After having suffered a two hour long drive in their family car, Peridot got out of the car and stretched. She took a second to observe her surroundings as the rest of her family exited the vehicle. They had parked their car by the beach, no too far off from the broad-walk. The town was small, with what she guessed was a small population. It wasn't often that a perfect beach was empty. But she's was ok with that, it meant she had a lot of space to escape to if her family became a bit too much for her to handle.
"Grab your bags kids, we'll head straight to the beach house." Her father announced as he opened the boot of the car, pulling out bags and suitcases. They each grabbed their own and after locking the car, he led the way across the broad walk and on a path down onto the beach, leading to a lonely house.
The white house was placed slightly to the side, making the area more private. It was rather small, as expected for a holiday home, but the interior was spacious and utterly white. And out facing the beach, they had a veranda and their own pool. Something Peridot thought was useless as they had the sea.
Her parents claimed the largest room, and her brother fought to have the second largest. She simply let him have it, it wasn't as if it was useful to her in any way. She shut the door to her temporary room and opened her suitcase. She pulled out the clothes and settled them out neatly on the shelves. She then pulled out her laptop and its charger, leaving the rest of the stuff in her bag.
Sat on her bed, she opened up and switched on her laptop, waiting out the start screen by humming one of the annoying tunes from the radio. She typed her password and let the machine loads a second before checking the internet. She refreshed once, twice and a few more times. No Wifi. Her heart skipped a beat. No, she couldn't accept this! There had to be LAN access or a modem?
She hopped off her bed and checked her room for a socket. None. So she spread her search out to the house. She checked the upstairs bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen, dining room, even the laundry and bathroom. None. There was no LAN socket, no modem. They had come to a beach house without internet.
She gave up and sat back on the couch, looking at the ceiling in deep thought. What was she going to do? There wasn't much she could do on her laptop without internet, she had a few games, but they were finished. She didn't bring her USB key with her notes from her project. She hadn't thought about preparing films or music. What was she going to do for a whole week?
"Sweetie, are you ok?" Her mother asked, passing behind her.
"There's no internet. "
"Oh, isn't there? That's a shame, but that's ok, I'm sure we can find activities to do together?" She offered. Peridot grumbled and stood up.
"I'm going out to stretch my legs." She headed out onto the terrace and onto the beach. She looked to the left, and then to the right. To the left was the main beach, an open space in front of the broad walk. On the opposite side was a rocky area. If she went left, there was a chance that she would run into someone, and she really didn't want that right now. So she decided to go right, towards the rocky side of the beach. She stepped onto the sand and quickly reached the rocky area, and was glad that she had kept her sneakers on. The ground was uneven and unstable, but she managed to steadily continue her way across.
She soon reached a spot that she found decent to sit at. It was a slightly large rock formation at the edge of the beach. She figured she could take her shoes off and dip her feet in the warm water. So she wobbled to the rock that she spotted and took off her shoes before sitting herself down on it, letting her feet dip slightly in the water before submerging them.
She sighed. She was still angry that she was spending a week in a place without internet. She couldn't understand how anyone in their right mind wouldn't install some sort of access to the world wide web in their home. And most of all, what was she going to do for a whole week ? She was at least glad that she had found herself a quiet spot where she wouldn't be disturbed.
She pulled her phone out from her pocket and unlocked it. She flicked through the menu screen and pressed on the music icon. She lazily flicked through her music before pressing on a random track. She smiled as a remix of Dog of Wisdom played and put the phone in her pocket. She hummed to the strangely catchy tune, and watched the waves slowly roll towards the shore. Maybe she would go for a swim later on in the day, the water did seem nice. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do. She shut her eyes to listen to the music and splashed around her feet in the salty water.
The music switched to a track from the Lord of the Rings and she let her mind go blank. She found it soothing to let her brain go sometimes. She found that doing so would actually help her productivity and sharpness. It was like recharging her energy. She would of even laid back to rest, but the rocky surface wasn't the best choice for such an activity. So she settled for just propping herself up with her arms slightly angled behind her. She let her feet come to a stop and started to doze off, but was suddenly jolted awake when she heard a cough.
"Hello"
Peridot's heart raced from the adrenaline of the shock. There was a girl in the water facing her. When did she get there? And her skin... Was blue? How could body paint resist water? That wasn't right.
"...Hi, " she muttered. She came to this spot to be alone, but she couldn't even get that.
"That's nice music, were's it coming from?" The girl asked with a slight air of confusion in her eyes. Peridot frowned. Where was the music coming from? Her phone, duh, but how could the girl not know that? Anyone these days knew that music playing was probably from a phone or other small device. Maybe this town is weird about technology? It would explain the lack of wifi.
"Oh, it's from my phone, " she grabbed the phone from her pocket to show her. She swam closer and examined the object with curiosity, making Peridot feel slightly uncomfortable.
"A.. Phone?"
"Yes..." Peridot mumbled ".. A Mobile Telephone. It's used primarily to communicate with people?"
"Ohh ok" the girl smiled with understanding "I've never seen a 'phone' before. How does such a small thing communicate with people? How do people's voices get in there?" She approached the edge of the rocky area, making the other girl realize how deep the water was at this part of the beach was.
"Well a mobile phone converts your voice into an electrical signal, which is then transmitted as radio waves and converted back into sound by the other person's phone. A basic mobile phone is therefore little more than a combined radio transmitter and a radio receiver, quite similar to a walkie-talkie or CB radio." She paused a second before continuing her explanation "In order to remain portable, mobile phones need to have relatively compact antennas and use a small amount of power. This means that mobile phones can send a signal over only a very short range-" She came to a stop as she noticed the girl was looking at her with a mix of confusion and awe. The girl was absolutely clueless to what she was talking about. How can people like that still exist?
"I'm Lapis Lazuli, what's your name?"
"Peridot" She paused the music and put her phone back in her pocket and observed the girl. The Blue paint didn't seem like it was coming off, and actually, it looked like it extended to the rest of her body as far as she could see. And as far as she could see, she wasn't wearing a bikini or swimming costume. This Lapis Lazuli was really strange.
"That's a nice name, it suits you, " she smiled so genuinely that Peridot felt the kindness seep into her skin. She shuddered at the feeling. "You're very smart, " she pointed out, making the other girl chuckle. Of course she was smart. She only knew a small amount of people that were smarter than her.
"Thanks." She simply replied, but the blue girl's eyes were set on her with curiosity. "Aren't you cold? If you get out I can give you my vest." She offered.
"Oh, I can't, " she paused a second with an air of sadness before adding "Besides the water is actually quite nice."
"You can't get out? Why not?" Was she ashamed about her body? Peridot really didn't care that she was skinny dipping, she'd even offered her vest to cover herself to keep her warm and covered. The girl laughed and swam back slightly, letting the rest of her body float to the surface. Peridot's eyebrows raised to a rare height as she gawked. "You-you're a-" She paused a second and frowned, regaining her composure. This was impossible. Such things didn't exist. They were mythological creatures invented by men to tell a good story. "Are you kidding me." She groaned.
