Robin snorted. "I'll take the blame for that," he said breezily, pillowing his head on his hands as he laid there. "This was definitely one of my best ideas."

"Your best ideas always did come from your most spectacular screw-ups," Khalid agreed teasingly. She laid herself out again to bask in the sun a little more.

Robin snorted and shook his head, looking over at Ishiah briefly. Ish just rolled his eyes and stayed in the shade, quite comfortable.

"You know, we could always go back up to the room..."

"Is that all you think about sometimes, Robin?" Khalid asked rhetorically, though she didn't move from her sunbathing spot this time.

"Not always. I think about other things too." Robin pouted at her. "You wound me with your accusations."

"I didn't accuse you of anything," Khalid replied primly. Sitting up, she stretched a bit. "Though I think that's enough time out in the sun for right now..."

Robin grinned and got up, waiting for her. "Excellent! Back inside, then? Or shall we find some food first?"

"I think we should wait for Ishiah first, and see what he wants," Khalid replied as she got up and brushed herself off.

Robin looked over at the peri, who was already getting up to join them. Ish had never been one to hang around humans too much, and this was fast approaching his limit.

Khalid knew that Ish didn't like really socializing with humans, as well.

"Filled your social quota for a while?" she teased a bit when the peri joined them. Clearly, Khalid wasn't in a bad mood anymore.

"That's one way of putting it," Ishiah said, stretching briefly and rolling his shoulders. He was definitely ready to escape for a little while.

Robin looked between the two. "Well, Khalid? Where are we going?"

"You're the one who had the plan, Robin," Khalid reminded. "What did you have in mind?"

"Food or back to the room for a while. I'll leave it up to you two." Robin hooked one arm around each of them.

Ishiah shrugged. He didn't care either way. More like he didn't have an opinion.

"Fine," Khalid said. She didn't have much of an opinion, either. "Pick one, then. Neither of us care which."

"Back to the room, then." Robin grinned and steered them to the elevator so they could go up to their suite.

They could always get room service later, after all.

Khalid went with them, letting herself be steered towards the room. She knew very well what Robin had 'planned.' She just felt like indulging him, and it absolutely had nothing to do with her newly-surging hormones.

Really.

A few nights later, Jeane got out of bed at almost midnight. Cal had fallen asleep, and she didn't try to wake him up as she grabbed her bathing suit. She felt like going for a swim.

Khalid was woken out of her light sleep when Jeane got up. After taking a few moments to gauge what Jeane was up to, Khalid slipped out of bed and put on some decent clothes. Then she went outside to see what Jeane was doing.

Jeane waded into the water up to her hips, smiling. The water was still warm, warmer than the air actually. She didn't notice Khalid immediately, instead running her fingers through the water, taking her time.

Khalid went and settled herself on the sand near the shore, just keeping an eye on Jeane and watching the moonlight on the water for a bit.

Jeane slipped farther into the water, swimming slowly away from the shore. She didn't think anything else was moving.

So when something secured around her ankle and yanked, she vanished under the surface of the water with a yelp.

That got Khalid's attention. She focused on the spot she last saw her friend, trying to see where she went.

"Jeane?" she called warily, standing up.

Jeane didn't bob to the surface for several more moments, and then she swam for shore. She was pulled down again, flailing violently this time. Apparently the merperson really wanted her hair comb back.

Khalid was on her feet immediately. Even as she went to go help Jeane, she snapped her fingers and gave a bit of a push with her power. Whatever it was that was trying to pull Jeane in, Khalid just gave it a sharp sting to distract it long enough for her to get Jeane back into shallower water.

Jeane scrambled back into the shallow water quite happily, shaking just a little. Almost claw-like nails had left shallow cuts on her ankles, and she was staring out at the water.

"Khalid? You ever seen a merperson?"