[Fiction] Skin Deep

[Magnum Opus]

Danielle turns to Meghan, feeling a weird mix of feelings roil inside of her.

Could have said I had a girlfriend in Canada. And I'd be the first person in history to be telling the truth. Why did I default to that, I wonder. Why was that the first club out of the bag?

I like her a lot. I really do. I just... I don't know.

"Yeah. Surf sounds good. What do we, uh... do in it?" She smiles.

[Mithril]

"Frolic, dummy!" Meghan said cheerfully as she ran down the beach toward the surging surf. "Catch me!" she shouted over her shoulder, as she dodged beach blankets and coolers and sunbathers.

[Magnum Opus]

How the hell do you frolic?

How the hell do you spell 'frolic?'

Despite this, Danielle kept up ably, leaping over sunbathers and apologizing to each one. "Sorry sir - nice tan there, sir - they look real, are they? - whoop - "

No flying. No multiplying your speed. Just not fair if you do - the chase is the fun part. I wouldn't know what to do with her if I caught her.

Well, I know want I'd want to do, but...

I don't know.

She keeps up the chase.

[Mithril]

Meghan didn't stop when she reached the edge of the water, sprinting straight into the oncoming waves, enjoying the feel of the wet sand underfoot and the pressure of the waves as they tried to stop her advance. She imagined, because she dared not to look, that Danielle was right behind her and ready to pounce at any moment.

She hoped, anyway.

[Magnum Opus]

Danielle wades into the surf, the warm water bringing a memory or two to the surface.

Wait - did she do it on purpose? Is she trying to tell me something?

She creeps up behind Meghan, and wonders for a moment just what to do. But then a grin steals over her face, and she shoves her hands in Meghan's armpits.

"Boogaboogaboogaboogabooga!" she exclaims as she tickles Meghan.

I wonder if she's ticklish...?

[Mithril]

"Eegah!" Meghan shrieked in surprise. While she had been counting on Danielle to overtake her, she was not expecting this. Meghan instantly lost her footing and plunged face-first into an oncoming wave, arms and legs askew. The world went from noisy to silent in a moment as she found herself underwater, and the sudden transition helped her to focus her thoughts. Meghan flipped over, and she could see Danielle over her, eclipsing the sun.

Meghan wondered for a moment if Danielle knew that salt water didn't burn her eyes. With a wicked smile, she planted her feet in the sandy bottom and launched herself like a missile, exploding completely out of the water like a submarine does, lunging for Danielle with both of her arms extended in front of her.

"Booyah!" Meghan yelled in delight, aiming to tackle Danielle.

[Magnum Opus]

"Bwhoop!" Danielle takes the tackle head on, stumbling backwards and then falling backwards, disappearing beneath the waves.

Meghan leans over her, staring down, Danielle's blonde hair spread out behind her like a corona, moved gently by tidal motion. Danielle stares up, taking in the quiet beauty of Meghan's sun-kissed body refracted through the ripples in the water.

She's beautiful.

But... I don't know.

[Mithril]

Oblivious to Danielle's inner monologue, Meghan turned around and dashed away, expecting to be chased again. The thigh-deep water made running difficult, and Meghan got another sudden idea. Tapping into one of her less-used abilities, she kept her size but reduced her weight to just a few pounds. Suddenly more buoyant than the water, she rose atop the surf and began running across the wavetops, leaping the waves like an Olympic hurdler.

"Ha haaaaa!" Meghan shouted to Danielle. "Now catch me!"

[Magnum Opus]

Danielle rises out of the water and brushes a few wet locks of hair out of her face.

"Oh, we're playing this game, are we...?"

Danielle rises out of the water, her toes not quite touching the surf. She starts off after Meghan, 'running' almost comically on the water but held perfectly steady by way of flight.

She smiles, 'leaping' over a wave as it rolls towards her.

[Mithril]

Meghan awkwardly skidded to a stop on the moving and rolling surface of the sea, and turned around to face Danielle. In the process she lost her balance and fell, landing atop the water on her butt.

"That's cheating!" she shouted as she bobbed atop the water. "You're not even touching the water at all."

[Magnum Opus]

"Oh, you want me to touch the water, do you?" She grins fiendishly.

She takes off from the water and in seconds, is over fifty meters in the air. She waves, tucks into a ball...

And drops like a cannonball.

[Mithril]

"Oh holy crap!" Meghan shouted, surprised. She braced, needlessly, against the imminent deluge of salt water and waited for the inevitable.

[Magnum Opus]

A foot away from impact, Knockout slows to a halt. She smiles, unfolds, and reaches into the water. Then she flicks her fingers, spritzing Meghan.

[Mithril]

"Oh, pbbt," Meghan raspberried Danielle, sticking out her tongue. She lunged at Danielle, intending to drag her friend down into the sea with her. However, Meghan had forgotten that while she had a reasonable amount of strength, she lacked mass at the moment. Instead of pulling Danielle downward, she pulled herself up to Danielle, and found herself awkwardly clinging there, still hovering a foot above the wavetops. Meghan suddenly became acutely aware of how Danielle felt at each of the places where their bodies touched.

"Oh, hey, this is awkward," Meghan observed. "Also, kind of hot."

[Magnum Opus]

"Yeah. It... yeah."

Danielle floated there for a moment, holding Meghan above the surf. She looks anxious for a long moment.

Don't you dare cry. Don't you dare. Not around her. What you go through is not a tenth of what she goes through.

Despite the voice, Danielle chokes out a sob. She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. It's not you. It - I - "

She sighs. "I just don't know. I - do you like me, Meghan? I mean - like me? Like, who I am inside, or is this only physical? Just skin deep?"

[Mithril]

Any lustful feelings-- and there were a lot of them-- evaporated as soon as Meghan heard the change in Danielle's voice.

"Oh, Kayo," Meghan whispered, taken aback.

What do you say at a time like this? Meghan wondered.

The truth, she answered herself.

"Dude, yes," Meghan said emphatically, "I very much like you for who you are. It's not about the looks, okay? I mean, don't get me wrong: it's awesome that you're so, uh, awesome, but if you were just a hot bod, I'd have done you and moved on already."

Meghan pushed on, a torrent of emotions spilling out at once. "You're one of my best friends, Danielle, and I like having you around just because I like having you around. We play well together, to use a stupid saying. We're both about the same age, we're both from Calgary, we're both gamers and OpNet nerds, and yeah, we're both novas."

Meghan slithered around in Danielle's grasp, bringing herself to where she could look Danielle in the eyes.

"I like you, okay? A lot. I'm an antisocial introvert, but when you're around, I feel like together we can go out and do anything we want, and that's really special to me, 'k?"

[Magnum Opus]

Danielle summons a smile. "I like you too, Meghan. I'm kind of introverted myself - I stay at home maybe more than I should, when the whole world's out there for me to see. I never would have given this place a second glance if you weren't here. I'm glad that we did all that and I saw all of this."

"I just - I worry sometimes. Bimbo syndrome, you know? That people may think I'm an idiot because of how I look. That they'll think I want to play 'Barbie Mermaid Adventures.' I feel bad for asking, but... I just needed to know."

She looks around - she'd drifted up several feet while holding Meghan, and both of them had gone a fair distance away from shore. Things seemed very still, with only the rhythmic lapping of the tides acting as a backdrop.

"Did you... uh... want me to let you go? Or... uh..." She blushes a bit. "Did you... not want me, to let you go?"

[Mithril]

To say that Meghan was unprepared emotionally for this situation would be an understatement.

"Either way is good," Meghan said uncertainly, stalling for time. While she was certain that she still wanted Danielle in the worst way, she was equally certain that this might not be a good time for it.

I can't force this, she realized, I have to be patient. If we get there, we get there. If we don't, we're still friends. Meghan sighed.

"Sure is a pretty day, you know," she said, slipping out of Danielle's arms and splashing lightly on the water below. Meghan bobbed atop the water as buoyant as a cork. She crossed her arms behind her head and relaxed on the water's surface. "We could just hang around out here a while, I guess."

[Magnum Opus]

Huh. Okay. I think I took her by surprise...

Danielle floats down into the water. She reclines next to Meghan, bobbing in the surf, and stretches.

"Hanging out sounds great."

She lets the moments pass for a while, savoring the quiet and watching the clouds.