[h1]Injae Park[/h1]
[@Mr Allen J]
[hr]
"Hey, no prob," Ratchet said, brushing her good hand in mid-air. She watched as Jen found a napkin, wrote something on it, and pressed it into her hand.

[i]"... I... don't know how long you're sticking around Verthaven - especially after what happened - but here's my number if you want to meet me again."[/i] She nodded her head. "[i]We can play games, I can show you around the city... or we can juuuuust - you know -[/i] talk."

Ratchet took the napkin and folded it, putting it into her pocket, making a mental note to punch that into her cell phone. She nodded and smiled at Jen. "Thanks. I'll text you once I put the number in."

The cops continued to usher people out the bridge. Ratchet heard Jen's last remarks, before waving to her and crossing the bridge.

"Shoot, do I have enough money to catch a bus?" she muttered, sticking her hand into her denim pouch. Thankfully, she had enough cash to pay the fare and return to her aunt's place. Ratchet walked, her hands behind her, to the bus station, and waited for a bus.

[hr]
"Now, listen, young lady," Ratchet's father said, "I don't want you stepping foot on Rosalina Isle until this whole Fiend thing blows over."

"You don't have to worry about me," Ratchet said. "The only Rosalina I'm associating with during this trip'll be the one in my games."

Mr. Park patted Ratchet. "You know that I want to keep you, Winston, and Kate safe, right?"

"Is that even a question?" Ratchet asked. Hell no she ain't going back to that island if there's going to be terrorists running around, shooting people. If there weren't terrorists, that would be a different story. But the fact of the matter is, there are terrorists. And therefore Ratchet's keeping her distance.

Mr. Park turned his head at the door. "Injae, why don't you go to the beach for a little bit?" he suggested. "You can't spend all your time in Verthaven cooped up in your cousin's room."

[i]I wasn't gonna,[/i] Ratchet thought to herself, before checking her iPhone. Her father slammed the door shut. As soon as Ratchet had returned home the previous night, she put the number into her contacts Good as her word, she had texted Jennifer (albeit with a simple [i]Hi! ;)[/i]). She wondered if Jen had a Facebook account or an Instagram. She would have to find out.

Ratchet had been lying on her cousin's twin-size bed in a clean (shocker!) T-shirt and underwear. She pulled off her T-shirt and brassiere, before digging through her luggage for her one-piece swim suit. "Winston, you better not come in here," she hollered, hearing a thump on the door. Ratchet put on the white one-piece and slipped her T-shirt back on, before tugging on her overalls and packing her phone, wrench, screwdriver, and Nintendo 3DS into her pocket.

[hr]
Knightsdale Rows was quite close to the Crystal Shores, though Kate had warned her that some of the locals didn't like trespassers on their property. "Figures, with these high-end rich folks. They probably don't want a machine-girl trodding all over their white sand," Ratchet mused.

"[i]Gommo,[/i] can I borrow your moped?" Ratchet asked, walking into the kitchen to get through to the garage. "I'll be extra careful."

"Injae, I know you're never careful," her aunt replied, "yet you still haven't managed to kill yourself in an accident. I suppose it couldn't hurt." She tossed the ignition key to Ratchet.

"Well, it could, but yeah, I haven't died. [i]Yet.[/i]" Ratchet caught the key and put it in her pocket. She swiped an orange tube of sunblock off the kitchen island.

This type of morbid humor was somewhat commonplace with Ratchet.

"Have fun. Remember to keep your phone on," her aunt called as Ratchet opened the door to the garage.

"Got it, [i]Gommo,[/i]" Ratchet replied, before shutting the door behind her and pressing the garage door button. "Love ya," she added. With a rumble, the slats of the garage door slowly opened and folded into the ceiling, wobbling a bit, as Ratchet found her aunt's midnight-blue Vespa. Ratchet wheeled the moped out the garage door and eased onto it, before starting it up and turning around, driving down the street and turning the corner. She steered remarkably well for someone with one arm. Thankfully, the accelerator was right-hand oriented, otherwise she would have some trouble moving around.

The beach was relatively close, enough so that Ratchet could find it just via the street signs. It took her a little bit of time, since Ratchet hadn't really driven around alone in Verthaven since her vacation began.

Ratchet's hair blew behind her, pinned in that clamp of hers, as she drove down the streets and turned into the beach's parking lot. She found a space and unfolded the kickstand, pulling out the key and removing her helmet. She smelled the salt of the ocean and heard the cawing of seagulls. A flock had congregated near the sand-dusted entrance to the beach. "MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!" Ratchet crowed, scattering the seagulls. Ha. She always wanted to do that.

She thought about it, and figured that she should've recorded that on video and put it on Instagram. Not for the likes, but for teh lulz.

[i]Ah, well,[/i] Ratchet thought, shrugging with a "Mmrenh." She pulled out her iPhone and snapped a photo of the beach, before making a post on Instagram.

Ratchet had worn her sneakers, but no socks. If she was going to get wet--wait, she forgot to bring a towel. "Goddammit," Ratchet muttered. She could dry out in the sun, she supposed.

If it's one thing Ratchet didn't like, it's stuff that got in her shoes. Ratchet swore that Astroturf was a race of evil aliens that inhabit synthetic football fields, preparing to unleash their assault on planet Earth from the soles of the Dinkles of marching bands all over the United States. Sand was no different; if anything, sand was even more annoying given the minuscule size of the granules. [i]I ?!$#@ing hate getting sand in my shoes,[/i] Ratchet thought. She wasn't going to let that screw up her beach day. Balancing her iPhone on her false forearm, she double-tapped the home button, swiped her apps over to Messages, and texted Kate. [i]At the beach. Love you! :)[/i]

Ratchet put her phone back into her pocket, shutting it off with a click. She would have to get a phone peripheral for her fiberglass arm sometime; one of these days her phone's gonna fall right out and shatter. That would be bad.

Ratchet continued to walk down the beach. The sea breeze blew her shoulder-length ponytail in the opposite direction. Ratchet adjusted the clamp so that it didn't blow right off, and raised her thick arms, letting the breeze flow into her sleeves. The air had a pleasant, salty smell and the waves shone in the sunlight. "Thank goodness that Verthaven isn't all like what happened yesterday," Ratchet said to herself.

Ratchet spotted two other people on the beach, or rather, on the sidewalk. She squinted, and as she walked back towards the sidewalk, she could recognize Jen. Ratchet beamed and broke into a run. "Jennifer!" Ratchet called, her long legs allowing her to cover ground slightly more quickly than an average girl would.

Ratchet caught up to Jennifer and Meifeng. "Hey, what's up?" she asked. She was in a significantly better mood than yesterday's, mostly attributed to the significant lack of cis scum and crazed mutant terrorists in the general vicinity. "Fancy meeting you here, Jen! D'you live around here?" Ratchet asked. She then turned to Meifeng. "Whoops, there's another person here. I'm Ratchet, but not for the reason you might think," Ratchet added, sticking out her right hand for a shake. "You friends with Jen??