Ocean of Endearment〜〜jj maybank

twelve

◦⭒↜* marsh hunt part one *↝⭒◦

❝ bends like...bend over... ❞

TW!    BRUISES

▬▬▬▬THE POGUES SHOULD KNOW by now that they really should never listen to JJ's plans. They're either reckless or stupid or both. However, JJ's specific mindset was essential to this situation. They were in a weird situation where they needed to basically steal a boat from the government of their town, so JJ's weird mind worked.

John B had gone to the Cameron's boat this afternoon to get scuba gear. He was only able to get one set so only one person could go. They hadn't worked out who was scuba diving, but that was sort of a last minute decision.

When John B came back with the scuba gear, they took his boat out to the marsh. They were currently floating just by where the sunken boat was and they just had to do this last part of their plan.

"So, does anyone have any scuba diving experience?" John B asked and no one said anything. Blue noticed that everyone was silent so she sighed before raising her hand. "Blue! Great!"

"Yeah, before you get excited, I've never actually scuba dived." John B furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion since she basically just said she had experience, but now Blue was saying she had never done it, so she elaborated. "I did a class with my mom once, but we never actually went scuba diving. But I do know how it works and what to do in an emergency and all that."

"Alright, I guess Blue's doing it then." John B confirmed, but JJ seemed to be a little on edge about it.

"Blue, are you sure you should be doing it? I mean, with the..." JJ knew that she had to wear something on her face, so he motioned to the bruise on her cheek. Blue really didn't want it being brought up, so she lightly snapped. "I'm fine, JJ."

JJ was now taken back and frankly shocked by her response. Obviously he hadn't known Blue for long, but as far as he knew, she was not one to snap. JJ also figured that she was fine with him knowing about it, but this situation seemed like Blue wanted it to be kept under wraps.

Blue stood up and looked at the tanks, getting ready to put the gear on when she noticed something. "John B, this is a quarter full."

"Yeah, I may have forgotten to check them." Blue ran a hand through her hair before taking off her shirt and shorts to reveal her black two piece. "It's alright, I just have to be quick."

"Yeah, I mean you just put the thing in your mouth and breathe, how hard can it be?" JJ agreed with her, even though he was a little scared to, he didn't want her to snap at him again. Pope, however, had a counter point which was actually helpful to know. "Well, if she comes up too fast, the nitrogen can get in her blood and she'll get the bends."

"Bends like...Bend over..." JJ guessed as he bent over slightly, subtly making a joke, but also being dead serious since he didn't know what that meant. Luckily, Pope quickly got him to contain himself. "The bends will kill you."

"Oh." JJ immediately stood up straight after that and felt a little awkward, but it's nothing his friends didn't expect from him. Blue was still fine with going, and she could tell that everyone else was starting to get a little on edge about her diving. "I can dive, it's fine."

"Alright, well the boat's about thirty feet down." Pope began. "So it'll take twenty five minutes at that depth. Which means you need to take your safety stop at about ten feet for two minutes. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Blue finished getting all of the scuba gear on except for the goggles and mask. Suddenly, they saw Kiara just jump into the water, which confused and concerned them slightly. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, but I liked it." Blue slapped JJ in the chest and gave him a harsh glare. He just shrugged his shoulders and put his hands up in defense. JJ then grabbed a small key and held it out for Blue to see as he explained, "Alrighty, when you're down there, you gotta look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull."

"Got it." Blue said as JJ handed her the key. Just on time, Kiara emerged from the surface and began swimming back to the boat as she informed, "I tied my t-shirt on the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

"Thanks Kie." John B helped Kiara back onto the boat and as soon as she was, Blue took off her brother's bracelet and handed it to her. "Could you watch this, please?"

"Yeah, for sure." Blue took a deep breath, slowly preparing herself to jump into the water as Pope told her, "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"How much do I need?"

"Unclear." Blue groaned at that response, obviously not loving it. JJ then spoke from the back, actually being helpful. "Breathe as little as possible. Zen. Think Zen, you know?"

Blue nodded her head. She put the mask on and got herself ready before jumping into the water. The four friends waited on the boat patiently, and hoped to God that Blue would be okay.

As Blue was swimming down further into the depths of the marsh, she was seeing a whole lot of nothing. It took her a bit to get down deep enough so that she could see the boat, and once she did, she used the sides to steady herself as she swam inside. Blue carefully looked around for the cargo hold and after some time, she was able to find it. She did as JJ told her and easily got the lid off.

Blue then proceeded to pull out a black duffel bag, but didn't bother to open it. She began making her way out of the boat, and as carefully as possible swimming to the top. When she reached Kiara's t-shirt, Blue stopped and kept her hand on the rope so she wouldn't drift off. She looked at her timer to see how much time she had left of oxygen and she had about a minute and a half. It wasn't a full two minutes, but she figured she'd be fine.

Blue's time was starting to run out as she waited there. When she looked back at the timer again, she saw that she had forty five seconds left. She was about to start swimming up when she suddenly saw an unfamiliar silhouette. It was the cops.

She looked back at her timer and only had ten seconds left. Blue's mind began to fill with panic. They were going to get caught. She was going to run out of air. She was going to lose this seemingly important bag. They were going to lose their progress. Every possible negative situation was flooding into Blue's mind.

She felt her chest start to tighten and her limbs were starting to feel limp. Blue was having a hard time keeping her hand locked around the rope and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to tread the water.

Blue looked back at the timer and saw that she was down to no time left. She held her breath for as long as she could, hoping that it was enough. She kept her eyes on the silhouette that finally walked away. Blue waited just a few more seconds before emerging to the surface of the water. She was met with her four friends with relieved smiles on their faces. "Holy shit. You're okay."

"How was it down there?" Blue was berated with a bunch of questions, but she didn't answer any of them. She kept the mask on and climbed onto the boat using the ladder JJ had put on the side of the boat. Once she was safe and on land, Blue dropped the duffel bag and took off the scuba gear. As soon as the mask came off, she coughed. The scuba gear was put to the side and Blue put her hands on her knees. She was mentally and physically tired. Her lungs hurt and her nerves were still shakey.

For Blue's first time scuba diving, it was not fun.

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