A Trip to the Beach

It's a peaceful day in Hibiscus Village, nothing truly out of the ordinary. The sun peaks through the trees, casting a soft pink hue on the concrete pathways. Dakota skips through the city, the sea green sundress she has swishing against his thighs like waves. She follows a slim sidewalk, her smile unmatched even by the brightness of the sky, carefully taking in her surroundings so she doesn't get lost. Not that she would mind being lost in such a beautiful city, but she's on a mission right now. After spending a few weeks communicating via lacrima with her blue-haired charming, she's finally going to be able to see him in person again, which is what keeps her pace more brisk than usual.

She arrives in front of the guild hall a few moments later and knocks on the large door. A tall, green-haired woman opens the door, a smirk settled naturally on her face. "What'cha need?" She asks, leaning against the doorway. "I'm here to see Gryphon Hayashi," Dakota responds, looking up towards the woman who is much taller than she is herself. Somehow, she isn't intimidated, her smile never fading. Seneca lets out a snort of laughter, assessing the short girl before her. "Isn't it illegal to date a minor?" She asks, and Dakota's cheeks puff up in offense. "I'm not a minor, I'm 18!" she retorts. "And we're not dating either." Seneca just laughs, standing up to her full height to step away from the doorway. "He's somewhere in the guild," she says, waving her hand around. Dakota huffs a short breath, her smile returning as she begins to look for Gryphon.

Gryphon finds Dakota waiting in the main hall. He had forgotten the tickets and had to run back to his room. He sees Seneca standing nearby and prays the green haired girl hadn't given Dakota a rude welcome. Waving his hand to catch her attention he quickens his pace to meet her. "Dakota! It's great to see you in person again. How are you?" He asks beaming.

Dakota hums delightedly when she sees Gryphon, closing the distance between them with a short hug. "I'm glad were able to meet up again! I'm doing wonderfully, especially now that I get to see you again! How about you?" She asks, lacing their fingers together. She is practically glowing, her thumbs lightly brushing over the back of his hands.

"I'm absolutely perfect now," he said, giving her hand a light squeeze. "You always bring the light and beauty of the dawning sun wherever you go." Though Seneca could be a pain in the butt, he was glad she pushed him to see Dakota again. The girl was a burst of new life for him, a happy and energetic ball to contrast his dulled daily routines. And she really did look stunning. They walked through the sea side town hand in hand until they reached the resort. "Hmm I don't think I asked, but have you ever been here before?"

Dakota's face is dusted with a faint blush at his compliment, her smile growing impossibly wider. "Thank you," she says, following Gryphon as they exit the guild hall and head towards the resort. She swings their hands between them, humming a slightly off-beat tune as she walks. At his question, Dakota shakes her head. "I've actually only ever travelled out of Onibus town a handful of times, and I've never been to the ocean either. Of course, I've been to lakeside beaches a bunch of times, but it's not really the same ya know? That's why I was really excited when you said you had tickets to Akane Beach Resort since I'd be able to spend time with you and get to try something new." Dakota easily gets distracted by the grandeur of the resort, her footsteps slowing until she came to a stop, gazing at the large building. "Wow..." She whispers, before kickstarting back into her normal personality. "Thank you so much for bringing me here!" She exclaims, turning to hug him tightly in gratitude.

The hug startles him initially but he quickly returns her hug. "Well I hope this day will live up to expectations," he replied with a laugh. "Since this is your first time is there anything you would like to see right off the bat?" Gryphon fishes out the resort map he had gotten from his pocket and hands it to Dakota. Small colored shapes mark different areas and attractions and a matching key sits in the bottom right corner. "Today is your oyster m'lady."

Dakota takes the map, looking over the locations with unmasked curiosity. "Hmm... Well, we should probably go to the beach first. The amusement park will be open late, and it'll be even prettier once they turn all the lights on!" She exclaims, throwing her arms up. "I have my bathing suit on underneath this, so I don't have to change, but we should probably go check in before we go. I don't wanna carry my bag around everywhere..." Dakota says, looking at the entrance to the building.

"Of course," Gryphon says. He takes her bag for her and they walk towards the building. "I hope you don't mind but when I booked the room I ended up getting a suite. They're supposed to be superb here." When they arrived at the front desk Gryphon gave his name and the concierge checked them in. The nice middle aged gentleman escorted them to their room, explaining it's interior on the way. "There's two bedrooms, each with private baths attached. They are connected by the central room which has the kitchen just to the right of the dining area. You will enter just to the right of that in the foyer. To your left directly after you walk in is the lounge, which can be converted to a media room with the push of a button, and behind this the entrance to one room. The other room is across the lounge. Both are equipped with a queen sized bed and luxurious linens. The cabinetry is imported wood and in the bathrooms there are also granite countertops. Plush bathrobes and slippers are in the separate linen closets along with towels and extra blankets. The large jacuzzi tubs can adjust to have colored water and bubbles. The wet bar is right next to the sliding glass doors leading to the beach. If you wish to change your room's appearance, simply write down the description on the provided parchment, exit, and reenter. Please enjoy your stay Monsieur and Mademoiselle."

Dakota nods, following Gryphon as they are checked in. As the man begins explaining their room, Dakota's eyes only grow wider and wider with every spoken word. She nearly loses her cool when he claims that their rooms can be changed as easy as that, her jaw dropping open slightly. When they reach the entrance, she's almost too shocked to enter but regains her composure fast enough so that nothing seems amiss. She reclaims her bag from Gryphon's grasp. "I'll take the room across the lounge," she says, making her way over. Even though she'd been told what to expect, it's still a surprise when she actually enters the room. They pulled out all the stops when designing the room, each piece of furniture having a unique and intricate design and decorated in rich colors. She sets her bag beside the bed, grabbing her beach towel and then steps out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her. "Ready to go whenever you are!" She calls, walking back over to the entrance of the room.

In Gryphon's room the decor is soft pastels and delicate designs. He's distracted until he hears Dakota's voice calling out. Rushing out without grabbing anything is manageable since he placed everything he would need in his requip storage.Being the gentleman he is, he opened the sliding door for Dakota and bowed slightly as he gestured for her to go first.

"Thank you," Dakota says, stepping through the threshold. She walks onto the small deck, slipping off the dress to reveal a navy bikini with a white floral design. She pulls her hair into a tight ponytail and then puts her shoes and dress on a beach chair. "Wow," she muses, watching the crashing waves as she steps off the deck and onto the sand. Her feet sink into the sand, and before she can step forward, she slips her flip flops off, tossing them on the deck. "Race you to the water!" She exclaims, already sprinting towards the ocean, kicking up the sand behind her. If she was called on her cheating, she wouldn't care much, so long as she got the water as fast as possible.

"Oh that's not even fair!" He shouted after her half heartedly. Taking off after her, Gryphon realized he wasn't going to catch up. His feet barely grazed the soft sand before darting off it once more. It was warm but not as to burn their feet. Dakota hit the water first with Gryphon right behind her, realizing a millisecond too late that he forgot to change into his swim suit. In his haste to requip he tripped and landed in the shallow waters surrounded by a white light. He shook the water out of his hair and looked at Dakota with the tips of his ears turning bright red. Chancing a joke he grinned and said,"I guess you could say I just fell for you."

Dakota laughs, turning around when she hits the water. "All's fair in love and war, my dear," she teases. But her triumph was short-lived, because as soon as she turns to face him, she's greeted with a large splash of water from when he'd fallen. Wiping the water from her face, she gives him a coy smile at his remark, crouching down in front of him. "You're gonna have to try harder than that," she says, a daring look in her eyes as she leans forward, lightly pecking his cheek, "If you wanna keep up with me." She finishes, rising back to her feet, offering her hand to help him up. Now that she isn't distracted by his pickup line, she can now look over her partners choice in clothing. Not only is Gryphon dressed in nothing but some swimming trunks, but he's glistening in the sun because of the water, and a dark blush covers her own ears. She clears her throat audibly, willing herself to look away but not quite wanting to. She finally averts her gaze to look into the water, immediately spotting a shell near her foot. "Since our last contest wasn't as fair, how about we have another one? Whoever collects the most seashells in a designated period of time wins. Of course, magic is prohibited, since it would give us various advantages over each other. And the winner will also need a reward..." She trails off, thinking of possible things she'd want, and what she wouldn't mind giving up in case she lost. "The loser owes the winner a favor, which can be traded in for anything, within reason," she decides, looking to Gryphon to make sure he is okay with the idea.

Satisfaction rings through his mind seeing Dakota at least a little flustered and the light kiss was a nice touch. After hearing the proposed contest and prize, Gryphon agrees and waits for her signal to start. "With that incentive, how could I resist?" It echoes in his thoughts on how beautiful she is as a new determination alights her face. The way the vibrant sun shines through her blazing hair. The delicate shells beneath the water, buried partially in the sand were no comparison to her. She was beautiful... "In ways she doesn't even know," he murmurs.

Dakota nods her head, creating two identical small jagged pieces of ice with her magic. "As soon as these melt, time is up!" She says, handing it over to Gryphon. "And don't worry about any magical advantages, I promise mine will melt just as fast as yours," she adds, then she steps over to his side, though faces in the opposite direction. "Ready, set," She pauses, waiting a few long heartbeats before shouting "GO!" She then drops down onto her knees, picking up nearby shells as she begins slowly shimmying forward. Her knees and hands unearth shells from beneath water, and she belatedly realizes that maybe the no magic rule was a mistake on her part. Her hands are small, just like the rest of her, and holding more than a few shells causes them to spill over, especially because of the icicle she has to carry. "For goodness sakes," she grumbles to herself, and then moves back to the shore. She creates a shallow hole a few feet away from the water, making sure the tide can't pull them back in. When she gets back in the water, the ice has melted about half way, and she begins searching for more shells, making several hurried trips back and forth between the water and shore to deposit them.

Gryphon never doubted her honesty and hit the water less than a heartbeat after her. His hands were bigger and could hold more but he also had to be careful not to break any. Long delicate fingers pushed through wet sand and gently picked up the calcium shields. He places them in the pockets of his swim trunks with care and sees the icicle has melted just past halfway. He took Dakota's example and made a quick hole of his own, depositing his spoils... only about three quarters of what Dakota had. He plunged back into his work with new energy. Unfortunately he ended up breaking the few shells he collected and had to wash his hands off and begin again. His fingers hit a large lump that he glanced at, checked to make sure Dakota hadn't noticed, pocketed, and hurriedly worked to catch up.

The last vestiges of the ice disappeared, and Dakota stood up from the water, depositing the shells with the rest of hers. Eagerly she counted them, coming up with 27 shells. Most were white, with faint touches of orange or pink. She found a few vibrant red ones, one with golden bands on it, a couple orange ones, and a black one with faint white stripes. She carefully shifted through the shells, making sure she didn't miss any, then shouted, "I've got 27," over to Gryphon. She began lining the shells up, placing her favorites closest to her, and then working outwards.

In the remaining seconds of ice, the bluenette dove his hands into the sand and scooped out a large handful,. He quickly rinsed them off and deposited them into his pile. As Gryphon counted his own he arranged them in a spiral and stopped when he got to the last one in his hand. A grin cracked over his face as he laughed out," 32. Those last few seconds caught me up and more. Do you want to check to make sure or do you trust me?"

Dakota looked over to him in disbelief. "You got 32!" She exclaims, jumping up and running over to his side, crouching down to look at the shells. "Man, I was gonna use my favor to make you buy me an ice pop. Oh well," she shrugs, glancing over to her pile. A bright smile appears on her face as an idea pops into her mind. "Pick out your favorite three, one big one and two smaller ones about the same size," She says, moving over to her own arrangement of shells. She picks a bright red one, one with golden bands, and the black one, before moving back over to Gryphon. She creates a small drill of ice, then creates small holes on the end of each of her shells. "We can make necklaces with them!" She says excitedly, holding up the three shells to show him. "We just need to find a string, and then tie 'em together," she adds.

A bright flash and there's an assortment of different colored strings resting in his palms. He offers them to her, letting her pick what colors she wanted then picking his own. He braided red, blue, and lavender together to create a cord and added his shells to it.

Dakota makes a small hum as she thinks moving to sit down in front of him on her knees. She picks a teal one then ties her shells to it. The large red one rested in the middle, with the other two about an inch away from it on either side. After checking her handiwork, she slips it over her head. "Alright, Gryphon, what's your wish?" She asks after a moment. "There really isn't that much I can think of that I wouldn't do. Just nothing too over the top or bizarre." She has shifted onto her stomach, kicking her feet in the air as she looks up at Gryphon.

"Hmm. Well then I hope this isn't too bizarre for you," he states. Before Dakota can ask what he means, Gryphon moves forward. His mouth lightly presses to hers in a gentle kiss. It takes a lot of will for the requip mage to keep it brief, no more than a few seconds and he pulls back with a lopsided grin. His hand hooks around the back of his neck as the smile becomes a bit sheepish. The hope that he didn't royally screw things up only now rings through his mind.

Dakota is slightly shocked at first, but returns the slight pressure against her lips after a moment. When the blue haired mage pulls away, she smiles brightly. "You didn't need a special favor to do that," she says, shifting back up into a seated position. "But if that's what you're gonna use it for, does that mean I can't kiss you?" She asks, her eyes gleaming deviously.

"Oh trust me, if that's what you want you can kiss me anytime you'd like," he purrs. "But I guess this means we're all tied up in competition wins.