Cal and Clarice - Backdated

[ax_mimic]

Clarice, being Clarice, offers Cal a new haven. AKA: beach time!


Going back to classes hadn't stopped feeling weird. Sure, Cal had taken summer school, but those had all been online classes; he hadn't had to actually be around anyone. This was different. This was a lot more socialization than he felt entirely capable of handling, especially when he was still reeling from the events of late August. Fortunately he shared a class with Caleb and Loki, and one with Clint, but that left him on his own for most of them.

By the time classes were out every day, all he wanted was to get away from everyone. Take Abs and go for a run on the grounds, and try not to think about all of the things pressing down on his mind.

He'd just gone to get Abs, and was crossing the foyer towards the front door, when he spotted Clarice, looking about ready to hit the side of the lake, in a swimsuit and sarong. He slowed his pace down, because she was good people, and he could almost hear the Professor urging him to create more bonds with the students here. "Hey," he greeted her with a small smile. "Off to the lake?"

"Hey, Cal," she greeted him with a small wave, slinging her bag over her back. His question caused her nose to wrinkle. "Nah, is too cold for me. I was thinkin' I might take a lil' jaunt down to the islands for a couple hours. Y'know, get some sun, soak up a lil' of the heat. Maybe catch a swim. What you up to? Walkin' the dog?"

"Yeah," Cal confirmed, looking down at Abs, who'd come over to sniff Clarice's feet. Fuck, that sounded just perfect. Some real heat, some real sun, and a real swim. He scratched at his shoulder with his opposite hand. "Or she's walking me. It's fifty fifty."

Despite not being much of a pet-person, overall, Clarice did reach down to scratch the inquisitive puppy between the ears. Her bright green eyes then turned back toward Cal. "That sounds rough," she grinned. "How about a authentic island beach getaway to take your mind off it? I know some great spots. All the privacy you could want, plenty room for the dog to run. Better weather than we got this far north, if nothin' else."

Cal frowned at the unexpected offer, instinctively ready to turn it down. He hadn't left the grounds again, since going out to get Caleb back, and he wasn't sure he was ready to. He sure as hell wasn't ready to be out and about where people were - the thought alone made his spine stiffen, and anxiety spike in his lungs. But Clarice's words about privacy halted his refusal, and he found himself actually considering it. "Somewhere without anybody?" he asked, clearly torn.

"Other'n me, nah," she confirmed with a nod. "I can' really do the more popular beaches, on accounta ..." Clarice trailed off, gesturing to indicate the more-than-typical amount of lavender skin presently on display. "It'd cause a fuss. But I know lotsa places where the sand's just as fine, the water's just as clear, and you can go for days without ever seein' anybody." Seemed like just the thing Cal was looking for, to her.

It still seemed too good to be true. Or perhaps Cal was simply looking for a way to get out of it, because what if he freaked out, and couldn't do it. But he wanted to be in the ocean so bad. "And you'd be okay with me... with us... trailing along?"

"Why not?" she returned with a shrug. "I's take Laura, sometimes. Or anybody that looks like they need a break, and could do with the sun. I mean, I's so used to carryin' people here and there 'cause they need to get in and out of the school quietly, I don' hardly even notice anymore. It'll be more fun with company, anyhow. You can scare away any barracudas the come 'round."

"I probably could," Cal agreed, distractedly. Without thinking too hard about it, even. Probably without even shifting. He breathed in, and out, back in, and decided to stop thinking so hard. "Yeah, sure, let's go. About time Abs meets the ocean. Right, girl?" Upon hearing her name, Abs looked up at him, and barked cheerfully.

"No time like the present, ay'?" Clarice agreed cheerfully, just as a shimmering curtain of portal energy blinked open in front of them. "Is definitely one of my favorite things. Perfect for cuttin' your brain off for a while, when you's need to decompress."

Abs had already rushed right through the portal, and onto a very sandy beach. Cal gave Clarice a small smile for that sentiment, and in gratitude, then turned to the portal and murmured "Okay," under his breath before walking through. Immediately, the glare of the sun hit him, heat bearing down on him, and he smiled at the miles of deserted beach and really fucking blue ocean. He tilted his head back towards the sun, and chuckled happily.

Fuck. Place like this, being off the school grounds wasn't so bad.

Clarice immediately kicked off her worn sandals, digging her lavender toes into the fine, white sand. She spread a beach towel to keep any pine needles or broken shell fragments that might have been lurking beneath at bay, then pulled her tank top over her head. "My cousins and I used to come here, sometimes; it's one place we knew I could run around in the open without endin' up in the Enquirer, or somethin'. Mostly holidays, though; on a day like this, nobody's likely to be 'round."

Between the two of them, they could all make a quick getaway, if needed. Cal tried not to linger on that thought, and worked on getting his sneakers and socks off, instead. "It's - wow. I love our NorCal beaches, but this place is straight out of some dream desert island postcard shit."

"This is where they's go to find that dream desert island postcard shit," she told him, grinning. "I mean, we don' got much 'round here to talk about, but the scenery's good. Didn' you ever see alla them pirate movies Johnny Depp was in?" Clarice finished shedding the rest of her minimal clothing as she posed the question, until she was soaking up the sun in her lime-green bikini. She wasn't normally as comfortable around near-strangers, but the familiar surroundings mitigated any second-thoughts she might otherwise have had. This was home, and she felt freer to be herself here than practically anywhere else.

"What, it was shot here?" Cal asked, as he pulled his shirt off. He felt a little more awkward about it than he would have before the Right had surged back into their lives, but he felt more awkward about everything now than he did before. And like fuck he would let that stop him. "And I mean it's not the same seeing the movies and actually... being here."

"Parts of it," she amended. "And some James Bond movies, one time ago. Anyway, I guess I can' argue with that; seein' it in person is a totally dif'rent kinda thing to seein' it on TV or at the movies. Enjoy it, while we's here. I'm pretty sure you could find your way back, if you wanted to, without needin' me to 'port you." The details of how Clarice was able to navigate when teleporting escaped her mostly, but she did know that once she'd been somewhere, she could always go back again. Cal probably knew that, too, but it seemed worth mentioning, just the same.

She placed one lavender foot in the water, and shivered. Cool, like she expected--at least, by her own standards. She'd need to ease her way into it.

It helped that she had her back turned, and her focus was on getting into the water. It was fucking stupid, and when had Cal developed this weird modesty? He'd never had any issue with his body, fit as basketball used to keep him - and he'd never been as fit as he had been coming out of the Right, and had remained, thanks to his late night insomnia-battling work-out sessions. But here he was, glad that Clarice had her back turned as he undressed.

Thanks to Loki's powers, his boxers became actual swim trunks, and he walked over to the water, eyebrows climbing at how warm it was. Not exactly unexpected, but this would be so much easier than back home.

He walked into the ocean readily now, and dove under the water as soon as it reached high enough.

Clarice gave a little squeal as the splash from Cal's dive into the water caused goosebumps to rise on her lavender skin. She gave a halfhearted glare, bright green eyes narrowed, then gave up and laughed with a shake of her head. Glancing toward Cal's puppy, she gave a rueful, "Least you got more sense than to go divin' headfirst into freezin' water."

Abs barked at Clarice twice, then, as if to prove her wrong, ran into the turf towards her.

"Wait--!" she threw up her hands in futile protest as the small dog came barreling through her, sending Clarice tumbling onto her butt in the sand--and up to her neck in water. She shivered for a few moments before her body acclimated, and grunted an only mildly surly, "Thanks," at the enthusiastic puppy, before blinking into the air a few feet further out, tucking her legs under her as she cannonballed into the water.

Abs darted away in surprise as water splashed at her, and Cal surfaced a little way further, smiling at the cannonball he'd just missed. He hadn't even thought of that application of Clarice's powers, busy as he had been reacquainting himself with swimming in the ocean. He'd missed it so much. "Sweet!" he called out appreciatively.

"I like it," Clarice called back when she resurfaced, pushing her soaked magenta hair back out of her face. "Is also good for getting clear of the water when barracuda show up. Keep an eye out, ay'? They's pretty common, 'round here, and dumb as a bag of sand. They's tend to bite first an' ask questions later. Also, they give you the worst food poisonin' you ever had, half the time, when you try to eat 'em."

"So they're no use at all, is what you're saying," Cal replied, giving his surroundings a cursory glance as he shifted into a lazy backstroke. With Clint's healing factor, he wasn't too worried.

"Well," she amended, somewhat reluctantly, mimicking his posture and floating on her back in the gently-lapping water, "if you get a good one, they's some of the sweetest fish you'll find. Is just a crap shoot." Green eyes glanced Cal's way. "If you want, we can stop by my folks later and see if anybody cooked. Should be plenty of leftovers, and I's usually pretty hungry after a swim."

"Not really a people person," Cal answered, as evenly as he could manage. It wasn't her fault if the offer was enough to make his heart thud in his chest, and the vice close in on his lungs. Before he could let the feeling get its hooks into him, he dove back under the surface, and shifted his lower half to a fish tail, merman-style. Loki's mutation never failed to deliver.

She shrugged, not really having any problem at all with somebody who might not be comfortable taking food from a crowd of strangers; she could always blink back later, if she wanted to grab a bite. But her food-based concerns flew immediately from her head as Cal's lower half stretched and twisted as soon as he was back beneath the water, eventually settling into a scaly fish tail like something out of Disney. Clarice gave a quiet, appreciative whistle as he darted through the water, propelled by his modified lower half, and wondered idly just from whom he'd borrowed that particular trick.

* * *

A little while later, Cal dropped on the sand, heedless of the way it would cling to his wet skin. He lay back and soaked in the sun, an arm thrown over his eyes, a wet Abs settled beside him. Eventually, he cracked an eye open to peer at Clarice. "Thank you. For bringing me here."

The swim had done wonders to unwind some of the tension in him, and the sun was doing the rest. He fucking missed California (although he could get used to the ocean temperature here).

Clarice was far more careful when she came out of the sea, heading straight for her towel and drying off a bit before beginning to meticulously brush as much sand as she could back onto the beach. Sure, the powdery stuff was great when you were dry and it was dry, and even when you were wet. But there came a point in that uneven drying time when the stuff just got gritty and uncomfortable, and she would have much preferred to avoid that experience after an outing as nice as this one.

"Ain' nothin'," she told Cal as she reclined back on her elbows on the towel, satisfied she was mostly-irritant-free, for the moment. "Is a nice place to come back to, when you want to get away for a bit. Use it as much as you want; is always here, ay'?"

"I will," Cal told her, after considering it. It was a good thought, having this place to come to whenever he wanted to get away from everyone. As long as no one was here, anyway; he'd avoid the weekends and holidays. (He'd have to look up holidays in the Bahamas.)

"I'll show you one next one when we come again," Clarice told him with a nod. "Is plenty of these pretty lil' beaches off the beaten track down this way, and the more of 'em you know, the easier it is to avoid wherever the people them is conglomerate." She smiled. "Bein' purple, me an' my cousins had to find all the best, secluded spots where we wasn' likely to run into nobody else. They's all just a quick 'port away."

Cal leaned up on his elbows, looking properly over at Clarice. "Thank you." He didn't know why she was helping out so much, and without him even asking, but fuck, he'd take it.

She shrugged, luminous green eyes looking out over the expanse of undulating turquoise water in the distance. "Everybody is need to get away, sometimes. We's prob'ly luckier than most, when it comes to bein' able to. But maybe we's need it more than most, too." Her shoulders rose and fell again. "I don' know. Anyway, you're welcome. Least now you is have somewhere to come to, instead of just things you is tryin' to get away from, ay'?"

Cal gave her a small nod, then looked back ahead at the sea. "Yeah," he breathed out. "That's a good way to look at it."

"I's have my moments," Clarice agreed with a satisfied nod.