Sorry for party rocking

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It was that title, or 'Moves like Jagger'. XD

It was a beautiful day. The sky was grey, and there was still a faint trace of snow of the ground, but the wind wasn't chilly, and the surrounding ocean was rather peaceful. It seemed like the best possible occasion to get out the kayaks for the first time, and Toby wasn't going to just let it pass.

The past few months had seen her change a lot. Her therapy, this summer, seemed to have had a big influence on how she viewed the world. She was still a shy girl, but she had been making great effort in breaking out of her shell, and she didn't keep herself from talking to people, or being in their presence, as she would have, last year. The change was welcome, especially now that she'd made friends. The metamorphosis had started.

Toby entered the harbour shed, and went to pick a kayak. This wasn't her first time kayaking, far from it, but she'd forgotten exactly how heavy they were, and dropped it on her foot as she tried to drag it to the waterfront.

'OUCH!' Toby yelled.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi often enjoyed spending time out by the harbor, the fresh air was a nice change from spending most of his day inside the school, and while boating was not his thing it was quite pleasant to spend some time by the water. Maybe he'd shake his shoes off and dip his feet in the water and let the cool waves lap over his feet for a little while. The harbor area was largely deserted, and Kiyoshi vaguely considered just jumping into the water - fully clothed and all - when he heard a loud shout from behind him.

Turning to his left, Kiyoshi saw a girl on the beach who he had not noticed before, she was dragging a kayak out to the water, and for whatever reason she had stopped and was now shouting out - apparently in pain. "Are you alright?" Kiyoshi asked, tilting his head sideways but not moving from where he was.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Why was she only wearing sneakers, anyhow? Toby hopped on one leg for a few seconds, holding her injured foot and wincing. She almost fell over when she heard a voice call out to her. She hadn't seen anyone out before. Most likely the boy had arrived while she was in the shed, so she hadn't seen him.

Toby felt herself grow very red in the face. Part of her was screaming that she ought to go and hide in the shed until the boy had cleared away, but the part of her that saw the utility of everything she'd been working on during the summer told her not to.

'I'm alright!' She called back. 'Would you mind helping me get the kayak out?'

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi paused for a moment, he knew absolutely nothing about boating and probably would just waste both of their time once they got out there, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "Alright." he said rather cheerily, practically skipping forward as he approached the girl and her oversized canoe. "So...how exactly are we supposed to move this thing?" Kiyoshi asked, his grin not wavering for even the slightest of moments. This was going to be a lot of fun, and he was not going to let such minor details as his lack of knowledge about the matter deter him!

Toby smiled as the boy approached, her cheeks flushed. It wasn't because she was trying to break out of her shell that she wouldn't be shy. Those things took time, she figured, but ah, she was working on it at least.

'You're a Blue Kappa, right?' Toby asked, not exactly answering his question. It in fact took a couple more seconds before the question really registered into her brain.

'Oh, right. Well, I'll grab one end, you can grab the other, and we'll carry it to the shore.' Or drag it, probably.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi nodded and replied "Yes, that's correct." He didn't know why that really mattered all that much, but it wasn't like he was going to make a huge deal out of it. When she explained how they were going to get the boat out into the water, Kiyoshi nodded and said "Alright, let's go!" Kiyoshi was already very excited about this idea - after all it seemed like a lot of fun, and that was enough for him.

Toby blushed slightly as she smiled. It was fun to see someone so enthusiastic to help her. Or to just help in general, she didn't know. Either way, it was a nice change.

She grabbed her end of the kayak again.

'After, if you like, I can help you get one out for yourself,' she offered.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi paused when Toby told him that she could help him get out his own kayak once they'd dragged out this one, and he replied rather uncomfortably "Uhh...I'm not really sure how to steer one of these." He figured that honesty was the best philosophy when it came to a situation such as this, after all he did not want to be stranded out in the lake all by himself just because he did not want to admit that he was uncertain as to how to operate a kayak properly.

Toby smiled lightly, looking at the ground. The ground wasn't really interesting, but it was certainly less stressful than to word what had come into her mind. Think of the process, Toby, she told herself. Right, she should do this. It would be good for her, in the end. Maybe. Or something.

'Well... Would you like me to teach you?'

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi hesitated for only a moment before bobbing his head up and down enthusiastically as he said "Yes please!" Kiyoshi was always open to learning new things, and something like this seemed to have a very practical application in the real world. There were plenty of situations where a skill like this would come in handy, so he was really doing something very smart in taking advantage of the opportunity to learn.

Toby grinned, looking at the ground. It took a couple of seconds before she forced her gaze upwards. She was relieved ti find the boy's face happy. That was always a good beginning.

'Well, first we need a kayak,' she said, her confidence rising as she stated the obvious.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

"Yes...where do we get one of those?" Kiyoshi asked, looking around in all directions - even up in the air, as though the kayak might be floating above his head - in his search for one of the things. He had to admit he did not have the slightest idea what he was looking for - what exactly did a kayak even look like really?

Toby smiled at the boy. It was sort of funny how oblivious he was being to the small nautical equipment cabin where she had taken her own kayak.

'Just there, in the cabin,' she answered, pointing at it. ' Want to go get one?'

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

"Oh..." Kiyoshi replied, nodding his head eagerly and saying "Yah! Let's do it!" He was quite excited about this idea, certain as he was that it was going to be a lot of fun! After all, if people went boating so often it had to be fun, otherwise they wouldn't do it so often!

'Awesome,' Toby replied, allowing her smile to grow, and shifting her glance from her feet to the boathouse.

Feeling that she must lead the way, she walked towards the boathouse. It was going to be fun, and she would practice her social skills with this boy. He seemed nice enough.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi followed Toby along towards the boathouse. This was a new experience for him, so he was just going to follow along with whatever it was that she was going to do - after all she was the expert here...comparatively speaking anyways.

Toby entered the boathouse, looking around to grab the closest kayak. When she'd found it, she walked towards one end, and grabbed it.

'G-grab the other end.'

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

"Got it." Kiyoshi replied as he followed her instructions and looked up waiting for further explanation. Of course, it should be rather obvious where they were going, but Kiyoshi did not want to make any hasty assumptions here.

'O-okay,' Toby said, lifting her end of the kayak. 'Now we go down to the waterfront.'

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

"Awesome. Let's go!" Kiyoshi said, walking a bit too quickly in his excitement. Kiyoshi was a boy who tended to get a little bit too overexcited, and he was probably going to get them hurt if he did not calm down.

Toby wobbled along, as quickly as one could while carrying a kayak. She figured that maybe she was frail and couldn't do things as quickly as the boy, so she struggled to adapt to his rhythm wordlessly, although a couple choice swears entered her mind. She didn't swear of her own accord, though, no worries.

'Er, you can s-set it down, now,' Toby offered, once it was clear they'd reached their destination.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

"Okay!" Kiyoshi replied, still as excited as ever as he practically threw the kayak at the ground, having no idea that the girl was so irritated with him at the moment.

Toby was thrown off balance when the kayak practically flew away from her hands, but managed to avoid a fall.

'You have a lot of energy,' she commented, regaining her balance.

[Kiyoshi Ngai]

Kiyoshi nodded eagerly, but did not bother responding verbally to Toby's comments, as he chanted "Come on! What next? What next? He was eager to get going, and he was quite excited by the idea of what the were going to do, talking would just take up very valuable time.

Toby raised an eyebrow at the boy. He certainly was demanding.

'Well, let's get the two kayaks to the water, and we can climb in,' she offered. That made sense.