Awkward Meeting

[Ramlock]

Cyril walked slowly along the beach, a large blanket and a towel in hand, not paying much attention to the other scattered patrons of the ocean. His steps were somewhat awkward and slow, and his movements in general were stiff and pained. It had been a while since his injuries had healed, but he was still plagued by pain every day. Still, that was a small price to pay. Dystopia, as it was now known, still existed, after all. Cyril wasn't a big hero, and that wasn't what he wanted. Parades and celebrity would have been stifling. He was reunited with the pink-haired girl from Cizok he had missed so much, and that seemed to make it all worth it...

"A normal life from now on. That's all I could ask for."

Cyril had come ahead of Eri, who he assumed was changing. Cyril himself was dressed as he had come to the beach, with a long blue pair of swimming trunks, a red T-shirt, and a pair of beach sandals, newly purchased from a local vendor. Finding a suitable dune in the middle of the beach, Cyril would stiffly pick his way across the sand, laying the blanket out and sitting down on it, his back against the dune like some sort of sand chair, from which he could look out across the ocean. This spot of the beach was a bit more secluded, and Cyril closed his eyes, kicking off the sandals and waiting for Eri to arrive...

[Mandaz]

A little getaway was what she needed. Something to take her mind off of all the heavy stress of life. Wandering around the ruined Dystopia without a purpose was only glamorous for so long. After a long enough life of failures and embarrassments, one tries to leave the past behind and find the true meaning of their existence. But that too was a great weight to bear, and the girl was only so strong. Exceptionally strong, yes, but all strength runs low eventually.

She stalked in the sand, scantily clad in the black wraps that she’d kept with her for such occasions. Not a swimming suit exactly, more general use undergarments. Good for any occasion. Revealing enough that the sun could warm nearly all of her body, but modest enough to cover what needed to be covered. She’d cut her hair too, lopped off most of the side parts, allowing the middle to do as it pleased. She wanted to be a new person. Live a new life. Be a new man.

Woman.

Mann.

She overheard a voice not far from where she was walking. Probably far enough for most normal people not to hear, but she happened to be sporting the ears of a monster. Funny thing was, this person spoke the words that were exactly on her mind. Always one to believe in kindred spirits, she decided to pay the lonely chap a visit. Surely talking to a shapely maiden was better than whispering words to the ocean.

“All alone today?” she asked while approaching him, standing in the way of the sun.

[Ramlock]

Cyril's eyes would open as the stranger stood above him, though he didn't react as he might have once done. Here, no one intended him harm, and he didn't even think about traveling armed. Still, as he saw the strange woman standing above him, he couldn't help but wonder a bit at her physique. She seemed awfully athletic for a typical beach-goer... Was he dealing with somebody exceptional again? He hoped not...

"No, as a matter of fact. Just waiting for someone. She should be along pretty soon..."

Cyril was tired, as he typically was these days. It wasn't that he wanted to run off a well-shaped woman in skimpy clothing, but he wasn't really prone to flirting any more. Eri wasn't quite the same as she used to be, and Cyril didn't really worry about jealousy, but there was still a danger of that occurring.

"What about yourself? Who do you have coming to meet you?"

[Mandaz]

Was she disappointed that he wasn’t alone? No. A past self may have seen this as a perfect opportunity to maul an innocent with no one the wiser, but all of that violence and blood became tiresome after a while. And the beach was simply just too serene to fill with a massacre. Plus something about this man was…attractive, to say the least. Mann always found herself attracted to those who seemed able to take care of themselves, and judging by his physique and scars, this man could do just that. But he referred to his friend as a ‘she’ meaning that the two were most likely and item. No main would wait for one woman on the beach when there were hundreds of others to be had. Not unless he was married or something.

This was why she hesitated to do anything other than stand before him. A single man would have found Mann sitting beside him. But she kept her feet firmly planted in the sand, ready to shove off at the hint of the approach of a jealous girlfriend. Mann couldn’t help being the drop dead gorgeous woman she was. She’d learned to live with it after all these years. Yes, short statured, hardened, and slightly chubby from eating manflesh was everything a man could ever want in a woman. It was just a fact of nature.

“Not waiting for anyone.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m just wandering around without much of a cause.” Though the same could be said even if she wasn’t on the beach.

[Nayt]

After a few select events in her life, Eri Tetsuken had abandoned that name--that and all other pseudonyms she had gone by for so long. Now, there was no one else out there that would pursue her for her name alone. No more did she really need to lie to herself about her identity.

Mizuki Kato stepped foot out of the well placed dressed room, practically set upon boardwalk. Whoever thought up the idea of putting it there had a great idea. It was kind of a wonder that it didn't cost money to use--but then again, the lazy few that spent all their money getting here might just risk public indecency and change outside, were that the case.

Over the years, Mizuki had seen her fair share of fights, and approximately ninety percent of them had occurred at a distance from a hospital. Wounds and injuries, more often than not, had to be treated on the fly, on the field. Without healing salve, it had been all she could do sometimes to stitch up the larger cuts when she needed do--but there were also a plethora of other problems, like stray droplets of acid that had once splashed upon her during a battle with an acid spewing dragon. There were few treatments out there that could attend to such a thing . . .

In figure alone, Mizuki had a woman's ideal body. She had supple curves, modest breasts, and a toned and exercised physique--not overtly muscular, but well exercised. Mizuki had the gaze of a lover when she wanted, and the look of every man's desire when she didn't. She was a Cizokian, to boot, but not just any Cizokian: she was one of the Kato girls, women with outlandish reddish colored hair and reddish eyes--pink hair, in Mizuki's case, and pink eyes that were almost the same exact tone as her hair. Her hair, incidentally, was cut short; it had been trimmed into a chin length bob cut at some point or the other, and allowed to grow to the middle of her neck, before being evened out just a touch.

Mizuki wore for this day a green bikini; it was simple enough in design, but by the way the designs of leaves were subtly stitched upon it, it was no doubt custom made--but then again, so were all of her clothes, all made, by hand, by Mizuki herself.

Yet due to the revealing nature of the bikini, the illusion of a woman's ideal body quickly faded once she was out in the sun. Scar tissue was so prevalent upon her right shoulder, for example, that one might consider the possibility that at one point, she was without skin upon that entire shoulder. Deep scars like dashes and cuts lined her back, and a few select ones could be found upon the outside of her thighs and the backs of her hands and forearms. To top it all off, a stray few dots of blatantly discolored skin could be found upon her left shoulder, her stomach, the left side of her chest, and so on--all of which were, no doubt, scars from entry wounds.

The diminish in her image didn't bother Mizuki, though. She didn't really care. She had someone, the person she'd always wanted to be with. There was no point in trying to fool herself into being attractive for other men (and women). As far as Mizuki knew, he didn't really mind her plethora of scars, so long as she didn't have to take anymore for the rest of her life.

After walking for a moment, Mizuki caught the image of Cyril in the sand, but she could only see his back all that well, and that he was with someone else. A woman, it looked like--one that permeated an air of familiarity.

"Jeez, Seeru-kun, I leave you for just a second . . ." Mizuki mused as she approached, loud enough for the two of them to hear.

[Ramlock]

Cyril knew Eri had changed her name, but still forgot on occasion. After all, he'd spent more time pining after "Eri" than he had been with "Mizuki." Cyril's own name was a change from his real name, one he had taken on for similar reasons. It just so happened that he changed to an alias he preferred, while Mizuki now went by her original name. Most of Cyril's problems with the past had disappeared with the loss of Rivenfelde City, though... At least, the problems that weren't of a particularly troublesome nature. A lot had certainly changed, and he had lost some important people since the end of the world...

"Oh. Well, I'm not going anywhere, but you're welcome to stay here for a while."

Hearing that familiar voice speaking his name with that familiar accent, Cyril would turn around to watch Mizuki approach. The scars, he certainly didn't mind. Both of them had been through a lot, both together and apart, and he bore similar scars. The worst of the scars he bore were on his back, and for that reason, Cyril tended to always wear a shirt, if not long sleeves and pants, while Mizuki didn't have quite the same luxury. Not that he minded that at all, considering the view. Mizuki remained just as beautiful to him as that first day they had met...

"Hey, I don't get jealous every time some teenager falls in love with you, Mizuki. This is... Well, I don't know her name, but here she is."

Cyril made his attempt at an introduction, not really thinking much of it. Not thinking much was a luxury he now exploited liberally...