beach | late morning | sunday | march 21

[therewaslife]

It was too nice a day to stay inside. Bod decided that very early in the morning when he'd been woken by a dream that left him feeling vaguely unsettled. A walk into town had proven calming and when he'd found himself on the beach, he was mostly calm.

Bod hadn't seen many beaches before so stopping here and enjoying the cooler air and smell of salt seemed like a good way to spend some time. He toed off his shoes and let the still chilly water wash around his feet. The wet sand sunk between his toes and drew a smile from him. Soon enough, it'd be warm enough to swim, he thought.

For now, though, he was just going to stand close to the water, hands in his pockets and wind in his hair. The unsettled feeling from earlier was almost already gone.

[the beach is definitely open, yes!]

Comments

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela was jogging along the beach with a huge scowl permanently affixed to her face. When was Alessandro going to stop convincing Hilshire to endorse ridiculously useless orders?

Wear a dress or skirt for your daily runs until further notice was absolutely moronic. She couldn't move properly with the fabric flapping about!

Some part of her knew that was the point, that she was going to have to get used to it, but... most of her was just pissed off. And it was the pissed off part that controlled her facial expressions.

So there she was, a skinny blond girl running along the beach at as steady a pace as she could manage in a light floral print sundress, looking like she wanted to hit something.

[therewaslife]

Even with the nose of the ocean, it was still quiet enough that a new sound was able to permeate Bod's thoughts. He turned his head, eyes finding that the source was a rather angry looking girl.

He didn't say anything though, mostly because she looked intent on being angry at something or someone. But, he noticed her and gave a nod to illustrate that.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela was deeply involved in being angry at the stupid people an ocean away, but someone on the beach made for a good distraction.

Someone she didn't think she knew, too.

Her pace slowed to a jog, and then to a stop not far from him. "I don't think we've met." She still sounded angry, but it was a diffuse sort of anger, not directed at him.

[therewaslife]

"We haven't," said Bod, nodding but staying otherwise still. "Hullo. I'm Bod. I'm still fairly new to the island."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Triela." She held out a darkly-tanned hand. "Nice to meet you." She managed to sound sincere through her obviously lingering disaffection with something.

[therewaslife]

"And yourself," he said, taking the offered hand a bit slowly. "You don't sound as if it's nice to do anything, though. Bad day?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Her handshake was firm. Extremely firm. "Bad... semester." Triela's gaze shifted down to her sundress, which was actually rather nice, and she scowled.

[therewaslife]

"I'm sorry to hear that," Bod said sincerely if nothing else. "Does running typically help or were you more hoping for a distraction?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"A bit of both, I suppose. Running is... calming."

Well, most of the time.

[therewaslife]

"I tend to walk myself," he said, taking a hand out and gesturing to the expanse of beach he was in the middle of. "As evidenced by where I am now. Has your method worked?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"It usually works better." Then, in a rare moment of introspection, she added. "Though it usually only delays things..."

[therewaslife]

"Well, yes," he agreed with a another slight nod. "Most methods of distraction won't solve a problem. They just provide a reprieve. Sometimes, those are just more needed than you think."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"True... and some problems can't be solved, so distraction is useful." It wasn't like any complaints from her were going to change her Orders.

[therewaslife]

"It is," he agreed and shrugged. "Too bad it only works for so long, isn't it? Before you have to face reality again. So, do your problems fall into the first option where they're able to be solved or where they can't be solved?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Oh, definitely the second." Triela scowled. "What about you?" Because everyone had problems.

[therewaslife]

"i'm actually not sure," he admitted with a light laugh. "I haven't tried to solve any of the problems so I don't think I'll know until I make the attempt."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Ah. Any particular reason?" Not that she didn't understand avoidance...

[therewaslife]

"No." He shook his head. "I'm sure I could have tried yesterday or even today but I just haven't felt compelled. They're not going anywhere and it was too nice out to stay inside."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough. Though sometimes the longer you leave a problem alone, the worse it gets." Generally Triela preferred to deal with sich things earlier rather than later.

Except for those hypacritical times when she didn't.

[therewaslife]

"Which would make it my fault," he retorted, nodding, "and not the fault of anyone else. I can't see my problems getting worse, though. They've been fairly consistent for awhile, unfortunately. I adapt as I go."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Well, in that case," Triela just shrugged. "If you find yourself needing a problem solved with violence, let me know." She could use the distraction.

[therewaslife]

"Violence?" he asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. "If you're not running, is that how you typically solve things?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

That drew a small smile from her. "I run to stay in shape so that I can solve things that way." Triela was good at violence.

[therewaslife]

"Does using aggression work?" asked Bod, curious. "From what I've seen, not everything needs a violent solution."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"But it does seem to solve problems rather permanently." And Triela liked only having to deal with her problems once.

[therewaslife]

"With the potential for opening a whole new set of problems," he added.

Bod had used out and out violence when he had to but he remembered how that situation had ended and had no desire to return to that feeling.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"You just have to pick the right violence, and the right target." Because it's so simple. At least in Triela's head.

[therewaslife]

"I don't think it's that simple," Bod said, shaking his head. "Violence never leads to simplicity."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Triela frowned at him. "What could be more simple?" Violence was straight-forward and direct, after all.

[therewaslife]

"I think it would depend on the situation, the problem," he answered after a moment. "For me, violence has never really led anywhere good. It's just opened up more consequences."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Then you need some less complicated situations, I think." At least most of the ones Triela was willing to admit she needed to deal with were simple and straightforward.

[therewaslife]

"I don't think I control the complexity of situations," he returned, shaking his head. "The simplest thing can and has turned out to be more than that on a few occasions. There's no way to know."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Hmm..." Triela thought about that. "I suppose there is that."

[therewaslife]

"I just haven't been in a situation, personally, where aggression helped," he said, eye flicking towards the water before moving back to her. "That could just be me though. I've no way to know what others experienced."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"I've been in quite a few." Most of them, even. The Agency made a point of it, actually.

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

Tim had had a similar notion. Though his walk was more to take a break from midterm stress.

"Morning." he waved to Bod, taking off his shoes.

[therewaslife]

"Hullo," Bod said, returning the greeting with a word and a brief nod. He didn't recognize the other person so he kept it short for the time being.

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

Shoes off, Tim went to stand just inside the waterline. "Are you a student?"

[therewaslife]

"I am," he replied, nodding. "I arrived a few months ago so I'm still fairly new as compared to others."

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

Tim nodded. "I went there during the summer session, about four years ago." He glanced up at the school. "Is it still crazy?"

[therewaslife]

"I wouldn't know what makes something crazy," he said truthfully, shrugging. "I haven't been there long and I'm from a rather strange place myself. It seems fairly normal to me."

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah I guess I can relate to that. But when I went there we were attacked by Dragons made of Jello, one of my best friends had a kind of tentacle monster named Berthold living under her bed, another one had super strength, I had a class in Dadaism, and for a few days the entire island went mute due to some creepy floating guys. Which...at that point in my life was fairly crazy. Not so much now I guess."

[therewaslife]

"I really wouldn't know," Bod repeated, shaking his head. "I wasn't there for all that so I can't even begin to imagine or assume what it was like. It sounds rather unusual but what isn't here?"

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

"What sort of stuff has happened to you guys?"

[therewaslife]

"I haven't been here that long," Bod reiterated before adding, "but I know there were gremlins a few weeks back. They weren't very pleasant. From what I've been told, if something affects the school it most likely affects the island so everyone would experience it."

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

Tim hadn't been on the island a week before fighting a possesed Pippi and Walter. "Yeah that was exciting. I'm Tim by the way."

[therewaslife]

"Bod," he returned, nodding. "It's good to meet you, Tim. You're living in town, I assume?"

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah over in MCA. One of the many places that's changed a bit since I left."