Noel swam lap after lap in the pool here. The whole time feeling like it was simply too small. She was admittedly spoiled when it came to pools. Either swimming in open water or in pools with the Olympics in mind, she wasn’t used to swimming in a standard size pool. To be fair the pool here wasn’t that bad. It was a bit larger than average at least.There were a few special teams here that practiced water activities. Nothing like what she did or had done, but to each their own. She would manage. It would just mean extra laps for her.

Technically she was on her downtown, her duty requirements lessened during this period. It was also the time when she trained harder in order to keep herself in the shape she needed. When she was “active” She couldn’t train as hard. Doing so would just end up with an injury that would pull her from duty. Not something she wanted.

Noel hadn’t been counting her laps, just focusing on her form and her breathing. In truth it was more like the days when she was training to compete then when she was training to jump. As it was she was already swimming more like she did in the Olympics, her strokes changing from the form she normally used to one she had used when swimming the 1500m freestyle. Even after countless laps her movement was still fluid and effortless.

After a few minutes Noel stopped and started treading water to catch her breath. She could feel the burn of her muscles but knew she was far from her limit. Still she didn’t want to press herself too much. Perhaps for now it was time to head in and hit the showers. Of course that wouldn’t stop her from doing things her way. Diving deep she made her way leisurely towards the shallow end taking her time before surfacing once again.

Chloe watches as the other woman swims with ease, she can tell by watching her that this is no ordinary swimmer. She has been sitting on the edge of the pool dangling her legs in trying to get used to the chilly temperature for a few minutes, the cold temperature of swimming pools meant for competitions or swimming laps is something she never quite got used to during her many years of swimming. She's been sitting there for a few minutes just content to watch the other swimmer before she sees her stop and start treading water, Chloe waves once at the woman before gathering her courage and slipping all the way in and under the cold water all at once.

Standing up she says "Oh that's cold!" She jumps up and down a couple times watching the other woman swim towards her underwater. "I swear I'm not a stalker," she laughs "It just takes me awhile to get used to the water...it always has. My name's Chloe and I'm fairly sure this is the first time I've seen you here, I would have remembered the way you swim." Great Chloe she thinks to herself, that sounded perfectly normal I would have remembered the way you swim. Really? 

"That sounded strange I know...but it made perfect sense in my head. It's just that you make it look effortless, most people around here look like they're struggling at least a little bit."

She saw out of her periphery a hand wave in her general direction, saw it a moment before the one waving sunk under the water. For a moment her training kicked in and she sped up putting more power in her strokes. But it wasn’t long before she could see that it was simply the woman dipping under the water. Noel let herself relax and finish her light swim back to the wall near the woman arriving just in time to hear her exclaim about it being cold. “Is it? I hadn’t noticed really.”

She watched in amusement as the stranger attempted to warm herself up. “That’s alright, I know that not everyone is a fish like I am. But really it is best to just dive right in. Your body will adjust soon enough, promise.”[/font] She treaded water there by the wall, even now not actually letting herself rest like she could have as Chloe introduced herself and commented on Noel’s swimming.

“Nice to meet you Chloe and no I’m rather new here. Also please do not judge your swimming style or ability against mine. That is honestly one of the worst things you could do. Honestly I’ve been swimming since before I could walk.” Advice she would even give a Navy Seal honestly. “I’m Noel by the way.” She didn’t know what Chloe’s job was here, she could be anything from a high ranking officer within the company to well just about anything really. It wasn’t as if rank was evident on what either of them was wearing. Far flung from her days in A school. There at least the students had their name and rank on their shirts.



@chloenunn

"Yeah, I've heard the whole dive right in and your body will adjust theory since I started swimming at the age of five...I'm still not entirely sure I believe it yet. I just never can seem to get used to the initial shock of it all." Chloe replies still bouncing up and down. "Nice to meet you Noel. New here? Well welcome, you'll probably like it ok...it's a pretty good place to be...I like it ok so far. I've definitely been worse places."

"I'm sorry, I guess I didn't properly introduce myself. I always forget all the extra stuff because I'll always just be Chloe, around here they call me Lieutenant Nunn...but please call me Chloe, I still have to remind myself to answer to the other sometimes." she says laughing.

Chloe checks the clock on the wall, and realizes that she doesn't have much time left before her next shift at work but decides to keep talking for a bit longer. "So if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you do here? I do a little bit of everything in our ER...I play at being an ER nurse when they don't have anything for us to fly out. My true passion lies in the back of the helicopter though."

Deciding that she has adjusted to the water temperature enough she starts getting ready to swim a few laps. "I try to swim laps at least a couple times a week, usually before I go into work...it helps relax me. So maybe I'll see you around some more." She says before adjusting her swim cap on her head and placing her goggles over her eyes.

“Well Chloe or Lieutenant Nunn, I guess with that I should say I’m Petty Officer Carver of the Coast Guard, that whole diving right in thing is kinda my daily routine. Or was until I came here.” She smiled shrugging as much as one could when you were treading water. She couldn’t say the same as the Lieutenant however about being in worse places. Honestly in her mind this was the worst place. Not because of the area or the people but simply because it took her away from the water. “I’m a Rescue Swimmer. One of those ones that volunteer to jump into insane waves and swim in the depths of the oceans.”

At least she didn’t seem to be one of those officers that insisted on proper decorum all the time. In the office was one thing. Swimming in the pool another. While she would of course respect the officers preference, it was nice to be able to be casual.As for what she did here that was tricky. “An ER nurse? Really? Amazing.” Hopefully Noel never had to deal with Chloe on a professional level. “Honestly, there isn’t much of anything in my primary job for me to do? They really don’t have a need for a Rescue Swimmer at this post. I don’t have the firearms skill that even most soldiers here have. The aren’t exactly tools that I am exposed to often you know? So I really don’t know.”

She had to grin at the swim cap and goggles that Chloe wore as she started swimming. Noel simply swam in her bathing suit. If she wanted to train it would be in her swim full swim gear. Still she swam alongside Chloe, keeping pace. She was still swimming effortlessly despite being in the while for a bit now.

"Like I said...please call me Chloe, I don't go by Lieutenant unless I have to." She smiles. "I assume it's ok to call you Noel, but if not please feel free to correct me. Kind of strange to have a rescue swimmer here, yeah?...I mean I'm not complaining, but I've been here long enough to know that there is a decided lack of water around here." She states the obvious, laughing "Did you double check your orders? Wouldn't be the first time the U.S. Government made a mistake."

This time it was Chloe who shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, ER is the second best thing to flying in the helicopter. We don't even let the really sick people through our doors, the medics know better and have the helicopter meet them at the helipad. The most we ever do is stabilize someone so that we can transport them out, you really should see some of the nurses when something serious shows up...it's quite comical."

"If you're really supposed to be here, I'm sure they'll find something for you to do soon enough. you know they're not going to let you sit around without a job for long. I try not to play with the guns very often either, however I can shoot if I have to. I'm usually too busy taking care of the ones who've been shot to shoot at anyone thought." She laughs again, realizing that Noel is pretty easy to talk to and hopes that maybe she's found a friend in this strange place. Chloe has never been really good at having a lot of friends, but she's really close to those she considers a friend.

She sees Noel grin at her swim cap and feels the need to explain, laughing at herself "I know...overkill right? I learned real quick that the Chlorine in this pool does really strange things to my hair and it took me long enough and cost me enough money on hair products to fix it that I decided I'd bite the bullet and just wear the silly thing. I hadn't worn one since I quit competing after high school, but I rather prefer my hair be blonde than green. On that note...I'm going to try to get a few laps in before I head to work. In case you aren't here when I finish, It was nice to meet you and I hope to see you around. You're more than welcome to join me if you aren't already done, though I doubt I'll be able to keep up with you."

Oh yeah she was going to like Chloe, certainly easy to deal with. “Noel is fine Chloe, I’m used to things being a bit informal. Rescue teams tend to be close knit and small. About the only time we are formal is when we are out on a call.” She was glad that she wasn’t the only one who thought it was odd having someone who’s job was to swim in oceans at a place where there is no ocean. “I double checked my orders, so did my commander before I came.”

She had to laugh at that, the image in her mind was actually rather comical. “So more like field medicine. Get them stable so they can be transported?” That would make sense. What Chloe said about what she did made sense and seemed to add to that. “I bet in a way I’ll be assisting you then. I am fully EMT certified after all. Kinda comes with the job.”

What Chloe said about the chlorine made sense and she would see in time how it would effect her own hair. “I’ll be here but it is great to meet you Chloe. You competed after High School? How was that? I… “ Ok this was sooo going to sound like bragging but she couldn’t exactly back out now. “Well I was competing at the end of high school then joined the Coast Guard.” She wasn’t competing at the high school or collegiate level but that was a different story.

@chloenunn

Chloe laughs, "Well Noel as long as you're where you're supposed to be, they'll find you something to do. I'm sure with your training we will be spending plenty of time together, good to know it's going to be someone I can deal with." Chloe can deal with a lot of things but the last guy she got stuck with was definitely enough to scare her about who exactly they were going to put with her after he left.

"Yeah, I competed year round from the time I was 5 all the way through high school...nothing too impressive though just a some state competitions and a couple championships. Not like I was in the Olympics or anything, but it consumed most of my time growing up." She shrugs her shoulders again. "After high school I quit competing because I joined the Navy. I never really stopped swimming though, it's very relaxing for me and good exercise too."

"Admittedly I'm not getting much swimming done today, but it's nice to find someone to talk to. It can get kind of lonely around here at times when you don't know very many people. It's a close knit bunch it seems. There are days I swear the only people I talk to are patients and coworkers." She says as she switches to treading water so she can continue their conversation.

It was always good to know you could get along with a coworker, that your personalities didn’t clash. It was also good to know that the ones you were going to be working so closely with were skilled. But like Chloe said, they would be spending plenty of time together.

“I competed in high school until I was fifteen. Then I had to drop out of the high school team actually.” It always felt odd saying she dropped out but it was true. “I had to train more honestly and couldn’t compete at the high school level any more at that point. She grinned a little and twisted so that Chloe could see the Olympic Rings tattoo on her shoulder blade. “I did compete in the Olympics. After I retired from that I joined the Coast Guard. Either way I agree. This is great exercise and can be amazingly relaxing.”

OK so yeah they were doing a bit of talking instead of swimming. “Tell you what, we’ll meet up the next time you swim and make up for our slacking off today? Sound like a plan?” She figured between the two of them and their competitive nature, they could push each other fairly well. She had to laugh at the close knit comment. “Yeah Coast Guard bases can be like that. Some days it feels like I only talked with my team and no one else. Like you said, patients and coworkers.”

@chloenunn

Chloe knew that Noel hadn't been an ordinary swimmer, her technique was amazing and she swam with such an ease that didn't come without years and years of practice. So when Noel turns to show her the Olympic Rings on her shoulder Chloe smiles at her and laughs, "That explains your swimming then."

"So besides the obvious, what made you decide to join the Coast Guard?" Chloe has always been curious as to why people choose the military life. Chloe decided to join the Navy when she realized that she wanted to be a nurse, and learned that the military was the easiest way to pay for school by herself. She chose the Navy simply because her Dad had been in the Navy. Granted her parents had been more than willing to finance her education and were still not happy about the decision to join up, but Chloe really enjoys the life she has chosen and built for herself. She knows that deep down her parents are proud of her, but with her being an only child she doesn't imagine that they much appreciate the fact that she's living halfway across the country with the possibility of deployment.

"Sounds like a plan to me, it'll be really nice to have someone to swim with. The talking's not too bad either, because honestly I get the feeling that most of my coworkers don't care much for me. I'm in and out and don't ever really get assigned to a certain shift, I just fill in wherever and whenever they need me so I don't have much time to get to know any of them very well. Most of them have been working here, together for years. It's been kind of lonely here, but I really like it so far. I get to spend an awful lot of time in the helicopter, which is where I truly love to be and it's really beautiful in this part of the country."

She shrugged but there was no point in denying what Chloe said. She was right about Noel’s swimming. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what she could do and how to push herself in that regard. But honestly she did miss the whole swim team camaraderie.

“Honestly? It was a direction I hadn’t considered before being presented it. I knew I wanted to do something more after I competed at the Olympics. When a Coast Guard Recruiter approached me, it gave me something to think about.” That really was the truth as well. Noel ended up taking a few months to think about it. Well that and relax. The Olympics were a tough time. The lead up to them even more. Of course the whole olympic village was a bit of a different story. “After a few months of vacation I went to the recruitment office. They tapped me for training in the Rescue Swimmer program since I had the potential. That was far from easy. But then what military Elite school’s training isn’t?”

“I agree completely, I miss swimming with others as well.” And talking with others as a peer. As much as she trusted and cared for her her rescue team at her old station, they were only peers to a certain degree. She couldn’t say Chloe was like that yet but there was potential. “Yeah I get that I guess. I mean they can’t keep you on a fixed schedule, not when they may call you at any time right? The life of always being on call. Emergency response and all that.” That she understood. That had made it difficult for her to do many things back at her old duty station. Though technically she was only on call for two weeks at a time. Still it added to a bit of difficulty. “It’s hard breaking into an existing group of friends.” Shaking her head she smiled. “Anyways.. Let’s at least get a few laps in before it’s time to go. Deal?”