i feel the salty waves come in; i feel them crash against my skin

[majorhellstrom]

Hellstrom's growing restless; there's no denying that. The rain didn't help that. After spending the large portion of the first day of it inside, he found he couldn't do it any longer, and as a result spent most of the rest of what he supposed was rain season soaked to the bone. Now that it's clear, the time he spends wandering has gone back to

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[realnicetrip]

Harry was so, so glad that the rain had stopped at last. He'd not been much fun to be with over the past few weeks, with all that excess energy and no way to get rid of it. It still hadn't warmed up but he was just pleased to be able to go outside without immediately being soaked, and he had a lot to catch up on.

He strolled down to the beach in shirt and shorts, barefoot, with a towel slung around his neck, half a cigarette dangling from his mouth. It looked cold out there, but he didn't mind that; it made the cup of coffee afterwards taste all the better.

He paused, waiting to finish his cigarette, and saw someone else surface and get out of the water.

"Afternoon," he said, nodding in the man's direction. "How's the water?"

[majorhellstrom]

"Afternoon," came the response. "Cold. But in no bad sense of the word." Brushing his hair from his face, Hellstrom glanced over, a thin-lipped but still polite smile settling on his features. It's a little odd, really. The last time he went swimming was in a pool with a swastika painted on the bottom.

"Planning on going in?"

[realnicetrip]

"No, I'm just carrying this towel for show," Harry said lightly, giving the man a quick look up and down. He'd seen him around, not talked to him much. He couldn't place the accent; it'd faded, but it had a hint of middle European to him. That could mean all kinds of places.

"I usually swim every day here, but the rain kinda got in the way of that. I don't mind if it's cold. Just as long as it's not trying to drown me, I'm good."

[majorhellstrom]

"I doubt the water ever intends to make an active effort to drown anyone," Hellstrom remarked, mouth caught between a smile and a smirk. The other man was familiar in the way a person became when you passed them often enough in the street, not necessarily familiar enough to always say hello or ask after their health, but familiar enough that their face was recognizable.

"For the most part, at least."

[realnicetrip]

"Normal water might not, but you can never be sure with the island," Harry said, chuckling. "There was that one time with the giant squid attack... were you there for that?"

He wandered to the water's edge, letting the tide lap over one foot. It was a bit chilly, but not bad, and the water seemed clear and still enough.

"I've been lucky enough not to have run into anything worse than algae so far. But saying that's probably tempting fate."

[majorhellstrom]

Briefly, a look of bewilderment crossed Hellstrom's face.

"Giant squid?" he repeated, sounding fairly dubious but unwilling to question it any further given the tendency of the island to produce such things.

"This is the first I've heard of it. Did you know anyone who was attacked?"

[realnicetrip]

"No, I just heard it talked about it later. Apparently it's happened a few times - you know what this place is like. I'd say never a dull moment, but there's lots of dull moments, mixed in with a few days of total madness every few months," Harry said, chuckling to think of all the various days of madness he'd experienced during his time here. "Reminds me of the war in a way. You sit around until you're going crazy with boredom, and then all hell breaks loose and you wish you were back somewhere safe being bored again."