Madison was flustered. Things were not falling into place yet for her since the impromptu move to Tierney. Climbing up to the high platform she tried not to think about things. Stopping at the top, she closed her eyes and hung her head. Not because she was afraid of anything but she wanted to let go of all of everything eating at her. Namely her adoptive parents death. That and her mother still refused to tell her the truth about her biological father, whoever the hell he was. Sighing she continued up the platform.

Walking to the end she put her hands down on the platform pulling herself into a handstand she carefully twisted her body until she was facing the water. Bending over her waist she sent herself tumbling down to the water below as she tucked herself into forward roll. Stretching to extend her hands out, she went in a slightly bent angle. It was terrible form but she was getting there.This dive was new to her, so at least she hadn't gone back or stomach first. Those bruises always hurt. Madison spent very little time at home, it was nice being able to take sanctuary in the confines of the base at times. Even if she had restricted access at least she had some access. Perks of being an officer's kid she guessed. Growing up her parents had told her stories about her biological mother but Madison had never taken much of a real interest and now... that was all she had.

Shaking her head as she got out of the water she wrung her hair out, twisting it. It gave her something to focus on, so she would do it again and again and again. She'd probably dive all day until someone kicked her out. Besides, she had dive team competitions coming up. Not that it mattered, she highly doubted that Steph and James even remotely gave two rats about what she got involved in as long as she stayed out of trouble. Not that she knew them from a hole in the ground, but diving kept her busy and kept her out of trouble.

It was still strange for Noel to be swimming in a pool with diving boards. While not fully unfamiliar, it had certainly been a few years since she had.They weren’t exactly all that common in the training pools for the Coast Guard and her Olympic days had dealt with much more in the way of swimming relays then diving. Then again, her Olympic days were a few years behind her now. Honestly with her current assignment it almost felt like her rescue swimmer days were behind her as well.

Noel watched slipped into the water near the deeper end as a young woman made dive after dive, working on her form Noel guessed. As far as she was able to tell the stranger was an accomplished diver. Certainly comfortable with the plunge in the water. At least the young woman knew how to twist and bend so as not to land badly upon impact.

Lengthening her stroke after a moment of treading water Noel starting in with her laps. She wanted to get as many in as she could before it was time for her to get ready for the office. After several minutes and several laps later she surfaced and glanced over. The young woman was still diving. Angling slightly she made her way closer, being sure to stay clear of the impact zone of the dive board. No reason to worry her, whoever she was.

Noel waited for the young woman to surface before greeting her, still treading water. “Hey there, you been diving long?” If she had to guess she would think at least five years or so. But then she hadn’t exactly focused on the diving side of things.


Ensign Madison Pierce

By the umpteenth dive Madison was frustrated and gave up on that particular dive. If nothing more than to just take a break from it. She could come back to it. She instead settled on her backwards free twists. They were much straighter and a lot neater. She came up out of the water and heard a voice nearby. Right people. Madison was normally a people person, but she was a bit.. unfocused since moving. "The name is Madison." She offered. At least the woman hadn't used 'Hey You'. But names were better and weren't as upsetting.

"Longer than I have been swimming" she added. "Gave me something to do. Kind of stuck I guess" she shrugged. Right now it got her out of the house. Though she wasn't about to admit it. "Try-outs for swim and dive team are next week for the school." She decided to talk but stick to the subject at hand. It wasn't personal, it was a friendly conversation and she didn't feel threatened by it.

"But if I keep diving like today?" She scoffed trying to laugh it off. Before going under the water once and coming back up. Madison looked to the woman. Madison guessed she was probably military since she wasn't a kid, most of them here were more than likely. "I'm gonna go swim some laps cool down a bit. You are welcome to join me" By cool down she meant her frustration at herself. Madison was always hard on herself, but it made her better. She'd taught herself with a little help of high school coaches along the way. Right now she didn't even have that familiarity of structure in her life. Everything was upside down and backwards.

Tag: @noel

“Hey Madison, I’m Noel.” her last dive was much cleaner, there was a lot more surety in her moves when she did it.It was if Noel were to guess something Madison did to center herself. Though she could be wrong about that.

Longer then she had been swimming? That was interesting. But then she had been swimming longer than she had been walking. She could understand the whole giving her something to do as well. “Oh? So you swim or I guess dive competitively?” She vaguely remembered what it was like to compete like that and what the tryouts were like. Some of them were pretty scary really.

“Sometimes as much as we hate to admit it, our minds interfere with what our bodies can do. Our minds stop our bodies from knowing what they actually know.” It happened to her often enough. It wasn’t exactly easy to just say don’t think about it.That was always the case reallyl wasn’t it?

She couldn’t help but grin just a little as Madison said she was going to do a few laps to cool down. “I think I may if you don’t mind. I could use a few more.” With that said she fell into position alongside Madison, deciding to keep pace and help push Madison. She wouldn’t push herself. She didn’t know how good this young woman was at swimming and unless she was surprised it would just be a nice cooldown for her.

"Noel, thats a pretty name. It's nice to meet you." Yes, it was nice to meet someone who shared the same interests as her. It made her feel a little more at home. This place was foreign to her. It was definitely not anything like where she grew up. There was a small smirk on her face as she listened to the woman.

"Dive competitvely yea. At least I did back at my old school. My parents just got transferred here and.. looking to get things back to normalish I guess." She replied with a small smirk. "I never really got into the whole competive swim thing. I'm actually a rather slow and mediocre swimmer." She was at least being honest. That had to count for something.

“You sound like you are trying to teach philosophy." She giggled a little. "Handstand dives are new to me. I've always just stuck with what I've been comfortable with. It's a little nerve racking and then when I get it wrong..." she was blabbering. "Yeah I guess I'm just over thinking it" there was that. Madison's biggest flaw.

Madison hadn't been lying when she said she was a slow swimmer. At least slow for what competitive swimmers were used to keeping for pace. Her form in swimming was fluid enough but not exactly mechanically correct. It was clear she was a diver and not a swimmer. Though she was thankful for the company. Though she could tell the other woman was highly skilled.

Tag: @noel

Ah, new school,new team and new tryouts. That at least explained part of the drive she saw. With the tryouts and a new school. Stress could obviously be a bit much at times. “I say stick to what you know best. If that happens to be diving then go for it.” Despite everything she also knew that Madison was a better swimmer than what she have herself credit for. You didn’t spend that much time in the pool without learning how to swim properly. Speed of course was a different story.

She laughed at that statement coming from Madison. Noel was being a bit philosophical. “Yeah sorry but I do understand. I’ve competed in a high level. So much of it is mental.” She stopped her speech and rolled her eyes. “OK so I miss the competition sometimes but I do understand what’s involved still.”

Madison wasn’t the fastest swimmer out there, but her form was good and her pace was solid. In truth it wasn’t a bad way to cool down. She really needed to adjust her training schedule as it was. In truth she felt like she almost needed to swim for about five more horus before she would be done training but that truly wasn’t an option.

Ensign Madison Pierce

Madison nodded as she pushed off the wall on the other side. "If it were that simple." She stated before plunging her head under water picking up some speed, but not much. "This school, its all or nothing" that is what happened when the school was small. She picked up pace a little more but that's' when her form fell completely apart. Not that she noticed, though she was still not all that fast in general.

Madison was quiet until she reached the other end of the pool. Catching her breathe she coughed out some water. "Nothing wrong with missing it. Sometimes I don't know what I do if I didn't have it to focus on." Madison really didn't want to explain. "But really it's everything I have that's familiar right now" she added.

Truth of the matter was, she was probably feeling a little down. Her adoptive parents had invested so much time coaching her and helping her along. Now she didn't have them. It was all her own drive now. She wasn't even sure if Steph and James had time for her swim meets or practices. Some of that hurt showed behind the drive. If she could dive and swim to keep it all away, then she was sure somewhere someone took interest in her own interests.

Tag: @noel

“I was in a school like that once. I hate those type of schools. They really don’t do much in the way of actually nurturing you in the proper way.” She even had a personal trainer like that once. He lasted all of three months before he was fired. The only other time she had dealt with something like that was when she was undergoing Swimmer training.

That was very true. If she didn’t have something to focus on as well she would be even worse. Actually she would probably be coaching a team now. “Yeah I swim for the military now.. Otherwise I would probably miss it a whole lot more. honestly if it wasn't for the Coast Guard she had no idea what she would be doing.

Ensign Madison Pierce

Madison pulled herself up on the side of the pool. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked towards Noel. "Not too many places to blend in around a small town. I'm from Detroit. Easier to be picky there I guess" she stated with a shrug as she looked towards her. Listening as she said something about swimming for the military. "I want to fly but trying to explain that to my mother is going to be.." yeah that would do about as well as trying to swim in a bathtub.

Madison grabbed her hair and twisted a little of her hair dripping water back into the pool. When it came to practice, she was perfectly okay with a ponytail. There was no one to judge her and really she hated those diving caps. Though during competition she was all for them.

Tag: @noel

OOC: This is terrible I apologize