[ToxicShadow]

"Yay! It's finally beach day!"

A little girl with pale eyes, skin and hair bound forward in the sand, entirely barefoot as she shouted excitedly, ignoring the warmth beneath her feet. Her long, unusually white hair was partially pulled up into ponytails on either side of her head, although a length of it still fell loose down her back. She wore her brand new, cute and ruffly swimdress, an equally white color, though excessively decorated with soft pink bows and ribbons.

[ToxicShadow]

She was directly followed by a woman with chestnut hair that usually reached just below her shoulders and was carefully teased, though, today, it was pulled back into a pretty, messy side bun with a few strands still lose and framing her face. Her eyes were covered in extra large sunglasses with black frames and reflective blue lenses, the upper portion being more cyan while it faded into a darker blue in the lower portion. Intentionally, she was hiding her face.

[ToxicShadow]

Though, in spite of attempting to hide her face, she didn't do much of anything to hide the rest of her figure. She was wearing a bright yellow bikini with black straps and accents, with the words "Caution" clearly displayed on it. Indeed, it directly resembled caution tape, in color and theme, and left little the imagination. It covered all of the important parts, but just barely. In fact, it probably highlighted them, more than anything else. Her flip flop sandals were entirely black, to match.

[ToxicShadow]

A pace behind the woman was a man with jet black hair, whom was more or less being dragged along by the woman, her hand grasping him tightly by the hand, almost as if she was afraid that he would disappear if she dared to loosen her hold on him. His hair was as it usually was, with long bangs covering the majority of one side of his face, while the rest was styled up in a array of spikes. His swim shorts were entirely black, as was the short sleeve black t-shirt he wore to keep himself more comfortably covered. He even kept on his black choker necklace that was decorated with silvery spikes, and wore his usual creeper shoes.

[ToxicShadow]

"Come on, Pulse! Quit dragging your feet!" The woman, Hypolight, exclaimed as she stepped forward, trying to catch up with the girl ahead of them that had began to get farther and farther ahead.

"You know how I feel about the beach," the man responded, sounding much less enthusiastic. Though, by now, he had pretty much come to accept his fate. The girls wanted to go to the beach, so they were going to the beach, regardless of his desire to not to.

[ToxicShadow]

"Yes, I know," Hypolight replied, not even bothering to look back at him. "You don't like the beach. But you also promised that we'd go. You can break a promise like that to me, that's fine, but not to Ekkoh. She's been dying to go for a long time now."

The man heavily sighed. "I know." He was here. And he was happy that his daughter was happy, but that didn't change his opinion about the beach. It was still fair from his ideal destination.

[ToxicShadow]

But it wasn't just the beach giving him a hard time. He already wasn't looking forward to dealing with the heat of the sun, getting sand in his shoes, hair, and all other crevices of his body, or the possibility of getting wet, when he really wanted nothing to do with the ocean, but he was keeping his eyes carefully trained away from Hypolight's backside. Which was in his direct line of sight as he was being pulled along behind her, but he kept his eyes to the side of her, ahead of them.

[ToxicShadow]

The last thing he wanted to think about was how little the woman was wearing, and how many other men would, inevitably, be drawn to her figure. The bright colored swimsuit she chose certainly didn't do them any favors. He wasn't even certain that those sunglasses of hers would really prevent her from being recognized, either, which would be even more of an ordeal. She was famous, after all, being the front runner for their band, bang bang!.

[ToxicShadow]

Although he did nothing to disguise himself, he was saved by the fact that he was never in the spotlight, anyway. That was the arrangement; he was roped into being the drummer of the band, but he only agreed if he was never put in the limelight. On stage, he was never in the spotlight and, often times, he was even hidden behind a curtain or divider that prevented the fans in the crowd from seeing him all the more. He even skipped out on interviews, and his identity was entirely unknown, aside from what Elle called him, "Pulse."

[ToxicShadow]

His silhouette was known, sure but that was it. Unlike her, whom had her face plastered all over the internet, promotional posters, and so on.

"Ekkoh, wait for us!" Hypolight finally shouted out to the girl ahead of them, whom stopped in her tracks when she saw the words appear before her eyes and twirled around to stare back at the two adults with her.

"Yes, Auntie Elle!" she replied, waving her free hand at them excitedly.

[Hunt Complete]

[ToxicShadow]

In the girl's other hand, she held tightly onto the handle of a plastic bucket that somewhat resembled the shape of a castle tower, and it had an array of other, smaller plastic sand toys shoved inside, shovel included. More than swimming, she was interested in building a sandcastle with her father and her Auntie Elle. Especially since she was well aware that her father wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of swimming, especially in the ocean. Though, she still had every intention of swimming, as long as Auntie Elle was willing to go with her.

[ToxicShadow]

As things were, Ekkoh understood her father well. That is, she knew perfectly well that he was not all too comfortable going outside. Or, rather, he could not much stand going out in public, in crowds of people. He didn't hide most things from her, believing it was better to tell her things, even in her young age, rather than leaving her in the dark. After all, children were more clever and understanding of sometimes difficult concepts than adults often gave them credit for.

[ToxicShadow]

She understood what death meant. And she understood that if Pulsation was not careful, it was entirely possible that her father would lose control of his powers and hurt someone, even kill them. That he could cause the deaths of other people, other creatures, without having any intention to do so. It was even possible that he could do the same to her if he was not perfectly careful and in control.

But Daddy would never hurt her. Ekkoh believed that strongly. Even more strongly than he did.

[ToxicShadow]

She would never say it, but a part of her believed that being exposed to groups of people, however, would actually better help him to control those unique abilities of his. According to what Hypolight had told her before, her father seemed more and more in control than he did, after bangbang! started touring together. After Pulsation became the drummer and was forced to be around large crowds of their fans.

So part of this, part of her always wanting to go out, was not just enjoy doing fun things with her father and Auntie Elle, whom was much like her mother figure.

[ToxicShadow]

As these thoughts crossed Ekkoh's mind, that she was helping her father in this roundabout way, she smiled to herself. "Come on!" she called out, since the pair were still closing the gap between them.

Still, though, she couldn't lie and say she didn't just enjoy getting out like this. She probably got that from Hypolight, even if they weren't related by their direct genetic code, since the woman always excitedly dragged Pulse out of the house, as she loved going out and experiencing new things.