[attr="class","mouths1"]In response to the initial stare that he acquired as a result of his first statements and responses alike, Bai Hu found his smirk absentmindedly broadening throughout the general span of time that he focused upon his companion; a speck of laughter failing to stifle itself within his throat, and those slipping from his lips faintly within the grand scheme of things. Azure voids narrowed faintly as if emphasizing the degree of amusement that he felt within those particular moments in time; one brow furrowing all the while, and the remaining arching upwards. ”As bad with water as you are keeping a grip on things~?” he mused aloud with a continuous smile; snickering while nudging her softly all the while. He barely spared a faint glance towards their hands as he took note of the fact that she seemed to maintain and even tighten her own grasp upon his own - despite his commentary in regards to the whole ‘butterfingers’ ideal - though merely glanced back towards her yet again without saying much about it for the moment. Rather, he stuck his tongue out and shrugged instead of calling her out on it right away. ”And yeah, Jaz. A Pumpkaboo~. You look like a frickin’ Pumpka--”

And as could be easily guessed and assumed, he wasn’t quite able to finish that statement- and if anything, he really just gave an aggressively exaggerated sputter as water flew into his mind throughout the same time that the words themselves were supposed to be coming out. Tensing up somewhat suddenly, be quickly spat out what few trickles of water splashed inwards; immediately going on to give her a pouting glare while childishly going on to swat his hand through the water to send a bigger splash right back at her. ”Booo…! Fuck yooooouuuu…!” he whined all the while; quirking his lip while softly flicking her nose and forehead alike soon afterwards. ”Geez… Real mature, there, y’know,” he went on in a more or less joking, yet at the same time, hypocritical manner. ”Reeeeaaaaaal mature. Shame on you~.”

For a short while, the teasing smirk of amusement continuously played upon his lips throughout those remarks- though his eyes themselves seemed faintly more focused and interested within what her hands were doing just a little bit more by then. Although he hadn’t quite allowed the aforementioned smirk of his to diminish, the fact of the matter was that the gestures in themselves were more than enough to make them ponder a tad more- and although his heart hadn’t been beating nearly as quickly or intensely as hers was within those same moments, he would’ve been lying if he even so much as dared to claim that the confinements of his own chest weren’t suffering from a similar, pressuring rhythm from within its own walls. He eyed her hands for a little while more - especially after he found her fingers twining together with his - with a vague speck of thought within his gaze altogether before peering upwards to meet her gaze once more.

...Or he tried to, at least.
What with how she seemed to focus on the waters rather than him, and all.

Nevertheless, he took her latter words to mind before quirking his lip in thought. Another glance was spared towards their hands, and - after giving a swift, yet instinctively gentle squeeze of her own hands within his all the while - he shrugged while snickering softly. Given his height, it was safe to assume that it would take a fair amount of depth for him to actually make an effort to keep himself afloat, so he simply eyed her while taking a few, initial steps backwards; attempting to pull here a little bit further towards the deeper ends of the pool itself.

”Hey- I wouldn’t have suggested this if I wasn’t willing to~,” he spoke back with another, teasing laugh. He took another step back while tilting his head; his smile broadening all the while in both curiosity and further amusement all the same. ”Really just depends if you’ll freak out while I try to or not~. It’s up to you, really~.”

[attr="class","mouths1"]As per his common demeanor, Bai Hu himself merely continued to peer towards his neighboring companion with that same, ongoing, and more or less dorky smirk; only ending it as his face and general expression scrunched in both distaste and unappreciative reactions in response to her flicking gesture. Within the same, general span of time, he leaned back on instinct and gave a grumble - one that truthfully and actually sounded more like an awkwardly distressed grumble, if anything else - as the water flung up in response to her movement and flew into his face. An exaggerated cough sounded from him as he quite literally spat and sputtered a little bit of water out, and went on to whine quietly while poking at her with his free hand. ”Tsk~... That’s meeeaaaaan, Jaz~! Really mean…!” he went on jokingly, giving her a subtle, childish pout. It remained upon his general expression before instead contorting into the earlier, signature smirk that he wore on a common basis; instead opting to lift his hand another time before slapping it down on the water’s surface within the areas closer to her. ”And what was thaaat…? Don’t think I heard you over--”[break][break]

The very reason why she facepalmed him.[break][break]

And the very reason why he immediately gave another, aggressive sputter while shuffling back rather suddenly within the waters; the action swiftly followed by the same hand that was used to cut the water’s surface lifting itself up before pressing itself into her own, pushing it aside in order to move it away from his face. ”Motherfu-- Alright, alright…! I get the memo…! Goddamn…!” he screamed for a final time, whining aggressively in response to his companion’s actions. A quiet grumble escaped his lips; low, pouting murmurs in foreign tongues of his own sounding softly under his breath as he turned his head a tad more in order to gain a better look of the woman next to him after she more or less dunked herself into the water and resurfaced little more than a few seconds later. For several moments, voids of a nature, azure hue - as he had prompted to remove his crimson colored contacts in the dressing rooms in for sake of his own eyes’ safeties - were brought to loom upon the aforementioned person; scanning her form and general behaviors before he clicked his tongue. Yet again, he lifted his hand, and - once he took note of the fact that she had been brushing her bangs back - he took the opportunity to quickly flick her forehead a couple of times. ”...For the record, though...I could agree to disagree,” he went on, shrugging leisurely all the while. ”I mean, you did agree to going to a damn water park~. I dunno what the Hell you were expecting, ‘cause getting drenched in one way or another is pretty much implied by the place alone~.”[break][break]

By the end of those most recent words, the pout that he wore had instead been replaced by a rather faint, sly, and amused smirk of amusement all the same; its form small, yet still clear upon his expression as it tugged upon his lips within a slightly mischievous and teasing manner. Chuckling softly upon catching sight of the soft flush spreading across her cheeks, he merely gave her another, smaller shrug before tilting his head a small bit; and action that was rather quick to be reversed and replaced with another sputter as she splashed another wave of water towards him. He coughed and spat a little more water out while wiping the excess water from his eyes and face in general, flicking her temple that time around. ”Pfft… Real mature, there, Jaz~,” he murmured sarcastically. ”Aaaand you say you can’t swim for the life of you- which I get~. Doesn’t mean you can’t be taught, though,” the man said simply, raising an eyebrow at her. He nudged his arm against her gently, nodding towards it before giving her another glance. ”After all, I ain’t always gonna be here to be your damn lifeline~. You never know, either. Maybe one day you’ll be forced to swim, and I’d rather hear that you were able to swim and save yourself instead of flail and drown~. That being said--”[break][break]

Truth be told, he had been about to sneak his arm away from her grasp with the intent of taking both of her hands within his own; preparing himself to turn enough in order to face her for sake of aiding her in at least being able to gently and slowly paddle around. However, before he was able to do so, he felt a rather sudden shift in pressure; his eyes widening within an initial sense of surprise as the waters next to him were abruptly disturbed as Jasmine fell in. Another, foreign tongued murmur - one that seemed to be a curse - escaped his lips as he immediately turned and dunked himself in out of instinct; opening his beneath the surface, and - although with a blurry sight - managed to determine where exactly she was. He reached out and took her hand around the same time that she herself extended her own towards him, and he resurfaced just as quickly as he submerged while doing his part to pull her back up.[break][break]

He shook his head rather vigorously and aggressively once he was above the surface again; ridding his hair of as much of the water weighing it down as he could as he used both of his hands to secure the neighboring individual. ”Arceus, Jaz… You say you don’t have butterfingers, but you literally just took it to the next level right now…” he groaned quietly, peering back down at her. ”Seriously, one day you’re gonna--”

Now, if he had to be honest, he didn’t know where he was going with that statement.[break]
He didn’t know, so that’s why it was somewhat of a saving grace that he had his attention caught by something else.[break][break]

He stared at her and the manner in which her hair basically shrouded around her for several moments before snorting and poking at it gently.[break][break]

”...Dude. You look like a frickin’ Pumpkaboo~.”

[attr="class","mouths1"]...If he had to be completely honest with himself, he didn’t exactly see any of this coming.[break][break]

Well, he obviously didn’t expect to come across this specific person anytime soon - what with how she basically dropped off the face of the damned earth as far as he and his friends were concerned in any sense - but her mannerisms within the current moment seemed to be what was catching more of his focus, attention, and interest within the last several moments throughout her own responses. Yet again, his own tail twitched faintly and thoughtfully behind his form as he watched the woman throughout her choices of words; crimson voids of his drifted up and eyeing her ears while they pinned firm against her head as a result of emotions that he himself assumed to be more or less clear- and that right there was what was surprising him for the most part. After all, she was the one who left. ...She was the one who hadn’t exactly surfaced towards him, nor everyone else, on her own, free volition.[break][break]

Yet...as he was looking at her, she seemed remorseful.[break]
Hell, more than remorseful.[break]
Whatever she was feeling, it made her--[break][break]

”...Dude, you look like shit right now~.”[break][break]

Yeah. Yeah, that.[break]
It made her look like that.[break][break]

Anyways… While speaking those words, the ghost himself lifted his free hand and gently ran it through his hair; scratching his head before ruffling the ashen locks twining over his fingers all the while. He took another sip of his drink - a quicker, yet longer one at the same time - before lowering it enough to begin swirling it idly. ”And I mean… Yeah. Dunno why you did what you did, and I do think it was more than a dick move to pull off, but… I ain’t gonna go chuckin’ you across the damn bar.” He shrugged while taking pause for another drink; polishing off the remainder of his drink within the second swig alone before nodding towards his cousin and gratefully accepting the new Long Island Iced Tea that he already prepped for him beforehand. Once it was in hand, he swirled it a little bit more before taking a smaller sip from it; sighing from relief and satisfaction from the chill and flavor alike. ”...’Cause I mean… First off, I ain’t just gonna do that in clear public~. I dunno about you, but I actually like this place and would prefer not to be blacklisted for a damn bar fight~.”[break][break]

A faint smirk tugged upon his lips as he took yet another, leisurely sip.[break][break]

”...And second? I ain’t one for just kicking a chick in the cooter or something outta the blue, so… Yeah~. Unless you pull something first, you’re safe. ...For now~.”[break][break]

With those words, the man spun slowly within his own chair in order to face the bar counter itself once more; finally setting his drink back down and upon its surface before leaning back against the chair’s support behind him. He rolled his neck gradually at first before sharply (and rather aggressively) tilting it to either side to release several loud cracks as he popped it. Sighing outwards within a continued sense of relief, he breathed a murmur under his breath while placing his hands in his lap and crossing his legs. For a split second, his smirk turned pensive as he quirked his lip and hummed lowly. ”...As far as romances go…? Eh. I dunno~. Things could be better. I wish they could be better~,” he responded after a little while. ”But not accounting that…? ...Yeah~. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve been reasonably better~.”