Intermission: A day at the beach
Disclaimer: see previous chapters.
…Even before everything, Rose really loved beach days – their station in the jungle was wonderful, of course, (cough spider monster cough), and Rose genuinely loved working with various cars and other machines, but she loved her – their – vacation/days off as well.
Primarily this was because on their vacations they all went down to the beach, where the air was less sweltering and more fresh, and, hello, sea! Well, the Atlantic ocean, really, but Rose followed grandma's Tico's advice, grandma Tico really liked to use the phrase 'the ocean-sea' in her stories, and Rose loved her – their – grandma – and so this phrase stuck in her head, further muddling the distinction between an ocean and a sea in her mind.
"Got to admit – this is an unusual turn of phrase," Ben commented idly, as the two of them sat on their beach blanket beneath a parasol, and observed Phasma, Hux, and the others playing in the surf. "Are you ready to go in?"
"Maybe later," Rose muttered from behind her oversized sunglasses, (she was wearing them not because of the sun, but for other reasons, really). "Has Phasma stopped being frisky yet?"
"It's Phasma," Ben grimaced back. "I think the proper question is – does she even stop?"
"Nice," Rose grimaced – after the toucan misadventure and Phasma's gratitude gift, she became more accepting of the taller woman, but she still doubted that the two of them would ever be friends, period.
"…That said," Ben apparently saw something on Rose's face, sunglasses or no sunglasses, and backpedalled on his Phasma statement, somewhat: "She does get distracted, on a regular basis, whenever the latest speckled hummingbird or another flies by her. Why, you have seen her with the toucans-"
"Good point," Rose admitted as she belatedly remembered that incident. "Did you tell her about the water boa incident yet?"
"…I would rather not," Ben grimaced. "I would rather her sticking with birds than going into the swampy river."
"As opposed to the deep blue sea?"
"…Do you even know as to how to swim?" Ben twitched.
"Mmm," Rose made some vague noises. "Asparagus?"
Ben stared at the offered vegetable. "Not bagels?"
"Not here and now, plus I don't exist on bagels alone!" Rose said defensively. "I eat a well-balanced diet!" she made a vague gesture that indicated her body. Since they were all on the beach and everyone was rather underdressed…probably not the smartest move that she could have done… She just did not care.
"Good point," Ben made his own decision. He got onto his feet, grabbed Rose around her waist – again, (the last time was when they were rushing to save Phasma from her tree), and carried her into the surf.
Rose thought about some sort of token resistance, maybe even a squeal, but… her sister and Poe were nearby, and so she did not. Instead, she allowed herself to be carried down the shore, (while keeping one wary eye for her sister and Poe, but no issues – the two of them were busy in the shallows, doing each other, most likely), and dumped into the shallow salty sea water, (Cough alliteration cough), with an unceremonious splash, (and a shriek).
…Immediately, the various tropical fish scattered from the direction of Rose's impact upon the sandy sea floor, but something else emerged, armed with tentacles, but not exactly an octopus, more like some sort of a mix between an octopus and a fish.
"This is either a squid or a cuttlefish," Ben muttered sagely, as Rose jumped back onto him and observed the new kind of sea monster with almost the same fearful curiosity that she had given the monster spider that had once invaded her car.
…Okay, it was the team's car, but still, Rose could be possessive of things that considered to be hers by default, and that included any car that she worked on, (or used to work on, but that was another story… cough maybe restraining order cough)… where were we?
Ah yes, the cuttlefish did not seem to be too hostile – rather, it just whirled around and swam towards a nearby retreat instead. Sadly, this path took the cephalopod past Hux and Phasma, and not surprisingly, it instantly caught their eye with a delighted squeal of their own: Phasma raced straight away back to the shore, where she quickly produced some sort of a customized net, (looked like a butterfly net to Rose, but Phasma knew better, no doubt), in order to catch the mollusk, while Hux remained in the water to keep track, lest it got away and hid, (just like the octopus, the cuttlefish is a master of disguise, you know).
"Well, this is fun," Ben muttered, as he and Rose observed Phasma and Hux chase the cuttlefish through the shallows, and clearly having a ball of it. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine…" Rose belatedly realized that she herself was rather draped all over Ben like some octopus or cuttlefish, and let go. Sadly, this meant that she fell back into the sea…only Ben caught her… only it meant that this time they both fell into the seawater with a splash…
"This is why I only like salt on my greens…or my roasted chicken," Rose muttered, as she crawled from beneath Ben, (and after spitting out a small fountain of seawater of her own).
"Grilled or crispy?" Ben muttered, as he got onto his hands and knees.
"Pardon?"
"Your chicken – grilled or crispy? I like crispy better," Ben muttered.
"I don't care, as long as it's cooked properly," Rose muttered back.
There was a pause as the two of them just stared at each other. "Did we just have a casual talk that didn't include spider monsters?" Rose finally spoke to Ben, (while bushing like crazy).
"Yeah, seems like it," Ben sounded atypically shy himself. "Ah you want to-"
"Yeah, good idea," Phasma commented, (even though no one asked her), as she and Hux walked by. "Unlike your sister and Poe Dameron, you really shouldn't do each other in public." She paused, clearly enjoying herself, (Hux wisely kept quiet), and added: "You know, we're renting a boat to go further out into the sea later today. We can share it with you if you two want to-?"
Rose and Ben looked at each other, tried to kill the other couple with their minds, failed to do so, and agreed.