âWaterâs harmless,â Alchemy countered breezily, waving a hand at the fear as if it were no more significant than a fear of spiders or snakes. âSure, getting stranded without an island would fucking suck, and thereâs no safe bottom in sight but⊠itâs whatâs in the water thatâll get you. The environment itself is awesome, though â harmless. Running may be off the table, but thatâs where swimming comes in.â Opinions formed purely from her unsupervised coastal upbringing composed of frequent exposure to wild oceans and rivers. Potentially dangerous opportunities so abundant and normalized, one could say she was more than a little biased in her appreciation of them. Shaking her head of the train of thought, she was well aware how much sheâd digressed. âAnyways, itâs just a saying. Like⊠whatever tickles your fancy â is that better? Or are you anti-tickling too?â
The beginnings of a half-smirk only grew more prominent at the naivetĂ© presented before her. Unwilling to be the one to burst the womanâs seemingly blissfully ignorant bubble, Alchemy opted to shrug and tiptoe vaguely around the subject. âLets just say, uh⊠ziploc bags donât have an entirely PG rating, in my experience. If a guy ever used that line on me Iâd assume he was after one thing only â and a last minute idea, at that. Iâd rather not think about it.â The clumsy memories seared into her brain would likely be impossible to reverse, but she wasnât about to actively open that box any more than the crack necessary to imply her point. âBut you seem to come with far more better intentions, so. The rule doesnât fully apply. Itâs a little too cute for me to say. Not my personal taste.â
Watching the dog bolt after the toy thrown, Alchemyâs wandering eyes eventually returned to the other woman once sheâd finished her explanation, head inquisitively tilted a fraction to one side. âYou know a lot about food, huh? Or is it only nuts youâre an expert of?â It was admirable, how talkative and forthcoming this woman was. Boasting an air of confidence and widespread social butterfly wings that Alchemy felt quite entertained witnessing unfold, giving her plenty of new information to absorb and digest within seconds. âI canât even imagine whatâd be like getting by with allergies here, in comparison. From what Iâve noticed it seems less like a selfless sisterhood and more like a âfend for yourself bitchâ situation. Like Keeping Up With The Kardashians meets The L Word.âÂ
Fake peanut butter and bananas. Earlier, had anyone told Alchemy a relationship metaphor revolving around snacks would be worth seriously pondering over, sheâd have thought it joke. Then again, she was an adult who considered pop tarts and Irish cream-spiked coffee a balanced breakfast. Needless to say, the value of food â in a sense nutritive, theoretical, or otherwise â wasnât ever given much thought to begin with. âYeah, alright, you got me there. Itâs creative, and solves two problems at once⊠I can dig it.â
âMost of the time waterâs totally harmless. But itâs not the water Iâm scared of. Though.. isnât it more likely that dehydration will get you before anything in the water does? And fresh water snails kill way more people a year than sharks, anyways. Thatâs totally like.. I think ten people a year? Way less than dogs. People kill more people. I donât like feeling cooped up. Definitely avoid elevators, too. But itâs a secret.â She teased about the last part, putting a finger to her lips and giving a playful wink; considering she was on camera, it wasnât really a secret, after all. âOh, Iâm totally anti tickling, but thatâs only because Iâm super ticklish. But thatâs another secret.â Delta giggled a little, her nose scrunching playfully.
âOh, totally good intentions, I think. Not that sex isnât like.. awesome, because it is. But sex with someone you love has got to be way better, right?â No one stuck around long enough for Delta to find out of that was the truth or not. It left her a little broken on the inside, not knowing if she was even worth loving, or if it was even possible to love her. âI think, as someone who loves food, I know a lot about it? But like.. when we hosted charity events that we had to provide food for, we had to totally be mindful of the more common allergies and diet choices. Obviously it was all nut free, but we had to provide vegetarian dishes, too. Plus, growing up, my father had me on like.. a way strict diet for training. But I canât really cook, so..I live off smoothies and whatever I can find thatâs quick to whip up.â Delta laughed when the other woman mentioned what it must be like getting by with allergies here. âIâve never seen either of those shows. But the only one I might be into is The L Word. The other seems like a total waste of time.â
Petting her dog, Delta finally stood up â more like jumped up â and practically skipped the short distance to the other woman. âI totally like you.â She decided, holding out her hand. âIâm Delta. My dogâs name is Echo. Sheâs way friendly and you can pet her if you want. Mostly well behaved, too. Got her to leave squirrels alone, but rabbits? Still a work in progress.â