Sea, Sand and Sun (Open to Teen Characters)

[Demitry Draskovits]

Demitrys eyes widened at the barrier, clearly surprised. He raised more sand around him, gently tossing it at the barrier. "Nice... How'd you do that?" He rubbed his eyes with a sigh, glancing off into the ocean. ​"I doubt I'd meet anyone, I've got the social skills of a dying fish... Surprised I even spoke to you. Anyway, who do you do normally?" He lay back in the sand, resting his hands under his head. He continued to raise clumps of sand around his hand, and then dropping them almost immediately. He adjusted his coat under him, looking up at the sky with a sigh. "This just made me realise how bad I am at making friends... Been here for a while and I don't even know if I've made one."

 

[Kiran Arlos]

[member="Seaja Linata"]

"Woah!" Kiran exclaimed as he kinda freaked out a little bit. He wasn't trying to be bait t. However when he turned around and saw that it wasn't something about to devour him he couldn't help but start laughing.

"No that's okay, don't be sorry." Kiran said with a smile on his face. He directed his board over to her so she could grab on too if she wished. "I'm starting to think I should just stick to doing Jedi things. Trying to be the galaxy's best surfer isn't working out so well."

The young Jedi held his hand out to her. "I'm Kiran, it's nice to meet you."

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

It didn't take long for Jerek to find Allya. Or rather, she found him first.

Like a breaching whale, he found himself flying out of the water and splashing back down on his front, feeling the water sting as it slapped against his chest. But he heard Allya laughing, which formed a grin on his own face. This girl was too infectious for the boy to stay in pain —well, it was more like a tingling agony instead— for long. Her pleading tone was amusing, but the sting of his chest gnawed at the edges of his smile. He forced a laugh at first, and then found it came easier after that.

Inviting others to snorkel? The boy turned in the water to face Allya again, in time for her to catch him against her body and use her powerful legs to start pushing them back to shore. "Well, I guess we're doing it." he affirmed, pushing off from Allya to swim to shore under his own power. As he gained the ability to stand on the sandy bottom again, Jerek stood up, glancing down at his body. He noticed only a light pink tinge, it was still smarting, but the feeling had faded enough. The damp-haired youth shrugged his lean shoulders, and grabbed Allya's hand to lead her up the beach. "I'll grab the snorkeling gear, you round up the kiddos?"

The boy plodded up the beach, feeling the sand sticking to his wet feet. It felt cool now compared to before, though the sun had barely even reached its apex in the sky. Closer to the other beach teens now, Jerek recognized a few that he knew and waved to them. "Hey Asaraa! Hey Abby! We're going snorkeling, want to come?"

Trudging up farther, he reached the snorkeling gear he had rented before. The cafe staff had handed him a large bundle, and it had quite a few pairs of masks and flippers inside. Perhaps they had reasoned he was in charge of this whole affair? Jerek was just a participant as well today, but this turn of luck was fortunate enough. He looked across the beach at Allya, but she was too far away to shout too. Dipping into the Force, he reached out with his mind to touch hers, delivering a short message about the inventory of snorkeling gear they had available to pass out.

As the youth walked back with the mesh bag of equipment, he stopped to invite other teens he saw along the way, before arriving at Micah's sandcastle. Jerek paused to look it over, "What is this supposed to be? That's not a Jedi Temple or a Sith Library, but it looks very Force-y. Is that your Sith Academy?"

[member="Nida Perl"] | [member="Tarix Talso"] | [member="Jaeson Starchaser"] | [member="Persephone Shan"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Micah"] | [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"] | [member="Kat Decoria"] | [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] | [member="Seaja Linata"] | [member="Kahlil Zambrano"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Abigail Meredydd"] | [member="Shoden Moz"] | [member="Beth Cadera"] | [member="Zeke Tune"] | [member="Demitry Draskovits"]​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

"Pew! Pew! Pew!"

The boy's head was down and his board-shorts clad rear was sticking up in the air, as the cat-eared child assembled his action figures for the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny. "Ssh-kerdoosh!"

"What is this supposed to be?"

The child's tail whipped through the air, as the boy's head and butt swapped locations when the Cathar kitten popped up at the sound of Jerek's voice. His ears perked up along the sides of his head, as large amber pupils gazed up at the teen.

He was in the middle of theatrical nirvana! But, apparently this is what they were doing now. And it seemed that ignorant Jedi was ignorant.

"That's not a Jedi Temple or a Sith Library, but it looks very Force-y. Is that your Sith Academy?"

"It's Fortress Vader," the boy supplied, as his ears flattened slightly. Did Jedi ever read? Study history? Art? Or was this more of that whole no attachment nonesense? "It's a modernist citadel on Mustafar."

One of the perks of the kitten's tourism of the First Order had been the opportunity to see Fortress Vader for himself. The holos definitely didn't do it justice. The monolith was all the more imposing when appreciated for the hostile environment in which it existed.

Looking at the mesh bag in the teen's hands, the child's tail flicked as his attention was distracted. "Are you going swimming?" the boy asked curiously.

[member="Jerek Zenduu"]​

 

[Seaja Linata]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Seaja felt relieved when the boy laughed it off, not getting mad at her, and she smiled sweetly as he laughed. She tread water until she could reach his board. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]"Thank you," [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] she grabbed hold of it and stabilized herself in the rocking waves.[/SIZE]

Gripping onto the board with one arm, she took his hand with the other, and shook it as best she could while floating in the ocean. "Thank you, Kiran," She repeated, her voice soft, and sweet. "I'm Seaja, nice to meet you too - but wait, I'm sorry, did you say you're a Jedi?" There was obvious excitement in her voice, and she looked at him brightly, her eyes wide. Seaja had heard plenty about the Jedi in her life, but she had never actually met one. She had met a former Sith, and he seemed somewhat similar to how she imagined a Jedi would be (stern, reserved, full of wisdom and compassion, always in control of his emotions and the situation he was in, mysterious, etc.), but Voph had spoken of "differences" between him and the Jedi order. Now, if this boy were an actual, live Jedi, Seaja was very curious to find out more about him and his order.

[member="Kiran Arlos"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Abigail rolled her eyes with a big grin on her face.

"Oh yeah, sure. Go ahead and play the innocent girl", Abigail chuckled as she too started to take her dress off. "I know you, miss Cadera! You can't fool me!"

She caught the bottle of sunscreen in the air and squirted some on her hand as she slightly moved her head along with the music. She started applying the sunscreen to her skin as she listened to Beth trying to feign ignorance regarding any challenges. Abigail listened to the girl with a smile and a raised eyebrow, clearly showing she wasn't buying a word Beth said.

"Okay okay okay", Abigail chuckled in response to Beth saying she had a 'nasty competitive streak'. "You're exaggerating now. I'm not that bad! I just like a challenge, that's all!", she laughed as Beth wiggled her eyebrows. It was a funny sight.

"Technically? Yeah. But you definitely implied that you were also-"

Abigail wasn't able to finish her sentence as Beth suddenly took off and bolted towards the water. It took Abby a few seconds of staring at the girl's back before she realised what was going on.

"You...you cheater", she mumbled as she immediately got up on her feet and started chasing the girl, trying to catch up with her. While she ran, someone called her name. Abigail looked to the side without stopping to see [member="Jerek Zenduu"] standing not too far away from her. So it had been him she noticed!

"Hi Jerek! Tad bit busy!", she said as she offered him a wave, but she didn't stop to talk about snorkeling as she still had a race to win... or a cheater to tackle.

Even though she came close, Abigail still lost their little race. She stopped at the water's edge, besides Beth who was waiting for her with a big grin on her face.

Abigail looked at her friend with wide eyes before laughing for a bit.

"Beth! You cheater!", she laughed, giving Beth a look that radiated joy and excitement. "That wasn't fair, and therefore it totally doesn't count!"

Knowing [member="Beth Cadera"] would have her own ideas about it not being unfair, Abigail quickly yet gently took a hold of Beth's hand with an innocent smile.

"Come on, winner," she said, making sure to put emphasis on 'winner'," let's see what the water's like."

Still tightly holding onto Beth's hand and not planning to let go, Abigail slowly lowered one of her feet into the water. Luckily, it wasn't cold, but quite pleasant instead. She took a few more steps into the water and dragged Beth along with her as well until she suddenly let go off Beth's hand before bending over. A small grin appeared on her face as she lowered her hands into the water, before quickly turning around and splashing some water in Beth's direction. It wasn't much and it wouldn't reach her face or anything, but it would show her that cheating wasn't allowed!

 

[Zeke Tune]

As she sat down, and she squeezed his hand, Zeke's attention went fully onto [member="Loreena Arenais"] once more. A hand reached out, and caressed her face, this time, fingers knew what to expect, and it comforted him greatly. “I would love to show off for you, dear. In fact, I would love nothing more than for your eyes to be on me as I do. It's kind of how this thing works, at least in my experience so far.” The older man smirked, and leaned back under the shade, and just admired the ocean now. “Just give me a moment. I love the view.”

He got lost for a moment in the beauty of the sight. The younger teens played, romance bloomed in some of them, or attempted to in others. Some just goofed off, others sat deep in thought, and all around them were clear beaches, and crystal waters. Sea birds called, and fish swam through the waters, as the waved crashed on the beaches, their white foam moving up.

“This is beautiful. There is only one way to make it even more so, Lori. And that's if you were in front of me, part of the scene. But I admit, right now, I much prefer you here at my side instead. I love painting you, but there is nothing like the feeling of you walking step by step with me. Well, enough being sappy, you wanted to see me swim, right, lovely?”

 

[Lucius Lunaris]

Tarix smiled watching all the people enjoying themselves. He however remained watching the waves for a little while long before getting up to go for a drink at the cafe. Maybe he could find someone in all these people to talk to, or maybe he wouldn't their was always chances that was an option. As he neared the cave he spotted someone sitting alone. He grabbed a drink approaching the pink haired female.

As he got their he looked a bit nervous he wasn't quite sure how to be well anything short of a thug which he would rather not be in front of all these people so he slowly chose his words as he spoke to [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] "Might...I...pleaseeeee... sit with you?" Even saying it he had been nervous of what the outcome might be. He waited to be told something.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

There really wasn't anything better on a hot day than a nice cold drink, and that was one thing the shack came well equipped with it was those colourful cool drinks. This one even had a paper umbrella in it, now if that wasn't beachy, then nothing was. The pink-haired girl sat under an umbrella just outside the shack, her sandals tucked away as she dug her toes into the warm sand, droplets of water condensing on the side of her cool glass. Raising a hand at Jerek as he called out she shook her head, "Maybe in a bit," while snorkelling sounded fun she kinda just wanted to relax in the sun, maybe she could grab one of the super soakers and go terrorise the younger Jedi later, that sounded like a good plan. This though, this was as lose to heaven as you could get, behind her sun glasses her normally bright eyes blinked slowly, the familiar grasp of daydreams reaching up to her when a voice broke into her reverie, the Jedi sitting up slightly, tilting her head to the side to glance at her companion before gesturing to the table. "It's a free world and no-one's using it," a small smile touched her lips, "Besides, I could use the company."

[member="Tarix Talso"] | [member="Jerek Zenduu"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

Smiling as the young girl took a seat, it was nice to talk with others while enjoying the sunlight and calming effects of the beach. Taking a small sip of her drink, Kat stretched out wide and looking at her legs as Milla asked about her legs and the question on her battling Sith. The unfortunate side of becoming a Jedi was that they often had to fight Sith, there was little chance of working outside that. Sith were their enemies and caused much darkness and destruction, well some Sith it seemed as the Order were allies of the CIS faction which were predominately Sith. Things within the galaxy were not as clear cut as Kat would have liked but she understood why it couldn't be.

"I am not sure whether I will be forced to, but I feel that I can't sit around and not try and prevent Sith harming innocent lives." Kat stated as she thought about if she was wanting to be a Guardian, who was a fighter type within the Order or become more Force based, even though Echani were fighters like Mandalorians, she didn't really feel the need to fight hard. "My legs are fine with sand and water, built to last and sealed to protect the mechanisms from damage." Explaining to Milla the endurance that was in her legs.

[member="Milla Ordo"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla listened to what Kat had said about fighting the Sith. Protecting the galaxy from those who wished to do harm was something she could agree with. On the other hand, she had spent most of her life avoiding fights just to manage day to day survival. Intenationally going out to look for them wasn't on her top of her list of priorities.


The young girl laid back in the same manner as Kat and closed her eyes. She enjoyed the warm sun and the light breeze. This place was very different from the planet she was from. "That's pretty cool that your legs can do that." She paused when she thought about the Sith again. "I'm not sure if I'm willing to fight that much. Sure I'm Mandalorian, but I just like to explore and stuff. Probably because I spent so much time on my own, that fighting didn't seem like a good risk for survival."

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Allya Vi'Dreya]

As they walked to the beach, Allya laughed happily. She gave Jerek's cheek a kiss and ran off. “Aye Aye Commander!” The girl had a blast. Okay, so it didn't go quite as she had planned, she hurt her boy a bit. Though, pain and her had an interesting relationship, so it was okay. She would be more careful in the future. Hmm, who to get get first. Her eyes scanned the beach, and she took in a lot of the people. Jerek was closer to Asa, so she let him handle that one. Lori seemed to be with her boyfriend....he was an attractive older man, and that made Allya snicker. That little trickster was being doted on, it was cute.

Then of course, her eyes settled on the one she had invited, [member="Kahlil Zambrano"] , the son of Darth Carnifex. He was an entity so vastly different from her, and yet so similar. Oh! He had an actual person that was next to him! She was so proud of the giant Sith. The girl moved over to him and gave Kahlil a grin. Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and then, as she spoke they went wide. “Hi! How are you both doing?” The bikini clad Sith girl smirked and leaned forward to the two boys. Her gaze rested on [member="Demitry Draskovits"] . “Hello there, I don't believe we have met. I'm Allya. With that out of the way.” The girl stood up straight and clapped her hands together with a little hop. “How would you two, like to go snorkeling with Jerek and I? There is a ship out there, acting as an artificial reef, so lots of things to see.”

The smaller, younger Sith gave them both the most charmed smile she possibly could. “Come onnnn. It will be fun! Or if not fun, at least exciting! More so than sitting on a beach!” Allya waggled a finger at the two boys, and her mouth just kept spewing out words. It was hard to imagine this creature as the warrior she was. “Also! Thank you for not blasting Jerek, I woulda been really peeved. He is mine. I would rather he not get killed while on a vacation with me. There is plenty of time for you both to become mortal enemies later, in the proper Jedi verses Sith way. On the burning fields of battle, marching high, your honor at stake, as you try and out maneuver one another.” She snickered. “Me...I'm a Passion Sith, I get to do what I want.” Her small pink tongue came out at them both, and she spun around. “SO! Will you come snorkeling?!” As [member="Jerek Zenduu"] informed her of the supplies through the force, her own mind gently brushed his, in the force equivalent of acknowledgment and a hand squeeze.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Just a simple trick. You haven't learned that yet? It's a basic of the Force." He smiled warmly at Demitry , clearly opening up at the topic of the Force. If there was anything the Knight knew, it was how to use it. But that seemed to quickly fade as Allya made her way over to them. He hid his face behind his knees as the younger Sith charged right up without a hint of restraint.

He certainly didn't expect anything less from Allya, but his earlier actions where he took aim at her boyfriend with the intent to kill him had him somewhat flustered. That, and he'd never seen her outside her armor before. Kahlil sat in silence as she went off, letting her rattle on and on until she was finished. He knew better then to interrupt. When she brought up his earlier actions though he somewhat shrunk.

An impressive sight, seeing the giant of a man trying to be small.

"Ah, yeah. Course. I didn't realize you had someone like that, so I assumed y'know. Enemy." The Knight mumbled his answer, finally making eye contact with his friend for the first time. He gave a small smile, nodding his head. ​"Yeah, snorkeling could be fun."

[member="Demitry Draskovits"] [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"] [member="Zeke Tune"] [member="Beth Cadera"] [member="Kat Decoria"] [member="Shoden Moz"] [member="Abigail Meredydd"] [member="Loreena Arenais"] [member="Milla Ordo"] [member="Seaja Linata"] [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] [member="Micah"] [member="Kiran Arlos"] [member="Persephone Shan"] [member="Jaeson Starchaser"] [member="Tarix Talso"] [member="Jerek Zenduu"] [member="Nida Perl"] [member="Milla Ordo"] [member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori smiled as [member="Zeke Tune"] touched her face ever so gently. It was almost as though she was as delicate as a sand sculpture and he was careful not to let her crumble. That was what she imagined anyways. He saw her as a piece of art and he created more works of art in her image. Not that she minded, of course!

"Take all the time you need. We're here to relax, not to rush."

And of course his mind was swimming almost as much as his body wanted to. Lori imagined him picturing all of the different works of art that he would create right now, if she was to allow him to. But there wasn't much of a medium for him to work with. Or so she thought.

Lori gave him a soft kiss as he basically asked her if he could hit the water. "Go on and have fun. I'll be watching. See if you can find me a prerty shell or stone at the bottom? Something to remember this day by, please." She loved to collect small momentos from her travels. When she was younger she'd steal them. But now she tended to buy them. They sort of helped her to never forget important events in her life.

 

[Demitry Draskovits]

Demitry shook his head. "Nope, not learnt it yet. I spend a lot of time focusing on one thing before moving on, so I don't know too much if I'm being honest." He said to [member="Kahlil Zambrano"] before looking up to[member="Allya Vi'Dreya"] "Oh, uh sure... Can try. I'm Demitry." He stood up with a sigh, glancing around. Heat wasn't the only thing he hadn't anticipated, he had also forgot to bring stuff in case he swum. As he set off towards the shore, he began to imagine a series of possibility's and in most of them, he ended up drowning. Swimming wasn't his strong suit, but he was also sort of desperate to make friends so he was willing to try for once. "I haven't got any snorkelling or swimming equipment though... I think I'd drown in this. Well, I might anyway." He continued to ramble on for a while, clearly nervous of drowning before eventually turning back to Kahil. "How does the barricade thing work? If it turns out I can't swim, I can try learn how to do it while I watch." He flicked his hand up, accidentally throwing sand up again.

 

[Kat Decoria]

Kat nodded her head, she was very pleased with her legs. It was just she didn't cover them as often as she did when before. Her old legs were used with old tech and salvaged parts as she didn't have the time or patience to make new ones, being a mechanic, she didn't need legs that were resilient. Now, her legs were advantageous in combat now when they were a hindrance. She smiled to Milla and offered her thanks for the compliment to her legs. When Milla mentioned she was Mandalorian, Kat could feel her back stiffen slightly, barely noticeable but she felt it. The invasion of Eshan still had her crying during the night at times. Seeing the ruins that the world was now, she hated it but there was little she could do. Her sister wanted to go back and assist in restoring balance, however, still being heavily pregnant it wasn't practical for her to be moving like that. Also, her mother wasn't ready to go back so she insisted that her sister remain with her so she can help look after the baby and Rose, Kat's sister.

"Fighting isn't all a Jedi does. However, with Sith threats rising around across the galaxy, we can't just go exploring and have fun. We need to help people and stand up for all that is good and pure. I'm not a fighter either, I'm a mechanic, I built my legs all on my own. I know that I need to fight Sith someday, so enjoy exploring and learning new things and all the fun things, but be prepared for war and fighting. Even if we don't go to stop them, they will come and seek to destroy us completely." Kat stated, no matter how much she wanted to just be a mechanic, the fact was, Sith would come to hunt the Jedi down and kill them. Bar the Sith in the CIS, few Sith had anything less than resentment to the Jedi no matter the faction or Order.

[member="Milla Ordo"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla dug her fingers into the sand for a moment as she thought about what Kat said. So fighting was inevitable when you were a Jedi, at least with the Sith existing that is, but it wasn't everything they did. She was good with helping people, or she tried at least, but not exploring all the time wasn't so good.

"I understand. Getting to explore and stuff with the Jedi is fun, cause I get to learn new things and go to different places." She stopped digging at the sand and opened her eyes to stare up at the sky. "After I lost my parents, I had to learn how to avoid fights and other stuff. Most of my exploring was just finding escape routes and new places to find food or somewhere to sleep. So where I'm at now is nice, cause I can explore without much worry of such things. So...if I have to learn how to fight, then I'll learn how to fight."

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth heard [member="Jerek Zenduu"] mentioned something about snorkeling with Abby as Beth bolted towards the water. Snorkeling could be fun, but she had a race to win first. Whether or not it was cheating was entirely up for debate – she had given [member="Abigail Meredydd"] plenty of signs that she was going to accept the challenge.

Nonetheless, the girl stood with the relatively warm water washing over her feet. Her toes sinked into the sand as she played with it until Abby caught up with her. “It was so fair! I was basically screaming race me,” she teased back at Abigail. Really, it was all in good fun. There wasn’t a lot of people Beth could just… Have fun with. She was lucky to consider Abby a friend.

Abby took a hold of Beth’s hand, which caused Beth’s eyes to get big. “H-hey, what are you…” She said as she struggled against Abby pulling her further into the water. It wasn’t that much father but when Abby let go of her hand, she tried to regain her footing – almost unsuccessfully. But then, a large splash of water hit her body! Sure, the water was warm, but her body very warm which still made it feel chilly, especially in the seconds after the splash. She let out a small, playful scream which turned into a gasp.

“You monster,” she joked as she laughed hard, “You could’ve gotten my hair wet! Or… Or, I could have fallen!” She took a moment to try to catch her breath from laughing, “I still won the race, so, ha!” She stuck her tongue out playfully at Abby.

 

[Nida Perl]

Something shifted in the boy who’d introduced himself as [member="Jaeson Starchaser"], and she had no idea what it could have been a reaction to. Being a natural empath was both a boon and a bane, fortunately Nida had a mother who was skilled in Force Empathy. That didn’t mean that sometimes she didn’t wish to unfeel something, like Jaeson’s brief spell of anger and yearning. Nida busied herself with her drink, poking some of the jagged ice cubes with her straw.

As quickly as they had come, the bad vibes vanished and she was giving him an awkward smile in return. “Of course. This spot has a lovely view of the sea.” Her eyes drifted towards the beach where people were busy chatting, a few couples frolicking on the shore and in the waves. Nida’s gaze lingered on a few of the woman, sparks of jealousy welling in her chest for a moment when she caught sight of their more developed figures. For a Zeltron, she was rather small.

“Oh no, I’m quite comfortable here exceeding my daily intake of sugar.” She raised her glass in a little mock salute. Nida enjoyed the beach, but it was difficult for her to feel at ease without familiar company. Though to be fair, the blonde youth beside her continued to look very similar to her uncle. “I’m sure you will have fun out there, though!”

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

Fortress Vader, he should have known. Of course the Sith would glorify mythical figures like Darth Vader. The foreboding citadel seemed to menace over its domain, but featured towers that reached skyward from the beach, as if clawing the sky for escape from its lowly confines in the earth below. For all the menacing terror and fear that the legendary Vader had supposedly sown in his wake, Jerek had to wonder if this castle revealed the real person and not the glorified figure of history. A tortured soul with its hands outstretched for salvation, not destruction.

No, he was probably just overthinking it.

Jerek turned his attention back to [member="Micah"] in time to hear the boy ask about going swimming. The Jedi nodded his already-wet head at the Sithling, "Yeah, Allya and I are going to go snorkeling out into the reef. There's a bunch of coral and marine life there, and I guess there's a wreck further out?" The teen held up the bag filled with goggles, flippers and snorkels. "I have a bunch of stuff, one of these is bound to fit you."

Pulling the gear out of the bag, Jerek laid some pieces on the mesh fabric and knelt down to sort them out. Beckoning the Cathar boy closer, he began to size the pieces against the kitten's body. "Have you been swimming before? You know how, right?" The padawan hoped that the Sithling's education had included swimming lessons, but he had no idea if darksiders prioritized physical abilities like that. For all he knew, Micah had been trained to just hover over the water with the Force instead of swimming in it. "Don't worry, Allya or I will be really close by, we won't let you drown."

Was he trying to be reassuring? Listening to his own words, the teen wasn't even sure himself.

Finding a pair of flippers and goggles that would fit Micah, the youth pointed to the snorkel on the goggle's band. "This is a snorkel. It's kind of like a rebreather, except you have to stay near the surface to get air. If you swim deeper, you have to take a big breath," and Jerek demonstrated by dramatically inhaling and then blowing out alongside the mouthpiece, not actually putting his lips on the tube. "And then blow it all out through the snorkel when you get back to the top. But it lets you keep your head underwater and see everything underneath, pretty cool, huh?"

Jerek handed the gear over to the boy, and started packing the rest up in the bag to distribute to others, waiting to answer any other questions or problems Micah had first.