A Day on the Beach (Open)

[mrcrazycakes]

Sora stepped out of the boat dock with a big grin on his face when he got to the little island he and his friends always played on. It was a bright, sunny Summer day, with the sea breeze blowing and the waves giving that 'whoosh' sound like they always did. Today was going to be a great day, he just knew it!

...As soon as someone got here, that is. It looked like he was alone right now, so Sora went on the first thing that came to him. In a moment, he was darting across the beach as fast as he could, a little bit of running to kill time while someone arrived. Maybe Riku would show up today, or Selphie or Wakka or Tidus. Or even somebody he hadn't met yet! Yep, today was going to be a great day.

[DanteHyu]

There he was. It had been such a long time since he had been on the small island. He remembered when he was younger and when Ivan and him would climb the trees and yell at each other from the tree-tops. He remembered when they swam as far out in the ocean as possible before they got too tired. Dante stepped off of the boat and onto the dock, the wood making a soft thud.

He took in the sight of the island, thinking about what he would do while he was here. It was the weekend, so he had all of the time in the world to do anything. As long as people from his grade didn't see him, he'd be good for anything. He jogged off the small wooden structure and stepped onto the sand, scanning the area again to see if there was anyone else. It seemed empty, but there was someone here, surprisingly.

Dante started his jog once again and attempted to catch up with the energetic boy, waving his left hand to catch his attention, if he decided to look back. "Hey! Hold up!" Dante realized that he was about to hang out with a kid that was most likely younger than him. He couldn't really believe it, but he was bored out of his mind and anything seemed about right.

[mrcrazycakes]

Sora was a bit surprised to hear another voice calling out to him so soon. He had no idea who it was, though; he didn't recognize the voice, and his friends usually called for him by name (As he had yet to meet another boy named 'Sora'). He stopped and looked at whoever it was, but Sora had no idea who the guy was supposed to be. He looked like he was older than Riku, but he didn't look as old as his parents or some of the other adults on the island.

"Uh... Hello!" Sora replied after a second, putting his hands behind his head and grinning in that characteristic way of his. He was practically a shining ball of optimism. "I don't think I've ever met you before. My name's Sora; it's nice to meet you, mister!"

[DanteHyu]

Mister. That was the first time anyone had callen him by that name. Was he really that old looking enough to be called a "mister"? It didn't really matter at the moment. Dante had caught up with the youngster, giving him a big grin back. "Nice to meet you Sora. I'm Dante Hyu." The young man looked up at the sky, noticing that there wasn't even a single cloud. It was a perfect day for absolutely anything!

"It's a great day, isn't it? So perfect." Dante placed his hand out for a shake. The boy seemed nice. He reminded him of his friend Ivan when they first met. Such an optimistic person. So optimistic that it was sometimes annoying as all get-out! Sora, though, seemed very easy to get along with.

[mrcrazycakes]

"Dante...? That's kind of a weird name..." Sora commented, more thinking aloud than trying to give an insult. He noticed he voiced the comment and quickly retracted it. "Uh, I mean... You know, it's not really normal for around here. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just... uh... You know what? Never mind."

Sora grinned again and folded his hands behind his head at the change of subject to the weather. "Yup! Mom said the man on the radio said today was the perfect day to do outdoors stuff! 'cept it's supposed to rain tonight... But that's okay; I'll probably be back at home by the time it starts anyways! So... How come you're out here? I didn't think anyone but me and my friends came here..."

[DanteHyu]

"Dante...? That's kind of a weird name..." Gah! Dante thought he was a bit serious at first! Even when Sora explained to him what he was trying to think, he was still startled to hear someone talk about his name, of all things. It didn't matter too much, really. People usually talk about his odd fashion sense for such a warm place, but...

The kid puts his arms behind his head and grinned even bigger than before. Then he started talking about that man on the radio. Supposedly there was going to be rain tonight. That would mean no standing outside to watch the sunset tonight. It was really unfortunate. "So... How come you're out here?" Dante looked out towards the sea, shoving his hands into his pockets. "This is where I used to come when I was a lot younger. Me and my best friend would try and swim out as far as possible to find something else. We'd swim farther every day, but there was nothing but endless blue."

"As for today? I'm out here because I wanted to see what else has changed out here." Dante looked over at the small island with a tree on it. It now had a bridge connected to it. "Take, for instance, that bridge over there. The one leading to the big tree. It wasn't there last time when I was here."

[mrcrazycakes]

Sora thought the guy sounded a lot like Riku. Riku seemed to want to get off the island badly, too... but couldn't. He didn't think Riku had tried swimming out to sea, though; that would be dangerous. And what had changed...? Wow, the guy must not've been here for a long time; that bridge was there when he'd first come to the little island with his parents. "Uh... That's okay, I guess... I dunno, I don't really think about those kinds of things."

[DanteHyu]

Wow. Dante just listened to himself and noticed that he was acting sorta weird. It was the unfortunate side-effect of boredom for the teen. Dante smiled back at his new "friend". He wasn't quite sure whether or not Sora and him were official friends yet and he probably just made friendship a bit out of reach. He'd sure think that he was a bit odd.

He decided to change the subject. "Well, I also came out here because I was bored. I'm feeling a bit younger today, so do you have an idea of what to do? I'd honestly be up for anything."

[mrcrazycakes]

"Well... I was just going to run or swim or something until Riku or someone got here. We like to fight with wooden swords and stuff like that, if you like doing that sort of thing..." Sora suggested, shrugging. He really had no idea what people older than Riku did for fun. Nothing he'd come across yet, anyways; he was more preoccupied with finding things to fill the days with and have fun, most of which included climbing trees, fighting with Riku or whoever happened to be there, swimming, and running around. He wasn't much for low-energy activities; they just weren't as much fun.

[DanteHyu]

Dante pulled his hands from his pockets, placing one on his chin and using the other arm to hold the chin hand up. He was thinking again. The young man was scratching at his developing beard, which he would probably have to shave tonight. This was sort of a hard descision to make. Run? Swim? Fight with wooden swords? These were all things that would eliminate his boredom, but which one would he choose?

"Well... I guess fighting with a wooden sword sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't have a sword. Are there any extras around, or am I going to have to improvise with a normal stick?" Dante said this with a bit of a laugh behind it.

[mrcrazycakes]

Sora frowned and twisted his head to the side a bit, looking up at that piece of his hair he could see in thought. "Uh... There might be an extra in the shack over there, if you wanna look. I can't remember if there are any more in there or not; I think Riku said he kept some spares back there in case I lost mine or something," He replied, shrugging helplessly. He really couldn't remember; it never really crossed his mind.

[DanteHyu]

The young man couldn't help but feel that the boy was getting a bit frustrated with him. Dante wanted to have some fun and he had an opportunity to do so, but his he was going about it the wrong way. At least, that's what his heart was telling him. So, the teen decided to go check the wooden shack out and look for a spare sword.

Each step he made caused the sand to crunch beneath his feet. It was such a calming sound to him. It reminded him of... Well, just about everything that happened outside. Playing with his friends, swimming, collecting shells, fishing with his father; It made him all warm and fuzzy. He couldn't help but notice the sound of the waves now as they sloshed up to the shore. The Islands... it was such a great place to be.

Dante walked up to the door to the shack and pushed it open with ease. The door creaked slightly as it pushed the sand under it to the side. It was a bit dark inside, but the light streaming from the small openings where the wooden planks failed to meet kept him from tripping over himself. There was a flight of stairs directly ahead of him that lead up to the bridge and, to his right, two wooden swords.

Dante proceeded to pick one of them up, noticing the small size and light weight compared to his sparing sword. It was still a decent toy, though. That was what they were, after all. Toys.

The squinting teen stepped out of the darkness of the shack and into the bright outside, a wooden sword in hand. As his eyes adjusted, he spotted Sora, lifting his newly found "weapon" over his head and waved it a couple of times.

[mrcrazycakes]

Sora grinned and pulled his own wooden sword from his belt, ready to start his spar with the new friend he'd made. "Okay, the first person to hit the other one five times wins. Does that sound good to you?" He asked, taking his 'fighting stance' as it were, which would probably strike the swordsman in front of him as being nowhere near good for a fighting stance. With any luck, the older boy would decide to show him something better than that.

[DanteHyu]

Dante grinned, gripping the hilt with both hands and spreading his feet about shoulder length apart. It was sorta weird holding this sword, since the hilt was a lot smaller than that of No Name. He could make it work, though. He brought it down in front of him, his eyes keeping track of his opponent. A smile spread across his face as he began to speak.

"Five hits? Sounds good to me. Brace yourself!" Dante tightened his grip and stepped off immediately afterwards. He pushed his feet into the sand, bring grains of the substance up into the air. Dante wouldn't try and hurt the kid. It was all supposed to be fun and games. He'd still use most of the things that he learned, but he would try his hardest not to leave any big bruises, if any at all.

As he got closer, the young swordsman lunged forward with a side-ways swing, releasing his grip with one hand to make the swing quicker and reach farther.

[OOC: So, no abilities and no HP? Just a five hit rule and nothing else? It works for me. I'll try and IC show Sora some moves.]

[mrcrazycakes]

((I usually put a little HP bar down at the bottom to show how many hits have been taken, but that's generally how I do it.))

Sora raised his own toy sword and blocked the hit, but he was knocked off balance by the force of it and ended up on his rear in the sand. He pushed himself back up and charged at Dante, laughing and giving a sloppy swing upwards. "Where'd you learn to use swords, Dante?" Sora asked, grinning. Maybe he could teach the brunette some things?