June 4, Summer, year 36
Oh, oww…. I forgot how painful this festival was to the body. Especially with attempting to fight the current!
Fun though, it always is. Exhausting too, which is just what I needed.
Claire's lack of sleep didn't go unnoticed by her family, but none of them were quite brave enough to bring it up. The blonde's mood were relatively mercurial when she was sleep deprived, and though she might feel bad about it later, she would still snap at them if they trod the wrong way.
"Hey Mom?" Lauren reached out and poked her mother lightly with the tines of the fork. "Festival?"
"Oh," Claire blinked, and the weariness left her blue eyes. "Right! Swimming festival!"
Skye smiled faintly as everyone relaxed. The blonde loved the Swimming festival, especially in the heat of Summer, when it was actually sensible—though admittedly not safe—to actually set foot in the ocean.
Most people preferred the beach. Claire had always loved the water, even with the dangerous riptide, and the pranks she pulled within the first few days of summer were always dealing with ways to beat the heat.
Not that everyone enjoyed them…
"Well?" Claire asked with a touch of her old asperity, "is everyone going to sit her staring, or are we going to get ready for two days of beachtime fun?"
In almost no time, the table was cleared and everyone scurried away to their rooms to change into proper summertime clothes. Skye reached out and lightly touched her shoulder.
"You alright?"
"Been better, been worse," she replied truthfully, before shifting the subject. She just wasn't ready to say anything yet. "Come on, if they beat us down to the beach, we'll never hear the end of it."
Kids, teens, and parents all filtered down to the beach, a volleyball and net in one person's arms, a badminton set carried by another, and the water 'cage' and balls by still another.
Claire and her kids were dressed… sensibly, as far as swimsuits went. Rock was still wearing a Speedo, no matter how old he got, and it never failed to be as amusing as all get out. Lumina's expression was highly entertaining as well, from the look on Elizabeth's face, she shared her mother's sentiments.
Of course, so did most of the people on the beach, who had a hard time talking to Rock with a straight face.
"Some things never change," Claire murmured, trying to muffle a chuckle.
"If only they would," Skye whispered back.
"Mommy, why is he wearing underwear?"
Meredith's innocent question broke all of Claire's resolve and she burst out laughing. Alan and Mirei snickered, Jamie and Lauren tried to look anywhere but a Rock, and Skye just shook his head.
When it came to the ball-grab, the net had been made larger, the number of small colored balls had been increased, and the number of them raised.
Considering the mothers were competing with their children, it wasn't that hard to understand. More people and all that.
Claire loved it. The hot sun beating down was a stark contrast to the coolness of the sea around her. And competing against her kids was fun as well, though it usually broke into sets, mothers against mothers and kids against kids.
Sometimes it prevented hurt feelings, other times it created them. But it was supposed to be a "friendly" competition, not anything dire or dramatic.
Claire and Lauren staggered out of the water at almost the same moment, with Lumina and Flora both a close second. The rest of the females in the water were now just chasing for the heck of it, which made the farmer smile fondly.
"A pity they don't combine the two festivals," she murmured to herself. "But then again two days stretches out the fun."
"You say something Mom?" Lauren asked, taking aim with one of the balls at her little sister still in the water.
"Don't hit your sister," Claire chuckled, swiping the ball from her oldest daughter's hand.
"Aww, Mom!"
After the first main event was lunch, something that everyone could agree on. Though it was less lunch and more an eating contest, even with the real eating contest not happening until the second day.
Popuri and Kai were kept hopping as people ordered food, and eventually Skye joined them, much to Claire's amusement. This tended to happen every year, ever since the Valley had accepted Skye. There had even been a comment made that he should make the eating contest a curry eating contest, but that had been vetoed pretty quickly.
It wasn't surprising, considering the heat. It only let up with the frequent summer storms that tended to tear shreds out of crops, so in her own way Claire loathed and loved summertime.
Protected by the shade of a beach umbrella, Mirei, Alan and Meredith all fell asleep. Lauren didn't doze, but she didn't have any interest in the rest of the festivities, and spent all her time drawing.
Claire chose to keep an eye on them, content now to watch Jamie excel at both the Frisbee toss—with Annie, one of the new farm-dog mothers—and the ball toss with Ducky, who had been named for Dakota… more or less.
Once the lunch rush ended, Skye joined her in the watching, wrapping a comfortable arm around her waist and pulling her close.
"You can nap too," he teased gently.
Claire's elbow impacted his ribs, just hard enough to let him know that she wasn't very amused, but at the same time not hard enough to indicate serious displeasure. He winced, laughed, and nudged her back.
Which eventually developed into tickling, and soon enough the blonde farmer had collapsed into giggles, begging reprieve, since she couldn't exactly return the favor. Skye had the fortune to not be ticklish, and he used that to his advantage every chance he got.
Soon enough though, the sky overhead began to glow orange and red with the setting sun, and people parted for the day. Claire carried Meredith, who made a sleepy noise of protest, Skye had Alan on his back, and Lauren carried Mirei.
"At least we know who won't be eating supper tonight," Skye joked.
"That would be… oh, everyone?" Claire's tone was dry, and she had to stifle a sudden yawn. "That's the mixed blessing of this festival, it's always so exhausting…"
Which she hoped would work in her favor. She was really tired of the strange dreams. Pun not intended.
After putting the younger kids together there was just enough energy left to do the evening chores before they fell into their respective beds.
Claire slept deeply, but unfortunately this didn't prevent her from dreaming. At just past midnight, she jerked in her sleep, and her blue eyes snapped open, heart pounding a swift staccato rhythm.
Seeing no danger, she rapidly slipped back into slumber, and this time it was dreamless.
The second day was similar to the first. The boys piled into the water this time as opposed to the girls and it shocked almost everyone when Timothy emerged the victor, Rock included.
"Beaten by my own flesh and blood," he lamented. "How will I ever live it down?"
"The same way you live down the Speedo," Muffy shouted, eliciting spurts of laughter all over the beach. "Barely!"
More laughter, and even Lumina had to agree that the Speedo was sorely out of date. Not that anyone could ever convince Rock of this, the lazy man loved his Speedo and refused to get rid of it.
"Please not on the beach," Claire's laughter was all too obvious. "We don't need traumatized kids ending out the day."
Snorts and spurts, followed by several people shuddering in genuine horror. Muffy gave her a high-five, and Lumina was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
"Who says only the kids would be traumatized?" Nami muttered, shuddering again.
Gustafa was trying very hard to not turn that into a comedic song of some type, as Melissa tried to pretend that she was invisible. Lauren went to keep her company, sympathizing.
"Grown-ups," the girls said in disgusted unison.
Shortly after they snuck away, to hide up at the Goddess Pond and it's solitary silence. Lauren naturally told her mother, who nodded, giving both girls the permission to run away for the day.
The Eating-Contest was—as usual—a hit. This year's theme had been watermelons, and eating to the rind. Claire only had two pieces, she wasn't an official contestant, and was more preoccupied with making sure that Meri didn't get watermelon juice all over her face and in her hair.
It was definitely an improvement on the hot dogs of last year, where everyone had eaten too much and nearly all of them had ended up groaning on the beach. Entertaining, sure, but somewhat annoying as well.
Skye won this.
"How does he stay so skinny?" Muffy demanded.
"Farm work does that," Claire teased. "Muscle and scrawniness. You could help if you wanted…"
"No way!" her cousin immediately turned the idea down, give the blue-eyed woman a sour look. "Digging in the dirt is not my style."
Claire just laughed and shook her head in rueful resignation.
"Can't say I didn't try," she winked.
"Keep this up and I'll throw you in the ocean," Muffy threatened, trying her best to not smile.
"You and what army?" Claire's smile was saccharinely sweet.
"Where do they get the energy?" Griffin wondered as Claire and Muffy tore down the beach, the former laughing her head off.
"The sun?" Skye joked. "Sunny days prompt more work… at least for some people."
"You sound like Carter," the bartender chuckled. "Or maybe Alan, Claire's dad. He always said that the sun was a blessing and a curse because of how much work it created."
Now Skye chuckled, watching as Claire ducked around behind Flora, involving the third blond in the Valley in the game.
"It's worth it though," the silver-haired man said. "Always."
"Definitely Alan. No matter how hard the farm work got, he always had this grin on his face," Griffin smiled reminiscently. "And dirt… there was the perpetual muddy streak going across one cheek that only vanished in the winter."
The thief-turned farmer laughed.
"That's more Claire," he said, sea-green eyes glittering with mirth, "a smudge across the nose, a streak across the forehead…"
"Immersed in the work of the world," Carter chimed in, making both men jump. "Like she should be."
"You guy looked like you were having an in-depth conversation," Claire remarked tiredly as she brushed her hair in preparation for bed.
"Griffin and Carter told me more about your parents," Skye chuckled, nipping the brush from her hands and detangling the mass of gold himself. "It was pretty amusing the way they compared us to them."
"Mmm," Claire sighed softly. "I'm not certain I want to know…"
If there was one thing Skye had learned about Claire it was that running a brush through her hair was the quickest way to put her to sleep, and considering the activities of the passing days, it wasn't too underhanded of a trick.
"Probably not," he agreed softly one she had slipped into sleep. "Though I wish you would tell me what keeps waking you up at night, love…"
Mmm, I'm still half-dead on my feet, and I hardly did anything. It was probably the heat, that sort of thing always saps energy…
Ah well, I'll get over it. Maybe go to bed early for the next few days.
I wonder if sleeping pills would stop the dreams?