Now, To Defrost..!

Saffron sighed happily, a large smile upon her face. “Now this is what I’m talking about!” Another festival had arrived, but this one was far from lame like the Valentine’s one had been. There was just nothing like a trip to the beach. The salt water air was fresh and crisp in her nostrils, the sand was hot on her bare feet. The bright sun warmed her skin even as the cool wind tossed about her mane of hair. There were absolute throngs of people all along the coast taking part in games and contests, splashing about in the ocean, fishing off of piers. The scent of freshly cooked fish and barbecue was as alluring as ever, and practically everyone was half naked and enjoying themselves.

After a week of being up in a frigid, snowy mountain, this was heaven. At least, as far as she was concerned. Saffron had been more than ready to strip down and enjoy a well earned day to have a little fun. Sporting her favorite yellow bikini and aviator sunglasses, the young Bosconian surveyed the area. “What cha wanna do?” she asked her companion, who was getting just as many stares as he typically did in public, but in Saffron’s usual fashion she didn’t appear to be in the least bit self conscious about running around with an alien. “There’s always a ton of stuff to do at the beach. We can go swimming, do some fishing… Let’s see, looks like they’ve got…. Some volleyball, that’s a pretty fun sport. Uh… I think I see a horse shoe stand… The people bending themselves in two to walk under that pole over there, that’s limbo. It’s simple, but fun. Definitely challenging…”

She had elected to bring Hosrius along with her once again, wanting to take him some place that would have a lot more to offer than Mount Hakobe. He hadn’t needed to come with her to help her train, so Saffron was intent on thanking him by taking him some place a lot more exciting. Considering the last event they had met one another at was filled with tacky romantic nonsense and far too many nauseating couples running around being… well, couples... this was quite the improvement, and Saffron thoroughly hoped he would enjoy himself as much as she planned to.

“You know one of these days, I’m gonna take you somewhere and for once it will be a place you’re genuinely excited about.” She smirked up at him, teasing over his comment about not being comfortable out in the hot climate. Though it was true; Saffron greatly enjoyed Hosrius’s company, and she assumed he enjoyed hers cause he kept letting her drag him around places, but in some ways it seemed like they were complete opposites of one another. Not that that was going to get her down. She knew he liked to tease a lot, and oftentimes like her he would complain or make remarks but he didn’t always mean them, and it didn’t always stop him from at least trying to enjoy himself. Still, whenever Saffron tried to introduce him to things and help him experience the fullness of Earthland’s various cultures, she often felt like she was missing with her swings.

She wasn’t going to give up, though. Saffron was nothing if not persistent, even if her attitude often suggested otherwise, and the young woman was determined to get the Jirian out someplace where he could really get into the setting. As the woman panned her gaze around to see what their options were, without really doing a whole lot to extrapolate on them, her friend had apparently become transfixed on her chest. Or at least, the garment that covered it. He asked her why women covered their breasts around here, particularly when men felt free enough to expose themselves, wondering if there was something obscene about it when it came to women.

It was a loaded question, one that a lot of other women would likely stammer over. Saffron was not most women. “That is actually a fantastic question. Even we ask ourselves about that a lot. It’s a hot topic for debate around here. But mostly it boils down to the fact that many men and women find breasts sexually appealing and because of that breasts are viewed as private sexual organs… despite the fact that their only purpose is to feed kids.” Saffron shrugged. “Honestly, it’s a whole lot of double standards. Men can run around strutting their stuff because it’s okay for them to show off their goods, but gods forbid women do it. That makes us sluts, and it’s up to us to not do things that might tempt the menfolk instead of teaching them to keep their hands and eyes to themselves.”

Saffron wouldn’t have to take her sunglasses off for Hosrius to sense that she was rolling her eyes heavily. The patriarchy was full of shit. “Not all of Earthland views it the same, I will say that. There’s plenty of cultures that aren’t as tied up about it and women can run around topless as much as they like. Fiore just happens to not be one of those places. Sometimes the sexuality’s not always the reason, though. Big girls like me, we need a little more support sometimes.” Reaching up, she shamelessly cupped her chest and gave them it a little shake. “You ever had to run around with two big sacks of flesh hanging off you and flapping every which way? It’s not exactly comfortable. Plus, you can’t deny the girls look pretty great like this.” Shameless to the last, yet not in an overly sexual way. Saffron was just very secure about her body and she didn’t really have an issue with people ogling her.

Opening the door for him to voice what he might be interested in doing, he teased her about being the one to bring him there and guide him. “Nah, I’m here for chaos. I just wanted to toss you in and watch you flounder for a bit.” After the brief playful exchange, he opted for some fishing which was at least something he was familiar with and wouldn’t need explained to him. In the meantime, he’d be able to observe more about the other activities so he could try to prepare for them a bit, if only to be less of a source of hopeless entertainment for her. “Aw come on, failing’s half the fun!”

With a grin, she led the way to the pier where there were attendants passing out fishing poles and bait to anyone who needed them, as well as flower leis. Once they were stocked up with everything they needed, they’d find an open spot and Saffron plopped down on the edge before hooking some bait on the needle and casting out the line. From there, she took some time to better explain the various activities to him, pointing out each one and giving him a better idea of what each was like as they simply relaxed and waited for the fish to bite. Unfortunately, that particular moment never came with Saffron. No matter how many times she recast her line, rebaited the hook, or changed where she tried to fish, she caught absolutely nothing. “Man, what is up with the fish?” she asked in annoyance, reeling the line back in to try again.

Marvelously covered and secure? “Boy, you sure know how to make a woman wanna jump right out of her panties, don’t you?” she teased with a snort at his attempted compliment. After that, she listened to his thoughts on the matter and how he was curious as to why Earthlander women hadn’t evolved to have better support. In fact, it seemed he had stimulants that could possibly help with something like that, enough that their chests would be secure even while inciting violence against men that hadn’t learn to be respectful. “Virac. I’m gonna start using that. And hands down, you’d probably make a killing. Humans are obsessed with their body images, especially women. You should start a business! Who knows, maybe you’ll make enough money on the side to go toward your debt.”

They moved on to the fishing contest, to which Saffron was having absolutely zero luck. Hosrius managed to catch a decent sized fish though, and while he didn’t win it was definitely more exciting than what she had accomplished. She rolled her eyes when he teased that he was doing just fine, but her grin betrayed her amusement. They passed the equipment back to the staff and from there the Jirian asked what she wanted to do. “Definitely surfing,” the blonde told him without hesitation. “Since I wasn’t catching anything all I could do was sit in the hot sun and watch all those people out there having a good time and cooling down in the ocean. You ever done anything like surfing before?” She couldn’t imagine that surfing didn’t exist on other planets, which surely had beaches just like theirs.

As it turned out, there was a contest for surfing coming up in a bit, too. Always up for a challenge, Saffron threw her name on the roster and then went to collect a board. Before she got in the water, she opened up a compartment on her metal arm and tucked her sunglasses inside of it, not wanting to lose or damage the tinted spectacles. Then, once Hosrius was ready, she raced out into the water with an energized hollar, diving right into a wave and soaking herself from head to toe. When she surfaced, she shook the water from her face and hopped on top of the board to paddle further out into the water. If Hosrius had never surfed before, she would take the time to teach him the basics. Even if he wasn’t very sport minded, there was a lot of technical tactics to surfing that she felt he would catch onto rather quickly, as she explained about the pull and propulsion of the waves and the balancing one’s center of gravity when standing. Would that make it easy for him to get up and do it right away? No, but perhaps it would better prepare him so he would know what he was aiming to accomplish.

By the time the contest started, she was raring to go. Waiting for the right wave, she picks up on a rather large swell that was building and quickly started paddling herself into position. Sure enough the board caught on the current and she expertly leaped to her feet, riding the wave all the way to the shore and event twisting and turning her board this way and that along the ride to show off her skill. In fact, she did so good that when everyone had gotten the chance to give it a shot, she was awarded first place! Grinning like the mischievous scamp she was, she waited until her companion was ready to try something else. “Alright, Hos, your turn..!”

Saffron practically snapped her neck in an effort to turn and look at him. “Solar surfing?! What the hell, I want to try that... “ Suddenly, Earthland was starting to sound a little lame.

Hosrius didn’t sign up for the contest, but he was interested in trying some of the surfing, so she did her best to give him tips that would actually be helpful. Then, she waited nearby as he practiced, keeping an eye on his movement and his form so that she could make suggestions for adjustments if necessary. He picked it up pretty quickly, which was no surprise. While he wasn’t a master by the end of it, he still made a lot more progress than most newbies did and even managed to ride a wave or two for several yards before diving back in for a swim. Each time she cheered him on loudly, pleased to see him catch on so well.

When it was time to move on, Hosrius suggested the limbo game, claiming to want to see how flexible she was. “Bring it on! I can be all sorts of bendy.” Off they went, both of them waiting for their turns while watching those ahead of them. Actually, Hosrius was watching some of the women rather intently, which Saffron found amusing -- even though she was kind of eyeing some of the people around, too. Soon enough it was Hosrius’ turn, and Saffron was more than ready to observe this tall, gangly dude from outer space try his hand at bending under a pole.

And damn if he wasn’t a natural. He scooted right under the pole like it was nothing before arrogantly asking the attendant to knock it down not one, but two pegs. It was so low to the ground at this point that most of the viewers were watching with rapt attention, curious to see if he would make it. He lined himself up almost perfectly and even managed to wink at a woman while in the process of crawling beneath, causing her to turn beet red. “It’s not a mating ritual, you know..!” she called out with a grin. When he made it through the other side successfully, everyone applauded with enthusiasm, including Saffron.

Then it was her turn, with him gesturing for her to step up. “Not gonna lie, you really set the bar,” she told him, shamelessly leaning into the awful pun with a cheshire grin. “But it’s a lot easier when you’re thin and flat chested.” To emphasize her point, she lightly rapped her knuckles against his chest as she walked by. “Lemme show you what being flexible is really about.”

The attendant was getting ready to lift the bar back up when Saffron waved him off. He looked at her like she was crazy but stepped back all the same. Saffron stretched her neck side to side, loosening her body up a bit. With a smug smirk, she flicked the compartment open in her arm and slid her aviators back on, completing her hot cool girl look once more. Approaching the bar, she widened her stance and sank down nearly to the ground, centering her body so that she could crawl forward with her feet bit by bit. The legs were always the easiest, and they got under no problem. In fact, it wasn’t until she got close to the chest that one would start to factor the improbability of the trajectory. Saffron was very well endowed, so getting the rest of her under without touching the pole or the ground was going to be a feat and a half. Luckily, this was not her first time limbo dancing.

Bending her back a bit, She raised her shoulders so she could sink her chest down, inching her chest just past the bar with barely a hair’s breath of space to make it through. The attendant was watching carefully, however, and could see that she was not touching the pole. But now the real trick was there: She had bent her body in a particular way to get her chest lower, but now her face was in danger of hitting the bar and if she reverted back to the normal stance her breasts would pop right back up and tap her out. Still moving carefully and slowly, she tilted her head back and raised her hips up instead, causing her back to be curved in a baffling angle that allowed her to slip her face under the bar without hitting it with her chest. And then, she was back on her feet and the crowd once again burst into cheers.

“Yes, I know. Thank you, thank you,” she told them with a cocky grin, throwing some finger guns at a couple of attractive ladies. The attendant gave her her lei and then she reunited with Hosrius. “How’s that for flexibility?” With a chuckle, she nodded for him to follow her. “Come on. All the surfing and exercise has worked up an appetite. Let’s see what they got to eat.”

Making their way over to the feast, they got in line -- and got more leis. Saffron grabbed a plate and started putting some stuff on. If he needed help deciphering what anything was, she was sure to explain any dishes that were presented before them, helping him avoid anything she had a feeling he wouldn’t like based on what she’d been able to observe his tastes were like. “Oh, you should try that, though,” she said, pointing to some small bowls of ice cream that were kept cold and prevented from melting thanks to the enchanted bowls they were in. “I know you haven’t been a fan of our desserts so far cause of how sweet they are, but you might actually like ice cream. It’s not as overly sugary as other stuff you’ve tried, especially certain flavors. You might like that pink colored one -- it’s strawberry flavored.” He had liked the strawberries at the Valentine’s festival, and that one wouldn’t be too overpoweringly sweet. Once they had full plates and a place to sit, she wasted no time digging into the food.