Ashan 107, Arc 720
On the 107th of Ashan, Devin Thorn, thief, conman extraordinaire, politician and recently initiated exceptionally skilled and incredibly experienced Becomer decided to head to the beach. It was hot – no, it was beyond hot. For the past couple of trials, the island had suffered from a terrible heatwave. His roommate Aidan and he had moved into a tent in the garden as sleeping outside made the temperatures a little easier to bear, but by the 106th, not even sleeping outside helped much anymore. He was sweating. He was sweating in an entirely unappealing manner that would most likely displease his patron Delroth, the Immortal of Vanity, no matter what he did. He was even sweating when he was just lying on the couch motionlessly, and using his fan (with fancy black feathers on it) just resulted in a gust of hot air hitting his face which made everything even worse.
Once Devin and Aidan who had of course decided to come with him because he had no interest in sweating to death (or melting) had arrived at the beach that was already quite crowded despite it still being morning, Devin simply dumped his things (a black and golden sunshade, a basket with food and drinks and a blanket) into the sand and took his clothes off, until he was wearing nothing but a pair of bright purple shorts, before he put on a bit of sunscreen (fresh from a local alchemist) and proceeded to race across the sand, letting out a yelp approximately every trill. He hadn’t noticed it before, when he had been wearing shoes, but the sand was really hot. In fact, it almost seemed to be burning!
Aidan who was trying to tidy up the mess that Devin had left behind and neatly organizing his own things laughed at his somewhat acrobatic behavior and all those panicked little jumps. A few moments later, when he was finally ready and made his way to the water, he started to yelp in pain as well though and let out a number of vile and quite creative curses that caused Devin to laugh out loud as Aidan didn’t normally use swearwords. In fact, his roommate was one of the most well-behaved men that he knew!
A moment later, Devin finally set a foot into the water, letting out a pleased sigh as he did so before he ran forward, until the water reached up to his belly. It was then that he stopped abruptly. Aidan who joined him a few trills later, stopped as well and looked at him questioningly, “Why are you just standing there?” the slightly older man wanted to know. “The water’s really nice and cool! Let’s swim a bit! We could swim to those rocks over there!” he suggested and pointed at a couple of rocks jutting out of the water approximately a hundred meters from them. “They look as if they are big enough for us to sit on! We could stay there for a bit before we head back to the shore!”
“Come on! What are you waiting for? You were the one who proposed that we spend the trial at the beach!” he reminded Devin who frowned incredibly deeply before he muttered something under his breath.
“I can’t hear you”, Aidan pointed out.
“I can’t swim very well. I thought we’d just splash around in the cool water for a bit”, Devin murmured, barely loudly enough for the other man to hear and averted his gaze because this was really quite embarrassing, everything considered. He had never learned to swim properly. His parents had never taught him – they had been quite poor, and there had been no time or money for sports and other activities that weren’t absolutely vital.
On the 107th of Ashan, Devin Thorn, thief, conman extraordinaire, politician and recently initiated exceptionally skilled and incredibly experienced Becomer decided to head to the beach. It was hot – no, it was beyond hot. For the past couple of trials, the island had suffered from a terrible heatwave. His roommate Aidan and he had moved into a tent in the garden as sleeping outside made the temperatures a little easier to bear, but by the 106th, not even sleeping outside helped much anymore. He was sweating. He was sweating in an entirely unappealing manner that would most likely displease his patron Delroth, the Immortal of Vanity, no matter what he did. He was even sweating when he was just lying on the couch motionlessly, and using his fan (with fancy black feathers on it) just resulted in a gust of hot air hitting his face which made everything even worse.
Once Devin and Aidan who had of course decided to come with him because he had no interest in sweating to death (or melting) had arrived at the beach that was already quite crowded despite it still being morning, Devin simply dumped his things (a black and golden sunshade, a basket with food and drinks and a blanket) into the sand and took his clothes off, until he was wearing nothing but a pair of bright purple shorts, before he put on a bit of sunscreen (fresh from a local alchemist) and proceeded to race across the sand, letting out a yelp approximately every trill. He hadn’t noticed it before, when he had been wearing shoes, but the sand was really hot. In fact, it almost seemed to be burning!
Aidan who was trying to tidy up the mess that Devin had left behind and neatly organizing his own things laughed at his somewhat acrobatic behavior and all those panicked little jumps. A few moments later, when he was finally ready and made his way to the water, he started to yelp in pain as well though and let out a number of vile and quite creative curses that caused Devin to laugh out loud as Aidan didn’t normally use swearwords. In fact, his roommate was one of the most well-behaved men that he knew!
A moment later, Devin finally set a foot into the water, letting out a pleased sigh as he did so before he ran forward, until the water reached up to his belly. It was then that he stopped abruptly. Aidan who joined him a few trills later, stopped as well and looked at him questioningly, “Why are you just standing there?” the slightly older man wanted to know. “The water’s really nice and cool! Let’s swim a bit! We could swim to those rocks over there!” he suggested and pointed at a couple of rocks jutting out of the water approximately a hundred meters from them. “They look as if they are big enough for us to sit on! We could stay there for a bit before we head back to the shore!”
“Come on! What are you waiting for? You were the one who proposed that we spend the trial at the beach!” he reminded Devin who frowned incredibly deeply before he muttered something under his breath.
“I can’t hear you”, Aidan pointed out.
“I can’t swim very well. I thought we’d just splash around in the cool water for a bit”, Devin murmured, barely loudly enough for the other man to hear and averted his gaze because this was really quite embarrassing, everything considered. He had never learned to swim properly. His parents had never taught him – they had been quite poor, and there had been no time or money for sports and other activities that weren’t absolutely vital.
