NationStates Jolt Archive

Ya igrayu... na garmoshke... u prokhozhi... na vidu
Sasha awoke to the sound of an obscure children's song playing on the alarm. He stretched his arms. He stretched his legs. He said "Oh, shut up already!", unzipped his sleeping bag, and gave the alarm a good thwacking.

This turned out to be a bad idea, as the motion sent Sasha spinning. As the lights were still off, Sasha flailed about wildly for a moment before grabbing hold of the sleeping bag again and reaching out with his right foot to flip the light switch. Before said foot got there, however, something rubbery brushed against it.

"Ye holy!" The jerk reflex once more caused a bit of random moving about, but with one hand anchored firmly on the sleeping bag this time. Whatever it was had been successfully pushed away, however, and in the process hit the light switch.

"Volya... Don't do that!" The octopus regarded Sasha with a single large eye. "Don't give me that look! Gosh darnit, Volya, stop looking so mopy! Gads.... Alright, come on." Sasha carefully scooped up the cephalopod, which quickly wrapped himself around his body like a puddle of so much strangely animated barf, and pushed off the wall across the middle of the dim spherical bedroom.

Sasha rolled open the doorway and floated out of the bedroom.
Now in what might be loosely termed the kitchen, he was just in time to witness the remains of last night's cranberry juice about to float into the wall. Having ample experience with the effects of surface tension in null-g, Sasha quickly bounced off the wall, propelling himself straight for the wayward beverage blob, and inhaling it nearly whole only inches before it would've made a mess.

Volya disentangled himself, jetted off to the farside of the kitchen, opened a cabinet, and removed a jar of frozen lobster bits.

"Volya... don't eat that. Volya! Hey, those things are expensive! Not all at once! No! Arg. Bad octopus. Meh." Even if he could've gotten there in time, attempting to pry just about enything out of the arms of an octopus who wants it was a futile endeavor. He would just have to remember to keep the cabinets locked better.

Sasha floated around the curve of the kitchen, the walls of which were warped to fit the external curve of the spherical bedroom, till on the other side he located his pants. He grabbed them out of the air as he floated by towards the entertainment center, and quickly slipped them on. His vest was a bit better at hiding, but he finally located it stuck to one of the airvents, and exited into the streets of the city, Volya in tow.

Arina and Selena were swimming by just as Sasha entered the corridor.
"Privet, Sasha!"
"Aye, privet. Kagda idyosh tuy?"
"Mui idyom na baseyn. Privet, Volya."
The octopus blinked.
"Hey, cool, I was just going to swing by there to drop of Volya on my way to the courts."
"The more the merrier. Tag along."

The three humans and one octopus swam along the residential corridors of the city, passing one of the Gardens along the way.
"Volya, come on. You can come back here later, we're going to the pool."
It required a bit of coaxing, but the octopus continued to follow, fading through several different shades of beige to match the walls along the way.

At the end of the last corridor, the three humans stuck their heads up into the open spherical room that held the swimming pool, before Sasha ducked back in, grabbed ahold of the edge, took a deep breath, and catapulted himself straight into the giant sphere of water floating in the middle of the room. As he slowed, he exhaled to form a bubble of air around his head in which he could breath somewhat normally while he waited. A few seconds later, Arina and Selena floated up along side him, and he sucked back in all of the air as the three began swimming for one of the larger air bubbles suspended in the pool, emerging with a mirthful splash that created several small bubbles of water floating inside the bubble of air. After a bit of twisting around, Sasha located Volya, siphoning his way through the gaps in the small crowd of people and air bubbles.

One by one, the spheres of water collided with the inner wall of the air bubble, sending ripples across its surface and distorting the view of the rest of the pool.
"How's life, Sasha?"
"Eh, good 'nuff. Volya just scarfed down a whole jar of lobster meat... crazy octopus. You two?"
"The usual. Selena's got a new boyfriend-"
"I do not!"
"from archaic systems maintenance."
"He's a friend who happens to be male. And has connections in Atmospheric Control."
"Finally getting that vent fixed, then?"
"After three months, yes."
"Well, good for you. Say, would you girls mind looking after Volya for a while? I'm supposed to be at the Courts in a few minutes."
"No problem." Arina smiled. "He's cute. Be back in a couple of hours or so?"
"Da, dva chas, give or take."
"Well, see you later, then." Selena reached her hand through the wall of the bubble and pulled herself back into the pool. Sasha and Arina pushed off each other's feet, sending Arina back inwards and Sasha towards the outer surface of the pool, a trail of air bubbles in wake. Dolphin kicking the last few meters, he burst through the surface of the pool at a fairly good clip, and drifted for the nearest exit tunnel. Behind him, Selena was just becoming entangled in Volya's muscular grip.

Sasha spent the last few meters brushing sticky globs of water from his skin before entering the tunnel. He quickly grabbed a ladder rung and began quickly pulling himself hand-over-hand along the long corridor. Reaching a six-way junction, he let go with one hand as he flipped up and pivoted, pushing off with his second hand to send him towards the opposite wall heading ventral. A T-junction put him in the hallways that encircled the arenas. After circling around them a bit, he finally drifted out into the large cubical open space of a Discuss Court. 4 other men were already milling about near the center.
"Allo there!"
"Privet, Sasha! Come, come, we're still waiting on Anargyros."
Sasha pushed off of the wall and drifted over to meet up with his two other teammates and their oponents.
"Privet, Sasha!"
"Privet. Have we already decided first posession?"
"Da, rock-paper-scissors. Saveli's team takes first posession. Here, you start with the ball."
One of Sasha's teammates tossed him a small, dense silver ball, easily mistakable for a boule.

Away at the opposite entrace, Anargyros floated in. The two team broke up and began taking their positions while Saveli gave Anargyros his sling.

"Ready?"
"Ready!" Saveli wound up, and launched the discuss across the court.