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 Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:36 pm
Ophelia balanced her surfboard under one arm and grasped her brother's chubby hand with the other. Despite the little boy's inherent water breathing abilities and webbed fingers, Prosper insisted that he wanted him in a floatation device, so Fish was stylin' in his little orange life preserver and swim trunks.
The pair stepped over a hill in the path and the huge expanse of the ocean fanned out before them. Fish's mouth dropped open, and then he took off down the hill, pulling his sister behind him. "Feely, Feely, come on!" he squealed.
He paused at the water's edge and dipped his toes in. He sized up the little waves lapping against the shore.
"'sa big water," he declared astutely.
"It's the ocean," explained Ophelia.
"Ocean," replied Fish with a nod. "We go in?"
"Yeah, gimme a second," answered Ophelia, setting her board down and kneeling to fasten the strap around her ankle.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:27 pm
It- he- the cabbage- whatever Crowley was, the child wouldn't stop talking since she'd finally decided to return. 'Mama' this, and 'Mama' that, and 'beach' elsewise. Antanasia decided fairly soon that not only did the universe hate her, the child did too. That was why Amagi, snickering like the stupid a*****e he was, had recommended a trip to this 'Tidewater'. Some kind of tiny out-of-the-way beach where almost no one went so no one would see the black spirits that brewed behind her heels or the way she didn't cast any other shadows.
Well, goddamn Amagi had been pretty wrong, hadn't he? Sure it wasn't crowded but there were people, a teenage girl and a little boy, like a toddler in age she guessed. "Well ********," she said, interrupting one more monologue from her... son. nephew. thing. She'd pick a story soon. And then she would kick Amagi's a**.
For his part, Crowley was fascinated- no, entranced -by the ocean. It looked like a lot more water than he'd anticipated but somehow that made it even better. Even the other people didn't distract him long (though he did wonder about the bright orange for a bit, it was terribly eye-catching). With a remarkable amount of speed, he dashed over a dune.
To the dark-skinned child, it didn't matter that he was fully clothed, or couldn't swim. He just flew right over the sand and straight into a wave- it knocked him over and back, and he spluttered for a moment. For a second it seemed like he might cry, but then he grinned and shifted around on the swiftly receding sand to grin at the other boy in the bright orange.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:29 am
Fish, slightly antsy while he waited for his sister to get her board ready, watched the boy run into the water with wide eyes. "Feely! Feely! It knocked him down! Lookit!"
Ophelia glanced over at the boy, and then farther up the beach at the woman coming over the dune who seemed to be accompanying him. "It did," she agreed, and hoped the kid was okay. He was fully clothed, and he wasn't wearing a life preserver. Kind of a bad idea on concept.
Fish tugged on Ophelia's sleeve. "Feely! Feely! He's little like me!"
He leaned around his sister to wave at the dark boy.
"Hi!" he called.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:07 pm
Ophelia's worries were very out of line. Crowley was just fine, in fact, he wanted to have another go. And he might have had, too, but the redheaded woman doggedly tailing him grabbed his collar and hauled him backwards, past the tide line. "You little leech," she muttered, seeming quite as if she wanted to whack him upside the head.
And she might have, but the boy squirmed out of her grip and practically flew across the sand to the other boy, skidding to a stop and falling backwards. "Hiiiii," he said, "Am Crow-lee."
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:16 pm
"Crow-lee," repeated Fish, nodding approvingly. "'M Fish." He pointed to the girl beside him. "'S Feely," he explained, "'S my sister."
Ophelia waved to the boy and tried to decide what it was about him that seemed familiar to her. She couldn't figure it out. She looked over at the red haired woman, who looked nothing like the child she was accompanying, and pondered the relationship. Of course, on Gaia, it was perfectly normal for parents too look nothing like their children.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:37 pm
Antanasia slammed her palm into her forehead, dragged her hand down her face and sighed, aggravated beyond capability to form words. At least the little brat wasn't babbling at her anymore. "What kind of name is 'Fish', anyway," she muttered darkly, turning away. She'd know if the kid went and did anything too stupid. Like running into the water again.
For his part, the dark-skinned boy clambered back to his feet. "Fish! Fish," repeated Crowley, twice to make sure he wouldn't forget it. "An' Feely." He looked curiously at the older girl, and then decided that she wasn't that interesting. Okay, a little. But not enough to keep his attention for long.
"What you doin," asked Crowley.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:08 pm
Fish pointed to Ophelia's surfboard. "Goin' in the ocean!" he declared. "Feely's gonna teach me how to surf."
Ophelia smiled at the little boy and then looked over at the woman who was accompanying him. She wondered if it would be okay with her if her ...son?... tagged along. At any rate, she didn't have another life vest. Maybe it would be okay for Fish to give his up. He swam well enough, and drowning was pretty much out of the question, considering his gills.
"Feely! Can he come with us?" asked Fish, jumping ahead of her train of thought.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:52 pm
"Surf," echoed Crowley, enchanted. He looked around- first at the surfboard, then to the tall brown-haired girl, then to the blond boy he decided was pretty neat. It seemed like a pretty cool thing to do, all things considered, and he'd really like to hang out with Fish more. His mom would probably make him study or something, even at a beach. "I can please come with you?"
Antanasia shrugged, though since she was facing away she didn't seem to be responding to Ophelia's questioning glance.
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:51 pm
Ophelia looked at Crowley and pursed her lips. She looked at Fish, focusing on the orange life vest, and then back at the other boy.
"Can he? Please, Feely?" asked Fish.
"Uh, okay," said Ophelia, not used to taking orders from a toddler. "Can you swim?" She figured that, if he couldn't, she could always give him Fish's life vest. Fish was a strong enough swimmer without one.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:00 pm
"No," said Crowley with a lilt at the end of the word, which he figured would be right since he didn't have a clue what swimming was except it had to do with a beach and also water. If you didn't know what something was, could you still do it? Maybe. The closest he'd ever been to water was the bath-tub. "I can come with you?"
Crowley had a one-track mind.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:15 pm
"Alright," nodded Ophelia, and Fish cheered. She took the life vest off one child, which wasn't too hard because he was already trying to wriggle out of it anyway, and hesitated.
"You're clothes are gonna get really heavy if we go out in the water in them," she said.
"Got a swim suit?" asked Fish, eyes wide.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:42 pm
He cheered with his new friend, throwing both arms into the air and doing a silly little dance, completely missing Ophelia divesting Fish of the bright orange thing that had drawn his attention in the first place. And he almost missed the question, but he'd already stopped by the time the other boy translated Ophelia's words into Crowleyspeak.
"No," he said again, "But I got shorts," and he struggled his way out of his shirt without waiting for Ophelia or Fish to say anything.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:54 pm
Ophelia moved to clip the life vest onto Crowley. Fish might swim like... welll.. a fish, but she wouldn't take chances with someone else's child. When he was secure, she got up and pushed the board out into the surf.
Fish followed her and motioned for Crowley to follow him. When the water was up to about Ophelia's knees, she helped both boys to sit on the front end of the board and hopped on to paddle from the back. She'd been working on paddling while kneeling, and this was a good opportunity. Luckily the board was long enough and buoyant enough not to tip over too easily.
In a few moments, they were skimming out over the low waves. It was a good day for learning. Fish trailed a hand in the water and smiled at his new friend. "S fun!" he declared. "Crow-lee!"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:23 pm
Oh, so now Crowley was going to wear the bright orange vest. That was cool. Putting it on was an adventure, since he tried to help out all he could, but he decided it might be better to just let Ophelia do her thing after a bit. This proved to be the correct assessment when the two were settled on the surfboard.
"Is," he agreed with Fish, eyes big with awe. "Deep water, huh."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:13 pm
"Yeah!"said Fish, peering into the water. A few yards away, a dolphin surfaced and then slid back beneath the waves. Fish chattered something at it.
Ophelia kept paddling, listening to the children in front of her talk. It had been a long time since she had been that young and innocent. She glanced over the side of her board. The water was really clear - you could see all the way to the bottom. There were big fish down there. A couple of rays swam past. There was a reef around here somewhere, but she had never found it.
The dolphin surfaced again and chattered something. Fish chattered something back. The dolphin went back under.
"S talkin' to me!" said Fish.
"It is not," said Ophelia.
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