I'm Going Slightly Mad. (Open)

[James Florian]

To be perfectly honest, no one was more shocked with James's dive into the lake than pretty boy himself. After all he was terrified of the lake ten minutes ago, so much so that he didn't join the girls in the search, but now here he was treading water with the rest of them. He didn't know what had exactly had overcome him when he saw Eli break the surface and seemingly struggle to keep his head above the water. Well, no. He did know what it was. Jim saw his friend in trouble and his protective side kicked in, it was as simple as that. This wasn't the first time this had happened after all; how many times did he reach for the sword by his side or did he stepped in front of his friends to act as a shield whenever something remotely dangerous appeared? But even then it was different. Those times James knew exactly what he was doing. This time though? It was like he wasn't even charge of his own body. He wasn't really aware that he was running down the dock until he was practically in the water, and it would account for him having the common sense to strip off his heavy shirt and shoes (something he did for any other swimming excursion) and not even realize until he was five feet away from two princesses that were stripped down even more than he was. Never under any other circumstances would he let himself get into this position. However seeing Eli out there on his own in the water blinded his judgement. His mind had only one goal after that, save his friend. 

Luckily Eli was a strong lad and didn't need their help getting back to shore. So James back off and gave their friend his space, unknowing that he was the cause of Eli's quickened breath. (That was the downside of being raised to ignore any romantic urges growing up, he couldn't see it them in himself or in others any longer.) As much as it might hurt Eli, it was actually for the best if the raven haired lad didn't know what feelings he was stirring up in both Eli and Grove by not wearing a shirt. Who knew how the prince might react to the revelation that two men he admired deeply wanted more than just friendship from him, as ironic as it was. Despite his own feelings the standards of his time would keep him from even interacting with his two closest friends. It was for the best, only until he could recognize and come to terms with his own feelings.

He had a sharp intake of breath though when Eli revealed just how long he was down there. "I'm so sorry." James said quietly of pure shock and disbelief that they could've missed him. All this time they thought he was somewhere deep in the forest, or lord knows where; when in reality he was closer than they all realized. This only made him hate Louis and Ari even more. How dare they!? He bitterly thought as the group began to make their progress to the shore, all this time we thought he was gone, spirited off the school grounds and he was here this entire time? How stupid could we have all been?

These thoughts though were chased from his mind when he saw Grove standing there on the dock, holding his arm out for Jim to latch onto and pull himself out of the water with, which he graciously accepted. A furious blush rose on his cheeks though when he noticed how quiet Grove was, but he was still giving James the look. It was the dreaded stare that made Jim instantly feel bad about whatever he had done, and inspired him to withhold secrets from his closest confidante so he wouldn't have to see it. After all what was more shame inducing than seeing a gentle giant silently disapprove of whatever reckless action Jim had done this time. However if only Jim could realize that the blush was not just the fault of his wrongdoings... the look would completely change.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." Jim said sincerely as he took the towel and wrapped it around his shoulders after attempting to dry out his hair which was now sticking to his forehead and bugging him more than it really should. "I just saw him out there... It wasn't even like I was really thinking. My feet were moving before I told them to." He tried to explain as he shivered in the frigid air which seemed even colder than the lake water. "I just saw him out there, struggling in the water and I guess I... I remembered when that was me." He said quietly more to himself than anything as he trailed off into his own thoughts, completely unaware that Grove may have possibly heard him and if he did, Jim just revealed the one thing he tried to keep from his friend only because he knew that he would never trust the prince to be on his own near a body of water ever again. Or even worse, inform his mother about how much trouble her son was finding himself in at the school, and there in one little slip up because Jim was too exhausted to even realize he was thinking aloud the freedom he enjoyed at Seacombe would be gone. It would be just like back at the castle, where he had the illusion of being able to decide how his day was going to be spent, but just as long as it kept him trapped in his safe stone cage some dared to call a castle and that was the last thing this boy wanted. 

[Eli Triton]

Climbing out of the water was... harder than Eli expected. It wasn't physically difficult, but he couldn't shake the feeling that his tail would suddenly come back and he'd fall, gasping for breath and burning in the sun, his friends disappearing like so much smoke, the whole thing just a dream or a taunt from Louis to give him some false hope.
Nothing happened except for Admiral bounding over with a towel and he slowly, cautiously, wrapped it around himself, feeling something soft and warm and dry for the first time in months almost made him cry, and he quickly busied himself drying his hair so he could obscure his face until he regained his composure.

When he did peer again out from under the towel, his gaze landed on James again. He wanted to say something, to thank the prince for saving him, to do.. something. But there was something about the quiet conversation he was having with Grove that made him stop, draw back, suddenly uncertain. Instead, he glanced around at all his friends, forcing a smile - however difficult it was for him to do so - and trying to keep his voice steady as he spoke.

"Thank you. All of you. I don't... I don't know how much longer I... or what... I...." he trailed off, lost, before starting again "Just. Thank you. We... we should get inside."

[Isla Triton]

Isla was glad for the towel, taking it gratefully from Admiral as the puppy bounced around excitedly. She rubbed the towel across her face, throwing the towel across her shoulders and pulling it around her to stave off the chill in the air now that she was wet.

She kept a wary eye on Eli. He couldn't be alright after all this time spent alone under the lake. Especially not as any kind of creature he had been before. He might want to be a merman, but whatever he had been turned into was not that. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Eli had gone through.

Isla snaked a hand out from the towel and reached for Eli. She touched his arm gently, not saying anything because she didn't know what she could say. Plus, she was pretty sure she might cry and she didn't want to cry in front of everyone. She pulled away after a moment to gather her clothes, huddling them close to her chest, trying to pull herself back together. "I'm freezing," she told the group at large. "Let's get inside."

[Admiral]

Admiral was bouncing excitedly since there was nothing else for him to do at the moment. Everyone was drying off and talking to one another. Admiral was just super excited to have his roommate back. It had been very lonely in their room.

"You're welcome!" he all but chirped, bouncing in place so that he wouldn't throw his arms around Eli. He wasn't sure that Eli would want that right now. And everyone else seemed so emotional, so he would just be happy and cheerful to cheer everyone up. "Are you hungry? Do you want anything? I can get it. I'm very good at fetch!"

[Grove]

Grove's whole expression shifted to something softer at Jim's words. His shoulders slumped forward now that he could see Jim was completely fine. The weight of that worry was lifted now. Jim was whole. He hadn't drowned in the water. He was fine, alive, and looking very ashamed.

"I was worried," he told his friend, wanting nothing more than to wrap Jim up in a blanket and never let him out again so he wouldn't any more reckless things. But keeping Jim cooped up wouldn't be any better. He followed his heart, not his head and charged into things before he could think about him. He followed his passions. Grove couldn't fault his friend for that.

"I understand," Grove told him. He knew that Jim would worry and try to keep explaining if he didn't verbalize that he knew and understood. He understood Jim better than he knew himself. "I just worry sometimes. You know that."

He motioned for the group to start heading back towards the dorms. All the swimmers needed a new change of clothes. "Let's go get some dry clothes."

[James Florian]

“Everyone always worries, but I always turn out okay.” Jim quietly noted, more to himself than anything else. He understood Grove’s need to worry, especially in trying situations like this, but sometimes James wished that people would trust him to not hurt himself. After all, it wasn’t like he was still a child just learning how to walk, no instead he was nearly eighteen! He was perfectly capable of judging when the water is too deep or if the distance was too great. Although he may make stupid decisions --he’s a teenager, that’s a thing that comes with the hormones!-- he knew he could keep himself out of harm’s way… to a certain extent. Sure there had been the fistfights, detentions, and the villain encounters among other things, but wasn’t getting into trouble a part of growing up? How could he be expected to do that if he was treated as a special gem, meant to be locked away behind a glass case where spectators can come from far and wide to “Oooooh” and “Ahhh..” at him. Jim has said it over and over, but it’s still just as true today as it was that day in the gardens, he wants nothing more from life than to get a chance to spread his wings and learn to fly, on his own! No guards waiting in the wings to catch him if he fell, no whistle to call him back if he wandered too far, and especially no string to keep him firmly tethered to the ground. He wanted to be free to fail, free to win, and just free in general. Some may say that he was the luckiest boy in the world to be where he is in life, but no matter how gilded it may be, the castle will always be a cage to him!

His face turned somewhat sour in response to these thoughts and the memories that they brought to the surface with them. Grove should know all too well what was going on behind James’s coffee colored eyes. If Grove knew anything about Jim, he knew how much he resented being worried over. However at the same time, even the boy in question knew that in this case it was warranted. Especially given what had happened the last time he was here. This little frustrated mental rant of his was just a given reaction to the phrase, “I was worried” in regards to him. It was like he was one of Pavlov’s dogs when it came to those three words.

“I know, I know. But I swear I’m fine.” He said at last with his teeth chattering slightly as he also looked up at his friend from underneath the towel wrapped tightly around his shoulders to keep out the chill, a physical representation of what Grove thought was the only way to keep him safe. “I can’t say the same for my dignity, though,” he said with a slight grin as his cheery disposition returned. James was, of course, joking about how he had broken his morals by ditching his shirt before jumping in to help the nearly naked princesses. “Can you just imagine what my mother would say if she saw that? Oh, what a scandal!” He said with a chuckle because he knew just how she would react. But at least he could rest easy knowing that nothing had happened and nothing would that could promptly cause his dear mother’s heart to seize. In that sense, he felt nothing for them and little did he know that this little nothingness would later help him realize just why he couldn’t seem to catch his breath, even though he was out of the water.

“That sounds really like a really good idea.” He said in response to everyone’s suggestions about going inside and especially Grove’s suggestion of getting into dry clothes. (Sure his shirt was still technically dry, but what use was it if the rest of him wasn’t?) The faster they were all warm and dry again, the better. “You should go see the nurse too, Eli.” He suggested to the haggard prince who was clearly not in the clearest bill of health. Who knew what kind of damage being in the lake had done to him? “Just to make sure you’re really okay.” Jim finished with genuine concern in both his expression and his words. It was clear he cared about his friend, but sadly for Eli, it will never be the way the fish prince cares for him.