video;

[justaddh2o]

( When the video comes up, she's not actually looking up, instead she's looking down at something, very briefly as if referencing it before she actually speaks and she just didn't time it as well as she would've liked.

She looks up again and smiles a little. When she speaks, it's in an Australian accent. )

Right, so, I'm Rikki. I'm not from here ( She pauses and wrinkles her nose a little. ) Erm, from America, I mean, so while I've been told which cities have the Porters, I would be lying if I said I knew where literally any of them are. I've no idea.

So...this seems like the most efficient way to ask. Are there any cities with Porters that have at least semi-easy beach access? I'm really going through withdrawals.

Comments

voice; un: Julian Delphiki | Bean

[justlittle]

[ Have a helpful 10 year old, with a vaguely European sounding accent. ]

Heropa is in Florida, and there's a beach there. That's probably your best bet.

voice;

[justaddh2o]

( She'll take it; she's just dying to get a good swim in sooner than later. Whoever the source of the information happens to be is no skin off her nose. Beggars can't be choosers. )

Heropa, okay. Have you been?

( Call her curious, she's maybe trying to work out the best time to go so that the least amount of people will see the tail. It's reflexive to hide it, even here. Hopefully that'll fade sooner than later; it would certainly make her life easier. )

Re: voice;

[justlittle]

I went there the other month. It was more crowded than the beaches I'm used to, but it was... nice.

[ He'd gone on Father's day with Midnighter, and learned how to bodysurf. It might be the best day Bean has had since he arrived on this version of Earth. ]

voice;

[justaddh2o]

Maybe I'll go at night, then. I'd rather avoid the crowds. It's good that it's nice, though. Thanks for letting me know.

Re: voice;

[justlittle]

It's much less crowded at night. I don't know how cold the water will be then, though.

[ He did go to the beach at night after he got Ported back in, but he didn't swim. ]

video;

[the_horror]

[Oh hey, it's that girl he saw before he went all PIRATE and DUMB.]

[Jesus he's glad they split up before the afternoon. That would have been embarrassing as hell.]

[The Video shows him in a room, a black cat playing with a hot pink fluffy scarf on his bed. His knee in view and his arms around it, leaning on his leg.]

Saying 'Florida' isn't going to help, is it? [he laughed] Then again, you could always drive a few hours to California from Jeopardy. Great beaches there too, but I think your best best is Heropa.

video;

[justaddh2o]

( Rikki's smile grows a bit with the recognition of the guy on the other end of the message. She doesn't miss the cat in the back and thinks it's kind of interesting; she'd have pegged him as a dog person, she thinks. )

Not really, no. I haven't got a car and even if I did, I dunno how to drive. I never learned.

( Hard to learn to drive a car when your dad owns a motorcycle and neither of you can afford a car. Besides, she hadn't ever needed one. She lived within walking distance of most places, back home. )

Heropa is the Florida one, yeah? Do you like that one? Have you been? Also, hi again. So that's what you look like without the getup, then.

video;

[the_horror]

[He's more of a Animal person, but this is literally his first pet, and it was low maintenance, so. Yeah. The scarf is actually a pet too, and she MIGHT catch it wiggling, but that could just be the cat playing with it.]

I'm working on my car license myself. Never learn when I was alive. So, time to figure that out. I do have a motorcycle though. [he grinned deviously at that. He has no license for that yet either, whoops.]

Heropa is Florida, yeah. It's not bad! Nice warm oceans. And Hi again. Yeah, this is me, not a pirate. Oh lords, I didn't run into you in the evening, did I?

video;

[justaddh2o]

Yeah? You've got someone to teach you?

( She grins back. )

My dad has one of those. I used to love riding on the back of it. Then I got older and I was too cool to ride with dad, I guess. I'll have to make it a point to ride with him when I get back home.

( She tilts her head just slightly, thoughtfully. )

Is it pretty busy, then? On the beach? If the water's warm, I'd imagine yeah? ( She looks a little confused by that question; wouldn't he remember if they'd run into each other? ) No...why?

[Video]

[kid_flash_found]

[Bart doesn't mind helping out]

Florida's your best bet, since the Atlantic there stays pretty temperate most of the year. That would be Heropa or Cape Canaveral. The whole area has a lot of water, but it's catchment and reclaimed swamp and you have to watch for gators and bull sharks. I don't really know which beaches might be best for swimming, since I usually stay on top of the water instead of in it.

Especially natural waterways. [He wrinkles his nose] Fish poop in there.

[Video]

[justaddh2o]

( She's honestly not that worried about the temperature because it doesn't bother her. It'd be a lot colder where she'll want to swim, anyway, than where she's guessing he's talking about. Still, she takes note if only because warmer water probably means more tourists while the sun is up and she'll have to maybe make this an after-hours sort of trip. )

On top of it?

( Okay, that gets her a laugh. )

Fish poop everywhere; the ocean is their toilet, mate. Don't shame them for it, you'll hurt their feelings, yeah?

[Video]

[kid_flash_found]

Kinda like a basilisk lizard, only I don't have to worry about swimming when I slow down too much. Running on top of water isn't hard when you're as fast as I am.

[He shrugs a little.]

Exactly. Why would I want to swim in a toilet? It's fine for them, but I'd just rather not.

[Video]

[justaddh2o]

Is that your thing then? Your power? You're really fast?

( People here are super comfortable sharing that information around. She's still adjusting to that. It's dangerous to tell back home, but here people practically shout it from the rooftops. It's well different. )

All right, well, that's fair enough. I hope you don't swim in swimming pools. People pee in those. I'd rather fish poop in an ocean than people pee in a pool.

Re: [Video]

[hatestrashcans]

Exactly. The fish were there first!

[Video]

[justaddh2o]

Right? They're allowed.

video

[eloquentness]

[ This reply comes a day or two later, no thanks to her last Port-out. Iris waves right at the camera, ] Hi, Rikki. I'm Iris. Sorry to get to you so late, but -

You'd want to visit Heropa. [ beat ] We're not right on the beach, so you'd have to take a bus or car, but it's like.. 25? 30 minutes? Something like that.

video

[justaddh2o]

( Rikki waves back. )

Hi Iris, nice to meet you. And that's fine, I haven't gone yet. I haven't had a weekend to do it, but that's really useful to know. D'you know where I can get a bus schedule or something? I don't know how to drive, so I haven't got a car or anything like that.

video

[eloquentness]

Yeah, hang on. I think the bus schedule's on the metro website, but also it's the US, so I wouldn't be surprised if it sucked...

[ she attaches a link, which includes both weekday and weekend schedules! Along with a handy download app, for putting the card on your phone, she supposes. ]

To be honest, I usually drive down there. Have you looked into driving lessons yet?

video

[justaddh2o]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

( She wrinkles her nose at that a little. )

Erm, no. A friend of mine brought it up, as he's currently taking them, but I dunno if I want to learn it here only to have to turn around and learn it again on the normal side of the road later when I go home, yeah? I'll have a think on it. I've only been here about a week. I figure I've got loads of time to decide.

video

[khajidont]

Looks like everyone else has already told you that Heropa's the place to be. You know, when most people first arrive, they're more focused on freaking out than finding the nearest beach. You got any other questions?

video

[justaddh2o]

Yeah...I did that a few days ago. Now, I just want a swim.

( She tilts her head a little in thought. )

Dunno. What's there to do for fun? I've never been to America and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance. I might as well see the sights and make a to-do list or whatever, yeah?

Re: video

[khajidont]

I don't think what Americans do for fun is much different from what people do for fun everywhere else in the world. What do you like doing? I mean, there's malls and movies and arcades and sports and stuff. Those are pretty, um, quintessentially American. Ish.

video

[justaddh2o]

No, sorry...that was confusing. My fault.

( She looks appropriately sheepish. )

I meant what's there to do for fun here, I'm open to ideas. And then, separately, I'll never be able to come round America again and I'm sure there's things tourists want to see, yeah, when they come from abroad? Like, erm...the Grand Canyon or something, but I dunno what else you've got.

audio;

[redcosmedic]

The beach and boardwalk outside Heropa are both exceedingly imPort friendly, they'll be rather accommodating of you.

audio;

[justaddh2o]

Thanks, mate!