[OTA] Day at the Beach

[falsepretences]

It wasn't, he supposed, really a beach yet, but the rhythmic movement of the tides were already starting to erode the the grace and soil and leave something sandier in it's place. Just at the edge for now, but in time it would become a mix of sand and stones, with only patches of the grass that was currently blanketing the ground in between patches of snow.

He kicked a pebble into the...well, sea, he supposed, and eyed it before looking out at the island with the door.

"Just when you thought things couldn't get weirder..."

Comments

[heartvestment]

"And suddenly, a beach." She pouts, running a hand through her hair. "It's not even the right time of year. And not sandy enough."

[falsepretences]

"Yeah, it's not really a beach yet." They might need to bring in sand, which. Really. He could see Uncle Davin's face now.

"Not up for a swim, then, I take it?"

[heartvestment]

"What? No. Don't be ridiculous - it's, like, forty degrees." She gives him a look. "I'm not getting hypothermia so that you can see me in a bikini, Mr. Novak."

[falsepretences]

"You're just breaking my heart, Evangeline," he said with a sigh before picking up a stone to toss into the water. "I wonder if that part's ever going to get submerged."

[heartvestment]

"It'll heal," she says flippantly, following his gaze out onto the horizon. "What, that island out there? I don't know. ...Do you think we could swim out to it?"

[falsepretences]

"Usually does," he says, and squints at the island. "Maybe. But not, as you said, in this weather. Unless we want to actually die, and drowning in a mysteriously appearing ocean isn't really the way I want to go." Clearly, they should walk instead.

[jokeswithknives]

"Mr. Spaaaade," came the sing-song voice from somewhere behind him. Then Juliette appeared, trailed--as always--by the large black horse that accompanied the Joker everywhere, but Dutch ambled off a ways to crop at a patch of oddly green grass, while the Joker stepped up to Jordan's left.

"Did the snow melt all at once? Did it rain so hard? Where'd it come from?"

[falsepretences]

"I have no clue in the least," Jordan says dryly. "Showed up in the last round of earthquakes along with that tower on the Green." He eyes Dutch for a moment; should have brought Prospero out with him.

Oh, well.

[jokeswithknives]

"Someone gotta know, right? Otherwise water gotta mind of its own and what if it decides it wants to grow bigger?" Her eyes widened. "Will there be fishies? Huge fishies to swallow us all up? Could be, could be, magic isn't careful, right??"

She plucked at his sleeve reflexively; such thoughts were worrisome.

[falsepretences]

"I've never known magic to be very cautious." At all. Though, even less cautious over the course of the last several months, frankly. He peers at the water as if it was planning to give him any answers. "Well. I don't see a giant squid, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one."

[jokeswithknives]

"Squiddies," Juliette echoed with childish delight, creeping up to crouch at the water's edge. She dipped long fingers into the sparkling water, holding them up to watch them drip, as if fascinated.

"And big tower," she added, referring to the newest architectural addition to Deck lands. "High windows. Hear ghosts inside. Memories past, methinks."

[falsepretences]

"I saw it when I went by." He hadn't stopped, though. He wasn't sure he was ready to dive into dead languages and mysteries untold just yet.

"Have you gone inside?"

[simondsareforever]

The man that arrived on the scene next seemed to be under the impression that this beach was far more elaborate than it actually was.

That much was evident by the fact that a large, white, fluffy beach towel was over his left shoulder, he was wearing a tight-fitting blue bathing suit, and his feet were adorned with flip-flops.

Simon Thompson sighed, and shook his head. "Geez, when they told me we had a beach, I thought they meant something more...fully-formed."

Notably, he was at least wearing a shirt, so he might not actually have been intending to jump into freezing cold water. Maybe.

[falsepretences]

Well, it's not in Tahiti, unfortunately. The climate at the beach is the same cold, somewhat damp and blustery temperature as the rest of the Deck, and Jordan's huddled into his peacoat as he looks out at the water.

"I don't think it's fully prepped for beach volleyball," he said after a moment of staring at Simon. "Did you think it'd turned into Bermuda?"

[messire_messer]

"It'll always get weirder," mutters the young man lying face down into the grass. There's evidence around of his fists and feet having attacked the ground. "Why can't it get weirder in ways that don't interfere?"

[falsepretences]

Mostly, you wouldn't know that Rap had ever been a Chives, Jordan reflects, but sometimes. Occasionally. It just became more than clear, and it was all in the intonation. Jarring when paired with his paint-spattered childhood friend.

"You had plans?" He asks. "What, an elaborate piece of installation art the size of the embassy?"

[messire_messer]

"Just the door," he sniffs, lifting his head a little. "If it's going to stand there and be useless, it could at least be useless in a more attractive way. Was building up materials for it."

He turns over on his back and sits up halfway, propping himself up with his forearms. "...s'it too far to swim, you think?" Just, you know. Enquiring.

[falsepretences]

"It's too far to swim in March," Jordan says, sending Rap a look. "The water's probably just barely above the freezing point, if that. Plus, if you need any equipment, you'd have to transport that."

His brow furrows a little. "What were you going to do to it, anyway?"

[messire_messer]

"Start building round it. That little archway's lonely. It needs a proper wall." Well, proper for a given value of proper.

"Maybe I'll start wi' a bridge instead."

[falsepretences]

"New embassy?" Though, knowing Rap, it wouldn't be a rather conventional building with spires and stained glass. "It could be interesting. A bridge might be more useful in this case, though."

Because he sure as hell wasn't getting in that water.

[yourcupoftea]

The last tremor had dislodged something in Meera, or perhaps it had forced something that was off-kilter back into its proper place. She wasn't her usual, frantic mess as she stood at the edge of the water. Before, she might've run back and forth, throwing dirt clods at their new lake, trying to sop everything up. Now... nothing. Perhaps she was simply exhausted.

Rubbing the back of her neck, she glanced over at Jordan. "You're the one who thought that?" she joked, "Damn you. You jinxed us." Her voice lowered as she took in the island. "You should never have thoughts like that."

[falsepretences]

It had been one thing after another for months, Jordan thought, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his wool pants, his scarf trailing over his shoulder in the stiff breeze. Maybe they were all exhausted.

"I swear I knocked on wood," he said. "Twice for good measure, but apparently it didn't actually work out so well."

[yourcupoftea]

"Sure you didn't knock on plywood?" Meera sighed. She'd done her best to stay out of the Arcana business. Each reminder that it was still affecting their community was distressing. "Well? What brings you out here? My lord."

[falsepretences]

"Just wanted to get out of the Castle and volunteering to investigate the suddenly very large body of water seemed like as good an idea as any." He kicks another rock before looking at Meera. "What about you? Running messages?"

[yourcupoftea]

"I am off today, as luck would have it." She turns to face Jordan and narrows her eyes. It's not confrontational, just a girl playing hall monitor. "What have you discovered so far, Inspector Poirot? Or should I say Mr. Holmes?"