprehensible amalgamation.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Sorry," she mumbled again. "I'll, uh, look next time before slapping."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"But if it's you again there's no promises," she added, but her the lack of firmness in her tone gave away the fact she didn't really mean it.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
She glowered at him but the ghost of a smile twitching at her lips betrayed where her true feelings were. "You're just asking to get slapped again, you know."
Ari glanced back over Amy's shoulder, catching sight of James and Tasha and his eyes widening. "Whoa! Amy," he whispered. "LooK!"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Amy paused, and looked over with wide eyes as well. "Woah," she echoed. "Do they look... like they're not actually angry?" she marveled, only to realize that they just dramatically decreased in volume, and it might be suspicious, so she quickly sent another wave up into Ari's face with a little laugh.
James glanced back only to flinch as the volume increased again after the briefest of pauses. He started to swim back a bit, still wearing the little smirk as he got out of her slapping range, not sure if she actually would.
"I didn't hear me asking for anything in that sentence, but I guess you hear what you want."
She smirked. "Either way, you seem to take it seriously enough to get out of my way, she pointed out.
Ari picked up the fact they'd silenced and quickly splashed back with his own, booming laugh, though if he was honest he was laughing more at Tasha and James than at the fun he was having with Amy.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
