Pool Time: Part 2

Alma felt liberated. She was free from her attire, which, while not really restrictive, did feel confining. She chose to approach the pool to investigate for a few reasons, primarily because of the oasis culture practiced by her people. The concept of having a pool not intended to serve as a communal drinking location was basically foreign to her, but the presence of the establishment’s water control systems she had seen prior and context clues from earlier in the tour told Alma this pool was for a purpose closer to bathing than drinking, but the presence of bathing stations at numerous points of the complex told her this pool wasn’t actually intended for bathing purposes; she would ask Yuri the purpose of the pool itself later. He had mentioned it had salt in it, but the system regulated it to be about as salty as typical human tears.

Alma squatted down and scooped up some of the water in her palm before carefully wafting it. The water definitely smelled salty, but only slightly so, but still more than she was anticipating. A quick look told her it was saltier than she was expecting; her feline senses were far more sensitive than those of the non-beastkin races. That said, she was looking forward to actually getting in the water.

Growing up in her pride, Alma and the other young Lionfolk children were not allowed to swim in the water of the oasis sites the pride frequented. Health concerns were often cited, but Alma had always suspected it was a bit more than that. But this pool was openly implied to be for some practice that wasn’t related to consumption, especially since the pool was stated to have been made with hands and equipment, which meant the function was likely never intended for consumption purposes. Alma slipped into the pool after her inspection and found the water’s temperature to be quite pleasant, and the depth she had made it so the water came up to the middle of her bosom. She started thinking about what she would do in the pool after getting into it.

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Usagi noticed depth markers on the side of the pool, under the water. Upon getting closer to the pool, she decided to follow the markers to the shallowest point. She followed the marks, finding the shallower marks. After she found the marker for the shallowest depth, she approached the pool a bit more; that’s when she noticed a ladder attached to one of the walls of the pool going down into the water; all the steps were under the water.

Usagi noticed as she followed the lines to the shallowest mark she saw Alma was in the water near the shallowest point; this was a bit of a surprise to her, seeing as Alma was easily the largest of the ladies around Yuri, she was even bigger than Yuri regarding size, and he was above average in terms of size for humanoids in regards to her understanding of the races. She dipped her hand in the water to test it, finding the water to actually be warm; Usagi quickly reasoned that there was some sort of mechanism for warming the water and keeping it at a set temperature range. To Usagi, the technology of this pool was fascinating, but just not as much as the innovation of the kitchen and greenhouse.

Regardless, Usagi decided it was time to get in and actually swim; it had been quite a few months since she had last swum, but she thankfully maintained a regular workout routine that kept all her muscles in good working order. This pool offered up chances to her to not only swim, but also practice aquatic maneuvers that she hadn’t had a chance to practice and perfect. After getting to what she deemed was a suitable starting depth, Usagi dove into the water and started practicing the swimming techniques she had been taught at the site her clan had for swimming practices, but the water at that pond was not quite close enough to the depth of this pool, she had a few ideas of what her report back to the village would probably lead to. Before she sent the report, Usagi would make sure to get the measurements and details from Yuri as a means of expediting a few things.

The water to Usagi was quite comfortable, even when she dove down to deeper depths. After she could feel her breath beginning to burn in her chest the way it does when you hold your breath a bit too long, Usagi rushed back up to the surface and took a big, deep, breath to fill her chest with fresh air.

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Alma took note of what Usagi was doing and decided it would probably be some practice for herself, so she started getting big lungfuls of air before submerging her head and seeing how long she could hold her breath before she had to surface, or rather, she would if she had a proper time keeping method beyond her inconsistent counting. Maybe Yuri could help with that later, but for now, this was probably a good enough warm-up for what was to come.