"Pssst. Hammaryn. Sweetie. Wake up, it's time to flip over or you're gonna be crispier than a plate of bacon at a Fabrio brunch." Ysani nudged the other girl's arm, already turned with her watermelon-printed butt pointed up to the sky.
Hammaryn lifted her head up, eyes groggy from sleep. She wiped a faint trail of drool from the left side of her face. "Ysani? Where -" Her eyes snapped all the way open. "I didn't talk in my sleep, did I?"
"Nope. And even if you did, I wouldn't have noticed. I was communing too hard. Now roll onto your tummy, you've got a bit more meditation to do before we take a break."
Hammaryn slowly turned herself over onto her stomach. This time, she was definitely going to concentrate on meditating. She rested her head on her arms, taking in a deep breath through her nose. Her head immediately started to loll to the side.
Within minutes, or so it seemed, Ysani was poking at her with one bare toe, a cold drink in each hand. "Okay, sleepyhead. Time to cool off! We've had about all the Light we can handle for the moment."
Hammaryn sat up, rubbing at her eyes. "How long did I sleep?"
The redhead pushed a drink into Hammaryn's hand and smiled. "I guess it's just after noon? I think... I never was very good at reading the time." She turned toward the sea and took a deep breath of crisp, salty air. "C'mon, we'll drink this in the water."
Hammaryn took a large swig of the drink. "We'll get wet."
Ysani laughed as she tromped lazily to the surf, downing copious amounts of Booty Bay's finest affordable rum directly from the bottle. "That's the idea, yeah."
Hammaryn snorted, tipped her head back and took another enormous swig of her drink. "Suppose I ought to bathe before I go home anyways." She jogged down to the water.
* * * * *
The water was clear, blue and cool against Ysani's shins. She held her bottle of juice-sweetened rum by the neck and stared out over the water, shading her eyes against the blinding afternoon light. "Check it out, Hammaryn. There's Monkey Island."
Hammaryn took another swig of rum, swishing it around to see how much was left. "There's what?"
"Monkey Island! Well, maybe it's Pirate Island. Or Treasure Island. I've never gone out there to check which is on it, but it seemed like monkeys was the most likely, you know?" Ysani pointed out toward a dark smear on the horizon.
Hammaryn stared at Ysani from under lowered eyebrows. "We don't have any weapons on us."
"Mehhh. How bad could it be? We're tough chicks. Bring your bottle with you, you can smash the bottom off it if we need a weapon. And we'll bring a stick." Ysani paused, then turned to her friend and grinned. "I'm sure the Light will protect us!" Before Hammaryn could respond, the redhead was already halfway back to their spot on the beach, draining the rest of her drink and tossing the empty bottle in a shoulderbag.
Hammaryn remained in her spot, firmly rooted at the base of the water. "I don't like this."
Ysani's voice carried over the salty ocean breeze. "It'll be fine!" She stuffed a hunk of driftwood into her pack, and two full bottles of booze. The weathered stick didn't come close to fitting inside the bag so she pulled it back out and used it as a walking stick.
Hammaryn sighed loudly and reluctantly began to follow Ysani. They started out into the sea and swam for the horizon, the bikini-clad girl trailing her pack behind her.
* * * * *
"Holy crap, did you see that?" Ysani took a swig from what she thought might be her fourth bottle of booze and blinked several times, staggered to a nearby tree and pointed drunkenly into the undergrowth. "Maybe they should call it Panther Island!"
Hammaryn glanced over at the bushes. "It's just a cat, Ysani."
Ysani crouched down, bracing herself against the overgrown palm's trunk and peering into the brush. "No really, I think it's a for-real panther! Neat! ...Where'd it go." Standing, she picked her suit out of her crack and took another drink.
Hammaryn took a large swig from her bottle of rum. "I'm still not sure why we came here. I don't see any pirates or treasure or monkeys. And we're not communing with the Light."
"Well we did a lot of communing already! I feel warm all over, don't you?" She pushed through the dense jungle foliage and disappeared.
"Ysani." Hammaryn's voice rose in volume. "Where the hell are you going?" There was no response, just the sound of Ysani crashing haphazardly through the brush. She growled and whacked down a branch in front of her with a frown, and followed Ysani into the bushes. "You shouldn't go off by yourself."
"I'm not by myself, I have you!" Ysani called back over her shoulder. "Oh hey, I found a path."
Hammaryn's voice yelled back. "Why didn't you tell me there was a damn path!"
"I didn't know! Ow." When Hammaryn emerged onto the forest trail, Ysani was rubbing at a thin red gash just above her elbow. "I caught a thorn or something."
Hammaryn slapped a hand over Ysani's elbow and grumpily mumbled something. She scowled and mumbled the word again, and the cut healed. "We need to be careful."
The redhead stretched her arm up to try and look at her elbow. "Yeah! There are panthers and stuff." She rubbed again at the sore spot on her arm. "Your healing kinda stings a little."
"You'll be fine, it was just a tiny cut." Hammaryn set her bottle of rum on the ground in front of her, and put her hands over her hips. She stared into the bushes just over Ysani's shoulder. "Do you hear something?"
"I'm pretty sure we've been loud enough to scare away anything that lives within five miles of here." Ysani pulled her bikini out of her crack and polished off her drink, peering through her sunglasses before pushing them up onto her head. There wasn't nearly as much light here, even just a dozen yards into the jungle. Using her driftwood as a walking stick, she started up the path that seemed to lead straight toward the center of the humid jungle island, watching the canopy above for signs of the loud tropical birds that called out all around them. Hammaryn picked up her bottle and started up the path behind her, quickening her pace to catch up.
Maybe it was the surf, or the booze, or both; either way, neither girl noticed the faint rustling sounds behind them.
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