(Untitled)

[youlosetrack]

It isn't until he's halfway down the boardwalk one evening, hating that he's forgotten to put on any sunscreen, that Mace realizes he's started to take the sun for granted. He's not sure when it happened, can't pinpoint a day when he stopped looking up at the bright smear of light in wonderment, and simply accepted it was going to be there every

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[starchilde_lost]

Fridays are her days off now, the days she doesn't have class and she can do whatever she wants. It normally means doing whatever she can to stave off boredom, working out or reading whatever happens to be on the bookshelf that day, sometimes she even does her homework like a responsible student. Why she bothers she's not really sure. She's not looking to maintain a GPA here, but it's probably because she remembers the look on Jean's face when she said she was going to take classes. There had been pride there, and Rachel tries to hold onto it as best she can.

It's a good a reason as any.

But today she decided to just push the workout, run until she can't anymore and crawl back for a sleepless night. At least that's the plan until she reaches the beach and sees a familiar face. Mace. Yeah, that sure as heck isn't Cap so it has to be Mace just... standing there, watching the waves. His expression is so enthralled that she can't bear to disturb him so she just stands, watching, feeling a little like she's intruding on something

[youlosetrack]

Enthralled as he is, the initial charm of the water starts to fade, and he tucks it away to remember later, when he can't sleep and needs to think of bright, open spaces, not the cold dark of space.

When he turns back toward the drier sand and his things, sand cakes itself onto his feet, but he doesn't mind. Looking back up and around the beach, he spots a familiar shock of red hair, and though he wonders just how long she's been there, he raises an arm in greeting.

[starchilde_lost]

It's easy to return the wave, the signal that it's okay to approach, danger's passed. Well, maybe not danger, but the moment. Whatever moment he was having that she didn't want to intrude on. All of that was over and she was free to jog a little closer, taking in the fact that his crutch wasn't with him.

Pretty good sign there, if you asked her. "Look at you, flying solo now?" Start with the rehab, work up to what the moment was. She was curious, not rude.

[youlosetrack]

"Almost," Mace says, turning to nod at his few belongings higher on the beach, sunlight glaring off the metal bars of the crutch he'd brought along. "Made it down here on my own, but I'll probably be using that on the way back."

[broken_brushes]

Since I'd gotten the cast off, I'd felt compelled to do all of the things in excess that I'd been unable to do with it on. Typically, I only went swimming a couple of times a week at the most, but for a few weeks I'd been on the beach nearly everyday after closing up the bakery.

"You have that look again," I remarked from where I'd stopped several feet away, wet hair twisted over one bare shoulder and sunglasses pulled down the bridge of my nose. "The life-affirming, amazed at the world one."

Suddenly acutely aware of how little my skimpy green bikini covered, I propped my hands on canted hips and made a point to behave as if the situation were completely normal.

[youlosetrack]

Mace smiles down at the surf when he hears Shari, and shakes sea water off his hands before pulling the hem of his shirt up to dry them off.

"Most of our water's frozen over," he explains to the horizon, and with a shrug, turns to face Shari. She's hardly been the sort to cover up from head to toe, but he's never seen her wearing so little. He manages to keep from looking her over for more than a moment (one that, while short, is still appreciative), preferring to meet her eyes. "It's the first time I've been out here."

[broken_brushes]

"I guess that would explain it, then." I tipped my glance seaward and let a long pause stretch out between us. That was one of the nice things about Mace: Once I'd gotten to know him, I'd stopped feeling like I needed to fill the silences. Realistically, I knew I'd never look at the ocean and appreciate it in the same way he did, but taking a moment to try felt like the right thing to do.

"This is an event," I finally added, and pushed my glasses back up my nose. "If you'd done this on the lagoon side, I could have taken you out on the boat. We'll have to make a point of doing that some day, it'll blow your mind."

[youlosetrack]

"You have a boat?" Mace feels like he should have known this, maybe Shari mentioned it once, but the surprise still hits him. But why, he can't say; she's about as small as Cassie is, but Cassie had been entrusted with Icarus II. "Yeah, I'd like that."

[just_hormones]

Aphrodite's dragged her windsurf board out to the beach, the effort required for that the closest she's willing to get to manual labor, since the payoff is so awesome. When she sees Mace, though, she leaves it on the sand for the time being, dropping her towel and cover-up next to it so that when she comes up next to him she's barefoot and clad in just a bright pink bikini.

"It's pretty bitchin', isn't it?" she remarks, flashing a bright smile. "I totally love the ocean."

[youlosetrack]

"It's pretty bitchin'," Mace agrees, unable to resist the pull Aphrodite seems to have over him. She's just so damn bright he can't help but cheer up a little whenever she's around. It's probably all the pink. "You out here for some swimming?"

[just_hormones]

"Sure am," Aphrodite confirms cheerily, then tilts her head back up the beach. "And windsurfing. I come out here just about as much as I can stand. It took a little bit to get used to actually getting, you know, wet, but it's still pretty awesome."

[youlosetrack]

"Windsurfing?" It sounds familiar, something Mace heard or learned about in the past, but never deemed important enough to remember. There are hundreds of little tidbits of how life was before the freezing began that he learned about, but put away to avoid thinking of something he could never had.

He hardly wishes the opposite now, instead seeing it as an opportunity to learn where he can.

[seeyousoonthen]

The thing about being pregnant was, Savannah had found, not only did you feel huge, you looked huge. And being huge and growing daily meant she had to go to the clothes box often. It liked to offer up bikinis and all she really wanted was a modest suit so she had grabbed the first one she found that had modest lines, even if the stripes were a cruel joke.

So dressed, she made her way to the beach with a towel and a little shovel she'd stolen from the garden supplies. She'd put it right back and hoped no one missed it...but she needed it. She had a plan.

The plan went out of her head when she saw Mace and she waddled her way right down into the water with him.

"You should surf," she said in her gentle way. "If you think it's good here on the shore, it's a million times better out on the waves."

[youlosetrack]

When Mace looks up he chooses not to comment on the colors of her bathing suit (it's not like he's doing any better in plain khaki pants and a blue shirt), and he gives her a smile.

"I have no idea how to surf," he admits, feeling no shame in doing so. He'd learned to swim in indoor pools, the water and space always controlled, never so wild and unpredictable as the ocean.

[seeyousoonthen]

"When I don't have this anymore, I'll teach you," she replied, rubbing the round swell of her stomach.

"It's easier than you think but harder than it looks. It's all about balance and not being afraid to fall. I love it. I miss it," Savannah continued, longing in her voice. She missed it for so many reasons- the memories, the peace, the skill required, the fun of it, the feel of the ocean, and just dozens of reasons that she couldn't list without sounding like her head was full of fluff. It was far more simple to say she missed it.

[youlosetrack]

"I need to learn how to swim in this first," Mace says, gesturing toward the water. It's going to be a few weeks before he'll be able to trust his leg enough to learn to swim in the rolling water, and though the idea of surfing sounds appealing on some level, he's not sure he can trust his body to a simple board while on a wave.

"How much longer until the baby's born?"

[rage_andlove]

Swimming in the ocean is different from swimming in the waterfall pool. He's got the current constantly tugging at him, so he ends up exhausted but he also remembers what it felt like to swim in the Pacific, to end up with Will's arms looped around his chest and pulling him in close, Johnny laughing and scooping water to splash with his cupped hands. So maybe it's worth feeling like he's rung everything out of himself as he limps up towards the shore.

It takes so much concentration, so much effort, that he's all but collapsed on his back on the sand before he registers Mace.

"You made it," he says, and he can't help but grin.

[youlosetrack]

Mace snorts at the sight Tunny makes, lying on the sand as though he's been there forever.

But it's true. He's made it to the ocean, something he'd never had dreamed of, if he gave much thought to anything other than his career back on his Earth.

"Figured my leg was finally good enough to make it down here."

[rage_andlove]

He doesn't even have the energy to change his prosthetic yet, the fin shaped one from swimming digging into the sand as he looks up at Mace and tries to catch his breath.

"Good," he says, still grinning. "Because it's fucking beautiful down here."

[youlosetrack]

"It's pretty nice," Mace admits, a vast understatement. He looks out again, a sea of black coming to mind even as he looks out over nothing but blue. There's a smudge of something in the distance, what he imagines is the second island he's heard about, but the effect is almost overwhelming, and he has to look away, remind himself he's on solid ground.