Quoted By:
You can’t help but watch Mitzi work–granted, she isn’t doing something <span class="mu-i">really</span> cool like assembling a big pile of handguns or whatever, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t a <span class="mu-i">tad</span> enraptured by the way she puts kits together as easily as you tie your shoes!
“Sure…” Ly mutters as you continue to stare, “Dat’s why we always wear <span class="mu-i">laceless</span> boots, right?”
Yep. Sure. Whatever! Waving your snarky bones off, you ask Mitz if she’d mind giving you a quick rundown on <span class="mu-b">SCUBA–</span>y’know… just in case, or whatever!
“Absolutely <span class="mu-i">not</span>.”
Her words hit you like a truck. Wh-wha?
“Naaah, just kidding. I said I’d take you out there once all this was over, didn’t I?” She adds with a toothy grin! “Can’t chuck ya’ in the water while we’re moving, but I can go over the basics…”
Sure, you nod, crossing your arms over your chest! You’re pretty sure you get the idea already, but-
“... but you wouldn’t mind me ironing out the details, right?” She concludes, raising an eyebrow your way. Yea! What she said!
“Watch and learn, flash.” Detaching the mess of rubber tubes and, uh, breathy… bits… from a cylinder, your instructor underhand tosses the tangle into your outstretched hands. “This right here is the regulator, but most folks call it an ‘<span class="mu-i">octopus</span>’.”
Ahhh, you mutter, because of-
“Yep, all the ‘tentacles’.” Mitz says with a grin. Ah. That was your <span class="mu-i">second</span> guess! “You attach this guy to your cylinder along with your buoyancy compensator–that’s the backpack thing.” Following her finger to the shoulder straps lying on the floor, you watch with interest as she buckles it around the cylinder she tested earlier.
“The backpack controls how much you float–pump too much air and you’ll bob on the surface. Too little and you’ll be walking, not diving.” Showing you where the straps attach to the cylinder, Mitzi’s hand wanders over to the valve on top. “Oh right, before I forget: <span class="mu-i">always</span> check your cylinder before ya’ assemble your kit.”
Right, you nod, wouldn’t want to get poisoned or something.
“Sure…” She shrugs, “That and it’s <span class="mu-i">super</span> embarrassing to be the one person holding everyone up while you reassemble. Doesn’t matter now, of course, but… yea.”
Tightening the straps holding the cylinder, she points to the back of the cylinder where the valve sits. “You’re gonna want this in the back, too–otherwise you’ll keep bumping it with your head and it’ll suck, trust me. You can attach the octopus here.” Following her finger to a screw-on point at the top of the cylinder, you stick your tongue out in concentration as you twist it on.
“Make it tight–you want the oxygen to flow into the rebreather, not the water, right?”
<span class="mu-i">DUH!</span>
>CONTD.
