She swam over to him with a cheeky grin on her face. "Francis, my love," she said in a low voice, reaching up to caress his face. "I tricked you into jumping in of your own accord. You pulled me by my leg into the water. Does that seem like a fair trade? I feel like I definitely got the short stick here."
He leaned away, mistrusting her, though amusement was on his face. "Hmph. Fine. But no more tricks, okay?"
"No more tricks," she agreed, giving him a small peck. She glanced over at Emma and Bee, who seemed to be playing their own game of 'how-high-can-Emma-leap-out-of-the-water'. She turned to look back at Francis. "We should probably go play with them, yeah?"
He nodded, sliding back into deeper waters. "I've never played games in a lake. It was mostly just spending time with people on the shore. Are there any more weird traditions or something?"
"Oh, that wasn't really a tradition," she said, grinning cheekily at him. "I just wanted to push you in."
"Only to you," she teased affectionately. Bee saw them approach, and launched herself off of Emma's back where Poppy managed to catch her almost instinctively. The girl laughed deeply and reached for Francis, her eyes wide with excitement.
Francis grabbed her and put her over his shoulders, finding some footing on a rock hidden underwater. "I bet if you jump from here, Poppy will be able to catch you," he suggested playfully.
The girl wobbled precariously on his shoulders, her fingers grasping for a handhold. She eventually settled for resting her hands on his forehead, and she patted him affectionately before looking over at Poppy, her breaths escaping her in tiny, excited gasps. "Okay," she said. "Okay. Poppy, you stay there.." Her voice trailed off as she rearranged herself on his shoulders, trying to find a good way to jump off. "Poppy, stay there, and then... and then I'll jump over to you... and you'll catch me, okay?" Poppy grinned at the two of them, and nodded. "Be careful, Bee, okay?" "I will," she said, patting Francis' head again. "Okay.. Francis... you gotta count down from 3, okay? Like, 3...2...1. Like that. Okay?" (I'm thinking that we might do a kind of longish time skip on the way back to the ship for them. Is that okay with you?)
"Okay, I got it," he said, holding himself steady. "Okay, ready, 3...2...1... Jump!" (Yeah, that's totally fine with me!)
(lol. I'm very impatient.) She leapt off, and landed squarely in Poppy's arms. The girl shrieked with amusement, her arms wrapped around Poppy's neck. "Can I go again? One more time?" she pleaded. Poppy looked up at Francis. "You up for another one?"
She clung to him, her chest rising and falling with her excited breaths. "Okay, do the countdown again."
Bee leapt from his shoulders, and Poppy caught her and tipped her upside down while the girl squealed with delight. Poppy brought her back up and kissed her cheek, and then turned to grin at Francis. "She doesn't know how to swim," she told him, wading over in his direction.
"I figured as much," he said, patting her head. "I would be surprised if she could. Most kids don't learn that young."
She placed Bee on her back and began swimming, the toddler's hands holding onto her hair. Poppy dipped under the surface lazily, and the water went up to Bee's shoulders. She laughed and splashed at Francis, not managing to hit him, but challenging him nonetheless.
He crossed his arms, a small smile playing on his face. He gave a little splash towards her, playfully flicking the water.
She giggled, pushing her hair off her face, and Poppy resurfaced, blinking away the water. She turned to float on her back, balancing Bee on her hip bones, kicking occasionally to keep herself afloat. Poppy glanced over at him, and splashed him, actually spraying him with the water this time.
