Beach | Afternoon | Monday | April 25

[therewaslife]

With the lack of classes and the comfortable warmth, Bod's choice in places to go today had been made before he'd even woken up. Even if he risked the chance of getting a sunburn, he couldn't possibly stay inside when he could go sit in the sand and let the sun beat down on his skin. He was still too pale and he knew that some of that was natural and some was from the long winter.

The water, he figured, might still be too cold to actually go for a swim in but that wasn't going to stop him from burying his feet in the sand in between dozing on a towel. Occasionally, he'd get up and wade in the surf, testing the temperature before coming back and laying down.

At present, he was on his stomach, book in front of him so he could read while his pale back warmed up and hopefully got some sun. If he ended up with a sunburn, Bod figured he'd just buy a stronger bottle of sunscreen and wear t-shirts more often.

He really hoped he didn't get sunburned.

[It's an open beach, of course]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender had promised Jane he'd test whether she could keep in contact with the Bluetooth earpiece no matter where he was. So some time after lunch, he'd put the 'back in an hour' sign in the window of the shop and he had headed outside, earpiece clipped to his ear.

"I told you this would work," Jane whispered through it. "My reach is a little further than that of you puny humans. Do you have any idea how many satellites are just hanging around out there unused?"

He quirked a smile, but any reply he might have had died the moment he saw Bod sitting on the beach. "Afternoon, Bod," he called.

[therewaslife]

Glancing up and squinting, Bod smiled when he recognized Ender. He flipped his book shut and sat back, giving a little wave. "Hullo there, Ender. How are you doing today?"

[endsthegame]

"The sun is shining, I can't complain," Ender said, easily. He let his wandering carry him a little closer. "But it seems like you already figured that one out."

[therewaslife]

"It seemed a shame to take advantage of a warm, cloudless day especially when I've no classes or anything else to occupy my time," he agreed, wiping some sand off on his hands. "I think I've spent enough time inside waiting for winter to pass."

[endsthegame]

"I'm actually surprised I haven't seen anyone else down here," Ender admitted. "I tend to swing by this way every other day, but it's been quiet." He shot Bod a friendly look. "But it's a good day to start-- especially without anything falling out of the sky."

[therewaslife]

Bod laughed because, yes, that was another factor that had him staying inside yesterday. "Between the jellybeans from my shower and the Peeps from the sky, it didn't seem like you could escape from that particular oddity yesterday."

But, it seemed to be clear today. Bod peered up at the sky and smiled. "Hopefully we haven't just jinxed it. I'd hate for melted peanut butter to start sheeting down."

[endsthegame]

"Oh, I'm sure the island is lying low for a while," Ender said, following his glance upwards. "Then come graduation, someone'll host a beach party and it'll strike hard."

[therewaslife]

"That's...a little unnerving to think about," Bod said, making a face. "Think about and believe, I should say. I'm not graduating but I know several people who are so I hope they're expecting something like that. It's happened before, hasn't it?"

[endsthegame]

"I think a couple of years ago, the decorations came alive at a graduation party," Ender offered, "But otherwise, any fits of whimsical cruelty have been restricted to graduation itself. So who knows."

[therewaslife]

"Hopefully anything that happens this year won't be too destructive," Bod said, patting the sand a few times like that might help calm the island down a bit.

"You're not graduating, are you?" Bod wondered having realized he wasn't sure.

[endsthegame]

"No, I still have a year to go," Ender said. A moment later he was sitting down on the sand himself, legs sprawled out. "But then I'll have the full four-year Fandom experience in my pocket. Lucky me."

[therewaslife]

"Wow, you've gone start to finish, then," Bod said, sounding impressed with that. "I'll have been here over two years by the time I graduate and I thought that was a long time. Have you already started planning for the future?"

Ender seemed to be the type that would do that or had done that.

[endsthegame]

"I was asked to help govern a colony a few years ago," Ender said, "After I graduated. So that's what I'm going to do." He offered Bod a friendly smile. "How about you?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Bod certainly wasn't the only one who wanted to spend the newfound freedom from classes somewhere like the beach. Which was why there was a bouncing redhead hopping along the sand calling out his name.

"Bod!" Ariel had a towel draped over her shoulder; she figured it might not be warm enough for some people, but she was fine with the water in winter, really, so this was perfect. As she got closer, she laughed a little. "Are you reading?"

[therewaslife]

"Yes," he said, blushing a bit at having been caught doing that while outside. "I was hoping the water would warm up while I read so I could take a swim but it hasn't yet!"

Pausing, he shut his book and sat up. "Hullo there, Ariel."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Bod," Ariel answered back with a pleased smile. "And, you know, your body gets used to the temperature once you get into the water, right? Are you at least reading about the sea? Pirates or adventures or sailing, or isn't there that one book about the really big whale?"

[therewaslife]

"Unfortunately not," Bod laughed, showing Ariel the cover of his book. "I checked it out from the library a few days ago and hadn't gotten around to reading it. This one's more about France and political upheaval than it is about pirates. It's still quite good!"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel tilted her head, the curtain of her hair tumbling forward as she attempted to read the French title to herself, but it wound up being out loud, phonetically mangling it. "What about France? Is there a brave and spunky heroine? Does she fall in love with a dashing, handsome prince?"

[therewaslife]

"I'm not quite sure if there's romance as of yet but so far, it's about a former convict who seems to be trying to redeem himself but there's a fanatical inspector who's making that difficult," he shared.

"Unfortunately, I don't think there are princes or princesses in this one," he added. "It's still quite good though."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"I was just going to say!" Ariel laughed, eyes dancing with excitement. Her towel had, somehow in the process of her babbling, flung itself out, settled on the sand, and then Ariel was dropping down onto it beside Bod. "Convicts sound much more interesting than princes and princesses, anyway! Seems to be redeeming himself. Do you think he actually wants to? Do you think he will? What did he do?"

[therewaslife]

"He's really quite the unfortunate soul," Bod said, unable to not sound slightly excited to chatter about the book he was currently reading. "When he was a youth, he stole bread to feed his sisters. He ended up sentenced to nineteen years and now that he's been released, he's ostracized because of that crime. I think he does want to redeem himself. He's not a cruel criminal. He did what he had to do to keep his family alive. I think I'd do the same thing."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"So would I!" Ariel said enthusiastically, but, then again, she never exactly had a problem with...ahem...borrowing things, for necessity or otherwise. "Stealing bread for your family is hardly even a crime; it would be different if maybe he killed someone, or something, you know? I hope he does redeem himself. Or at least finds someone or someplace who won't judge him for what he did and he can be happy."

She tilted her head slightly. "What happened with the sisters while he was in jail? Or doesn't the book say?"

[therewaslife]

"The book details what happened with some of them but not all," Bod answered. "They were apparently living in Paris but they were quite poor. Some had no backstory at all so I take that to mean that Mr. Valjean never found out what came of them."

He paused, frowning.

"And that must have been awful."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Frowning now a little herself, Ariel nodded her head. "It really must have been," she said. "I'm so glad I can actually visit home every once in a while; it would be terrible not knowing what was going on with my sisters, especially if there was a good chance that it would be bad, you know?"

And since that had been a very real possibility for her about a year ago, she smiled briefly again and added, "But maybe he'll find out by the end, right? There's still some ways to go. How many sisters does he have?"

[therewaslife]

"Apparently, he just had one but he was also trying to feed her children of which there were seven," he clarified having realized he'd gotten that part wrong earlier. It had been easy to think of the children as siblings since he'd been so protective of them.

"I got that part wrong earlier," he said, sounding a bit abashed. "It's a rather big family nonetheless. I can't imagine that bread would have been that sufficient for them but then again, I suppose he had to try."