Welcome to Gaia! ::

((She's in and out, and lookit the title. Guys are wanted. Guys are needed.))

((And I'm just making sure you know, Lina is my character.))

((Of course not. And no weapon? Hm... ^_^ teehee. I'll start.))

Lina abandoned her friends at the corner on their way home. "Kate and I have plans!" She said, laughing as she ran away, one hand holding her sun-hat on. And they did. They were going to the beach that afternoon, and Lina loved it there.

They spent the afternoon goofing around and swiming. Lina pulled a few magic tricks, Kate drove her crazy trying to exlain something about physics.
All in all, it was fun. A great day. They packed up to go.

"Kate!" Kate looked over her shoulder, bags in both hands.
"Wha~t?" She replied.
"I left my cards!"
"Your-? so? You can buy new ones,"
"But they're lucky!"
Kate sighed. "Alright." She juggled bags and offered a free hand to Lina. "I'll put the stuff in the car. Meet me there, after you've got 'em."
Lina smiled, shoved her stuff at her sister, put her hat on the older girl's head, and turned back, running. She'd left them on the sands, and if she didn't want them ruined by the tide, she'd have to get them fast. She broke out onto the sands and looked around their picnic sight. Water licked her ankles from the ocean, and she walked there, along the line where the tide would wash away her footprints.

(( xd ))
She smiled, a sunny, innocent smile, full of gratitude. "Yes!" She replied, walking over on light feet, lifting her skirt away from the water. She sstopped a few feet away and tilted her head to the side as if to study him... and clapped her hands, letting the hem of her skirt get wet in her delight. "How pretty!" The sunset behind him was pretty, all golden and ruby and amethyst violet. Lina had forgotten how much she liked watching the sun set on her stretch of the sand. If she noticed the teeth, it didn't affect her, but the ease of her distraction spoke more likely of an unawareness.
Her attention returned to him belatedly, an apology rising.

She giggled behind a hand, figuring he was kind of shy for all his charm. "I'm just glad they got found before the tide ruined them. They're my lucky set. I've never lost a game or gamble when I use them, and my grandmother willed them to me. Kind of silly, yes, but you can see why I did come back." She slid them from his hand and cradled them in her own palm. "Not wet at all." She smiled, a genuine smile, less air-headed or naive than her others, was she acting? Of course not. She was just glad to have her deck back. "Thank you so very much. Is there anything I can do to repay you? My sister's waiting, but maybe I can bring you something to show my gratitude? Oh... And I'm Lina!" Her blue eyes mirrored the smile on her face, the deep blue reflecting also a twinkle of the twilight glitter.

Behind them, while Lina sleapt, the waves lapped at the sandy beach, each one further erasing Lina's traces from the land. Kate waited. Five minutes ticked by. Ten. Clouds gathered overhead. She drummed her fingers on the steeringwheel, rolling her eyes. She got out as the lightest of rains began, closing the door and walking swiftly to the shore.
"Lina!" She called, rounding the corner between trees and beach. The sands were bare except for footprints that ended at the near edge of the water's battery on the shore. Kate glared. "LINA!" Dissappearing to make the day last longer was so like her sister!
Overhead, a gull voiced a cry that sliced through the fragile silence, shattering it as the bird glided homewards.
Kate ran, eyes searching. Hiding to annoy was one thing, but drawing dismay, fear, was not a Lina-like trait. Her feet, bare still, stirred the sand to flight as she searched, racing back towards the place where they so recently had laughed.
And the last of Lina's footprints vanished under the scattered golden granuals of Catherine's fleeting footsteps.

For a long while, there was only the rise and fall of her chest to say she was alive, but sleeping. Her brown-gold hair swept across the pillow when she turned, curling on her side. She slept for a while, tired after school and playing around with Kate, it was only to be expected. When her eyes opened, it was with drifting slowness, like the tide receading reluctantly away from the shore. She blinked once, then jerked reflexively up right, looking around on the verge of panic, her legs snapping to be closer to her in a more defensive position, making an instant and proper mess of the sheets and bedclothes. Her breathing jumped from the even of sleep, to the fast shallow of fear as her heart raced.
Slowly, she forced herself to calm down, not seeing anyone in the strange room, though her frantic eyes searched. She dragged the blanket to her chest and shivered.
And off in some deep corner of her mind, Lina praised her Theater teachers. Whatever was going on, panic was an expected reaction, an automatic one in the situation. One that would let her unworried--what was the point in such fretting? It would only make her ill, and what would come would come--mind skip across what had happened since talking with the charming-but-shy fellow.
It was remarkably blank. She didn't even remember falling asleep.

She froze, then lunged in the direction of the sound. She peered over the edge of the bed, her fingers gripping the wood. "What?" She looked around, then saw the puppy. "Oh!" The girl succeded in not falling off the bed when she reached and picked it up. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" She scratched it behind the ear. She didn't expect a reply, but calm voices often helped dealings with skittish creatures. She settled back on her heels, the small creature cradled in her arms against her chest.

"Ah-!" She tried to catch it and wound up temporarily tangled up in the mess she'd made waking up. Just deserts... she thought, freeing herself then following the little pup. She had the inkling of a set-up, but it was just a puppy. Why would a puppy set her up? Lina dismissed the thought and paused, looking around. She wished for her sandals--the floor was cold--but she'd passed them off to her sister along with her bags.
"Here little one~ Where have you gone?" She called, still looking around.

Lina froze, turning her head slowly, with a general prickling air about her that said Oh no I did not... She looked, and skipped away several feet, managing to turn around without tripping on her own feet, though looking as though she really would fall. "Wh-What?" Her eyes were wide as she skittered away, their blue as deep as the ocean. She let the dog go and focused on the more immeidiate threat. "I- Why am I here? What happened?"