[gravesend] it's coming up lavender

"Hmm, the owl must've gotten lost..." Harlan flicked the excess water from his fingers as he looked sideways to where Senna was polishing off a cupcake and looking down at him, the hum of his thought deep in his throat. She must have had a close enough relationship with the family to speak about them so candidly, but he couldn't quite place her. A friend of one of the kids, no doubt, and not the one that he knew. Senna jumped up from her chair and he immediately regretted the question of a swim.

He watched as she kicked aside her shoes, the blues of his eyes electric and dancing under the fluorescents, turned up toward her. Vaguely, he was aware of the hand on his shoulder. In hindsight, he figured he should have known better than to tempt her, even in jest. To think he didn't even know her at all.

"You think?" Harlan's face gave away his skepticism, giving the water another touch with the tips of his fingers for good measure. His idea of warm as far as water was concerned was practically boiling, so the answer was a no. Senna dipped her legs in and he sat down in return— one leg outstretched away from them and the other crooked at the knee so that he could rest his elbow easily atop to face her.

Taking a sip from his beer, he couldn't help but smile around the lip as her question met his ears. "I imagine you might ask either way..." He teased, nodding for her to continue. Did he like being a quidditch player? It wasn't a new question, but he was much better equipped to answer it when it came from a preteen fan after a match. And she meant it differently, too, he could feel it.

Harlan hummed a thought from somewhere in his chest and took another drink. "I do," He answered honestly. A lot of the time he figured he might have been better suited as some kind of scholar, but his physical nature preceded him. "Why do you ask that?" Harlan wondered, aware he couldn't return the question given he knew nothing about what it was that she did. Besides, he knew better than to give away too much up front.

Senna watched him openly, not afraid or bashful about her curiosity about him, but she did wonder if it was something he would notice being in the public eye so much or if it would make him uncomfortable. She didn't want that, but she couldn't quite help it. He had such an ease about him, a quiet, silent power pulsing around him. It really was magnetic. She knew he didn't believe her about the palm reading, but she wondered if he would be a skeptic about his how nice his aura was too.

She had smiled at his teasing before she had continued on with her question, turning a little to look at him as she kept moving her legs through the water. Her gaze drifted to his bottle and she had the sudden urge to slip it from his fingers and take a sip too like she did with Rhey or Jonesy or any of her other close friends, but she had learned the hard way that strangers didn't quite like that. She smiled a little at the thought as he answered and she felt the tremor of honesty in his tone.

Was it what she had expected? She wasn't sure. Senna hadn't expected him to say one way or the other, but it was nice to know that he liked what he did. She knew from what Rhey said about the Griffins that he must be good at it, considering they had won the championship, not that she really followed the sport though. She knew a lot of people who hated what they did and had no passion for it. She couldn't imagine living like that. She shrugged at his question and gave him a light smile. "I'm curious," she answered simply before she turned back to the water, tilting her head after a moment. "It always amazes me that people can spend so much of their time doing something they hate or that makes them so unhappy. That's why I chose music. I know at least if I'm doing something I like, it won't all be a waste even if we don't make it, you know?"

She shrugged again, quiet for a moment, before his earlier idea struck her and she went with it because the water felt so warm and inviting and maybe because she very much liked the idea of swimming in her fancy dress for a reason she couldn't quite explain. "I wanna swim," she told him just before she pushed herself up on the edge of the pool's ledge and let herself slide into the water. Her dress floated up as she sunk down further, moving her arm's through the water as she sucked in a breath at the temperature change, it was pleasant but still different. The ends of her hair dipped into the water as her toes touched the smooth surface of the bottom and she turned back to face him. "Well?" she asked expectantly, waiting for him with a small smile, perking her brows.

Harlan's eyes were fixed on the water, the way that it ripped under the gentle kicks of her legs. There was a subtle undercurrent there that only just breached the surface. When she spoke about how she couldn't imagine people doing something that hated a smile broke out over his features. "People do things that make them unhappy all the time..." He glanced over at Senna thoughtfully. It was a deeply nuanced thing, why people did the things they did.

More than anything, as he got older the more he realized the privilege that came with being able to do something he loved, professionally.

Senna said she wanted to swim and in the blink of an eye was already in the pool, not bothering to think twice. Harlan let out a chuckle as he leaned away from the waves that lapped against the side of the pool. He watched her as he took a drink from the bottle of beer he'd set on the concrete beside him only moments before. For whatever reason, he hadn't expected her to take him seriously. Even if that seemed exactly like something she might do.

"Well?" His brow quirked, mirroring her own as she waiting in front of him. The fluorescents of the pool danced over her features and made her look more whimsical than on land if that were possible. There was an intoxicating weightlessness that she carried, though he was desperately trying to avoid it rubbing off on him for some reason.

"Oh, I have no intention of getting in there," Harlan declared with a shake of his head, not budging from their little game of chicken.

"That's what I mean," she said agreeing, stressing the last word to make her point. "How do people live like that? Isn't life messy enough without adding the misery of hating what you do for work?" She wanted to shrug, but she didn't. Senna simply rested her chin on her shoulder. She could've worked at her parent's herbology shop for the rest of her life, filling orders, bagging up herbs, pruning things? Merlin, she wanted to die of boredom from just thinking about it and yet she knew that the tedium would quickly turn into soul-sucking.
She didn't ever want to think about music being such a drain on her like that, but she couldn't help fear the idea as well as it lingered in the corners of her mind. So many people got burnt out in this industry from the drugs and the women and the press and the utter bullshit that went along with 'fame' and while she wasn't the frontman and they weren't that successful yet, it wasn't something she knew how to avoid altogether. She wasn't sure how to put it into words either, especially to a stranger who seemed to have it all together or at least wanted to appear that way, so she simply gave the captain a serene look and a quiet smile with a small shrug of one shoulder.

But in the water it was different. She felt lighter for obvious reasons, but the physical movement of her limbs in the weightlessness also helped. As if she could float above everything. As if she could escape the fear and the doubt for even just a few moments while in the water. It was a temporary reprieve and she knew that and the captain was a nice enough distraction, amusing at the very least. She gave him a bemused smile as she shook her head. She should've known better. This was the second time she had taken him at his word, but she didn't hold that against him. It wasn't in her nature.

She simply turned in the water so she could float on her back, her eyes on the magical ceiling, the shooting stars mesmerizing as she tried to steady herself in the water to keep her face and chest on the surface. It wasn't as easy as she thought so it was a few moments before she mentioned to him, "I wonder if you ever let yourself go," her voice echoing softly around the pleasingly acoustic room. She thought of recording a song in here, it might sound very nice. "Or if you keep yourself so locked down all the time." It was an odd thing to say to stranger, she knew that, but she wasn't as afraid as she used to be of rebuke. And besides, when was she ever going to see the captain again. The words 'why not' floated around her as she stared up at the starry sky painted above her.

Harlan followed her gaze to the ceiling. The artwork moved subtly at first, then less so, a new detail catching him in every place he sought. After a moment of studying in quiet appreciation, his eyes flicked back down to Senna, floating, fingertips light on the surface of the water that had settled—just. There was a comfortable silence between them that he hadn't expected. A far cry from her reading the palm and offering her drink to an otherwise perfect stranger.

As if she could read his mind— fucking ironic, he thought— she spoke a question that called out his contemplation. Did he ever let himself go? What a loaded question that was. Harlan narrowed his thoughts on her, a faint, thoughtful smile on his face. Too often, he thought. And as of late it had been getting him into more than his share of trouble.

"You don't think I'm capable?" Harlan ventured smugly, getting to his feet. If there was one thing that motivated him it was doubt.

Harlan nudged the shoes he'd kicked off away from the pool as he adjusted his sleeves tightly pressed at his forearms. "Surprised you didn't read that on my palm..." He couldn't help himself, his smile as evidence of the fact. He wasted no additional time in talking and instead dove in. The water was warmer than he anticipated, but refreshing all the same. As he breached the surface he pushed his hair back, glancing over at Senna as if to challenge her.

His voice, quiet and strong, echoed around the pool room. The acoustics were good here. She liked the sound of it, of him, his voice, sure and smooth with a hint of challenge and mystery and something else altogether that she couldn't name and maybe didn't want to. She liked not knowing. She let her legs sink as she turned to look back at him, treading water gently, her arms out to her sides as she shook her head, her dress swirling around her, pale legs and all. "I didn't say that," she told him quietly, curious as he got to his feet.

It had just been a question. Maybe rhetorical, maybe not. It was all how he responded. And she blinked up at him as he did. Her brows lifted in surprise and delight as he toed off his shoes and she dared to hope even though a little voice warned her he was a bit of a trickster. Not malignant necessarily, but still. Her honey colored eyes caught on his strong, muscled forearms as he adjusted his sleeves and then she barely had time to look away as he dove in graceful and fierce.

Senna let out a delighted laugh as he hit the water, spraying her and she wiped the water from her eyes as she turned to face him as he surfaced. "Full of surprises, I see," she said with a wide smile that showed off her dimples too. She swam a little closer to him, blinking droplets of water off her lashes, as she moved through the water like a nymph. "Did you do it because you wanted to though or just because I thought you weren't going to?" she asked playfully with an impish smile, the delight and surprise making her feel more open.

"So I've been told," Harlan replied earnestly with a twinkle of a smile in his eyes as he pushed the water from his forehead and his hair back with both palms. His upper body was securely above the surface, his legs moving with precision under the surface in strong, solid strokes. He was better in the air (he figured) but had always enjoyed being in the water— more when he wasn't fully clothed.

Senna swam closer but Harlan didn't immediately put the distance back between them. For an otherwise perfect stranger, she was surprisingly easy to feel comfortable around. And in general, that didn't come easy to the man. Maybe the water had shocked his system, he thought darkly.

Though, it was easy to imagine that they existed on a different plane there in the middle of the pool under the dazzling moving ceiling.

"Because you thought I wouldn't," Harlan stated plainly. He was a lot of things but a liar was not one of them. In fact, for the most part, he didn't even bother to sugarcoat his delivery— that often rubbed people the wrong way. Briefly, he worried that Senna seemed sensitive enough to go down that path, but figured he would cross that bridge if and when they got there.

A grin still painted on his face, he half-shrugged, studying a droplet of water that fell from her long eyelashes down her already wet cheek. "Something about proving people wrong..." He mused thoughtfully. Doubt was his greatest motivator.

"I like it," Senna said genuinely, unabashed in front of this nearly perfect stranger as her eyes traced the lines of his shoulders and biceps, his wet shirt clinging to him, making it much easier to appreciate his graceful, leonine lines. And it was true. She did like surprises, in all forms, but mostly in the way that people revealed themselves over time, like little gems being discovered. And with him it was even more rewarding because she would've never guessed that the captain of the team of all people would jump into a pool at a party with a stranger and maybe that was the beauty of it all.

His answer was another pleasant surprise and she laughed lightly, the sound like chimes, echoing softly as she shook her head at him. "For someone so private, I'm surprised you even copped to that," she told him with a smile, noticing his blue eyes seemed even bluer in the water. "Now I know exactly how to get you to do things," she joked, her tone light so he would know she wasn't serious as her hands floating along the surface of the water and her legs kept up a steady soft kick to keep her afloat.

She swam a little to his side, feeling the need to move, the water flowing around her, gently lapping at her chest and neck as she moved, her eyes caught on the ceiling for a moment as she thought over his answer. "Seems like there's a story there to unpack.." she mused with a glance at him, a soft smile on her lips.

"Don't say that, you'll regret it..." Harlan stated plainly, humming a thought after the admission, the sound deep in his throat and reverberating off the laps of waves and walls. He ran his hand over his mouth to push the salty pool water from it; there was a grin he couldn't quite hide underneath. The last thing anyone should want was to make him do anything, he thought. That only got him into trouble.

The way that Senna said things, and the things she said, innocent enough, sent a warning signal off in his brain.

He needed to be careful.

Harlan instead watched the light as it danced off the water alongside the underside of her upturned chin, her eyes to the ceiling. Not listening to his instinct seemed like the right decision. He focused instead on the slow and steady kicks under him that kept his shoulders above water and allowed his hands to rest on the surface, moving in consistent circular motions.

"Not really," He would have shrugged under any other circumstances. "More a deeply ingrained, fatal personality flaw..." He grinned devilishly, turning to face her more squarely again as she swam to his left. "You're not getting anything else out of me," He warned, on second thought. Senna had gotten enough of that from his palm, he thought. 

"I'll say anything I want, I regret nothing," she replied back right away, a coy smile on her face, a twinkle in her eye, truth in her tone. Senna really didn't have many regrets in general, it wasn't her way, and the few she did have were buried so deep and twisted that they didn't look much like regret anymore. But she knew that's not really what he meant. His words felt like more of a challenge and he seemed to thrive on that. She, on the other hand, liked the fact that she was discovering little bits of him or perhaps he was allowing her to see little bits like shards that she could piece together. For some reason, it felt like it wasn't the norm.

Besides, he had already told her some secrets. What was a few more?

Watching him as he turned to face her, Senna sunk a little so that only her nose and eyes were above the water, her silvery blonde hair floating around her like ribbons in the water. A fatal personality flaw? "I have a few of those," she said as she scrunched her nose and she smiled at him as she lifted up her head and water dripped from her chin in gleaming droplets. Not that she necessarily wanted to talk about her own flaws, those were boring. She knew about them already. What she didn't know was him. That made her much more curious.

She laughed again as she swam to the side of him again, her limbs stretched out in the water, unafraid of taking up space as she gave him an artful shrug. "Are you sure about that?" she asked with interest. "Seems like you're an open book to me, captain," she teased with a little splash sent in his direction that didn't even reach him.

So, Senna had her demons, too? He shouldn't have been surprised, but he was. Harlan's gaze narrowed as she sunk under the water, her bright eyes just at the surface of the water that shifted with each kick of their limbs. Between the two of them, they had created a consistent rhythm of subtle waves. She had stretched out alongside him and Harlan tried not to notice how fluidly she moved or the way that her legs looked as they breached.

The captain of it all sent a complicated pang of emotion through his veins; on the one hand, he was exhilarated (flattered, if he were being honest— and he wasn't), and on the other, he felt unworthy, from her.

"Then you really did a shit job reading my palm, Senna," Harlan declared, a smile tugging at his lips. He was the exact opposite of an open book, on the best of days. "You should probably reconsider your hobby," He teased, easily ducking the splash that hadn't even made it halfway between them. "Oh, you'll really regret that, now," There was a flash of a smirk before he pushed a wave in her direction, his palm steady on the surface of the pool.

"Did I though?" she asked the question and let it hang there as she smiled widely at him, her midnight dress floating around her as she started treading water again instead of floating as she tilted her head, taking him in. Her smile growing to match his. Her name sounded nice on his lips. "Maybe you're just easier to read than you think," she proposed. Then grinned devilishly. "Or do you like being a man of mystery?"

What he said wasn't a lie though. She didn't know half the things she should about reading palms, but it was fun. And if it wasn't to have fun, what was the purpose of life anyway.

Sen saw the warning in his eyes and a flash of a smirk before her eyes widened and she felt a wave of water hit her. She shrieked softly with delight as she tried to blink the water out of her eyes and retaliated in the age-old way one did when splashed: furiously slapping the water back his way in an attempt to win the unspoken challenge. She wasn't sure who stopped first but her soft laughter was still rolling through her as she wiped the water from her eyes and blinked up at him, not realizing she had drifted a little closer. "Still no regrets," she told him with a lopsided smile even though she had clearly lost that little fight.

"Which is it, then?" Harlan narrowed his eyes on Senna to follow his attention that seemed to have been entirely too easily captivated by the strange but magnetic witch. "Easy to read or man of mystery?" He clarified after a beat, his arms outstretched and keeping pace with slow, strong movements to keep his shoulders above water. "I prefer the latter—" He let out a bark of a laugh. "—if that wasn't obvious," He exhaled at the not-quite admission.

As far as what strangers knew about him was concerned, less was more.

The room had illuminated with laughter and the sound of splashes of cerulean clear in the blink of an eye. A war had been waged and he wasn't one for backing down so easily.  Senna had retaliated (and he was glad she had) with a force that was surprising coming from someone so compact. As she slapped the water with both palms straight to his face, Harlan considered pushing her under but had second thoughts and instead stopped the movement altogether.

His hand wrapped easily around her wrist to eliminate said weapon. "Not the one?" Regret, he meant. Harlan's brow quirked, holding her there for a breath. The water from her splashes was fresh on his face and dripping down his cheek.

For a moment his gaze lingered on her, almost questioning before, he dropped her hand to her side and brought his own safely back to himself. The threat seemed less imminent, anyway. "You give up easily, hm?" He teased goodnaturedly, the sound of his hummed thought reverberating from the high ceiling. Harlan took a stroke to put a bit more distance between them again, his non-dominant hand pushing the water from his jaw.

"Hmm, maybe I haven't decided yet," she told him easily, a small smile playing about her lips. "Or maybe it's a little of both," Senna added before her smile grew wider at the sound of his laugh, the water sending glimmering reflections over her face as she shook her head indulgently at him. "Of course you would. You probably like not letting anyone see you, don't you." A question but not a question because she already half-knew the answer, but there was no judgement there. Just simple curiosity and maybe a little appreciation and admiration that he was letting her in. Even just a little bit.

She was still laughing, playful and amused, as he wrapped his big hand around her smaller wrist and she looked up at him, stilling except for the motion of kicking softly to keep afloat. Sen hadn't expected to end up swimming in a pool with the captain of the Griffins, but as she gazed at him, her head tilted slightly to one side, it was easy to see why. He was intriguing and his golden aura, now with stronger threads of red, had only been the first sign.

She moved a little closer as he held her wrist and shook her head. "Still none," she told him honestly, smiling as he released her wrist and she wiggled her fingers through the water still feeling the phantom touch on her hand. Did he consider that giving up? She thought of it more as giving in, more going with the flow and being part of it, rather than resisting it.

But maybe that wasn't the norm. She didn't think she cared. She had never fit into a normal box for almost anything and had come to terms with that long before she ended up here swimming in her party dress. "I'm more of a lover than a fighter," she told him instead with a cheeky smile, matching his playfulness.

Harlan wasn't sure the answer he was looking for but he found himself desperate for more of whatever Senna was offering. No regrets, her mouth said. What a beautiful thing that was, he thought with his hand still wrapped around her wrist, eventually dropping it to her side under the water. He wished he could say the same for himself.

There was a moment longer than intended that he lingered near the fabric of her dress that was floating around her like some kind of fucking Pollock; both chaotic and intoxicating in equal measure. Harlan's fingertips ran over the seams of satin that billowed around them out of instinct before returning to his own side.

In the next breath, he had put a bit more distance between them. A safe enough amount but not too much. "Are you?" Harlan hummed a thought, though not entirely surprised by the revelation. Senna was all palm readings and good vibes, she didn't exactly strike him as the fighter type. At least, from what he'd seen in the last hour or however long it had been.

How long had it been?

Fuck, Harlan thought (it was so loud that he worried he said it out loud). He ran his hand over his jaw to push the excess water, letting out something of a sigh. "Seems about right," He decided finally, glancing back to Senna as he faced her more straight on again. "I'd like to think I'm a mix of both," He nearly grinned. "Depends on the day," He shrugged through strokes to keep himself above water.