Summer on the Beach

Summer on the Beach
Date of Scene:	30 May 2013
Location:	Costa Del Sol
Synopsis:	Meeting on the beach on a warm afternoon with two girls and a gargoyle. (and a crab)
Cast of Characters:	Aerith, Brooklyn, Ariel

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Ariel has posed:
The beach at Costa Del Sol is crowded. It's a hot, sticky, late afternoon, with local tourists sitting in the shade of umbrellas or basking in the last afternoon rays of sun before everything fades.

Ariel despite her better efforts is drawn more to the seaside towns when she wanders. Ship-hopping has found her here in the resort. She is a thin, red-headed teenager wearing a purple bikini, sitting with her legs curled up on the sand, not far from where the water laps up. She would blend in well enough with the other tourists - she even has a beach towel, which was given to her by Kim the night of her first arrival and which seems very important for traveling in general. The only thing unusual about her is that she is talking to a crab.

Or rather, it is unusual that the crab talks back. "Ahriel, I told you, you were gonna want to go back some day. You can' run from your fadda like dis foreva."

Aerith has posed:
Fortunately, not everyone would consider such a thing odd.

A woman with green eyes, her brown hair tied back in a braid walked by in a pink bikini and a pair of mirror-coated sunglasses. She just happened to overhear the conversation just as the crab... spoke. And it wasn't in that hidden way that animals communicated, though she could understand that too. He actually spoke.

But that wasn't the reason she'd stopped. Someone was running away... just like her.

She glanced toward the red-haired girl. "Nice day, huh?" Cue a beatific smile here.

Ariel has posed:
Ariel looks up... Sebastian looks startled, clicking a few steps away as if being scared of being overheard. Ariel glances down at him, shakes her head for a second, and then pulls some hair behind her ear, trying to... act casual maybe. Something seems sad about her, but she tries to smile. "Yeah! It's a really nice day."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith glanced toward the crab for a second, then back to the girl. "Shame there's not room for more than one on that towel." She chuckled and produced one from around her waist. "Fortunately for me, I got one of my own." Flowergirl headed over and spread her towel out next to the redhead's, then took a seat. "You look like you have something on your mind."

Brooklyn has posed:
You want odd sights on the beach, that's what Brooklyn is here for. The gargoyle is doing something that his kind never could do before. He is getting a tan. Laid out on a beach towel, with his mirrored aviator sunglasses on, he is currently staring up at the sky. Part of him is imagining how good the thermals are on a beach like this, but he would need to find an appropriately high enough point to launch from.

One of his ears twitches slightly as he hears voices nearby, and it snaps him out of his daydreaming, as he turns his head towards Ariel and Aerith, the latter of which he recognizes from Manhattan.

Ariel has posed:
Ariel is in fact sitting on a one-person towel.

She's seen Gargoyles before so Brooklyn isn't really startling. Though she's not seen that particular Gargoyle before. She has yet to visit Manhattan though she's heard some really good things.

She does have to confess to Aerith that she's right. "I... guess. I'm Ariel, by the way." She offers a handshake. She has finally learned the correct way to do this landbound custom.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith takes the offered handshake. "Aerith Gainsborough. Just call me Aerith." She lets go after a brief moment and stretches out on the towel. "You know... a burden shared is half a burden." Aerith shrugged. "I don't know who said that, but it seems to have worked for me. Maybe you could talk about it?"

Brooklyn has posed:
Grabbing his own towel as he rolls up to his feet, Brooklyn drapes his wings around his shoulders and moves towards the two, "Hope you don't mind me coming by. It's been a while, Aerith. You mind if I join you? Honestly don't know anybody here, so it's good to see a familiar face."

Ariel has posed:
"Ummm... sure," says Ariel, though with obvious hesitation. "I could talk about it."

Sebastian seems unsure of the Gargoyle. But at least he's not a fish-eating human of some variety.

"And that's Sebastian. He's shy, but he's getting over it," Ariel adds, with a little poke at the crab.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled. "It would be safe to say that anyone would be shy around someone they don't trust." If his backing away wasn't evidence enough. "And hello, Brooklyn. Nice to see you again." She took in a breath of the sea air and wondered where she would begin. A thought came moments later. "I don't think I've ever seen you around before... where are you from?"

Brooklyn has posed:
Laying his towel back out, Brooklyn sits down, cross legged, and smiles to Ariel, "I can understand shyness around a species he's probably never seen before, but trust me, I'm not some kind of big mean predator or anything. Unless he's secretly a cheeseburger disguised as a crab. Then he might have to worry."

Ariel has posed:
"Uh, me?" Ariel plays with her hair for a second, her masterful way of avoiding such questions. "Pretty far away."

"I am not," says Sebastian, looking sulky at Brooklyn, and then crossing his, well, claws. He is excellent at pouting.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith glanced at Ariel. Playing with one's hair was a good sign of releasing anxiety... or at least hiding it. She wasn't telling her everything, but that was fine. "Well if you wanted to show up anywhere, this is a good place to do it." Aerith looked out at the sea. "There's a lot to do here if you know what to look for, and if you want somewhere quiet there's a nice cove nearby."

Ariel has posed:
"Hm." Ariel frowns, and nods. But 'a lot to do' sounds promising, maybe... distracting? "So what kind of things do you like to do here?"

Brooklyn has posed:
"Well I'm just enjoying the sun, personally, but I suppose there's a whole mess of things that would be doable.." Brooklyn says, "Depending on your mood, or if you're looking to experience new stuff.."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith grinned. "Oh there's plenty! I mostly like to play around in the water. Sitting here on the beach is fine, but it gets kinda boring. Then again, there are the massage parlors, the places to eat, the music, the dancing..." She stopped before she could go any further. "So you know, lots of stuff."

Ariel has posed:
"I love music. And ... dancing," Ariel says, unfolding her legs now. "We should definitely go dancing. But, um, anyway, I guess I can confess I was feeling a little homesick. I'm not from this world. But that seems to be normal, right?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith nodded. "Homesick, huh? I guess you could call me that to... if I had a home to begin with." She sighed. "I can't remember where I was born, did you know that? I can't even remember who my dad was." She gave Aerith a wistful smile. "You're lucky."

Brooklyn has posed:
"Well.." Brooklyn considers his words for a moment, "Being homesick is natural when you are away...As for not knowing where you are born, Aerith...Does that matter? I mean I was born in Scotland but for me, home will always be Manhattan.."

Ariel has posed:
"Oh... really?" Ariel smiles a little to return Aerith's smile, but she's not trying to be impolite. "Well, I know my dad, but, he's kind of a jerk."

"Who I am sure, misses you very much," Sebastian tries.

Ariel slumps, and shrugs at him.

Sebastian is glad that worked but does not add 'and who will probably kill me dead if I bring you back without a great explanation' though that's what he is thinking.

"Manhattan seems interesting. I should go there some time. It's by the ocean too, right?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith grinned. "Oh you have no idea. It's this huge city, and there's so much to see out there. You haven't lived until you've been on top of one of those buildings and seen the whole thing from up high!"

Ariel has posed:
Ariel brightens up, homesickness gone for right now. "I know I'd like to see it. Maybe we can go there next--"

"Ahriel--" Sebastian, long-suffering, tries to interrupt-

"Well it might be closer to home, too?"

Brooklyn has posed:
"It does have an ocean, although it gets pretty cold in the winter. Not that I was ever really able to go to the beach much.." Brooklyn notes, "It's only been recently that I have been able to enjoy things like the beach and dinner out with friends.."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled at the banter between Sebatian and Ariel. "Listen... being at home is all well and good. Missing it means there's something important there TO miss. But..." She glanced at Sebatian for a moment, then back at Ariel. "...Don't go just yet. I mean if you weren't here, you wouldn't have met me, right?"

Ariel has posed:
"That's true..." Ariel says. "And I'm sure we can be friends. And, um, you also..." What did she say his name was a second ago. "Brookline?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled. "Brook-lyn." She glanced at the gargoyle. "How's things been, by the way?"

Brooklyn has posed:
"Ever since I got Manhattan back, things have been going well enough...Admittedly, I had retreated back to it and becaome sort of...Overprotective.." He says, "But as you can see from my presence here, well...I have decided to venture out into the wider world, and begin to help out where I can."

Ariel has posed:
Ariel nods. Being overprotective makes sense. It's what her dad would do...

She sighs, and blows some hair out of her face, determined to stop thinking about it.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith glanced over at Ariel for a moment. "Well that's good." Hair in her way, get it out of the way. Anxious, nervous. "You seem uncomfortable... are we bothering you?" She looked at Sebastian. "I promise we'll leave if we're disturbing you. After all, you seem to be the bodyguard or retainer... figured I'd ask you for your input." Another smile here, one designed to charm.

Brooklyn has posed:
"Yeah, I'm not the type to wanna go out of my way tomake someone feel bad." He says, as he looks towards Sebastian, "Perhaps, if you want to come visit my home, Ariel, then sometime I can come visit your own. It's only fair, after all."

Ariel has posed:
Ariel just has a lot of unruly hair; ocean spray tends to toss it up a lot. "Oh, no. You aren't disturbing me. Gosh, I actually appreciate you coming over to talk. I guess we were getting lonely."

Sebastian raises a claw as if to attempt to say something.

"But I'm thinking about dancing," Ariel says, wiggling a toe.

Sebastian's claw falls again. But he takes Aerith's words in stride, as she doesn't seem like a bad sort, and straightens up again. "'Bodyguard,' is... acceptable?" That's an awfully flattering thing to call a tiny crab.

Ariel nods to the Gargoyle. "If... I find, my home, then I'm sure you can visit. Thank you." Though he might need to SCUBA, but Ariel is not aware of the actual mechanics of Gargoyles or, for that matter, world transferrance transformations as they seem to sometimes work.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith nodded. "So then let's go dancing, huh?" She stood and stretched her arms above her head. "You wanna come, Brooklyn? Or are you afraid of having two left feet?" Aerith giggled. "Or two left wings."

Brooklyn has posed:
"I will come." He says, chuckling a little bit, "I'm not worried about dancing. Although I've never really had the chance to do it..But I've seen it on TV before.." He stands up as well, to follow the two.