Miss Me?

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt smiled at her, though his answer to her was completely deadpan.

"It's mostly the drowning." His voice didn't even fluctuate. "Yeah...definitely the drowning."

Suddenly his face broke out into a wide grin, his hands slowly sliding a little bit to the side so that his index fingers could very gently poke right above her hip. He tried to get revenge on her for tickling him, the slight squirm of his body telling her that she was indeed succeeding in her endeavor. His teeth sunk into his lower lip, stifling a laugh as he tried to shift and get her hands away from his ribs. His face buried itself in her neck, scruff roughly scratching against soft skin.

"Stop that!" Kurt protested, his voice muffled by her neck. It was clear that he was trying hard not to disturb the people around them.

It seemed the tables had turned.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Ahhhh yes, the drowning!" She said as her body twisted, her hands immediately retracting from Kurt as she tried to grab his hands and pull them away from her now wiggling sides. "The drowning is so very hard to avoid! You must be quite the athlete to prevent it!"

Now was an opportunity for Jamie to concoct an absolutely vicious tale to try and scare Kurt. "Swimming is an art for only the strongest! I've seen so many people just wade into the water from the beach, and then, next thing you know? They're GONE! Just....Washed out to sea! Never to be heard from or seen again!"

Jamie tried desperately to hold on to a serious face as she construed her story. "I've heard that on some worlds, oceanic monsters dwell just beneath where the light reaches and wait. They wait 'til an unsuspecting swimmer makes it just far enough away from shore...And then?" Her hands made a quick grabbing motion. "They get you and pull you down and eat you over the course of a month!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt perked an eyebrow, though he smirked at her as he did so. "Really now?"

Of course he didn't quite buy that. Just because he couldn't swim didn't mean that he hadn't visited a few ocean worlds before. Manaan and Dac were both frequent delivery places for Sif Shipping, specifically the latter with their ever expanding shipyards. Of course while there he had taken the opportunity to venture out onto the planet a bit, see the massive floating cities and just observe everything that he could. He knew there were such things as sea monsters, but he also knew that they weren't likely to strike at random people right off shore.

Still...he liked the idea of humoring her.

"Well if that's the case we better not go into the water at all." Kurt tried to throw some inflection of fear into his voice. "We'll stay on the beach, maybe just in the tent so the monsters can't climb onto the beach and get us."

He nodded. "It's the only thing we can do, really."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

It was too late, she'd started down the path and had to carry it on now...

"Oh, most people do stay on the beach back home! We have this BIG lake monster, not even the Gungans make this lake their home. It's called Naosin, and deep in the water there is a serpent! It has three heads and millions of teeth!" She made a monster like head out of her arms, using her hands to simulate big jaws clamping down.

"The monster is named Teki'amal." She made a fake shiver as if recalling tragic memories. "Everyone knows about him! Nobody swims there at night because you can't see him raising from the depths deep below!" Her fingers curled into a claw and she dug it into Kurt's thigh. "And he'll just....GET'CHA!"

She turned her head and looked at Kurt with a confident smirk. "But don't worry! I can keep you safe. I know what scares the sea monsters."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He grinned at her. There was something about her this way that just made her all the more appealing. He wanted to kiss her in that moment, drag her into silence and just keep her tongue busy, but somehow he managed to hold off. Instead he only raised his eyebrow, showing mock fear and twitching slightly as she dug her claws into his thigh. That too tickled slightly, the small twitch at his lips telling that tale before he could stop himself.

"Oh really?" Kurt said as he drew her even closer, arms tightening around her stomach. "What's that?"

This would be good.

He had seen her like this once before, silly and carefree. He loved it. There was something about her when she was like this, something that endeared her to him even more. Kurt wondered if she was like this for others, if she acted like this for anyone else. A small point of his ego told him that she wasn't that this was something just for him. He knew that likely wasn't true, but he craved for it to be so.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde looked around, her head raising and lowering to make sure nobody was listening, as if this was some sort of well kept secret that only she knew, and was about to impart upon Kurt one of the great mysteries of the galaxy. Her voice went to a whisper, her hands cupping his ear as she leaned close.

"The sea monsters are afraid of being poked in the eye! If you stick out your index finger and jab it at them, they'll know! They'll swim away fast!"

And with that she pulled away from his ear, her hands dropping back to her sides with a confident nod of her head. "That will keep you safe."

For a moment she wondered at what point Kurt may have stopped believing her story. Giant fish, especially predatory ones were in fact well known on Naboo, but they mostly dwelled in large caves or around reefs, rarely, if ever, venturing towards the surface. One of the most feared monsters being the Opee sea killer. These were hardly seen, but they were well documented as being colossal, predatory, and extremely territorial.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I see." Kurt said as he tugged her a bit closer, nuzzling her neck as he did so. "What if you can't reach the eye? I mean, these are giant sea monsters we're talking about."

Kurt reasoned out with her, as if this were actually a serious issue. "Their eyes have to be pretty far apart, right?"

The Courier had never actually seen one of these sea monsters, at least not in person. He'd of course seen pictures and heard tales of massive aquatic monsters, but never actually witnessed one. His closest frame of reference were of course the might Krayt Dragons of Tatooine, the massive monstrosities that were feared across the entire planet. Those creatures had the strength and bulk to tear a starship out of the sky, and if the sea monsters of Tatooine were anything like that?

Well he doubted a poke to the eye would do that.

Still, it amused him to indulge her further, and distract her from what time they left on the cramped ship.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh," She began, "You don't have to reach the eye. But most have hundreds of eyes!" She nodded, reaffirming herself. "If you stick your finger out and jab, it will know. It's like a primal instinct for self-preservation kicks in and they just turn and flee." She gave an mmhmm in the back of her throat.

"Most of their prey typically doesn't have limbs, so they think it's some kind of threat that could hurt them, so they swim away!" This was quite possibly the saddest tale she'd ever made up. Virtually everything she said was fabricated, save for sea monsters actually existing in some loosely affiliated fashion.

"Stick with me and you'll be safe in the water. Promise!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt lifted an eyebrow, but then slowly nodded as if he totally and completely believed what she had said. He didn't of course, mostly because he had some information that didn't quire match up with what Jamie had been trying to feed him, but he just couldn't help but indulge her in the fanciful tale that she spun. He liked to see her smile, liked to see the small twist of her lips and the excitement in her eyes as she tried to get away with the most ridiculous version of her story.

"Well, this is all very helpful." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be sure to stick right by you." A small alarm went off, a single beep that originated from the terminal to the left, a sign that they were about to drop form hyperspace and that everyone should hang on to something. "Like glue."

His arms tightened around her stomach, and then there was a sudden lurch.

The transport fell from hyperspace almost directly above Spira, the sudden slowing of it's engines causing the ship to jump slightly forward and then back. A few people in the cabin who hadn't heeded the warning half tumbled over, a few others stumbled slightly. Kurt managed to keep Jamie completely pinned in place, holding on to her even as the ship shook.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Best you do," The girl patted Kurt on his leg. "For your own safety."

Before Jamie could offer any more terrible advise on surviving the terrors of the ocean the ship dumped out of hyperspace. The girl's body shifted a bit in Kurt's arms, though he had managed a good hold of her, enough so that she didn't go rolling across the cabin floor. Unfortunately her Caf had been set down on the ground while she shared her story.

The half empty cup tumbled forward, launching into the air and smashing against the far wall of the common area, splashing down as the lid popped off and went about its' own course elsewhere. The liquid managed to avoid hitting any passengers, but there would be a bit of a mess for the crew to clean up later.

Jamie looked at Kurt, neck muscles flaring a bit as she made an Oops face.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt bit his lip, trying not to laugh.

"It's alright." The Courier told her in a hushed whisper. "I'm more than willing to bet that this place has seen worse messes."

That wasn't really a thought that he wanted to dwell on, considering the odd smell that still hung around the common area. His head shook from side to side as he pushed down the laughter that bubbled in his throat, his eyes falling away from Jamie and towards one of the screens. The ship continued it's shaking as it bucked into the atmosphere of Spira, dipping down towards the blue pearl and heading directly towards the planets largest Starport.

The incessant shaking caused Kurt to tighten his arms around Jamie even more, hoping to ensure she didn't slip away. "This thing is going to fall apart."

Kurt commented more to himself than her as they struck a large bump, likely a gust of wind striking the outside of the ship.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's face scrunched up in a bit of disgusted look as she thought about what Kurt meant. There were a great many possibilities for the type of cleanup the ship's crew could have been forced to endure cleaning. Blood being the most likely, though other, more infamous kinds of activity were just as plausible. She shuddered at the thought.

Just then the ship began to shake with a bit of extraordinary vigor. Kurt's words provided no comfort to the girl who had rarely flown through space up to this point.

"It's what!?" Was he being literal or figurative!?

He would feel her muscles tighten, hands gripping his arms tightly, blue eyes closing. If the ship was actually going to fall apart in descent she didn't want to watch it happen. It certainly felt that way by the violent vibrations as it punctured the atmosphere of Spira.

Please just land....Please just land....Please...

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The ship took another violent lurch, causing Kurt to jump slightly in his seat, holding on to Jamie as tightly as he possibly could. Landing hurt slightly, his rear impacting against the hard metal crate quite hard. Wincing, Kurt shifted his grip on his girlfriend and adjusted himself, wiggling just in time to hear an announcement from the captain.

"If you look out your left ladies and gentlemen you'll see Spira's spaceport coated in white san-"

"Learn how to fly you idiot." The droning of the pilot was cut off by Kurt's grumbling, clearly displeased with the way that the transport was being handled.

Before he could complain any more however he felt the Transport buck slightly, turning to move towards the Spaceport. it took only a minute or two after that, the ship slowing down to a crawl and eventually clattering one final time as the docking stations attached to the outside of the vessel. Kurt urged Jamie to her feet, gently squeezing her one last time before standing and pointing her towards the exit. The Courier was more than eager to get off the transport.

He was sick of the smell.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde's body gave a bit of a tremble as the ship lost altitude with another surge of violent shaking, metal creaking as the hull flexed. Kurt's disgruntled words helped to ease her worry, even if just a little bit. "Perhaps you should go show him how its' done then, double ace." A bit of sarcastic undertone and prodding in her words followed a poke to his stomach.

The instant that the ship touched down, landing gear extended and the doors opening Jamie scrambled to her feet, right hand grasping Kurt's left as she pulled him up with her and made a break for the exit. That had been the most unpleasant docking to date, and any additional time spent on the ship was both unnecessary and wasting precious moments they could spend alone together.

"Let's go slowpoke!" She tugged harder, slipping between passengers to try and wiggle her way through towards the front ahead of the rest.

The moment the two exited and entered the receiving terminal the smell of fresh, intoxicating air filled her lungs. Taking a deep breath in she could almost taste the ocean breeze, all around the chatter of excitement of tourists and families eager to get to their own destination. Again the girl pulled on Kurt to follow her over to one of the massive pane glass windows where she stood and looked out over the expanse of water that the starport sat just opposite of.

"This place is beautiful already!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Beautiful it was.

The oceans stretched out almost immediately in front of them, reaching out and touching the horizon. Along it, nearly every corner in fact, were decorative islands that seemed to be perfectly placed within the water. They came in all different shapes and sizes, some long, some thin, some perfectly rounded. It was amazing really, beautiful enough for Kurt to let out a long whistle. One of those islands would be their home for the next three days, and Kurt intended on picking the best one.

"Wow." He said as he felt Jamie squeeze his hand gently. "Beautiful."

The Courier said as he scanned the oceans ahead of them "Come on, lets see if we can't find that boat rental place and get out there."

It was clear that he was eager to get going, eager to get out onto the ocean and finally be alone with her. This time he was the one that would pull her along, taking her by the hand and reading the signs in order to find their way to the bottom floor of the spaceport.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

With a pull she was drawn away from the window before her, turning on one foot toward the direction Kurt was heading, her hand in his.

"Okay!" Her feet picked up the pace to match his stride as they found the stairs leading to the floor just below. Luggage terminals had been situated on the left of the staircase, the belts running in a constant loop awaiting their owners for pickup. Neither Jamie or Kurt had checked any bags so she pointed to the set of doors to the right that would lead them outside. "There we go!"

A warm gust of air rushed past as the blonde stepped outside with her love just beside her. Interlacing her fingers between his she looked left and right, wiggling her nose. A number of cabs were picking up passengers to take them to their destinations of choice. The weather was immaculate though, dry, warm, sunny, perfect. "Want to just walk there?" Her finger pointed towards a sign that directed to a nearby beach about a kilometer away with a rental equipment facility. "It's so beautiful out, and I feel like I've sat enough in cramped space for the day."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Sure." The words came with a gentle squeeze of her hand. Kurt had never minded walking, especially when Jamie was at his side. First though, they had to find out where the place actually was. For a moment the Courier simply looked around, trying to catch wind of a sign or anything that would tip him off, eventually he settled on a path that would take them down to one of the beaches, Spira being almost entirely composed of them anyway.

"Let's go this way." He said tugging her along. "I'm sure we'll find something along the shore."

If not? Well taking a nice little walk wouldn't hurt them.

The rolling ocean breeze seemed to pour over the island, drowning everything in a sickly sweet scent of the sea. It tickled Kurt's nose, brought a smile to his face and half a spring to his step. The Journey down the hill and towards the beach wasn't a long one, and before long the paved duracrete walkway turned into a series of wooden planks covered with slight bits of sand. Directly ahead of them was a series of large wooden piers, boats lining them and shops sitting atop them.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Mhm. Okay!" She said, her body chock full of caffeine at this point. The girl very much felt like she could run a marathon with the amount of energy in her system. Thankfully they were off the ship now, and any outbursts were no longer confined to a small, cramped space with dozens of others tightly packed next to the two.

"I've never seen so much endless water and sand before. People who live here really have the life!" Her teeth bit down rather hard on her lip as they made their way from the hard duracrete to the sand covered wood pathway. "Hold on!" The girl said, stopping in their tracks and bending over. Quickly, so not to interrupt anyone that might be walking behind them Jamie pulled off her shoes then her brightly colored socks, tucking them each in one shoe before picking them up. "Okay! That's better! Let's go!"

Her voice was filled with happiness at finally making it to Spira with Kurt. The sand beneath her bare feet was wonderful, and reminded her so much of the beaches at home, except with much more pizazz and even more beautiful, unfamiliar landscape.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He waited for her, letting her take off her shoes and giving her a slight smirk at the bright rainbow colors of her socks. There was something to the chirp in her voice and the excitement in her body language that endeared her to Kurt, that made him want to hug and hold her, kiss her. Again he found himself resisting that urge, fighting it off for the time being. Instead he turned down the boardwalk, heading towards the pier and walking with Jamie until they began to hit the shops.

There were hundreds of stores, most of them for souvenirs of some sort.

With half a heat Kurt looked at some of the objects, though mostly he simply glanced over them and continued his search for a rental place. "We'll get a small boat, just enough to get us a few miles out."

The Courier wanted her to at least know his plan, though it would have to be pre-faced with the idea of getting a tent first, something that they were unfortunately missing. That little detail was left out for now though.

"Maybe we can get some fishing rods too." He mused to her, gently squeezing her hand.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Sounds good to me." Her eyes wandered across the numerous signs that welcomed patrons in, selling this or that. Some offered jewelry, some trinkets, some I Went To Spira postcards, shirts, bathing suits, and the like. Other places offered more permanent souvenirs such as tattoos, body art, and piercings. One of the tattoo shops had an outdoor booth where a rather burly looking man was sprawled out on his back, a massive scene being sculpted across his chest as he winced from pain.

A small vendor was selling beach-ware that caught the eye of the blonde. Sunscreen, towels, bathing suits, sunglasses, flip-flops, and a few other items were all neatly arranged on hangars and shelves. Jamie paused for a moment, tugging on Kurt's shirt for him to stop. She then curiously looked at everything. "Hmmmm." She said, wiggling her nose, before picking out a pair of bright red, circular sunglasses and trying them on. "What do you think?" Asking Kurt, "Cute? No?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]