insertmeathere | OPEN RP POST

Steve snapped to attention again (this time, he'd been lost in a long panic over what that girl probably thought of some pervy kid who kept staring at her from a distance away and oh god she'd probably tell people and then he'd be that creepy redheaded kid who kept staring at girls from-) "Huh?"

He watched her for a second and then realized she was talking to him. "Me? Uh... yeah, sure, hang on."

On second though, putting on four layers of SPF 40 sunscreen actually probably gave him SPF 160 ("Ginger Dosage"). So he was okay. He looked mildly terrified as he headed out from under his nice, safe, non-sunburny umbrella.

It's okay, Steve, she doesn't bite. And she's almost a foot shorter than you are.

But now that he's here, she's lost a little confidence and ducks her head in a quick, neat little bow. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, ah, but you seemed kind of... by yourself." And that just didn't seem fair at all! Miku looks up at Steve through her bangs and smiles shyly.

"Oh, no, you didn't disturb me. I just-" Sit alone a lot? Loser! God, shut up before you say something stupid! "I was just thinking. And staying out of the sun! I burn pretty good, you know," he said. Yeah, brag about your sunburning capabilities. You're an idiot, Steve!

"That's nice of you though." Okay. Better. Twit.

Miku held up her hands defensively, as if trying to ward away the compliment, "It wasn't that, it was," Miku floundered for a moment, trying to find the words. Now that she had the poor boy over, she didn't know what to say. Introductions! Introductions were in order!

"I'm Hinasaki! Hi-Hinasaki Miku." Miku bowed again, and her face reddened.

Steve watched her bow rather cluelessly, and lost for anything better to do, he bowed back, very quickly. "Hi, Hinasaki. I'm Steve. Steve Burnside," he offered-- then presented her a hand to shake.

"So you, uh, you ever been to the beach before?"

"Ishihama," Miku replied, and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. "We went there to, um, see the cormorants fish... it was for work." Her cheeks reddened further, "Oh! I'm ah, I'm a photographer." Technically an assistant photographer, but lately... lately she'd been doing the bulk of the work. Still, better to be truthful, "Or at least, I will be." Two more years between university and studying under Rei, and she would officially.

Miku drooped slightly, "Though, it isn't as if I have a camera here." A shame, really, because it was so pretty out.

He looked impressed. "Oh cool... This is only my second time. I went to South Carolina on spring break once." With my parents. "

Steve reached up to brush his unruly red hair up out of his eyes and back across his head. "I guess there'd be a lot of stuff to take pictures of in a nice place like this." DURRR. Oh god, how much stupider can you get?

"Ah, yes..." Miku nodded, and then felt the air flatline into awkward silence. She never had been good at this, this talking with perfect strangers. "But it's not just the scenery, it's the..." she motioned out to the people on the beach, their activities and expressions, "life on it."

That was the impressive part, otherwise, it would just be some sad, lonely, beautiful beach.

"Oh yeah, the life, definitely!" Smooth. "Beaches are always kind of lonely, if you ask me, unless there's life on them. Like, uh..." Girls in bikinis? Jesus, idiot... "... crabs."

Crabs. Nice. Back away slowly so you stop creeping her out...

"I always get sunburned though, so I'm more of a 'chill on the beach' type than a swimmer. But the water's nice." Okay, that wasn't so bad.

"Oh, I do that, too," Miku paused and worried her lower lip for a second. "Burn, I mean." Actually, she went up in red like a pickled plum, but this wasn't the place to admit that. Miku moved her feet so the sand being sucked out from under them didn't make her fall over.

...She had to think of something to make this less... awkward on the both of them. So, Miku dragged her foot through the water. "Well... ah..."

She's got nothin'.

This was ridiculous. There was no reason to be acting like this in front of somebody he'd just met. There had to be something they could talk about that they could carry on for a while without the awkward cutting in.

Um.

Well.

Steve stared at Miku for a moment, then kicked a small wave at her. Here we go, it's just like preschool all over again. GOD! "Do you like..." Think fast. Think fast. "... food."

Miku laughed, hiding her mouth with her hands, "Yes, I like food. I like making it, too." She kicked a wave back at him, noting that fair was fair. Miku stepped a little further into the water.

"What about you? What do you like to eat?"

Lame. Lame, but not too lame, luckily.

"Oh, I'll eat pretty much anything," he said with a little grin. And another kicked wave. "But my favorite's... gotta be potatoes. Au gratin. Or potato chips, salt and vinegar flavor. What about you?"

"Mmmm," Miku shifted her weight from side to side. "I like making onigiri, but... I guess I like to eat age-dashi, ah... that's deep fried tofu with bonito flakes in a broth." Sure, it sounded like it would be gross, but it was good. And very, very easy to make. Miku would defend her recipe with her life.

"...Though, it was hard to keep my cat out of my bowl," she frowned slightly and kicked the water at Steve again.

"You must be Japanese," Steve guessed. Brilliant deduction there, idiot. What was your first clue? "I used to eat at this place near my school a lot." With my parents. "So maybe I've tried that before... not that I'd remember it. I've got kind of a bad memory anymore..."

Leave it to the boy to escalate it. He kicked a wave at her, high enough to get her bikini wet. "You like ice cream?"

"That's right," Miku nodded, "outside of Tokyo." Oh dear, he'd splashed back. "And I like--"

She gasped and hurried away from the splash. Not fast enough though, as Miku held her hands up to ward away the water. "Eeek!"

Smooth one, Steve. He laughed a little bit despite himself, purely out of nerves. "Sorry! You looked kind of hot."

Thankfully, Steve's mental voice did not pick up on the alternate connotations of that line, or else he might have then slowly sat down in the water and dunked his head under to drown himself.

"Oh really?" Miku laughed behind her hand again, and waded out into the water away from him. But only so that she would have more water to splash in his direction. The ocean water was chilly, but felt good, now that she had made herself get used to it. Sure, she was lifted off her feet every once in a while by a wave, but that was fine.

It just meant that Steve would find himself duly soaked by girl and tide. "And strawberry, by the way. I like strawberry ice cream." Possibly because it was pink.

Possibly.

Hey, whaddya know? She was playing along and not mortally offended! Steve was doing pretty good.

He took a good splash that made him jump, and he finally gave up trying to stay dry on the beach, wading out into the water himself. The sun was beating down on him anyway. If he was going to get sunburned to oblivion (and he was... he was a redhead, after all) he might as well enjoy himself in the process.

"Strawberry's all right. Buuuut you can't beat chocolate, sorry." Then he took a splash in the face that left his hair hanging over his eyes. He whipped his head back to throw it out of the way again.

"Well... I suppose you're right," Miku agreed and splashed him again, "But it's a little too sweet for me. Strawberry is just right." And it was pink. When they made chocolate pink, they'd have Miku for life.

So far, so good, now that they were either both forcefully ignoring the awkwardness of one stranger calling over another, and enjoying the surf. Though, certainly, Miku would feel just terrible when Steve turned into Great Red Tomato. "I like gateau cakes, too." A wave picked up the slight girl and brought her closer to shore, much to her surprise.

Better red than green, Miku.

"I've never had a gateau cake," he commented, riding the wave back a few feet. He was at least half a head taller than her, but he was pretty scrawny himself. "Is that some kind of fancy type, like they'd serve at a tea or something?"

"Kind of," Miku replied, and breathed a little sigh of relief when the wave let her go. "They serve them at cafes." Lots of layers with fresh cream and berries or chocolate, yum. It made Miku want one just thinking about it.

"...I guess you could have them with... milk tea, maybe." Miku shrugged. A wave knocked her over and she came up sputtering.

Steve watched her go down with concern on his face, but it turned into a strange little smile as she rose up above the water again. He took as tep closer, like he was going to help her up.

"Hey, are you okay? Maybe we should tie some rocks to your feet," he joked. "Or are you just going weak in the knees talking about cake? I've been getting there myself, actually..."

Miku shook her head and pushed her bangs away from her face. Well, that was embarrassing. "I'm fine," she sighed with a little disparaging laugh at herself. She put her hand on his arm and with a little oomph, she pulled herself out of the water, nearly stepped into Steve, and pulled back.

"Thank you," she added, trying not to look more embarrassed, and splashed him.

"Sure," he replied, with the same weird little smile. Except now it was tinged with a bit of red. Nerves? Sunburn? Hard to tell.

Then she got him right in the face again. Steve made a face and spit out salty water, then reached up to brush his hair out of the way again. "Hey, that was a cheap shot! While I'm helping you up and everything..."

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