fandomtownies | The Beach [Sunday evening]

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The Beach [Sunday evening]

It was, in all honesty, a bit cold to be walking along the beach where the water could wash up over your feet. But there weren't really any better options for spending time with a water fury who needed as much water to manifest as Androcles did. Besides, while Max wasn't any sort of expert firecrafter, he could manage enough to keep himself warm.

So he was, in fact, walking along the beach and letting the water wash up over his feet. The day had been an easy one, so he'd headed out early for this little meeting. That gave him plenty of time to stretch out his muscles a bit before the fascinating woman he was waiting for arrived.

Which he was very much looking forward to.

[Expecting one, but open!]

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Said woman--who could most certainly handle being called fascinating--jogged up the beach a few minutes later, giving a nod of appreciation towards Androcles. It had been a pretty long run around the town and then down to the beach, so Cindy wasn't really feeling the cold that much.

"Calling in reinforcements already?" she asked, giving Max a smile.

Max chuckled. "I'll take every advantage I can get."

"You just know I'm not going to hit him as hard," Cindy said, going over to pet Androcles behind the ear. "I like him better, for one."

Androcles shifted his stance, sort of pressing himself into Cindy's hand.

"I think he might like you better, too," Max sighed. "Story of my life."

"Well, for one thing," Cindy said with a chuckle. "He doesn't talk back as much."

"You wound me!" Max objected, clapping his hand to his heart.

"I have been told I am an excellent conversationalist. And, furthermore, that my banter is quite witty."

"Do you see the lies he tells?" Cindy asked Andocles sadly. "It's just a shame, isn't it?"

Androcles shook his massive head, flinging a few drops of water off here and there. Max shot the giant fury a tolerant look. "Traitor," he accused fondly.

"It's not his fault he knows the winning team when he sees her," Cindy said lightly. "He's a smart guy, this one."

You know. This giant lion-shaped living bit of water.

"Besides, I didn't get any messages from him accusing me of forgetting who he was and how sad that made him," she added, giving Max an amused glance. Sure, radio had said that phones were all messed up, which explained why she'd gotten that message. It didn't mean she couldn't still laugh at him and let him know she'd been the one to get it.

Max held up his hands in protest. "Hey, you can't hold me responsible for Fandom's weirdness!"

"Besides, if you did forget me I would be sad."

"I'm just sad you didn't get my return message," Cindy said lightly. "And maybe if you win this spar, I might just tell you what it was."

That got a huge smirk from Max. "Now there's a motivation."

"But what do you get if you win?" His lip twitched. "Not that you will."

"Besides the warm glow of satisfaction of kicking your ass?" Cindy asked, her smile growing wider. "I think I'll leave that up to you. Surprise me."

Max thought about that for a moment, then nodded decisively.

"Got it."

He gave Androcles a final pat and stepped back up the beach, away from the water.

Cindy followed, her whole posture changing. The casual air of relaxation had gone, replaced by a wary watchfulness, even sharper than a spar with someone else would engender. Max was one of two people in the entire world who knew what, exactly, she was and she didn't entirely trust him.

That's what made their relationship so much fun.

She stepped up onto the beach a few yards away from him, stretching her neck a bit. "Rules?"

Once they were both up on the dry sand, Max waved to Androcles and the lion collapsed back into the sea. There. Full attention on Cindy.

She had, after all, almost killed him once.

"We probably should come up with some, shouldn't we?" He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "No broken bones, for sure. No weapons?"

"Does that include no magic for you?" Cindy asked. "Save what's necessary to...keep up?"

There. That was a nicely oblique way to admit she was stronger than a Mundy could be.

Max considered that suggestion, then nodded. "Fair enough." Skill-on-skill was useful.

"Anything else?"

"You could always be a gentleman and let me go first," Cindy said innocently. She doubted he'd fall for such an obvious trap, but who knew?

On the one hand, that was really obvious.

On the other hand, Cindy was really hot. (And in Max's book, that counted for quite a bit.)

"Go easy on me?" he asked.

"Of course I will!" Cindy said brightly. "It's only fair!"

That promise came with a sharp kick snapping up towards Max's face.

Max leaned back out of the way, letting the kick whiff by an inch away. He dropped low, sweeping a foot at her ankle. It wasn't as fast as it should have been. Sand wasn't the best surface to fight on.

Seeing Max go down meant Cindy was already tensing her muscles, jumping up into the air as his foot lashed out. It was a messy jump, not the graceful leap she could have wanted, but them, she was trying to jump off of sand with her other foot still up in the air.

Rather than landing in the handspring she normally would have, Cindy landed on her side, fortunately face-down, and was able to propel herself back into a standing position, facing Max again.

"Sand's an interesting fighting surface," Max decided. Since he hadn't actually dived it was easier for him to stand up. He danced a couple of feet back and grinned.

"And I thought you were going to go easy on me."

"What are you talking about, Max?" Cinday asked, slowly circling. "This is easy."

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