EXTERIOR- The beach, deep into the wilds, far west of Triangle Valley. A short way north of the oceanic port where adventurous sailors drop their spoils, to be shipped to Saustis.

  The beach is poputed exclusively by muscur, tall, well-fed, well-sculpted and well-armed men and women, wearing either barely-not-indecent-exposure-type swimsuits or full sets of glistening armor, and nothing between those two things. Save for maybe a small handful wearing robes or something. The vast majority of them are visibly uncomfortable, as if haunted by some unseen force.

  PRESENT - THE GIRL (Wearing a grey freshly bloodstained sweater, and her maroon ball cap. No armor. YES shorts, because beach.) THE BOY (Shirtless, with flip-flops and incredibly short trunks that the girl had ying around, for whatever reason.)

  TIME - Well into the afternoon, but nowhere near early evening. The sun shines brilliantly upon the beach-goers.

  "... it appears that you are successful in your pursuit to leer at people." The boy emotionlessly stated, studying the expression of all the beachgoers who fell victim to the girl's gaze. "Although the purpose eludes me."

  "Mostly just to make people uncomfortable." The girl's voice was ft and objective, steady and straight as her gaze. "It's fun. But lust pys a rge part in it, too."

  "oh." Said the boy, nodding. "... what is 'lust?"

  "I don't actually know, but it makes people uncomfortable when I say it. Watch." The girl raised her head and put her hands around her mouth in a megaphone-esque manner. "LUST!"

  And everyone within several hundred meters became uncomfortable.

  "wow." The boy was awestruck.

  "See?" The girl's hands returned to her hips. "Now you do it. Say the word."

  "lust." The boy repeated.

  "Louder."

  "LUST." Louder'd the boy.

  And everyone within several hundred meters didn't particurly care.

  "What?" The girl squinted angrily. "Do it again."

  "LUST." Again'd the boy.

  A handful of people within ten or so meters chuckled.

  "No!" The girl grumbled and sneered. "That's not right!" She turned toward the boy. "BUG! Start leering at people! Do what I did! Do it now!"

  "okay." The boy did his best.

  Those unfortunate enough to catch his notice couldn't feel much of anything, really. In truth, he was hardly noticed by anyone.

  Most that did notice him simply didn't care, and quickly forgot. Others gnced at him, maybe with a bit of a smile, some even waved casually.

  "BULLSPIT!" The girl looked at the boy, her face red and wearing the scrunch of rage. "DAMN YOU, BUG! DAMN YOU AND YOUR GENERAL VIBE OF VULNERABILITY AND CHILDLIKE NON-THREATENING-NESS!" She spat. "YOU'RE RUINING THIS FOR ME!"

  "i am sorry." He wasn't.

  "BWEH!" She let out a strange noise and threw her arms up. "BULL! BULL, I SAY!" She said.

  "perhaps you would prefer another activity." The boy looked toward the girl with as helpful a look as he could muster. "there appears to be many alternative things we could be doing. other beach-goers are swimming, frollicking, burrying things, building small structures out of the sand, and pying games involving the striking of small balls. i believe ball-striking may be a positive outlet for your aggression."

  "Balls, eh?" The girl sneered back at the boy, her rage still simmering. "I can think of a couple BALLS I'd like to strike..."

  "which ones?" The boy tilted his head.

  The girl stepped closer, gritting her teeth, staring dead into the boy's eyes.

  "THE MOON!" She cried out, getting spittle on the boy's face.

  The boy squints. "you used a plural."

  "THERE ARE MULTIPLE MOONS!" She turned back toward the ocean, and crossed her arms with a huff. "IN OTHER PLACES! FAR AWAY FROM HERE!"

  "that is..." The boy squinted some. "maybe true. i think it might be. but i have no way of knowing for certain."

  "I do. I have a good intuition for the retive amounts of spherical objects."

  "does that come up often?"

  "No, but I'm gd to have it when it does."

  "yes. i suppose one would be."

  "Of course."

  . . .

  "so. how do you feel about doing other things?" Spheres being as they may, the boy wanted their beach day to be as pleasant as possible.

  The girl sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I guess... Swimming might be fun. Maybe I'll get a kick of watching you almost drown."

  "that is the spirit." The boy heard that expression somewhere, probably. "come. let us go."

  "Yeah, yeah..." The girl sighed, and the two of them made their way towards the ocean.

  And They made it to the ocean. Without interruption.

  "Well, that was decidedly uneventful." Said the girl as the two of them left the water while the sun set behind them, having pyed to their collective heart's content.

  "i suppose that is true."

  "I was HOPING for a sea monster or a witch or something... But at least watching you flounder was pretty enjoyable."

  "i am gd i could be of help."

  Sounds like they had a good time. Good for them!

  "But now my sweater's all waterlogged." The girl looked mildly-miffedly down at her sweater, which she had kept on the entire time she was swimming. "I don't usually swim in ocean water... if this doesn't dry properly, I'm going to hit you."

  "i think you would do that regardless."

  "True... Ooh, maybe I'll force it on you, tie you up, and throw you in the firepce!" There was a deceptive, seemingly innocent sparkle in her eyes as she spoke. "That'd be new-" The sparkle suddenly disappeared. "Wait no, already thought about that one. It'd burn the clothes, too. No good."

  "good catch."

  "Yep." The girl nodded, leading the boy up the beach once more. "Well, we'll workshop it."

  And workshop it they did.

  For a solid 30 seconds, before a massive explosion from mere steps in front of them sent a cloud of dust flying into their faces and shook the the entire beach, causing each and every one of the beachgoers to tremble or fall.

  This beach episode was not over yet.