invisible girl;

Gwen laughed, “I’m happy to wait around a little while until you feel ready to go back in, besides it’ll give us a chance to talk for a little while.”  She leaned back, letting the sun warm her face, and she supposed that if she was going to be held hostage anywhere, she was lucky it was somewhere beautiful, where she could still go for a swim. “When did you come to Wales?” She smiled, “I would love to go to New Zealand one day, from what I’ve heard and the pictures I’ve seen, it’s absolutely beautiful.”

“When I was younger,” she said, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “I think my father needed to talk to your parents about something, and he dragged me along. But I got sick with a nasty cold and was quarantined to my room the entire time,” she sighed. Wendy wished she was back in a time where the worst of her worries were that of terrible head colds. “I may be a bit biased, but I would agree.” She nodded her head with a smile on her face. “I miss home,” she admitted. 

Aoife had woken up that day with the urge to go for a swim. Like all the pirates, she missed the ocean. So she figured a quick dip would help her feel a little less annoyed at being stuck on the island instead of on the Raging Tsunami. As she headed down to the water, she passed by one of the royals, pausing to speak to the other blonde. “I figured it would be, but hopefully it will warm up as the summer goes on” she said. “As long as I don’t have to wear a drysuit to go for a swim, I think it can’t be too bad” she joked.

Wendy laughed softly, moving to wrap her arms around her legs, her knees bring brought up to her chest. Her hair, already drying and completely unruly in its curling, lay over her back. “I don’t think you’ll need a drysuit,” she tells her, offering the other an encouraging smile. “I was okay without one.” She leaned back on her hands, the bottoms of her palms digging into the sand. She extended her legs and crossed one ankle over the other. “At first it was chilly, though. So fair warning,” she told her teasingly. 

After his shift at the infirmary - he decided to go home to just change into some gym shorts and a tank top before going out for a run. There was no point in taking a shower if he was going to get dirty again anyhow. After 45 minutes or so, he came to a stop by the beach to catch his breathe not realizing there was someone already there before they had spoken up. 

“You’ll be grateful for that chilly water when the sun decides to try and melt your skin off.” He lightly joked. 

Wendy laughed softly, shrugging her shoulders. “I like the warmth,” she tells him, sitting up and crisscrossing her legs over one another in a pretzel style. She brushed her hands off of sand and placed them in her lap. She tilted her head back to look at him, squinting her eyes against the sun. “Though my complexion might tell you otherwise.” 

Gwen set her towel down on the sand before sitting down on top of it. While she was here, she might as well take advantage of the warm days and warm water, the ocean back home was much cooler than it was here. “That’s the plan, would you like to join me?” She shrugged, “I’m okay with chilly, I’m sure chilly water here is warmer than it ever gets back home in Wales, so I’ll take what I can get.”

“I was in for a while,” she said, laughing softly as she shrugged. “Let my fingers go back to normal and I’ll be more than willing to join you again.” She showed the other her fingers, revealing the pruned fingertips, wiggling them teasingly. “I’ve been to Wales, and Scotland, and both are much cooler than back at home,” she confessed, nodding her head. The weather on the idea is quite similar to that of New Zealand. “So you’re most definitely right.” 

Ainsley hadn’t done much by way of socializing since after the bonfire, but there were times she sought to change it. The sea water lapped at her feet as she made her way down the shoreline. Spotting Wendy once she heard that familiar voice, she turned to face her with an easy smile. “I was considering it, but now I might.” Then her smile deepened. “How have you been, love?”

“You know my word is good,” Wendy pointed out, leaning back on her hands and letting them sink slightly into the sand. She put out her legs and crossed them over one another at the ankles. She was the epitome of relaxation. “I’m okay,” she said, shrugging her shoulders in nonchalance. “I can’t really complain. Especially now that we have phones again.” She smile at Ainsley and gestured to the spot on the sand beside her. “Want to sit?” she asked. 

Roz laughed as the other teased back, knowing well her own hair color was nothing close to the natural locks Wendy wore. “Toner?” The Russian was clueless on most hair dye related things, “I thought that was for your face,” she said with confusion, now questioning what she’d been rubbing on her face. Her smile returning when Wendy offered the compliment, “Well thank you, that’s sweet of you to say.”

Wendy laughed softly. “No, I mean, yes.” She shook her head. “There are two different products. Toner for your hair takes out certain colors to make it look more natural or more toward the color you want. If you want your hair less yellow or bronze looking, or bright, you use purple toning conditioner and it takes out that brightness,” she explained. She smiled at her roommate lightly, unsure if the other thought that her explanation was rude or unwarranted. 

Pastries were Grace’s weakness. She rarely gave her chance to eat one, but it was this time that she gave herself one. “I snagged one of my own off the tray as it passed,” she explained with a small smile. “The raspberry ones are really good, too.”

“There was a raspberry one?” she asked, raising her eyebrows as she turned to look for the person with the tray, wanting to snag another before they were all gone. However, she didn’t see them, and she was a little bummed about it. “Which do you think was better?” Wendy turned back to Grace with a raised eyebrow. 

Gwen was wandering around the area, taking in the atmosphere of the party, and enjoying the light of the bonfire. She made her way over to the food table, and looked up to find a chocolate pastry in her face. She grinned as she eyed the chocolate, she had always loved the stuff, and even if the other woman hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t have taken very much convincing to give the pastry a try. “Yes, I absolutely do! It looks amazing, do you have any idea what it is?”

“I don’t,” she said, shaking her head as she looked down at the dessert and eyed it for a long minute. “I’m thinking it’s some sort of fudge-something,” she confessed, laughing softly under her breath as she shrugged her shoulders. “Honestly, a lot of the time I eat things just because it looks good. Probably a little dangerous but it is usually a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” she teased. 

Roza chuckled as Wendy spoke about the two matching, “I mean we could practically pass as siblings now,” she joked and swirled a piece of her hair before smiling and shaking her head a bit. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t expect it to be so bright.” Roz was thinking her hair would simply be lighter, not blonde. “Oh blondes are great, it’s a sexy color, just not so much on me,” she laughed. Roza’s girlfriend was blonde and she did have a thing for blondes as well, but seeing it on herself was odd. It didn’t look bad, just not what the pirate was expecting. 

Wendy nodded seriously. “Oh, yeah. No one will ever be able to tell us apart now,” she teased, and her serious expressions slipped into that of an amused smile on her face. “You can always get some toner, if there’s some here on the island. Toner will bring it down a little,” she suggested, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “Well, I think it looks great on you. Truly.” 

Bella walked by a group of chatting pirates and offered them a smile and a small raise of her glass as if to celebrate along with them, she however continued on rather than join in the conversation. She then took a sip of the themed beverage and approached a table lined with snacks. Her eyes met with Wendy’s as the princess spoke. “I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure just yet.” The pirate looked at the food for a moment, “Um, sure,” she shrugged and pulled a small piece from the pastry before indulging in a bite of her own. “Mmm, wow, they did a great job on these.” 

“Do you know what it is?” she asked, looking down at the pastry in her hand and bringing it up to her mouth to take another bite from it. She closed her eyes, groaning softly as she smiled at the taste again. “Because I would love to eat this about... every day for the rest of my life. I think that would be quite the treat,” she laughed, offering a smile at Isabella when she swallowed, making sure there was no chocolate on her teeth beforehand. 

A majority of the time Matt didn’t wait to try something off a royal’s plate. He just took and pretended it was given to him. So for this chick to turn and offer a pastry because she wanted to. That threw him off! Still. Food is food and Matt took a bite out of it instead of taking it from her hand; which any normal person would have done. “Not bad…” he said, still chewing. “What is it?” Matt was about to take another bite from it and laughed. “Sorry. Where are my manners?” then he move his hand to her wrist and guided the pastry to his mouth, making it easier for him to eat. “You gonna get yourself a slice?”

Wendy was a little thrown off when he didn’t take it, but only let the awkwardness settle for a short moment before she was smiling again. “Not bad? It’s so good!” she said again, looking down at the pastry and shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know. But I would like to have it every day. I’m going to have to tell Roza,” she laughed softly, the sound swallowed up by one of surprise when he grabbed her wrist. She stared at him wide-eyed for a long moment before letting out a breathless laugh. “I mean, that was my slice,” she teased. 

Wren smiled at her sister’s excitement. Wendy always had a way of cheering Wren up, and today the younger sibling felt herself getting into the spirit of the day by having some fun. “I have no idea what this is, but if its chocolate it has to taste good, right?” she said. Wren would try anything that had Wendy’s stamp of approval, even if it didn’t have chocolate in it. “I’d love a piece” she said with a nod of her head.

“Of course. Chocolate is the best, and you should never say no to it,” she teased back, laughing softly as she broke off a piece for her sister and handed it to her. She waited for her sister to take a bite, watching her eagerly as she stood by for her to eat it. “So?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Wren. “What do you think? As good as I said?” 

“Do I regret it? Yes. Yes, I do,” she explained and looked at her bright colored hair. Roza was bored and instead of her usual cooking or reading, the pirate went to the warehouse and found leftover hair bleach. And after one silly video, she felt qualified to strip her hair of its brown hue. “But I can’t change it back for at least a week and I have to wait until the next shipment comes in.”

Wendy offered the other a smile, shrugging her shoulders as she took a sip of the water in her hand. “I like it,” she told her honestly, gesturing to her own head. “I mean, I prefer blondes anyway,” she teased. She’d grown more comfortable with Roza in the weeks that she’d lived with her, so it was nice to have a little banter between them. “We match,” she joked. 

Scrunching her nose and shrugging her shoulders, she shook her head a little. “I’ve always been more of a fan of the novels. Although I do love the second remake of It by Stephen King.” She commented. Devyn had always found it easier to escape in her novels and the insane minds of a few authors. Perhaps that was why Edgar Allan Poe was one of her favorite poets/authors.

“To actually answer your question though. I haven’t seen it.” She said as a crazy idea hit her and before she could catch herself self she said, “Maybe you can come over to my villa - we can watch it together?”

“I completely agree,” she said, smiling at the other in understanding. She had never been a fan of the movie adaptions that had come out of books. They never quite hit just as well as the actual novels and stories did. Raising her eyebrows, she got excited, though, even a little. “Really?” she asked, surprised the other had offered. “I would... I would love that,” she said, offering the other a wider smile than before. “As long as I am not imposing.” 

Katla smiled, “Well, the popular ones aren’t a bad place to start, but if it’s interested you, I would definitely read more, there are some really wonderful and wild stories, I think you might like them if you ever get the chance.” She shook her head, “The name sounds familiar but I don’t think I know the story, for either of them. But if it comes with such an enthusiastic recommendation, I guess I’ll have to read them won’t I?”

“Do you know of any books? Ones that you would recommend?” she asked, glancing over at the shelves that Katla was just browsing casually, a curious expression on her face. “I think I can make some time, considering I have so much of it,” she teased, smiling gently. She brushed some of her hair out of her face, nodding her head. “If you get the chance, you definitely should. I believe you’d like it.”