I stopped, warm golden sands crunching beneath my feet.
The breeze, cool and salty, brushed past, carrying the ends of my hair with it.
Kids, couples, families, and even loners, were all spread across the beach, laughter and chatter mingling with the sounds of the rising and falling waves ahead.
I could be home right now. Just a little change to my aura and a little swipe of my arm and I could be kicking back and relaxing with them. There was no beach on Patch that anyone with sense would ever try going to, Grimm likely to rip apart or swallow you whole for trying to dip into the water, but just being back home with everybody would beat this place out every time.
I took a slow breath.
That's what this was all for. I'd handle all the problems involving Salem and her people now so that there wouldn't be any for Ruby or Yang to endure. Then I could have that easy stress free life I was after.
Besides, coming to this place hadn't been for my benefit.
I walked forward, the warmth of the sand soon overtaken by a cold front of water pushing past my feet. Some stopped to look my way as I passed them, but I didn't pay them any more than a quick glance, coming to a stop once the passing waves were just below my knees.
There were a few people further out, either bold enough to accept any possible risks or absolutely certain of all the security measures the place had.
The beach itself was further sectioned from the already gated waters of the sea around Argus so it wasn't quite like the ones I remembered but it was probably the closest any place could get across Remnant without the risk of Grimm.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth of the overhead sun and the feeling of water passing by. I'd gone ahead of the others to set some things up and was still waiting on them so I might as well enjoy the moment like Qrow said.
That moment didn't last very long.
"Talon!" I turned, picking out Emerald's voice among the many others.
She hadn't wasted any time getting into the water, running towards me in a plain white two piece with black straps running along their edges and her shoulders, a smile spread across her face.
Cinder had stopped just before the water, in a simple black one piece with threading running along its sides and one of those thin nearly clear beach jackets thrown over her shoulders. She had probably gone out of her way to find something more modest, the strings of her swimsuit very intentionally tied in such a way that they hid parts of the already near invisible discoloration of the scaring around her neck.
Mercury took it further than her, arms crossed and in an entirely black wetsuit that covered everything aside from his hands and feet.
Unlike Emerald, neither of them looked remotely excited, at best cautiously curious about everything going on around them. Paranoid was probably the more realistic word to use though.
As I fully turned around, Emerald's smile dropped, eyes widening.
Between the looks so many others were giving me, Mercury and Cinder's own efforts to cover up their respective scars, and now the look Emerald was giving me, I was being thoroughly reminded that while they wouldn't have been given any attention back among the Tribe, my scars set me aside from the vast majority of people.
XOXO
"Talon!" Emerald shouted, rushing ahead of them and into the water towards Talon who stood a small distance out, his long messy black hair left to flow freely past his waist, something he only typically did while wearing that helmet of his.
Cinder shifted her arms as she looked around, unease drawing her attention all over the place. She didn't understand the appeal of these damn swimsuits or bikinis, everyone across the beach really wearing some variation of them. Had she known whatever it was Mercury was wearing existed, she would've just gone with that. At least he saw the sense in not bothering with those things.
Even Talon was embracing the foolish choice in clothing, his turn towards them revealing that he kept on his sunglasses as usual but otherwise wore simple shorts that-
Scars.
Cinder stepped in closer, the ice cold water ignored and hand raised to block out the sun as she tried to get a better look at them.
Starting from the inside of his left elbow and extending up the rest of his arm, only stopping just past the left side of his upper chest and just barely reaching the edge of his collarbone, patches of darkened skin were spread across him. All scaring from what, at one point, must've been severe burns.
It wasn't just one connected injury either, only a few patches of the uneven skin connecting to each other, yet all appearing to have burned just as deeply. All of it looked just as bad or maybe even worse than the marks her semblance could leave behind.
Who or what could've done something like that to him of all people?
XOXO
Foot pulled back, I kicked up water, splashing Emerald with it.
"Wha-What'd you do that for?" She complained, knocked out of her muted surprise. Best done to pull her attention away from my scars, she splashed up some water herself, most of which I avoided. "Stay still dammit." She said following after me as I took off past her. We avoided others, Emerald barely managing to get anything more than lose droplets on me before we made it to Cinder and Mercury.
Only then did a cold douse of saltwater hit my back and hair.
"You two planning on getting in the water?" I asked, brow raised. Emerald huffed as she stepped up beside me, put off by my lack of a reaction.
"I don't know how to swim." Mercury stated bluntly, looking further out at those who were doing just that.
"You don't have to go out that far." I said.
"And we could teach you." Emerald said after a moment of hesitation. "If you want to. I'm think I'm good enough to do that." She quickly added on when Mercury looked her way. He nodded, taking a few steps into the cold water.
He was practical enough that being taught a new skill wasn't something he needed convincing about.
"No." Cinder said flatly when we looked her way.
"Well, I guess someone needs to sit with our stuff." I said, walking up and joining Cinder on the sand. "I'll be back."
"Alright." Emerald said, giving me a stare that was probably a little too obvious all things considered. It wasn't like I needed her to try and remind me though. The whole point in coming to the beach was so the three of them could enjoy themselves; getting Cinder to actually loosen up and do just that was always a part of the plan.
Cinder followed after me as we walked further up the beach, running kids avoided. We stopped beside the umbrella, towel, and cooler I had set up before heading out into the water. She ducked beneath its shade, dropping herself to sit, frown still in place the whole time.
A bunch of people. Showing off more of her pale skin than she probably ever had. And, the cherry on top, looking like she was in a foul mood from the moment they set out for the beach. She was really priming herself to hate every second spent here.
"You know, you really should join us out there." I said, looking out towards Emerald and Mercury. Despite offering to teach him, she actually she looked like she wasn't sure what to do once they got further out.
"No."
"You can't swim."
"Tsk." She didn't deny it, only looking away from the waters ahead. "I've never needed to."
"Never needed to yet." I said. "It's a pretty good skill to have, you know. If you ever end up stranded out in the ocean while traveling between kingdoms without knowing how, it'll be game over. It probably will be either way but some chance is better than no chance, right?"
The Grimm out at sea could be especially dangerous from what I've heard. I still didn't have any experience with them myself but fighting anything underwater sounded like a pain.
Cinder looked my way, her eyes narrowed. By now she had to be just as aware as me about how this with. She'd reject doing something but a little nudging about how it might help her and she'd start moving right along towards it.
Knowing her, the mere fact that the pattern existed could be enough to annoy her. Despite that, it still hadn't failed me.
"Come on, do I really need to-"
"Excuse me." Two people stepping up to us interrupted me. A pair of girls, just about our ages by the looks of them, were focused on me. They were far from subtle, their wandering eyes and smiles giving away what brought them over instantly,
"We're busy." Cinder said firmly before either could really say much. "Go bother someone else." They looked her way, as if noticing her for the first time, one prepared to say something. Those words never got a chance to be heard, polite apologies leaving the pairs as they took off in a hurry.
I couldn't help but snicker. "Those looks part of your semblance too?" Cinder ignored the poke at her, watching that pair disappear back into the crowded beach before looking back up at me. I knew firsthand how unnerving those looks of her could be, but I had to admit, seeing it used on others was pretty entertaining.
"So, you going to come out?" She shook her head. "Well, try not to spend the whole time looking like you want to strangle someone."
Stepped away from her, I headed back down towards the water. They could spend some time teaching Mercury how to swim for bit, but he'd make sure they found something up on the sand they could do with her before the day was over.
XOXO
Tracking the ball, I slipped under it, hands brought together.
Mercury was already near the net, preparing to jump. Just the right amount of force put into it, I set the ball straight to him, not bothering with any kind of arc or delay to be sure he had time. And, without any trouble, he jumped up, spiking the ball hard enough that by the time Emerald ran over and jumped, it had already shot over her. Cinder, over in the back half of their side, barely managed a step towards it before the ball was buried in the sand.
"Nice." I said, the sand of the playing area crunching beneath my feet as I raised a hand towards him. The basic gesture only caused him to tense up, as if preparing for an attack.
That father of his had been a bastard through and through.
"High five?" I questioned, clapping my own hands together then holding the hand out for him again. "No? Alright then." Left hanging, I shook my head as we moved to start up another serve.
Volleyball hadn't been in my plans, something I only ever had a passing interest in, but with Cinder refusing to get in the water and plenty of playing areas set up along the beach, it was the perfect game for us to play.
Spinning the ball between my hands as I stepped back, I lobbed it high into the air. Walking forward, I jumped up, taking aim at the back half of their side where Cinder was, a tap of the ball sending it just in front of her. Hands interlocked, she stepped forward, bouncing it towards Emerald.
Emerald and I had been the only ones into it at first, the former down to try something new, while the other two had been doing the bare minimum.
Angling to serve it, Emerald managed a spotty toss up towards Cinder who'd rushed towards the net, jumping up with her arm pulled back. A hard smack to the ball only ended up with it falling back on their side, Mercury effortlessly rising to shut down and turn the force of her spike against itself with his raised hands.
Cinder clicked her tongue as she hit the ground, glaring at the two of us.
The game had, alongside Mercury's robotic but effective plays, he adapting to the game within only a few serves, revealed Cinder's fitting competitive streak. Being outdone and losing so quickly had caused her to jump from the bare minimum to actually trying to score and prevent the ball from falling at the expense of diving into the sand.
"We'll get the next one." Emerald encouraged her while tossing the ball over to me so I could set up another serve.
I wasn't sure if she was enjoying herself yet, but it was a start. Now to get Mercury to really engage with things.
Another lax serve sent out, the two actually managed to get the ball over to our side, Mercury hitting it up for me. Moving to set up another serve, I tracked where he was going and set it beforehand unlike usual, the ball sent significantly higher too. Caught off guard but quick on the reaction he jumped high, sand kicked up and Mercury managing to hit the ball.
The lacking force behind it allowed them to easily intercept and throw together another a spike from Cinder. Ball sent forward, whether intentionally or by sheer luck, it hit the tip of one of Mercury's fingers, flying into the back end of our side. I intercepted, Mercury moving to set this time.
Rather than waiting for him to prepare it, I flat out rushed one of the net's corner's, already jumping high into the air, right arm pulled back.
As usual, Mercury was quick to adapt to it, ball just barely reaching me as I began to fall from the apex of my jump. I didn't manage full contact but there was still enough force in my spike that when Emerald moved to intercept, neither having been fast enough to put up a block, it forced her to stumble back onto her butt, the ball bouncing out of the playing area.
"Maaannn." Emerald complained as she stood back up, half heartedly glaring my way. "The second I get a chance at spiking it, I'm aiming for your face."
"Good luck." I said while catching the ball, someone passing by on the beach having tossed it over.
We played a few different matches, switching up teams while I constantly went out of my way to make sure all of them had a chance and opportunity to really push themselves or go for points. Games like this were at their funniest when they actually was a sense of competition and a clear path to victory after all.
By the end of it all, Emerald was sitting back across the sand covered in sweat. Cinder was trying to regain her breath, hands on her knees. Mercury was only wiping a light sweat away, just a bit more relaxed as he looked us over rather than keeping a paranoid eye on the people around the beach.
"You guys up to grab something to eat?" I asked. With most of the day spent here doing all sorts of random things, I'd mark it as a success. Grabbing food with everyone, Mercury included would be icing on the cake.
"Yeah, I'm starving." Emerald said while stretching out before forcing herself to a stand and dusting herself off.
Cinder nodded.
"Alright." Mercury agreed with a nod.
Perfect. After we wrapped up the day, I could actually pick up a more dedicated search for anything involving Tyrian around the city. I'd peeked into a few different places while walking around Argus with them but I needed a deep look.
XOXO
(A/N: Still going for one more this week but we'll see how it shakes out.
That aside, the beach! We aren't completely finished with it since it'll be popping up for the next few chapters but while also being good old slice of life, it will be laying the ground for number of different things in the future. Talon's interesting set of scars for one. Oh and some random references here and there.
Random side note, anyone watch the latest episode of Invincible? Its been a minute since any violence had me feel anything but hot damn did that shit take me off guard and actually get a reaction out of me. I don't read the comics so don't spoil anything but I can only imagine what else the season has in store since I think that's just the halfway point.
As usual, here is the link for those who want to read ahead for anything I'm writing:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
See you all in the next one.)