Fipp: Just decided to write something small. Writing this also has me lowkey ship 2B9SA2.

Beach Day, but in the Desert

Over time, 2B discovered something odd about herself, that being that she enjoys water, from listening to the sound of a flowing river, watching the light ripples of a lake, to feeling it on her skin. While initially uncertain of the prospect, she had come to share 9S's fondness for baths, and how relaxing it could be if prepared correctly, though such a thing was more a luxury now, down here on the surface, hardly available now that the Bunker was pieces in spaces, much to his disappointment. Hopefully soon they would be able to enjoy such a thing again, with electricity being restored to a small section of the city, Anemone had told them that they were working on running water to the apartment building that they had since taken residence in.

Right now however, she's more than happy with where she was right now.

Despite the trouble it took to get there, the oasis far out in the desert had become a favorite places of theirs to come to on occasion as a means of relaxation. The sun, usually unbearably hot under normal circumstances, became much more pleasant as they submerged themselves into the cold water of the oasis. 2B was currently laying in the shallows, stripped down to her old YoRHa leotard, all but her chest and head sunken into water, and by her count had not moved from in almost ten minutes. The combination of the hot sun above, and the cold water around her, drained her of any desire to move to the point where she would have been completely comfortable with simply shutting down here.

9S said that humans had called this 'sun bathing', and they did it for some of the reasons she did, it was restful and relaxing. Sometimes they did it to darken the pigments of their skin, tanning, a feature that others would find attractive, though because their artificial skin lacked the melanin needed for such a thing, tanning was all but impossible for them. If anything, he had said, they were more likely to bleach than anything else.

"What do you think it's like to swim?" 9S asked. He was in slightly deeper water, keeping himself propped up by his elbows, and the water lapping at his neck and shoulders, and like 2B, he had been dressed down, now wearing only his undershorts.

The both of them were wearing sunglasses he had found while scavenging an old convenient store, the wide and round lenses reflective enough that she could see herself in his.

"To swim?" she said back. "I don't know. Our bodies aren't made for that, they're too heavy, and not buoyant enough, we just sink like rocks."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that..." 9S said, his tone slightly despondent, and 2B smiled to herself, recalling how last week a crumbling section road near the coast almost sent them into the chilly waters. "Still, I can't help but think it would be fun to do if we ever could do something like that. Animals do it, and I've seen videos of things like dogs and otters swimming, and it seems like they're having a blast doing so."

"Yeah, it does..." Lazily, 2B raised her arm out of the water and with a slow swing sent a splash of water at her exposed chest and face, which rippled and bobbed Pods 042 and 153 from where the floated just off to the side. Even they had taken the time to enjoy their trip to the oasis. "I think it would be nice to just float around and do nothing."

"And how do you two expect to do that?" called a voice from behind 2B.

A2 sat at the shore, heels dug into the sand, knees drawn to her chest, just outside the reach of the water. Unlike her and 9S, she had chosen to wear nothing at all, in the typical A2 fashion, beyond was little remained of the YoRHa uniform that was still attached to her body.

9S gave an agitated groan. "Seriously, if you're not even going to get into the water, then why did you even bother to come? It's not like we asked you to follows is."

"Well it was either come out all the way out here, or do fetch quests for Anemone, and I don't need to track Jackass to some dumpster to find some part for some bullshit. I thought this would be the less terrible, but if you wanted to go to the beach, why not come out all the way out here? We literally live five minutes away from the shore. Why did we have to cross the damn desert?"

"Because the weather's been crappy and you know that, it's too cold to go to the beaches near home."

"And how is this better? Either icy rain, of sweltering heat?"

"If you're so hot, then get into the goddamn water A2!" 9S growled.

A2's response was to throw her hands into the air. "Fucking fine! If it'll make you shut up!"

2B couldn't help but smile at the exchange.

A2 had been an... unexpectedly welcomed addition to her life. In the aftermath of The Tower, as the Resistance made their efforts to rebuild the city, A2 came come into her and 9S's life, helping out with repairs, running supplies and other such tasks, something that had initially struck her as odd, since sightings of A2 had been initially rare during her time at YoRHa, having often retreated into deep thick jungles or abandoned cities. Seeing her now, so regularly was odd for certain. Even more odd, was how often she found A2 being drawn to the two of them, as though she always had a reason to come across their paths no matter what she was doing, to the point where 2B was certain she may have been squatting in of the derelict buildings close to where she and 9S lived.

Maybe she was tired of being alone?

Then there was 9S' reaction to her...

When they had woken up, after tears had been shed and repairs had been made, they talked a much needed conversation, and as difficult it had been for her, she had opened herself up to him more than she ever had, prepared to accept whatever came from this. He accepted her however, much to her mutual delight and surprise, accepted her for who she was, what she was, and what she had done to him, and he in turn told her of what he had been through during her absence, of what he had done, and what he had felt. She truly wished she had been there, that she hadn't left him alone like that when he needed her the most.

They both have deep-seated issues, they both share a fear they might hurt one another one day, but she believes that things can be better for them.

A2's introduction into their lives had been met with apprehension on her part, anger on 9S's, which manifested in the form of him throwing a spear at her. Again, there was talking, mostly shouting and yelling, but eventually with 2B acting as a moderator, she had managed to settle things down between them to the point of mutual tolerance, which she was happy for. Since then, A2 had slowly integrated herself into their lives, something which 2B found herself happy for now, strange as it seemed. Even 9S, from time to time, had appeared as though he appreciated her company as well, though it was still a common occurrence for arguments between them to happen, but that's something she's had to accept.

As long as there is no fighting, real fighting. She's tired of fighting.

Carelessly, A2 stormed past her, splashing water onto her and disturbing the Pods where they floated before plopping down next to 9S.

"Seriously, watch it!" 9S warned as the waves A2 made crashed down onto him. "You did that on purpose."

"So what if I did?" A2 said back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So how do you like the water, A2?" 2B asked, quick to cut off remark she knew 9S was going to make.

"It's fine, I guess." Raising a hand, A2 gently gently broke the surface of the water, creating a small wave as she twisted her wrist around. "I mean, I can't really feel it too well since a lot of my nerve endings stopped working as my skin started to peel off."

"I'm honestly surprised you're not dead from lack of maintenance alone," 9S said, drier than the desert around them.

"You and me both."

With a sigh, 2B stood up from where she laid and too her full height, and with a quick crack of her shoulder she began walking deeper into the water, walking past both 9S and A2 until she had reached the center of the oasis and the water lapped at her thighs. Taking her sunglasses off of her and firmly, but gently holding them in her hand, she took a deep breath, and when she was unable to hold anymore air inside of her, she fell backwards.

Crashing into the water she immediately hit the bottom of the pool, hitting the floor with a dull thud that tossed up a cloud of sand around her, but she made no efforts to try and disperse it, and simply lay there. Above her the light from the sun broke through the surface, like shimmering blades that danced in and out of existence before her eyes, while around her the world was drowned out by the cold water that was crushing her body from all sides, leaving everything sounding like a distant echo. She released a stream of bubbles from her nose, taking a small pleasure as they rose up to the open air above her.

2B was enjoying this, she felt content with her life and where she ended up.

She's happy, truly happy.

Eventually, warning alarms begin to sound inside her head as her vision began to dissolve into gray scale pixels and the pressure began to build inside her chest. Releasing her breath, 2B pushed herself up, breaking the surface of the water, gulping in a large breath of air, which resulted in the silencing of the alarms her systems were setting off.

"You were down there for a while," said 9S, who during the time she had been under had moved closer to where she had sat.

2B answered through heavy breaths, trying to keep the water out of her mouth as it splashed against her chin, "I wanted to see how long I could hold my breath." Another breath. "How long was I down there?"

"2B was submerged underwater for one minutes and seventeen seconds," answered Pod 042 from where he floated. Pod 153 had taken to lazily spinning in a circle.

"If you stay underwater long enough, you'll probably rust your joints or something," A2 said. Like 9S, she had come closer to where she had chosen to sink herself, and now all three of them were centered around the middle of pool. "Seriously, another five seconds or so and 9S would have probably dived in after you."

"I was not going to dive in after her."

"Then why'd you get so close to here then?"

"What about you, A2?" 2B asked, a slight smile on her face. "If you say 9S was worried about me, then why did it look you followed him to me?"

"...No use both in you getting killed," A2 said, arms crossing over her chest and she averted her gaze from both of them. "I didn't want to listen to Anemone nag at me if you drowned and 9S drowned trying to get you back up."

9S waved his hand dismissively. "If you say so, A2. Anyway, what was I talking about again?"

"Your stupid water hammock-thing."

2B titled her head slightly. "Huh?"

"Just a floatation device I was kind of brainstorming while you were under. But yeah, as I was saying, last time I was at the factory, I saw what looked like fishing nets-"

Drawing her knees up to herself, 2B listened as 9S talked, even taking notice that A2 would glance his way. She hoped that he would be able to build this thing, since the idea of floating on the water was just too appealing to pass up.

She let out a small laugh, thinking about what she was doing and where she was; sitting in the middle of a pool of water, because she had wanted to skip out of doing any work today, talking about building a raft, with no intention of going anywhere until it was they were good and tired. When it decided they had enough, she would head back to her apartment, her home, water her potted flower, before she went to bed, planning of sleeping in late tomorrow morning.

Six months ago, she could have never imagined she's have a life like this, at best it was a far off dream that despite her best hopes always felt it was too far outside her grasp to achieve, but she has it now.

This is the life she has and she it is everything she could have wanted.

000

Please be well,

Mrfipp