She Sells Sea Shells: Arrival

[x-invisiblegirl.livejournal.com]

The field trip arrives at the smugglers cave.

After making sure everyone was off the bus, Sam was the last person off, stepping out of the vehicle and onto the beach. Korvus and Sharon were waiting outside for him, and the kids had already spread out onto the beach. He crossed his arms and squinted up into the sun as he came to a stop next to the other chaperons.

"Bus is all clear and everyone's on the beach," he confirmed aloud. "Nice day for it too, hope it holds up."

"Don't we have contingency plans to make sure that must be the case?" Korvus asked curiously. There didn't seem to be a thing in the world one of the mansion's residents couldn't do.

"I thought we were going into a cave?" Sharon frowned. "How come we need good weather? Or are you worried about... like... a flash flood trapping us inside and drowning us all? Because I'm pretty sure Ms. Monroe could stop that from happening, yeah," she suggested cheerfully.

"We are, it's true, I just meant for travellin' and in general." He blamed his Kentucky roots for his preternatural inclination to talk about the weather whenever small talk was involved. "And you're right, we do have ways of takin' care of things like that if need be, but it's always nice when we don't have to worry about that."

Korvus nodded, "Then we will hope." He assented, smiling to the pair.

"Can we go get food when we're done with this?" Catseye asked in a hopeful tone.

"I don't see why not, sure." Sam said with a shrug. "I'm sure we'll all be hungry after a lil' spelunkin', after all. But first thing's first, let's round up the troops." He clapped his hands together and then patted each of his chaperones on the back, walking between the two of them as they went to do just that.


Clint grinned at Maddie, eyebrows waggling a little as he asked, "So're you looking forward to the beach later, oh redheaded one?"

"Oh yeah." She pointedly eyerolled. "It'll be sooooo nice to spend my day off in the water." With all the time she had been spending outside, her skin exploding with freckles due to the sun, all Maddie had wanted to do was to sit inside in the almost dark and catch up on TV. But no. On the bright side, however, she wouldn't have to be the one telling all the kids and teenage boys to stop running on the deck or go in after the boy who thought he could handle the deep end like his friend when he couldn't. Or when the little kids did something more than just pee in the water.

"At least I won't end up smelling like chlorine," mused Maddie in a continuation of her thoughts, pulling the sides of her large floppy hat down like a bonnet. "You ready to show your pasty white-boy whiteness to the world? I'm glad I brought sunglasses cause your whiteness is so white that the reflection from the sun burns my retinas."

Glancing down at his arm, Clint laughed. "Pasty white-boy whiteness? Pssh. I'm only this white because I haven't had a chance to go out in the sun yet. But Laurie and I are gonna start really working on my archery, so I'll be out a lot more. You gonna continue with archery next year?"

Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. I'm thinking about asking old Laser-Eyes if he'll teach me how to fly. So after I turn 17 I can get my license and join the X-Men and (fingers crossed) take out that super sexy Blackbird. It's super sexy."

"Yeah, it is," Clint agreed. "I didn't know you wanted to join the X-Men. You're not thinking about that just so you can fly the Blackbird, right?"

"That," she replied with a smile. "And my ass looks great in leather jumpsuits."

Sam made his way over to Clint and Maddie, clapping his hands as he did so. "All right, time to get goin' now." He was rounding up the students and herding them towards the caves. "Y'all can finish your conversation in there, or better yet, after."


"Yes Sue, your bathing suit is fine. It doesn't show too much skin besides you are paler than white. You need sun!"

"But the sun, it burns," Sue grinned at her friend, "Besides, it's not my fault the sun isn't up when I go outside, the Sun's just being lazy." she declared with a laugh.

"Okay Gollum, but yes seriously your bathing suit is fine. Do you feel weird not wearing a body suit or something?"

"The nasty Tandysss is just jealous of our porcelain skin, our precioussssss," the younger girl hissed barely able to restrain her giggles. "You realize I don't spend all my time outside in a body suit, with this weather who wouldn't want to spend all day lazing by the pool if they could."

"Riiight. I believe it when you have some color." Tandy poked Sue in the stomach and smirked. "I rather be inside playing video games."

"You'd rather be inside playing video games than anything else," Sue pointed out poking Tandy in the ribs, "I swear you're even paler than I am."

"I think I can name a few things that trumps playing video games." Smiling over at her friend before looking over at where Clint was sitting. "Hey ribs. And we aren't talking about me and my whiteness. But I am not that pale."

"You so are," Sue disagreed as she followed Tandy's gaze back to Clint before turning to smile innocently at her friend, "Clint is more interesting than games or movies? Thank god. I was getting worried about you." she teased.

Putting her finger to her lips, "Shh...we can't let people know I have a reason to be outside."

Sue grinned and gestured at the distant sea and beach, "And that's not a good reason is it?" she asked before she grinned, "A day at the beach and no work or internships for anyone. Who'd have believed we'd actually pull this off."

"The ocean is just water that is salty and the beach just has sand. Pull what off? Actually being outside?"

"Actually being outside together," Sue corrected with a smile, "And the ocean is so much more than just salty water, it's a wide open horizon, the last unexplored place in the world. And on top of all that it's a rellly good place to go to surf," she noted with a grin.

"Speaking of exploring..." Korvus said from behind them as he walked the beach to gather up the students, "We are preparing the expedition to the caves, if you two would enjoy attending."


Feeling one's skin crawl was such an odd phrase.

Skin couldn't really crawl, after all. People could crawl, things could crawl on the skin, but skin couldn't crawl. Then again humans also couldn't jump out of their skin, but people used that expression all the time.

Topaz hovered in the very back of the group, her arms crossed tightly, her skin indeed crawling. But she wasn't jumping out of it. Yet, at least.

Any other summer Renee would've been ecstatic at the chance to bum around a beach for the day but this wasn't any other summer. She wrapped her arms around herself, ignoring even the prospect of the wonky tan lines that'd leave, and sighed as she waited to get off the bus.

At least she'd been left alone for the ride out but given what Topaz had gone through she wasn't really surprised. She gave the other girl a little extra space ahead of her and lugged at her own bag. No 'friends' to help this time, thanks.

Renee's hesitation would have been obvious even if Topaz hadn't been wound up and hypersensitive. Obvious and expected and why had Mr. Haller said this was a good idea again? She stepped off the bus in front of Renee, still hanging back. And finally she just threw caution to the winds.

"Don't have to be afraid of me or anythin', I swear. I'm not gonna haul off and snap." Again.

Renee looked up at the other girl's outburst then blinked a little. "I'm not afraid of you." Much. It wasn't fear that kept her quiet, just discomfort. What do you even say to someone who'd been through something like that? Hey, sorry to hear you had a powers issue that left you totally exposed and kind of insane. How about that English final, huh? Didn't really work that way. "Sorry."

It really hadn't been fair of Topaz to put Renee on the spot, and she knew it. She was just...frustrated. Bad enough Frank was being jerk, she didn't need everyone else tiptoeing around her. "Don't be," she muttered, rubbing the back of her head. "My bad, I'm sorry. Just...we're gonna be together all day, yeah? No point in walkin' on eggshells around one another."

Wow, that was unexpected. "Uh, sure. It's all good here." She nodded a little and relaxed her posture, trying to make her outside look as at ease as her words. "No big deal, really."

"Right." Not that Topaz actually believed Renee was at all eased by what she'd said. Well, when in doubt, change the subject. "Have you talked to that bloke at all? Namor?" She'd been in the Box for most of the time he'd been around, she didn't know a thing about him.

"Nope. Haven't really been talking to anybody but new people have never really been my strong suit. Besides, he seems kind of..." Renee shrugged, screwing her mouth up to one side. "Stuck up? I dunno."

"Yeah, that's kinda the feel I get from him too," Topaz agreed, shoving her hands into her pockets as she cast a quick glance around the group. "Oh well. If he gets too unbearable I can turn him into a frog. That's a thing, right? Turning princes into frogs?" He was a prince, right? She'd heard something along those lines but her information was mostly garnered from rumors flying around the mansion.

OK, Renee had to laugh at that. Just a little and she stifled it with her hand as fast as she could because, well, if he was royalty that probably wasn't a very good idea, but the mental picture of a frowning, pompous little frog was too funny. "Yeah, and someone has to kiss him to turn him back. Not it!"

"Pass," Topaz said at once, shuddering. "One of the others can have that...honor. Or he can stay a frog." Not that she would actually turn him into a frog. She'd caused enough trouble.

"I'm sure somebody'll volunteer." Just because she hadn't had a date since she'd gotten here didn't mean Namor wouldn't have an admirer. ... Though it would bug her if he got his first. Then again, he was a prince. At least for now.


Molly adjusted her sun hat--literally a hat shaped like a sun--and her sunglasses as she poked at an empty ice cream wrapper someone left on the ground with shoe. Cars parked everywhere in the parking lot, and the sun was high, making it really hot. Molly didn't seem to mind, though. It'd been awhile since she got to go to the beach. She missed it. She got to go a lot when she lived in California.

"I can't wait to go swimming!"

"Me neither," Frank agreed easily, adjusting his glasses. It wasn't true, but no need for Molly to know that. If he was honest, he hadn't enjoyed the trip at all- he'd spent the whole day very carefully not considering Topaz, or anything else for that matter, and that got exhausting quickly. Still, he wasn't in the mood to ruin it for the smallest of his classmates.

"Or maybe we could get Ice cream. I could kill for some ice cream right now."

It was as if he said the magic word, and Molly's expression grew even brighter, if that were possible.

"Ohmygoshthatwouldbesoawesome! With fudge and whipped cream and stuff?" she said, hopping up and down.

"Do you like those too?"

Frank tried not to stare. Good lord, but the munchkin could be exuberant. "Yeah. Yeah, I like Ice cream," he said, with the faintest of smiles. "We could get you a banana split or something. They still do those, right?"

"Um..." Molly tilted her head thoughtfully. "I think so?" They did when she went out for ice cream with Wademan last month.

"I hope they do! And maybe a hamburger?" She was really, really hungry. She ate an apple for breakfast but that was it. Her eyes widened, though.

"Then we gotta wait for 30 minutes before we go swimming. Aw man."

"Tell you what," said Frank, "Why don't we go swimming first? And then after we'll get a hamburger and ice cream. Although maybe not at the same time. That'd just taste strange." He paused, furrowed his brow. "If you're really hungry, though, I've got some fruit in my bag? Tide you over till the burger?"

"But shakes are ice cream and they eat them with hamburgers in the movies?" Molly said thoughtfully, then nodded.

"Some fruit would be great please and thank you!"

"Well yeah, but shakes are... different," said Frank, lamely, as he rummaged in his bag. "Like... the milk in it makes it okay. I don't know." After a moment he withdrew an apple and a slightly battered peach, which he looked at askance. "Here," he said, handing her the apple.

"Oh," Molly said, blinking, then slowly nodded. That still didn't make sense but that was okay. She took the apple with a smile.

"Thanks!" she said. It was really nice of him.

"I think--"

"Hey guys, time to head out, everyone's getting ready to go," Sam interrupted, in full-on teacher mode. He clapped his hands and started waiving at Molly, Frank, and the other students nearby as he continued rounding people up.


"How did your finals for French go?" Hope asked as she carefully avoided one of the rocks that seemed determined to make her trip. "Oh, those darned rocks!" She quickly hopped around another one.

"I'd respond in French, but my language brain is tossed in the closet until September," Billy responded, carefully picking his way around behind her. "I passed, though, so my folks didn't complain too much."

"You are planning on continuing though?" Hope stepped around another rock, pausing for just a bit as she saw Namor standing close to the waterline, seemingly lost in thought. Quickly she picked up the train of the conversation again as she said: "Perhaps you should visit the country itself. Makes for wonderful practice."

"Yeah, my parents want me to, and I don't mind it--I'm just not good at it," Billy explained. "Maybe we should try to convince the school we should have a field trip there next year. Not that New Jersey isn't exciting and all."

"A weekend in Paris would be a very nice idea. It's been a while since I was there and I would enjoy visiting again." Hope's eyes went far away with the memories for a moment. "There are many other very lovely places though. Visiting the vineyards was also interesting, seeing how wine is being made."

"That sounds cool too," Billy agreed. "It'd be French AND chemistry with one trip. How can they argue with that?!"

"I would say they cannot. Plus it would be quite easy to add in some history and geography as well if they wished to do so." Hope's voice became more animated as she considered the idea. "And I am sure the teachers could come up with various things we would not even consider."

"Well, hopefully not TOO many things," Billy said. "The last thing I want is a great trip that ends up giving me a pile of homework," he explained.

Korvus could be seen walking up the beach as the pair spoke, hands motioning them along toward the caves. They could see other students starting to gather in the area as the chaperons rounded them up.