houseofcards_rp | challenge - I must be a mermaid, I have no fear of depths.

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challenge - I must be a mermaid, I have no fear of depths. - ota

The challenge was marked for 8:30am. The pool was open by 8:00am. Lasandra was there by 7:55.

The indoor-pool is Olympic length and eight lanes wide divided by boomers. One wouldn't quite call it state of the art, but it's well maintained and the tiles are pearl white, the water crisp with the smell of chlorine, and plenty of sunshine comes in through the glass windows.

Lasandra, Six of Hearts, stands posed on a lift, adjusting her nose plug. Her thick black hair was braided and then stuffed into a black swimmer's cap and she wore goggles that matched the hot pink lines to the technical swimsuit she wears. She made no quips about that purchase, that was an investment and her first month of Seven will certainly replace the cost. She finds herself one lane opposite from her opponent, Sorcha MacNamara. Sorcha is a friendly enough girl, taller than Sandy with flaming red hair that doesn't quite all stay under her swimming cap, chocolate brown eye, and really quite pretty with an open smile. She seems to be in high spirits compared to Sandy's quiet determination.

Sandy looks at the crowd only once, only looking for the face of Sunnae. Her aunt's face lights up and she waves to Sandy. No signs of pressure, no forcing her to smile or to be anything that Sandy isn't feeling now. A deep breath and her gaze turns away. She's... not ready to face the people she's been... do distant to lately.

"Ladies. At attention!"

The murmuring of the crowd is silent and both Sandy and Sorcha turn to face the Royals as the announcer and judge drones on. The intention of the contest is simple enough, whomever reaches to the end of the 50m lane first is declared the winner and times will be announced. There will be judges at the side of the pool to make sure both women retain their breaststroke position while a judge at the end of the pool will be keeping time. If either woman fails to keep with acceptable form, they are disqualified. Sandy's gaze flicks up to find Uncle Frederick, who had found out a few weeks prior about her secret training. Yup, there were corrections in her position but now... she would do well enough. She gives him the only smile she's given out that morning and he returns it.

"Attention!"

She stands at attention.

"Get set."

Her knees bend and she assumes a forward tipped angle.

"GO!"

And she in the water with the plan of staying long and streamlined increase her gliding speed before her hands and arms press into a y position. Her arms don't press too hard, using the flow of the water and her momentum to keep the speed. Her arms move like a blade, and draws her body forward Head always reaming straight.

Elbows remain at eye level and Sandy's movements are sharp and aerodynamic. She doesn't need to lift her head to breathe, despite what it looks like, her head remains aligned with her spine. It's just the movement that pushes the body out of the water as her arms cut through the water. Then she dives forward again, attempting to maximize her stroke length despite her height. She finishes her in-sweep so her front torso reenters shallow, gaining the speed. Again, her body returns to the long streamline position and legs, more powerful than given credit for, push her forward her.

She repeats this in the cool cutting water. She's barely aware of the sting of the water on parts of her nose that aren't completely healed and that manage get past her nose plug She hears quavery voices under the water. But her only focus is on the red X at the end of the pool. It feels long, so long. It feels like it takes forever. She has no idea how far or behind she is. All she knows she's getting closer but not fast enough.

Her hand strikes the red cross and she stops. Everything becomes still in her mind as she raises herself out of the water. She begins to take off her goggles to look around, just when Sorcha just touches her mark.

When Sorcha takes off her goggles to look around, she looks shocked to see Sandy already there and staring back at the redhead. Sorcha's friendly face hardens, but even with the dark look shot at her and the undeniable fact she was first, Sandy can't believe it when she hears the judge announce to the Face Cards: "Lasandra Adare, 48.90 seconds. Sorcha MacNamara, 52.34 seconds. The challenge is won by Lasandra Adare for the Rank of Seven."

And with these words, motion reawakens in Sandy's mind.

Then the judge turns to Sorcha and Lasandra, both clinging to the edge of the pool. Sandy has a look of delight that's tempered by knowing that Sorcha will counter challenge her. Glass etching? Not a problem. She can feel the redhead's gaze burning into her. She can't blame Sorcha, Sandy was a laughing-stock.

Too bad the counter would delay nothing but the inevitable.

"I, Sorcha MacManara, declare the second chance to keep my rank of Seven." The other woman tells the judge firmly. "I counter challenge Lasandra Adare to Poker in the best in three rounds."

Sandy freezes in the water. She swallows everything but somehow, her voice doesn't fail her. "… … … I… don't … I request five days to practice learning the said game. I've never played it."

She feels the other woman's sharp gaze. "Terms are agreed to."

Slowly, Lasandra pulls herself out of the water, an automatic gesture as Sorcha quickly drags herself out and towards her much larger support group. Doesn't matter, Sandy isn't aware of the congratulations from her family. She smiles, she nods, she admits she's tried. And she'll show a worn smiling face that could easily be called a 'Diamond mask'.

[Notes: The Face Cards, if they're going to congratulate, should catch her before the breakdown. Friends or enemies can catch her prior to the breakdown. Friends can after the breakdown.]

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"He's a Spade man." This is said dryly. "Scratch that, he's a man, and they can all be hideous asses sometimes. But no, he's always been nice, so don't worry about that."

It makes her feel...weird sometimes that she can accept who Victor is. But then, that's sort of who she fell in love with, and it's not fair to ask him to change. And she supposes love means accepting things like that; if it really bothered her, she wouldn't love him. "Then I'm glad," she tells Sandy, "because you should take a chance with someone you like. Even if he's a royal pain in the ass." One of these days when the sky isn't falling, they're going to sit down and bitch about the difficulties of Spade men.

She just listens to the rest, and bites the inside of her lip before speaking.

"I can play poker," she finally says. "Papa and Aunt Maggie used to let me play with them. And I bet Tegan knows how, too. And Sophie. We can help you." Other than cheats and tricks - of which she knows a few, because her father was not the most scrupulous of men - poker was all about bluffing and the face. Zoe knows Sandy would never cheat; Zoe wouldn't, either. But they can help her build up a face.

She squeezes her friend lightly. "We can bring chocolate and make it a party, okay? And it'll be fine. You'll do well."

"Women can be just as shitty." More wiping of her eyes. She... yup, she's going to go home and curl up under blankets and duvets, "I'm... glad he's not exactly the man I'm..." A breath, a watery smile.

Love is such a strong word. And she won't use it. God knows she didn't like the man when she first met him but... damned if he was growing on her. She wasn't exactly who he was yet to allow herself that luxury yet. But right now she didn't have time. She had ot focus on herself, "We'll... when the counter is over we'll have lunch and complain. For hours. About stupid men." The smile looks a little truer than earlier.

"I have the feeling most people know how to play before they know how to tie their shoelaces." A tried breath, "... even with such a short game?" Though she's not entirely sure if Sorcha will go with what she's announced. It seems... even in her emotional state... like Sorcha was furious and not thinking.

There's a weak nod. But Poker is about luck, she doesn't see how... another breath. God, so many breaths, "Chocolate and... pizza. Wood grilled pizza."

"People pretty much suck, I think," Zoe says with an amused smile, and belatedly opens her purse to get out a handkerchief to hand Sandy. "And sometimes they're also wonderful, to make up for it."

Someday she will tell Sandy how she walked into a bar where Victor was singing - of all things - 'Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf' and decided to be...sassy, she supposes, and request 'Mack the Knife.' Relationships just started weirdly.

"Not everyone," Zoe says, shaking her head. "But it's a popular game, especially up at the Castle. And Sandy? She gets to decide on what the counter is, but that doesn't mean you can't push back a little. She can say the challenge is poker, but you can say the challenge is...four hours. Otherwise," she says, "it really is luck, and that's not a challenge.

"In a longer game, though, it's both luck and bluffing, and reading your opponent." And it will be fine. Even if Sandy doesn't win the counter, it'll be okay. "It sounds fun, doesn't it?" she asks. "We can get away from the Spade men for a night."

"That's... the way how people are sometimes." The accepts the handkerchief, wiping eyes, then her face. She'll get it cleaned and she'll return it. "I know on both just... right now I'm focusing on the suck right now."

Sometimes they did. They had to make a lasting impact, yes? Nico didn't even know her name for weeks after, even the quiet conversation at the cafe and that small smile of his.

"Yeah, enough to make one realize... it's not everyone but it's a lot." All the castles seem to be fond of it, from what she hears. Face Card Poker games. "So... push for a two hour Poker game? I... I don't even think. I..." A sigh, another wipe. Her eyes are puffy, lips still too red, but she's not crying. "I'll send word it'll be two hours then. Or... or...

"I could use a girl's night. I haven't had one in a while. And actually need one to get away from icky boy thoughts." Or ... to see friends in general.

Zoe squeezes Sandy around the shoulders. "You're going to be fine," she tells her, reassuring. She hadn't let herself breakdown - not until she sort of shattered in front of Sophie on the beach in Santorini. But it might have been better if she had, better for her and maybe she wouldn't have lost the few friends she did. "Push for a long one. That's how poker games work," she adds. "You have to learn to read Sorcha's tells. It's still luck of the draw, but with more time you can get a feel for how her hands are." And they'd work on that. "And if she won't agree to that, she can pick something else."

Something that's actually a challenge. Three rounds of poker, really.

"Blythe and I were going to try to take you out this week," Zoe says. "But...with everything...and we were both in France anyway, right?" So they'd do it this way. It'd be better.

There's a weak nodding. She doesn't think she'll be fine. Right now she thinks nothing will be fine. But she is more fine than she was this morning. And each moment of the day she'll be better. "Okay... I wonder if she know Poker ... or ..." She considers for a moment, eyes far away. "She knows it. She has to. She might be gunning that... I won't try to get help."

There's a small smile, "Glass etching. I'm not fantastic with it, but she is pretty good. I was hoping for that."

"She's probably thinking you'll try to go it alone," Zoe agrees. That's what Sandy had done for swimming, though, really there wasn't much anyone could do to help. Except be supportive. But this was different. "Let your friends help you, Sandy," she says quietly. "It doesn't make you incapable to do that."

And then, "of course, I doubt I can help at all with glass etching."

"If she did any researching, she knows that's my usual mode of operation. It's... always been my usual way of doing things, even on the Outside. I'm... I wouldn't say my family's rich, but we're really, really, really, really well off and I've been refusing my dad's offer to pay off my school bills." Support, and maybe she should have asked Cooper for coaching.

And for a moment she's silent. Tegan helped her before but that... She chews her lip for a moment longer. "Okay.

"You can make loud and rude sounds during the challenge to distract Sorcha."

"You want to stand on your own," Zoe says. And she can appreciate that; she's been spending months trying to make sure she can do the same thing, that she can be a Spade and not need to hide behind Victor.

Zoe laughs a little bit. Maybe it's that Sandy's actually letting her back in, or maybe it's solely the idea of distracting Sorcha with something like..."Pig snorts. Totally going to happen. Brace yourself, Sandy Adare."

She's still not ready to share, though it's not just about Zoe, about how old she's been dealing with being on her 'own'. Ever since her father's depression before getting help and meeting her soon-to-be-stepmother, Sandy's been the one who had to be strong. One day she might share that. "It's... a family thing." But it's not, not really. One day she'll realize that both the Adares and the Molyneux help family.

"Pig snorts coming from Spades. I think that might make her uncomfortable enough. Maybe a sue-ie or whatever it's called?'

"Can you imagine me doing that? Charlotte would have such a fit." Which would make it worth it, really, and Zoe grinned a little bit.

"I don't really lean on anyone," Zoe tells her. "I...had insomnia, pretty much the first three months I was in the Spades, and, well. You know I didn't talk to anyone after Victor's challenge about it." She shrugs her shoulders. It had been bloody, and terrible, and Victor had only stopped because Elisha had pulled him off. "So you know I'm not going to be angry if you don't want to talk about something. But I can still be there. And we can still talk about other things."

"Well, Sunnae and Charlotte cannot stand each other, so even if Charlotte acknowledged the fact I lived, Sunnae would have set her death rays on her. So there's no chances in giving her a fit."

She looks surprised, "Insomnia for that long? Oh, Zoe." The whole Deck knew that Victor's challenges were violent and... must have been hard for someone like Zoe. She really is still a new Spade and adapting. "It's... going to take a while to talk about things." And so much of it happened when Zoe was so young. "But... one day. Until then, other things..."

"No one can stand my mother. Even Laureline Novak detests her, and I didn't really think she bothered caring that much about anyone." Laureline made her nervous solely because she was friends with Hadyn - and wasn't supposed to be. But otherwise, the woman was cordial, quiet, not friendly but...even-tempered, and she wondered what Charlotte had done.

She shrugs her shoulders. "I wanted to change Suits," she says, "but I wasn't sure I knew what I was doing. And Sieben was coddling me, protecting me, and it made me wonder if it was really too dangerous, and I would have been better off...." As a Heart. But she hadn't been happy. She hadn't really lived there for months. And while she sincerely believed that Victor had no intention of changing her...she'd changed, anyway. "I was worried. And other things are fine, Sandy."

"... you think there'd be more people willing to challenge that woman." She's heard muttering and rants from her aunt Sunnae while still living with the Molyneux's. She hid behind the paper along with Frederick. As for Laureline, she didn't hear much ranting. When Laureline Novak or the Novak boys were spoken about, Frederick and Sunnae left the room. "Speaking of Novaks, know what's funny? I think... lots of people know about Nicholas and I and... Sunnae hasn't said one word. But she's been asking about my friendship with Hadyn.

She quietly shakes her head.

"I think, even though you're probably doing that now and don't even need this advice, you should take Victor's advice over... well. It really is too late now to consider any of Sieben's advice." There's a small smile, "Okay.

"They do," Zoe says dryly. "She keeps winning them." Her mother was, well, her mother. A sort of terrible human being, but a highly talented singer, dancer and actress. She'd sat at Nine for a large part of Zoe's life, and there was no budging her. "Maybe Aunt Maggie will, after she gets through Charlotte's fiance."

Oh, that was going to be a fun challenge to watch. "With Hadyn?" Zoe smiles a little ruefully. "Not surprised. I've...heard stories about Laureline, from before she switched Suits." Nothing specific, really, just that she'd been close to the Old Queen, and a Ten. And it was not, as she'd seen, a cakewalk to attain Ten in the Spades. "I think Hadyn and Jordan get tarred with the same brush. It's not really fair, though Jordan doesn't exactly help matters. With his attitude." They would never get along.

"I am," Zoe says. "I've been training with him since...December? He made me start, after he realized how much I was there." He wanted her to be able to take care of herself, and that was the key different. He might want to protect her - but he let her do for herself. "It's a deal."

"I doubt we'll be able to change those tactics anytime soon." She wonders, sometimes, about challenges. Sometimes. But then again, she abused the system herself. She shouldn't be a hypocrite. But then again, she wasn't Charlotte. "Well, here's hoping to that."

She really doesn't want to think about challenges right now. Though they'll all come soon enough. God, a whirl wind of motion the next few weeks for Hearts, finally. "Well... it's not like how Sunnae talked to Zharko about trying to date one of Sophie's cousins." Sunnae just about flipped tables, "It was more... honest inquiry? And I've probably got told all those stories too when I lived here when I was younger." Ten was a bloodly climb in the Spades for some. Some took the intellectual path, though.

After all, he couldn't always help. She's getting the notion someone is going to be dragging her into something other than BJJ in her near future. "Okay. A deal." It's not trying to distance herself that makes that answer short. It's been a hard week and she's had one of the hardest emotional blows on the Deck in years.

Besides, she answers the promise with a smile.

"Not likely," Zoe says, dry as the Sahara, really. "I thought about encouraging Hadyn to challenge her. He's probably the only one who could really take her on, but..." They weren't even supposed to be friends.

The Hearts, and then maybe Sophie. She's not doing it until October - though she hasn't mentioned her plans yet to anyone. She's only barely narrowed down the targets, and she's still going to need to find a sword she's comfortable enough with.

It's not bad to learn a few different things, if someone is going to drag her into it. As long as she actually wants to learn it. "Good." She gives Sandy another hug. "It's going to be okay, you know."

Even though she's said that at least three times in this conversation.

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challenge - I must be a mermaid, I have no fear of depths. - ota

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