A Pretty Freakin' Nice Walk! ((Closed Log!))

[Jade Stone]

So.  For March, for this part of the planet, it was pretty freakin nice out.  Or sunny, at least.  A respectable fifty degrees, give or take a degree.  For most people that would mean the idea of sunbathing would be insane.  But see, when you're a vampire for like...a solid decade or so that's when you start forgetting to think with normal-people logic.  So to Jade sunny = hot out, or at least tanning worthy.  This is why the girl was stretched out on one of those long deck chairs in the recline position, sun glasses on her face, small battery powered radio next to her that was on some upbeat station, wearing a bathing suit that bared like a bikini, at high noon on whatever day of the week this happened to be.  Yeah, she was a vampire.  The strain she was from, long story short, had evolved to be able to stand the sun.  Didn't mean they bothered going in it much, it still bothered the eyes and kind of gave an inward itchy burnish feeling like they were going to go up in smoke any second.  Certainly they didn't sunbathe in it.  But Jade, jade was special.  So special she must have been the palest girl to ever lounge in a bikini.

Things had finally settled for Cyrus, all the random knocking to see if he was really sticking around had started to cease, you know, after day number twenty-two of knock, knock -- and yes, he was still answering the door.  Considering it was one of the nicer days of March, well, that meant it was the perfect time to get out for a stroll.  Dressed in a simple pair of loosely fitted brown shorts, a white undershirt covering the upper part of his body, and some flip-flops locked to his feet --  stylin'...sort of.  Aviator sun glasses were glued to his eyes, hazel's peering through the darkened lenses as he casually strolled the exterior of the area.  That was until a certain someone came into view, and him being him, he decided to investigate.  Steps eventually came to a halt as he reached Jade, arms lifting up to meet behind the back of his head.  "Tanning isn't exactly working out for you, is it?"  Giving up a harmless grin with the words.  Talk about a hello.

Some people, here they would tip up their sunglasses to made sure the other person could see the look they were getting.  Not Jade.  The story could be told by her smile, which was as confident as it was charming.  That was totally her number one talent.  Social stuff?  Effortless.  She spouted social ease like a faucet did water.  "How do you know?  Before you got here I could have totally been sweating.  Pumping sun iron.  Don't they say that the sun's rays give you iron or something like that?"  So she didn't pay attention in Science class.  Sue her.  She sat up, propping herself up on her elbows and keeping that smile of her trained on him.  "How about you?  About to run a marathon in those flip-flops, hm?"  Grin turning into something a little smart-assed and proud of it.

That was a pretty valid point.  Touche'.  The guy had been referring to her skin, as pale as it was ( not that it was a bad thing), but she had turned that around on him right quick.  "Something along those lines."  'Course he added a wink, stupidly, because she couldn't see due to his glass, but maybe she'd get the drift by the curve in his mouth.  "Oh, I ran that this morning.  You you're good when you can run a marathon in flip-flops."  Arms finally dropped back to his side.  "Actually, I was going for a walk to see the area.  You're more then welcome to join?"

"Oh yeah?  Are you a...I don't know, a military guy or something?  Or an athlete!"  Added as a eureka.  She's been trying to wrack her brain for people who'd actually be willing to go on runs, marathon or flip-flopped or otherwise.  "Sure wouldn't catch me running.  In any footwear.  Walking, though, I can deal with.  Where are you walking to?"  There it was, the dangerous American destination-oriented attitude of why walk unless you have somewhere you're trying to be and no other way to get there.  She sat up, kicking her legs off the side of the lounge and slipping her feet her own sandals which were probably a meager half a degree fancier than flip-flops.  After a glance at her chair and radio, she quickly decided she's clean up her mess when they got back and she clapped her hands in font of her.  "So!  Let's go."  She hadn't brought any clothes out here with her.  He and everyone else they saw would just have to forgive her.  She sure didn't think it was anything to blink eyes about.

Nah, not even close.  "I'm probably the exact opposite of a military guy, but I did play soccer, or futbol as the people of my country say, for an extended period of time."  So, yeah, athlete worked fine with him!  If she wanted a running partner, all she had to do was ask when the time came.  "That's a good question.  I didn't really have a pin point destination, you know?  I was sort of going to stroll and see what trouble I could get myself into."  She totally didn't need to worry about her stuff, honestly, who would steal it?  And as for people judging?  No one in their right mind would judge when someone didn't look half bad in their get up.  "Maybe you should lead the way?" 

"Futbol!  Cyrus juega el futbol."  She was having flashbacks of listening to all those 'repeat after me' tapes in Spanish class.  "Right?"  She didn't wait for the confirmation, just blurted right out.  "What country?  I love World Cup.  I've been hooked on watching that ever since high school.  Because the italian team?  Holy god.  Hot on a stick."  She paused.  "You know, it never occurred to me to watch the women's.  To see if the girls are as hot as the guys."  The weird things that occur to you in those random moments of trying to chat up someone you don't know well...chalk her soccer comments up to that.  "I'm glad you're  not a military guy.  They creep me out.  And guns, I hate guns."  Shudder.  "Ugh."  When he suggested that she lead the way she laughed.  "Me, why me?  Do I look like Dora the Explorer to you?"  She was just teasing him.  Hence the grin she flashed at him.  No fangs in sight.  No, those only came out unasked when she lost her temper, or was threatened or something like that.  Fight or flight scenarios.  He'd have to pardon all her Earth references.  Until last fall, she'd been a loyal resident of the USA.

The words caused a grin to form across his lips.  Well, that was an unexpected response.  Most Americans brushed soccer off like it wasn't even a real sport.  "Italy,"  he said matter of factly, reinforcing her previous words about how bad ass they were, seriously, they were the reigning World Cup champions. "Oh, in modo da voi conosca alcuno del dialetto?"  That one might have gone over her head, but it was worth a shot.  "The girls look ..  uh, so-so."  Hand moved between tilting left and right as he spoke, giving that 50-50 motion.  "And why not?  You be Dora, I'll be Diego.  I'll even watch out for Swiper."  Yes, Cyrus had a two daughters ages one and two.  They loved Dora and Diego.

"Italy?"  Oh balls.  Well didn't she win the obsessive soccer stalker award, without even realizing it.  He hadn't given her the 'great you're a she-creeper' look though, so she went to her go-to flustered response.  An over-enthusiastic, "Neat!"  Who said neat anymore, seriously.  Besides her.  And then, before she could get another word in edgewise he went all mama mia on her and she looked totally baffled, "Who in the what in the where are you putting that?"  She asked with an obviously bewildered look.  Her weak attempt at looking multi-cultural had been in Spanish, and she knew what he said wasn't Spanish and was probably Italian.  She hadn't taken Italian.  She'd taken a study hall instead as an elective.  She was not a go-get-em kind of student.  So far they'd just been walking around the garden, but they were about to hit a fork in the road.  One way went towards forest, the other towards the glade - a big field area.   She chose the glade.  Call her crazy, but forests didn't scream bikini territory.  "So I'm Dora, huh?  God speed you Diego. you're in for it now."  A grin.

Who did say neat nowadays, anyway?  Not that it was a bad thing at all, seriously, it really wasn't.   That was sort of like cool beans.  When was the last time anyone had let that slip out of their mouth with a serious face?  ..  ahem.  Moving along.  Arms had rested along his side for the most part, occasionally moving away to touch a random tree they passed or lift up to touch a reachable branch here and there.  Yeah, even had had his attention defecit moments.  But she did manage to grab his attention, accompanied with a grin, at her comment as they took the less threatening fork in the road.  Good choice considering their attire.  "That so?  You can't be all that bad.  You only dropped a bottle of --  well, actually, I guess that is kind of irrelevant since it was magically fixed."  The guy had seen, been a part of, and even done some super natural things himself.  Sometimes ..   things just failed to make sense. 

If she had a heart that beat, god.  It would've stopped just then when he said 'bottle of'.  Part of her was relieved he didn't finish the sentence, the rest of her was trapped in the painful paranoid cliffhanger of it.  Bottle of...doesn't matter, she told herself, doesn't matter.  What he said next helped her with that.  Gave her a punchline to laugh at.  "Yeah, that was something.  But it totally does matter.  That's the tip of the Jade iceberg, dropping bottles.  What if I accidentally walk us off a cliff or something?  My snappers don't do anything special...do yours?"  As they walked she twisted her body towards him enough that she could snap her fingers playfully in his face.  It obviously didn't do anything, just like she said it wouldn't.  Now, if she walked them off a cliff she could actually do something to save them from going splat, but he totally didn't need to know that unless it actually happened.  Mum was the word that Jade practiced until her own muck-ups usually caused her to blow her own cover.  She grinned at him, before turning back to face the road.  You know, so she wouldn't walk them off of a cliff.  "And you totally didn't translate.  Whatever it was you said.  What if it was something I'm supposed to slap you for, huh?"  She was teasing.  Just part of that charming Jade charm!

Jade had nothing to worry about, honestly, because Cyrus didn't have the slightest of thoughts that she was anything but a cute, innocent-looking, and entertaing young lady.  "If you walk us off a cliff?"  Head tilted up in thought as he pondered the hypothetical scenario presented.  "Guess that would be curtains for ol' Cyrus and Jade, wouldn't it?"   Oh well.  That was all part of the oddity that was life.   A shake of the head was given in return to the snapper comment -- no, no..   he didn't have any spectacular skills.  "As for what I said.  I said you may be able to understand some of the dialect, but I was wrong apparently."  Offering a simple smile in response to his words.  "Although, if I ever do have any smart ass comments to throw your way --  I know I can get away with them."  Ha!

"Ha!  See.  So I could be all that bad."  How could someone who was all that bad have a winning smile like hers that made her look oh-so-good?  Another thing to chalk up to the oddity that was life.  That smile got people in trouble all the time.  Sometimes her, sometimes the people around her.  But that kind of trouble hadn't happened while she was here in Rhy'din....yet.  Jade thought about what she said, and gave a little shrug of her shoulders.  "Well, if I walk us off of a cliff anyway.  But I haven't seen any around here, cliffs I mean.  But I kind of..."  God, how to explain this.  She didn't know if she should even mention it.  Sometimes better to leave the lid on the can of worms.  But hey, what the hell.  "I was asked to come here.  And stay at that inn, actually.  People back home, they wanted me to, they're paying for everything and then some.  One of the things they told me was that I should stick close to it.  The inn, I mean.  So I've spent a lot of time in my stupid huge suite on the third floor with my big bay windows watching a whole lotta TV."  Sad but true story.  "And my Spanish?  That was totally a remnant of high school.  I'm not at all fluent, and I don't know a word of Italian but Ciao.  Or mozzarella.  Or Ferrari."  So really, she knew three!

-+- tbc! -+-