AN: I can only afford tacky footwear…
Where Do We Gather
Quatre managed to keep a straight face as he watched Rei and Usagi flounder in the tide. He hoped that Rei was too caught up in the drama to sense his amusement. His bond mate hadn't been thrilled with the bungalow schedule mix-up or the death of all transportation in the blast radius, so catching Quatre laughing at her accident would be the excuse she'd claim for frying his hide. It was hard not to chuckle. Really hard.
The two girls had attempted to wet their hair just enough to kill the charge induced by Makoto's *EMP pulse, but the moment a strand of slimy seaweed had brushed Usagi's toes, all hell broke loose as the future Queen forgot all decorum and scrambled onto her friend's back. Unprepared for the extra weight, Rei's legs gave and both girls had tumbled into the surf. Unlike Quatre, the others watching felt no shame in laughing, and even the Great Stone Visage himself had stopped gathering firewood to crack a smile.
"Look at it this way," sputtered Usagi to Rei as they clambered from the cool waters," no more frizzy hair." Rei arched an eyebrow as she pulled a gold-brown seaweed strand from her soaked head and refused to say anything. Sighing, Usagi began to wring the water from her yellow sundress. Ami, who'd come out of the house in time to see the end results of the impromptu swan dive, had gone back inside to retrieve a couple of beach towels.
"Here you go," she said as she tossed the towels to her friends. As she did, Ami noticed that the entire group had come out of whatever hiding places they'd taken after the 'storm.' This might be her only chance to talk some sense into her friends before the moment of peace passed. Taking a deep breath, Ami prepared to launch into her idea, but was cut off when Trowa began to speak in his 'listen up' voice.
"We can't sit on the beach all day and sulk. We're stranded here until the phone company figures out that our lines are down. Short of breaking out 'Survivor' tactics and splitting the property into two tribes, we're going to have to come to an agreement." Ami watched as he stared at each person in turn, only one green eye visible beneath his shaggy bangs. Briefly, she wondered how his hair had avoided the static. When his gaze finally landed on her, she realized that he was speaking to her as well. "This might be Fate telling us to get our acts together before we all lose what ever wits we had in the first place. I say we take advantage of this situation." Silence followed this lengthy speech partially from shock because this was the longest anyone had heard Trowa speak and also because truth hurts no matter what.
"Let's go check out the storage barn. It's going to be dark tonight unless we can find those hurricane lamps." Wufei held his hand out to his mate. Usagi realized that, as the respective leaders, it was their duty to make the first act towards solving the problem.
Actually, Ami and Trowa made the first act. They're great at this. Usagi smiled at the two diplomats as she followed Wufei towards the barn. Slowly, the rest of the group broke up into pairs to prepare for the dark night ahead.
AN: This is where I'm going to start to do individual stories about the couples. Please be patient with my efforts. I'm still kind of new at this. Thanks!
*EMP: Electro Magnetic Pulse