1/3 Instance: Deep-Sea Pooling

[tears~fall~like~glass]

Chris moved about his room settin things next to his bed and clearing things up in case Illyana wanted to come in. "Hmm I don't think I'm forgetting anything."

Illyana was excited about this afternoon. She was really enjoying trying out new hobbies. It was a lot of fun. She knocked on Chris' door once she reached it.

"Come on in." Chris pulled his extra air tank out of the closet and set it next to her stuff which he'd tried to adjust a little for her but he'd have to help her more once they got to the pool.

Illyana went on into the bedroom. "'ey Chris!" She eyed all the equipment. She'd sink right to the bottom in all that stuff!

"Hi there Illyana." He smiled and gestured around. "Like my room?"

Illyana smiled as she took it in, her eyes stopping on the giant fish tank. "Fish!" She teleported to the tank to get there faster and oogled the fishies.

Chris stumbled back a little, he'd never seen her, nor anyone teleport. "Yup pretty neat aren't they. I should prolly give um a lil food."

"Oh oh can I?!" Illyana looked over at him.

"Uhmm sure the foods under the tank don't put too much in." He pointed to little door on stand holding up the aquarium.

Illyana carefully followed his instructions and mesured out a bit of food into her hand. "Is this too much?"

"No that's fine. After you feed um though I'll show you what you have to carry. Nothing heavy like the tanks though I promise." He smiled and moved around the room organizing everything he'd gotten out.

"Ok!" Illyana carefully fed the fish and then waved to them before crossing the room to Chris. "If it is too 'eavy I will just teleport it down, yes?" She grinned at him.

"Hmm that would make things a lot easier." Christopher laughed. "I'll take the tanks, weights and B C D's you get the flippers, masks and gauges."

Illyana grinned and picked up the flippers and the masks and what she figured was the gauges. "I think I 'ave it all now..."

"Yup that's it. Lets head to the pool!" He picked up the heavier gear after hitting himself a few times.

Illyana cocked her head to the side and gave him a puzzled look. "Why do you beat yourself?"

"I gain strength from force. It's one of my powers. The more force I take in the stronger I get." He walked out the door. "Can you get the door please?"

"That makes sense." Illyana took care of the troublesome door. "So what else can you do?"

"I heal super fast, uhmm I shoot heat blasts when I'm pissed. If I have more I don't know about them." He walked down the hall towards the pool.

"I remember the 'eat blasts well..." They had almost set Jason and Peeto on fire. She followed after him, keeping pace.

"Yeah those are useful... sometimes." He readjusted the stuff in his arms. "I think the healing is the most useful."

"I wish I could do that..." Then nobody would have to worry about me getting hurt.

"Yeah it's useful. But so is not taking damage at all." Chris laughed a little and stood in front of the door. "Mind opening the door?"

"I can do that!" Illyana gladly got the door for him, happy to help. She had forgotten how long the walk across the school could be. She was so used to teleporting now.

"Thanks." Chris walked through the door and dropped the gear gently. "So Uhmm I don't really know where to start. We should prolly go change though." He laughed a little.

Illyana grinned. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Well unless you wanna strip right here the bathroom's over there." He pointed to the girls locker room. "Then I'll show you what to put on."

Illyana blushed and took off toward the girls' locker room without another word.

Chris went to the mens locker room and changed and then came back wearing a pair of swim trunks. He got all the gear ready and waited for her in the shallow end of the pool.

Illyana put on her one piece swimsuit for the occasion and then headed out of the locker room. She saw Chris in the pool, so she headed over that way.

"Hey there, you look great. Ok come get used to the water then we'll get the gear on." He started adjusting his gear and putting it on.

Illyana followed his directions, trying to hide a blush at the compliment. She slid into the water, glad that they were inside rather than outside.

"It's not so hard as it's weird to get used to. So that's what we'll work on first. Here take the respirator and stick it in your mouth and try breathing above water." He did what he had told her to do to show her.

Illyana mimicked his movements and tried to follow his directions. It was really weird having to breathe through her mouth like that!

"Just get used to it a little and then try doing it under water but just with your mouth under." He continued to show her what to do.

Illyana nodded her unstanding. She took a few more secure breaths above the water before she attempted going under just a bit.

Chris put on his mask and then went under for a little bit watching her to make sure she didn't freak out. He came back up and waited for her to come up.

Illyana found this very complicated, but kind of fun. She came back up, dropping the mouth piece to smile. "Very weird."

"Yeah it's cool though. Okay let me show you some motions. This means running out of air." He moved his hands across his throat. "This means go up." He pointed up twice. "And the last one you need to know is when you're running out of air you you do the running out symbol and then point to yourself. That means you need to buddy breathe."

Illyana nodded. "'ow do I know if I am running out of air, or need to buddy breathe?"

He held up the gauge. "There's three colors, makes it really simple. Green means good, yellow means okay, and red means you need air."

Illyana laughed a bit. "Pretty simple, yes. I think I understand."

"Yup just make sure you keep check on your gauges." He smiled. "Wanna try swimming around?"

Illyana grinned and nodded. "Yes!"

"Well Give it a try, just remember three things, breathe naturaly, watch your gauges and watch your buddy, that's me." Chris pulled down his mask and went under water slowly.

Illyana nodded. She replaced the mouth piece and then submerged herself beneath the water.

Chris gave her a wave and then pointed to the deeper end swimming off in that direction slowly.

Illyana followed him, getting a feel for how it felt with the weight on her. She almost smirked to herself, knowing that she could teleport out at any time.

Chris smiled he could tell Illyana enjoyed it. He swam around a bit more and then just sat in the corner watching to see if she needed help.

Illyana loved the way the water felt all around her. She decided that she and Pietro would have to go somewhere tropical this summer... he needed to try this. She glanced between her gauge and over and Chris, making sure both were ok.

Chris gave her a little wave and a thumbs up and down questioning how she was doing.

Illyana nearly grinned, but caught herself in time. She gave him a thumbs up in response.

Chris kept breathing just relaxing. He loved being under water. He checked his gauges and then looked for her again to make sure she was ok.

Illyana loved the way she felt being under water like that. She felt just like a mermaid in Peter Pan! She attempted to swim like one.

Chris caught up with her carefully making sure she didn't do anything that would get herself hurt and then got in front of her to keep her from running into the cement wall and pointed upward to have her swim up.

Illyana wiggled her way upward to the surface, laughing in her mind at how fun it was.

Chris followed her up and then took out his mouthpiece. "Havin fun there mermaid? Ya gotta watch out for those walls you're lucky I'm a strong swimmer."

Illyana took out her mouthpiece and laughed. "If I get too close, I will teleport away from it!"

"Heh cheater." Chris laughed a little. "Wish I could do that. Woulda saved me a lot of pain in the swim meets back in the day."

Illyana grinned. "It is about all my powers are good for."

"Hey teleportation is a great skill. I mean I wouldn't need a car if I could do that." Chris undid his gear and swam up to the wall to hop out and sit on it. "So how did you like your first lesson?"

"It was a lot of fun... and I 'ave to build up to using it for transportation... for now, Pietro carrying me is good enough."

"Heh I'll stick to driving. I think that'd look hella awkward!" Chris laughed more.

Illyana laughed happily at his joke. "It is cozy though."

"Heh I'll take your word for it. Last time we were that close Pietro was running into me." Chris brushed the water out of his hair.

Illyana felt that she didn't want to know why Peeto was crashing into him. She rested her arms against the side of the pool with her head atop them. "This was fun, Chris."

"I'm glad you liked it. Maybe next I'll teach you a few fighting moves. Last time I tried didn't go to well I don't think." He pulled his flippers off and let his legs rest in the water.

Illyana grinned. "No, I think we 'ad a bit of a distraction."

"Yeah those two need to just kiss and make up. That'd be a hell of a picture wouldn't it." Chris laughed and laid back on the pool surface.

"Sorry, I do not want to share my Peeto." Illyana attempted to be very serious.

"Aww not even for my amusement?" Chris propped himself up. "It's all good I guess Sophia will just have to keep me entertained, that or my fishies."

"I like your fishies." Illyana smiled peacefully. "Maybe I should get a fish?"

"I can take you to get some, sometime. I know where a really good pet store is intown. I think the girl there likes me cuz she gives me discounts."

"That is very 'andy, yes?" Illyana grinned at him. "And you use this to your advantage?"

"Only the first few times. It's kinda bad to do that and not tell her. I have a girlfriend. But then again I think she might still give it to me in hopes I'd leave Sophia for her."

Illyana laughed. "I think she can dream away. You seem very 'appy with Sophia."

"I am. We're a good mix. I'm a little more experimental than her but it's still fun to be with and around her."

"Experimental? Do you like to blow up things in the laboratory?"

"Well I have done that before. But I morely meant like my piercings and tatts and willingness to try different things."

"Ohh I understand... what 'ave you blown up?" Illyana was now very curious.

"Well I was making a present for Cess one day and blew up a batch of it. Recently just the hair on the end of my arms but that's nothing to bad. Gotta love having a healing factor."

Illyana laughed at that. "I think I will like Chemistry if I can blow things up too."

"It's usually frowned upon if you do that but I'm sure a cute girl could get away with it. I however have to do manual labor when I blow stuff up."

Illyana just grinned. He thought she was cute!! "Isn't there a powder, or metal that explodes in water?"

"There's a couple. Any of the Alkaline metals explode in water some more violently than others. Then some chemicals react very badly to each other too. And some make cool colors."

"I like pretty colors! I think I should take Chemistry this fall. Do you think I would get to mix things like that?"

"Uhmm, probably. If you need any help you can always ask me too. Science is my major. I don't know if I wanna get to specific yet or not though."

"That would be great! Thanks, Chris... I am doing science too... but then medicine."

"Ahh, I think I might move onto marine biology I don't know yet. Still deciding. I don't think Xavier will mind though."

Illyana gave him a supportive smile. "I think that suits you best of all."

"Yeah well if you wanna keep swimming around feel free I think I'm gonna take a
breather for a minute. I'll keep an eye on you though just incase."

Illyana grinned. "I appreciate it. You can never be too safe in the water, yes?"

"No you can't trust me I've learned the hard way, out at sea." He smiled. "And if
you need another tank of air mine's almost full I can switch you out whenever you want."

Illyana smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Chris. I think I will go pretend to be a mermaid again now." She giggled and put the mouth piece back in as she sank below the water, pushing off from the edge. This was so much better than the danger room!