11927/Summer Fun on the Lake

Summer Fun on the Lake
Date of Scene:	08 July 2022
Location:	Lake - Wayne Estate
Synopsis:	Having moved into the lake house, it's time for Dick to teach Stephanie to waterski.
Cast of Characters:	Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown

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Dick Grayson has posed:
    It's a lovely summer day, which is somewhat rare in Gotham. Sometimes it feels like the brooding aura that lies over the less affluent parts of the city exerts a powerful influence on the weather. It's usually at least partly cloudy, and often quite overcast.

    Waking up and hitting the switch that turns the glass wall overlooking the lake transparent, Dick smiles at the weather he sees. Turning to look at the other occupant in the bed, he nudges Stephanie to see if she'll wake up yet. Knowing she spent last night patrolling, he's not overly hopeful that she'll wake right away, but you never know.

    Looking back out over the lake, he nods as if coming to a decision. Opening a dresser drawer, he pulls out a swimsuit and pulls it on, then stands up and heads for the kitchen. Shortly after, the scent of coffee and bacon start to waft through the house, hopefully doing more than his nudge did to wake up his fiancee.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The nudge gets some result, if not quite fully 'waking up yet' as Dick had hoped. The blond girl's body shifts over towards Dick, snuggling up against his warmth. Her cheek ends up on his shoulder, and the soft kiss that is given to him there at least alerts him she's not just moving in her sleep.

When Dick rises to move for the dresser, a slight groan of frustration is given into the pillow where Stephanie's head ends up. "So unfair," she grumbles into the pillow. "This whole... waking thing. It must be some kind of conspiracy," she says, before slowly sitting up and ruffling fingers through her long blond hair.

She looks over towards Dick as he's pulling on the swimsuit. The sight of him makes Stephanie bite her lower lip and despite having to wake up, a smile makes it to her face. "Swimming?" she asks as Dick goes off for the kitchen. She lingers in bed a few moments longer, but then gets up and moves into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her hair before finally she comes to join Dick in the little kitchen that runs along the side of the rectangular, glass enclosed house. She's changed into a black string bikini (https://i.imgur.com/bH265CS.jpg) as she moves over to take a cup of coffee. "Morning," she says with a pretty smile for him.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Standing in front of the stove, Dick's got bacon and eggs finishing up when Steph makes her appearance. He gives the bikini an appreciative look, then turns back to the stove and slides bacon and eggs onto two plates and carries them over to the table. He pauses halfway to give her a quick kiss. "Good morning love. Sleep well?"

    He places the plates on the table and pulls out a seat for her, then sits in his own. "I think we're going to have to take advantage of the lovely weather we've been gifted with today. It's time you get some waterskiing lessons. And while I certainly like looking at you in it, you may want to switch the bikini to a one piece suit for this. You'll probably be hitting the water a number of times before you get the hang of things.

    He picks up the coffee cup he had already put in front of his chair and takes a sip. "I'm pretty sure you'll pick it up fairly quickly, but it's rare not to fall at least a couple times." He takes a bite of his bacon, then looks back across the table at her. "I know it's strange learning a skill without an immediate need for it in our nighttime activities, but it's also kind of nice we have the time to these days."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie stretches, smiling as she notices Dick's lingering gaze. She runs a hand across his back and then shares the short kiss with him. "Well enough. No bruises to cover up this time, though I thought I was going to have one on my shoulder," she comments, rubbing a bare shoulder which indeed, doesn't show any signs of blemishes.

"Good armor," she comments, though she'd felt the baseball bat through it. Apparently not enough to do more than sting though. She goes and pours them both orange juice and brings it over and takes a seat at the table. "Oh, lovely. Have been wanting to give that a go," she says with a smile of anticipation. "And a beautiful day for it too," she says, looking out at the gorgeous view of the lake.

"I'll finish eating and go change," she says. She begins working on her breakfast, making her way through it at a steady pace. "Wait, you mean other people actually pick up new skills because they -like- doing them?" she teases.

She continues the small talk while they eat, and then rises, leaning over to give Dick a quick kiss. "I'll take care of the dishes," she says, since he cooked. "And then change and meet you out there."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick nods to her, "I know, what must the world be like for the people who don't need to know how to fight a mutant badger? Learning for it's own sake, very unnerving if you ask me." He gives her a boyish grin as he says it, a light teasing tone in his voice.

    "I'll go out and get the boat ready if you're going to take care of the dishes, that way we'll be ready to go once you change. I want to get started before life finds a way to interrupt our fun." He continues to eat at a steady pace to get his breakfast done, looking forward to a day off from being Nightwing and Batgirl.

    Once he finishes eating, he takes a last sip from his coffee cup and stands up, giving Steph another light kiss as he passes. He heads out the door towards the dock and starts pulling the cover off the motorboat.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie heads off to change after washing the dishes by hand and drying and putting them back away. She heads back to the bedroom then to change. Not too much longer then she steps out onto the beautiful wood deck that overlooks the lake and has the steps down to the dock. Wearing a one-piece bathing suit with her hair hanging loose about her shoulders, and carrying a cooler, she walks down barefoot to join Dick at the motorboat.

"This thing is so quiet," she comments. "Not as much as our other boats, but still. It would make people stare," she says of the electric motor. The prop is also specially designed to keep as much wake on the surface of the lake to not disturb the lakebed or the fish below.

Stephanie stands up a pair of water skis that are sized for her. "I figure it can't be too much different than snow skiing. Except for getting towed. Shift my weight back a little further," she says. She moves them into the boat, then a pair for Dick. Then a wakeboard. Finally the cooler. Not that the lake is so big they can't pop back over at any time for something to drink or eat.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Once she stows things in the boat, Dick fires up the motor, which in practical terms means that there is a hum from the rear of the boat. He reaches over and unties one of the ropes holding the boat to the dock and motions for Steph to do the same with the rear mooring.

    "It is fairly similar, which is why I don't think you'll have too much trouble. The main difference is the transition from in the water to on top of it. Once you're standing, I don't expect you'll have any problems."

    Turning the wheel, he advances the throttle a bit and pulls away from the dock. Guiding the boat towards the middle of the lake, he slows and then reverses the throttle until he's got the boat stopped. He's already attached the skiing rope while Steph was doing dishes and changing, so all he has to do is toss it over the back of the boat and into the water.

    "Ok, let's dive in and I'll show you the position you need to start in. If you'd like, I can go first so you can watch how I do it. Once you understand the movements to get up on the skis, it shouldn't be too hard."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie rides in the front seat alongside Dick, one hand reached over to rest on his back. Just for the contact. Once they've come to a stop, she rises and goes over to the water skis, reaching over the side of the boat to set them into the water.

"Sounds good," she responds, and steps up onto the edge of the boat. She jumps off in a graceful dive, disappearing below the water with very little splash. One of the things that has been part of her training to help avoid being spotted when making a quick water escape.

Stephanie's head reappears, and she swims to the skis and gets them situated on her feet, tightening them and then using her hands to paddle her over to where the end of the rope is. "So who taught you, anyway? Was this something that you and Bruce did together?" she asks.

A heron glides over the water, wings spread wide as it skims the water top, heading for the shore where it finally comes to land in the shallow water and begin the process of searching the shallows for food.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "No, picked it up on a vacation I took in Florida a few years ago. Seemed like something a vacation should include, so I took a couple lessons." He swims over beside her then turns to face the rear of the boat.

    "Ok, you kind of float in a crouching position, skis vertical in from of you. Take the rope by the handle and get centered on it. When I start the boat moving, try to keep the skis under control and as the speed picks up, you want to try and pull on the rope so that you move into a more vertical position. Don't just try to pop up right away though, or you'll probably faceplant. It's a bit of a finesse move to pull yourself upright without digging the skis in too much and knocking yourself down."

    He demonstrates the starting position, then hands her the rope handle. "I'll be going slow at first, it's easier if all you worry about is getting into a crouched position above the skis at first. Once you are comfortable with that, you can try standing up and skiing."

    Swimming back to the boat, he pulls himself up onto it and moved to the driver's seat, looking at her over his shoulder. "Let me know when you're ready."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown gets the rope between her skis and facing the right direction. Soaking up all the advice, she gets her knees bent to bring the skis up closer to her body. "Ok, ready!" she calls, while giving a wave of her hand above the water and then a thumbs up sign.

When the boat starts forward, at first it's dragging Stephanie through the water. The skis push water aside. But as it accelerates, it turns out to not be too difficult for the light and athletic young woman to pop up on top of the water.

Stephanie sways a moment, getting her balance, knees bent and her butt sticking out behind her. Thankfully Damian isn't there to take pictures of the awkward posture. She waggles a bit, weight shifting as her body works out the unfamiliar way of balancing.

Though it isn't long before the more overt weight shifts diminish and she's pretty steady as she's towed on the water's surface behind the boat. After about thirty seconds of that, she stands upright. Not fully straight, but no longer bent over double. "Piece of cake!" she shouts, and straightens the rest of the way.

Which is when she loses it for the first time. Getting her skis a little too far out in front of her, she ends up falling backward before she can adjust, letting to of the rope as she splashes back into the water!

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Splitting his attention between watching Steph and watching where the boat is headed, Dick catches most of her performance. Once she's fallen, he slows the boat and curves around towards her. Once he's near her, he throttles down again.

    "Ok, that was actually better than most people do on their first attempt. Usually it's a faceplant as they try to stand and forget to keep the skis in front of themselves. Give it another shot, just remember to keep the skis under you, but very slightly ahead. Too far either way and you hit the water."

    He waits for her to get into position, then when she says she's ready, throttles up into the second attempt.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie brushes her hair back out of her eyes, ducking her head into the water backwards to get it to lie flat. "Yeah, just went a little bit too far!" she calls over to Dick in confirmation.

"A little bit more slack to pick up!" she calls as he coasts the boat past her to where she can grab the line and get the handle, then draw up the slack. Once she's being very very slowly towed behind the boat, Stephanie calls out, "Ok, hit it!"

Again she pops up out of the water relatively easily. Between a life of gymnastics and then a level of training that even the League of Assassins would find taxing, her balance is quite excellent. This time she only spends a few seconds hunched over before standing up right again.

There are a few wobbles and balance corrections. But it doesn't take Stephanie too long to be standing completely upright, leaning back just the right amount that the pull of the rope balances out the water resistance on the skiis. "This is fun!" she shouts at DIck, and lets go with one hand enough to give a wave. Which results in a wobble, but not a fall before she's grabbed hold of the tow bar again.

Gradually she starts to experiment, turning just enough to take her off to the left side of the boat. Going over the wake results in another balance correction, but soon her back is straight again as she coasts over the water to the side and behind the boat. Then Stephanie drifts back to the right, knees more ready this time to absorb the bounce going over one side of the wake, then the other, to make it over to the right side.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    As he watches her move into a standing position, Dick smiles and calls back "Very good! Knees a little bent, just like on snow.. Perfect." Watching her get more comfortable with direction change and passing over the wake, he starts a slow turn to the right to keep the boat in deeper water. Once he's fairly certain she has the hang of it, he speeds up bit by bit, making sure she's comfortable with the movements. Given that she's used to jumping off buildings and such, he's fairly convinced she'll probably want him to punch it sooner or later.

    Yelling a bit to be heard he calls, "Looks like you're a natural." Given her training and the fact that she already knew snow skiing, he hadn't thought this would be difficult for her. He's certainly not going to tell her that his first time out he fell three times before getting the hang of it.

    For the last pass around the lake, he punches it so that she leaves a fairly impressive spray of water behind her as the skis skim the surface of the lake. Finally he pulls the throttle back and allows her to sink into the water. "Ok, looks like you are officially a water skier, my dear."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
There's a whoop given from behind the boat that definitely encourages Dick to open up the throttle even further. It doesn't take Stephanie long to be comfortable with just staying upright. She starts cutting back and forth across the waves left by the boat's wake. Clearly trying to catch air. Though she's going to need to get used to cutting even sharper than she's doing to get too much there, Stephanie does manage to get the skis off the water once, landing and having a big balance correction but staying upright.

After they've gone around the lake a time or two, Stephanie gives a cut motion across her throat and then sinks into the water as Dick cuts the engine and circles the boat back around to her. "Ok, yep, that's fun. I don't think Bruce is going to like us building a ramp in the middle of the lake, but we'll have to come up with some way to make bigger jumps," she says, eyes bright with the adrenaline she's feeling.

"Your turn now," she says, taking off the skis and handing them back up into the boat to Dick. Then she grabs hold of the side, kicking hard to propel herself out of the water and clamber over the side. Not only gracefully, but as quietly as if she'd practiced entering a boat like this silently.

Hint: She has.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Putting her skis to one side, he tosses his off the back of the boat, sending them skimming in the general direction of the tow rope handle. Diving in after them, he comes up beside the, and flips over to face the boat, slipping first one foot then the other into the bindings and tightening them to keep them from slipping off. That done, he takes the handle up and gives her the thumbs up to get the boat moving.

    He's had a few other occasions to water ski since he learned, and that added to the same sort of training Steph has means that he's up and out of the water in very little time, cutting back and forth behind the boat and throwing up sprays of water that sparkle in the sun. After about ten minutes, he waves for her to throttle down and releases the handle, skimming the surface for another minute before he gracefully sinks down into the water.

    When the boat drifts over near him, he hands his skis up to Steph and pulls himself up and into the boat about the same ways she did. He had that training too, probably from the same teacher.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown moves over to the seat, checking behind her to make sure Dick is ready. When he gives the signal she starts the boat up, throttling up quickly over the period of a few seconds so it quickly hits the speed to help get him up out of the water.

The young woman is grinning as she's alternating between watching where they are going, and watching Dick. The lake is big enough they aren't constantly having to turn, but small enough they don't run straight forever. She occasionally turns, giving Dick some extra wake to jump across.

When he's finally dropping into the water, she slows and then brings the boat back around to pick him up, cutting the electric motor that was mainly quiet other than the sound of the wake itself. She walks to the side of the boat, taking the skis from Dick. "Ready for a sandwich?" she asks as she hands him a towel. Stephanie moves over to the cooler, pulling out a favorite beer for Dick, and a grape juice for herself. Not that she won't a beer in a moment like this, though she still doesn't drink much. "This is great," she says with a happy sigh. "Not that I didn't like the brownstone. But... I mean, look at it," she says, gesturing at the idyllic lake and surrounding forest.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Drying himself off, Dick takes the offered beer as he sits on the back bench seat. With a smile, he says "You went all-out I see, drinks _and_ sandwiches. Not that it's a bad thing, I could spend some time out here." He takes a sip after opening the bottle, then puts it in a holder and takes a moment to pull the rope back in.

    He nods in agreement when she indicates their new home. "Yeah, it's hard to find anything to complain about out here. It doesn't really get much better than this, I'd say." He chuckles, adding "Having far too much money to know what to do with it does help in finding prime real estate. About the only way we could do better would be if we bought a little island in the Carribbean."

    He takes the sandwich and leans back, relaxing under the warm summer sun. "I don't know about the ramp though, we'd have to look into what's involved in fixing it in place. We don't really want to drill too deep into the lake bed, given what's under us."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
After passing Dick the sandwich, it's got roast beef and pastrami, with provolone and Italian dressing, Stephanie grabs her own and takes a seat beside him. "Yeah, at most, maybe something submerged that can be raised up," she says. "And I'm mostly kidding about a ramp anyway. We don't need that really. This is fun just going around the lake," she says. "Plus haven't tried the wakeboard yet. Or slaloming."

She takes a bite of her sandwich, giving a happy sigh and swallowing before continuing. "Tim came by the other day. Barbara and I tested that Batcycle I've been building from scratch out at the old quarry out west. Was telling her she'll have to come by to see the place. I kind of think maybe this might be a good way to get more of your family together. Have some cookouts and swimming and waterskiing and all. Maybe an ice hockey game when the lake freezes over in winter?" she suggests.

Stephanie turns sideways in her seat, leaning her back against Dick while they eat. "I've been meaning to ask, do you like fishing?" she asks him. The place already had fishing poles and other gear, though lacks any live bait at the moment.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    After a bite or two of the sandwich, Dick takes another drink from his bottle and replaces it in the holder. "Yeah, we could do that sort of thing now, couldn't we? Look at us, all grown up and holding family picnics. Plus it would force Tim to actually go out in the sun for a change. I don't think he'll burst into flames, but I know he'd probably be in front of a computer than out in nature."

    He takes another bite of the sandwich, watching the little ripples from the breeze playing over the surface of the water. "As for fishing, I've done it a few times, but honestly, I'd rather just buy the fish at the market and have that time to do something else. Fishing seems to be one of those things for people who have too much time to kill, we're kind of the opposite. Between the various charities Wayne Enterprises has that I help manage, social events, the GCPD and the whole Nightwing thing, I have way too little time to sit around waiting for a fish."

    With a shrug, he takes another bite, then settles happily back into the seat cushions and looks around the lake again. "Yeah, this was the perfect gift. This is the kind of thing that keeps you sane when things are going to hell all around you."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown reaches over to slip her hand into Dick's when it's unoccupied with his beer. "You're the thing that keeps me sane," she says, smiling and lacing her fingers with his. She turns her head to nuzzle her cheek against his shoulder. "This is definitely nice too, though," she says with a happy sigh. Her life is so much better than she ever thought it could turn out to be.