006: VIDEO | ACTION

[intheblanks]

[January first, and the new year's starting off with a beaut of a day. In case you missed it, the video display is tilted upward to a sky of perfect blue, then down, to golden sand and golden skin - winter has just about bleached him of a tan but his colouring has a natural aversion to pallor

Comments

[dulcisnuntius]

[Minutes after he finishes posting, an inflatable beach ball flies in his direction, aiming for the head. Nearby, an angel in a polka-dot swimsuit is laughing like a crazy person.]

[intheblanks]

[A beachball? It's not even a challenge. Try a vicodin bottle aimed at the back of his skull and you might see him ruffled: he puts a hand up to stop it dead before it so much as nudges a hair out of place, and sits up, raising an eyebrow.]

Get separated from the rest of your volleyball team?

[And its tossed back.]

[dulcisnuntius]

[She catches the ball in one of her wings and bumps into her hands. Darn it, she was going for his hair. It looks cute rumpled.]

Nope! Never played.

[intheblanks]

[Sorry, Dulcie, he should have been on a sports team, himself. And the wings are very cute. They're not entirely a new one on him, but the ones he's worked on in the underground tend toward the scaly.]

Shame, I was going to compliment the uniform.

[dulcisnuntius]

I'll make a note in case I ever decide to start a league.

[intheblanks]

I'd give you credit for getting enough people off their computers. Here-

[He raises his hand this time as a target.]

[dulcisnuntius]

[She tosses the ball back before collapsing on the sand next to him.]

So how does volleyball work, anyway?

[intheblanks]

It's going to be tougher to show you without a catcher. [Ffft, Dulcie.]

You hit the ball like this- [Just a faux demonstration, so he can catch it again as it drops.] back and forth over a net. Have you seen tennis?

[dulcisnuntius]

I have! It was 15...69? I think. There were definitely a lot of leggings. Has it changed since then?

[intheblanks]

I don't think it was tennis in 1569. [He leans back, hands splayed in the hot sand, rolling with the absurdity of this.] Did it have a net?

[dulcisnuntius]

I think there was a net? I wasn't paying too much attention to that part.

[intheblanks]

Just the leggings.

[dulcisnuntius]

To be fair, it's pretty hard not to.

[intheblanks]

They're not quite my thing. [Hands drop to elbows and he's almost laying back.] You're really that old?

[dulcisnuntius]

You know, it's not really polite to mention a lady's age.

[intheblanks]

Technically, you brought it up.