the season rubs me wrong

[oceanthief]

WHO: Lapis & YOU!!
WHERE: various cities
WHEN: throughout June
WHAT: A combination open log and June catch-all. If the prompts don't catch your eye (or you've got something you want to do), PM me and we can do something else!
WARNINGS: none! will edit if this changes.

heropa;

[it's always nice to come down to Heropa to spend some time at the shore, even if many of the visits are more than a little bittersweet for Lapis. water is water to the gem, but there was something special about the taste of salt on her lips. it made everything a little more hopeful even in the face of bad memories.

of course, with summer rolling around it's nearly impossible to be alone on the beach. and when you're blue and touch down on the sand with a pair of shimmering water wings it's...kind of inevitable that you're going to attract some attention.

this, alongside her penchant for just accepting things rather than arguing when the stakes aren't world-shattering, is how Lapis ended up clutching a surfboard at least three times her size. someone's slapped a paper number on her chest which only serves to make her seem even smaller and more lost.

she's currently seated on a bench, apparently waiting to be called for...something. the next person passing by will find their clothing snagged and - oh, no, it's the not the surfboard talking. it's the small gem on the other side.]

What's a surfing competition?

[and why is her name already on this board...]

nonah;

[Lapis doesn't really bother with book stores all that often - most things she can find easily enough online, and anything she needs more tangible access to is in the library. but here she is all the same, an enormous stack of audiobooks balances precariously in the crook of her elbow. apparently it's not enough for whatever she wants them all for, because she's still busy reaching for more.

there seems to be absolutely no rhyme or reason to the collection; everything from Wuthering Heights to a biography of John Wilkes Booth has managed to make its way into her arms. from the way she's turning the cases around, the odds are pretty good that Lapis is literally just judging an audiobook by its cover. some things don't change from planet to planet.

things that also don't change are how tall they make these goddamn shelves!! like it's not hard enough to keep a grip on everything with how many books she's got. Lapis looks around carefully, to make sure there aren't any inconvenient displays nearby...and summons her wings, flapping up a few feet to pull something off the top shelf.

this isn't cheating at all. shut up.]

nonah part two;

[she keeps to herself mostly, but sometimes even Lapis likes to just get away from her house. right now 'away' is simply the closest park, where she's currently perched on the back rather than seat of a vacant bench.

her feet are kicking to and fro, a sure sign that Lapis' attention is elsewhere. and sure enough, there's a stray cat lazing under a nearby tree - or it was presumably lazing a little while ago, anyway. right now it's busy chasing a watery mouse, leaping and bounding after the simulated enemy with almost as much enjoyment as the gem behind the construct. best not to try and sneak up on her, though, even if it's tempting with how distracted she is.]

Comments

nonah

[bonely]

[ Lapis is one of the few people Skullman actually recognises as 'consistently nice to him', or at least 'not hostile or fearful'. He also spends a great deal of time reading - absorbing information about the world, studying on a whole lifetime of things he missed - and looks up only briefly as Lapis passes by.

He swivels to watch her, for a moment, then closes his book gently and gets up from the table with care, walking over to her. ]

Are there any more you need on the top shelves? I can get them for you.

[ He can still do plenty of things, even with one arm. ]

[oceanthief]

[Lapis looks over at the familiar voice, a small smile briefly gracing her face as she recognizes its owner. with her newest addition firmly (as close to firm as she's getting, anyway) in hand, she drops back onto the ground and retracts her wings before answering.]

No, it's alright. I can grab them as long as there isn't anything in the way.

[someone has definitely lived the life of knocking stuff out a window because it was too close to her future wingspan alright...]

These aren't for me anyway, so I'm just getting a little of everything.

[bonely]

[ Skullman inclines his head at Lapis' smile, a little nod that conveys as well as he can the same intent.

It's hard being a robot with no way of smiling. It might have helped him look less intimidating - then again, maybe not. ]

They're not for you? Who are they for? [ He notes the position of some of the books and pushes them back into their proper place. He cranes his head a bit to look at the topmost audiobook, curiosity piqued. ]

[oceanthief]

A friend.

[she holds them a little closer as she answers, not from a need to add even more stability than Skullman's much-appreciated fix but a sort of shy reaction to the admission. friends. it was still so strange to realize she had those here.

the book on the top is The Old Man & The Sea. the marine cover held a lot of personal appeal, alright.]

He's going to need a lot of stuff to keep himself busy for a little while.

[you know, since he was going to jail and all...]

[bonely]

A friend. That's good. Friends are nice to have. [ He doesn't quite know how to read her body language, in this way, but he thinks she's probably okay with having friends. ]

Oh. [ If he'd known this friend was going to jail, he probably would have gotten the idea to bring Nicolas some books, or something. ] Is it going to be a very long little while? This is a lot of books...

[oceanthief]

I don't think it'll be too long at all.

[but then, Lapis' understanding of time is inherently skewed, especially when evaluating it for a fleshy short-lifer like 90% of her friends. this is made worse by the fact that she sounds completely confident in her assessment, having already been told by Yuri that the jail time wasn't long enough at all.]

I just want to make sure that he doesn't run out. And he can always use them after, too.

[she...assumes. these aren't like ghetto one-use items, are they? it's hard to tell with human stuff.]

Heropa

[lunaraneae]

[Cindy visibly jumps when Lapis grabs at her and is halfway to forming a fist before she realises what's happening. Just a... blue girl? Asking about surfing. No big deal.]

Oof, okay. Surfing is like, you ride these boards on the waves. And you compete against others to see who does the best surfing? I don't really know how the competitions work.

[oceanthief]

[it's probably for the best, Cindy. nobody wants to get in a fistfight at the beach with someone who can summon giant ocean hands.]

They told me I'm up after three more people. [she looks back at the water, lips pursed] Do you really just stand on the board in the water?

[lunaraneae]

Oh man. It's a little more complicated than that.

[How did she even get signed up for a competition when she doesn't know what the sport is? Cindy gestures towards one of the surfers waiting patiently for a wave, while also silently promising to punch whoever did this in the first place.]

I mean, that's basically it? But watch her, she's going to stand on the board and ride it down the wave. It takes a lot of balance and it's pretty hard.

[It doesn't look hard, the way the surfer glides along the wave. She does... something and the watching crowd cheers. Cindy has no idea what's happening.]

[oceanthief]

[it'd a long and troubled story that basically boils down to "Lapis is too passive to disagree when it doesn't matter" and her wanting to hang around the beach anyway.]

It doesn't look too hard. The water's doing all the work.

[but then, this is coming from somebody with a literal out of this world perspective on earth. at least Lapis is watching the other surfer as instructed with almost uncomfortable focus, like she's waiting for something outrageous to burst onto the scene at any time.]

[lunaraneae]

Physics! Funny how that works.

[Cindy puts a hand to her forehead, fully aware that she's failing at explaining this in any useful way.]

Sorry. I'm from New York; we don't do a lot of surfing up there.

[oceanthief]

I'm from Homeworld. We don't do it either.

[speaking of unhelpful answers...but hey, at least her tone could be pretty reasonably assumed to be conversational. that's an awful lot for Lapis.]

[lunaraneae]

Oh. Alien, huh?

[She should probably be more surprised, but eh. Living in the same city as the Avengers has filled her with indifference.]

I can't really give you any pointers, but worse that happens is you get dunked in the ocean. And then I go find whoever signed you up.

nonah!

[psychofailed]

[Kogami, on the other hand, loves bookstores. If he were a less practical sort of person he'd probably spend 100% of every paycheck ever on books and nothing else, because when you're a Huge Nerd and paper books are like rare antiques in your world, stores full of them are really goddamn exciting.

Audiobooks, on the other hand, aren't quite his style, but hey. Good literature is good literature, however you want to experience it. In fact, there's an audiobook of Stephen King's The Long Walk on one of those nearby shelves, and Kogami points it out as she comes down.]

This one is one of my favorites, if you haven't read it before.

[Yes hello hi it's smoker guy from the network, this is totally a proper greeting ok.]

[oceanthief]

I haven't read any of these.

[she takes it anyway, although Lapis doesn't spare it any longer of a glance than it takes to assess the cover art. none of these are for her, after all, a detail that she neglects to mention.

this is absolutely a proper way to acknowledge someone who is addressing you, especially someone you've spoken with previously. Lapis has this on lock, yep.]

sorry! finals happened

[psychofailed]

[...ah. well that's--hm. something.]

--What genre of literature do you prefer? I might be able to recommend some things, if you're still looking for more.

[oceanthief]

I don't have one. Anything is fine.

[if she thinks that Yuri wouldn't like it she can just not grab it, after all. it was a pretty decent setup she had going on here.]

[psychofailed]

[Anything is such a broad category tho...]

Is this for any specific kind of occasion, or just reading for reading's sake, then?

[oceanthief]

As long as it can keep you busy for a while, it's fine.

nonah part two!

[valuemeal]

[ Having the kind of job that Hyunsoo does, the chinchillas he takes care of while he's on the job often manage to make their way out with him whenever he head back to his apartement.. something he doesn't mind as much as he would pretend to if someone harassed him about it.

But sometimes it leads to some pretty inconvenient situations - this being one of them. It's not like Hyunsoo himself minds anything about the cat chasing the mouse around, he would just have passed them without looking too hard and seeing the mouse looks a little odd.. but the chinchilla? Well, it doesn't really seem interested in sitting still when there's something like a cat around.

So even though one moment the tiny creature is still hanging out in the pocket of Hyunsoo's jacket, its head peeping out, the next moment it's decided to jump out in panic and try to find a better place to hide from the cat.

.. which happens to be jumping straight onto Lapis' lap, apparently. Not that Hyunsoo even notices just who exactly the small thing jumped, he's way too busy with making sure it doesn't run away further. ]

Hey..!

[oceanthief]

[as soon as the little creature leaps into her lap, Lapis goes completely still. her legs remain at an uncomfortable angle, caught mid-swing, but she makes no attempt to lower them again. the only motion she makes is to tilt her head, just slightly, to direct a response at Hyunsoo.]

It's ok.

[and, surprisingly, it seems to actually be ok. despite her statuesque posture, Lapis doesn't actually seem to be troubled by the new lap warmer she's unintentionally acquired. apparently this is what she assumes to be the correct reaction to an animal climbing on you.

behind her, the mouse continues to lead the cat on a merry chase; it just happens to be nudging it a little bit further away from the chinchilla than before.]

[valuemeal]

[ It's only when he hears her voice and looks more at her face because of that near robot-like turn of only her head that Hyunsoo realises who this is. That's right, that weird.. water gem girl. (It's the easiest way to file it in his memory, okay.) It does explain why the mouse looks a little odd now he looks at it again, considering he's seen her water powers in action before.

Still weird, but.. well, he's just gotten more used to the fact everything here is weird.

The chinchilla, on the other hand, is starting to settle and curl up in Lapis' lap, apparently totally okay with this lack of sudden motion. ]

He saw the cat.. he's kind of skitterish. [ But looking at the tiny thing now.. ] He must like you though, usually he's--

[ .. oh. Wait. He can't actually talk about it too much, then it might seem like he - gasp - likes cute tiny animals. That can't be. ]

I-- I mean, I'm just figuring! [ Subtle. ]

[oceanthief]

[she slowly stretches her hand out to give the chinchilla a single, gentle pat before settling it easily at her side. all she wanted was to see if it really was as soft as it looked - and the answer is oh my gosh yes.]

What's there to figure? You just have to stay still.

[no, Lapis, that isn't how it works. you just happen to be miles better at dealing with the animals of earth compared to the people on the same planet.]

[valuemeal]

If I stay still, he never stays still. [ At least it does like Hyunsoo though. Just.. very energetically so. But at least with the way it's still calmly sitting alongside Lapis for now, he's getting a small break.

(Hyunsoo might be pouting as he eyes the critter before looking back at Lapis.) ]

Do you like animals? Maybe it's that.

[ Considering it does seem she's playing with that cat over there. Maybe? Kind of? Hyunsoo isn't sure how far playing goes when weird powers are involved. ]

[oceanthief]

I don't really think about them much; there really wasn't anything like these on Homeworld.

[and the things on colony planets hadn't been for fraternizing. it was resources, potential threats, and nothing else. if it couldn't be used, it wasn't important.]

They're the easiest thing to deal with here.

[she says, having apparently marked down the petsitting incident as a success in her mind...]