trans_9 | waves & sand

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waves & sand

Arha stood for a long, long moment, her eyes wide as she leaned up against the three person landspeeder she'd carefully driven out. It was not a difficult piece of machinery to tackle. It contained people well and there was enough room for baggage, should there be any. She had her funds (and as pleased with the amount) secured and was more than ready to follow her nose straight to the water's edge. The ration bags she had been alotted had been secured as of five minutes prior, which left her half-sitting against the front part of the vehicle with her nose in the air and her eyes half closed.

The breeze was warm and felt food after the stifling humidity of the ship. It smelled clean and good, with the tang of salt that meant the ocean was nearby. She was looking forward to this thing, perhaps most of all.

But, for the moment, she enjoyed the moment as it was and paused.

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Wedge sauntered up to the red-haired woman, a small bag slung over one shoulder. You didn't need much to go to the beach. A bit of sunscreen, a towel and swim trunks was about it, really. He smiled at Arha as he slipped up to lean against the vehicle next to her.

"Looking forward to our lesson, I hope?"

"I look forward to it," Arha said, mirth brimming in her tone as she canted slightly to gently bump shoulders with him. "Such is true for all the many lessons. I am...a little apprehensive, but it shall pass. I am needing to learn this swim-ming, I think. I am ready."

Wedge bumped back with a smile, then glanced over at the Bene Gesserit.

"You've got your swimsuit and everything, right?" Didn't hurt to ask. It was important to have such things for swimming lessons, after all.

"You must wear a suit to do this thing?" Arha asked, blinking at him in utter confusion. "It is a terribly dangerous thing that we do? It is water. I have sat in it before when it is hot. I needed no protective covering then."

Wedge returned the stare for a moment. Oh. Well, strange. He coughed and tugged lightly at the collar of his brightly colored tropical shirt.

"Well, it's considered polite to not go swimming in the nude in public, Arha. We can go get you one, it's not a big deal..."

"It is impolite to be in your own skin?" Arha took a moment to digest that. "Ah. Polite. Your culture must be the kind that has much in the way of modesty." She shook her head lightly. "It is not so in my own. I was taught by my Order that to be ashamed of one's body in such a manner was a hindrance. The Fremen are not so shy as well. It is only skin, nothing that one has never seen before."

She let out a short sigh.

"If it is a large deal, then, I am sure I can acquiesce. I do not see how a bit of cloth will help, though," she added skeptically. "It does not take much to figure out what I look like beneath this plantsuit." Arha pushed herself away from the speeder. "We should begin, then."

"Well, yeah. My culture does have its share of nudity taboos. It's not so much me I'm worried about..." He was a grown up, right? He could deal with that.

"More the myriad of other vacationers who might object. I don't want to cause a scene or anything." He shrugged, a wry and slightly embarrassed smile on his lips. Arha was...interesting. Sometimes she didn't quite make sense to Wedge, and he found her home, when she talked about it, a little strange. But on the other hand, his home must seem equally strange.

"Yes, we should. There's a decent beachwear shop down the street if I remember right..." He nodded and set off in the aforementioned direction.

Arha meandered along after him, her stride even and unconcerned as she took in the scene. The shop itself was not too far and she browsed around for awhile in wordless hunt. It was not for water, nor for food, nor for a jubba cloak. Such things there were on these racks!

There was a black (http://www.mybikinibrazil.com/gallery/sexy-handmade-crochet-bikin.jpg)one that was not clumbersome and had been knit out of soft fabric, and a brown and white (http://www.mybikinibrazil.com/gallery/doublecolorcrochetpopup1.jpg) one also in a similar style. She picked through a rack stoically and her fingers found a white (http://www.mybikinibrazil.com/gallery/sweetsassy2009popup.jpg) suit. This was the style that was everywhere.

Arha was not sure this was the sort of modesty that Wedge was talking about. She was certain they showed off more than one might think necessary. She tilted her head back and forth among the three choices, then held them up, her blue-within-blue eyes frankly puzzled as much as they were curious.

"Pick. I do not know what these things are," she said. "Nor do I know how they are coverings. This modesty, it is as silly as your Lord Vader. Pick and I shall exchange currency for the silly things."

She flopped the suits around and then froze.

"Wait! Am I to try them on?!" They were small sized and she glanced from the suits to her frame and back again.

Wedge suppressed a small grin at Arha's amazement. Her choices were fairly typical, at least to his mind, of swimwear choices on any number of beaches on any number of worlds back home. He bit his lip, tilted his head side to side, then finally nodded.

"Yes, generally trying them on to make sure they fit well is a good idea." He couldn't resist the smile that crept over his features. Arha's figure definitely wasn't as...pronounced as most of the women wandering around in swim suits here, so a fitting session would probably be for the best.

"Hrmm," she said. Seeing as it was apparently terribly illogically impolite to be naked in a public place, Arha wandered off to see about finding a place to change. They stuffed her in a stall and she tugged on the black one after taking time to pull her plantsuit off and fold it into a proper little square.

The mirror provided was inadequate and she wandered out to prod Wedge for his opinion.

It was still a silly covering.

She came to a stop in front of him, her hair mussed and tangled from adjusting the bikini, then stood for inspection for a moment before knotting her hair up away from her face in a wispy , loosely coiled braid that she managed to tuck away so that her neck was neatly bared.

"It fits fine," she mumbled. "It is a little lose perhaps, at the top. I cannot properly tie it, though. These people that make these things, why must they do so in a manner that requires assistance? It is impractical design."

Wedge felt a little heat touch his cheeks. Which was silly, because he'd seen women wearing less (with fuller figures) before and this really shouldn't be such a big deal. So he grinned and walked around behind Arha to give her a hand.

"It looks nice." He said neutrally, giving the ties in the back a quick tightening. "There. That should help. And now you look like a proper beach-goer."

He grinned. "So. Let's pay for it and hit the beach."

"Beach-goer," Arha murmured, still confused as to this whole thing and paid without incident. Her plantsuit was put in the small bag she had brought neatly and did not take up much room within it. "Such is all I need, a suit to cover myself?"

She eyed a few women walking past and linked an arm behind her back as she watched them primp by. They were large chested at best and she peered after them curiously. Strange creatures--one had little strips of tiny stranded cloth that waved when she walked, giving glimpse of a sold yellow cupped top. The design was made so that the waving small strips drew one's eye to her breasts. Arha blinked and glanced down at her own chest, which was decidedly flat.

"They must be for floating in this water," Arha said, just barely under her breath.

"Well, a towel and some sunglasses might be helpful. You know, for when we get out of the water." Wedge himself had a towel draped around his neck for just such an occasion.

"Plus you can soak up some rays, maybe get a tan." Another culture clash. Laying around in the sun was probably something Arha's people tried to avoid. He followed Arha's gaze, suppressing yet another small laugh.

"Ah...no. Some women are just...um....fuller figured? And not everyone comes from a desert planet where you have to conserve as much as possible, either..."

Towel. She had packed a cloth, but it was not very large. In a few moments, when passing a stand of brightly colored towels (it was an oct-o-pooze design with sunglasses that she chose), she had purchased a towel and had forgone the sunglasses. Her eyebrows went up at tan.

"I will be very brown if I stay in the sun, though I can control the absorbtion. I have never tried such a thing," Arha said, barefoot for lack of shoes--such did not matter, she had good feet for walking, and linked arm in arm with Wedge. "They probably do float better than I do," she said dryly. "I would not be surprised, but, even a stick must float...so it is said."

Wedge had to laugh at Arha's insistence. As they began heading down towards the beach, he shook his head in amusement.

"Maybe they do float better. But that's neither here nor there, is it? We're here to make sure you can float and that you'll swim, not sink." He glanced sidelong at Arha, grinning.

"I am the desert," Arha said skeptically. "Sand shall sink, but heat rises. We shall see about thing floating business. I will learn."

She wasn't sure about this whole deal--from the look of it, there was much water. Much, much water. It did not even seem to end, though, surely, it had to terminate somewhere. Her feet hit the sand and she immediately began to walk rhythmlessly, in the oddly graceful slip-slide of a Fremen that made her look as if she were floating over the sand rather than walking. She, however, did not pay attention to it.

It wasn't the busiest beach on the island, but nor was it deserted. It was the sort of place you'd go to enjoy a simple swim, some time in the sun. Pure white soft sand met crystal clear blue water that was relatively calm until you got near the edge of the small inlet that contained the beach. He carefully laid his towel and bag out, then stripped his shirt. He nodded towards the water.

"Come on. Let's get started." He grinned and dashed off towards the water, diving into the oncoming tide with a whoop, almost like he was a kid again.

Mimicking Wedge, by laying her towel out, she did not run behind him like a child. She was still apprehensive about this water thing.

Arha watched him, her arms cross beneath her breasts, for a long and measured moment. How could one just dive into water? Her expression was schooled, but she didn't hide the slight curve of surprise that arched an eyebrow as she slowly worked her way to the wet sand. Her feet sank into it and she started as the tide rolled back into shore, nearly backed up, and stared very hard at it while it swirled around her ankles.

It retreated.

Arha moved forward a little more, frowned, and moved into the surf until it was at her knees. It was most curious. She dipped a cupped hand into the water and brought it up for inspection, then licked it.

Very salty.

She made a blech! face.

"One cannot drink this!" she said in surprise. "It is a planet of undrinka--" A large wave rolled in and Arha found herself not only drenched but inexplicably sitting on her rear in the shallow water.

Wedge popped up, flicking damp strands of hair away from his face. He'd need to get a haircut while he was here, his hair was starting to get a bit longer than he usually kept it. But that was neither here nor there, of course. He grinned and took a few steps forward in the surf to offer Arha a hand, helping the woman to her feet.

"It's salt water. The ocean is made up of salt water. That's what makes it the ocean. Well, that and the size." He laughed, the sight of the dripping and soaked Arha too much for him.

"Come on. Get out a bit deeper and you won't have to worry about that kind of thing..." He grabbed her by the hand and began leading the way into deeper water--not so deep they couldn't stand, but deep enough you could definitely lose your footing if you weren't mindful.

"It would take much purification," she pointed out and allowed him to help her to her feet.

Arha, against her better training, fairly clung to Wedge's hand, her eyes wider than before as he tugged her deeper in. She was shorter than he was and looked decidedly ill at ease as the water lapped at her chin. It was not her fault the panic was rising.

She breathed through it and tried not to squeeze Wedge's ahnd any tighter. It was just water. She was not going to run away from it.

Wedge gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. He could still stand here. Barely. Fortunately Arha was still shorter than him, which might not be the case with some women, considering his shorter than average height.

"Alright. So. The first thing about learning to swim is treading water. I want you to push off the bottom and start making a circular motion with your legs. Like you're riding a bicycle. If they have them in your universe, anyway." A bit of amusement sparkled in his eyes.

"I ride worms, not antiquated vehicles," Arha mumbled, but obediently (and thankfully she'd found a connection with her Mothers-Within) began the bicycle motion.

And flailed as she flopped face first into the water.

Wedge snickered, reaching out to gently grab the woman under her armpits.

"Okay. It takes a bit of practice. This time, add a circular motion with your arms. It'll help you maintain balance, okay?" He was going to get her swimming or die trying, darn it. If he can teach her to fly a heavily armed space fighter, he can teach her to swim in water.

"Why did you not add it all at the same time?" Arha asked somewhat indignantly--mostly because she was dripping and her face had been in the water. "Say this thing with legs goes with this thing with arms, all at once! Not 'Do the leg thing and you will plant your face into the ocean."

Arha made the motions while she talked and they kept her from going under the water. It was progress. But she still was sulking.

Wedge shrugged. It had seemed reasonable at the time.

"You have to fall once or twice before you can run, right?" He gently released her and mimicked her motions, watching.

"See, it's pretty simple once you've got the hang of it. Besides...this just means you can do something like this next time you're teaching me something." He winked, a bright smile flashing across his face.

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