Day Two - Swimming

[yes_miss_potts]

Who: Pepper Potts, Heather Lisinski
Where: Beach
When: Early morning
Rating: PG thus far
Status: Finished
Invasion: Sure!  Come on in!
Summary: Unable to sleep late into the day, Pepper gets up early to take a swim in the ocean, where she runs into Heather out for a walk.  They exchange pleasantries, and find that they actually have a great deal in

Comments

[rosy_intellect]

Heather couldn't sleep. Try as she might, when the Sun rose, so did she. It was probably due to the fact that she had no electricity at her house back home, and if she wanted to keep working when the Sun went down, she needed to light candles. They were fine, but the flickering flames weren't great if you wanted to get a lot of work done. So, she'd gotten accustomed to getting up when the Sun did, to make the most of the day. It seemed like her body followed that, even in this new locale.

She decided to do a little exploring. She hadn't gotten up to much the night before, preferring to stay close to "home" after she and Sirius parted ways. So, early on her first morning in the strange place called DauphinMare, she found herself walking on the warm sand of the beach. She gazed at the horizon, watching the waves reach up and fall back. She noticed a woman standing at the water's edge, peering out to shore. Heather waved, a smile on her face. "Hi!" She called out to the stranger.

[yes_miss_potts]

Hearing the voice, Pepper focused her attention on the figure back on dry land. She began to wade back, hopping a little to break the waves without them bowling her over entirely. When she'd reached shore, she snagged her towel and began to dry her hair with it, wicking the majority of the moisture out so she didn't look quite as bedraggled.

"Hello," she smiled brightly, "You must be new here. I mean, we're all 'new', but I haven't run into you before." She swiftly realized she was rambling. "I'm Pepper," she finished, giving what she hoped was a warm smile.

[rosy_intellect]

"Heather," Heather responded, returning the smile. "Yeah, just arrived yesterday. Figured I'd take a look around, and ended up here. Did you arrive yesterday morning, too?"

[yes_miss_potts]

"Some time in the night, actually, I think," Pepper countered, "I fell asleep somewhere else and woke up here. There seems to...well there seems to be very much the same people here, though. Only more, now. Sirius, for instance, and yourself. But from what I can tell, many of the people I met before are here as well..."

She trailed off, realizing that Heather likely had no idea what she was talking about, and wondered how to go about explaining things. As if she knew what was going on.

[rosy_intellect]

"Met before?" Heather frowned. "I'm not sure I understand..." From what she'd gathered from Sirius, he'd appeared here around roughly the same time she did. How was there a "before" in the equation?

[yes_miss_potts]

"Hmm," Pepper frowned, wondering how to explain, "There was a...another place, before this. Kind of like DauphinMare, only...not. Perhaps it was a stop over before being brought here. I don't really know. But a few of us - Chase, Jake, myself, there were others I never met - were there. It's all rather confusing, actually. For you, as well, I'm sure."

She smiled encouragingly, hoping Heather hadn't been scared off by the revelation.

[rosy_intellect]

"Yeah, it is a little confusing," Heather admitted. "But not as confusing as some of the sights I've seen here," She qualified.

[yes_miss_potts]

"Oh?" Pepper inquired, genuinely curious, "What have you run into so far? I did a little exploring yesterday myself. The township, the caves, that kind of thing."

She decided not to mention what she - they, rather - had found in the caves. It was best not to mention things like that out of hand; it kept people from running screaming in the opposite direction.

[rosy_intellect]

"Ate lunch in a tavern where the waiter was a wolf," Heather responded, attempting to be nonchalant, even though she felt really stupid for saying such a thing. And now would be the time that Pepper runs away, thinking I've lost my mind...

[yes_miss_potts]

"A wolf?" Pepper blinked, "Really? Hmm, most of the non-human locals weren't much in the way of talking, or acknowledging our presence for that matter, from what I could tell."

At least she felt less crazy now; the locals hadn't exactly been her selling point with DauphinMare. Chase had seemed fairly alright with them, but then again, Chase wasn't exactly what he seemed, so it stood to reason that he would be. Truthfully, the presence of hulking beasts, winged creatures and the like just wandering listlessly around had been quite unsettling.

[rosy_intellect]

Heather shrugged. "He seemed pretty friendly to us." She resisted the temptation to pinch herself, to see if this was a dream or not.

[yes_miss_potts]

"Oh," said Pepper, smiling wanly, "Well that's ok then. So, have you met anyone else yet? As I mentioned earlier, I've only met a few people so far. They've all seemed fairly nice; hopefully I'll run into them again. Not that meeting new people isn't good too."

Noticing Heather seemed a bit out of sorts, Pepper smiled warmly again, hoping to put the other woman at her ease.

[rosy_intellect]

"Just Sirius. And you. I haven't done a whole lot of exploring yet," Heather answered. "But people seem pretty nice around here, which is reassuring." She paused. "It's kind of weird not being around lots of people all the time. Back home I live in a small town, and everyone knows practically everything about everyone else. It's strange being so...alone."

[yes_miss_potts]

"Oh Sirius!" Pepper exclaimed, "I ran into him as well, last night. Charming, actually, although he seems to be a bit of a joker, from what I could tell."

She looked back to the waves for a moment before turning back, face serious..

"I know what you mean, though," she nodded, "About home. The anonymity...that I understand. I live - lived - in Malibu. It's pretty much packed, but you don't really know anyone, you know? It seems like everyone here, for all that they're friendly, doesn't seem to know anything about anyone. And, to be honest, I think we're all afraid to know more. Because if you know more, then you might grow attached, and with all the unknowns..."

She let her voice trail off again and stared bitterly at the waves. Maybe that was too much, too deep, too contemplative for a first conversation. But this was the first person she'd met that she didn't feel the slightest bit lecherous talking to. It made it easier to confess all the things she'd stayed up late thinking about.

[rosy_intellect]

"--Like how long we're going to be here, what might happen next," Heather finished for her. "I've wondered that myself." Though they came from different places, she seemed to find a kinship in Pepper that she hadn't found since arriving in this place. Perhaps it was that they were both women, perhaps it was because Pepper wasn't frequently joking with her, making sarcastic remarks like Sirius often did. Pepper sort of reminded her of Emily--in a way...

[yes_miss_potts]

A genuine smile crossed Pepper's lips. It was nice to find someone who seemed to be on the same wavelength. Someone who was female, down to earth...closer to her age, even.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" she asked jovially, "They have pretty decent fare at the cafeteria in the dorms. It's free, too, so long as you don't mind sharing the place with some of the locals."