fandomtownies | The beach [Monday afternoon]

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@beach,
celia bowen

The beach [Monday afternoon]

It was warm enough today for Celia to feel comfortable in spending some time outdoors. She'd bundled herself up appropriately, of course -- even if it was temperate for winter, she still didn't want to catch a chill -- and found herself wandering down to the beach. It had been entirely too long since she'd truly seen the ocean.

Ostensibly, her purpose had been to come out here just to walk -- a bit of fresh air always did her good, and she suspected they wouldn't see temperatures this comfortable for some time. (It was, after all, only January, much though it felt like spring.) However, within a few moments of arriving, her mind began to wander, and her lack of significant practice began to niggle at the back of her mind.

It didn't take long before Celia's hat, gloves and handbag were nestled firmly in the sand at her feet, and she was watching through narrowed eyes as a castle began to form up out of the sand before her. A flick of her fingers added a turret, and she paused before a moat dug itself around it, as well.

This was much more fun than what she would be doing at home. This wasn't work. This was as natural as breathing.

[totally, totally open, whoo!]

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Will had gotten used to running across snow covered fields of Wisconsin and, before that, the hills and valleys of Ojai. Beach running was something different, something a little more difficult but he liked the challenge.

#56: GIVING UP IS EASY. FINISHING IS HARD.

With that in mind, he'd set himself at thirty times up and down the beach and he'd finished. Now, he was cooling down with a walk. He saw Celia from a distance and thought he caught a sandcastle being made but he wasn't really sure.

He took a few steps closer and said, "Hello." Didn't want to startle her.

The sand that Celia had been sculpting up into another turret fell, momentarily, but the rest of the castle stayed put as she turned towards the sound of Will's voice. "Good afternoon, Will," she said with a smile. "It's nice to see someone else out here. I thought I might be the only one foolish enough to go out in the cold."

Not that it was that cold to her, but still.

"This is nothing," he said, taking a few steps closer since he felt comfortable enough that he wasn't about to frighten her or anything. "Last placed I lived was pretty much covered in snow eight months out of the year."

That was an exaggeration but only slightly. "Building a sandcastle?" He titled his head and took a look. "Nice work."

"I need the practice, more than anything," Celia admitted. She reached a hand out, twirling her fingers in the air. Sand flew up from the beach in a spiral, settling itself into the shape of a tiny bridge over the moat. "Snow eight months of the year, though? Stories like that make me glad we've never been in one place too long. I'd go crazy, I think."

Will was momentarily quiet while he watched the sand move just because she twirled her fingers. He stared intently, almost fascinated, before he shook himself and looked back up.

"I wasn't there very long," he added once he was done watching her move the sand around. Even if he could do something similar, it was still interesting to watch. "Before that, we moved around about every eighteen months. Like Bedouins."

"Did you also travel by camel?" Celia wondered, flashing a smile at him. "We usually just took the train, but perhaps life is different in your version of the future." She shook her head, and added, "In all seriousness, though, why the frequent travels?"

Edited 2014-01-13 19:43 (UTC)

"We tended to use llamas."

He smiled at her before sticking his hands into his pockets to warm them up a touch. "During my cynical moments, I thought the constant moving was my parents way of ensuring that I'd have to have massive amounts of therapy in the future. It wasn't, though. It was a...protective thing."

Celia arched an eyebrow curiously. "Protective thing?" she repeated, frowning a little. "What...sort of protective thing? Is someone after you?"

She was learning to appreciate her own circumstances; Hector was a terrible father and she was a slave to his challenge, but every story she'd heard from someone else seemed more dangerous than the last.

"Could be but I'm not really sure," he admitted. It was half a lie because he was definitely being chased but he also didn't want to freak anyone out. "My dad had some enemies, it looks like. And I'm his only son so..."

Get to the son to get to the father.

"So, we moved and just never set down roots. Never gave anyone a chance to track us down."

"That must have been difficult," Celia commented quietly, wondering vaguely if her father had enemies other than debt collectors and rival magicians. She didn't think so, but it would explain her own lack of a permanent home. "It's bad enough not having a home to call your own for very long. Worse yet to know it's for your own safety, I'd imagine."

"Yeah."

For a second, he let the weight of everything hit his shoulders and he felt sorry for himself.

#35: TRYING TIMES ARE NOT THE TIMES TO STOP TRYING.

One of his dad's rules popped into his head and he took a breath and shook the maudlin away. Will glanced back up at her. "I'm trying to be optimistic though. I made some friends last school I was at. First time I managed to do that."

"I doubt that it will be the last," Celia offered, smiling a little. "You're already off to a marvelous here, if you ask me." She shrugged, and added, "This is the first time I've even been to proper school, with children my own age. So you've a leg up on me, when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Were you home schooled?" Will asked curiously. "I remember you mentioned your dad getting you started with magic early on. Did you just kind of pick up other things through your environment?"

"Books, mostly," Celia admitted. "Papa showed me how to read and do basic arithmetic, out of necessity. But from about...oh, I'd say the age of eight or nine, or so, I taught myself. It helps that I like to read and I didn't have much else to do. Practice my magic, and teach myself about Shakespeare or sums or French or geography in the meantime." She made a bit of a face.

"You didn't miss much by not being in school," he said lightly. "It's mostly a huge popularity contest with a few classes sprinkled in between."

The Center and this place were the exceptions to that rule, from what he could tell.

"Shakespeare, huh?" he added after a moment spent kicking some sand with his shoes. "I had a class on Emerson and Thoreau back in Wisconsin. I came to the conclusion that I do better with picture books."

He'd been fine with the class so that was mostly a joke. Emerson and Thoreau still weren't his favorites.

"It's good to know that the poets of my time are still remembered," she said with a grin. "And well-loved, I see."

She had Walden stashed away in her room. It was a well-loved copy she'd bought from a street vendor a few years ago and hidden in her trunk for months. Hector had broken her little finger when he'd found it, to remind her what she should be spending her time doing.

"It doesn't seem like this school is like that, though," she added, shaking her head to chase away the memory. "Everyone I've met has been exceptionally kind, for the most part." The boy with the dog from the first day had been horrid, but he seemed an exception, not a rule.

"Yeah, I ran into someone the other day who'd even made oatmeal for whoever wanted it."

Now, the oatmeal was terrible and he hadn't had the stomach to try any but the sentiment had still been appreciated.

"Everyone's pretty cool here," he agreed. "And it seems like a lot of people are similar to what I encountered in Wisconsin. With the special...talents."

He gestured towards Celia and the sandcastle.

She shrugged, a little self-conscious suddenly. "It seems like there are more of us than there are people who can't do anything," she agreed, idly reaching a hand out towards the ocean. She floated over an amorphous, rippling blob of water and carefully poured it into the moat. Much better. With that done, she slanted a look over at Will. "So it's true, then? What you said in class? You can...run for forever, right?"

"It's true," he said, nodding. "And not forever but a really, really long time. I get tired after awhile but yeah, that's a thing I can do. I was out here running the beach about thirty times just to see if I could."

And he had without any trouble.

"That's so useful," Celia sighed enviously. "Or, at least, I can think of a dozen ways I'd use such a skill. I'd never need a horse or buggy or one of those vehicles they use nowadays."

Cars, Celia. Those are cars.

"Car," he filled in with a little smile. "And yeah, it's one of those things that I wouldn't wanna give up. Track's always been my thing and it's one of those things that I've always been able to excel at."

His parents used to tell him to dial it back but even when he wasn't trying, he'd still beat most people.

"Just gotta make sure I'm wearing good shoes," he quipped with a little laugh.

"Does it only apply to running?" she asked curiously. "Or could you...oh, I don't know. Could you play tennis endlessly, or do a thousand calisthenics, or box for hours?"

Will laughed because he'd never really thought of it like that before. "I dunno, actually. It's my stamina that's overcharged so I guess I could play tennis if I knew how to play tennis. Or I could box for hours if I wasn't a terrible fighter."

"It's even more useful-sounding now," Celia sighed. "I wish I never tired. If I try to do anything bigger than this," she gestured to the sandcastle, "for very long, it falls apart. Is it just the stamina, or am I misremembering you saying there was something else, when you were talking about your gifts in class?"

Will's powers seemed so much better than hers. Everyone's did. No wonder Hector made her practice so much.

"No, you're not. I mentioned something else."

The 'something else' were the abilities that both exhilarated and scared him all at once. But, they were his and he had to cultivate them.

"I can show you, if you want. It might be easier than explaining it."

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