concoursec | backdated like whoa whoa

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backdated like whoa whoa

Characters: Thumbelina & Cissie.
Location: Dollet. The beach.
Rating: ...dude, it's Thumbelina. Nothing PG-13.
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed.
Summary: Thumbelina has never seen an ocean before, so this is her first time walking on sand and fishing shells from the surf, and Cissie shows her the ropes.

Thumbelina dips her toes into the warm granular deposits upon the "Beach". It feels good, between her toes and against the bottoms of her feet. It's also warm, so Thumbelina doesn't feel too bad about not bringing along some footwear. Besides, Dollet didn't really have too hot of a ground, and she'd been careful of where she stepped.

Her attire is for the beach--a two-piece, blue bikini with white dots and frill--and slung over one arm is a beach towel that she'd borrowed from gym class. In one hand she holds the handle to a bucket that is full of small pail, shovel, rake, and some funny cookie cutter that'd she'd been entranced by in the kitchen--she'll bring it back! Honest!--and white fish-net looking pouch.

The ocean is huge. Much bigger than the rivers Thumbelina had traversed when she was still tiny and everything else had been so big in comparison. The water that rolls in waves and licks the sands keeps Thumbelina's attention, until she remembers that she isn't alone.

Turning around, smiling, she waves to her companion.

"Is this the Beach you were talking about, Cissie?"

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When she'd agreed to take Thumbelina to the beach, Cissie'd expected a relaxing day of sunbathing, surfing (if she found a cute enough boy to teach her), and maybe the occasional game of beach volleyball. So far, her plans seemed absolutely perfect! Like her friend, she was dressed in a red and white bikini with a loose white collared shirt as a cover-up. Adjusting her beach bag's straps, she effortlessly follows Thumbelina and can't help smiling as she watches her friend stare at the ocean.

"Yep, that's the one." Cissie grins, motioning for Thumbelina to follow her a little bit back. "The water in front of you's the ocean, the sand around is is... well, sand, and together, we've got one of the best beaches in the world. It should be perfect weather for swimming today!"

Thumbelina obliges Cissie's beckon and follows, careful to not step on any objects buried in the sand.

"Swimming?" She frowns a bit, but remains upbeat. "I kind of never learned how to swim, Cissie."

Mother had tried to teach her, but there's only so much you can do with a filling a bread pan with water and learning to float. Even if she's quite small (at least back home), she can still sink like a rock.

She didn't know how to swim? This was news, but Cissie was determined to take it in stride. She nodded, pulling out a couple of beach towels and her umbrella as they set up camp near the tides.

"Oh. I guess we'll just play in the sand today." She said cheerfully, taking a seat on the left towel and pulling out a magazine. "Have you ever made a sandcastle before?"

Thumbelina lays down her towel next to Cissie's. She puts rocks on the corners to keep it from being pulled away by the wind. She's still setting out the stones when Cissie sits down and gets out her magazine. She looks up from her work to give a shake of her head.

"No. Is that a castle made of sand?"

"Kind of!"

It was one of the things she didn't realize, being from Earth: customs were pretty different. Cissie sets her magazine down and moves towards the edge of the towel. She'd brought a shovel and bucket with her, so she pulled it out and handed it to Thumbelina. "You make it yourself out of the sand here. It's really, really fun."

Thumbelina nods enthusiastically, finished putting the last rock weight into place. There. Now there's no chance of her towel being blown away!

Turning to Cissie, Thumbelina accepts the shovel and bucket graciously. "Oh, okay!"

Carefully pulling some sand close together in a clump, Cissie starts to form a sandcastle with her bare hands. It's hard when they're dry, so she wanders towards the water to get them wet.

"What kind of castle do you wanna build? 'Cause we can start small and then get pretty big later on."

Thumbelina watches Cissie work attentively, then when Cissie goes to the water, Thumbelina kneels next to the sand clump castle.

"What kinds of castles can we make?"

"Any kind! You're only limited by your imagination."

She grins, pulling a bucket with her so that there's extra water on hand for later sandcastle building. "Do you want it to have a moat? Or maybe we can make it have really tall towers!"

Thumbelina chuckles.

"Well, if my imagination is going to be in charge, I suppose that there will be fairy nests..."

She rises from her place kneeling on the sand. She takes little steps forwards, arms held out wide, head tilted back, eyes closed. She places herself at the center of her fantasies.

"And then some grottos...oh! And a castle for the fairy prince!"

"A fairy prince?"

This was the first time Cissie'd heard of such a guy, and she was kind of curious, despite her (not so obvious) lack of knowledge concerning fantasies. "Is he cute?"

Thumbelina spins around, cheeks flushing, and head tilted, eyes closing.

"He's handsome."

Oh my! Cissie usually liked boy gossip, and she supposed now was as good of a time as any... "Is that so?" She teased. "Then whenever you go back, you should tell him. I bet he'd like that."

"Oh! I've already told him! He's going to tell his parents about me and then..." A somber expression fixes upon her features. "...well, maybe not." She'd been kidnapped by Momma Toad before Cornelius could come back to take Thumbelina to see the King and Queen of the Fairy. "...he's probably out there. Somewhere. Looking for me..."

"If it makes you feel better... time back home's usually stopped while you're here."

She bit her lower lip. Although she was used to cheering friends up, she didn't mean to bring up some depressing memories. "I'm sure things'll get better whenever you get back."

Thumbelina perks up. "Do you think so?" That'd be wonderful!

"I'm learning so much here. I think...I think maybe I can be the one who looks for him when I go back home." She's never felt so...empowered. "I bet I could even handle that Mr. Mole if tries to make me marry him again!"

She makes a pose, like she was taught in Self Defense, then kicks up a leg, making an emphasizing "hi-yah!" sound. Her fist strikes out in albeit clumsy, but accurate kicking form. "Nobody can make little Thumbelina do something she doesn't want to do!"

Even if it wasn't the best situation, mercenary school had plenty of upsides. Watching her friend learn to kick butt, even at a place like a beach, made their entire struggle worth it for so, so many reasons.

"I do." She laughed goodnaturedly, mimicking Thumbelina's pose before going ahead and continuing to build their sand castle. "I think you'll kick Mr. Mole's butt big-time if he ever tries to do that again!"

There was something to be said about self-defense, even if she wasn't fond of war and the (supposedly) upcoming battles. "You bet. If anyone tries, you'll know how to make 'em think otherwise."

Thumbelina nodded, crouching down to assist in the constructing of Castle Cissina.

"Or the Toad. He chased me all the way to Mr. Mole's tunnel."

Wait. She was being chased by an actual toad?

"Um, 'Lina... just how big are toads back in your world?"

"Well..." She turned to Cissie. "I was little back at home. Not like I am little here in Garden. So..." She makes a gesture to her stature. "He was taller than me!"

"So... people in your world were the size of toads and moles?"

She could get behind that; she'd seen the Atom in action a couple of times. "I guess that'd explain stuff. Can the animals talk too?"

"Only little people." She dipped her fingers into the sand and pushed it to start shaping the cast's left tower. "Insects, too. The Beatle could talk." She frowned upon remembering the Beetle. "He made me sing and dance for him and then called me ugly."

Little people. So Thumbelina wasn't human-sized before she came here... "The Beetle's just gross," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I thought that kind of stuff was limited to just humans, but I guess insects can be just as nasty if they want to."

It was something she hadn't considered, that's for sure! The insects here were bigger than usual, and while some of them were nuisances, others were just hideous monsters.

"He is." Thumbelina stuck her tongue out to emphasize her distaste. "He said that if I sang for him, then he'd help me find my way home, but he was nothing but a no good liar." She didn't hate the beetle, but she certainly didn't like him. Thumbelina had no capability of truly hating, but she definitely knew that if the Beetle were to suddenly appear, she'd have no guilty feelings about whooping his insect butt back to the Bug Ball.

"It's okay, though. He can't call me names or make me sing here." She shrugged her shoulders. Right. Have to look on the positives. "And it doesn't matter if he called me ugly. Because my friends think I'm beautiful." She nodded, a swell of pride in her chest. "And that's good enough for me."

The more she heard about Lina's world, the less she wanted to visit it. Ciss certainly wasn't naive by any stretch of the imagination, so she knew the Beetle could've aimed for more than a way back home... She shuddered.

"Yeah, we do," she grinned, trying not to think too much about the loaded questions she'd just asked. "And right now, we're making an even more beautiful sand castle. Plus, I'll even teach you how to swim one day.

Just in case. Balamb's beaches are pretty too, but I think I like Dollet's more."

"That'd be wonderful! Thank you so much!" She flung her arms around Cissie in a big, thankful hug.

"Do you think so?" She unwrapped her arms from around Cissie and turned to look over her shoulder. "It doesn't look different from any of the other beaches we passed on the way over here."

She laughed, not really expecting that hug, but returning it all the same.

"I know so! The sand here's whiter, and the water's somewhat cooler but it's prettier to look at."

Thumbelina thought for a moment. "I guess I wasn't noticing." She had been more focused on beach activities, rather than beach sediments and foliage.

"We're also pretty busy with school whenever we're in Balamb, so I can't blame you too much." She giggled.

"Soo... one turret's enough? Or should we add three?'

"Thanks." She bent down and plucked her shovel from the sand.

She tilted her head to the side, leaning backwards, trying to look at the sandcastle with a different angle. "Is there enough sand packed in to support a third turret?"

Good question. Cissie studied their castle for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "Not at the moment, but we could add some more if you really want three."

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backdated like whoa whoa

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wow sorry, thought i responded

it's chill!! it's chill!!

oh good ♥

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