Old World Remnants

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld sighed; it was like a curse on him, that everyone would always misunderstand what he meant. Sometimes it felt like he'd be explaining himself to people his entire life.

"What I meant is that she isn't really going to kill me, just get me back somehow later. Knowing Sarah, probably by punching me or something because that's all she'll be able to think of."

It was perhaps not the brightest thing to say, given that she was already fairly antagonized, but once they started jabbing at each other he just couldn't help himself.

[Nayt]

"I'll do a lot worse than that," Sarah reported with a smile, "One of these days~."

Akizets didn't know how to react to that. Maybe she was more intimidated by the threat than Eld was? Though, Eld would have every reason to be a bit worried by it. Sarah wouldn't actually kill him, but she could certainly catch him off guard and make him know regret. With no warning, too. Any single moment in which Eld had forgotten this promise of hers and was completely relaxed, she could pounce and do something terrible to him.

She was employing one of Emily's tactics, an act which made Emily glance over at her sister with a slight glare, one befitting a girl who just attended a school dance, only to find that her bitter rival was wearing the same dress as she.

Of course, all of this was broken up when Toushikyo finally paid attention to what was going on in front of him, and saw that his little sister was hugging on to Eld's arm in a way that really suggested something else was going on between them. He broke off from his private discussion with Maya shortly thereafter.

"Akizetsumei," he called out from behind the rest of the group, "What are you doing?"

Maya looked up to the rest of the group then, too, and found the same image as Toushikyo at the forefront of them all. She frowned a bit and looked away.

Soon enough, all eyes were either on Toushikyo or Akizetsumei.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld stared at Sarah for awhile, trying to decide if she was serious or not. Even if she was, unlike Emily she didn't have the reputation for following through. She was as likely to forget about the threat as he was, he supposed.

"Yeah, because you need an excuse," he replied dryly. That was, of course, the other issue; Sarah was already perfectly willing to mess with him just because she felt like it, so threatening to mess with him at some point wasn't exactly a threat.

Any further argument was interrupted by Toushikyo suddenly making his presence known, all the more surprising because he almost never raised his voice. It was fortunate that he'd addressed Akizetsumei and not Eld, because he couldn't really answer the question in any way that would satisfying. He did turn a deeper shade of red, though, now realizing that everybody noticed how she was holding onto him.

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei turned around to face Toushikyo. The only problem was that she didn't let go of Eld, which meant for her to turn around, he had to flip around with her and-- as they were facing opposite directions originally --face the opposite way. And after the fact, she still hadn't let go of him.

"What?" Akizets called back as she slowed to a stop. Everyone else stopped along with her, and spread out to make some space between she and Toushikyo.

She did not sound amused. Now, Akizetsumei normally had a very powerful level of patience, but when it came to her older brother, she had zero. In fact, for all intents and purposes, she was a total brat whenever he felt the need to scold or correct her. Like right now.

"I said: what are you doing?" Toushikyo reiterated. Same tone and everything.

"Walkin'."

"I see that," Toushikyo replied. Truth be told, Toushikyo rarely-- if ever --showed any variation of emotion. At best, you'd get indifferent. At worst, you'd get annoyed. Right now, he was still in the quadrant of the former, but very capable of wandering to the latter. "Why are you walking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Holding on to Eld like that."

Akizets glanced to Eld's arm, thought about it for a moment, and held on to him tighter. "'Cause I wanna."

"You shouldn't do that."

Akizets pursed her lips in disapproval. "Why not?"

"It's discomforting," Toushikyo replied simply.

Akizets shut her eyes and put her nose up to her brother, "To a butt-head like you, maybe."

"Yes."

"Well no one invited you, anyways."

Toushikyo had still yet to be pushed to any level of annoyance. He pointed next to him. "Maya did."

Akizets opened her eyes and looked at Maya with a tilt of her head. "Oh?" she asked, sounding a lot nicer and less bratty; she had nothing against Maya, after all. "Really?"

"Y-yes," Maya said nervously. She then slowly edged away from Toushikyo, so not to be pulled into this sibling dispute even further. Years of being Sarah's best friend had taught her when to bail out. Now was as good of a time as any.

"Oh. Well. That was really sweet of you," Akizets replied genuinely. It was super nice of someone to invite a person they like to go swimming-- or to any big social gathering. Maya was all right in her book!

Silence passed, and Akizetsumei still hadn't released Eld. Soon enough, Toushikyo realized how fruitless the argument was and took a step forward. This prompted his sister to scramble quickly; she lifted her right foot and hopped on her left to keep steady, all the while plucking her sandal off of her lifted foot. Still holding on to Eld with one arm, she held her sandal out defensively with the other hand.

"Y-you big dummy!" Akizets proclaimed, "D-don't you even dare!"

Toushikyo stared at her blankly. It was the closest to a nonplussed reaction one could ever really get from him. His blank stare was broken and his attention faltered only when Etsu held out a spear just for him. He questioned her intent at first, but upon reaching a quiet understanding with her-- one that was met by way of them sharing an equally as blank stare --he gave her a nod of appreciation and gingerly accepted the spear from her. Akizetsumei was driven off of Eld quicker than any speed reaction she'd ever had in her life.

She held her hands up as a show of peace. One still held her sandal. "W-- We're separated! We're separated!"

Toushikyo nodded to acknowledge this, handed the spear back to Etsu, and returned to Maya's side.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Ah, wha-hey!" Eld was whipped around so that he was now facing front as Akizetsumei turned to confront her brother. While he could hear what was going on just fine, he couldn't really turn his head far enough to see. (Besides which, someone needed to watch where they were going.) And when she hopped on one foot most of his attention was worrying about making sure she didn't fall.

Eventually, something happened that made Akizetsumei pull away from him very quickly, but as he took a second to make sure she was okay, by the time he turned around all he noticed was that Toushikyo was now up near Etsu.

"What happened?" he asked, feeling out of the loop.

[Nayt]

"E-eh . . . n-nothing," Akizets replied nervously, prompting Sarah to shrug her shoulders, Emily to clear her through, and Etsu to casually begin walking again. Maya and Toushikyo once again took their positions at the back of the group, following behind everyone else.

Fortunately, they all managed to get to the lake without any further incident. Conversation became casual, rather than prodding and potentially violent. It was for the best. No one could really top Toushikyo's threat with sharp pointy object, anyways. Until that cleared the air, there was no point in making any further idle threats.

". . . Impr-essive," Etsu noted as soon as they were off the path and upon sand.

"Isn't it, though?" Akizets said as she looked behind her, smiling wide and bright. She really loved the look of this lake. It'd been awhile since she'd been swimming in it, but she had only good memories when it came to this place. Better memories when Reru wasn't around, of course-- a lot like today. Reru had not been invited. This had been kept a secret from him. Between Akizets and Toushikyo, at least three dozen gods were thanked for that.

Needless to say, this lake was actually pretty impressive. It was wide and expansive, shimmered a deep blue color, and was naturally stocked with quite the great catches down in the deeper parts of the water. It seemed they weren't the first people here today, though. A set of footprints led around the lakeside and off into the woods at the opposite side. This was a great spot for daycations, though; it wasn't unheard of for others to take a well needed break here. In fact, it was uncommon for it to be this deserted.

"All to ourselves," Emily said as she took in a deep breath of fresh air.

She and Sarah passed Eld and Akizets (and now Etsu, as she stood by Eld's other side) and made for lakeside. Maya and Toushikyo passed them by, too, as they made way for Sarah and Emily's soon to be blanket encampment.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld looked to each of his friends in turn, but no one gave him an answer, so he spent the rest of the walk in puzzled silence.

"Lucky us. Looks like no one else is here yet." Only a set of footprints indicated anyone else had come to the beach recently. As it was, he and his friends had it all to themselves--which was definitely for the better, just in case things got a little...rowdy.

He took a few steps ahead of the two girls on either side of him before turning around address them. "Etsu, you want to do some swimming before we fish?" He imagined everybody that had brought swimsuits (he himself was in a pair of black swim trunks and a white t-shirt) would get in the water right away--besides, in his mind, fishing was something you did towards the end of the day to unwind.

[Nayt]

Wait a second-- he invited her out here to go fishing, not swimming. Well, Etsu was a bathing suit under her shirt. Swimming was an option. It was necessary, actually-- at least for spear fishing. But at the same time, that created a problem in finding opportunities. After all:

"If we swim first--" Etsu began pointedly.

But just as she started into a lecture, she was cut off. Sarah suddenly made a bit of a ruckus down lakeside, prompting a loud "eep!" from Emily.

"Gotta start the day off right!" Sarah proclaimed loudly.

"W-- wait a minute! Wh-- what the hell are you--"

"Startin' the day off right~."

"Whoa-- hey-- p-put me dow-- c-- c'mon, let's talk about thi-- aiiieeeee!!"

There was a loud splash. It seemed Sarah had picked her little sister up, hoisted her in the air, waded out into the water, and threw her in without mercy. Akizetsumei and Etsu had watched the whole thing. Sarah brushed off her hands victoriously and started out of the water, leaving Emily behind, who made another big splash as she surfaced and gasped for air.

"Woow," Akizets said in a hushed tone, "She's got a great arm on her."

"--we wir-rr scare the fish from feeding," Etsu concluded under her breath. Well, there went that plan.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Yeah, I don't think there will be much quiet until Sarah's worn out," Eld replied dryly. Not to mention after that, Em would be looking for a chance to get back her all day.

He gave the girls a small, apologetic smile; he was supposed to spend the day alone with Akizetsumei originally, and he got the impression Etsu would have preferred to spend a quiet day fishing. But in a way this might have been for the best; he wanted both of them to be part of his circle of friends.

"Well, we better get going, or she's going to come for us next." The way he quickly went to set the poles down by the towels and remove his shirt, they'd know that time, at least, he wasn't joking.

[Nayt]

"I-- uh, I guess we should get a move on, huh?" Akizets said to Etsu nervously. She really didn't want to be on the receiving end of Sarah Vaerbond's strength . . .

"Hai," replied Etsu, stoic as ever.

Without hesitation, Etsu reached back and pulled her shirt off, revealing the blue bikini she wore beneath of it. It was a simple brazier like bikini that didn't intentionally accentuate her feminine parts. Not that Etsu needed much help in that area. She . . . really had a lot going for her, actually. By way of figure alone, she outclassed every other female here. In bust size, she was a formidable opponent for Sarah, yet she lacked the extra body fat and bulk muscle that Sarah had, giving her a petite, very well developed figure. She could have passed for a model if she tried.

This prompted Akizetsumei to stare at Etsu; she watched her go lakeside, spears over one shoulder and shirt over the other, where she deposited all of her belongings next to the blanket city Sarah and Emily had founded for the whole group.

That wasn't even fair anymore. Akizetsumei was here with Sarah and Etsu; there was no way she looked better in a bikini than they did. No way at all. Especially not Etsu! That girl was gorgeous! Akizetsumei wasn't even attracted to other girls and she still had to admit that . . .

No, this was so totally not fair!

[Zach Kaiser]

Etsu was indeed very attractive; fortunately, Eld was used to being around attractive girls in swimsuits enough to not stare. Plus, whereas someone like Sarah might be flattered by a stare (in spite of whatever she said), Etsu would definitely be put off.

"Hey, Akizetsumei, aren't you going to come in?" He was rather oblivious to her dilemma; he'd waded into the water a bit, but as far as he could tell she was just kind of spacing out.

[Nayt]

"U-um-- y-yeah, um, j-just a minute!" Akizets replied sheepishly.

She slowly made her way down to the blankets, where she watched Etsu wade into the water as well. She didn't seem to mind it at all. And-- well, Eld wasn't staring, right? That's all that mattered . . .

Akizets had to remind herself half a dozen times that Etsu was Eld's cousin, and there was no way he was going to have eyes for her. No way at all. Even though that wasn't actually unheard of in Cizokian based cultures. In fact, arranged marriages between cousins were fairly common--

Th-that's just making it worse!

With a huff, Akizets mustered up the courage to undress down to her bathing suit. It was the suit that Eld so generously bought for her, the one she tried on for him and received stares and compliments from him. That was a fond memory already, regardless of how awkward and uncomfortable it was for her at the time.

When she moved out into the water, Akizets let out an "eep" every time she moved. It'd been awhile since she went out swimming; she wasn't used to the initial chill of water on her body. Regardless, she moved about as close to Eld as she could. She hoped for something. What, she hadn't the slightest clue. Just something.

[Zach Kaiser]

The water was kind of cool, but he knew that he'd soon get used to it, and it would feel nice. He glanced at Etsu; naturally, the expression on her face didn't change one bit as she entered the water. He spent a moment wondering how she was going to keep her face hidden while swimming, but quickly tried to put it out of his mind. The last thing he needed was to get either depressed or worked up right now.

It was then that he noticed Akizetsumei approaching him, acting like she was getting stung once for every inch of skin the lake overtook. "It's only to be painful if you're slow," he noted.

And then he held out his hand to her. "C'mon," he offered, "let's dive in."

[Nayt]

"Ah--" Akizetsumi was about to speak when her heart started up with that heavy beating thing again. It always happened when she got nervous, or more specifically, when she was physically close to Eld in a "weird" sort of way. Holding hands, hugging, touching skin to skin-- all that stuff.

She took his hand without a second thought, though.

"Okay," Akizets said up to him, a cheery smile spread across her lips. It didn't matter the obstacle anymore. So long as she had Eld there to hold her hand, she was confident could overcome anything.

---

They were swimming for about an hour and a half before Etsu started to feel distaste for the solitary position she was put herself in. It seemed like everyone had broken off into groups. Toushikyo and Maya were on the shore reading together, Emily and Sarah were rough housing, and Eld and Akizets were over there up to Akizetsumei's shoulders, talking and laughing and having a good time together. All of this left Etsu alone, swimming backwards near the middle of the lake, where the water was deepest and someone like Akizetsumei, who really wasn't that great of a swimmer to begin with, would never dare to venture.

Etsu was not envious of Eld and Akizetsumei's casual conversation, though. Rather, she was envious of Sarah and Emily's ability to consistently assault each other with their environment as their primary weapon. Something like that would be fun. Which got her to remembering something . . .

She took a deep breath, dunk her head underwater, and swam breaststrokes to get into water shallow enough for Akizets and Eld to congregate. She pulled her head out of the water with a gasp, and made her way to the two chatty kathies. She stopped only when she was six feet from them.

"Tsukimono Er-rdridge-san," Etsu declared as she pointed her finger at him; she obviously tried to speak loud enough for others to hear her, but she was too naturally meek to manage that. A for effort, though. "I charr-renge you to judoenkai."

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld was perfectly happy chatting with Akizetsumei, happy that Sarah and Emily weren't trying to make good on any threats, and that Kyo was too distracted to get paranoid about him being in the general vicinity of his sister.

He was a little surprised when Etsu approached him; naturally, it turned out that she was going to try and challenge him in some way, but he couldn't help but wonder if the real reason for it was that she was feeling left out.

Of course, first he had to figure out what the heck she was challenging him to. "Judoenkai?" he repeated. Despite being fluent in Cizokian, he didn't recognize the word. It seemed to be composed of a kind of martial art and a word for the ocean, but unless Etsu was secretly master of some kind of water-based martial arts he had no idea what it could possibly mean.