Tales from a Con

by Admiral Biscuit

209 A Quick Dip

A Quick Dip

There’s no better way to spend a summer evening than at a pool party. A chance to swim, to sunbathe, to socialize, or to eat snacks. Most people have made their decisions, yourself included—you’ve got a perfect spot on a chaise lounge, half a bottle of soda and a few chips left over.

You might or might not go in the pool later—you haven’t decided just yet. Right now it’s mostly full of boys, roughhousing and being unruly. A couple of girls are clustered up against the side, and Rainbow Dash’s out there with the rest of the boys.

As you’d expect.

Sonata walks by and sits down next to you. She’s got a sack of tacos—takeout. How the hey does she keep her figure when she eats so many tacos?

“You want one?”

You pull your sunglasses down. The question wasn’t addressed to you; Aria reaches over and grabs one out of the paper sack. “Where’s you get these?”

“Taco truck down the street.”

“Really? We didn’t pass it on the way in.”

“No, it just arrived a few minutes ago.” She bites down on a taco.

“I swear, you can smell those things from a mile away.” Aria starts picking taco filling out and eating it.

Sonata shrugs and turns her attention back to her taco.

It smells delicious, and you’re considering the advantages of heading down the street to get a taco or two for yourself. Junk food’s good, but not really filling at all.

“What’s up with those two?” Aria says around a mouthful of taco.

You follow her pointing finger. Snips and Snails are over in a corner, talking. Snails has a swimsuit on but you haven’t seen him in the pool yet. Snips doesn’t, he’s wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.

“I dunno.” Sonata is more interested in her taco.

“Looks like a pair of total losers. Who invited them anyway?”

You frown. They might be total losers, but there wouldn’t be a pool party without Snips—it’s his house.

Well, technically his parents’, but the point still stands.

“Ought to throw the fat one in the pool.”

“You do that.”

Aria stands up, takes a couple steps, and notices that Sonata isn’t making any move to join her. “Well?”

“I’ve got tacos.”

Aria looks at you.

You sigh. She’s one of the cool girls, and part of the reason for accepting the invitation in the first place was to hang out with the cool people.

Not everyone was invited by Snips or Snails, you’re sure of that. Things had spiraled, as they often did; friends of friends, people who heard about the party and just crashed it.

You, at least, had been invited. You’re not so sure about those two.

---

[CHOICE]

>No way, it’s his house. Do you even have an invitation? (Hero)
>Sure, it’ll be hilarious. (Chaos)

---

[CHOICE A: Hero]
“Why?”

Aria frowns and looks at you. “Why?”

“Why throw Snips in the pool? What’s in it for you?”

“It’s funny—he needs to lighten up, play with the rest of the boys.” She jerks her thumb towards the pool. “Not just stuff his face.”

Ironic, given that she just finished eating a taco. “It’s his house and his party, he can do what he wants.”

“You are such a loser.” Aria crosses her arms and glares at you. You respond by pushing your shades back up. “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

“Not a good idea,” you warn her. “He’s stronger than he looks.”

“Pfft,whatever.”

One Minute Later

You watched with interest as Aria lured Snips away from his corner and towards the pool, and then when she’d decided he was close enough, grabbed at him in an attempt to drag him into the pool.

You knew something that Aria clearly didn’t: Snips had lettered in wrestling twice—Varsity and J.V. Aria didn’t stand a chance; her attempt to pull him into the pool was doomed to failure from the start. He dropped his stance, twisted out of her hold, and rolled her off his back straight into the water.

He strutted back to his corner with a ‘heroes never look back’ swagger, and then settled in against the wall, resuming his conversation with Snails as if he’d never been interrupted.

---

[CHOICE B: Chaos]

Still, Snips and Snails are kinda losers. Last you knew they were both simping for Trixie—who you’re sure was invited, but didn’t show up.

You might not be invited to the next one . . . whatever, you’ll be doing cool stuff with the cool girls. “What’s the plan?”

“We each grab a side, toss him in. Easy peasy.”

“Sneaky?”

“Why bother, he’ll never see it coming.”

“We could pretend we were getting more snacks,” you point to the table. “And then strike.”

“I like it.” Aria grabbed her plate and you grabbed yours and the two of you made your way over to the snack table.

He was so engrossed in his conversation with Snips he never saw you coming. He was heavy, but being blindsided worked to your advantage, and you had him to the edge of the pool before he realized what was about to happen.

Your toss wasn’t exactly coordinated, and he grabbed out—Aria twisted away but he got you and dragged you in with him. Whatever, you were wearing a swimsuit.

And then it all went wrong. Snips reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, water pouring out of it. He slammed it on the pool deck and came out of the water like an angry bull. You thought he was going to grab Aria and toss her in; instead, he cold-cocked her. She dropped like a sack of bricks.

After that, things went downhill fast—Sonata got flung into the pool and then the brawl started in earnest.

Comments

[Walabio]

I always choose hero.

[Admiral Biscuit]

11776860
I'll be honest, this is one of those where the 'chaos' ending is the more entertaining one.

(and there's at least one other story where the hero ending isn't the 'right' ending; in one of them the Chaos option is the canon ending [you'll know when you get to it, I think]).