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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 12:34 pm
The sky was thick with clouds that left only the faintest touch of sun against the water. Jamie didn't think it would rain, at least as much as he trusted the weather app on his phone. Even if it did, he'd deal. With dad out of town on business and mom neck deep in weekend paperwork, it had been a chore just convincing her to drive him out here in the first place. She was as endlessly supportive as she could be, but he didn't feel like listening to the gentle half-scolding he knew he'd get if he called to be picked up early when she was that busy.
Standing out far enough for the water to wash up over his bare feet, he let out a sigh, one it felt like he'd been holding all week. These couple days off were always a godsend, even if they were somehow lonelier than the perils of the classroom. At least alone—okay, there were a few other Waite State goers out today, but they kept to their own devices—he could think without worry.
Still, thinking wasn't quite what Jamie was here for, fun was. The nearby tide pools were calling his name. The plan: spot as many cool fish as he could. He even had a couple packs of crackers in his pocket to feed them with (though he'd be inconspicuous about it, he wasn't sure if you were actually allowed to feed the wildlife). Wiggling his feet out of the sand, he took off down the beach.Silverahhhh oops sorry for the re-quote LOL
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:37 pm
Finn was coming up the beach, a backpack full of water samples slung over his shoulder. It was still a bit early in the season for swimmers, too overcast for the park to even have that many people in it-- Finn paused. There was a lone figure down by the tide pools. He raised his hand to his brow to cut the glare, and ascertained that the figure was a teenager. Finn had been the last person to see Heliodora et al before their disappearance into the Otherworld, and carried some guilt over that - what if he'd called their parents to come collect them, instead of writing them up and dropping them at the entrance to the park? He knew that the Otherworld took as it saw fit, but... "Careful," he suggested, nearing the teenager. "If you go down to the breakers. There's bad rip tides this time of year."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 10:48 am
There was a small smile on Jamie's face as he peered into the water, catching nothing at first, but that was okay. There was plenty of time to look and the real adventure was in finding what wanted to hide. Searching the tide pools was almost more exciting than going straight to the aquarium. Maybe he'd even see a crab!
Thoroughly distracted, the sound of an unfamiliar voice much closer than he expected—and quite honestly he wasn't expecting anyone's company at all—sent his heart straight to his throat.
"I'm not..." was the only thing he could force out at first as he spun on the one who'd approached him. Looking like a mess with his wind-swept curls, bare feet, and immediately guilty expression, Jamie fought for something to say.
"I wasn't, uh, gonna go down... that far..." As it dawned on Jamie he was talking to a park ranger, his voice trailed off to almost inaudible levels. Even if there wasn't a reason for it, his nervous mind told him he was in trouble. Suddenly he couldn't make eye contact.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:05 am
"Oh," said Finn, taking a quick step backwards. He hadn't meant to startle the kid! "Sorry. As you were." He hoped he hadn't killed the moment. He probably had. "We've had some trouble," clarified Finn. "Kids on the beach after dark. Kids disappearing." Now, Finn knew the true story - but the official one involved warning local high schoolers away from the beach after the park closed. "But you've got plenty of time." "Sorry. Don't mind me. Just... gotta say something."
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:59 am
A cautious relief loosened Jamie's stiffened muscles, and he lifted his gaze away from the ground where it had fallen. Still couldn't quite look the ranger in the eye, though. It was more like looking past him, off to the side at something in the distance.
"I don't really... think I'll be staying that long," he tried to assure, going above and beyond the need to do so. Finn likely didn't need his life story, but he started to mumble the facts anyway. "I don't have my own car and my mom's gonna pick me up so... whenever she gets here I'm leaving. Don't have a choice."
It was a little unnerving to hear about mysterious disappearances, but Jamie really wanted to look for fish. Call it an obsession, that's about what it was.
"I don't wanna cause you any trouble, though. I wanted to see some fish, but I can, um, go somewhere else if that's better..." It didn't matter that he'd already been given what amounted to a go ahead, he had to make triple sure it was fine.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:59 pm
Finn backed off, hands raised in protest. "No, no," he assured the kid. "It's fine. It's fine. You're fine. I was just. Warning you. Park safety's part of my job. You're fine right here." He didn't think he'd come on all that strongly about the rip tides - maybe it was just the ranger uniform and the position of relative authority that was freaking this kid out? "I've got a biodiversity sample to check down by the jetty," he said, gesturing over his shoulder. "You, uh, you enjoy the fish. And take it easy."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2016 5:27 pm
It was such an ingrained thing now, Jamie's fear and nervousness. It wasn't Finn's fault, though it might've appeared that way. Given a little more time, Jamie likely would've calmed down; that's usually how it went. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like he might not get that time. There was something about the ranger's body language that made him feel guilty all over again.
"Oh, um... okay," he responded shortly, toeing at the rocks. It felt too awkward to leave it at that, but he wasn't quite sure what else to say. Between biting his lip and fretting, he forced himself to keep going.
"Thanks... F-For the warning, I mean. I'll be careful." He tried to smile and succeeded, even if it looked a bit forced. "I hope everything goes okay with your, um, research and everything... I... I really appreciate the work you do. I like it here a lot."
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 7:10 pm
Finn started to make his way down the beach, feeling tremendously awkward about the exchange he'd just left. Then he turned back around. "Hey, kid," he said. "You want to come help me check my trap? There'll probably be, like, a lobster or something." The usually was. Anyway, he figured it was the least he could do to make up for scaring the kid so badly.
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 4:20 pm
It sure had left Jamie feeling awkward, too; they were birds of a feather in that regard, at least. It took him a long moment of standing stock still and staring before he finally turned around to the tide pools. Only seconds later, with no time to gather himself enough to look for more fish, he was spinning back around towards the voice he almost assumed might be preparing to scold him about something else (even though scolding was completely inaccurate to what had happened).
What Jamie got instead was a surprise, a good one, an offer to help with something that was undeniably interesting to him.
"Um... can I?" he asked, hesitating shortly before carefully maneuvering off the rocks and down the beach towards Finn. "T-That sounds like fun. Lobsters are really neat. Crabs, too... I thought maybe I'd see one."
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:24 am
Finn laughed, relieved to have done something right. "Okay," he said, nodding. "Come over here, and... I'm gonna have to climb out on the rocks, but you gotta stay on the sand, okay? We don't have insurance for if you hit your head and die." Oops. That was probably a bit too morbid. Finn went on ahead, climbing out onto the jetty with sure steps (hiking boots were good for that - very clingy). He hauled up the trap, got a good hold on it, and carried it over to the sand. "Catch and release," said Finn, emptying the trap onto the packed sand and tossing it aside. A small-ish lobster and a couple of crabs tumbled out, landed on the sand, seemed... kind of dazed. He jotted down a note on his cell phone. "Not bad for this time of year." saedusk this is not real park ranger science I am sure of it
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 7:18 pm
If nothing else, Finn sure didn't have to tell Jamie twice not to follow him out on the rocks. Honestly, he wouldn't have, but hitting his head and dying was a pretty big deterrent. Luckily it didn't diminish the excitement that was finally fluttering back to life in him. If there was one thing Jamie loved, it was fish, and if there was a close second, it was all the other water-dwellers.
"So you... keep track of how many you catch?" he asked, not completely understanding the reasoning behind it. Being a park ranger probably required more work than he realized.
"W-Wow..." Jamie was quick to stoop down, though he didn't get too terribly close, not wanting to get in the way of Finn's work. "They're so cute," he muttered under his breath, eyes wide and sparkling, or maybe that was just a reflection off the water. "The lobster's, um, littler than I thought it would be."Silverah Jamie will never question u this is the best science
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 9:18 am
"He's just a little guy," said Finn, crouching down to lay down a measuring stick and snap some photographs. "Lobsters, they keep growing their whole lives. This guy's in the middle of his wild teenaged years. I'm probably making him late to some crazy lobster party right now." "We keep track of how many we see, how big they are, whether they're tagged... this guy's got a little radio clip, so we've seen him before." The crabs had already scuttle back down towards the water. Finn carefully picked the lobster up behind where its front appendages joined its body. "Alright," said Finn, starting down towards the waves. "Into the water he goes."
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 7:13 pm
Okay, Finn got him with that one. There was a tiny smile on Jamie's face that grew as he tried to hold back a laugh. "Lobster party..." he repeated, letting a breathy giggle slip through. "H-He's cute, though, so... at least he'll be fashionably late."
Pushing back to full height with a huff, he watched as Finn carted their friend to the water, only looking away to catch one last glimpse of the crabs before they disappeared beyond the tide, too. It sounded kind of fun, keeping track of the wildlife, occasionally meeting the very same animal you'd met before. What sort of odds were those, Jamie wondered. Good enough that were he in Finn's shoes, Jamie would hope every time to see an old friend still out there and thriving.
"Is it fun...?" he asked, seemingly out of no where. "U-Um... being a park ranger, I mean. Getting to do all of these things...?" His toes dug at the sand, a look of genuine curiosity on his face.
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 10:18 pm
"Yeah," said Finn, lobbing the lobster gently back into the water. "He can pick up Starbucks on the way or something. Seabucks." (He liked to think of himself as being quite clever.) "Best job in the world," he answered, turning away from the water. "But then again, you've got to be the kind of person who likes doing all this outdoorsy crap. I'm sure lots of people would rather work at a desk." He sized the kid beside him up, figured he was probably, like, a senior in high school and just kind of young looking. "We've got a junior ranger program," he said. "There's a whole info packet about it that you can get at the visitor center."
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:03 pm
Finn most definitely was clever. Or rather, Jamie decided he was, at least. Thoughts of their rocky start were in the past already as his opinion of the park ranger shifted from scary to actually pretty cool when Jamie wasn't freaking out about literally everything.
"Wow... that's neat. I, um, think it would be really fun..." It might be easier to sit behind a desk the rest of his life, but Jamie found himself wondering if even he could do something like this. There was a passion in his heart for this park, after all. It was one of his favorite places, the beach even more so, but there were wonderful things about all of it.
"I think I might, um, pick up a packet on the way out..." There was a hopeful little glimmer in his eyes. "O-Oh, I'm Jamie, by the way... T-Thanks for the information."
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