Apriltober 2022 28 Cape Town
a/n: A quick beach trip with Frye, H.B., Elma and Nagi.
All the good things belong to Monolith Soft.
"Ah, this is the life." Frye spread his arms wide to embrace the sand, the shore, the bright sky above.
"Watch out!" H.B. snapped.
"Whoops," Frye said, quickly aiming his assault rifle and picking off a large and irritated crab-like creature. It crashed to his feet, red carapace plowing into the sand. He stretched his arms again. "THIS is the life."
"You've said that eight times," H.B. said.
"Sweet of you to count my every word." He looked across the water, shining blue and calm in the wide bay. "I could run a mission here every day of the week, and the only thing I'd have to complain about is sand in my boots." Another giant forfex danced towards him but before H.B. could point this out, Frye whirled around and dropped it. "Can you imagine a beach more perfect?"
"Aside from the dangerous indigen," H.B. said, snidely.
The rest of their party joined them. Elma and Secretary of Defense Nagi were deep in discussion of the finer points of probe placement and limited resources in Primordia. They didn't notice the effect their arrival had on the original two, possibly because those men were doing their best to hide their response. Frye did his best not to snap into regulation stance and salute, something he had sworn off many years past, while H.B. repressed a mix of admiration and jealousy that was unseemly even to himself.
Frye forced a cheeky grin onto his face. "We were saying that this beach is the bee's knees."
Elma raised an eyebrow but Nagi spoke before she could comment. "Certainly a fine beach, but I feel it is missing something." He thought for a moment. "Penguins."
Frye choked on a laugh, but H.B. looked stunned. "Excuse me, what? Sir," he added.
"Penguins. I had the good fortune to pay a port visit to Cape Town. South Africa," he added, noting Frye's blank look. "The beaches there are as fine as anywhere in the world, but they had the additional bonus. Penguins. Were as fine," he corrected himself
"Very different from forfex," added Elma, nimbly shooting another menace that was trying to sneak up on Frye and H.B.
"Yes. Much more playful than these creatures," Nagi said, effortlessly finishing off the monster. His face was grim.
Frye was quick to respond, doing his best to fight the memory of their losses. "Aw, these guys aren't so bad. Plus, they taste great with enough garlic butter."
a/n: So much goodness going on for the 7th anniversary, but my time zone doesn't happen until tomorrow.
Next up: Probably also short because I need to come up with something for the 7th anniversary.