On board

Under the rubble

Dianne sighed contently as she allowed the sun to rest onto her skin. The warmth of the Italian summer prompting her genetics to pipe up into their natural habitat. Biology had never been one of the redheads strongest points of academia from when she was in school, but from the moment that she had set foot onto Italian soil, the Australian assumed that the feeling of familiarity she got from the place had at least a little something to do with her DNA.

This place however, it wasn't their first stop in Italy. In fact by this point the cruise was at its penultimate stop overall. The intrigue of Naples seeming to be far more to her taste than the decided fashion she had experienced on her first ever trip to Pisa. And whilst the renaissance architecture and the opportunity to act like one of the million other tourists who framed themselves in photos to look as if they were supporting the famous leaning tower, the dusty streets of the old city just didn't seem to quite cut it for her. She did of course stick to the promise she gave her Mother of sending over pictures and videos of the tower and the other famous locations on their brief tour of the city. Yet whilst the enjoyment of walking around the cobbled stone had kept her entertained for the day, it didn't take long for Dianne to assess that as lovely as it was, she wasn't burning to go back there like she was with Marseille or even Monaco.

But that trip was quite literally behind her. The new sanction of Naples providing her with more than enough enjoyment to overcome her questionable likeness to the other Italian city. When she woke up this morning, Dianne didn't quite know what to expect from the old city the boat had magically docked up to by the time that she rose with the sun. A sense of intrigue to the old Roman quarters she had heard about which could be seen a little further down the coast from where they had docked prompting her to rouse the sleeping blonde in the other bed next to her with a squeal, before the two of them got dressed and headed into the intriguing area. Where they found themselves a small café where they both shot back an espresso and a weird granola square filled with Pistachios and dark chocolate. The item which the two women conceded was in fact delicious, despite neither of them truly knowing what it was and whether it even constituted as an appropriate breakfast. But that was a little over seven hours of walking and exploring ago, and neither of them had felt hungry or lethargic during any of that time. Although it was possible that the several hundred market stalls and shops they had passed handing out free samples of fine Italian cuisine and drink that they had happily quaffed on their travels had been doing some of the heavy lifting, or so Dianne recollected as she felt the gentle buzz in the back of her head still churn away after the several samples of Limoncello and wine she had happily knocked back throughout her day of exploring.

"There you are." The familiarity of a muffled voice she had been waiting for for the past twenty minutes piped up again as a body came and settled down on the bench next to her. His left arm instantly wrapping around her body with his hand resting gently onto her hip, whilst his other hand balanced two disposable coffee cups, one on top of the other.

"Thank you." The redhead smiled up at him as she shuffled slightly closer into the crook of his body as she took the top cup off of him, before opening the white plastic lid and taking in the comforting aroma of a hearty Americano coffee which she was about to drink on the Italian coast as she drained in the last of the days sun which was slowly changing from the bright yellow which had followed her round all day, into a calming orange glow which rippled off the surface of the sea.

"That's okay. I'm sorry it took so long." Joe began with a gentle sigh escaping his lips as he shuffled slightly on the splintering wooden bench. Straightening the sleeves of his t-shirt across his arms and placing his wallet back into the pockets of his shorts rather than keeping it clamped in his teeth as he had during the walk from the coffee shop down the steps up to the small vantage point the redhead was sat upon. "There was a massive queue of some family who apparently wanted about twenty things between the four or five of them." He grumbled in an explanation for his tardiness. Not that the dancer had seemed that bothered anyway.