One fine day in the middle of the night...

Bastian nodded and grinned at her question, of course he knew how to swim, he didn't learn until he was 16.. but it didn't really matter now though. Once he learned how he rather liked swimming, and did so when ever the opportunity arose.

"Of course Lass" he said with a chuckle and took his shirt off, he then levitated it beside her dress out of the waters reach.

He took her hands and lead to way into the slightly deeper waters, already liking the feel of the water rushing past them.

Calixta couldn't help staring a bit when Bastian's shirt came off, but then he was tugging her deeper in the water, and she reflexively looked down at where she was placing her feet. The water was perfectly clear, and she could see straight to the soft, sandy bottom, but it was difficult to break the old habit of watching out for rocks. She'd broken toes one too many times back home in England for her to forget that easily.

Once the water was nearly chest-deep, she let go of Bastian's hand and closed her eyes, slipping under the water gracefully. The exercise felt good to limbs that had been stuck inside for the past week, and Calixta stretched out, letting herself go as far as she could underwater without pausing for breath. When she finally spent herself, she was in too far for her feet to touch the bottom, although she could still see it fairly clearly.

"We should race!" she called out to Bastian, splashing at him. "Maybe go out a little further, and then race back to the shore?" she suggested, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

Bastian rasied an eye brow at a mention of a race, intriged, it could be itr close one really since he had just seen she was infact a pretty good swimmer, quite gracefull and quick actaully.

"Very well Lass" he agreed kicking into a backstroke further out.


To sweeten the deal he asked half jokingly, " What does the winner get?" he asked curious.

"Oooh, I like how you think, Mr. Kaiser!" Calixta replied teasingly, swimming up to him once her got close enough and wrapping her arms and legs around him.

"How about....winner gets a massage, or, the loser has to...." she absent-mindedly planted kisses along Bastian's throat as she considered what their terms might be. The problem was that each of them pretty much had exactly what they wanted, and magic could easily accomplish any tasks Calixta could think to make the loser perform. It would have to be something very silly, then. An idea occurred to her, and her kisses trailed down to his chest as she refined it more fully.

"Okay, so the loser has to dress up in drag and go to a muggle bar or someplace, and try to get someone's number. And obviously you can't use magic to Confund them or something." Her face was eager and excited for a moment, and then she pictured Bastian in a dress and lost herself in a fit of giggles as she clung helplessly to him, trying not to fall off.

Bastain's eyes widened at her suggestion of the losing condition, it brought back old and embarrasing memories from his later school days. Merlin... what a condion, he hardly wanted to dress up in a dress.. yet the idea of Calixta dressing up as a guy.. he wasn't sure on that thought either.

However her giggling over the idea, how could he refuse? Only thing now was that he had strong incentive to win. Merlin he could just picutre Juli's face if this bet every got back to his ears.

He kissed her giggling face, "Your on lass" He muttered simply in her ear smirking.

Calixta hooked her arm around Bastian's neck and kissed him back, still snickering away.

"Alright then, we're decided! Winner gets a lovely, relaxing massage, loser gets eternal embarrassment." At this, she stuck her tongue out at Bastian, making it clear who she thought was going to win. Smirking, Calixta released her hold and poised herself in the ready position.

"On three?"

Bastain nodded "On three Lass" he agreed moving to become paralell with her in the water. Concidering the bet in hand, he very much didn't want to loose... he looked horrible in a dress.. he would know he would been in one before, and Julian almost fell over laughing... This bet... oh it would be ten times worse...

"We will see Lass, I really don't want to be in a dress.. again" adding this be of last minute mental image to distract.

"One, Two, Three" he said in German and took off.

"Again?" Calixta repeated incredulously, indeed taking the bait and losing the split-second advantage to Bastian. Not to be outdone, she quickly dove under the water and kicked off, readily catching up in a few moments. He might have gotten an earlier start, but she was just as fast and her smaller, lighter figure gave her an advantage which quickly neutralised the one he'd gotten by distracting her.

Breaking water to take a breath, she saw in her peripheral vision that Bastian was neck in neck with her, with Calixta just a hair ahead. As they came up quickly to the shore, she realised the footrace back to their discarded clothes would probably be the deciding factor in determining the race's outcome. It was then she realised she had no idea if Bastian was a runner or not; if not she had it in the bag, being in the habit of running five miles every other day just to keep up her training for her job.

With Calixta neck to neck with him, Bas knew he had a challange head once the got on land, he would be slower coming out of the water.. and he didn't really do that kinda thing anymore.

However then he got one last idea of his sleeve, had he mentioned to her he was a animagus? he didn't remember.. However this might be as good a time as any to show her, weather he won or lost.. though he was hoping it would give him a advantage.

Once it became to shallow to swim, Bas started to transform into his german shepherd form and started running full force to the "finish line" not looking to see if his last trick worked.

Calixta was throughly unprepared for the last trick that Bastian had up his sleeve, so although her own winged animagus could easily outfly how fast his could run, she didn't quite have enough time to pull off the full transformation. The result was a pair of rather useless (although pretty) spotted wings which only served to further distract her, as Calixta had to fold them back in order to give the run her full attention. Even so, it was a close thing -- she only lost by half a second, and she instinctively reacted by playfully tackling Bastian in the sand, laughing in surprise.

"Youuuuu cheater!" she cried, rolling a few times before they stopped, lying next to each other as she panted for breath. The sand clung rather uncomfortably to her now soaking wet hair and slip, but that was of little concern to her as she frowned down at her furry boyfriend.

Bas gave Cali a guilty sheepish look that could only be said "you never stated the rules" wasn't like he broken anything outright. He still ran and swam... just differently. He sincerely hoped however this little stunt didn't earn him his only night with her in a the literal doghouse as the case maybe.

To test the waters of where he stood on his girlfirends mood, he leaned his dog face over and licked her nose. At this point he would play pathetic puppy dog then put a dress on and start asking for guys number.. he wouldn't know where to start...

A cute dog thing he could do.

"Oh, don't you even!" Calixta protested, unable to repress a giggle as she pushed Bastian off of her. "You can't actually give me puppy eyes!" She rolled her own dark brown eyes before reaching for her purse and pulling out a comb, dragging it through her hair a few times in a rather futile gesture. All the time she'd spent on her hair and makeup, ruined in five minutes' time. And she had no regrets.

"Fine then, I lose. No mercy hm? Won't even let me win on my own birthday!" she said with a pout, making puppy eyes at least as effective as Bas' previous attempt. "But I play fair even if you don't, so I'll stay true to my word. You get a nice massage, and I get some poor unsuspecting girl's number. I sure hope you aren't the jealous type!" Calixta laughed, nudging Bastian in the ribs.

Bas shifted back to human giving her as sheepish look again, trying to make it up to her, despite the massive amount of relief on him that he didn't have to wear a dress and pretend to be a girl. He would be more then happy to give her a massage, since she was a bithday girl she had a point..

"Jealous type? never Lass, though am smpathitic for your victim" he said teasingly with a chuckle.

He summond his clothes once he had dried off, "Now where to Lass?" he asked wondering his she wanted to eat before their bet or not.

"You seemed a little bit jealous of Billy that one time," Calixta reminded Bastian, smirking at the memory. "Although this would be different, I grant you!" She brushed off some of the sand while Bastian got his own clothes situation settled, and then promptly ruined it by pushing him back into the sand and laying a big kiss on him, giggling mischievously.

"That's where!" she replied, releasing her hold, smirk still firmly in place. "Oh...I expect you meant food, though!" she added, feigning ignorance to his question.

"That race did kick up my appetite...and I suppose cheating got yours going too!" she teased, pushing him into the sand again. "Fancy trying a bit of the local cuisine?"

Bastian quirked an eye brow about Billy, he didn't remember being jealous of the boy... a bit ticked off by his additute towards them both...

Bas laughed as he was pushed into the sand, glad his cheating was being taken in stride, he was a fairly competitive person, was nervous it would shine through one day and rub Calixta the wrong way. Luckily aside from teasing, so far so good.

He nodded to her question while still laying in the sand, "Sounds wonderful Lass" he said getting up wrapping his arms around her in the process. He smirked gving a small tickle to her side as he moved to stand up.

Calixta brushed sand off of her as Bastian got up, finally giving up and standing as well. How Muggles managed, she'd never know, but in a moment, her slip was perfectly clean and dry, thanks to an inconspicuous wiggle of her wand. Her hair would be impossible now, she knew, so she just combed it with her fingers and fluffed it out, hoping it'd dry in waves, before she stepped back into her gown. Lifting her hair out of the way, Calixta offered her back to Bastian, looking over her shoulder at him with an imploring look.

"Zip me up?" she asked, nodding towards the zipper.

Bastian nodded with a smile on his face as he zipped up her dress, "There, all done Darlin" he muttered tucking a piece of her fluffed out hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. wrapping an arm around her shoulder's he mused for a moment,

"We to continue our walk into town Lass? he any good places in mind?" he asked, he has looked afew up earlier, but he wanted to see if she had a favorite place or a desired place to go tonight.

"There's a nice little place along the short here called Azura, which is pretty nice. They have a wide variety -- everything from Indian to Chinese along with traditional Malay cuisine. It's just a little walk," Calixta shrugged, ducking to retrieve her purse and shoes, and hoist her dress up out of the sand for a moment before she slipped her hand into Bastian's.

"There are lots of little places, since this is a bit of a tourist trap-y kind of area, so we could probably find any kind of food we wanted. I'm not terribly picky, myself," she added, leaving it up to Bastian. As far as she was concerned, him coming all this way certainly entitled him to get to pick where he wanted to go, despite its being her birthday. The real present was just getting to see him -- although, as she gently fingered the locket he'd given to her on its delicate golden chain, she smiled slightly in a approval at his idea of a gift.

"I expect that after dinner is when we'll go satisfy the terms of our little bet?" she questioned, smirking in anticipation. Honestly she was more disappointed in having lost than the terms, which she fully intended to make as entertaining and memorable.

Bastian laughed, ah yes the bet, now that he thpught about it, it would be rather funny, and knowing Calixta she would milk it for all it was worth. He gave her hand a squeeze back, now looking forward to seeing what she would come up with, likely better then what he could have. Then again the image of him dressed up as a woman would likely be enough for anyone who knew him to laugh... He made a mental note the if ever one day Calixta needed some cheer up or a good laugh... perhaps that might be the ticket. Situation pending of course.

"Lets see where the night takes us Lass" he said walking toward the villiage.

"As for that bet, I admit I am curious to see it, I believe I mention I did.. that before" he said nearly grimcing at the memory. "Scary that was Lass"" I am sorry to say Lass, I am glad it is you and not me" he muttered in amusment.

"Someplace fun, I hope!" Calixta replied, doing her best to keep pace with Bastian's much longer steps. "I get the feeling it's not going to take much to entertain us, though. Which is always nice," she shrugged, smiling up at him.

"I'm gonna have to get Julian to hand that memory over for ah, inspection," she teased, chuckling slightly at the thought. Also would be interesting to see a teenaged Bastian, no matter what he was wearing. It occurred to her that she'd never seen pictures, having only ever been to his apartment -- he had the advantage on her, there, since she was sure her mother showed Bastian all kinds of photographs when he'd visited the estate.

Bastian shook his head, " And Juli would gladly hand it over to.." he said in amusement. "Happened on a dare, close to graduation.." he said with a nostaigic expression on his face.

Bastian held her hand and whispered in her ear, " Juli had to cut me out of it after" he muttered trying not to blush he figured telling all now would be less embarrassing then her seeing it in a memory. He found himself wondering how they both were while they were younger. He had been a typical teenager he supposed, wasn't much for school, but managed enough to graduate.. without bullying thank you very much.. that ended by his 3rd year for the most part. He had firends, though not to many, like he was now he was a person of few words and not too scoialble. Then his father got him into the Auror program.. somehow, and he thrived.. the rest was interesting.

"They were interesting years" he commented finding him self curious to hear from Cali about her younger years.

Calixta's eyes lit up at the thought of seeing that particular childhood memory up close and personally. From what little she knew of Julian, Bastian probably wasn't exaggerating. Her smile turned rather irresistibly towards the mischievous as he added in that little bonus detail of having to be cut out of his outfit.

"Very interesting, I'm sure!" she replied, laughter undisguised in her voice. "I used to be in the way of thinking that was a handful in my younger years, but I'm pretty sure you have me beat," she smirked, shaking her head.

"I was rather more troublesome that the average Ravenclaw, anyway -- quite similar to my sister Melania, actually, except less skilled at Quidditch. I never made captain, anyway. Or Head Girl -- got caught sneaking off to Hogsmeade one too many times, I suppose. I was a prefect, though," she shrugged, "so I couldn't have been quite such a terror, anyway. Just very loud, and exceedingly fond of the party scene."

Bastain chuckled he could picture a younger version of her having fun and enjoying her self in her school years.

"I'll show ya pictures I have of me and Juli, there arn't many though" he commented and most had been taken by his ex wife... but she wasn't in the pictures so it matter little.

With a arm around her waist they arived at the villiage, it had that charming little town feel to it. Street lights were on and the streets bussled slightly with locals and other turists, music was faintly coming from a few resturants.

"Charming place Lass" he muttered to her as they walked. He wondered which of the little resturants would be right for time to have dinner then start there little bet.

"It is though, isn't it?" Calixta agreed, leaning into Bastian as they strolled along companionably. "I'd like to see those pictures very much," she added, but now she was distracted by the smells coming from the various restaurants. Her stomach grumbled faintly; she either hadn't realised how hungry she was before, or their little race had stirred up her appetite.

"How about something...local?" she questioned, peering around at the signs in front of the different restaurants. "That looks promising," she suggested, nudging Bastian in the direction of a red sign with black lettering. "Noor Sita's...sign says something about a 'unique cultural blend,' which I hope means that we can try a little bit of everything," she explained. Like all the other restaurants, it was small, but they could see through the front doors which were flung open, that it was very nice, with an intimate feel.

"We can go someplace else afterwards," she suggested, noticing the absence of a bar area. "There aren't any restaurants with a bar. It's kind of a cultural thing, I think."

Bastain nodded "Perfect Darlin" he said simply heading to ward the small local dinner. To the side of it was a vander man with a woman beside him making crowns out of flowers it seemed.

"Flowers for your Lady Mr?" the man asked holding a blue flowered crown up.

Bastain looked to Calixta for a moment, of course he would, it might have been a bit cliche but why not. He nodded and payed them a few coins getting the blue flowered crown.

He offered it to Calixta, "What do you think Lass?" he muttered placing it on her head.