in the sun

[assistingconsultant]

It had been a long time since Joan had gone to the beach. She had worn her swimsuit through the door and brought with her as many of the essentials she thought she would need. The first of these – a towel – she unfolded on the hot, gleaming sand. The second was an umbrella that she had rented; it had the logo of some beer brand flashing across it. Wherever they were – she didn't ask too many questions, uncertain of how deep she should dig through each door – it was someplace with a thriving tourist industry, and they spoke Spanish.

“Thanks for coming with me,” she said again, making sure the umbrella was embedded deep into the turf. “I haven't been to the beach in so, so long.” She cast a grateful look at Natasha. The other woman had agreed to come out with her, though there had been some concern over sunburn. Which Joan heartily understood.

“I brought the stuff from Australia,” she added, pulling out the bottle. “You know, the stuff that no matter what is the highest SPF possible due to sun safety regulations, regardless of what it's labelled to be. Australia's figured it out.”

Comments

[regimes_fall]

The beach was a foreign thing to Natasha, something she could look at and see the obvious beauty within, though she would never be so comfortably sure that it was not her enemy. The heat of it was not purely unpleasant on her skin in her first minutes of exposure, not when she’d spent so much time in moderate coolness and clothing as of late. She would never feel comfortable in the heat and water, or at least not as comfortable as she might’ve felt in the Siberia that had been forged into her bones, but it was pleasant and enjoyable in the right place with the right company, which she had then with Joan.

Natasha was aware that she’d been neglecting her female friends something awful as of late, and it was not something she cared to continue any further. She had no qualms or complaints about the companionship she shared with the likes of Barton or Rogers or even Loki, but there were things that sometimes only a woman could understand, and Natasha was aware of how lacking in that she’d become. She’d made a resolution to seek out Sif sometime soon as well, but Joan had been easier to find first and – well, there they were.

“No problem,” Natasha said, squinting through her large, black glasses as she pulled the large umbrella from her bag and set it up in the sand. It would perhaps help, but only the frequent and regular application of the sunscreen Joan had brought along would keep her from bursting into flames in conditions such as these, and she moved to sit on a towel beneath the moderate shelter of the umbrella as she took the bottle of lotion with a smile and word of thanks and began to immediately slather it on her arms, shoulders, and chest.

“Hard to say no to some pleasant company while being lazy and drinking margaritas,” Natasha said as she diligently and thoroughly rubbed the lotion in. She’d require Joan’s help for her back, but she’d be able to get her arms, chest, stomach and legs fine enough. “How have you been, Joan?”