Salt Life

"One fifty. You're getting better." Jousah shouted to the woman, now trudging her way from the sea. Her swim cap and tight fitting swimsuit were the only thing stopping her from being further drenched in saltwater. As she peeled the goggles from her eyes to dry them out, the next swimmer dove into the water. One after another, doll after doll diving into the Forneus Sea to reach a bright yellow buoy marking the hundred meter mark. Jousah timed the swimmers, jotting their scores down in a waterproof note pad.

While he was the party type, he was also a fan of all kinds of sports and games. The parties he hosted were usually only contained to his apartment. But with weather like this, how could anyone want to stay inside for much longer without getting into the summer heat and catching some waves. Sadly for Jousah, drinking and partying didn't mix too well with big bodies of water. Pools were manageable, but losing someone in the tide is no mindless fix. He decided to take a more serious role for this party, encouraging the fun of being physically active. Training sprint swimmers was one of many sports he'd be tasked with monitoring for today. After going over the form and technique of the remaining swimmers and giving them a party pass, he left them to dance and enjoy themselves with the others that earned their way into the party. 

The next station set up was for surfing. A line of gently stoned buns stood side by clutching their surf boards and chuckling about something that someone said as Jousah approached. "Yo Soccer boy. What do you know about surfing? We were just curious, since you're supposed to be teaching us or whatever." A bleach blonde man stood leaned on the side of a board covered in ornate tribal decor. Jousah, not even bothering to answer the question, used a tentacle to snatch up a pile of sand and throw it into the man's eyes. He reeled back, seething from the burning sensation of the grains against his pupils. 

"Get in the water and surf. Can you see the wave coming? Can you feel the water under you, is it pushing or pulling? Do you know where you're facing?" Jousah pushed the bottom of the board from under the man's arm, causing him to slip and land on one knee. Jousah tugged a bottle from his jacket and poured it over the blonde's face, freeing them of the debris obscuring their vision. "When you're in the zone, and a wave hits you in the face, and you're under that water. You have to know exactly what you are doing. You can't expect every wipeout. You can't predict speed or height. You gotta feel it. If you spent more time training, you'd know that every sport has rules like this. Futbol, surfing, fighting. If you can't feel it, you're going to fall hard." Jousah stood back, crossing his arms and pulling the pen and notepad back from under his jacket.

As he watched the surfers get on the waves, some did well. Others crashed hard and came back dragging their boards behind them in a walk of shame. Jousah did his best to console the beginners and praise the promising talent. Before long, he handed off passes to the group to join in on the party. He noticed though, some of them stayed behind to keep training. The blonde bun stood with the crew that stayed behind, giving a sheepish wave to Jousah as he left to attend the next group. The next station he had set up was a massive dodgeball square. On each side, two groups of buns sat eyeing their opposing team. Jousah figured for his last sporting event, he'd host a team game. While beach volleyball was a popular summer time choice, he liked the competitive nature of beach dodgeball much more.

The game started with each side running to the center for their balls, the sand subtly changing the texture of these balls to be grittier and easier to grip. Getting hit would feel like being slapped by a handful of salt. Each side leapt and slid to avoid getting hit by the bright red bullets that were being sent back and forth. After only five minutes, half of each team was gone. Only the exceptional runners and throwers remained, and perhaps most impressively, a bun played amongst the dolls. The tactic of using their small size to leap to and fro avoiding hits was surprisingly effective. This made for an uneven playing field, the right team struggled to get the speeding bun out, while the left team took the opportunity to horde balls for an onslaught. Jousah had to step in and keep things civil. His idea of civil however, was joining the losing team in his bun form as well. Once the opposing side realized what was happening, they started their onslaught a bit earlier than planned. Pelting balls towards Jousah with ferocity, hoping to peg the host square with the dodgeballs. But to their utter horror, he caught them one after another. Each tentacle stretching out to slap the ball of the air and into Jousah's arms. Catching ball after ball, tossing them to his team and preparing their comeback. It was no surprise how the game went from them on, Jousah stood front and center, collecting any offense the other team had and sending them to the bench one after another. By the end, the score was a neat fifteen to thirty. 

Jousah waved the final group off to join the party. But not before addressing the sorely losing team. "Sorry about that. Perhaps, we can rematch some time?"