(no subject)

[twisted_albel]

Who? Albel and Rinoa
When? A few days ago
What? Albel and Rinoa go out on their date and try to pick up the pieces of what they had left.
Warnings Suddenly seagulls. Some emo.

As far as his plan went, Albel was finding it harder and harder to follow the same exact tracks that the relationship went through back at Ares. He ran so many different scenarios in his head over and over and they all ended up the same. Any attempts to recreate those moments would seem forced and...incredibly awkward. So, instead, Albel decided to have the same attitude he had when he first approached Rinoa on that first date of theirs and just hope that she'll see him in the same way as last time.

He arrived at her doorstep with a towel slung over his shoulder with a small tote bag at his side. What better way to get "reacquainted" with Rinoa than by going out to the beach? With this in mind, he knocked on the door and awaited her response.

Unlike Albel, Rinoa honestly didn't give it much thought, and that was likely for the best. She had her thoughts mainly on Selphie and Kyouya and things like that. In fact, she was elsewhere the day he had come to her place. In fact, she was more likely mentally absent. When he arrived, she approached her door and lifted an eyebrow at his presence. And... what was that?

A towel?

"Oh, hi, Albel Nox. How are you?" Perhaps he was just coming from a class...?

"Could be better," he replied honestly. "But I'll be better as soon as we head out. Go get your swim suit because we're going to the beach."

"...The beach? I thought you wanted..." Well... Did she even have a swimsuit there? Had she brought one? Well, yes. Yes, she did. "...Uh..." And if she lied? "...I don't think I brought one."

"Then we'll have to go and get you one, won't we?" Albel said. Well, either buy one or steal one. He was pretty sure he had enough to get one, but he didn't rule out the latter if it came to that. He did look somewhat skeptical though. He already knew in advance that the school was located near a beach. Rinoa would have definitely brought something to to wear there.

"............" She glowered a little, and opened her door to let him in. "I guess you can wait in here while I get changed." If he peeked, she'd stick her Shooting Star up his nose. Folding her arms across her chest, she stepped aside, "No peeping, got it? If you do, I'll get really mad."

: Albel stepped in and looked quite pleased that she was going along with this new idea of his. "Fine. I won't peek. Not like it's anything I haven't seen before," he replied off-the-cuff.

He was kidding. Right? Right?? For a moment she simply stared at him and then her expression hardened before she skittered off towards her bathroom, locking the door behind her. It was where she had left her bathing suit, a rather becoming two piece, that perhaps was surprisingly tasteful. Well, as tasteful as one could get with a bikini, she supposed. It was blue, like most of her wardrobe, and when she was done, she donned a robe of flower decor, something she couldn't remember having before, but seemed to like.

Over her arm lied her towel and after pulling her hair into a clip, she emerged. "All done!"

Albel saw her emerge from the bathroom and he had an approving smirk on his face. "You look nice. Really nice," he responded. As for himself, he was wearing his signature purple half-shirt and skirt, though with the addition of swimtrunks underneath. His gauntlet had been removed and in its place were long purple gloves that reached just a little beyond his elbow. Underneath it all were bandages that bound his arm all the way up to his shoulder. "Ready to go?"

Her eyes took him in a little closer and she seemed to remember bits and pieces in regards to his arm. She wasn't sure what to think, but she was certainly knew not to ask about it. Didn't really matter after all, right? She'd seen far stranger things. Then she remembered telling herself the same thing once before. Or maybe many times before.

Looking around once more, she tilted her head to the side and then nodded, "I think so."

Albel nodded and made the first steps out the door and waited outside for Rinoa. So what was he to do now? Was he supposed to hold her hand? Take her by his side? Meh. Better to be safe. But he hated having to be so careful. When Rinoa walked alongside him, he kept that comfortable distance, choosing to bide his time.

"Let's make haste, fool. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can just enjoy ourselves."

She refrained from rolling her eyes. He spoke down to her, and she didn't like it. Of course, she'd accept it for now. If he overstayed his welcome in her life, she'd surely let him know. Former boyfriend, lover, whatever, it didn't matter. She deserved all the respect she could get, because strangely enough, she felt very... disrespected back at home, thanks to Caraway.

"Yeah, yeah," she commented half-heartedly as she pushed him out of her room and closed the door behind them. "Lead us on, mister leader."

Ah, so he was playing this game again. Meh, she'd figure it out eventually. He led the way out and adjusted his pace to match hers. "Don't be like that," he scoffed. "This is supposed to be... a date," he said. "Is it wrong if I want to try and have some fun?"

Rinoa looked a little unamused by his response. Was he serious? He had to be kidding. Had to be. But he wasn't, and she knew it. By the tone of voice, by the look he gave, and by his response, it was all too painfully obvious. "Right. I forgot it was that." After all, he didn't seem like he'd wanted it labeled as that at all. And the more time she spent around Albel, the more she didn't want it to be that either. He could live with a simple get together, right? Because as far as she was concerned, that was all it was.

Albel had to be more assertive than he was before. Rinoa was the one who initially made that contact between himself and her. Funny how the tables had turned. He was the one seeking her affection, which at the moment, seemed to be failing horribly. He was too taken aback by her words to respond and walked alongside her in silence towards the beach. What a nice start...

Didn't he feel a little under pressure? She considered this and then shook her head. No. Of course not. After all, he was the one who wanted to see her. He was the one going out of his way for her. She looked over to him for a moment and paused in her footing briefly. "Sorry. It's awkward for me and I've never really been one for holding back my thoughts or my feelings. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone else has considered it a pretty big personality flaw of mine.

Wait. She was making excuses for herself, why? There was no point to this. Her feet picked up again.

"Don't be sorry. I get it. I'm a stranger to you. If you had a choice, you wouldn't be going on this date. But here I am, holding you to your word. I can't assume that you'll ever remember, so I have to act as though nothing ever happened between us. No use in hiding the truth, no matter how painful it is," he scoffed.

"You are, but you aren't," she tried to explain with a shrug of the shoulders. "I've said it before, but it seems like you weren't listening then, so there's a good chance that you won't be listening now. I'm trying. I care to an extent, because if I didn't, I wouldn't try at all. There are just things about you that make me question everything." Like how they were together. She didn't see how she was able to get along with him, after all.

"...what about me?" Things about him? Rinoa used to be able to look past those things so easily. How was now different from back then? How did she manage to look past his outer tendencies when they barely knew each other?

"Just things," she replied. In all honesty, she wasn't ready to bring that up with him, if she ever would be. There were just things that bothered her. Lifting a hand, she fiddled with the ends handing from her hair piece.

Albel let out a low growl in exasperation. He was trying so hard not to just give up. He was barely holding onto anything he could find and Rinoa wasn't making things easier on him. "Whatever they are, you used to be pretty happy back then, regardless. Here's hoping," he sighed.

No. No she wasn't. She was well aware of it too. "I could say I don't know what I was thinking, but somehow I think your irritation just makes you more rude, and therefore..." Rinoa shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. I'm thinking too much, I guess."

Albel didn't know what to do. Act like his normal self and be deemed rude and obnoxious. Act like his sweet self and make Rinoa uncomfortable. Was there another option? He'll just have to not speak as much. They traveled the rest of the way without a word until they arrived at the beach front. "Here we are."

The moment silence set in, Rinoa knew it was best for her to just keep her mouth shut in the future. Already she was talking too much. Did she talk this much back on Ares? She assumed not, because Selphie didn't imply anything like that. If anything, Selphie had accused Albel of being the loud one, and she was pretty loud, herself. Perhaps those two would have been the better pairing...

When they arrived, she adjusted her towel and smiled a little, "Oh, good! It's been a long time since I've gotten to go to a beach. It was a good idea to come."

Albel stood ahead of her, a hand on his hips as he surveyed the scene before them: sparkling waters, white sand, and a bright sun above them. Regardless of how he was faring with Rinoa, he was glad to be in a place that was as far removed from Airyglyph's snowy white peaks as possible. "Of course. I knew that you would like it one way or another," he replied. He pulled at the bindings that held his skirt and let it slip away. It would have been awkward to wear that along with his trunks.

She laughed. Softly at first until it broke into a louder sound. Then she peered over to him and simply stared for a moment. Her eyes watched him until he tugged his skirt away. With a lifted hand, she shielded her gaze. Rinoa might not have remembered being close to him or how far along they went together, but she still had an idea of what was proper and staring at him in any fashion wasn't really becoming.

"I'll bet," she replied. "Tell me. Did you have beaches on Airyglyph?"

It was Albel's turn to laugh. Airyglyph and beaches? That did not compute. "Heh...hardly. My country was on a cold lonesome snowy mountain. This is about as un-Airyglyphian as you can get," he snickered. He didn't seem homesick though as he seemed quite pleased with this choice in location for their outing.

"Sorry. I don't remember much about Airyglyph either." Rinoa offered a shrug and she lifted a hand to shield herself from the sun. "Man, it's bright out today. That's insane. Just.... seriously insane." She wasn't really too sure how to act with him. It'd been a while since she remembered going on a date with anyone or anything for any reason.

Oh, Albel was completely prepared for this. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a parasol. Obviously he had been thinking about all of this way too much and had packed everything for anything that she might have needed. "Here you go," he said and tried to open it, but...for some reason it didn't quite work...

Of course he had. For some reason, it seemed just like Albel to be one hundred percent prepared. In fact, she was sure he had some sort of lotion on him too, because she sure didn't. She watched him for a few moments with the parasol, concealing her amusement. Then she finally folded her arms over her chest thoughtfully. "Hm... Are you having problems?"

"No...no...I...got this..." he said and fiddled some more with the stupid contraption. Albel shook it and couldn't get the thing to work, though he continued to stubbornly try and fix it, just getting a little close to actually breaking it.

Finally, Rinoa extended a hand and took it from him. "Here, do it like this." And with little to no effort at all, she opened the parasol and showed it off to him. "See? If you're gentle with it, it'll open, like a flower. Otherwise, you risk damaging it."

"Oh. Right," he said. Gentle wasn't his thing. With Rinoa, yes. But certainly not to an inanimate object. Anyway, back to the point of this before he fumbled around with the parasol. "Is that to your liking?"

"It's perfect," she replied without skipping a beat. Then she offered her hand again, "May I have it? I'm sure you'll be basking in the delight of the sun. I prefer the sand." She could have gone either way, but she did have her reservations about swimming with an old boyfriend.

"It's yours to keep," Albel said. What use did he have for such a delicate little thing? Something like that didn't suit him. "Aren't you going to go swimming at all?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Rinoa admitted with a softer tone, softer than she'd used before with him. "I might go a little bit later but not right now. I can rest on the beach for a little, right? I like to sunbathe every now and then, you know."

"Hard to imagine with how pale you are," Albel said, looking onto his own skin which was just about as light if not more so. "I'll stay by your side until then."

: "You don't have to do that," was her response. Then she looked over her white flesh, somewhat nostalgic of a night where the moon was her light... as though she needed any. "...I never said I was directly in the sun..."

Albel spread a towel for Rinoa and set it flat against the sand. "If I wanted to go swimming alone, I wouldn't have brought you with me," he pointed out.

"I actually didn't know we were going swimming. For all I know, you could have wanted to see me in a swimsuit and that was it," she laughed. Then again, he'd already admitted he'd seen something more, so then he wouldn't be getting anything out of it, would he?

"If that was it, then I could just take a picture of you now and then leave," he smirked. He laid out a towel for himself and sat down, beckoning her to come down with him.

"This is true, but maybe you want to be near me while I'm in my swimsuit. What then? You wouldn't be satisfied with a simple picture, even if a picture is worth a thousand words." She looked over to him and then nodded, choosing to sit beside him. With her hands, she pressed the parasol into the sand to hold it up and tugging on the bow to her robe, she opened it only vaguely before lying down and stretching her arms above her head.
Albel shot a glance at her, looking oh so yummy in that position. He turned away back to his bag however. He doubted that she would appreciate him leering at her. Instead, he searched for a bag of chips to snack on as he spoke. "You got me there. Though I wouldn't mind being near you whether you're in a swimsuit or even normal clothes," he confessed aloofly.

In all actuality, she wasn't paying any attention to his staring eyes. For whatever reason, she didn't think anything of it. Of course, part of her was likely considering the idea that she was at the beach with him. What had coerced her to think it was okay to be this way with him? She couldn't tell. She couldn't decide. "I guess that's true. Some of that biased perspective for you, eh?"

: Albel managed to find the chips and cracked it open, placing it in between the two of them to eat. "Is it that obvious?" he smirked. "It might not feel that way, but ages ago, you really had to work to get even that out of me."

"I believe it," she admitted quite simply. "You seem pretty isolated to me, though I guess you really weren't so much according to the magazine I read at Selphie's place." She thought back to the article and how he was defined as a man. Controlling, hm? And perhaps even vaguely manipulated. And if Selphie knew who Albel was, that meant Squall, Seifer, and Zell probably knew too... So why didn't they say anything? Rinoa closed her eyes and crossed one ankle over the other.

"The...magazine?" Albel repeated, turning towards Rinoa and blinking. "Oh. That. She showed you *that*?" It wasn't exactly the best way to re-introduce her to Albel, but too late now. "God, I hate that magazine..."

"Yeah. The Enquirer. The one by that Dr. P person. Seeing that sparked a lot of memories. There are other people in that magazine that I've seen here. And my own dancing partner, Diego Armando. He's an instructor here, I think, but fortunately for me and likely him, I'm not in any of them. Not... that I know of, anyway." She yawned and looked over to Albel. "Said some interesting things about you and me, though."

"They basically told us to break it off," he scoffed, momentarily dropping the chip that was in his hand. A sea gull hopped by and snatched it up, then flew away. "The things they said in that article..." It was good to know that those memories still resided in Rinoa though.

"Told us to... break it off...?" she asked softly. Then she regarded him quietly before turning her attention onto the seagull. Silly little creature, wasn't it? Eating something from Albel's mouth. "...Hm... Well, we obviously didn't listen, did we?"

"No. We didn't. We didn't care about what the article said," he replied, his tone growing soft.

We just cared too much about each other

Another seagull descended from the sky and landed a few feet away from Albel and squawked at him. "...Shoo, go away," he growled and tried to wave the bird away.

As she looked back to him, Rinoa simply stared with an odd type of fascination. He was something else, wasn't he? Quite a catch when he wasn't being a jackass, she thought to herself. Then she tilted her head to the side and watched his interaction with the local... wildlife.

"Try to play nicely, Albel Nox. Animals have a tendency to take their revenge in strange ways."

The first seagull was joined by another and another and yet another and yet more, staring expectantly at Albel as though he was going to feed them some more chips. "...Yes, but this is just getting way too annoying," he said testily and got up from his seat. "Go!" he said, stepping closer to scare them away. He managed to scatter the mass of birds though one of the braver ones flew by and nipped him on the head. He rubbed the sore spot and an idea came to mind. "...Do you mind doing me a favor, Rinoa?" he asked.

This looked familiar to her, she thought. Albel had a problem with getting along with people, didn't he? She found herself chuckling and muffling the sound as to not offend him. When he returned to her side, however, she lifted the arm draped across her forehead and scarcely brought her head of black hair from the towel, lifting an eyebrow.

"Hm? No. Not really. What can I do for you?" she asked with that all-too-curious tone.

"Bury me in sand then place the bag of chips on top of me," he grinned. Oh, if she would do this, he would have so much fun.

"...What?" Rinoa asked as she sat up and looked over to him. "Are you serious? We're to be sunbathing and you want me to bury you in the sand? What's the point of that?"

"Just trust me. It'll be just too amusing," he smirked, just toying around with various ideas in his head.

: She refrained from rolling her eyes and pushed herself off of the towel and over to the sand. Pulling her robe off, she revealed the little that was her swimsuit and with outstretched hands, she began to dig into the sand, creating a hole for Albel to lay in. What a strange man.

Albel watched her, all too amused and delighted that she was actually going to help him with his idea. He helped her to widen the whole and sat down into it when it was big enough. "Cover me up then place the bag over my face to hide it from view." Once that happened, the fun would begin.

She had a feeling he was doing something dastardly and something she'd want to smack him for later. He did things like that, after all, didn't he? It was the feeling she got. When he got comfortable, she began to cover him. "You do realize what this is going to do with your hair, right?"

"I know. It won't be for long," he said. His hair was an afterthought, but he was going to treat it kindly later. She was right. He did care about the quality of his hair, but he couldn't pass this up.

"Alrighty," she replied with a straight face. She held a bit of glee about the situation when she began to topple him with sand, minus his face, of course. Once she was done, she placed the bag over his face, offered a sigh of disbelief and skittered off towards her towel again.

Just as expected, the gutsy seagull that had approached Albel landed next to the bag of exposed chips and hopped closer to inspect. Then out of nowhere, a hand came up from underneath the sand and seized the bird in its grasp. It frantically beat its wings against him as it tried in vain to escape. Albel got up, shaking off the excess sand from his hair as he looked at his prize. "You're the one that bit on the head, weren't you?" he grinned as he watched it flail.

Yeah. Rinoa saw this coming. She sighed as she watched the overly ecstatic effeminate man. For a few moments, she remained quiet and chose not to say anything. Then she pulled a face and she looked unamused. "Are you done torturing that poor thing yet? This is why you don't feed wild animals, because they'll develop a dependency." She arched an eyebrow at him and shook her head with disapproval.

"Which is why I'm going to scar this one for life. Go and get your own food," he said to the seagull. "Go back to the rest of your friends and tell them not to mess with Albel Nox," he said and tossed the bird into the air which awkwardly took flight and flew away.

"I think you probably just opened the doorway to making more come and chase after you," she replied rather matter-of-factly. She looked neither impressed, nor terribly affected by his actions. If anything, he might have lost some respect points due to actions like those. How many times had he done something so stupid before?

"Of course not. They wouldn't--" Oh great. Rinoa was right actually as a whole swarm of seagulls came flying at him with the once-captive seagull leading the charge. He ran from the oncoming flock and into the water, at least to keep the birds away from Rinoa. He dove into the water and stayed underneath as the flock of seagulls circled around the spot until they all scattered now that their target had disappeared.

Her lips began to upturn and she nodded to herself. "Yeah. I knew it." She reached for her robe again and draped it over her lap as she simply looked on. Somehow she thought she'd said something like that on their first date, and just like now, Albel had ignored her. At least, it seemed plausible. It didn't seem to matter, however.

Albel emerged from the water, sopping wet and a bit annoyed at some of the birds that he chased him into the sea. Fortunately, he still had his towel, but still... "...I see that smile," he tried to reply in a growl, but he really couldn't help but snicker even a little.

"Yeah. That was so obvious, Albel Nox. You should have known better." Then she straightened her posture as she stretched her arms above her head, "Except this time I'm claiming you did it on purpose, and I don't think I'm too far from the mark either." Sadly.

"Maybe," he said, finally tending to his poor hair. First the abrasive sand and now the salty water. When he got home, he would have to completely fix that. Whatever. Messing around with Mother Nature was fun, though now the score was Nature 2, Albel 0. "Anything with wings and I don't get along. Ducks. Seagulls. [i]Dragons[/i]," he scoffed.

"Yeah... I think I said something about wanting to ride a dragon in Airyglyph and you very quickly turned that aside. At least, that's how I remember it. My memories are tacked together strangely," she admitted as she looked him over. "Of course, I also think you don't get along with anyone, or anything that isn't you."

"I'm not letting you near one of those dangerous beasts," he replied as though that was the end of that matter. As for her second comment, he couldn't help but laugh. "And you are right. For the most part."

"Well, yeah. Clearly you have exceptions, but for the most part, you're cut and dry. You don't have a way of nicely saying things, apparently. I can see that clearly enough," she commented gently as she lowered her hands and patting her robe.

: "It's really not that hard to see," he said. "Yet you're one of the few who know."

"I just happen to notice it," she replied nonchalantly. "It's really not... It's... Hm... It's sort of common sense, actually. Most people are probably too afraid to say it, or they just don't care."

: "Which means that you're not afraid of me and you do care." Albel propped his head on his arm, the corners of his mouth lifting into what could be interpreted as a smile.

"I never said I was afraid and I never said I didn't care, right? That should be common sense to you, Albel Nox." Rinoa pulled her legs closer to her and she leaned onto the palm of her left hand.
[
"My senses are strange," he chuckled. After today, he felt a little better. Just a little. Spending time with her calmed him down enough to not be sent into a state of panic. "But I knew. Otherwise, I wouldn't even try."

"Right. I guess you wouldn't. Or so you say." She shook her head, "Hm... It's nice enough to fall asleep out here. I think a nap might be in order."

"Go ahead," Albel shrugged. "I'll keep an eye on things while you rest."

"Like you need to watch over me as a father would his kids. That's not necessary. You should nap too," she suggested.

"Not my thing. I'll try, but no guarantees," he said. What if the birds came back? Or what if...someone ended up staring at Rinoa?

Of course he was concerned about something so incredibly... mundane. Trivial, petty, and mundane. She sighed and curled upon her towel, "Chill out. We're here to relax. Not to go threatening more seagulls."

: "I *am* relaxed," he said. "Just take a nap. I'll be fine right here."

"Whatever you say," she finally replied with a defeated tone. That was Albel for her. She turned onto her stomach and a small smile curled upon her lips as she made herself comfortable.

: Albel waited until he heard the sounds of sleep and finally turned his eyes onto Rinoa. She felt safe enough to leave herself asleep and vulnerable in the open with him nearby. He guess he could interpret that as a good sign. All he needed was for her to be near. He could live with moments like these for now.