The Beach, Wednesday afternoon

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Even with a bit of a chill in the air, the beach remained downright beautiful. While Rapunzel was getting used to wearing shoes, she still felt most comfortable barefooted, and there was something especially delicious about the way it felt when she dug her toes into the sand. Added to the feeling of a crisp, clean breeze tugging at her hair, the sun against her face, the strange salty-tangy smell of the water, the soothing sound of the waves, was the view. Which was still positively breathtaking at times.

Well, it was small wonder that it was Rapunzel's favorite place on the island. Being out on the sand helped her relax and clear her mind of stress and worry.

And it was a good place to meet up with friends! (Though, really, Rapunzel thought that of most places.)

Comments

[wwiii]

From behind Rapunzel, there was the slightest rustle of feathers, followed shortly afterwards by footsteps in the sand.

"It never really gets old, does it?" Warren nodded out toward the water, stepping up beside Rapunzel and grinning. "I could probably spend all of my time out here around the shoreline, if they'd let me."

And then, a moment later, he turned his smile in her direction. "Hey. How've you been?"

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"Never!" Rapunzel agreed in slightly breathless enthusiasm.

She spun, tearing her eyes away from the view to offer Warren a bright smile. "I've been very busy!" She'd been shopping! Which was why she wasn't wearing the same dress she'd had on when they'd met. "What about you?"

[wwiii]

"Pretty busy too," Warren replied, just a touch more sedate than that. He was almost getting used to 'busy' equating 'terrible,' it was kind of refreshing to see Rapunzel so excited about it. "Have classes been keeping you running around? Or clubs or new friends or anything like that?"

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"Well, classes and friends," Rapunzel gushed. "I haven't even thought about clubs!" But they also seemed like they'd be fun!

[wwiii]

"There's the sorority," Warren noted, laughing a little before fanning his wings out just enough for it to still be comfortable when he sat down on the sand. "It's kind of a girl-club-for-girls, so I can't really vouch for them personally, but from what I've heard about them on the radio so far, it seems like the sort of thing you could probably enjoy."

[glacial_queen]

"The administration might not care if you spend all your time out here, but I probably would," Karla said, suddenly not as bothered by the wind in her wet hair as she'd been before. "I'd get to missing you."

[wwiii]

"Oh? You wouldn't come to visit me?" Warren shot Karla a glance and a grin, the latter of the two kind of faltering as he realized that she had to have been swimming out there.

Karla!

"... Were you really just out there, swimming in the Atlantic in October?"

[glacial_queen]

"It's a lot further from my room to the beach than it is from my room to yours," she pointed out. Even if his room had been even closer before he'd moved to the third floor.

At his second question, Karla was caught somewhere between looking chagrined and defiant. "Yes," she replied. "It's not all that cold."

Ignore the goosebumps, okay? And whatever it was she was doing that was not shivering, no matter what it looked like.

[wwiii]

Oh, Karla. Warren was draping a wing around you and pulling you in close. He was warm, it was kind of one of those things that all of that feather came in handy for.

"I would be," he offered. "But then, my idea of cold before I came here was 'too much air conditioning,' so I'm probably not the best person to give opinions on that sort of thing."

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

Bart had seen people fly before. Heck, flying was nothing special. Conner did it all the time. But this was different.

"You have... wings." Bart looked up from the sand. "Like... bird wings."

"Coooool."

[wwiii]

You know, for as long as Warren had been a student around here, he was probably never going to completely be used to people having reactions like that to his wings. Not really.

That wasn't going to stop him from spreading them slightly, because being unused to something didn't mean that he couldn't take the opportunity to show off a bit.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you're from another one of those realities where people don't usually grow big feathered wings, huh?"

Warren's observational skills. Fear them.

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

That took some thinking. "Well, there's the guy who makes stuff out of green light. There's the guy who can breathe underwater and talk to fish. There's the orange girl with the red hair. And one of my friends is made of smoke, but nope, no one with wings like that."

"I'm Bart. Hi." He looked down at his costume. "Grife. I mean, I'm Impulse. Hi."

[wwiii]

Aw, kids in tights. Warren was actually getting to the point where he spent enough time around them (his roommate, especially) that he could respect the sanctity of the codename, at least.

"Impulse," he settled on, offering Bart a little smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Warren. And for what it's worth, I've only ever met other people with wings quite like mine by meeting other Warrens from other realities."

And Rinoa. But she didn't tend to show hers off, either.

[glacial_queen]

The weather was cooling down considerably, but Karla was from Glacia. Which meant that unless the water had floating ice chunks in it, it wasn't too cold to go for a swim.

At least, that's what she'd told herself after classes today when she'd originally hatched this plan. Apparently, being away from home for three years was affecting her ability to handle the cold.

So after a slightly abbreviated swim in the ocean--she wasn't cold! She was just, uh, hungry, yes!--Karla swam back to the beach, where she'd left a towel, a blanket...and a warm shirt.

"Kiss kiss!" she called, when she saw she wasn't alone.

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

After a bit of struggling and a bit of panicking, Bart managed to extrude himself from the cold water and out onto the beach near Karla. He flopped over onto his back and looked up at her, "um. Hi. It's nice to meet you... again."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was busy toweling off, so it took her a moment to glance over and return his greeting.

"Kiss ki--cheetah!"

Very good, Karla. That's incredibly helpful.

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

Kiss Kicheetah? Was she speaking some strange language? That must be how they say hello where she's from.

He rolled over into a sitting position. "Kiss kicheetah to you too?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla snorted and shook her head, still smiling. "I meant 'kiss kiss,'" she explained. "But that's when I recognized you. You owe me lunch. Possibly three by now."

Once for the bump, once for caring for him as a cheetah, and one for interest. Look, it worked out in Karla's head, okay?

She extended her hand. "If I try for a proper introduction, do you promise not to turn into a small and furry windstorm?"

Maybe four lunches. She'd had to replace her curtains.

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel had just been idly wandering down the beach, and she started slightly at someone speaking. (Really she should have noticed the towel, but the scenery was just so distracting!)

"Oh! Um. Hello! I'm not in your way, am I?" Rapunzel looked around, but it didn't look like she was in the other girl's way.

[glacial_queen]

"What?" Karla walked out from the ocean, shaking her head. "No way. Plenty of beach to go around. Even I can't hog all of it." She gave the other female a friendly smile to let her know she was joking. "It's nice seeing someone else not scared off by the cooling weather."

Though at least Rapunzel was smart and fully dressed.

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Well, Rapunzel was giving Karla a somewhat doubtful look for what she was wearing. "Well, it's not that cold," she allowed. "But... aren't you quite cold in that?" She looked cold, and Rapunzel suspected that if she were dressed like that, she'd be positively freezing.

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

Bart missed running. Like, full on running. No weaving in and out of people, no worrying about stairs or walls or doors. Just running. It felt good. And Max always told him to practice running over water without causing waves. It wasn't easy, keeping your steps light enough to not cause much of a ripple but with enough force to keep running. It takes thought, concentration and some amount of patience.

Yeah, Bart was great at that.

Isn't that that Karla person who was taking care of him while he was a cheetah? Yeah, it is. And there are other people there he didn't know. Huh.

And that's when Bart slipped and fell in the water.

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Sudden giant splashes were generally enough to get even Rapunzel's attention. She pelted down to the edge of the water, letting the waves wash over her ankles, as she searched for the source of said splash. She was willing to bet that whatever it was, it was really interesting!

[bigshoestofill.livejournal.com]

There was some more splashing and then a mound of red hair appeared by Rapunzel's feet. There was a lot of it too.

Then Bart popped his head out of the water and looked up at her with a gasp of air. He blinked and sat up in the cold surf. "Hi. Aren't you cold?"

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...

...

"Ah!" There was someone there! Where had they come from?

Rapunzel scrambled backward a couple of steps in surprise until she was a safe three or four feet away.

And then she noticed that it was just a boy. Probably another student. Well, wasn't that an embarrassing reaction?