Reunion in Hargeon. And Free Stuff.

Sommarsun Weeks? The heck was that? Was that always a thing? Was Alia just so oblivious to the world that she never took notice once in her life of a major Fiore festival-type thing that lasted weeks? Holy heck, she impressed even herself with that realization and level of cluelessness. Sure she recalled all those short-lived spring and summer festivals but somehow this one managed to pass under the radar year after year. It wasn't until she had won a raffle prize that she tuned into the frequency of reality that everyone else had been living in the whole time.

What exactly was the raffle prize that broke the divine plan to keep her out of the loop of the weeks-long festival for eternity? A reservation for a week-long stay at some supposedly neat hotel in Hargeon Town, good only during the duration of Sommarsun Weeks. One would think she would have known what the top prizes of the raffle were beforehand but honestly, she just entered random contests like that all the time just to try and win free stuff. It didn't matter what it was. Hotel reservations weren't exactly as interesting as some of the cooler stuff she had in mind as neat prizes but she'd take it. That just meant more free stuff during her stay, right? And easy access to the festival activities for an entire week without having to worry about paying for overbooked hotels or having to figure out where to place her temporary cherry house. Not a bad prize at all.

Now was the blonde going to attend that festival thing alone? Ha. No. When did she ever? The details of the prize said it was a very spacious suite or something and that she could add others onto the reservation. Of course, being allowed that meant she was going to have to make someone suffer by inviting them. She had already been thinking of smuggling someone in regardless but whatever. Can't complain about good perks.

It had been a while since the last time she and Diana Winchester really had the chance to hang out and do friend stuff. With the Sommarsun Weeks celebration now in full swing it was time for another reunion for Blonde Ambition. A much longer reunion than normal. A week-long reunion. If Diana didn't casually shoot her and hide her body in the room's mini-fridge by the end of it even she would be surprised. That was future Aliarey's possible fate though. Present time Aliarey didn't really care and was just excited enough to not only have won free stuff but to also have Diana around for some fun too. She didn't even think that Diana might have been some kind of masochist for always accepting the invitations, although that would have honestly been an appropriate thought to consider.

Knowing well enough that Diana liked doing her own thing and getting there when she got there, Aliarey didn't bother with the suggestion of picking her up and them heading off to the hotel together. They'd just meet there like they did with any other event or job. As far as she knew Aliarey had arrived first. That was fine and it made more sense anyway. She'd just wait a bit in a spot where she could easily be found unless Diana had gone blind.

Wearing a simple outfit of a pair of blue jeans, a turquoise s spaghetti strap shirt, and white sneakers, Aliarey stood in front of some weird structure that was a fusion of a giant water fountain and aquarium. Maybe that was a normal decoration for higher-dollar hotels, she wasn't sure and she didn't care all that much besides its weirdness and its ability to serve as a suitable landmark for the meeting place.

"Damn, no wonder this thing lasts weeks," Aliarey thought aloud while staring at the screen of her iLac. All over Fiore different towns and cities celebrated Sommarsun Weeks but not all of them had the same things going on. Some had beach parties, some had spectacular fireworks displays, heck there was even an amusement park. You'd need weeks if you planned to do everything there was to do all across the country. Thankfully she wasn't all that motivated to do so. Whatever was going on in Hargeon was enough. There was a beach, of course. The hotel was right there by it so it was hard to miss. Some kind of beach stuff going on was likely what most people went for, and boy oh boy were there a lot of people around. Way more than the usual festivals she attended had. That was bound to get annoying but she'd worry about that later. No one was really bothering her at that moment so it was way easier to ignore that issue besides all of the noise.

Just to be a bit more knowledgeable about what else there was to do though Aliarey kept scrolling through information to educate herself a bit. The woman wasn't much of a planner and all information she obtained with her quick research was likely to evaporate within the next five minutes, but it was a way to pass the time and be somewhat productive.

(Word Count: 870)

Wearing her usual purple t-shirt with black skirt and black tennis shoes, Diana was carrying a recently purchased metallic purple suitcase to store her clothing in. Normally she did not carry one because she had no need for one, but today was an exception. She had been invited to spend a week with her old friend Aliarey Casady at a fancy hotel in Hargeon Town and she would need something in which to carry several changes of clothing.

Speaking of clothing, Diana had made a last-minute shopping trip to Capital Crocus Mall and had found a few items to expand her wardrobe so that she would not be wearing the same purple t-shirt and black skirt for the entire trip. She had purchased a few more of her purple t-shirts because purple was her favorite color and nothing would change that, but she had also purchased a mint green, lavender, and aqua t-shirt to try some different colors. She had also bought a few white skirts of the same type as her favorite black one so that she would have something that better matched the colors of her new t-shirts. To top it all off she had found and bought a one-piece purple bathing suit that covered everything that needed covering, including the scars on her back.

No one was going to see them if she could help it, not even Aliarey.

With a newly expanded wardrobe inside her purple suitcase, Diana canvassed Hargeon Town for her longtime friend. She decided to start at the area close to the beach because Aliarey was not one to stay out of the action, so she stayed the course and began to work her way towards the beach. She would have a bit of difficulty getting there because it seemed that all of Hargeon Town was out for the summer event, but this was far from her first event, so she was used to handling crowds.

As Diana walked she saw numerous people dressed for the occasion. They were dressed in a wide variety of colors and styles appropriate to a summer event that ranged from Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts with sandals to bathing suits both modest and revealing. Diana kept moving through the dense crowds while being careful not to hit anyone with her suitcase. She eventually reached the part of town close to the beach and spotted a building with unusual architecture that instantly caught her eye for the wrong reasons.

It was like a bored amateur engineer had welded a water fountain and an aquarium together just to see if it could be done.

Diana continued to look at the building and wondered who came up with the idea for its design. It must have had some considerable effort put into making it sturdy because the blonde could not begin to fathom how it was able to stay upright. She supposed that someone had seen a modern art piece and was inspired to recreate it on a larger scale for a building. Maybe the building in question was a modern art museum.

Diana looked away from the building and looked around her until her eyes settled on a familiar blonde with a strong magic signature. Aliarey was dressed for the occasion in a simple but beautiful turquoise shirt she had never seen the blue-eyed blonde wear before. She had never seen Aliarey wear blue jeans either. Diana decided to walk to the blonde's right and greet her. Once she had made her way over to her friend's side she stopped, faced Aliarey, and spoke.

"Hello Aliarey." Diana calmly greeted her fellow blonde and longtime friend.

[Post Word Count: 606]
[Diana's Word Count: 606]

It was unbelievable. The more and more information she found out about what all was available the more and more Aliarey couldn't wait to run off and start doing stuff. Standing still was becoming more difficult to do and it took a huge amount of restraint to not start bouncing around in place like some kind of weirdo. Even worse was when she found out about the free food that could be found everywhere in town, and the options that were available from her super special reservation prize. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth watered, which was odd considering she hadn't even thought about food until then. She needed more information about other free stuff as a distraction!

Eventually, the blonde's quick swiping and wide-eyed stare of disbelief came to an end. A new distraction had arrived. The main one she had been waiting for. She lowered her iLac, taking her blue eyes away from the screen to gaze upon the one that greeted her by name. "Hey, roomie!" Aliarey shouted, not even trying to hide her excitement upon seeing that her longtime buddy had arrived.

Without a second thought or hesitation, Aliarey moved to Diana's side and put her arm over her shoulders, tugging gently to pull her closer in a friendly manner. It was an invasion of personal space to be sure, but the two had never exactly talked about that subject before. She more or less was testing limits without even realizing it. She just happened to act without thinking. Hugging wasn't something that she would ever do for sure, but she was starting to feel more open and comfortable around Diana that a simple gesture of friendship just seemed natural.

With her free arm, she waved toward the large hotel building, which looked much like the aquarium fountain-like thing she stood in front of. Except bigger. And with a lot of extra add-ons. It was a strange building she had to admit, and there was a bit of concern about all those tubes that led to the ocean but it was a popular place so it must have been okay. "Ready to check out this place and see what this Sommarsun Weeks thing is all about?"

(Word Count: 370
Aliarey Total: 1240)

Diana was wearing her usual poker face when Aliarey referred to her by an unusual title. She wondered why she was referred to in such a manner, but she did not care to ask yet. She was sure that the blue-eyed blonde would tell her what that meant when the time was right.

Even if she was inclined to ask Diana was interrupted by Aliarey putting an arm around her shoulder. The green-eyed blonde's skin began to crawl the moment contact was made. It did not matter that Aliarey was a longtime friend of hers and it did not matter that the blue-eyed blonde did not have hostile intent... the moment the arm hit her shoulder Diana experienced that unpleasant sensation. She did her best to keep from saying something that might hurt her friend's feelings or doing something to end the physical contact such as pulling away. However, if Aliarey was observant enough she could notice subtle clues that Diana was not all right, clues such as a tight grip on her purple suitcase and the gaze that was fixed firmly on the building that looked like a modern art museum.

Diana was struggling with her growing discomfort when Aliarey asked a question that momentarily distracted her from her predicament.

"Certainly, Aliarey." Diana replied with a calm tone that was at odds with how she was really feeling. She hoped that Aliarey would release her soon. If she was not freed within the next few seconds the green-eyed blonde might have to outright tell her friend to let go. Diana did not want to do that because Aliarey was her only friend and she did not want to alienate the latter, but her discomfort was increasing with each passing moment and if the situation did not change Diana was going to have to speak up.

[Post Word Count: 306]
[Diana's Word Count: 912]

Poor Diana. Aliarey had zero clue about her issues. Even as her friend's skin crawled and seemingly died inside she didn't take the hint. Subtle queues weren't exactly something she picked up on a lot unless the danger alarms went off. Diana never was one to give off the vibe that she was a monster about to strike. To her, even at that moment, it was just Diana being Diana. It was hard to tell much of anything when very little emotion was ever shown. Rather than an apology or stepping back to give personal space, Aliarey just grinned and tightened her grip more, obviously telling of her lack of knowledge about the suffering she was bringing. Fortunately for the other blonde Aliarey released her.

"Of course you are!" Aliarey gleefully agreed. Diana hadn't taken off running yet so that must have meant she was willing to stick around after all. Although if that happened later on throughout the week it wouldn't be shocking to her at all. It was almost a test of just how much Diana would be willing to take. It was kind of amusing even thinking about it but she couldn't wait to tell her brother that Diana had passed it! Surely she would pass it, right? Of course she would!

Her cerulean gaze looked down, noting the purple suitcase that unknown to her probably needed a new handle from the tight gripping of its owner. "I guess checking out our fancy cool room is up first so we can drop that off. It's supposed to be pretty big and have more than one bed so don't worry about that kind of awkward stuff. That's all I know about it though. I haven't checked it out yet. Or checked in actually. I probably should have done that ages ago..." Aliarey trailed off, thinking about other stuff she probably should have done before Diana had arrived. She had been so preoccupied with the fun part of researching activities to do that she had procrastinated on the equally as important boring stuff.

A few seconds later was all she needed to get over that. The blue-eyed blonde perked up and started heading up the steps all the way to the door of the weird building. Or rather, running up the steps like a maniac. "Lets gooooooooooo!" She ignored the looks of the people around her. In fact, they were all a blur to her really. Even as they moved out of the way as she rudely ran through she didn't even notice them. Didn't even hear their comments. Her one-track mind didn't give her enough time or care to think about them. Apparently, it didn't allow her to consider waiting for Diana either. At the very least there was a long line at the check-in desk, making it very easy to find Aliarey at the very back of it once she caught up.

(Word Count: 485
Aliarey Total: 1725)

The entire time she was being touched Diana wondered when Aliarey would let go. She was quietly hoping that the other blonde would take the hint and remove her arm, but that hope was in vain. It seemed like an eternity before Diana was finally released and when it finally happened the green-eyed blonde could have audibly sighed with relief... if she were one to do something like that. Diana remained silent and silently rejoiced at her long-awaited freedom while Aliarey talked about an important task that she had not yet completed, one that would determine whether or not this trip and the money spent on clothing would be in vain.

Diana did not say a word, but even if she had spoken her words would have fallen on deaf ears since Aliarey had already dashed off to complete the task that remained to be done. Instead the green-eyed blonde followed silently in her energetic friend's wake, ignoring the glances being cast in her direction. She could not tell whether the glances were angry, annoyed, or sympathetic, but she did not spare any of the people a second look. She cared about what other people thought about her, but only up to a point. She was not Aliarey's keeper and she was not going to take on that role today.

Diana weathered the glances without a word until she reached the hotel door, where she opened the door and disappeared inside the establishment.

-Inside the hotel-

Once Diana was inside the hotel she looked across the lobby and spotted Aliarey bringing up the rear of the lengthy line that led to the desk where guests checked in. Diana stood in place and took a moment to look around. The "Sommarsun Weeks" event had attracted a lot of people and the lobby was like a microcosm of Hargeon Town as far as the colors and styles of clothing she was seeing. Once she had satisfied her curiosity Diana carefully made her way through the busy lobby until she reached her friend's left side, where she stopped and greeted Aliarey again.

"I see that we have quite a line ahead of us, Aliarey." Diana commented on the wait in an effort to make small talk with her teammate. As long as the blue-eyed blonde did not try to touch her within the next few minutes everything would be fine. Diana would need at least an hour to recover before she was able to tolerate her friend touching her again. If the blue-eyed blonde made physical contact before that time was up Diana was not going to be a happy mage.

[Post Word Count: 438]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,350]

Aliarey didn't look at Diana when she spoke, her full attention and glaring eyes were fixated on the front of the line and the desk. She didn't have the patience for waiting five minutes. Now she was expected to wait in the back of a huge line? Why was a place like that not prepared for a crowd?! There should have been multiple lines! Multiple lines with each one having an employee that moved quickly so each interaction lasted only seconds. Easy. Sure she could have blamed herself for the current issue but why would she? It clearly was the fault of them. "Yeeaaahhh.... This kind of sucks. I'm bored already," Aliarey replied, folding her arms across her chest and then tapping her right foot impatiently.

An idea then lit up the proverbial lightbulb of her mind. She grinned again and looked to Diana with a newfound gleeful energy. "Hey! While we wait let's go over some of the stuff we can do today!" She reached into the right back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her ever-so-trusty iLac. "Let's see what I got on here so far." A few taps and swipes of her finger on the screen brought up a list that she was quite proud of, even if it was just random stuff that sounded fun and cool to do. She actually wasn't all too sure what Diana would be willing to do so she kind of had to pick randomly anyway.

"Okay, so we got the normal beach stuff like eating, drinking, sand castle competitions, and collecting stuff from the ocean shore but we got the cooler stuff too. Windsurfing, jetskiing, Paddleboarding that kind of stuff. I think there's supposed to be games like volleyball too so that's on here. On the other hand, this place supposedly has a waterpark too so that's probably neat. There are supposed to be some hiking spots too where you can get some good views of the ocean." Really she was just skimming through the list pretty quickly to give Diana a general idea of all there was to do. There were also a ton of magazines and brochures laying on tables around them that also gave plenty of ideas of what to do while they were in the area.

"Any of those sounds good as a first on the to-do list?"

(Word Count: 393
Aliarey Total: 2118)

Diana listened to Aliarey express her boredom with the wait and responded with her customary silence. It was obvious that the blue-eyed blonde was both the more vocal of the pair and the more impatient one. Diana, on the other hand, did not say very much and could wait for hours on end without issue. She could stand here all day if it came down to it: judging from the look of things she just might have to wait awhile. However, Aliarey had other ideas.

Aliarey produced her iLac and soon accessed a list, which turned out to be a list of activities that the pair could do. Diana listened in silence as the blue-eyed blonde verbally listed every activity they had to choose from and silently focused on what there was to do at the beach. It had been a long time since she had been to one and this event was the perfect excuse to go to the beach.

"I would like to go to the beach, Aliarey. We can decide what we do when we get there. I will admit that I am interested in the possibility of driving a jetski, but I do not care if we do that first or last." Diana spoke to her friend using what might be the longest string of words she had created today. She had also actually stated something she was interested in doing instead of making Aliarey ask a laundry list of questions to figure out what activity she was up for. Diana had voiced her opinion... now she would have to see if her friend went for it or not.

If they did end up going to the beach the green-eyed blonde would be pleased... in her own subtle way. She never did wear her heart on her sleeve, so people around her did not know if she was happy, angry, sad, or felt any kind of emotion. The truth was that most of the time Diana did not feel much of anything. However, when around Aliarey she felt something approaching happiness because she was around someone who accepted her for who she was and did not try to "fix" her introverted nature or her lack of emotional expression.

[Post Word Count: 372]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,722]

"Jetskiing, huh? I got no problem doing that first." Aliarey was kind of an insane driver in normal vehicles as a former friend and teammate found out long ago so the chance of her jetskiing ability being equal was very high. Not that Diana knew that but that was fine. They'd both have their own anyway so worst case scenario the green-eyed one of the duo would have to watch whatever chaos occurred and hope she didn't have to pretend that she didn't know her blue-eyed counterpart. "We'll head to the beach and check that out. If we have to wait or something we can just do something else. Heck, I even forgot we can just swim normally at the beach. Tons of options so we shouldn't be bored at all." Aliarey looked at the line again and narrowed her eyes. "Unlike now." At least the line moved a little bit. Not enough to be life-saving for an impatient woman but progress was progress.

Some. Time. Later.

Somehow Aliarey made it through the long wait without going insane or doing something stupid like pushing her way up to the front of the line like some VIP. She was able to check in without issue even with the delay. Diana and herself were led the way to their reservation by one of the employees, and after that, the pair were given their own keycard to the place. The rest of the time they were free to do as they wished without having to worry about their place of stay, which just so happened to be nicer than she expected. The room was indeed big, but more than that it was actually more than one room. One for herself and one for Diana, separated by the living area in the middle and the kitchen area to the side near the front door.

The decor was... very blue. Blue walls, blue furniture, blue pictures on the walls of coral, fish, and more ocean. For anyone that hated the color blue they were in for a nightmare-inducing stay, but Aliarey could get used to it. It wasn't as if she were the definition of an expert in interior design. In fact, she didn't really care so long as everything worked and it was clean and comfortable, which it did and was. One of the best parts was beyond a see-through sliding door there was a big open patio that led to the beach. They'd have to go further to find the actual events and activities that were around but if all Diana and herself wanted to do was relax on the beach without going far they could. It was like having their own little private area on the beach where they could just sit and stare at the ocean. Pretty cool and not bad for some random raffle prize.

"Not bad! I kind of expected that this reservation was all a glorified lie," Aliarey told Diana as she walked further inside and gave a look around. She promptly went to the kitchen and started to check out the appliances to make sure all of them worked. Just for future reference. "Looks like all of this works fine." Not that she planned on cooking anything but at least the fridge would get used. The air conditioner she could feel was working so there was no need to mess with that. She headed for the couch hopped onto it, laying down on her back once on it and sighing, fully relaxed already. "This works too."

Now it was the bedroom and bathroom check. They needed to get ready for the beach anyway. Blue jeans weren't exactly the proper attire for anything they were planning to do on day one. "Alright well, we made it this far," the requip mage began to say as she sat up. "That means this wasn't some mistake and we can finally get on with doing something. Let's change and go look for the jetskis." Aliarey stood up before walking over to one of the rooms and opening the door. Before disappearing inside though she turned around to give one more piece of advice. "Oh, don't forget the sunscreen. If you don't have a bottle I have some you can use." With how light complected the two of them were they most certainly were going to burn without it. Well, she would anyway. Maybe Diana had a spell or magic item to protect her from it. It didn't hurt to be cautious just in case.

(Word Count: 753
Aliarey Total: 2871)

Aliarey was right when she asserted that the beach had numerous options for entertainment. That was exactly why Diana had voiced her preference for that choice to begin with. The fact that she genuinely liked the beach was a bonus. She listened to Aliarey outline their game plan and had no objections to any part of it.

After a lengthy wait Aliarey managed to check in without any trouble and the pair made their way to their room, which was a rather good one in Diana's opinion. Despite the unconventional exterior of the hotel it was a conventional room with two smaller rooms, one for each of them. Diana was pleased by that because as much as she liked Aliarey she needed her space and having a separate room was the best way to accomplish that. They would still be in the same hotel room but each blonde would have a space for themselves and their belongings.

"I too am impressed by the quality of the room." Diana voiced her approval of their lodging. She had expected the "artsy" quality of the hotel's exterior to bleed over into the rooms. She had expected to be put into a room with an art piece like a bronze statue of a giant seashell sitting in the middle of the room, an abstract art exhibit on the walls, or some other piece of art. Thankfully the room was normal aside from the obvious blue theme, but since the room was close to the beach Diana could see how that was appropriate.

When Aliarey suggested the next course of action Diana was on board with that.

"All right, Aliarey. I will go to my room and change. However, I will need some sunscreen, so I will use it after you do." Diana informed her that she needed to borrow some of the sunscreen her friend had brought. She would have need of it since she kept herself covered most of the time and the sun would be her worst enemy because of that. She would need to liberally apply sunscreen to cover herself once she put on her purple one-piece bathing suit, but that was a small price to pay for getting to go to the beach with her friend.

[Post Word Count: 376]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,098]

"Okie dokie!" With that said, Aliarey disappeared into her room and closed the door behind her. Locking it didn't feel necessary. Not with Diana there, who didn't seem like the type to barge into a room without knocking first and being invited in. Aliarey felt comfortable enough without the extra security measure and took a moment to look around the room and check out the bathroom that was connected to it. It was nice for sure just like the rest of the place was. Clean, organized, bug-free, and with someone most likely coming to clean every day like hotels usually did. Yeah, she could get used to it. Leaving after the week was up was going to be hard, but that was a problem for future Aliarey. Present Aliarey had a different mission.

As a Requip mage that tended to use her pocket dimension as much more than an armory for her weapons, she didn't exactly need to carry luggage around. It was all already with her ready to be called at any time. So she did. In seconds the room was covered with clothes and beach essentials. Sure she could have just switched her outfits magically but she needed to decide just what swimsuit she was going to wear. She had a lot. One-piece suits, bikinis, tankinis, and more. Once again she didn't remember buying all of that or even stealing it. Yet somehow it existed in her storage space. Well, whatever. More variety was better and as she went through the pile she decided on a plain cyan-colored one-piece swimsuit. Naturally, she could easily pull off wearing the bikinis but that would probably attract way too much attention. The blonde was in no way interested in having to shoot someone that day. Maybe tomorrow.

With that picked out, she changed into it and even added a bit more such as basic blue sandals she didn't mind getting ruined from all the sand and a white open-front swimsuit cover-up. "Oh, wait! The sunscreen!" As she was putting her hair into a ponytail she recalled what was probably the most important thing that was mentioned not even five minutes ago. Damn. She'd get to that in a bit. First, she stuffed some towels and other beach supplies into a tote bag. The final touch was putting a pair of sunglasses on the top of her head. They weren't needed yet or probably ever but they were cool and she liked the look of them. Now she could apply that messy sunscreen, which she did liberally. It felt a little weird asking Diana to help with her back so she decided against asking. She could do it herself... without all of that weird and painful reaching and twisting that ultimately didn't cover an entire back. A creative invention that put together a sponge and a backscratcher solved the issue in no time.

Aliarey left her room and took a seat on the couch while she waited for Diana to finish changing and doing whatever else she needed before heading out. The bottle of sunscreen lotion she placed on the table so that her friend could easily find and make use of it.

(Word Count: 531
Aliarey Total: 3402)

Diana had went to her room to change into her one-piece purple bathing suit and had set her purple metallic suitcase on the bed. It lay open and the only thing she had taken out of it was the bathing suit because that was all she would need out of it for the time being. She had went into the bathroom and changed and was now looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.

Diana had made certain that the bathing suit was modest and covered everything before she bought it. She might not get the chance to use it often, but when the chance to use it did come up she wanted to be certain that it covered everything. Finding the bathing suit had been fairly easy, but it had to meet Diana's criteria before she would make the purchase. After examining herself from every angle it had met the criteria.

Now that Diana was dressed she needed to get some sunscreen to cover her arms, face, legs, and back. This was the most skin she had shown in some time and the sun was going to blister her badly if she did not take precautions. Diana walked out of her room, found the bottle of sunscreen waiting on the table, and picked it up. She then headed to the bathroom to apply it in private, which was important because she did not want Aliarey to see the scars on her back.

Once she was inside the bathroom Diana put some sunscreen on her hands and applied it to her arms, legs, and face before getting more with which to cover the exposed part of her back. Her long hair already covered it, but she wanted to have a second layer of protection from the sun in place. Diana awkwardly moved her hair aside to apply the sunscreen, inevitably getting parts of her hair in it despite her best efforts. It would be easier to ask Aliarey to hold her hair so that she could reach her neck without having to struggle so much, but Diana did not want the blue-eyed blonde to see the scars, so she would just do it herself despite the time and effort it would take to hold her hair back with one hand while applying sunscreen with the other.

After a few minutes Diana was finally finished. Putting sunscreen on the back of her neck had taken her longer than covering the rest of her exposed skin, but it had been done. Diana walked out of the bathroom with the bottle in hand and grabbed a new pair of socks to go with her shoes since she had forgotten to buy sandals. After procuring footwear she walked to where she got the sunscreen from, then gently set it down on top of the table. She then faced Aliarey, who was sitting on the couch.

"I have applied sunscreen. I am ready to head to the beach whenever you are, Aliarey." Diana notified her friend.

[Post Word Count: 500]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,598]

Alia had just been about to reach for one of the magazines on the table when she heard the door to Diana's room open. Out came Diana wearing a purple swimsuit. Mistakenly Aliarey opened her mouth to speak, thinking Diana was going to stay. "Hey the-" Rather than finish her sentence, she could only watch as her fellow blonde grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and disappeared back inside her room. A thin brow raised questioningly. That... had not been expected. Was applying sunscreen a private thing she didn't get the memo about? Sure she was in her room when she covered her skin with it but that was because she already had it in there. If it had been anywhere else she would have just settled for that room instead. "Huh," Aliarey spoke, expressing her confusion to no one other than herself. She shrugged her shoulders and reached for a car magazine that had caught her eye. "Okay." That whole confusion thing would leave her mind eventually. As usual, Aliarey wasn't going to question it and just move right on with her own business. That was just another incident of Diana being Diana.

The wait hadn't been too much longer after that. Long enough for Aliarey to look at some nice pictures but not long enough to where she thought Diana had changed her mind on the whole week-long vacation thing and made her sneaky escape. Her blue eyes looked up from the magazine when Diana exited her room for the second time and announced that she was ready to hit the beach. "Great!" Aliarey shouted excitedly as she jumped from the couch and let the magazine she had been holding fly through the air and land somewhere behind the piece of furniture. "To the jetski rental place!..." The blonde paused, recalling one important fact that may delay things a bit. "Wherever that is!" She grabbed her tote bag and made her way to the front door of their room. "Come on, there's got to be some map or brochure in the lobby. We'll find it in no time."

Indeed there was plenty of both to be found by the pair. A table was off in a corner that had tons of information they needed for pretty much anything. Thank goodness for that because Alia didn't want to go around looking for someone with all the answers. She preferred to look for herself and take her time figuring things out. Unless it got too annoying but that wasn't the case just yet. Her tote bag was placed on the ground beside her while she looks at some small maps of Hargeon and its beaches. She found the one that was closest and picked out its brochure from the display shelf. "Oooo, this looks neat," she said, clearly impressed and in awe of the pictures and whatever it was she was reading. Not wanting to keep Diana in too much suspense, Aliarey began to explain some other options they also had.

"Hey, so, this place has something called tours. I guess it's a thing where you sign up and you're part of a group that jetskis all along the ocean to see stuff. There's different ones it looks like. Some even look like they go all the way to Crescent Island. That seems ridiculously far but I think the shorter ones might be fun. The thirty-minute one seems short but I am cool with the hour or the hour-and-a-half ones. Or I guess we can just go with the original plan and just set out cruising by ourselves."

Aliarey looked up at Diana and held up two versions of the same brochure, each on a different page. One had information about the jetski tours and the other was just basic jetski information. "Do we go with the tours," Aliarey began to question while shaking the brochure in her left hand. "Or do we go solo and make our own adventure?" She temptingly swayed the brochure in her right hand. Eagerly she waited for Diana's decision, though she wasn't opposed to choosing which one herself if there was any conflict of indecision.

(Word Count: 690
Aliarey Total: 4092)

After emerging from her room and announcing her readiness to go Diana had slipped on her socks and tennis shoes and had followed Aliarey into the hotel lobby, where the blue-eyed blonde had managed to procure a pair of brochures concerning the jetskis. From listening to her friend talk about them Diana learned that the pair had options in how they traveled by jetski. They could either go on guided tours of varying lengths or strike out on their own and see what they could find. The green-eyed blonde did not have to take very long to come up with a response... she was feeling a bit adventurous today, so there was only one real choice for her to make.

"I suggest that we get jetskis and go out on our own, Aliarey. We get to set our own pace and choose where we go. I would much prefer that over any guided tour." Diana calmly informed her friend, giving a straight answer for the second time today. The green-eyed blonde was up for an adventure and there was no one she would rather go on one with than Aliarey. Over the years the two blondes had been through a lot together and as a result Aliarey was among the single-digit number of people Diana genuinely trusted. That was why she was willing to take a chance and do something different by learning to use an unfamiliar piece of machinery and riding out onto the water instead of playing it safe and keeping her feet firmly on the sand.

Now that she had told Aliarey the option that appealed to her Diana went silent and waited to see what would happen next. She was not sure whether her friend was going to ask more questions to try and plan their excursion before they set out or charge off to the jetski rental place and leave the green-eyed blonde to follow in Aliarey's wake. However, just like before Diana did not really care. She would listen to what her friend had to say and make comments or give answers where appropriate.

[Post Word Count: 350]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,948]

"It's been decided!" Aliarey gleefully shouted. She didn't care if her chosen volume was disruptive to those around her. Those people didn't really exist to her until they either annoyed her or made some interaction that would make her care about their presence. The brochure opened to the tours was tossed into the air and landed... somewhere. Aliarey didn't keep track of whether it landed on some table, the floor, or if it smacked some random person that just so happened to walk by at a bad time. "Come on, gal pal. Adventure awaits!" Was she purposely being cringe? Yes, of course. There was never a day where she'd really say that and take her words seriously. Being around Diana though was great for just being silly and weird. She was sure her friend would still think she was completely awesome and not judge too harshly, even if she didn't find it at all amusing. It was difficult to tell just what amused the green-eyed version of Blonde Ambition, so Aliarey just had to assume everything did until told otherwise, which never once happened in all the time they had known each other.

Aliarey grabbed her tote bag and pointed toward the exit of the lobby and the hotel itself. "This way!" That being said, Aliarey took the lead to their destination without another word. Was it a hard task? Yes, but someone had to do it. Did it take an age and a half? Of course. The two had to walk in the heat of the day under a blistering hot and bright sun. Was the strange blonde over-exaggerating everything in her inner monologue? Obviously. The jetski rental building was only about ten minutes away and despite the sun and season, the weather was actually quite nice. It would have been better with fewer people to get in the way and make noise but she couldn't complain about everything. Not when she was there because of a freebie prize.

There was one itty bitty problem with their jetski plan. It wasn't included in the package that gave them the room. That meant the jetskis weren't exactly free to use. Aliarey quickly found out once she approached the counter and inquired about the jetski rental service. Her jaw dropped in shock once she heard the price. "How much did you say it was again?"

Behind the desk was a young man that was dressed in nothing but his swimming trunks. It wasn't exactly what one would call a professional uniform but given the theme and place it worked... Aliarey guessed. Although honestly, she would have believed that he had just gotten done from a morning surf hour right before coming to work. His hair was barely dry and he looked like he would fit right in with the people that took up that sport and hobby. "One hundred jewels for an hour. Four hundred for the entire day," he lazily replied with a yawn. "Right, Jet?" The man turned to look behind him. The only thing there that he could have possibly been talking to was an adult-sized inflatable version of the business' mascot, Jet the Dolphin. "He says yeah."

"Is there some kind of discount thing we can get?"

"I'll have to ask the manager." He turned around again to ask the inflatable dolphin, indicating that for some reason that thing had been given the position of manager over the living being standing right there. Was he really that bad at his job? "Hey, Jet! Are we doing discounts today?" There was a pause as he pretended to wait for an answer from the unspeaking inanimate object. The man nodded and turned back around to face the pair. "He says no."

"Riigghhhtt. Give us a minute."

"You got it." The young man shrugged and left the desk to go do some rearranging of products in another part of the building. The two women were now left alone to discuss what to do about their current situation. They really only had two options. Steal the jetskis or pay to rent them. Obviously, they weren't going to steal them but some other perfect pair of blondes might have decided to do that so saying it wasn't an option was just denying the truth that it existed. As a former thief, it was still hard to ignore that logic. That left paying for the darn things. "Okay, here's the thing. I got money to pay for mine but do you have enough?"

(Word Count: 750
Aliarey Total: 4842)

Once it was confirmed that the two blondes would do the jetski plan Diana followed her friend to their destination, a trip which ended with them standing in the office of the jetski rental place. Diana let Aliarey do all the talking and learned from the young man behind the counter that the price to rent a jetski was going to be steep. When Aliarey inquired about a discount the green-eyed blonde watched the young man consult an inflatable dolphin before turning around and stating that there would be no discount. Even though her face did not show it Diana was not amused by the employee's behavior and claim.

Even though she did not have solid proof she felt like the young man was giving them a big load of bovine fecal matter. She also felt that the young man was abusing his status as the only employee in the store to get away with things he could not otherwise get away with, but Diana was picking her battles and today was not the day to start an argument. Instead she listened to Aliarey's inquiry concerning whether Diana could pay her own way for the jetski. Fortunately for the blue-eyed blonde Diana had indeed brought enough to pay her own way. The money was stashed in her right sock... it was something she had done at the last moment as an afterthought before exiting her room and now she was glad that she had thought to grab some money.

"I can pay for my jetski." Diana replied and bent down to reach her right sock, then pulled the bag of money out of it. She stood straight up again and showed the money to Aliarey. Diana normally did not keep money in such a place, but wearing just a one-piece bathing suit and socks and shoes did not leave her with very many options for storage space. She doubted that anyone with any sense would want to try and rob a mage strong enough to give Wizard Saints a challenge, but there was always someone who was dumb enough to try. Fortunately for Diana the only robbery she had experienced so far today was the price to rent a jetski.

[Post Word Count: 370]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,318]

Oh, good. Diana had enough jewels. For some reason, she didn't wonder where Diana had even stashed it. Not until her friend bent down and took the bag of money right out of her sock. Wait, what? "The heck? How'd you even get that in there? Isn't that super uncomfortable?" Man, was Aliarey one luckier soul than she thought. At least she had her own magic for storage or at least tons of magical items that could do the same thing. Maybe she'd gift Diana one for her birthday or something. Putting money in a sweaty sock just sounded so... well it worked so there wasn't much she could say about the ew factor when it got the job done.

"Are you two done yet?" The shop employee asked from across the small shop. He was off somewhere in the life jacket section from the sounds of it. Aliarey could hear the screeching of metal hangers rubbing against the common rack that held clothing on display.

"No rushing! Do you want business or not? Sheesh!" Aliarey shouted back at him. She was beginning to wish that she had the guts to go back to her old ways. Taking off with the jet skils and never coming back was starting to sound so good and oh so fun. Her slight annoyance began to cool as she focused back on Diana. "We're going for the full day, right? It seems like the better deal. Even if we get bored after an hour or two we can always take a break and get back out there before tomorrow."

(Word Count: 265
Aliarey Total: 5107)

"Storage in a sock is a stopgap measure, Aliarey. It is uncomfortable and I will have to find a better way to carry belongings the next time I wear something without pockets." Diana informed Aliarey that putting small items in a sock was done as a last resort rather than a first choice. The alternative was to just put it in the shoe itself, which would be worse than putting it in a sock. After discussing that with Aliarey Diana turned her attention to the employee, who was obviously growing impatient with the two blondes.

Diana was a patient sort, but the employee was beginning to tax that patience. She failed to understand his reason for wanting them to hurry because it was not like people were trying to break the door down to patronize this establishment. Diana let the young man's question pass without comment and focused on Aliarey's question.

"Yes, Aliarey. Renting a jetski for the full day is the better option." Diana agreed with her friend's idea to rent the machines for the full day so that they could explore at their leisure instead of having to race against the clock to do everything they wanted to do. Diana had the necessary money on her and had plenty saved back home, so she could easily afford the higher price to get the jetski for the day. Now all she had to do was wait for Aliarey to do the talking and the employee to finalize the rentals and the two blondes could start their adventure.

[Post Word Count: 258]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,576]

"Alrighty. The full day it is." Aliarey then turned away from Diana to shout in the direction where she thought the employee guy was located. "Hey! We're ready over here! Two jetskis for the full day!"

It turned out the employee had made his way to the back of the store. He could hear the yelling clearly though and quickly came back, a pair of life jackets in his hands. "Oh, good. Just in time for my break. There's this beach party I really wanted to go to." He set the life jackets down and began to type on the cash register keys and tap the screen. "Two jetskis. Full-day package," he murmured to himself as he concentrated on entering everything right. "The life jackets come with the package. I had to guess if they'd fit so if they don't just come back in and switch them out. I don't really care." With that said the final tap gave out the total. That'd be four hundred and thirty-three jewels for each of them after tax had been applied. "Oh actually... do you two even know how to drive a jetski? I'm supposed to ask and help you get going if not..." It was obvious he didn't really want to stick around and do that. True it'd be a good opportunity to hang out with two pretty blondes in swimsuits but that beach party was calling his name. Work wasn't as fun.

Oh, right. The guy probably should have been asking for proof of a license or certificate. Aliarey just remembered that detail. She actually did not have a boating license and had just a regular care license. Eh, who cared? He wasn't asking so she didn't have to tell the truth about that. She could operate a car and motorcycle just fine. How much different could a jetski be? Besides, the brochure had basic instructions. Diana and herself would be fiiinnneee. "We're good! Don't need any kind of help at all." Aliarey took out a small wallet from her tote bag and from it a pile of jewels that she had saved up. She took a moment to count the amount she needed and then placed it on the counter. "Let's just get this done so we can get going and you can get to that party."

"Sounds good to me." The young man took the jewels that Aliarey had put on the counter and put them inside the register to finish up that half of the transaction. He did the same with Diana's once she put hers there. "And that's it! The jetskis are in the back. You can either ride them out from where they're at or load them up and take them somewhere else. They're locked up so here's a key for each of you." He put two very standard-looking keys on the counter. "It'll only work once so don't get the idea that you can just unlock all of them. That would not be cool."

"Great. Thanks." Aliarey was slightly sarcastic and rolled her eyes at that last bit of information but in a way, she was still kind of grateful. They got a pair of jetskis when they probably should not have considering the whole license thing. The guy was either very forgetful about the detail or cutting them some slack. Either way, it was a win. "Come on, Diana," Aliarey said to her friend while grabbing the bright orange life jacket and key from the counter. "Let's go take a look and pick some out." With that said she went past the counter and followed the sign that mentioned the jetski park.

The back of the building led straight out into the ocean. Along the side was a dock of sorts that had more jetskis attached than she had anticipated. All of them looked in good condition too. The one employee there that day and the missing paperwork were for sure iffy but the place seemingly did care about the main point of the business. "Oooo, I see a nice blue one over there!" Aliarey said excitedly, pointing to a dazzling white and light blue jetski not far off from where they were already standing. There were some empty spots that implied some other renters had taken off with some of the jetskis already but there were still plenty of colorful options and models.

(Word Count: 730
Aliarey Total: 5837)

Diana did not care for the employee's attitude. It seemed like he could care less about building customer goodwill or actually doing his job as long as said customers did not inconvenience him and that belief received confirmation when he mentioned a beach party that obviously interested him much more more than dealing with the two blondes. Diana wondered if he had asked his "manager" for permission to go to the party but soon decided that it did not matter as long as she and Aliarey got what they wanted. She handed over her money for the rental and listened as he made a perfunctory inquiry about their ability to operate a jetski. Aliarey answered for the both of them and Diana was in total agreement with her friend's answer.

Besides, if the two blondes wanted a quick lesson before they set off the inflatable dolphin would probably be a better teacher than the young man.

Once she received her key Diana stood in silence and ignored the lecture from the employee. Diana had no intention of pulling any shenanigans with the other jetskis and just wanted to get going. She followed Aliarey's example and picked up an orange life preserver of her own and put it on before following the blue-eyed blonde to pick out the jetski she was going to ride. When she got there Diana soon noticed that there was no shortage of options available.

Aliarey claimed a beautiful-looking jetski with a paintjob that was white paired with light blue as the secondary color as her ride and Diana looked at the colors of the other vehicles. There were green, pink, red, black, gray, white, yellow, blue, and other options plus some shades and hues of said colors such as chartreuse, magenta, steel gray, periwinkle, viridian, and gold. However, there was only one color Diana wanted for her ride and that was purple. The green-eyed blonde looked around for a minute or two and did not see a purple jetski until she looked right in front of her and two vehicles to the left sat the one she wanted. Its paintjob was purple paired with white as the secondary color.

"I claim the purple jetski." Diana announced before sitting down on it and placing the key in the ignition. She did not crank it up just yet... she sat and waited for further instructions or for a discussion of their plan before she cranked up the jetski.

[Post Word Count: 410]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,986]

Of course the one Diana had chosen was purple. Everything she chose was purple. It should have been something Aliarey considered an obvious choice. Silly her had not put that concept together yet and probably wouldn't for quite some time. She was too distracted with her own wonderful choice that she didn't have the focus left to spare to fully comprehend the meaning behind Diana's choice of jetski color. "Looks good," Aliarey replied, looking up from her own still docked jetski to glance Diana's way. "Kind of funny that we both picked ones that match our swimsuits. Well, kind of. This ugly thing stands out." The orange life jacket was lifted up as she set her tote bag down.

A disgusted glare was given to the life-saving accessory but unfortunately, the thing didn't miraculously change color like she wanted it to. She sighed, frustrated, but relented and put it on anyway. "He could have at least let us pick our colors instead of giving us this standard eyesore." There. The ugly orange vest was on, fastened, and tightened. It was uncomfortable but it was what it was. With that checked off the to-do list Alia tossed off her sandals, threw them into her tote bag, and then proceeded to toss that into the storage compartment of her jetski. The key she had been given was still in her hand, which was then used to unlock the vehicle from the dock. After that, it was just a matter of hopping on and figuring out that the lanyard attached to the life jacket was actually an ignition key.

She inserted the key and turned the switch to get the water vehicle going. It roared at first as it seemingly came alive. As it remained idle its sound became more of a hum. As far as the young mage could tell the thing was working fine. Rather than speeding off Aliarey first wanted to check in on Diana. "Everything okay over there?" She asked, wondering if the purple jetski was working just as well as her own.

(Word Count: 344
Aliarey Total: 6181)

Diana was amused that Aliarey had picked up on the color of the jetski matching her bathing suit, but the other blonde would not see that because Diana rarely showed emotion on her face and she was not starting today. She listened as Aliarey lamented the fact that the life vest was an unflattering orange instead of one that could be changed to suit the preference of the wearer. Diana knew exactly why orange was the standard color and she did not really care if orange clashed with purple as long as the vest worked. Besides, Diana doubted that the employee cared enough to let them choose a vest even if they could. He was so obsessed with getting to the party that customer service went by the wayside and Diana was glad to be away from someone who did not care about their job to a a degree that was obnoxious.

Diana let that go now that she had what she wanted and focused on Aliarey, who had cranked up her jetski to get it ready to go on their adventure. Aliarey inquired about the status of Diana's vehicle and the green-eyed blonde turned the key she had placed in the ignition earlier. At first the vehicle failed to respond, but Diana soon realized that she was not turning the key hard enough to crank it up. Diana turned the key a little harder and the second time around the jetski rumbled to life with a loud noise.

"Everything is OK here, Aliarey." Diana informed her friend. Everything was OK now that the jetski had come to life and was waiting to be moved. Diana would have been greatly displeased if her vehicle did not crank or if it sputtered out and died at the dock, forcing her to hitch a ride with her friend. Diana would have been out the money and she would have had to be in physical contact with someone... feeling her skin crawl for the entire excursion was not something she wanted to experience.

She looked at Aliarey and waited for the blue-eyed blonde to talk to her.

[Post Word Count: 354]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,340]

"Awesome!" Both jetskis worked. They started anyway and had yet to be actually tested but Aliarey was very optimistic. She had no issues if they had to share because one wouldn't work... okay well maybe she did. She was a bit of a selfish person and the last time someone had to ride in a car with her they regretted it immediately and smacked her upside the head for being so reckless behind the wheel. In Diana's case, she'd probably hunt her down one day and snipe her from afar. Hopefully with harmless ammunition. Thank goodness the two didn't have to test what would occur from a broken down jetski.

Aliarey gave the area a good look around and saw no one else around at that end of the great ocean blue. Plenty of room to do pretty much whatever right there. "Let's start off just cruising around here and making sure everything works and we actually know what we're doing. After that, we can just go wherever. Sound good?" It seemed like a reasonable enough plan. Diana wasn't taking much opportunity to give her own directions so Aliarey figured she'd just keep going with the mantle until her friend objected.

The blue-eyed blonde hit the pedal and slowly started to move away from the jetski park. She was a very happy woman the moment it started to smoothly move across the water. Until she realized one important thing that she really should have remembered above all else when it came to hanging out at the beach. It hit her the moment the dock started to get out of arm's reach. The moment she realized there was no amount of jumping that could get her back to it without landing in the water. That awful horrible feeling in her gut that told her not to do what she was doing. The danger alarms went off all throughout her body.

Aliarey had a fear of being out in the ocean. There was no land to stand on out there. Just those deep waters that she could easily drown in and also hid... whatever terrifying things were down there. Oh crap. Diana didn't know. She wasn't going to know. Telling her was not an option. It was too late and like hell was she going to just announce it. Alia had too much pride for that. The best thing to do was to just keep going. She could get through this. Yes. It would be easy. Totally.

The inner chanting was doing very little on the outside. The moment Aliarey saw those deep wide waters her eyes widened and her skin turned pale. It was okay. Everything was okay. Her grip tightened on the handles, and though in her mind she was going fast she was actually going pretty slow. The average person could probably swim faster. "Everything is okay," she whispered, once again trying to force herself over that fear and just to keep going. If anyone so much as dared shout the word shark she was going to lose it. Thankfully it was just her and Diana unless there were some scuba divers down there. It was hard to tell in that deep, dark, vast liquid of mystery horror.

(Word Count: 539
Aliarey Total: 6720)

"I agree with your plan, Aliarey. We should not charge off right away but take it slow and learn the controls before we start our excursion." Diana voiced her agreement with her friend's plan. Had Aliarey not beaten her to it the green-eyed blonde would have proposed it, but it did not matter to her who said it so long as it was said. Today Diana had been a little more assertive than normal, mostly because she was operating an unfamiliar piece of machinery and wanted to make sure she had a working knowledge of the jetski before she left sight of the shore.

Diana observed what her friend did to go in reverse and followed suit, carefully pulling away from the dock and making sure that she did not floor it and lose control of the jetski. Once she was away from the dock she turned her vehicle and followed Aliarey, being careful not to zip past her friend or get right behind her. Diana moved to her friend's left and kept her distance from the blue-eyed blonde to give her plenty of room to maneuver. As she rode along Diana's jetski was a bit wobbly; it moved from left to right in small increments, but that was because she was not used to driving one, not because there was a problem with the vehicle itself.

As Diana continued to move forward she managed to get the jetski under control by making small adjustments in course instead of big ones. Once it was under control and going straight she looked over at her friend, who looked like she was having second thoughts about this excursion. Diana was not sure what was causing Aliarey to behave in an uncharacteristically timid fashion, so she was going to ask if the latter were OK.

"Are you all right, Aliarey?" Diana inquired as she kept parallel to Aliarey on the latter's left side. She wondered what had made her friend so nervous. Perhaps Aliarey would tell her, but if not the green-eyed blonde could do nothing about it but hope she could save her friend if the blue-eyed blonde got into trouble during their adventure.

[Post Word Count: 362]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,702]