The Beach, Bright and Early Friday Morning

[glacial_queen]

Karla was a little grumpy about being up so early on a Friday, especially since she didn't have classes, but her internal clock was clearly having issues. She'd come home after Caritas last night, was almost asleep before she fell into bed, and then had woken up while there were still stars in the sky.

What. The. Hell.

She'd tried going back to sleep, but that hadn't worked. So, she'd messaged Francine's phone to let her know to meet her on the beach whenever she was ready to fly and headed out to the beach before dawn.

It was a pretty time of day, even if Karla was happier not seeing it often. The air was cool, the sky was turning very interesting colors, and birdsong was much pretter when you were already awake, rather than trying to stay asleep when they started. Karla admired the view for a bit before calling in Ender's web. It was as good a time as any to keep her promise. She spread the web out on the beach and then called in several tongues of witchfire. The silk burned easily, curling upon itself, turning first brown and then black before combusting into flame. In almost any other circumstance, Karla would have been saddened to light such a lovely web on fire. Today, though, she was just pleased to be rid of the thing.

When it was reduced completely to ashes, she scooped them all up and spread them in the water, to be carried far, far away by the waves. And she felt a lot better for having done so.

[Karla's here for one, but open beach is open!]

Comments

[thatsamilkshake]

Fear the Morning People, Karla. Feeeeear them!

Francine was down to the beach within minutes of getting the message, she'd already been bouncing around for half an hour going Wheeee, flying! and trying to pick out the best clothes for it.

"Hiiii hi hi hi hi!"

[glacial_queen]

Karla blinked. Several times. This was definitely a side of Francine that she'd never seen before. Usually Francine was a little shyer, more subdued more absolutely boggled by Karla and her oddities. "Hi," she said. "You're up really early. Excited then?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Wings. Wings. ...Also she'd just spent a week with a raccoon-man and a a psychic jaguar. Her scale of oddities had shifted a bit.

"I don't usually get up quite this early, but I'm kind of a morning person anyway."

[glacial_queen]

And there was Karla copying Francine's 'you are my brain on drugs' look. "Why?!"

There were certain things Karla just couldn't comprehend.

She called in her wings--complete with that blasted bodystocking--and the spare set from Dinah's room. She held out the second set--mercifully free from said blasted bodystocking--for Francine to grab. They were mechanical creations of wood and metal, with shimmering yellow fabric between the struts. Leather straps dangled; they formed a harness when fastened. In the back, where the rings met, was a softly glowing Yellow Jewel chip.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Because... it's when I wake up? Most of the time. I like a nice lazy weekend morning in bed just as much as anybody." Francine took the wings from her and...okay for the first time looked a little dubious about this process, as she eyed the straps. "They kind of look like something I saw on the rack at that Decadent Delights store."

[glacial_queen]

"Ah. I'm more of a crack of noon kind of girl myself," Karla said with a grin. "This getting up with the birds thing is...well, for the birds."

She saw Francine's dubious glance at the straps and grinned. "They aren't," she assured. "It's just to keep you strapped in so you don't fall out of the sky."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I'm in favor of not falling out of the sky." She tried slipping the harness on like a backpack, which more or less worked, though the effect was very Hi, I'm Francine! And these are my boobs!

[glacial_queen]

This was Karla. Not giggling. Really. "I'll let you get sorted out while I tug this on," she said, pulling up a sight-shield. There were a few muffled curses from behind it as Karla pulled on the bodysuit from Hell. Seriously, she was going to have to find the short, scary teacher from the summer and demand to know when she'd gone to Kaeleer.

"Ready?" she asked, dropping the shield when she was changed.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine blinked.

Look, it was a blonde in a tight outfit. It did ...slightly strange things to her brain. "That, um. Looks nice."

[glacial_queen]

Karla wasn't entirely sure what Francine's look meant. But it sorta had her blushing anyway. So she started rambling a bit.

"It's too tight," she complained, trying to stretch it out a bit. It didn't really move. "I mean, I can move around in it," she did a quick backbend to show what she meant, "but it's really clingy."

Karla: mistress of not actually helping.

[thatsamilkshake]

"............Right. I guess that would be bad."

[glacial_queen]

"I think it's like the fabric used by that creepy little teacher," Karla complained. "It's kind of frustrating, really. It would be one thing if I had anything to show off, but...all it does is prove I'm mostly rib and pointy hip."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine... found the buckles on her straps very interesting. "Hey, some people like tiny blondes with issues."

[glacial_queen]

Karla just sighed. "I'd rather be built like you. Hey wait a minute--did you lose weight?"

Never let it be said that Karla was not oblivious.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Um, yeah." Oh, Francine, don't be flattered. That's--- Marie, you have so much to answer for. "The plaguey way. I don't recommend the diet plan."

[glacial_queen]

"As a Healer, I don't either," Karla said with a shake of her head. "Was it the magic plague Merlin mentioned?"

She went around Francine's back and started tugging on the wings and making sure everything fit snugly. And took the opportunity to smear some blood on the Jewel. She didn't think Francine would be as calmly accepting of that as Ender or Dinah.

[thatsamilkshake]

She might be surprised what Francine was calmly accepting of, now. Well, somewhat calmly. As long as somebody wasn't trying to make killer mist out of the blood...

"Yeah. It knocked a bunch of us out."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was going to be knocked on her as sometime soon when it came to Francine. It would be good for her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that. Plagues suck," she said, giving the wings a final tug. "There. That looks perfect. Ready to fly?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Clapping your hands in front of you can be difficult when there's Things in the way, but Francine managed. "So ready!"

[glacial_queen]

Karla explained how the Craft-powered wings worked, making sure Francine understood everything. A few quick wing-exercises later and Karla judged they were ready to go. "It's easier to start from a dive than to work our way up," she said, building a staircase of air as she spoke. "Let's get some height and go, shall we?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Okay, that did get her a bit of oldskool your-brain-on-Karla staring. Francine had never actually seen the airwalking thing go down.

"Um." Suck it up, Peters. Suck it uuuuuup. "Okay‽"

Mmm, interrobang.

[glacial_queen]

Great. Karla, so concerned about Francine in other matters, took no notice of her reticence here. By this time, she just sort of assumed that everyone had seen or experienced airwalking.

She concentrated, quickly building a staircase and a platform out of air, high enough for them to gain some altitude. The wind off the ocean would give them a bit of lift, too.

"Come on," she said cheerfully, bounding up the stairs. "We've got a lot of island to cover!"

[thatsamilkshake]

I am not going to fall and smush my face. Step. I am not going to fall and smush my face. Step. I am not going to fall and smush my face. Step.

She made it halfway up before it finally hit her.

I am wearing WINGS. If I fall, I will not smush my face.

Didn't really make her any less nervous about making a fool of herself, but she did at least make a lot better time the rest of the way up.

Staring down the from the platform at nothing beneath her feet was a little... "Ulp." Though.

[glacial_queen]

At the 'Ulp,' Karla glanced over to check on Francine. She'd been busy checking the wind currents and flight conditions to really notice her before. "You okay?" she asked. Surely Francine wasn't afraid of heights or anything, right? That would just be silly.

She pointed to the sky. "Clouds coming in. We might get some rain soon." Oh, Karla, if only you knew. "We can still get some good flying in, unless I miss my guess. Ready to go?"

On 'go,' a bright blue net of power surged out from the platform in all directions. Karla was not letting Francine fly without a safety net until she was certain how well she was going to do.

[thatsamilkshake]

Not heights! Just... falling! Also, of looking dumb.

"Ready!" Best cheery thumbs-up in a major motion picture goes to...