A Day Without Crowns (CLOSED-PRIVATE)

[Kyrenaia]

Aceus was breathing heavily. He knew he didn’t stand a chan

ce against two professional swim captains, but he wouldn’t be Dancerian if he didn’t at least try. Just narrowly clinching third, he steadied his breathing, a giddy, beaming grin plastered on his face. “Ya...ya shouldn’t have gone easy on me…” he insisted. “But thanks...an’ don’t you...don’t you worry about not gettin’ your spoils…” he laughed heartily as he clambered out of the pool. “Damn good show, Fara, Kiah. I’ll get it next time!” the Dancerian vowed. Aceus wanted one day to at least compete with Fara and anyone else on her team in a proper race.
Of course, Fara did get a kiss on the cheek, and a cheeky whisper from Aceus. “That’s just cuz I can, not the actual kiss.” he explained. “If I can’t one up you in the pool, I’ll be sure to return that hell of a welcome...and thensome.”

Fara grinned as they got out.
He was winning brownie points with her team and with Kiah's at a rapid pace, which was always a good sign. He seemed a bit more accepted - sure, he lost, but he did so with both grace and competitive spirit.
"Oh, I look forward to the return race!", Kiah said, already out of the pool by the time Fara was out.
The Kyrenaian Princess smiled at the kiss and, at his words, there was a light red shimmer on her cheeks - might just be a trick of the light, though. "I look forward to it!", she told him in a similar whisper.
Then she clapped her hands.
"Alright, people, you now know, what fearsome little fishie he is. And he's gonna bite you, if you don't get faster.", she told her team, still speaking English, "So, what do you do?"
"We learn to swim faster.", one of the lads said.
Fara nodded. "Well, then - get to it!", she said and thus, the training was opened.
Kiah threw Aceus a smile and a wink. His girlfriend would be occupied, but she was to watch - watch could mean many things. A slight shift in posture meant, that she would not flirt with him, he was not her type anyways.
Fara nodded. Kiah was alright, it said, then she turned back towards training.

[Danceria]

Fara grinned as they got out.
He was winning brownie points with her team and with Kiah's at a rapid pace, which was always a good sign. He seemed a bit more accepted - sure, he lost, but he did so with both grace and competitive spirit.
"Oh, I look forward to the return race!", Kiah said, already out of the pool by the time Fara was out.
The Kyrenaian Princess smiled at the kiss and, at his words, there was a light red shimmer on her cheeks - might just be a trick of the light, though. "I look forward to it!", she told him in a similar whisper.
Then she clapped her hands.
"Alright, people, you now know, what fearsome little fishie he is. And he's gonna bite you, if you don't get faster.", she told her team, still speaking English, "So, what do you do?"
"We learn to swim faster.", one of the lads said.
Fara nodded. "Well, then - get to it!", she said and thus, the training was opened.
Kiah threw Aceus a smile and a wink. His girlfriend would be occupied, but she was to watch - watch could mean many things. A slight shift in posture meant, that she would not flirt with him, he was not her type anyways.
Fara nodded. Kiah was alright, it said, then she turned back towards training.

Of course, the first chance he got, he went back into the water. Dancerians were men of their word, and he meant it when he said he was rearing for a rematch. After a bit of stretching, the young man was back in the water again. What time wasn’t training, stretching or recovering, he made small talk with teammates or dutifully learning how to be as ferocious of a little fishy as Fara made him out to be. While by no means the fastest in the water, he was somehow the most tenacious, seeming to work on stamina over speed. A rather impressive feat was for how long he could hold his breath for. While at the bottom of the pool. It was honestly a little concerning, but Aceus would laugh it off as “one of the basic things you learn in Public Speaking, you learn how to hold your bladder and your breath for absurdly long times.”

[Kyrenaia]

Of course, the first chance he got, he went back into the water. Dancerians were men of their word, and he meant it when he said he was rearing for a rematch. After a bit of stretching, the young man was back in the water again. What time wasn’t training, stretching or recovering, he made small talk with teammates or dutifully learning how to be as ferocious of a little fishy as Fara made him out to be. While by no means the fastest in the water, he was somehow the most tenacious, seeming to work on stamina over speed. A rather impressive feat was for how long he could hold his breath for. While at the bottom of the pool. It was honestly a little concerning, but Aceus would laugh it off as “one of the basic things you learn in Public Speaking, you learn how to hold your bladder and your breath for absurdly long times.”

Aceus' eagerness to train his abilities as a swimmer was well-received, mainly because that was why they were with them. While he was an outsider, and some resented him for being granted entrance into their own little microcosm that easily, others welcomed him with more or less open arms.
None of the girls made any passes at him, mainly because there were already dibs on him and they had their own interests.
While his focus on stamina did raise a few eyebrows, they let him do that, while the majority of them were working on speed - after all, they were competition swimmers, focused on speed, not endurance. And while it was interesting to see for how long he could hold his breath for, that was not their focus.
Kiah sprang into the pool for a few races herself, Fara as well, where the two gave pointers to newbies and observed, taught, and, in some cases, even went into competitions. What might raise a few eyebrows with an international audience like Aceus was, that men and women competed against each other without hindrance or much of a difference in skills.
Ilia's and Aurelia's groups, Backstroke, Men and Freestyle, Women respectively, were especially fierce in their competition against each other.