Little earthquakes.

[neurotic_barbie]

The air sat still and gauzy over the beach, the movement of the waves a mere ripple; nothing more than a vague whisper in the background. The day seemed still and sluggish, the sun a yellow blossom tracing away the hours in a lazy arc across the sky

Comments

[fleurdescendres]

"Eezn't zis a lot of things for a picnic?" Fleur teased, walking up to the other blonde. She hadn't seen Dr Reid, the not-a-German, in weeks, but she'd liked her well enough the last time they had met. "You look comfortable."

[neurotic_barbie]

"Bonjour!" Elliot said, offering a little wave from her position sprawled on the ground. "I'm not having a picnic. I'm building a teepee. Can't you tell?" She grinned.

[fleurdescendres]

Fleur sat gracefully down beside Elliot, grinning back at her. "No," she admitted cheerfully. "I 'ave never built a teepee, so I do not know what it looks like. Are you really supposed to use zis?" She gestured to the tarpaulin as she spoke. What little impression she had of teepees had to do with animal skin of some kind, although she couldn't see Elliot hunting and skinning animals to make a tent. Ew.

[neurotic_barbie]

"It's basically like a triangular tent thing," Elliot shrugged. "Plastic seemed a better idea than boar skin or something disgusting like that. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but...at least I have an idea, right?"

Ideas only lead to disaster! TURN BACK NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, ELLIOT.

Duhh, conscience. It's already too late.

[fleurdescendres]

Fleur nodded. "Zat would be disgusting, yes. Were you not liking ze compound?" Inside, she did a little dance of thankfulness for the hut Viktor had built her. But a teepee sounded fun, anyway.

[neurotic_barbie]

"I was not liking who - what's in it," Elliot elaborated, levering herself into a sitting position with her legs crossed...Indian-style. "Besides, I'm getting too pale. It's about time I saw some sun."

[fleurdescendres]

"Ah," Fleur said. "Eet eez too crowded, I think. Too many people always who you do not know." Although she was guessing that wasn't Elliot's problem, she had no intention of pressing her to talk about it unless she wanted to.

Fleur laughed. "I am going to be brown soon! But ze sun eez good for you. So relaxing, to lie out where eet eez warm."

[neurotic_barbie]

"I know! I mean, who cares about skin cancer, right?" Elliot grinned her slightly unsettling grin, and moved swiftly on to another subject.

"So, have you met any hot French guys yet?"

[fleurdescendres]

"I do not think zere are any 'ere." Fleur raised an eyebrow playfully. "I 'ave met only one ozzer woman from my 'omeland. She mentioned anuzzer, but zat eez all. Besides," she said, with a careless wave of her hand, "I am not much interested in ze men of my country. Zere are ozzers to keep us entertained, yes?"

[neurotic_barbie]

"Ugh, men," Elliot said, with feeling. "I'm done with them. Especially crazy machine men who aren't even real, even if they are really good with their mouths."

She blushed immediately upon completion of the sentence and cleared her throat. "I mean, uh - I've got better things to do, y'know? Like not dying after getting shot in the stomach. That's a big thing right now. And also, teepee-building."

[fleurdescendres]

She stared, startled. "You 'ave been very busy since I saw you last! Are you alright now?" There was real concern in her voice as she leaned forward to touch Elliot's arm. She hardly knew the girl, but she understood 'shot' now and had a feeling that getting it in the stomach wasn't the most comfortable thing.

[neurotic_barbie]

"Well, I'm not dead," Elliot said, smiling rather weakly. It made her go squishy inside to think people she'd only spoken to once or twice actually cared about what happened to her. Arguably, she was squishy inside to begin with - organs and all that - but...it was nice.

Even if the person concerned was so insanely pretty it made Elliot imagine a Face/Off type scenario, except without John Travolta because John Travolta after Grease just wasn't all that appealing.

[fleurdescendres]

"And zat eez a fortunate thing," Fleur said with a firm little nod. "Oo would shoot you?" She couldn't help feeling pleased at integrating the new word into her vocabulary so easily, but would have been nicer if the situation were hypothetical.

[neurotic_barbie]

Elliot shrugged. "It was an accident," she said, though she could think of quite a few very good reasons why somebody would shoot her. Starting with the fact she was, well, Elliot.

[fleurdescendres]

Fleur didn't like the answer, but if it suited Elliot, well . . .

She was quiet a moment before she said, "Would you like 'elp with your teepee? I 'ave been bored."

[neurotic_barbie]

"That'd be nice," Elliot grinned, resisting the urge to add, But what if you break a nail? "I probably won't start building it just yet, though. I should probably make diagrams or blueprints or something." She grimaced.