Clone Trooper Rambles
Journaling meets imaginary friends meets clone troopers. Right now, these Rambles have another purpose: helping me get used to posting on a schedule again!
Warnings: clone trooper shenanigans.
“Okay, what are the rules?” Rex asked yet again as we drove toward the beach.
Everyone in the car groaned. It was almost impressive, really. There were troopers sitting everywhere they could possibly fit. That level of synchronicity was something to admire.
"Stay within sight of the shoreline," Tup eventually volunteered.
"Keep the shenanigans to a minimum," Fives added sadly.
Kix leaned forward slightly. "Wear sunscreen and drink water."
"Leave the ocean life alone," Fixer said.
Hardcase said, "No burying people in the sand."
"Actually, Hardcase," Tech interrupted, "I believe they said we could not leave anyone buried in the sand."
Hardcase visibly brightened and Dogma made a frustrated noise. "Why would you-?"
Rex pinched the bridge of his nose. "And when I give the signal..?"
"Come back to the car," everyone chorused together as I tried not to laugh aloud.
With an aggrieved sigh, Rex said, "You can't tell me you'd be happy if you had to go back because someone wanted five more minutes of beach time."
Everyone snorted at that. I would be panicked and absolutely guilt-stricken if I forgot someone. Fortunately, I could use my struggle to find a parking spot as a reason to ignore all of them. At last, a couple in a large pickup truck backed out and I pulled smoothly into their spot, ignoring the line of cars that had formed behind me.
“I’ll grab the umbrella,” Elena offered. “Cole, Travis, can you handle the cooler?”
“Sure!” Travis agreed easily while Cole offered a skeptical look. Neither of them were the most muscular of people, but I was confident they would get it eventually. At least, faster than I would be able to with my lack of upper body strength.
“I’ll grab the bag,” I volunteered. ‘The bag’ was a large beach tote that currently held sunscreen, an extra towel, a tool to help push the beach umbrella further into the sand, baby wipes, and anything else we had thought we would need.
The whole group - only some of whom were visible to onlookers - moved slowly out. Wrecker bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t help carry things while Fives and Jesse muttered about a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater. Rex pretended not to hear them. Tech was fascinated by the device we used to place the beach umbrella firmly in the sand and Hardcase gave a happy sigh as Travis reached into the cooler to grab a snack and something to drink.
“Sunscreen,” Kix reminded me. I nodded and passed that along to my roommates - without mentioning the source, of course. Everyone good-naturedly agreed to put on another coat of sunscreen as we relaxed under the umbrella and watched the waves wash up onto the beach.
Elena and Cole were taking dramatic pictures of seagulls, Travis was messing with a boomerang he had bought and never managed to use properly, and I was half asleep when the peace was interrupted by a loud roar.
I sat up in time to watch the first of many speed boats race by. “What on earth-?”
“Speedboat races,” Elena theorized. “I think there’s some kind of qualifier that happens around here. This must be it. Hopefully they’ll be finished before too long.”
“They’re pretty far offshore,” Cole pointed out. “We should be able to get in the water as long as we don’t get too close.”
“New plan,” Jesse muttered to Fives. “First one to get in one of those boats wins.”
I could hear the lecture building in his tone and stood, brushing sand from my legs. “Sounds like it’s time to get in, then!”
Author's Note - Like I said, I'm trying to get back into a posting rhythm! My goal is to post something on this account every other week. So, again, if you don't currently follow the @wanderinginksplot-writes account, but you like to read my works, that is going to the best place to find them without waiting for me to reblog them to other accounts.
