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As was usual when Cassie was in the middle of a match, she was in her own little world. Everything had narrowed down to the rectangle of sand the players were moving around on, the net, and the ball. It was just a little fun, nothing serious, at least not today, but that didn't mean Cassie didn't take the game seriously. You didn't get good if you didn't put in the effort.

Of course, that didn't mean everyone she was playing with today were equaly as skilled...

One of the other girls had tried to spike the ball, but they'd caught it wrong, sent it spinning off to the side, and right at a poor guy sitting under a palm with a sketch pad on his lap. "Heads up!"

Too leate. The ball bounced off the sand, only to come back up to smack the poor guy in the face. Cassie winced before head towards him at a jog. "Hey, you okay?" Her swim suit was a semi sporty number, the dark colors in teh chevron picking up the black and teal of her hair.

"Hey, I mean if you wanna take the blame, that's fine too, but I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Grinning, she gave a small shake of her head. For having just been pegged in the face with a ball, he was rather apologetic. It was kind of a nice change from the usual irritation she had to deal with, but at the same time, Cassie really wasn't used to it.

He got to his feet, having spotted the ball rolling into the surf, and with a certain obvious reluctance had started in that direction to retrieve it. Again, not his responsibility. It had dark eyebrows arching in surprise, and the young woman followed a few steps behind him, waffling between telling him not to worry about it, and helping him retrieve it.

The later won--the mischievous option always won--and a wicked little smile ticked at the corners of Cassie's lips. Jogging now, she reached the edge of the water just as he was bending the grab for the ball. "Not a fan of the water?" It was warm, crystal clear and beautiful. The waves were lower and even, there wasn't any undertow today. Awful surfing weather, but there was other fun to be had.

Dragging her foot through the surf, she flicked a small splash at the backs of his calves, humming innocently.

Cassie, when he turned to grin at her--if you could call it a grin, there was certainly more to it than that--was smiling innocently back at him, hands grasped loosely behind her back, weight shifting from hip to hip. "Haven't a clue what you mean." She was over selling it, of course, which made the lie completely transparent.

"Curiously, if it had been?" A single dark brow arched, expression somewhere lost between sincere and playful.

"Oh," she added, releasing her hands so she could point at the water circling his knees. "In answer to the first question." The smile grew, utterly giving away any sense of feigned innocence she might have been playing at. "Because you seemed less than enthused about retrieving the ball when you'd seen it'd rolled into the surf." The pointing finger curled back to join the other's in a loose fist, and that hand drew back in turn to rest against her chest. The entire motion giving off a bit of matter-of-fact vibe.

She was playing, of course. Pushing buttons to see what might happen, but doing so slowly, gauging his reactions. He looked like someone that'd be pretty fun, but...

You just never really knew with these things.

"Save me?" She chuckled back at him, eyes narrowing with the subtle widening of her smile as she watched him toss the ball over her should. "Do I need to be saved?" Did she want to be? Seemed a little counter productive, given her deliberate prodding. She considered sending another splash of water at him, but as he crouched down, stalking towards her, it seemed pointless.

It was nice to not be disappointed. The cute stranger had taken the bait as desired and charged forward to scoop her up bridal style, and Cassie let out a obligatory Yelp, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders. "Now what?" It came out as a laugh, challenging, and her arms tightened just a bit.

If he was planning on tossing her in, he was going with her.

"Am I wh-!" The sentence cut off in an abrupt, startled squeal as strong fingers dug into her sides. She was, indeed ticklish, and this dirty tactic would have the desired results.

Almost.

She felt his arms loosen, hands ceasing their cruel assault, and the young woman threw slender arms back around him as her feet and a** touched water. She got him around the waist, rather than the shoulders like she'd hoped, but with luck, and a little added toss of her slight body weight, she'd perhaps manage to throw his balance enough to drag him down with her.

Because it was so on, now.

Success!

She didn't have to see or hear the splash to know he'd gone down with her. She felt his balance go, muscles moving under her arms and cheek a second before the both of them plunged into the shallow surf and it became too slippery to hold on. Well, and she needed to push herself back up so she could breath. He might have avoided going in entirely, but she wasn't quite so lucky.

Not that she cared, it was just water.

She came up with a loud gasp that dissolved almost immediately into laughter, bi-colored hair streaming into her eyes before she was pushing it back out of her face. Sitting, the water came up to about chest level.

"Tickling poor defenseless women, that's cheap, sir." Obviously she didn't mean it, and if the amusement in her tone didn't make that obvious enough, the smile on her face certainly helped. Poised very nearly on fingertips in an attempt to keep his head above the water, he had a look about him that reminded Cassie of a cat in a bath tube. "Oh come on, you're already mostly in." Grin broadening, she flicked a few drops in his direction. "You might as well just bite the bullet now, enjoy yourself." Stay and have a little fun.

"Blasphemy," she hissed softly under her breath, smile broadening. Who didn't like water? it was just unnatural. So many fun things happened in the water, or could happen in the water. Cassie had been accused on numerous occasions of having gills hidden away somewhere on her body. "Besides, your retaliation to a little flick of water was very unbalanced."

Much like him, apparently. He'd managed to push himself back, almost righting himself, and then something shifted and he was going down. Directly into her lap. Cassie stiffened as she got a face full of water, shocked for just a handful of seconds, then she was laughing again as he tried, and failed, to scramble his way back to shore. A very slight edge of guilt had her giving him a helpful nudge, then he was back on his feet and shivering on the sand, discarded hoodie a soaked heap at his feet.

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad." Rolling up on her knees, she watched him with a certain undeniable measure of amusement, one small hand coming up to sweep wet hair back off her face. "If you just stay in you get used to the temperature. It stops being cold." At this point, though, she didn't think she'd be able to convince him, not easily. "Come back, I bet I can make te water fun. Or at least warm you up a little."

At this point one of the other volleyball players had wandered down to retrieve the now forgotten ball, and had headed back to the match, shaking their head in amusement.