The silver case nestled within Harley's grip had started to corrode ever so slightly at the edges, the color turning from that once stark metallic hue to a distinct shade of green. Whatever was contained within the watertight case had certainly been in the water for some time, even if Sterling largely suspected that it was either empty or filled with useless papers and sea kelp. Nevertheless, when it landed in the sand with a muffled thud in front of him...it was difficult to not let that inquisitiveness take ahold of him. Cautiously, Sterling moved purposefully towards the case, crouching down in the sand in front of it. He peeled the seaweed off of its black handle, tossing it aside on the sand. Harley's insistence that its contents could change their lives was met with a stark dose of reality from the Warlock. After all, who would throw a case full of anything valuable into the ocean? They were far more likely to find a dismembered body than money or gems. Maybe he'd been watching too much television. The sound of Harley's voice drew the blue of his irises upwards before the Warlock shrugged his shoulders. "Never hurts to look, I guess." He answered, fiddling with the snaps that held the case firmly closed.

Sterling was altogether oblivious of the manner in which Harley seemed to stalk him, her footsteps near silent in the sand as she so carefully moved behind him. Sterling himself was far more focused upon wrestling the case open - the sea had somehow gotten the lid...stuck. The very last thing he anticipated was for her to leap onto his back, the very weight of her feminine figure prompted a soft sound from his lips as Sterling's balance was thrown off. He tilted precariously forward, the man catching himself on the palm of his hands as the young girl's legs wrapped around his figure, her soaked body so quickly dampening his shirt in turn. A complaint left his lips, though Harley was quick to answer it with a burst of near barking laughter. Her death grip informed him well that she had little intention to release him. There was, ultimately, only one move the warlock could truly make. With ease he pushed himself backward, letting gravity take hold as he sent the pair toppling into the sand, trapping Harley underneath the weight of him.

A distinct hint of sarcasm laced Sterling's voice as he insisted that he had fallen and was somehow incapable of rising at all. How aware he was of her wiggling beneath him, the girl incapable of escaping while she clung to him so...dramatically. Her sneered words caused his shoulders to lift in a vague shrug, "I could stay here all night." The Warlock answered, nestling himself further against her as if to further prove his point. It took some effort, admittedly, and quite a bit of pushing and shoving before Harley was so able to roll the warlock off of her. Sterling hardly put up too much of a fight, admittedly, even as the boy found himself on his stomach against the warm, heated sand. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sterling grumbled as Harley ruffled his hair, the girl abruptly rolling off of him and back onto the sand, and yet, Sterling made little effort to move. It was the sound of her voice that caused his eyes to flutter open, his head shifted to better eye her. "Sure...but Sacrosanct was supposed to be me starting over from New York and that clearly turned out splendidly." He pointed out with a raised brow. It was clear to Sterling, by now, that running away from his problems was seemingly not an answer when they so intended to follow him from coast to coast.

Sterling allowed her those moments of introspection before she abruptly shifted to a sitting position, brushing the sand off of herself in the process. Slowly, Sterling rose to his elbows as he watched Harley grab the mysterious case. His gaze shifted over her damp feminine physique as she contemplated the possibility of stripping to her undergarments. A soft, almost resigned sigh left his lips as Sterling's gaze swept towards the boardwalk. "I guess that means we're stuck with fare food then." He lamented, his attention shifted back towards Harley as she finally popped open the lid of the case. The Warlock watched as she leaned over, staring at the object within blankly only to inquire just what it was. Sterling's brow rose as the boy sat up, glancing over and towards the singular object resting within the metal case. It was oddly dry inside, except for a singular black box that was almost difficult to see amongst the black interior. "It...looks like a box, Harley." He commented, glancing back at her. "Are you going to open it or have you never seen another box before?"

STERLING TENEMBRAGE