A Spot on the Beach, Late Sunday Morning

[okteiviakom]

There was a lot of life on the island this weekend, but Octavia's favorite stretch of beach, near the lighthouse, was as peaceful as it always was. She'd come here to take a break - from what, she couldn't really say - with the intention of just maybe sitting around for a while, listening to the waves, watching the horizon. But, almost as soon as she'd arrived, she'd realized that wasn't enough. She didn't want to be still.

So she'd done some stretches, grateful she'd opted for leggings and a hoodie, and was now getting into her Warrior poses. Some nearby porgs wandered up to her as she moved into II, one of them giving her an indignant-sounding squawk.

"Sha, strikon. Ai na dula dison op soulou, seintaim."

Just like she had all those years in the bunker.

[ooc: Mainly for one, and then another, but open!]

Comments

[seaoftroubles]

Duke still wasn't on the beaches. And Evi still wasn't sure what it was about this town that had kept her wanderer of a husband in one spot for so long.

She paused some distance away to enjoy the sight of this gorgeous, bendy woman, and wondered if sights like this one were part of it. She and Duke had always had similar tastes in women, and she could practically see Duke's influence in the way this one moved from pose to pose. . . .

[okteiviakom]

Octavia could tell someone had stopped to watch. She couldn't really help it: it was almost as if she was paying attention even when she wasn't paying attention.

Without looking back to see exactly who it was, she chose to ignore it for now, moving into Warrior III. Trying to focus on her breathing and her balance, and only wobbling a little bit as she corrected her form slightly.

[seaoftroubles]

Evi decided she was tired of watching. She clapped slowly as she walked closer.

"Impressive. I never could get that one right."

She'd never really tried.

[okteiviakom]

"It's not really a spectator sport," Octavia drawled as she slowly eased herself back onto both feet, and straightened up before looking over.

And, oh. She was pretty sure she knew who this was, though it didn't show on her face.

"But practice makes perfect, right?"

[seaoftroubles]

"So I'm told," Evi agreed. "Never did have the patience for it."

It'd driven Duke nuts. And she liked a bit of crazy energy in bed.

[okteiviakom]

"Well," Octavia rasped, pushing her hair back, "not everyone has what it takes."

[seaoftroubles]

"But you . . . do," Evi said, looking Octavia over as she circled around her. "You have what it takes for a lot of things, I'm thinking."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia eyed her, a little bit of something sharp showing through the mild, without turning her head to follow her circling.

"Such as."

Didn't even sound fully like a question.

[seaoftroubles]

Oooo. Like a knife, this one. Evi just smiled as she came around in front of Octavia again.

"Do you know Duke Crocker?"

[okteiviakom]

Aaand there it was.

"Yes."

[seaoftroubles]

She gave away very little, didn't she. Evi decided to let a little of her own frustration show, to see how she'd respond.

"Why is he here?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia continued to give her nothing. She kept her eyes on the woman's face, even though the urge to look her up and down was there, now that she knew who this was.

"Because he likes it here," she drawled.

[seaoftroubles]

Evi shook her head. "The only place Duke likes it is on the water. As far from land as he can get."

[captain_consumption]

Ise had turned their hotel room into a veritable warzone of documents and papers, and he knew the time afforded to Shunsui for sleeping in that day would be limited, so Jūshirō was taking that morning to himself and to have a nice little peaceful walk to himself, to just enjoy it and soak in this little island that had charmed his friend not once but twice now, and he hadn't been there long at all, but he wasn't at all surprised that it had.

Nice and peaceful, anyway, until a coughing fit seemed to strike him while he approached the beach. Not a terrible one, as far as his fits could be, but bad enough that he needed to sit down on a conveniently located log of driftwood to catch his breath again, find a handkerchief and be reassured that, though this gigai still stuck him with his ailments, they seemed slightly lessened.

And since he was now sitting, he figured he'd take a moment, take in the scene, the beach, thenlighthiuse. Quiet, save for the young woman practicing what looked like yoga forms not too far away from where he'd sat...

...definitely not difficult to see what Shunsui found so charming about this place at all, no...

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was now just basically doing random forms without anything resembling a proper flow. Hadn't really joined Duke in practising enough since she'd been back, so she was back to back to the ways she's had in the bunker, just cobbling it together from memory.

She didn't look like she'd noticed anyone else was around. Some of the porgs who'd been crowding her were now headed over to where Jūshirō sat, however, making inquisite noises.

[captain_consumption]

And when Jūshirō realized that the flock of funny little birds were migrating his way, he couldn't help letting out a delighted little laugh.

"Well, hello there, friends," he greeted them with a beaming smile, leaning forward to make up for not moving from his makeshift seat. "I think I know what you might be looking for."

He fished from the pockets of his robes a small packet of decorated sugar cookies and waved it at them to show it off before starting to crumble them up and pour the crumbs into his hand to hen hold out to them as he leaned in a little more so they could easily reach.

"They were going to be a gift for Lieutenant Ise," he informed them importantly, "but I won't tell her if you won't."

Nanao would have been thoroughly confused by the gift, anyway.

[okteiviakom]

And that gave Octavia an excuse to look over. She snorted softly to herself when she saw the porgs hopping excitedly, almost stumbling over each other in their quest to get at the crumbs.

"Bad move," she called. "You're not getting rid of them, now."

[captain_consumption]

"Oh, I don't mind!" Jūshirō called back lightly with a laugh, although there was a bit of surprise in it as one of the ports discovered there were more cookies in the packet in his hand and went to swipe it, which lead to the others catching on and wanting in in it, too, and then there were somehow ports flapping into his lap and searching the robes for more.

...

"I've got no where to be any time soon," he chuckled, in a somewhat defeated way, figuring it was best to just let it happen until they got wise to the lack of other treats on his person or just got bored of him....

...however long that may take.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia stretched her arms up above her head.

"Well, if all else fails, you can probably distract them with a rock." A beat. "'Cause sometimes they eat those, too."

[captain_consumption]

"A rock?"

No, little porg, there were no crumbs in Jūshirō hair, but apparently, he was fine with you rifling through it and giving it a few tugs to see if it was food.

"Oh, but are rocks good for them?"

[okteiviakom]

"Probably not."

Octavia let her arms fall back down.

"But they tend to throw them up later." Which was honestly the main reason she knew they did it in the first place. "It's fine. Just gross."

[captain_consumption]

"Not to mention uncomfortable," Jūshirō said with the sympathetic chuckle of a man all too familiar with hacking up things one would rather keep inside their bodies, "I imagine. So do you hear that, little ones?" He carefully pulled the one nibbling at his hair away at its full length and then smiled at it once his hair was free. "No rocks, if you can help it, tempting as they may seem!"

His attention shifted away from the curious swarm to the woman on the beach.

"Excuse me, miss, what are they called?"

[okteiviakom]

"They're porgs," Octavia supplied, finally taking a moment to actually look at him. The way he was dressed, specifically. "They're from a galaxy far, far away."

Ha.

"Came over as stowaways, I remember right."

[captain_consumption]

"Ah, so they're not actually indigenous to the island?" Jūshirō sounded both fascinated and delighted by this information. Complete with another laugh and another unsuccessful attempt at porg removal.

"Well, I can certainly see how they might have managed to stow away. I'm starting to feel I'll be lucky if I don't have a few stow away with me in my robes by the time I do leave!"

And if people thought Jūshirō's gifts were strange now, imagine how they'd feel.presented with a porg!

[okteiviakom]

"I wouldn't be surprised," Octavia drawled. She lived with a full herd of porgs that had taken up residence on the Cape Rouge, after all.

She took a few steps closer, across the sand. "So you're one of this weekend's visitors, huh?"