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[KERFUFFLE]

Christien tried, with difficulty, to push the leaves aside. But the forest was so rich with life that there were just too many to keep on top of. "Yeah, me, too, I don't think a stick would be much help.. Plus, I don't want to kill it all," he said, struggling through a particularly dense patch.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina had to laugh at that; here they were, stranded on an island with barely any forms of life, and he was worried about killing the plantation. "Fair enough," she muttured, making a sharp turn to the right, bringing Christien with her of course. "Going straight will just lead us further into it, but going to the right, hopefully, will bring us out quicker and lead us to somewhere new."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"What? I don't, though," Christien said, knowing full well what she was laughing at. "The plants have never done anything to me before, and I don't see why they would." He chuckled, shrugging. He followed and then became level with her as they headed further towards the right, the plants becoming less of an issue, their numbers decreasing as they headed towards the forest's edge.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina practically sprinted to the open sand where only few palm-trees were scattered around, supplying perfect shade. "Want to rest here?" She asked, fingers still clasped around his arm, holding herself up. "And that's very true."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Christien took a quick, curious glance around the area that they'd come across, and nodded, "It's a nice spot," he said, sitting himself down in the shade of a palm tree. Here, it was much nicer than the other side of the island; the distance between the sand and the sea was much smaller, and the palm trees provided great shade. It was just, in a word, nicer.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina somehow managed to perfect the balancing act of keeping herself standing while Christien sat down, still tightly holding on to his arm, of course. "I don't know about you, but I feel disgusting." She lifted up her blood and sand drenched arm as an example. Eyeing the very clear, very blue, very clean looking ocean to her left, she uneasily let go. "I'm going to try and wash off." There was no invitation, no inclination for help, just a statement. Sure, she really liked being close to him, but, she didn't want him to think she was completely pathetic.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Christien looked up at her and asked, "Do you need any help getting down there or.. Anything at all, in fact?" He knew she hadn't been hinting at all when she'd spoken, it definitely hadn't sounded that way, and she wasn't like that anyway. "You'll have to be careful about trying not to get the.. 'sling', if you like, too wet, because then it won't work and.. well, I don't have another shirt," he smiled.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina's gaze subconsciously flicked down to his bare chest at his mention of his shirt, or lack there of. "Uh, n-no." she stammered, slowly making her way down the beach. "Just, if, uh, you could, err, look away for a little. Because, well I don't want to get my clothes wet, and, uh-" she let her voice trail off, hoping he'd get the point.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Christien nodded, "Yeah, that's okay. And you can trust me not to look, so don't worry," he reassured her, smiling before turning on his spot to sit facing the opposite direction from the sea, to give her the privacy she needed.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina stood, waste deep in the ocean, continuously throwing worried glanes at Christien even though he had said he wouldn't look. And she believed him. But being worried was in her nature. After somehow managing to walk back, fully dressed, though a bit damp, she plopped down next to Chiristien and sighed with content.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

As he had promise, Christien didn't turn to look at Elaina once until she sat back down next to him, fully clothed. He was patient, so he hadn't minded not doing anything while he waited for her. "Ah, so you made it," he said, chuckling, referring to the fact that she usually struggled with walking. "So do you feel better now?"

 

[VideoStar95]

"In the cleaner sense, yes." Elaina smiled at him while leaning backward, trying to get comfortable. Her golden hair was in wet waves down her back and she continuously ran her fingers through them, a make-shift comb. "Might you want to...err...shower?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Now that you're done, I think I will go," Christien replied, nodding, looking out to the sea. He stiffly got himself up and said, "So, you might want to take your turn and face the other way," before he started to head down to the water. He was looking forward to getting clean again. And even just feeling the cool of the water during the scorching day would be a relief.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina nodded and turned the other direction, squinting at the wavering palm-tree in the distance. She would not look, she would not look, she would not look. But then she did. For only a second! Luckily, she hadn't seen anything at all. Frowning, she scorned herself for being curious and waited for him to come back.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Christien hadn't thought that she would have looked, so he didn't turn to check at all while he was washing off. Besides, had she done so, she wouldn't have seen anything she hadn't already, because he was up to his waist in water, so she would have either seen his bare chest or back, which was obviously nothing new to her. He stepped out of the water, and he naturally dried out quickly in the hot sun, so it wasn't long before he was able to slip his boxers and jeans back on, and go back to where Elaina was sitting.

 

[VideoStar95]

"Hey," Elaina said when hearing him approach, not risking to look back at him, as she was feeling guilty of looking when he had given privacy to her. "Feel better?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Much better, thank you," Christien smiled, seating himself next to her once more. "A little less like I was a plane crash yesterday," he chuckled.

 

[VideoStar95]

Elaina smiled a bit, the fact that there, indeed, had been a plance-crash making it hard for her to turn her lips up even that slight bit. She fidgited next to him before slightly leaning into his bare chest. "So, what do we do now?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Whatever you feel like doing. I mean, it depends on how you are with your arm and just general how you feel. I'm not good at deciding things," Christien replied. "Especially because I don't know what's here."

 

[VideoStar95]

"I feel like doing something, I just don't know what." Elaina glanced down at her arm resting motionless in its sling before adding, "And, my arm feels better, not completely moveable, but not terribly painful." Taking a deep breath, she leaned back further onto him, liking how comfortably warm his skin was.