Okay, nevermind, you are actually vibrating in sheer anticipation of waterrrrrrr

Laurie laughs, clasping his hands together.

You get up to leave, hesitating for a moment.

You give him a nod, walking for the door. Laurie gives you one last wave as you look over your shoulder, and after a few more steps, you’re in front of Minnie.

She holds your key fob and you watch as the number recharges, now at a solid “30”. 

You start rushing down towards the bar, a skip in your step. It’s pretty cleared out, and you imagine there’s more customers at the cafe right now- maybe the bar itself wasn’t even open, judging by the lack of noise from the kitchen. You find the hallway just fine, and down you go.

Your humming trick to find the room is a bit more impatient today, and you only slow down when you the words “POOL” in big, cursive font.

You open the door slowly, peeking your head in- but almost immediately the door shuts, a plastic frog toy sticking their head out. 

They notice your pin.

May as well be honest. 

The door closes before you make your point, and you’re left waiting.

Your excitement from the pool keeps you facing the door, raring for it to open any second. Though, it soon sinks in that it could be a few minutes, so you resign yourself to try being patient.

A knock down the hall catches your attention.

Glancing over, you spy a robot toy with a single, camera-like eye for a face, who just finished knocking on a door. But you hardly notice that at first, much more focused on their outfit:  A black tuxedo coat with tails, white gloves, and a purple bowtie.

You’re paralyzed, the weird feelings from your dream sinking back in and unsettling you.

The door they stood in front of opened, the robot quick to speak.

The toy who answered the door - a tall, colorful, metal-edged top in the shape of a dragon - interrupts them.

The metal top took the tray, hastily laying it somewhere inside.

The suited bot seems in shock, not moving from the door as the top turns and yells inside.

Another toy, this one a blue kite in a skirt, emerges from the doorframe with an audible gasp. They reach out and snag the robot from around the waist, a grunt coming from them as the kite pulls them in for a bear hug.

Some sort of accessorized handheld game console tugs the kite back, releasing their grasp on the robot.

This one leans on the door frame, getting a bit lower to address the robot.

The tuxedo-clad toy looks like they barely had themself together enough to form a response.

The game console frowned.

They traced a claw carefully along the robot's 'chin.'

They close the door.

With the door shut, you can hear it now:  The robot's fans were working overdrive, and you thought you could even see the faintest trail of smoke raising up from its head.
The toy's knees were shaking as they leaned against the wall just beside the door, presumably taking a sec to settle down. They were definitely embarrassed. You get that much, even if robotic toy expressions were more unfamiliar to you than most. Though... you can't exactly tell just by looking if they'd enjoyed it, or were just... humiliated.

Either way, you can't help but find them less intimidating after... whatever that was. The weird dream feelings had pretty much vanished by now.

The robot, only slightly more composed now, walks down the hall.

In your direction.

They seem to deliberately avoid eye contact as they pass you, though maybe they're just distracted? Once again, robots are weird; you can't really tell.

Just as they do, you hear a voice inside the pool room:

You consider reaching out to the robot, but second guess yourself- it does not look like it wants to talk. You settle for a half wave, your face concerned.  

If they notice your gesture, they don't show it at all, their head burying into their shoulders slightly as they pick up the pace, soon disappearing down the hall.

Even with them showing up in your dream…you can’t really suspect them too much, not after how different its mannerisms were. The look they had sits uncomfortably in your mind, and you can’t help but wonder about the “safety” section of your pamphlet, and Vine telling you how they don’t tolerate unruly or inappropriate guests. Just as you’re thinking over reporting those assholes and getting them what they deserve for making somebody feel that uncomfortable, the frog cleaner opens up the door and beckons you in.
 

 
You step inside and are immediately blasted with the smell of chlorine mixed with some kind of air freshener, clean and crisp. You’re not sure why you don’t hate it, but it feels…good, and you feel yourself get very, Very excited as soon as you see the large pool in the center of the room. There are ledges along the side for people to dip themselves in for a seat, and it doesn’t look all that deep in general…more for relaxing and gentle swimming than any kind of diving or sports. 

With that said, the room is definitely bigger than it looks like it would be from the hallway. Something tells you that that’s normal, and as you start to walk around the poolside, you notice benches, towel racks, lockers, and what looks to be a bunch of boxes labelled “SUBSTANCE PLAY MATERIALS” and “TOYS”. 

You turn to thank the frog and they’re already gone, leaving you alone in the most exciting room you’ve been in so far. 

You fight the urge to dive in, clothing and all. Oh god, you fight it. Every part of your being makes you want to jump in that pool and splash around and-

You go to one of the benches and slowly take off your boots, wiggling your feet a bit before walking over and sitting on the side of the pool. 

You dip your feet in.

The water is cold but not overly so, and feels clean…even more than ever, you want to dunk yourself in there, but you can’t break Laurie’s trust like that. He’s already given you a lot, and even if EVERY INSTINCT IN YOUR BODY IS SCREAMING TO SWIM, you have to have restraint. 

It’s blissful.

You glance up at the clock on the wall, seeing that around 30 minutes have passed since you left Laurie’s office. You still have three and a half hours left to yourself…

You could stay here and think things over, or go exploring here or elsewhere.