Getting Some Air

Oren sheathed his weapon, Shatter, as he struck down an aggressive monster along the road to Balamb town. He reached up and pushed his hair from his face. Not even 10 minutes after leaving the Garden and he had already been attacked. It was nice to get some actual exercise other than running to his own class in order to get there on time. Though now that summer was beginning to set in, he had to keep himself busy until missions started turning up, hopefully a mission to resolve the conflict in Timber.

He shrugged a bit and kept walking to town in hopes of meeting Nell in town again. He kept his eyes moving, not about to be jumped out of nowhere by a lowly monster.

The dust on her skirt was unbearable, but Nell didn't stop to brush it off. She was walking briskly, very careful to stay on the road. It wasn't often that she walked to Balamb, but sometimes, she really didn't feel like driving. It was dangerous, and she well knew that, but she also knew that she enjoyed the walk, maybe even the danger to a degree. Happily, she turned her face to the sun, and then she pulled her floppy summer hat lower on her head. She was toting along a big orange beach bag, filled with a summer lunch, her little sister's swimsuit, as well as some other important beach items.

She was planning on spending the day at Rinauld Coast, whether Myghin came or not, but it would be so much more enjoyable with someone! Sighing, she lugged her bag along, very close to Garden now. Looking up, she spotted someone in the road; Is that Instructor Sjet? What's he doing? She smiled though, and she lifted her arm to wave to him. "Ins- Oren!" She blushed faintly, realizing that she enjoyed calling him by name.

Oren's ears perked up as soon as he heard a familiar voice call his name. He glanced up a bit to see Nell walking opposite the way he was going. "N-Nell! What are you doing out here?" He smiled a little bit and walked up to her. "Off to see Myghin at the Garden, I guess?"

"Of course... what other reason would I have for braving the roads?" Laughing, Nell closed the distance between them happily. She smiled up at him, wearing a bright, summery dress that barely reached her knees, with a large white floppy hat. "What about yourself? What brings you out and about, Instructor?" She stopped when she reached him, setting her large bag down on the ground for a moment.

"Why, coming to visit you, what else?" he grinned sheepishly. "It is a bit dangerous out today, though. Guess the beasts are out on vacation, as well." He tilted his head a bit to look under the brim of your hat.

"In any case...may I offer you and escort, miss? Where are you headed?"

"Well, honestly, I'm out to procure some company for a trip to the beach... But Myghin hates going; she only goes because otherwise I'm completely helpless out there." Nell tilted her head back slightly and smiled warmly. "If you really feel like being an escort..." A dark blush lit her face, "Would you like to accompany me to the beach? I can bribe you with food, if that helps..." Her voice trailed off, and she was shocked at herself. Coming onto one of Myghin's teachers? Honestly? What was wrong with her?

She looked down at her feet, her hangs wringing slightly behind her back. Myghin would definitely not approve if Nell showed interest in one of her teachers.

His eyes opened a little bit as his face grew a bit pink at the offer. "Well, I suppose I could...but only because you're offering food and absolutely not because I actually enjoy spending time with you, Nell." Oren grinned a little bit and looked under her hat as he turned and looked around. "So, um...which direction were you heading?" he asked sheepishly.

Nell's face lit up as she looked up at him. "There's a little cove on the beach just south of here, actually. It's perfect for swimming. Do you swim, Oren?" She smiled, her cares of what Myghin thought gone for the moment. For once, she was only thinking of what Nell wanted in that space of time. One of her sandaled feet lifted to rub the back of the opposite bare calf.

His eyes opened a little more, nodding at her question. "Absolutely, I love to swim," he said, wondering what he was doing. Sure, he enjoyed being with Nell, but she was Myghin's sister. Granted, he wasn't her teacher yet, but still...there was a possibility of things getting complicated once the summer was over. Nevertheless, he didn't really care about that at this point. "Lead the way, Nell," he said smiling.

Her heart lifted as he answered, and she grinned. "Gladly." She picked up her bag and began to walk off of the road, down toward the coast line. "It's not too far down here, actually." They reached it quite quickly, and it was a little cove with a nicely guarded shallow area. Happily, Nell began immediately unpacking her bag, setting up a lovely little picnic area that included a large umbrella that apparently folded down into almost nothing.

Soon, it was an idyllic scene, complete with multi-colored umbrella, a picnic blanket with a meal spread out on it, and Nell standing off to the side, tugging her dress over her head to reveal a one-piece, striped suit under it. As her dress came over her head, she shook out her hair, taking her clippe out of it. "I forgot to ask what you swim in, but at this point I really don't care," she said with a smile toward her 'guard'. "Just help me watch out for those little sharks? The orange ones?"

Oren nodded as he gathered himself from seeing Nell in a swimsuit. He unzipped the sections of his pants, converting them into long shorts as he took off his gloves, belts and shirt. For the first time in a while, he felt very light. Setting his things under the umbrella, he stretched out and looked out over the ocean.

Happily, Nell made certain all of the food containers were tightly closed, and then she looked out over the water as well. She made her way over to where the waves were breaking on the beach, and started walking out into the water. Soon, she was in water up to her thighs, and she stood there, letting the small waves rush past her, her eyes closed. "Oren, this is wonderful," she called over her shoulder, her hands lightly touching the top of the water.

Oren grinned as he looked up and started to walk toward the water. Once the little waves touched his feet, he felt very relaxed and stepped further in. "Ah, this is very nice," he said as he savored the feeling of the water cooling his skin.

Nell worked her way out in the water until she was actively moving to keep herself afloat. Then she took a deep breath and leaned back so that she was floating. Slowly, she released the breath until she was breathing normally and still floating. "I love days like today," she said happily, her eyes closing as she relaxed in the water. Her hair pooled around her, weightless in the water.

He swam out a little bit, took in a breath and dove under a little bit. He resurfaced, hair dripping and he nodded to Nell's comment. "Very pleasant, no classes to worry about, and good company."

"Indeed... Just let me know whenever you get hungry," she said softly, her eyes opening to stare up at the deep blue sky. "We can swim back and eat then." She stretched and then shook her head slightly, enjoying the feel of her hair floating. Gradually, she began to kick lazily, so that she was moving slightly toward the shore with the current.

"At this rate, it probably won't take terribly long," he said smiling as he swam around some more. He rarely got to swim and he enjoyed the feel of the water around him. "So what else do you enjoy doing other than coming down into dangerous bits of the island?"

Nell laughed and looked over at him. "I'm not terribly interesting... I enjoy swimming and reading... I enjoy my work. I love to cook, but I'm sure you guessed that." She shrugged a little as she stopped floating and began actively swimming around a little. "What about yourself? Aside from teaching and sacrificing your beautiful days to escort someone around?"

Smiling, he thought for a moment. "Pretty much just this, though I don't escort people very often. Aside from that, I usually take on missions for the Garden. I'm afraid there's not a whole lot else to me." He looked at her and glanced over at the beach. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a bit." Nell grinned at him before she dove under the water, heading back toward the beach. As she neared it, she surfaced and began to walk up to the dry part of the beach. Then she pulled two towels from the bag and lightly patted most of herself dry before holding out the other one to Oren.

Oren stepped out of the water, accepting the towel from Nell, and began to dry himself off. He attempted to towel dry his hair as best he could, but it only really dried on its own so he sat under the umbrella and leaned back, relaxing and taking in the cool breeze from the ocean.

Once she was dry, the towel was modestly wrapped around her waist, and then Nell began to open food containers, fixing up little plates for each of them. She set a soda and a water out for each of them, and then she looked up at him. "I hope that you like pasta, Oren," she said softly as she handed him his plate with little curly noodles coated in a butter-garlic sauce. Small pieces of grilled chicken were peppered through the noodles, and there was a large piece of crusty bread on the side of the dish. "I'm not sure of what you eat, and I originally intended it to be for Myghin."

"I..yes, I love pasta," he said, smiling. "Wow..this looks great, thank you, Nell." Again, he was amazed by Nell's cooking ability. He took a bite and savored the flavor for a moment. "It's great, thank you." He looked up her and smiled before taking another bite.

"I'm glad." Nell smiled happily before she fixed her own plate. Then, settling back, she began to eat, enjoying her food almost as much as Oren was. She not only loved to cook, but she loved to eat as well, and that much was apparent as she worked on her plate.

After a few moments, he was finished and he slowly lay back and closed his eyes, giving out a satisfied noise as he did so. "That was very good. How did you learn to cook like that, Nell?"