<div class="floatleft">(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/daniellex28/evolved%20char%207_zpsvbxkwizk.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Julie Lancaster (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=250173.msg12381790er#msg12381790)<br/><strong>City | Date | Time:</strong>Muir Woods National Monument, California | August 6, 2017 | 10:22 AM<br/><strong>Tagging | Mentioning:</strong>James<br/><strong>Content:</strong>Just keep swimming<br/><hr/><br/>James' explanation elicited a look of indiluted happiness from Julianne, one that went beyond the fact that she'd so easily lured him into revealing more of what hid under his running clothes. It wasn't like she had such strong ulterior motives - just a dire need to distract herself - but there was a distinct sense of pride that she wasn't the inevitable source of rejection that she had started to believe herself to be these past months. The reason her eyes drew into delightful little crescents, however, had far more to do with the fact that the subject of conversation ventured into the very reason she had come to the United States to begin with.<br/><br/><em>Or one of them, anyway...</em><br/><br/>"The National Park is a stark difference to the one I'm used to," she grinned, and to this, Julie pushed herself off a little until she was more or less drifting on her back. "The Big Five aren't something you'll find here, I sure had to adjust my expectations a little. Not in a bad way though!"  Her eyes widened as she gazed up at the sky; even with the sun climbing steadily towards its high point in the pale blue yonder there were only trickles of diffuse light reaching the soft soil that embraced the little secret hideaway they had uncovered. It was beautiful, so tranquil and remote that she would gladly remain for the entirety of the day, and then some. "It's just... different. Not many people wanting to hunt down innocent animals for parts that would do humans no good. Which I'm forever grateful for, mind you. You know, I'm actually here to study and aid a small number of black bears being released into the Muir Woods?" Julie angled her head towards James, wondering just how much of his narrative from before had sparked from genuine interest. Few people had ever been able to truly relate to how much she adored being close to nature, with all its beauty and splendour, though its grimness and brutality as well. A tinge of melancholy found its way to her as the memory of who she had left behind, back in South Africa, dawned on her all over again. It drew the blissful carefree expression from her face, and Julie averted her eyes, then allowed herself to be submerged fully.<br/><br/>The girl disappeared under the water's surface and kicked off towards the stony edge of the water, only emerging when she could touch the slick rocks with the tips of her extended fingers. Julie hoisted herself up and turned the full hundred and eighty degrees as she seted herself upon the bank, her feet and most of her calves still dangling in the water. They looked surprisingly pale whilst submerged, regardless of the persistent tan that years in the African climate had graced her with. "It's quieter here, and so much more modern," she confessed, and Julie attempted a smile, her palms flattening against the damp stone surface. "Can you imagine a wildebeest, or - or a rhino parading through San Francisco? Imagine how lost they'd feel," she added, and her gaze first found James, then extended towards the waterfall. The rushing water was wonderfully soothing. "That's how I felt when I first arrived at the airport. It's how I still feel now! I swear, if the park ranger told me there was a remote little hut hiding somewhere this here woods, I'd gladly claim it as my own and live the life of a crazy hermit."<br/><br/>She rolled her eyes at her own confession; perhaps Julianne Moore had overestimated her ability to adjust to Western society just a little. "So," she inquired instead, quick to shift the subject to safer grounds, "What do you do when you're not running around the woods and showing off your abs?" Was that too crude? Perhaps a little.<br/>