2025-01-08 - Starlight Promenade

Impossibly bright stars twinkle above Storybook "Beach." Ruby is still dressed for the beach party in her water nymph getup of silver bikini top, sarong, and seashells braided into her hair. There are patches of silvery blue and pink scales that adorn the high points of her shoulders, ribcage, and legs, likely connected to whatever her role and abilities are at the park. Today though? She's off, and enjoying her time outside of the tank with a cocktail at the resort while admiring the Milky Way. While Rubes had been at Spellbound since August, she still found herself awestruck by the tens of thousands of stars that showed up each and every night in a way that she shouldn't be able to. It was the kind of night sky you only saw in National Geographic or out on the open water far away from light pollution. It shouldn't be possible in a theme park.

Still, so much was possible at Spellbound. Outside of the constellations above, she'd met other stars. Stars she'd only met in her dreams. Rubes let out a content sigh as she sipped on lord knew what number drink of the night.

The stars. The waves. The beach. You could get lost out here. Maybe Brandon has. It's been a few hours since he made his way out of the club. It wasn't flight, exactly-- he didn't mean to flee-- but once away from the pulsing insanity of dance music and people, never mind recognition, something intoxicating took hold and pulled him back... here.

The stars. The waves. The beach.

Barefoot, his Sambas looped together by their laces and dangling from his left hand, he's wandering aimlessly back up the sand toward the now-quiet club. Dawn's a ways off yet, so only the stars-- all those stars!-- light the sky. He doesn't see Ruby yet, intent on gazing up at those millions of lights.

Ruby pulls her gaze from the heavens and turns it to the crystalline waves lapping at her feet. It would seem that even on her day off, she never could pull herself from the seas, even the faux ones. She flicks her wrist, pulling a small stream of water into the air, and observes the way the moon pulls it like a bow. Gravity was fascinating.

The moon and stars create a reflective surface, and in that surface, she discovers that she isn't alone. Startled, she scurries to her feet, and extends her arm as if the cocktail she is holding is a sword. But it's a cocktail. The most threatening thing about it is the small toothpick umbrella with a cherry jabbed onto the end. She can't recognize him in the dim lighting. "Sorry," she says. "I thought I was alone out here." Her heart was still pounding.

Startled from his reverie, Brandon finds his path blocked by a cocktail-wielding... girl? Mermaid?

Oh! It's her. The blonde from the bar. She's here, and maybe drunk, but this time he's not ducking out. Alone in the middle of the beach, oddly there'd be to nowhere to go in any event. In the dark, Brandon's lips form a wan little smile of recognition.

He's not unhappy, and definitely not acting like any sort of rock star. If anything, there's a certain melancholy around him as he answers Ruby, plainly and amiably. "Hey. I'm... sorry about that. Back there. Earlier. I hope I didn't disappoint you too badly."

Ruby's eyes adjust to the dim lighting, and her heart begins to pound for a whole new reason. It's him. Where is Scarlett? Where is... anyone? She doesn't even have her phone on her to snap a picture, meaning no one would believe her when she told them!

Luckily, she manages not to squeal this time. "Oh, no, I'm sorry," she says, thankful for the darkness. She was probably turning pink again. "I shouldn't have... acted how I did." She should have been quiet. She should have played it cool. What was playing it cool, anyway?

"Are you uhm.... visiting the park?" She could feel her palms sweating.

"No," Brandon answers her, waving off any concerns, chill really. "And it's cool. Don't worry about it. I was probably stupid to think I could lay low," he admits.

Paused where he is, his slow walk along the sandy flats unexpectedly halted, Brandon offers Ruby an apologetic smile. "It's not like we ever really made it. Not here," he says. "It's weird... you get splashed all over the NME's homepage but people three hours from your house have no idea who you are."

"Sorry," he chuckles after a moment. Eyeing her more carefully this time, he adds, "I should be flattered, really. You wanna walk with me? I guess I... shit. I just don't want to be alone."

"It was," Ruby agrees. At least to her. Of course, Ruby had spent her teenage years with her family on a sail boat often times days without wifi. She relied heavily on the discography she'd downloaded while with signal, and his was one she'd listened to on repeat. To Ruby, he was as legendary as Harry Styles.

"Isn't that how it always is?" Ruby chuckles, raking her fingers through her blonde hair. "It isn't the same, but my family had a YouTube channel that got pretty big. There were times we'd come into port and have fans waiting," she felt ridiculous talking about her fans to him. But in a very small way, she could understand. "At home no one cared. At home, people could be actively mean about it too," she said, her smile dimming slightly.

The offer to walk is met with a soft smile, quite different from the ravenous one she wore only an hour or so before. "Sure you want the company of a crazed fangirl?" Had she just fallen into the plot of a fanfiction?

“Is that what you are?” Brandon’s mouth quirks in a grin of amusement, his tone one of gentle but well-intentioned teasing. “The crazed fangirls usually went for Ansel.”

The memory broadens the grin to a genuine smile. “Yeah. Yeah I do. I promise to behave, for what it’s worth,” he chuckles.

Almost as an afterthought, he adds, “I think I saw your web series once or twice, actually. You surf, right?”

"Well, I wasn't going to tell you to my face that it's him I'm really after," Ruby jokes. If that were the truth, she wouldn't tell him either way. "I always liked your voice the best." she'll give him that much.

Rubes chuckles when he promises to behave and lifts her drink to her lips. She nearly chokes on it though when he say that. "Mmhmm..." she manages. She does surf. "You... shut up. Stop it. You did not watch me on YouTube." She was actively dying. She could feel her heart pounding heavily just preparing to stop working altogether. This was it. This was the end. "Tell me you just watched the surfing." He hadn't seen her brothers stick a blowfish in her body. He hadn't watched Ruby fall off the boat because she was trying to scare her sister. He definitely hadn't seen the episode where she had an allergic reaction to a pine nut and her face blew up to the size of a watermelon. Yes. This was death. She was in hell.

All of that passes without Brandon noticing. It seems he wasn’t joking—he really did see her once, maybe twice. “Just surfing,” he repeats, trying to make it sound reassuring even if he isn’t certain why it has to be.

Puzzled, he wonders aloud, “Is something wrong with that? I mean—“ he arches an eyebrow, taking in the whole—or is it the really rather partial— of the water nymph outfit and grinning playfully. “I bet plenty of guys would love to watch you surf,” he quips.

"Just surfing," she echos, relief palpable in her slightly slurred tone. She hands him the drink. He's too sober. "Drink." She tells him. "It's good." It's also glittery. Hopefully, it's edible.

Rubes shakes her head slowly. "Nope, nothing wrong with that." She is quick to tell him. No need for him to return to the scene of the crime and watch everything he'd missed. There is a genuine laugh at what he says next, bright, and light, and bubbly. "How did you end up here, anyway?" She changes the subject.

Sipping dutifully at what’s left of Ruby’s drink, Brandon smiles ruefully in response to her question.

“Would you believe me if I told you my parents brought me here?” He chuckles again. “I think they hoped it would save me. And the funny thing is… maybe it’s working.”

Realizing that Ruby doesn’t seem up to walking much of anywhere, he settles down in the sand, dropping to a knee before sitting down cross legged and barefoot.

"I would," Ruby laughs as she walks along the water's edge. "Is it working?" She asks. "Wait, save you from what? It looked like you were doing pretty well to me... except well..." Ansel. That fact hung in the air like a lead balloon. "I'm really sorry about that. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you and the guys." It had been hard enough as a fan.

"I'm glad it's working... even if it's just maybe working."

They hadn't made it far down the beach before he's plopping and she's plopping next to him. The music from the tiki bar is still audible, even if it's faint. Greenish eyes glance up at the stars, and she smiles as several shoot across the sky. "You've been all over the world." So had she. "Ever see a sky like this? I haven't."

“You don’t get many looks at the sky from the shotgun seat of a transit van,” Brandon laughs, grinning as he sips at the surprisingly sweet drink again before holding it back out to her. “But I know what you mean.”

He doesn’t respond to the statement about Ansel. Not offended—but maybe it’s just too recent. Still. Two years later. He’d rather be in the moment than deal with the demons tonight.

“You’ve been on the water,” he says quietly, just audible over the sighing of the lake. There seems to be some significance to that.

Ruby waves him off when he tries to hand her drink back to her. "Yours now. For scaring you earlier," she tells him. If he finished it and wanted another, they could get another. But she'd had enough and wasn't trying to embarrass herself any further. Not unless he was on her level, at least.

Her gaze slowly shifts back to Brandon. "I can't tell if I like that you know that." She says. "Do you know my name then too?" Had he paid that close attention?

"Nights on the open ocean are incredible. The sky is like this sometimes but.... I don't know. It's just different here," she sighs. "So. You said earlier you aren't visiting. You don't... work here... do you?" That seems unbelievable to her.

“I don’t,” Brandon admits, a sheepish smile his response. “You surf. You’re cute. You have… I mean, some kind of boat. Your family does,” he laughs, aware of his ignorance but owning it.

“You really don’t want to know why I know that,” he adds. “But yeah. I work here. Down at the arena.” A winning grin at that. He’s proud of it, somehow. “How about you?”

"Ruby," she tells him. "Ruby St. James," if he needed to know. "I do surf, but just for fun. Sometimes, I win stuff for it, but usually not. My family sails. I've circumnavigated the world, twice," she smiles, visibly proud of that bit. "I have two brothers and a sister and now we're even. We know the same amount about each other." She knows a lot more about him, but did they have to compare?

Her brow quirks. "Well, now I really want to know why you know that," she laughs. The confirmation that he works with her hits her like a bowling ball to the face. "No shit. Really?" How?! Why?! "But you're.. you're you!" She is totally gobsmacked. She nods. "Yeah, I'm a marine life vet. Well, an assistant vet. I'm finishing my doctorate this semester." She tells him. "I mostly just take care of the fish, the manatees, and occasionally I uhm... perform in the mermaid show.... just... not as a mermaid." She was a fucking pink dolphin instead. Because of course she was. Because she was never the pretty thing. She was the fucking porpoise.

Brandon… listens. She has a lot to say, and there’s a lot he could say in turn, but it’s well past midnight and on some level, he’s aware that he’s assumed a lot. Some of it’s been right. Some of it was wrong.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ruby St. James,” he says at last, smiling an aw-shucks smile and pushing his hair back out of his eyes with a single hand when a cool breeze off the lake hits him square in the face. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you before. I’ve been kind of a dick tonight.”

He says it, so he feels it, even if there’s no real evidence for it beyond failing to ask for her name. Anyway, Brandon adds, “But it sounds like you’ve had a pretty f—-ing amazing life to me. How can you not be a mermaid?” This puzzles him, visibly.

"It's nice to meet you too, Brandon O'Donnell," she says with a light laugh. It just sounds so unnatural and formal. She shakes her head. "Don't apologize, and you weren't," she tells him with an easy smile.

"It's messed up, right?" She should have been a mermaid! Come on! Look at her! "The fates knew I'd be too powerful. Instead, they made me a dolphin," which would be a really weird thing to say anywhere outside of Spellbound. "Animal forms is one of the abilities I have here. Have you figured out your special talents yet?"

Brandon listens. Again. Raptly. As she explains about being a dolphin and animal forms, his eyes widen slightly and his attention is well and truly held.

When Ruby asks him if he’s had any special talents manifest, though, he shakes his head. “No,” Brandon admits, puzzled and a little awed still. “I haven’t. It’s not for lack of hoping, either—“

He cuts himself short, glancing from Ruby the mermaid-who-isn’t to the dome of silvered stars out over the lake. Quietly, he asks, “Did you like Starlight Promenade?”

It’s the first track on The Silvertones’ only album—a soaring, atmospheric instrumental that sets up everything that comes after. The question might seem odd here and now, but she’s a fan. The stars are out. And she asked about magic. There’s something he’s putting together that she might just figure out….

"I'm sure, soon," Ruby says optimistically. "Sometimes they can be subtle or take a while to manifest." That hadn't been her experience, but it was accurate for some.

Ruby opens her mouth to continue talking, but then he asks that? "Really?" She asks. "Yes, of course I liked Starlight Promenade." Obviously, she liked Starlight Promenade. Had they not established that she was a fan?

“That one was all Ansel,” Brandon explains, smiling a faraway smile as he stares off into the sparkling sky. “Sure, I played on it—we all did—and we shared the publishing but really, he put that whole piece together. We all just played what he told us to play.”

A deep breath, then he admits something he’s barely been able to admit to himself.

“I swear I can feel him, on nights like this. He’s there. In the stars. Over the water. And I—I’m here because maybe… maybe here…”

“Maybe here is the one place on earth I can see him again.”

Of course, Ruby is aware of Ansel's story. Her smile softens, and she reaches out, placing a gentle hand on his arm and gives it a little squeeze. It isn't much, just a small acknowledgment that she heard him, saw him.

Ruby is quiet, turning her gaze to the sky as he does. "Of course, he is," she says quietly; it isn't even a question. She falls quiet again as he continues, and she lets the sound of lapping water fill the space for a time after.

"Some people are able to communicate with spirits here. I can't," she tells him. "And I don't really understand it. But maybe you're right... But Brandon?" She looks over at him again. "Even if it works out, I think you owe it to yourself to keep living. If I passed, and my friend was still here, I know I'd want to be able to watch them living the life I didn't get the chance to live myself." Was that too much? She wasn't sure. "But maybe we can find someone who can help."

“Do you really think so?” He asks the question quickly, almost too quickly, and as if he’s aware that he’s putting his heart on his sleeve in doing so, Brandon turns away from the stars to study Ruby’s face for a moment.

“You’d help me… find someone, I mean? To talk with him? Because I wanted to do it myself and I’m starting to think… well, if I have any talent at all, that isn’t it.”

Ruby nods, but she’s looking up again, watching as a star shoots across the sky. “I think so,” she seems cautiously optimistic. “If he’s here, in Spellbound. I don’t see why not… if not, then maybe he’s already found his peace, and that’s a good thing, right?” She asks, looking over at the superstar again.

His next question is met with a quiet laugh. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?" Did she know anyone with spirit communication? She wasn't so sure, but she knew some people had that ability. "It might take some time to find someone, but why not?"

Brandon nods slowly, taking a moment to process that. His smile never changes, even when he finally draws another deep breath in and sighs contentedly.

“Thank you, Ruby St. James,” he says simply, plainly. Then he tosses back what’s left of the drink she gave him and lets himself fall back into the sand with a laugh. Suddenly he’s staring straight up at all those stars and finally able to enjoy them properly.

“Looks like I owe you one.”

He may have forgotten the way they met just six or seven hours ago and what a huge fan she is—how she might take those words. Maybe he’s just too tired to worry. But maybe he means exactly what he said.

Rubes laughs as he flops back into the sand. "You're welcome, Brandon O'Donnell," she giggles, still unable to believe that he was who she was spending time with tonight. She wouldn't have believed if she could have seen herself now just a couple of years ago.

"You don't." She assures him. "We're..." friends? Coworkers? "Spellbounders." She cringes. "Got any more alcohol in there?" She jokes, reaching for the empty cup.

The words don't seem to elicit the same kind of reaction she'd had earlier. Maybe it's the alcohol or just the initial shock that's worn off, or maybe in the conversation they'd had, she saw him for who he is, a human. Either way, she's tamer now.

“Not a drop,” Brandon admits, looking up at her from where he’s flopped back in the sand with an unprepossessing naïveté—an almost innocence, even—that’s fresh and different. Or maybe just exhausted, but either way, his barriers have well and truly lowered at this deep hour of the night.

“And I don’t think anyplace is still open,” he laughs all of a sudden, “which is a tragedy. Because I could finally let myself get drunk again.”

Then he says aloud, completely out of nowhere, “What’s it feel like? Being a dolphin?”

"That is a shame," Ruby laments with a sigh. She glances back at the tiki bar which appears to be more or less packed up for the night.

"Oh? Finally?" Rubes laughs. "As of tonight?" She needles playfully. "Had no idea drunk powers were among my abilities." Sure, she'll take credit, why not?

She considers his next question, visibly chewing on how exactly to answer. "My mind is still the same," she starts with. "I'm still Ruby. I'm always aware I'm human... but it feels like... it feels like freedom."

“That,” breathes Brandon, letting his eyes flutter closed as he lies there in the sand, “is just so cool. Do you ever wonder,” he wonders out loud, “if it happened because of who you are? Like, this surfer girl who loves the ocean? That can’t be a coincidence.”

Ruby considers it and shrugs. "No, I hadn't thought much of it. But yeah, maybe there's something to that."