Annie Cresta is one with the waves (lifeisastorm) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-28 20:44:00 |
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If Judy was being completely honest her time off was typically spent catching up on all the things that she needed to do. Like most people she ran errands, cleaned her house, caught up on television shows or movies depending. Judy wasn't one for just taking time to relax. She was always on the go, but today, she thought, it would be nice to go spend some time out on the beach.
Judy found that she didn't own a single bathing suit, and that? That was surprising. A quick trip to the store, and one pink bikini (and a few other things) later, Judy packed a small bag and headed out toward the nearest beach. The sun beat down on her skin, warming her through and through and made her smile. She found a spot away from most of the crowds, and spread out her beach towel.
Plopping down onto her towel, Judy reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of sun screen. She smoothed the lotion onto her skin, humming softly as she did so. Once she was done, she sat there for a few moments, looking around until she found herself growing bored. With a sigh, she stood, walking to the water's edge and letting the waves wash over her feet. Now this was nice.
Annie wasn’t quite sure what it was, though from what she had read it was the warm water. Either way, there had been a lot of concern about rays in the area. So far, she’d been lucky in her swims. That and she knew how to scare away rays to avoid being stung in the first place. While she was still on edge, things were mellowing out for her, which was always a good thing. Even as she was now working on swimming in pools again on a more competitive level (or well, no. She doubted she’d do competitions but it was still actual training), Annie also still went to the beach. A lot.
As she was today. She had managed to finish up her designs early and she wasn’t meeting Finnick until later at the pool. So she figured she might as well go to the beach as it was right outside her apartment. And as per usual, she had her mock turtleneck swimsuit to avoid questions or anything of that nature.
And… the area she usually went to (meaning where there were less people) had a person there. Standing at the edge of water. Making her way over after placing her own things down, Annie paused at the water’s edge.
“Be careful of rays. If you plan to walk further, just make sure to kick up the sand to scare them away instead of accidentally stepping on them.” Because that was usually how it went. People stepped on the rays not seeing them, got stung and then there was pain.
Judy wasn't an avid beach goer. She loved it, don't get her wrong, but she always had something else to do or something else she thought she should be doing instead of slowing down and enjoying the beach. She had only taken a few more steps into the water when she heard a woman's voice, her head turned to look at her, and then her eyes went back to the water as she mentioned the rays.
Well, that was just a little bit scary.
Judy gave a nod, "Thank you for the head's up." She flashed the woman a bright smile, "I really do appreciate it since I'd rather not get stung." Judy wasn't really planning on going in any further into the water, but it was nice to know in the event that she decided to.
The beach really was the way Annie calmed down sometimes. If there was one thing she had learned, it was knowing when she needed to clear her mind. Admittedly she still got lost in her own thoughts and memories more often than she cared to admit. She was living, yes, but it was harder than she liked admitting. Which was why she was at the beach so often, for the waves and water and just forgetting. Besides, if she wasn’t swimming until her limbs felt like they were going to fall off daily, so that was a definite improvement.
Had she scared the woman? She hadn’t meant to but still, important things to know about the rays.
“If you do, just go to one of the lifeguards immediately. But yeah. The warm water and ocean currents have brought them closer to shore than they usually would be.” Because of course, Annie. Why not just make random commentary on ocean currents and the weather.
Judy gave a vigorous nod of her head, "Oh yeah, I think they'd be the first people I'd go to after getting over the shock of it happening." She offered the other woman a smile, and then canted her head slightly to the side. "That's kinda interesting." Her eyes went back out over the water. She'd heard that out on the east coast they were having problems with Jellyfish because of similar reasons. At least, that's what memory was telling her at any rate. She'd have to look that up once she got back home.
"I mainly just wanted to get my feet wet. I don't actually get to come to the beach that often because of work, and other lame excuses I make." She laughed softly, and shook her head. "I just thought it might be nice to do something out of the norm today. What about you? Are you here often?"
“That’s good. Some people think they can shoulder the pain or whatever when they should just get help.” Stubborn pride and things of that nature. Which was fairly common Annie found. Admittedly she didn’t like to bother people with her own problems so could be known to try and shoulder her issues by herself. But she at least knew with things like physical health? It was usually best to ask for help. Usually.
“That makes sense.” For Annie, she couldn’t see herself even not being at the beach. But it sometimes happened. And there was the question. “It is nice. As for me? I’m here daily really. It helps that I live across the street.”
Judy did have a high pain threshold, but she wasn't above saying that she needed help with something. Especially when it came to medical care. She wasn't going to mess around with her health, she needed to stay healthy for work after all. "Yeah, I agree with you on that. Too many people think that they don't need help when they do." She lifted a shoulder, looking out over the ocean, eyes squinted slightly.
Turning her head, she looked back over at the other woman and gave a nod. "That would help." She laughed softly, "I would probably come here more if I lived across the street too." A smile still turned up the corners of her lips, "I'm Judy Hopps, by the way." She introduced herself finally before giving a small nod of her head in the other's direction.
It was something that those who dreamt of Panem had in common. They had all survived so much, that Annie could see stubborn pride and just feeling it didn’t register on the necessity of needing help. Annie was different in that she had reacted in such an honest way to insanity of the arena, she was instead dubbed insane. So she never really had shirked help. “It’s definitely common.”
Watching the waves slowly come in given their current position on the beach, Annie nodded. “It does help. Though my friends also call me a mermaid.” Which really should give a picture on how often she was at the beach or in the water. “Annie Cresta. It’s nice to meet you, Judy.”
Judy definitely didn't disagree with her, instead she just nodded in agreement, eyes turning to look back over the ocean. The warm water lapped gently against her legs, a soft smile still tugging on the corners of her lips. She turned her attention back to Annie, "Ha, well, if you are here everyday I could see why." Judy made no judgements, or anything of that nature, she was just happy that Annie enjoyed her time out here. It was nice to do things for yourself. "Nice to meet you too, Annie."
Taking a few steps back, Judy made a slight noise of surprise at the heat from the sand as it touched the soles of her feet. Right, the beach was hot. "I'll leave you to it though, and I'm going to go sunbathe for a bit. If you happen, by any chance, to see that I've fallen asleep? Please wake me up. I'd rather not burn." She had sunscreen on, and would put more on, but there was still a good chance that she could burn.
It was always a shock to go from the cool ocean water to the sand, which absorbed the heat of the sun. But that was part of the process of going to the beach she found. Luckily it never really seemed to phase Annie. The request to wake Judy if she fell asleep in the sun was met with a small smile and nod.
“Of course.”
Really, that did tend to be a risk as it was easy to fall asleep from the basic heat of the sun that led to being drowsy. Or just losing track of time if listening to music or reading. But with Judy planning to go sunbathe and Annie wanting to swim, it seemed a good time to go about their separate ways.
“Enjoy the sun.” With that, the Mermaid of Panem(™) moved forward into the ocean to swim leaving Judy to return to the sand and sun.