amara and bishop: at the beach

[x-volcanic.livejournal.com]

During their first day in Puerto Rico, Amara and Bishop head to the beach. It's her first visit to the beach, and Bishop's enthusiasm about getting her into the water backfires quite a bit. Backdated, naturally!

Amara had been pretty nervous about the trip to the beach - she realized when they arrived that she'd never really seen the ocean before, staring out at it with wide eyes for quite a long time. Her initial awe had faded, but she still couldn't help marveling at the expanse of deep blue water. Now - supposedly - she was going to be going swimming in it, but she wasn't entirely sure whether she was prepared for that quite yet. She had a white gauzy cover up thrown over the navy blue one-piece she'd bought while out shopping - little more than an over-sized white shirt, nonetheless she still wasn't quite ready to take it off quite yet. She'd just... watch everyone else.

Bishop wasn't going to let Amara exclude herself, however. She didn't get to stand and watch for long before Bishop made his way over in a pair of swimming trunks. "I'll just carry you in." He stood next to her, looking out over the ocean with her. "I wanted to warn you so that I don't have to ruin that shirt. It looks nice on you."

"What?" She said, coming out of her thoughts, before smiling up to him. "I'm going to go in!" She didn't sound all that convincing, her eyes dropping away from Bishop and going back to the ocean. "It's just so beautiful." She really could just stand here and look at the water all day.

Barely more than a grunt was Bishop's response. He found he often had to force fun on Amara and he didn't think this trip was going to be too much different. "I guess we'll see." He looked out over the ocean with her for a moment, even though he didn't feel he appreciated the beauty as much as she seemed to.

Amara didn't mind having fun! It just wasn't the first thing that sprung to mind for her when it came to something to do. "Are you doubting me?" She looked over to Bishop, a questioning look on her face.

"I'm undecided." Bishop was trying to focus more on experiencing the beauty of the ocean like she was. He was used to seeing things in details and parts. He wasn't sure he could see what she was anymore. He also didn't feel any sort of loss over the way he saw the world.

"Well then," she said with something resembling offended pride. "We'll just see about that, shall we?" She quickly drew the white cover-up over her head, dropping it to the sand and kicking off her sandals. Then with head held high, she strode down to the waters edge, with every intention of plunging straight in.

"It's so cold!" She shrieked as soon as her feet touched the water, and she quickly scooted back out of it's reach.

Bishop, who had been following, scooped Amara up from behind without breaking his stride into the water. "That's why you're supposed to jump in." His pace increased as he tried to get out deep enough to toss her in before she started to squirm away.

There was a ridiculously girly squeal from Amara when she was scooped up, her arms automatically wrapping around his neck so that he couldn't drop her in the water. "No no no, wait. I'll get used to it, I'm sure!" No throwing her in, oh Lord!

"You won't have a choice." Bishop said through a laugh as he dashed out into the water. Amara's arms wrapped around him didn't seem to bother him and, in moments, he was deep enough to dive in with her wrapped around him.

"Bishop!" She shrieked once more before he dived under the water with them both, and then she couldn't say anything more about it. The heat of her aura flared out once she was underwater, heating the water around them for a few moments before a wave over their heads moved the hot water on. She let go of Bishop, struggling to find the surface so she could breathe once more.

Bishop hadn't dove in far and, when he felt Amara let go, he raised her up to the surface. He burst up through the water just after her, taking a breath and looking to gauge her reaction. Sometimes he wasn't sure how she would react to him but he kept a smile, expecting a positive reaction.

Now that she wasn't under water, Amara stopped panicking so much, taking a few gulping mouthfuls of air before she said anything. "Don't -- ever -- do that -- again," she eventually got out, one hand going to grip his shoulder so she didn't go under again. She wasn't sure how deep it was here, and she didn't want to dip under again to check.

An arm around the waist kept Amara securely above water. "It's wasn't that bad, was it?" Bishop was still smiling, looking at her eyes as he spoke. "Other than the brief inferno that we're both lucky I can deal with."

"Apart from the fact that I do not know how to swim and if we hadn't been underwater, I could have seriously hurt you, no, of course not, it was wonderful." Amara wasn't the type to employ sarcasm, but she was trying very hard to keep her temper under control. There were some surprises she did not appreciate, especially ones that induced panic. Just when she thought she'd been doing a good job at keeping things under control, it turned out that perhaps she wasn't so much.

"As long as it was wonderful." Bishop retorted with a smile. "And let me make sure I didn't miss this. You came to the beach and still don't know how to swim?" He managed to keep his laugh at bay.

"It was not," she said firmly, glaring at him. "I wasn't expecting someone to toss me into the water unexpectedly, or to be going out to depths further than where I could comfortably stand."

"In my defense, you are much shorter than I am." Bishop kept looking at Amara and his mind was clearly working. It only took him a moment to put the scene together. "And you didn't tell me you can't swim."

"You never asked me." She replied, trying very best to be the picture of offended dignity but not cutting it very well given how bedraggled she was right now. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you took me somewhere I could stand, so I don't end up drowning myself in an attempt to reach the shore."

"Why would I? That's something that comes up in conversation. Like when we go pool hopping." Bishop could stand well enough where they were and he wasn't sure he wanted to head back toward shore. Amara would be off in a shot, without a doubt. This way he could keep her right where she was.

"Our conversation turned to other things then," she said crossly. "And the pool was not so deep that it mattered whether I could swim or not." Bishop hadn't moved, and she was starting to feel quite agitated again.

With reluctance, Bishop did begin to move back toward the shore. He felt she was more upset then he expected she would be and now he knew why. He also decided that, instead of trying to calm her down or getting upset himself, he would simply be silent. It was his defense mechanism and it worked nearly flawlessly.

Once he started to move, Amara started to relax. Whether she would ever admit it or not, Amara could be quite proud when it came to certain things, and she did not enjoy admitting certain weaknesses, nor clinging to someone else in a panic. Once they'd reached a point in the water where she could stand she let go of Bishop, a small smile of relief crossing her face when her feet touched the sea floor.

"Thank you," she said quietly, letting her arms rest on top of the water. Now that she was in the water, she wasn't going to leave - she might not know how to swim, but now that her panic was gone she wanted to take the time to become accustomed to the water.

"You're welcome." Bishop had planned to simply leave and he thought Amara was going to take the opportunity as well. When she stood he waited curiously. She didn't seem to be as upset with him as he had thought and it intrigued him. He took a moment to try to understand why she reacted the way she did if she wasn't angry.

She had been angry. But like so many other things Amara felt, she didn't have the luxury of staying angry. Bishop had brought her out of the deep part of the water as she'd asked, and now that wasn't about to panic about possibly drowning, she was forcing herself to calm down.

"All you needed to do was give me a chance to grow accustomed to the water myself," she said quietly, not looking over to him. "I do not react well to be shocked."

Bishop's response wasn't much more than a grunt. "I don't often play with people and definitely not the people I work around." It was a policy he had set a long time ago when he was just in the academy. He saw how many problems it could create and he reminded himself how significant those rules he had made for himself were. Without another word he began to head for the shore.

Amara opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it again when he started to move towards the shore. She hadn't been sure what to say to him anyway, and now she was even less sure. She watched him go with a slight frown on her face, trying to figure out why she suddenly felt like she'd done something wrong.