trans_9 | Not Everyone Loves The Beach [Open]

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Not Everyone Loves The Beach [Open]

To say that Kelly was having trouble relaxing would have been an understatement. Perched on the tallest, rocky outcrop she could find, the waves crashing against the smooth stone far below her, she was throwing stones across the water almost absently. The way her eyes refused to remain still however, attested to the fact that she was alert and wary as ever. Unlike the other members of the crew, who seemed to have taken the shore leave well enough, the Spartan had never been comfortable with inaction. Zokez II may have been a rest stop, a play-planet as it were, but to be on a strange planet, disallowed weapons and worst of all, her armor put her slightly on edge. Of course, a Spartan didn't need weapons to be deadly, but they sure as hell helped when it came down to it. In stark contrast to other members of the crew who had happily shed the majority of their clothing in favour of beachwear, Kelly's attire had hardly changed.

Dressed in cargo pants, combat boots, and a tight singlet with 'U.N.S.C.' stamped across the chest (something she had undoubtedly done herself sometime) she was the picture of discomfort. Her too-pale skin seemed to gleam in the sunlight as she sat, ignoring the gleeful cries of the people surrounding her. She kept a watchful eye on any member of Stacy's crew who was within sight, all the while lobbing rock after rock into the sea. At the rate she was going, it was surprising that she hadn't run out of them yet.

R&R simply wasn't her thing. She could appreciate rack time as much as the next person. A good soldier knew when their body needed rest. But this, relaxing, not doing anything. Unarmed and completely open to enemy attack. She didn't like it. The Ohm were out there. Who was to say they wouldn't hit this planet next? And without weapons, completely unprepared for such an attack, how would a single member survive. Her entire life had been a battlefield. Honestly, she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been fighting, recuperating from a fight, or preparing to fight. This sort of relaxation simply wasn't for her. At the moment however, all she could do was keep a watchful eye out for anything that may have signaled trouble. Leave the others to enjoy the water and the sun. She would make sure they were safe.

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Since her failed attempt at adventure, Sherry hadn't been out of sight of either one of her parents. Such was the way of punishment, of course, so she couldn't really argue that she could be left alone until her parents decided to again.

So, Sherry took her bucket and shovel and sat at the edge of a tidepool, watching the little aquatic life there with great interest. The little fish nibbled at her toes, which tickled.

But then, something horrible and on little tubefeet, crawled out of the shadows and attached itself to Sherry's foot. An alien-looking starfish (not that they didn't already look like they belonged to another planet).

She screamed.

Amidst the throng of people that frequented the beach, it was difficult for even a Spartan's sharp eyes to pick out individuals. Specially one's as...diminutive as the young Redfield-Kennedy.

When that scream shattered the normal hum of enjoyment that any large group of happy people was wont to produce, Kelly's head snapped up, her eyes quickly scanning the beach until she found its source. Sherry.

With a muttered curse, she jumped to her feet, sprinting to the edge of the outcropping. Heedless of the rather considerable height, she threw herself off the edge, landing in the soft sand with a resounding thud. Then she saw off, throwing up a cloud behind her she covered the distance between them in moments.

Sherry would find herself scooped up and far away from her bucket, and the starfish in the blink of an eye. Kelly's eyes blazed, pale cheeks flushed by the wind.

"You alright, Sherry? What happened?" The arms around the girl were protective, and despite the brisque manner of her inquiry, it was rather obvious that the Spartan was quite worried.

"Tube feet!" Sherry flailed dramatically in Kelly's arms, "It'sgrossit'sgrossit'sgrossit'sgroooooss!"

Goosebumps had risen on Sherry's arms and she hunched her shoulders up, trying to make herself the smallest target possible. Not that it would help. Because the starfish was still out there. With its tube feet.

There was a moment of confused blinking, before she tilted her head at the girl. It was rather obvious that she didn't have any idea what she was talking about. "Tube feet?"

It was evident though, that whatever it was had had a profound effect on her little ~~Spartan~~ charge, and thus the arms around her weren't loosened just yet. At least, not until she got to the bottom of this.

"It was on my foot!" Sherry cried. "With it's little arms, and their little tube feet, and they spit their stomachs out on what they eat. IT IS GROSS. GROSS."

She fell back into Kelly's arms, breathing heavily.

"A starfish, then?" There now. Let's have a moment of silence while the big, bad, killer Spartan does her best not to smile at her little friend's misfortune. "Well they are slightly strange, I'll give you that."

Kelly was more than content to merely hold her until she was ready to be let down.

Sherry's lower lip jutted out spectacularly, "They're horrible and I hate them." Clearly, if it the way to save the multiverse from the Ohm included a heavy dosage of starfish, Sherry Redfield-Kennedy would be having none of it. Not a drop.

At that expression, Kelly could no longer contain her smile, and she shook her head, chuckling quietly. "Mm. I suppose they would take some getting used to." That was quite alright though. Kelly was sure she could more than make up for any lack on Sherry's part if all they had to do to save the universe was handle a few starfish.

"There is no getting used to something that can spit its entire stomach on you." The little girl shuddered. There were just some things nature shouldn't have done.

"Well, you'd be surprised what human beings can get used to given enough time." She smiled. She was living proof after all.

"But I don't want to get used to starfish." She crossed her arms and rubbed her biceps.

"Well, we'll take it in steps then. Really small steps." Really Sherry, Spartans aren't afraid of anything! Except failing. But that's a metaphysical thing so it's okay.

Sokka was wandering along the beach, occasionally stooping to examine a particularly interesting seashell, before he spotted Kelly. A smile spread across his face and the young man broke into a job, waving as he approached his friend.

"Hey! Hey, Kelly!" He waved frantically, as if his voice weren't enough to attract her attention.

The sound of the waves against the rocks was soothing, if not exactly enough to calm the tension that seemed to be a regular part of the Spartan's life. That this tension was brought on only by er own sense of caution was not something that seemed to bother her in the least.

Her thoughts were interrupted however, by the sound of a familiar voice calling out her name. Turning her head, she caught sight of the boy, his arm high in the air. Raising her arm in return, she waited for him to near.

Sokka trotted up and sprawled out onto the sand next to Kelly, skidding a little bit and sanding a spray of sand over the Spartan.

"Oops! Sorry, Kelly." He grinned, teeth flashing against darkly tanned skin.

"I haven't seen you around lately. Enjoying the sun and the fun?"

She didn't seem to mind the sand at all, simply brushing it off, and watching him sprawl out on the ground, half amused. He really didn't need much to be able to relax, did he?

"Don't worry about it." She shook her head indulgently.

"I've been busy. Sorry, Sokka." At his question though she shrugged slightly. "Sun and fun isn't really my type of thing."

"It's all good." He paused, examined her for a moment.

"And why not? You're so pale!" He reached over to poke her. "I mean, c'mon..." He fished his aviators out of the pocket of the flight shirt he wore unbuttoned over a bare chest and hurriedly put them on.

"I think I need these just to look at you. We need to get you in some good beach clothes and get you a tan, Kelly."

She didn't seem to mind the poking. Nor even his joke at her paleness. She was almost lily-white after all. But when he pulled his Aviators out she shook her head, and gave him a firm poke between the eyes. "You're being melodramatic."

When he started going on about beach clothes though, she held up a silencing hand. "Everyone else is having fun. No one is keeping watch. So I'm watching. I can't do that effectively wearing something like that." She pointed to a bikini-ed young woman strutting along the sand.

Sokka just grinned.

"Well, you don't have to go for that look. Just get some of these...uh...what'd they call 'em? Trunks. And one of those shirts without sleeves." Sokka nodded sagely. He knew what he was talking about Kelly, and he is prescribing sun.

"C'mon. You can't go to a literal beach planet and come back without a tan, at least!"

Something the Spartan had grown far more accustomed to that she realized.

"The only thing that would do, is make sure that more of me gets sunburned. I'll pass, Sokka." Really, there was no need to talk about this. She didn't need a tan and that was that. As if she had time to be laying around soaking up the sun. Pfft.

"What would I need a tan for? I spend most of my time in armor anyway."

Sokka sighed and flopped backwards again.

"Because. I think you'd, you know." A pause, just a little awkward.

"You'd look good with one." He shrugged again cheeks coloring slightly as he dug bare toes into the warm sand.

Sometimes she forgot just how young he was. But then, she wasn't all that old herself. Chronologically, yes. But physically, she was in her prime. Still, he was young. In the midst of battle, it was easy to forget. But now, it was almost painfully obvious.

At his comment though, she tilted her head at him. Her expression remained impassive, even at the sight of his blush. After a moment though, she seemed to shrug mentally, turning back to the see.

"Well, I think Kennedy would look better if he didn't frown all the time. But you don't see me following him around trying to make him smile." She smirked, watching him out of the corners of her eyes.

"...I bet if we worked together we could make him smile." Sokka grinned, diverting the conversation in another direction. His mild embarrassment whisked away as if by the cool ocean breeze. He really was young, even if he thought of himself as an adult. Dealing with being a teenager was nearly the same no matter what your culture.

"And you should at least put some sandals and shorts on, don't you think?"

"It's not high on my priority list. His expression seems calculated to get his job done. No need to interfere with that." Leave it to a Spartan to completely miss the point. But then, if you were going to hang out with one, you'd better be ready for copious amounts of it. At his age, she'd undertaken several missions already. Gone through ordeals no one her age should have had undergo. She hadn't been allowed the freedom of a normal adolescence. It wasn't something she missed. But the reason she fought was so that no one else would need to miss theirs.

"Why? I'm comfortable enough in these clothes." She didn't even seem to be hot.

"But it would be fun. Don't you ever do anything for fun, Kelly?" Sokka asked, quirking one of his eyebrows. That was a response to both of Kelly's remarks, really. He watched the Spartan woman, a little confused by this entire string of events. How could you be against having fun?

"Sure. I just don't see how putting on less clothes would be fun. It's bad enough that I don't have my armor or weapons." She wasn't against having fun, per se. Just that her definition of fun was more...unconventional. Plus, to have one, one needed to be comfortable. And at the moment, the Spartan already felt naked, exposed.

"More sun. Duh." Sokka grinned, looking at Kelly over his glasses. "And you don't need them here. We're here to relax, chill out, take a load off. We can just be....you know, relaxed. It's okay to not worry about stuff for a while. And it's okay to not be carrying around your weapons sometimes."

John noted the woman up on the rock. Clearly military, and probably for a long time. Only sort of person that would wear that sort of clothing in a place like this. Of course he was one to talk as he was dressed much the same the exception being he had a plain t-shirt on instead. He was at least a little curious about her. There were more soldiers on this ship then he'd originally suspected, and he was curious to meet some of them. Carefully he made his way to her position making sure she could see him. Last thing he wanted to do was sneak up on her, and have an incident.

Once he was close enough he gave her a nod, and spoke. "Not enjoying your leave either?"

As the man made his way up toward her, Kelly didn't pay him much mind. He was coming up, that was no bother to her. She did keep an eye on him, marking his progress now and then, but other than that, she paid him no mind. It was a free beach, and if he wanted up onto the outcropping as well, she wasn't about to stop him. The way he was dressed though, spoke volumes. And she was sure he was having much the same problem she was. Inactivity.

When he approached though, she nodded to him in return, dropping the remainder of her rocks back onto the ground. "Not exactly. Inactivity doesn't sit well that's all. Back home, it got you dead."

"Same here. Also standing out in the open, and not having a weapon with you at all times got you dead too. Been trying to stay busy with stocking up on supplies. Only so much of that you can do though before you need to take a breather." He'd found a lot of what he'd needed so far, but there was still so much that this planet simply didn't have. Well you always had to go to war with the supplies you had, and not the ones you wanted. "Already took care of your supplies I'm guessing?"

"Not too much of a problem here, my kind don't go down that easy. Real danger's complacency." She half smirked, just the corners of her lips curling upward slightly. At his chosen field of activity though, she nodded. She knew just how tedious gathering supplies could be. She knew firsthand about supplies in wartime. It seemed this man had some experience too. And by the way he carried himself, he was obviously military of some sort. "First thing I did. Not ideal, but I'll have to make do."

Though the polishing oil for her armor was completely awesome.

"Your kind? Aren't you human?" He didn't think she was a machine so that left alien maybe? Whatever she was he had to agree with her that complacency was one of the worst killers out there. It was the reason his war had even begun. All those generals, and scientists so complacent that they truly believed there was no way their technology could turn on them.

"Human yes. Baseline...not quite." Her lips quirked upward again, just slightly. She'd seen Marine be cut down because they'd grown soft with the Spartans around. She'd seen Sangheili destroy entire cities with no resistance simply because the populations had so believed that the armies would protect them, that they hadn't bothered to prepare themselves. It was always a waste.

"Super soldier project?" It seemed the most likely thing. Military plus enhanced human meant super soldier. Humans were always looking for better, and more efficient ways to kill each other. What better way than tweaking humans themselves into weapons.

She nodded. "They call us Spartans." Offering him her hand, she met his eyes. "Kelly-087. Petty Officer Second Class, UNSC Navy." It was a formal introduction. But one that she'd grown used to giving. Besides, she was sure this man would be able to appreciate it.

He firmly gripped her hand, and shook it. "John Connor, General, Human Resistance against Skynet."

It was a bit awkward referring to the Resistance like that, but it had never truly had a formal name so it was all he had. There wasn't any other resistances from which it needed to distinguish itself from. Everyone that chose to actively fight Skynet became a part of the world wide command.

Her grip was equally firm, though there was a promise of far more strength behind it. it didn't usually sit well to crush people's hands upon first meeting. Unless you really didn't like them. But that wasn't quite the case here. At his rank though, she tilted her head. "General?" He was much younger than any of the other generals she'd ever met, he seemed much more in tune with the soldiers who did the actual fighting for one thing. "What's Skynet?"

The name wasn't of much consequence. It told her what they did. And it wasn't burdened by un-necessaries, she barely paid it any mind. It was the man's rank that seemed to interest her the most. He didn't carry himself like any general she'd ever met.

That's because John had never really left the trenches even after he'd taken over leading the Resistance. Too many missions that still required his skills, and they had to few bodies as it was. To take himself out of the fight because some thought he was too important was stupid. They had to few bodies in the field as is so he wouldn't be helping anyone. It was how those old fools in Command had gotten themselves killed. Besides this is the war HE was meant to fight.

"I know I don't look like a typical general, but I'll take that as a compliment. I haven't exactly been fighting a typical war. Our enemy are machines controlled by Skynet a defense computer program that became self aware, and tried destroy humanity thirteen years ago. It almost did. We've been fighting for survival since then."

"You're not out having fun with everyone else?"

Jamie's aimless wandering had led him, eventually, up to the same bluff. Kelly'd been pretty nice to him the couple of times they'd spoken, so he'd made his way over, pausing a respectful distance away.

At the sound of the voice, she turned to look over her shoulder at her team member. Offering him a slight smile, she motioned him forward. No need to stand so far away, Jamie! "I'm not the 'fun' type."

There was a pause as she looked him over, did he need something? No. His body language said he'd simply come up to talk to her. Hmm. That was nice of him. "What about you? Come to run some training drills with me?" That? Might have been a joke, Jamie. Just possibly.

Ah, a kindred spirit. Most people would probably say that Jamie wasn't the fun type, either, though he'd simply argue that his idea of fun was just different from everyone else's. Folding laundry could be its own reward, you guys. Totally.

He ventured closer when she beckoned, hands tucked into the pockets of his new cargo pants. At the suggestion of training drills, he offered the barest of grins, as though it'd occurred to him that she might be kidding but he wasn't certain enough to disregard the request entirely. " - um. Sure, if you wanna. I wouldn't mind something to do."

Well, it wouldn't have been accurate to say that she wasn't fun. It was simply that her definition of fun didn't exactly conform to everyone else's. For her, fun was blowing things up, shooting, fighting, running. The adrenaline, the way it got her blood pumping. That was fun.

At his answer, she laughed, shaking her head. Really, she liked this kid more and more. He was going to be a useful member of the team. "Why aren't you off with your friends? The beach doesn't appeal to you?"

Her laughter prompted him to duck his head a little, a practiced, self-deprecating half-grin quirking up the corner of his mouth. He sobered a little at her next question, though. His answer seemed pathetic, now that he actually thought about it.

"Don't really have anyone to hang out with. I mean, there's the rest of Rogue Squadron, but I don't do much with 'em outside of training exercises." He paused, surveyed the shore below for a pensive moment and offered a careful shrug. "Just been wandering, mostly."

She smiled easily at him. This was a boy she could like. He was a lot like her and her siblings. Not as rigid, something that they would probably have been had they not been drafted. But his heart seemed in the right place, along with his focus.

"Haven't met many people on the ship? Well, have a seat." She patted a spot of ground beside herself, offering him the space if he wanted. "Must be rough, not having anyone to talk to at your age."

Jamie moved to perch next to her at the tip of the bluff, one leg pulled up to his chest and the other dangling over the edge. He shrugged a bit self-consciously. "'s not a big deal. I'm not much of a talker anyway." He glanced over at her. "How about you? How've you been doing?"

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Not Everyone Loves The Beach [Open]

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now reposted in the right place. :P