Good Causes - Kira Burke, Robin, John Stoker

YOU CRAZY, Robin signs, then tucks his gloved fingers back into his pockets.
FOR GOOD CAUSE, Kira signs back. SUPPORT PENGUIN RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION IN ANTARCTICA. JULES AND I DO EVERY-YEAR.
She waves at the redhead with the pixie cut standing next to the sign-in booth. Robin’s never met this girl before, but he guesses she’s one of Kira’s friends from residential Deaf school, given that they’ve been signing at each other since they caught sight of each other in the sign-in line. Robin thought he was good at this, but clearly Kira’s been signing slowly for all her work teammates. With Jules, her fingers and hands are little more than a blur. Robin can catch the odd word here and there, but for the most part, their conversation is theirs alone.
He gets wanting to catch up with an old friend. He totally understands wanting to support something that protects nature. What he does NOT get is signing up to be diving into frigid water.
Apparently, that makes him the minority here.
There must be over a hundred people already. All of them appear to be wearing some variation on a black-and-white color scheme. Kira and Jules both have 'ugly sweaters’ with matching penguin designs on them, but a few others have gone the extra mile and are actually dressed to look like penguins themselves.
John sets down a thermos that, if Robin recognizes the smell, is a batch of atole. Warm and thick and sweet. It sounds good already. Robin is feeling a bit frozen himself already, and he’s not planning on going in the water. He and John and Cody all pitched in to contribute to the donation fund, but all three of them opted out of going in the water, although John and Robin are tagging along to be moral support, from the comfort of dry land.
Kira looks more excited about this than any human being has a right to. Jules runs over with her copy of her signed waiver, her 'dry land’ partner (her roommate Hazel, and who isn’t Deaf but is Hard of Hearing, Kira signs) following. Jules looks like she can’t stand still longer than a few seconds, jogging in place and bouncing up and down a little. Robin likes her already. Aside from the fact that she’s apparently convinced one of the sanest people he knows that this is a good idea.
They stand around people-watching and occasionally contributing to Kira and Jules and Hazel’s conversation for about half an hour before someone calls over the loudspeaker that it’s time for the first group to get ready, and Hazel taps both the others on the shoulders since they’ve left their hearing aids behind for this.
Apparently, since the registrations are under Kira’s name, they’re in the “B’s” and get to go with the first wave. Kira sheds her sweater and sweatpants and hands them off to Robin. She and Jules are both wearing black leggings and black t-shirts with white screen-printed ovals on the front, like a cartoon penguin. The printed ovals have cracks and a few places where the design has flaked off, they must be the same shirts they wear every year.
They both run off to the water, link arms, and race down the beach into the water at the same time when the event organizer shouts that it’s time to go.
Robin jumps a little at the cacophony of shrieking and shouting. Some people stay in for only a short time before climbing back out and being met by their dry partners with towels. Kira and Jules stay a bit longer, splashing around and jumping up and down when they find someone else who signs. John is chuckling, shaking his head. Hazel rubs her arms through her sweater.
The crowd at the beach and in the ocean has thinned out quite a bit by the time the two girls start wading back to shore, only a few who seem to want to prove they’re tough (or may have gone numb by now) are still in the water.
Both of them are shivering when John and Robin and Hazel show up with their towels. It’s hard to see a noticeable difference on Kira’s brown skin, but Jules definitely has a bluish tinge to her lips and fingers. They’re grinning, despite chattering teeth. Robin is pretty sure they must have frozen most of their brain cells to look this happy. He feels cold just watching them.
They both grab their bags of dry clothes and run off to the tent set up for the participants to change. Robin wonders if part of their strategy with staying in longer was so they wouldn’t have to wait outside the changing tent in the chilly breeze so long. He wouldn’t put it past Kira to literally have this down to a science.
When she comes back, wearing a rusty-orange sweatshirt, thick sweatpants, and a soft scarf wrapped around her still-damp hair, Robin puts an arm around Kira’s shoulder, letting his magic spread warmth through his hands. Kira leans into him, and John wraps a blanket around the both of them, it’s one of Robin’s mom’s that he insisted they bring along, the residual magic woven in lends an extra layer of warmth. Robin rubs a hand up and down Kira’s arm, feeling the residual chill and shivering slightly when her damp hair presses against his neck and cheek.
Kira takes the thermos from John and pours off a cup for Jules before drinking her own share straight from the bottle.
THANK YOU, Jules signs to John.
YOU’RE WELCOME.
WHAT IS THIS? NOT HOT C-O-C-O-A, BUT GOOD.
A-T-O-L-E. TRADITIONAL MEXICAN DRINK.
KIRA SHOULD BRING YOU EVERY YEAR.
Kira grins. PLAN TO. MAYBE EVEN CONVINCE THEM TO JUMP IN.
Robin shakes his head. He’s not going in that water…or at least he doesn’t plan to. But coming along for the ride and watching Kira do something she loves? That, he’s more than happy to do every single year.