div/open | afternoon
Marcos vacations to the homeland invariably included a trip to the beach. While Divina had never been fond of the Fi'noi heat, the archipelago's waters offered a marvelous reprieve. So she'd taken to water like a tiger to the hunt. Strong lungs and strong legs thrived in the world below. She'd swum amongst coral reefs bursting with marine life, traversed stretches of pearl oysters and giant clams, even chased after the shadows of whale sharks. Until recently, her experience with water had only been positive, addictive. That she would later associate it with the Dark was inevitable. What else was so impossible to compass?
And then the undead had come and gone, leaving in their wake a schism between the fell and her addictions. It stretched wider and wider as she drowned in her dreams. She would wake in the middle of the night to shuddering breaths and tears in her eyes.
(One night, she'd woken up something other. But such involved questions even Li could not answer. It was better, she figured, not to dwell.)
Surprisingly, come 'Beach Day', Divina was saddled with a most counterphobic compulsion: she had to go to the beach. Having unearthed a sun dress with suitable coverage (a task that had brought the lady's maid to tears), the fell knight joined the growing mob. Soon enough, her feet were sinking into the wet sand, the water licking at her heels. Nigh unnatural was the temptation to dress down to her swimsuit and jump into the depths. Never mind that it had taken so long to find a damn dress. Surely her hair was long enough that she needn't worry…