dude, the {water} isn't even that [deep.], everyone who's anyone. =D

[Aaron Hawkins]

<sub>Ridge Beach was always one of Aaron's favorite places. For one, it was beautiful: an open cove of pure white, pristine sand with some jutting, sharp rocks bordering it. Aaron fancied them to be small mountains when he was a kid. They also contributed to his array of injuries as a child. He always did like being a mountain explorer. Another thing was that the water was clean. No murky brown badness that floated down and scared the overprotective parents. Just clear, blue-green water that was warm and carried perfect swells for the surfer kids. Aaron wasn't much of a surfer, but he dreamed of being one as a child, he remembered watching the various surfers in awe and telling his mother that was what he wanted to do when he grew up. But when he was old enough to take lessons, his balance was bad enough that he wiped out a few too many times to take up that dream. Now he just contented himself with watching the surfer girls do their thing. That was always just fine for him. The final good thing that Aaron liked about Ridge Beach was that it was almost never crowded. There were maybe a smattering of families here and there, but Aaron always managed to find a little spot all to his own. Like this evening.

The sun was just about to begin to fall behind the curve of the ocean, and long shadows had been coating the beach for a while. The setting sun had painted the sky orange, yellow, red and even purple. Aaron was ready to see the green flash. He'd only seen it once or twice before, but he was always optimistic and knew he'd see it again eventually. He'd reclined onto his back, his hands behind his head and his bare toes just touching the water, waiting for the opportune moment. He wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt and some boardshorts, with a pair of flip-flops a few feet away from him. He'd brought his usual humungous 80's style shades, but tonight he was without his signature hat. His shaggy blonde hair was falling all over the place and it seemed like he was constantly pushing it back. A pair of gray-green eyes were half-closed behind the tinted lenses, lulled to drowsiness with both the warmth of the sun and the gentle sound of water lapping against the beach. He snapped them back open and sat up. He couldn't fall asleep. otherwise he'd be out all night again and his mother would call all of the girls he'd been familiar with in the past week or so. Plus, he'd miss the green flash.

Another reason that he absolutely could not fall asleep was that he was meeting he best friend Elias there. Normally, Elias would never come to the beach out of his own free will. But tonight Aaron had made him promise to come and watch the sunset. The guy had honestly been spending way too much time indoors lately. It was the last summer vacation they were going to get. Ever since the back-to-school party from hell, Elias hadn't been out of the house at all. Aaron flicked open his cell phone to see if he'd missed any calls. If Elias didn't show, Aaron was prepared to go over to his house and drag his bum over here. Well, maybe he would have if he wasn't seriously enjoying the sunset. Maybe Elias could wait. But he still had a couple minutes to show up. Aaron yawned and pushed back his hair for the umpteenth time and hugged his legs to his chest. He thought about dunking his face in the water to wake himself up. Nah, the water was too salty and he wouldn't get the taste out till morning.

Where was Elias? He checked his phone again. Three minutes. Eli had two if he wanted to see his friend in a decent mood.</sub>

[Elias Kohen]

<sup>California was stupid, in Elias' opinion. It consisted mainly of hot girls, surfers, buff guys and a bunch of fake tans. People said that California was going to be great, that Eli and Aaron would have a great time at Ashwood. Honestly, what were they smoking? Sure, the first three years were good and boring, but atleast his record had been clean those last three years. Now, Elias was convinced that his future was ruined because he'd punched Tyler Hodge and Spencer Hendricks. The back to school party from hell, that was the only way that he could explain it. Why did he even go to that party, anyway? Stupid Aaron and stupid Bradin, and of course he had to be in love with stupid Riley, and he wouldn't even have punched the guys if he wasn't in stupid California! The last few weeks of summer break felt like hell for Elias, save the occasional visit from Alex, Aaron or Bradin. Company was actually nice to have, though Elias couldn't be certain that he was the cheeriest of people to be around. Lately he'd been pretty moody because of the fight, and spent most of his time curled up in his room reading, or perhaps moping that his once-clean record was now ruined, when there was most probably nothing on it. Nonetheless, Elias still felt frustrated for some reason, though he couldn't exactly understand why.

A few hours earlier, he'd promised to meet Aaron at the beach. Why? He'd been forced into it, in his opinion. More like Lianna couldn't put up with him whining and moping about the house anymore, and demanded that he left for the evening at Aarons offer. Elias assumed it was probably the best for him, but god, how he hated the ocean. Even since he was six or seven and visited the ocean, he'd been terrified of it. Why the hell did Aaron pick the beach, of all places, to hang out?! Elias let out a loud sigh, turning off his car which had been running in a small parking lot for a few minutes now. He looked down to the clock before opening the door; he was probably supposed to be meeting Aaron about now, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little late. Besides, the walk wasn't very far anyway, since he'd been lazy and took the car to the beach. Stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind him, he raised his hands over his head and stretched, letting out a loud yawn in the process before his dark brown eyes looked down to his clothing. Honestly, he really wasn't dressed for the beach; a white polo shirt along with a pair of jeans and black converses. It was what he usually wore, but it wasn't like he was planning on getting anywhere near the water, so why did it matter? Closing the door behind him, he began his journey down a hill of sand, and then made a right and continued for a few minutes.

He knew Aaron was probably far away from where most of the people were, he seemed to want to have a certain area of the beach just to himself. Elias remembered the days when Aaron dreamed of becoming a surfer, of course, those dreams were quickly crushed after he realized that would take a lot of work. Elias grinned to himself as he shoved his keys into his pockets, and his hands quickly followed. His eyes wandered down the shoreline, however, it was apparent that he was keeping his distance from the water. In fact, it seemed like Elias didn't even want to look at it. He was afraid of oceans; afriad didn't even begin to describe it. More like terrified, and if he ever swam in one he would probably die of trauma. He leaned his head forward a bit and squinted, now realizing that he'd just caught sight of the flirtatious Aaron Hawkins. His pace quickened some, though slowed as he realized where Aaron was: right on the edge of the water, his feet were actually touching it. Elias shivered, looking down to his feet. There was a rock next to him, not large enough to cause severe injuries, but large enough to catch his attention and for Elias not to get near that godforsaken water. Wrapping his long fingers around the small rock, he glanced up to Mr. Hawkins, who still seemed unaware of his presence. Then, suddenly, he drew his arm back and gave it a toss.

It hit Aaron right between the shoulders, which automatically made Elias burst out into laughter. Before he knew it he was rolling on the ground, pounding his fist against the sand in amusement, when he was really just trying to prove a point. The point that he'd actually hit someone with something? Well, who knew why he was laughing so much, but it sure was a kick to watch. "And you said my aim sucks!" He said between fits of laughter, pointing at Aaron before going back to pounding his fist against the ground and snorting.</sup>

[Aaron Hawkins]

<sub>There was Aaron, all peaceful and minding his own business. He'd put his phone back into his pocket, deciding to give his friend a few minutes more. He wasn't even oggling at girls anymore. He was slouched over his knees, watching the gentle lapping of water against his toes and all the patterns that it made. The sun was maybe a quarter below the horizon. He was in his happy place when an explosion of pain erupted between his shoulder blades. Melodramatic Aaron, of course, thought he'd been shot at first and wondered if he was going to die, but he heard the familiar howling of Eli in perfect chorus with his howls of pain. he rolled over on his side, his hands groping for the afflicted area, and gave his soon-to-be-dead friend a dagger filled look of false hatred. Snarling, he eased himself out of the sand (careful to give his injury enough dramatic attention) and raced over to his friend. "What the hell was that for?" he practically screamed, grabbing his friends arm and jerking him up to eye level. An expression of both pain and a bit of humor was on his face, but he tried to stare down Elias as best he could with a straight face.

"Your aim does suck, you were probably aiming for the ocean and hit me on accident."

He let go of his friend's arm and glanced down the length of the beach, hoping that the previous commotion hadn't aroused any unnecessary attention from fellow beachgoers. He ran a hand through his hair again and looked his friend up and down. Jeans? A polo? Closed toed shoes? "What in the name of God are you wearing?" He wrinkled his nose and met his friend's brown eyes with his own green ones, while raising an eye brow and putting his hands on his hips, resembling a spoiled fashionista. He knew of his friend's fear of the ocean, but hello, there's sand, and sand doesn't come out of tennis shoes well. He needed to get his friend some fashion advice. And some social advice. Maybe Elias just needed to get sent to a counselor. That would save Aaron a lot of time in the long run. Yeah, he'd have more time for homework, and parties, and girls...

While his train of thought drifted so much, Aaron stared off into space, just over his friend's left shoulder. He still held most of his previous expression, but his eyes were completely blank and his face had somewhat relaxed. He had completely forgotten about the rock incident already and was thinking about women again. He really needed to stop doing that. If he was going to carry his family's name, he had to do well in school, go to a nice college, and get a decent job. No living in a cardboard box and becoming a male prostitute. Uh-uh, He was going to make something of himself...someday. It could wait for a little longer, right? He had pressing matters to attend to, like wooing Lianna and making sure senior year was the most fun he'd ever had. gradually his thoughts trailed back to Elias, and he finally snapped out of his trance. " Man, you need to get out of the house more. Let's go do something." He crossed his arms, a playful expression on his face that almost always meant he was thinking about meeting girls.</sub>

[Descartes Aries]

Foreboding.

Descartes Aries could not find another way to describe it. A gargantuan force, infinite in its resources, looming at the edge of man’s domain. He felt a little like Byron, and was sure it was this ocean, this sea, this…creature that had inspired Apostrophe to the Ocean.

In all honesty, he missed the beach. Venice had a boardwalk, but it had been rare to find a square inch of uninhabited sand. To him, the ocean had been a noisy, intolerable affair that rotted of sunscreen and old fish. But this was alive, whatever it was. He dared not trespass upon the unblemished sand, perching instead atop a rock that pointed straight towards the sunset. To disturb the majestic harmony of such a godlike entity would have been an insult to its grandiosity. The fading sunlight raced across the tumultuous surface of the ocean, and the glare reflected off of the round spectacles lodged atop his nose. The tinted lenses protected his sensitive pupils from the light, but even so he had to wince and look away every so often.

But it was the crashing of the breakers, the warning hiss of wave rasping across sand, the occasional breeze that blew back his hair, accompanied with the bittersweet scent of saline that brought him once again to ‘foreboding’.

“We are but pathetic mud men” he mused, tilting his head slightly as he took a drag on the half-finished cigarette that resided between the middle and ring fingers on his right hand, “trying to tame the forces of the pure hordes with mere trickery.” What a freak.

The white Cossack shirt hung loose from his shoulders, occasionally pressed against his torso by the idle sea drafts that seemed to push him back, and then draw him closer in apology. “Nature should really be more decisive” he murmured, looking at the tiny wisps of condensed rain that hung precariously below the sun before returning his gaze to the sea. Ancient jeans were rolled up almost to his knees, revealing somewhat hairy legs and bare feet. He rarely wore shoes…L.A. does that to people.

His revelry was interrupted by the sound of laughter, and his attention was drawn to about two hundred feet south of where he sat. A rather small looking boy, perhaps his age, was pounding the sand, letting off spurts of uncontrolled mirth, while another, presumably a friend, made his way over to him with murder in his eyes. He thought he recognized the second male…perhaps he’d seen him about the town. “Mud men…” he whispered, his words lost to the sea. Foreboding indeed.