Sol ☼ Thomas "Tan" Moore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
secretofthefox) wrote2014-07-21 08:55 pm
secretofthefox) wrote2014-07-21 08:55 pm
Memory 5
Positive Trivial: the day Thomas became Tan
Won: Day 79
Game: worldbuilding
Summary
This takes place when Tan (well, Tom, since he doesn't have that nickname until the end of this memory) is about 8. It's the middle of the summer, and he and Norbert have been invited along with the Murrays, Rena's family, to spend a day at the beach, because they're Rena's best friends, and much as her parents try to encourage sibling bonds her older sisters and brother don't really pay much attention to her. ...Though, to be fair, her sisters are like seven and nine years older than her, and her brother (who's about two years older calendar-wise but got held back a year) has behavioral problems and bullies her, so.
So the three of them hang out together at the beach while Rena's siblings all do their own thing and Rena's parents watch from their blanket, sunbathing on the sand. The morning is spent with Rena and Norbert swimming while Tom looks on. They keep trying to get him to come in, but he declines, so they tease him a little about being scared of the water, and he insists that it's not the water, it's the fact that he can't see where it ends on the other side of it. ...Eventually they do manage to get him to stick his toe in, but that's about it.
After a picnic lunch of hot dogs and chips, the other two are bored of swimming, so the three of them wander along the rocks, looking through tide pools and stuff. The boys are fascinated by the crawly things like the snails and hermit crabs and stuff, while Rena is more interested in the seaweed, but they all have a good time. And they have ice cream for a snack, too, so that's always a good thing.
The thing is, of course, that while the three of them had used sunscreen, Tom hadn't gotten a fresh application of it, thinking that he hadn't needed to since he hadn't been swimming, when he really should have anyway because he'd been sweating. So at dinner, it turns out that Rena and Norbert are beet red with sunburn where the coverage wasn't quite as good (like on their scalps and Rena's feet... but Tom isn't burned at all. He has, in fact, visibly tanned over the course of the day, despite not having been protected for the latter half of the afternoon.
Norbert, of course, decides to tease him, commenting that maybe they should just call him Tan from here on out. Tom laughs and says maybe they should.
Obviously, it kind of stuck ever since.
What He Learns
☼ Rena's last name is Murray. Aside from the brother who came up previously, she also has two sisters who are a lot older than her. She's not really close to any of her siblings.
☼ Fear of large bodies of water is a thing.
☼ He doesn't sunburn.
☼ This is why his friends call him Tan - because he doesn't sunburn and Norbert thought he was being funny.
Notes
The... meta reason for the nickname is more that he started with a really dumb name that Tan was derived from but when I changed his name to Tom I kept Tan because I thought it was a good nickname for him. Because yes I started this when I was in middle school and yes it's gone through a lot of changes since then.
Won: Day 79
Game: worldbuilding
Summary
This takes place when Tan (well, Tom, since he doesn't have that nickname until the end of this memory) is about 8. It's the middle of the summer, and he and Norbert have been invited along with the Murrays, Rena's family, to spend a day at the beach, because they're Rena's best friends, and much as her parents try to encourage sibling bonds her older sisters and brother don't really pay much attention to her. ...Though, to be fair, her sisters are like seven and nine years older than her, and her brother (who's about two years older calendar-wise but got held back a year) has behavioral problems and bullies her, so.
So the three of them hang out together at the beach while Rena's siblings all do their own thing and Rena's parents watch from their blanket, sunbathing on the sand. The morning is spent with Rena and Norbert swimming while Tom looks on. They keep trying to get him to come in, but he declines, so they tease him a little about being scared of the water, and he insists that it's not the water, it's the fact that he can't see where it ends on the other side of it. ...Eventually they do manage to get him to stick his toe in, but that's about it.
After a picnic lunch of hot dogs and chips, the other two are bored of swimming, so the three of them wander along the rocks, looking through tide pools and stuff. The boys are fascinated by the crawly things like the snails and hermit crabs and stuff, while Rena is more interested in the seaweed, but they all have a good time. And they have ice cream for a snack, too, so that's always a good thing.
The thing is, of course, that while the three of them had used sunscreen, Tom hadn't gotten a fresh application of it, thinking that he hadn't needed to since he hadn't been swimming, when he really should have anyway because he'd been sweating. So at dinner, it turns out that Rena and Norbert are beet red with sunburn where the coverage wasn't quite as good (like on their scalps and Rena's feet... but Tom isn't burned at all. He has, in fact, visibly tanned over the course of the day, despite not having been protected for the latter half of the afternoon.
Norbert, of course, decides to tease him, commenting that maybe they should just call him Tan from here on out. Tom laughs and says maybe they should.
Obviously, it kind of stuck ever since.
What He Learns
☼ Rena's last name is Murray. Aside from the brother who came up previously, she also has two sisters who are a lot older than her. She's not really close to any of her siblings.
☼ Fear of large bodies of water is a thing.
☼ He doesn't sunburn.
☼ This is why his friends call him Tan - because he doesn't sunburn and Norbert thought he was being funny.
Notes
The... meta reason for the nickname is more that he started with a really dumb name that Tan was derived from but when I changed his name to Tom I kept Tan because I thought it was a good nickname for him. Because yes I started this when I was in middle school and yes it's gone through a lot of changes since then.