[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/199971497249472512/1060258763170398279/image.png[/img][hr][indent]Whether by some twisted intervention of fate, or just sheer chance, each and every member of Sofia’s Icebreaker group ended up in the sea.

All the willing students stood at the edge of the dock. Verity prepared a relaxed stance atop the dockhouse. Then, seeing the tides shift towards actually [i]doing[/i] what their group leader suggested, Victoria and Frankie rather let themselves be guided into position purely by social pressure.

Only Imogen remained in her opposition, not least of all because she hadn't come in any sort of swimwear.

[color=67D3D6]"No pressure!"[/color] Maive said. [color=67D3D6]"The only want-to-be after the first step is wet."[/color]

While her words didn’t do much to assuage Imogen’s worry, it was the heart that mattered. But good intentions can only do so much.

It may be worthwhile to examine [i]what[/i], exactly, the group was standing on. Words like “dock” or “pier” get thrown around in times like these, but the mental imagery they conjure up may not be accurate. It’s more accurate to describe the dock as a “floating piece-assembled rowing dock,” constructed of forty interlocking 1m[sup]2[/sup] plastic panels that floated on the surface, allowing them to rise and fall with the tides. None of the students on the dock knew this, of course, but a few certainly did know something else: the dock was extremely slippery.

Maive knew this. It was part of her nature, the sort that observes every little detail in people and places, the kind that one develops after watching 7 young, energetic family members. What she hadn’t thought about, however, is how, by no fault of her own, her shoe soles had been worn smooth from years of use–courtesy of her background. And as Maive moved between Victor and Imogen, her shoes failed to find proper purchase on the sea-washed plastic.

And so she slipped. She slipped, and as one is wont to do while slipping, immediately reached out and grabbed for any handhold within reach. Which, of course, happened to be Victor and Imogen—who, in turn, slipped as well, all three crashing down onto their bums. Their combined fall, unfortunately, unbalanced the dock, canting it to one side, sending them into the water.

The chain reaction wasn’t finished yet, of course. Sofia, Frankie, and Victoria, surprised by the sudden shift, fell face forward into the ocean only moments after. Orlando teetered on the edge, his martial arts training serving him well, but only for a moment. He slipped backwards into the water, throwing a hand out—to Daniel, who had maintained his balance, only for the swimmer boy to grab it purely by instinct—thus yanking him into the water as well.

When all was said and done, only Verity remained dry. She’d watched the entire sequence play out to completion with great amusement, like a human Rube Goldberg machine. Then she, too, jumped into the water.

And as each student’s head passed below the surface, their thoughts slowed, their bodies relaxed, and their minds drifted off to sea…[/indent]