Sandy Walks and Little Talks

[ketchupkaper]

Who: Marcello and Willem
When: Friday, Nov 8th. Afternoon.
Where: The beach
What: A walk on the beach, some catching-up, and a search & rescue mission.
__________

It was a good idea to make use of day with comfortable weather, as those days seemed to be growing fewer and fewer as the year dragged on into mid-autumn, so that is exactly what Willem and

Comments

[oranje_windmill]

Willem stuck his hand in the pockets of his hoodie, smiling softly as he watched Pochi jump around and Marc laugh. Things had been edgy those first couple of weeks, but as the younger man settled in he started to get louder, more open. Closer to what he had been before.

It was good to see.

Whistling to get Pochi's attention, he held up a Frisbee. When the dog trotted over, the Dutchman slung the Frisbee out over the surf and smiled as the dog rushed after it.

[ketchupkaper]

"Go, go! Get it!" Marc called after the dog that took off on its chase. He turned to Wilm with a smile. "Don't throw it out too far. That water's probably freezing, you know."

His gaze traced the shoreline towards the horizon and his smile faded. He saw a lighthouse far in the distance that until now he'd almost forgotten. It was an ordinary lighthouse in almost every way, aside from the fact that he once made a very special memory there with a very special person. It seemed like such a long time had passed since then, at yet still like just yesterday.

He didn't notice that he'd become lost in thought.

[oranje_windmill]

Pochi brought the Frisbee back, gave only a half-hearted attempt at keep away before allowing him to have it to throw again. As the dog raced off again Wilm realized Marc had gone quiet, and glanced over at the other. His smile faded slightly as he took in how distracted Marc was.

After that first day Marc had been resistant to talk about where he'd been or what had happened, and he and Kiku had pretty much allowed him to be so as long as he didn't leave again. And so far it had been working, except that sometimes the younger man would go quiet, and you could tell his mind wasn't in the present.

Pochi dropped the toy at his feet, and the Dutchman picked it up. Instead of throwing it straight away, he turned and poked Marc in the arm with it.

"You can talk about it or you can throw the Frisbee."

[ketchupkaper]

The younger mind nearly jumped at the sudden prodding and whipped his head around, blinking down at the object. After a moment's pause, collecting himself again, he smiled and took the frisbee and threw it as hard as he could and the dog took off like a bullet.

"Ha, talk about what?" He held his smile, staring after the dog. "There's not much more to the joke than that. I don't remember how it goes. Oh, you mean the water? Well I think it might be pretty cold this time of year, right?"