Beached

[vile_queen]

Characters: Uchiha Obito (live_memory), Carmen Sandiego (vile_queen)
When: Tuesday or Wednesday? During the day
Where: On the beach
Rating: G
Summary: Carmen learns there's more to beaches than stealing them. Even if stealing them is fun.

Comments

[live_memory]

"CARMEEEEEEN!"

Obito's yell and enthusiastic waving could be seen and heard from way across the hot sand of the beach.

...Which was pretty much why he ran all the way across it to her, and almost ran straight into the woman; able to veer off course just slightly, but then tumble a good few feet as the sand tripped him up and he miscalculated how wedged his feet were in it. Lying face-down in the sand, Obito groaned.

The young Chuunin pushed himself up much more slowly than he'd been moving, and shook his head wildly; not doing much of anything for the dark tousled strands atop his head that were amassed with sand. Obito pulled his knees under him and sat up, wincing, then spat out a mouthful of the grainy particles. He looked up at Carmen and shaded his eyes with one arm.

"Hey! Sorry 'bout that. Almost ran into ya. You alright?"

[vile_queen]

Carmen turned with a slightly startled laugh at hearing her name yelled so cheerfully. That was a first. As Obito charged at her, she raised an eyebrow. He seemed determined to run into her. Was this a more enthusiastic greeting? His veering off answered that for her. "Obito. Are you well?"

She knelt down beside him and carefully brushed the sand out of his hair. "I am fine, you need not apologize. That did not seem to be an ordinary tumble." Carmen turned her head, so she could see him fully with just the one eye. There. The sand seemed to be taken care of.

She smiled. "I have never been greeted with such enthusiasm. You are most definitely unique, Obito." Moving back so she was seated on one towel, she gestured for Obito to join her. "It is not so hot, when it is covered."

[live_memory]

Obito just grinned with a nod and let her go as Carmen fussed over him. It was kind of nice, after all. "Oh, I'm fine." He assured her, "I've fallen a lot harder than that before, believe me- and from way higher too."

His smile flickered somewhat as he noticed she moved her head to accommodate the loss of vision in one eye. 'My fault' was the brief thought that passed through his head, but he shoved it to the side and smiled again. 'It won't ever happen again.'"Yeah? Well, I'm surprised at that too!" Dusting off all the sand on him, he crawled onto one of the towels and spent a moment appraising them before nodding in agreement. "Yeah! This is much better

[vile_queen]

She cound not entirely blame the Animus for her desire to attend to Obito. Carmen knew such things had begun long before being placed into a family with him. But as she had decided it was not something she could or wanted to end, she would learn. She smiled when he assured her that he was fine. "I am certain you have, in your occupation. However, you were on a mission and expecting such things to happen. So your body was prepared

[live_memory]

Carmen laughed! Though it wasn't really the first occasion she'd shown amusement, genuine happiness at the same time was a first, and Obito's grin widened and he brightened considerably; scrambling to his feet in an effort to stand.

"Yeah! Come on!" The young Uchiha's arm flailed and pointed exaggeratedly at the water. "First we need some water, and shovels, and sticks, seashells....we're gonna make the best castle EVER, watch!"

Because at heart, Obito was still a kid, still enjoyed the same activities, and something about being forced into such a serious lifestyle made him far more eager to just settle down and play-- which no one else seemed to understand as the general population featured mainly adults or people who otherwise took themselves too seriously. But Carmen wasn't just humoring him like most people would, and was actually joining in the general fun-ness the beach provided, and it didn't matter if they made the worst sand castle ever, he was going to enjoy himself and Carmen's company

[vile_queen]

Seeing him brighten further was surprising. How could anyone be so easily made happy? And so fully? There was no deception to it. Carmen did not understand, but she welcomed it

[live_memory]

Obito very nearly fell over again when Carmen passed him?? No way! He was an Uchiha! Short, but built for speed and agility! Any other time he may have felt the small bit of frustration, but as it was, seeing her happy kept any negativity at bay, and he waved again as he ran the rest of the way over.

"Where...did you learn to run like that??" He asked, chest heaving from the exertion. Obito glanced up. "You must've been training since like, ever, to be that fast!" And she was older than him- by however much. He didn't actually know her age now that he thought about it, really. Still, she had quite a few years on him, so it wasn't that surprising.

With a smile, Obito stood. "You'll have to show me later sometime, but for now!" He bent down and haphazardly scooped up a mix of wet sand and water, "I'll show you my amazing skills at building sand castles!"

[vile_queen]

She caught her breath, beaming at his surprise. "Being the greatest thief in the world gains me nothing if I cannot run once the theft is completed." Carmen stretched and laughed. "I have been training for most of my life. It is simply that I am full-grown in this race against you, as opposed to being a child the time before."

Reaching over, Carmen rested a hand on his upper back. "I am sure that with training you will gain speed. You have an excellent base to build upon already." Carmen resisted the urge to compliment him farther, surprised that there was more she could say. Instead, she moved her hand in a small circle upon his back before he bent over.

"I shall." It was a quiet promise. She would enjoy training him. Kneeling, heedless of getting muck on the wrap, Carmen mirrored what Obito was doing. "This is what we need to start with?" It seemed a weak thing, but she would bow to his superior knowledge in this area.

[live_memory]

"Yeah, I guess!" Obito nodded, and hopped away once his bucket was full of water and wet sand, waving to Carmen in turn. "Come on! We wanna be close- ish to the water so we don't have to go far a lot, but far enough away that the rising tide doesn't wash away our castle

[vile_queen]

She nodded, following him. His explanation seemed sound. "We need the supply of wet sand for the building, and do not want to rush back and forth. I can see it becoming taxing after a time. And we shall not allow the waves to steal what we create."

Joining him, Carmen set her bucket beside him and watched, intrigued. "There is a specific consistency you are going for in the building?" Of course there was. Dry sand could only be sculpted so far, logically, and wet would ooze too far. It would be unstable.

"Indeed. A moat would be most logical. Most castles possessed one, for defense. And this would also serve as a defensive measure." Shifting her position, she began digging parallel to the waves. Then she paused and eyed it, turning it instead into a shallowing, tapering V-shape. They were not fighting attackers, they were fighting water which would flow away. "A castle is mobile if need be, but logically sand would be more fragile."