The cypress was a good climbing tree, with branches scattered along the length of its trunk- enough for Phoebe to scale its impressive height. It towered over the boat, which she tied to a knee as tall as she was.

“You can come if you want, we don’t have to stay long,” she told Kirk before beginning her ascent. She snaked her way over branches, hoisting herself up with strong arms and legs. When she looked down she saw Kirk removing his clothes. An outfit for him to swim in was something she admittedly forgot to consider, but Cat definitely wouldn’t have been in the mood to lend him trunks, and neither Julia nor herself had anything his size. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind, given that she couldn’t even see him.

Soon there was nothing but a pair of floating boxer briefs following her up the tree. He took his time; she watched branches below her wiggle as he fumbled with the handholds.

Finding a suitable branch, thick enough to hold their weight and high enough to be fun, Phoebe rested on it and looked out over the blue-gray water. She waited for Kirk to catch up and then held her hand out in his general direction. He didn’t take it, instead using another branch to pull himself up. But his attitude hardly bothered her now. The breeze felt like heaven against her fur.

“Like this,” she instructed as she stepped forward, got in position, and jumped. The water–cool and soft and perfect–swallowed her in seconds. When she opened her eyes sunlight was filtering through, illuminating her floating body. Before surfacing she swam over to a cluster of roots, moving through the lake with the deftness of an otter until she was out of Kirk’s way.

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12.10.22
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Hi, idk what to put here this week