The Beach | Afternoon | Wednesday | July 28

[therewaslife]

Bod was finished with classes for the week. Originally, he'd planned on going back to his alcove and spending some quiet time there but he'd decided against that on the way back from his last class. Today felt like a day to be outside. It was warm but the sun didn't seem like it was out to sunburn his skin.

To Bod, that was a sign that going to the beach seemed in order. He wanted to swim and to feel the refreshing chill of the ocean's water. Pulling off his shirt revealed that he hadn't magically gotten tan overnight but he didn't care. He'd be in the water and he was getting used to being so pale.

Dropping his towel and shirt on the sand, he waded in somewhat before diving in and submerging himself, letting the water surround him for several moments before he came up and shook his wet hair out of his eyes. He'd forgotten his sunscreen but, right now, he didn't much care.

[The beach is an open place in town so go nuts!]

Comments

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Considering that Ariel's two classes today were all about enjoying the outdoors and being active, she still had plenty of energy to spare and figured spending it by the beach might be a lot of fun. She was bouncing along, trying to find a good spot to splash around that might still be easy to hide or escape from should she spot any suspect dolphins, when she noticed someone already having found one. She grinned, noting a male form, which was promising, and then took a second to shade her eyes from the sun with her hand to see if she could see who it was as she neared.

And then she saw it was Bod and the smile just dropped, as did her hand, and she spun right around on her heel and headed right back the way she came. There were plenty of other spots of beach other there that was so not this one....

[therewaslife]

Bod didn't really know what to make of Ariel stalking away when he'd surfaced and spotted her. He hadn't seen her since the misunderstanding and hadn't really sought her out.

Of course, him being in the water and her being on land made that harder now but he still frowned and tried to wave or get her attention somehow. He didn't say anything though because the words weren't there.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel was determined not to pay any attention at all to Bod, of course, and because of that, she wasn't paying attention to anything else, either, other than what was in front of her.

She should have been paying attention to what was below her.

For the second time that day, Ariel became the victim of poorly placed driftwood. Her toe caught on a piece she didn't even realize was there, her arms flailed, and then gravity took her over and she had yet another serving of sand sandwich.

Pllaauugh.

[therewaslife]

Well, that was going to have him climbing out of the water a little quicker than he'd been coming just to see if she was all right. The sand clung to his feet and ankles but he ignored.

"Are you all right?" he asked, coming to kneel close to her. "Ariel?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel spit a little sand and brought her hands to her mouth in a futile attempt to wipe it away and she was already upset because of Bod the Time Waster taking up beach that her anger then got focused on her legs, her stupid legs, the stupidest idea in the whole world because her she was stuck with these legs and no voice and no one was going to kiss her because it was practically like signing a death wish (or at least a disability wish, let's not get too overdramatic here), and so in about thirty days, she was going to be anthropomorphic seaweed at the bottom of some fat troll's hovel!

So Ariel was going to pass on the getting up and just plant her face in the sand for a second with her arms flayed uselessly to the side. Life suuuuuuuucked.

She tried to remind herself that at least she had two new tennis balls, a new frisbee, and binoculars to feel better about, though.

[therewaslife]

"Ariel?" Bod said, a little concerned by the way she'd suddenly sort of collapsed back into the sand. Of course, he didn't know what to do since she seemed to still be angry at him but he couldn't stop his concern.

"Do I need to get someone?" he asked carefully. He knew she couldn't talk to him for whatever reason but he thought he'd gotten fairly apt at picking up what she was saying. "Do you need help?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel sighed, which was an interesting move with her face still in the sand, and then she just lifted a hand and waved it dismissively. She was fine. She was okay. She just needed a moment here.

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said, standing up but not leaving. "Did you need a towel? I've one if you'd like to brush the sand off."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel waved her hand again, and did an impressive bit of manuevering of her arm to reach back and pat her bag, contents miraculously still in place, where among all the stolen sports good was her own towel. She definitely knew her beach essentials thanks for her class.

One more moment and then Ariel, who would never stay down for long, pushed herself up and turned around so that she was now plopping on her butt with her legs in front of her and she frowned down at them almost apologetically, sending them mental messages that she was sorry she ever thought they were stupid, because they weren't, they were amazing and she still had a month, a lot could happen in a month, a lot had to happen.

She glanced toward Bod with a slight, sheepish smile, shaking her head and rolling her eyes in exaggeration to express what a dumb klutz she was, seriously...

[therewaslife]

"I don't think you're the first person to ever trip," Bod said sympathetically, giving her a smile as he crouched down to see her better again.

"At least you're not hurt, though. I thought you might be with the way you stayed there. Perhaps the sand burned you or something stung you on your fall."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel's nose wrinkled a little, thinking about how neither of those options would add much to her fun, and then she looked at Bod being all nice to her and started to feel at least a little bit of guilt stinging her. She might have overreacted about things. Just a little. Maybe. She could still hold it against him, she decided, but she could at least not completely hate his guts.

So she shrugged a little, looked over toward the beach, and nodded toward it, before glancing back to Bod with an inquiring lift of her brow. Enjoying the nice beach, was he?

[therewaslife]

"I haven't had a lot of time to go swimming lately," he said, glancing at the ocean before looking back at Ariel. "With workshops starting recently and the island being strange here and there, I haven't come down here as much as I'd like."

He hadn't gone to a lot of places he tended to visit because of being so caught up in other things. He'd have to try and change that. "Were you here to swim?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel cast another glance towards her legs, and smiled a distant sort of smile. But then she lifted her eyes and it gained a more genuine shine to it, her head bobbing. She shrugged, as if the concept of going and dipping her toes in the sea again wasn't a totally big giant deal, which, of course, it totally was today, all of a sudden.

She was just having a very emotional day here.

[vanillajello]

In about 24 hours, Kate was going to be in Overland Park, and there was no swimming in an ocean in Kansas. Clearly she had to make the most of it while she was still here.

So, she came to the beach, with a tiny t-shirt and a red sarong over her bikini and a bag over her shoulder. And she, too, saw there was someone already there, but didn't turn around when she saw who it was. No, instead, he got a vaguely cheerful wave and a "Bonjour, chéri!"

... She'd pulled a multi-hour language studying session yesterday. It showed.

[therewaslife]

"Are we speaking French today?" Bod wondered, waving back and wading a little closer to the shore now. "Bonjour."

Of course, he didn't know French so speaking that language would be difficult. He'd end up reverting to Latin or English.

[vanillajello]

"Peut-être," Kate shrugged with a mischievous smile, then dropped her bag on the sand so she could pull her shirt off.

[therewaslife]

"I have no idea what that means," he said, ducking down a little further into the water and laughing. "Is it something good?"

[vanillajello]

"Pas bon," she replied with a shake of her head as she untied the sarong and stuffed it into her bag before walking into the water. "Pas mal."

[therewaslife]

"What are you saying to me?" Bod wondered, staying where he was while she got into the water. "Are you calling me names? Are you calling me strange?"

He thought there was a good chance she might be considering she called him strange in English all the time.

[vanillajello]

Kate just laughed as she waded closer. Well, she hadn't called him weird in French yet, but now he'd gone and given her the idea. That was amusing.

[therewaslife]

"Why are you laughing?" Bod asked, watching her as she moved closer. "Was I right? Are you calling me strange in French?"

[vanillajello]

Kate shook her head, and stopped when she was almost in front of him. Hadn't called him strange yet, no.

"Tu es étrange."

And now she had.

[therewaslife]

"Why are you calling me strange?" he asked, pushing a hand to get his wet hair out of his face while he smiled at her. "I haven't even done anything yet. If anything, you're strange for randomly speaking French at me."

[vanillajello]

"Tu es toujours ètrange," Kate insisted, smirking. She dipped one hand into the water. "Un peu de français, c'est pas ètrange."

[therewaslife]

"I'm not going to be able to hold any sort of conversation with you if you're stuck talking in French," he said, snickering. "We're going to have some communication issues."