Seaside 5: Kinda like One Piece without the anime

[bc56]

Beach Party

Swimming Supers
"The people. Some people just look out for themselves, at the cost of others. Some enjoy hurting people. Some just don't think about what they're doing." Jade isn't sure who cursed her, but she is certain they fall into one of those categories. "People who do care have to stand up for those who can't."

Prumathe and Girlfiend

"I guess that's something I should try later." Then she thinks for a moment, and has an idea. "Do you want to try? Uh, flying. I might be able to, uh, carry you."

[Purple Eagle]

[Beach Party]

Teen Loves

"I don't really need to go to University. Where I'm from, our Special Talent Academies serve as both secondary school and university, because it's usually straight to the army or law enforcement. Ninja school is sort of the same way, we're like the special police of Himmelia, after all." Karasu explains. "So rather than go to Uni, I'm thinking of joining HALO soon and apprentice under their nurse to broaden my medical skills. Bro Mirai's learning electronics engineering from an uncle and online courses, himself."

That doesn't mean she can't help Natalie with her schooling, however! "I've been called a bookworm, and I usually score high marks, so I can help when the time comes, babe."

Jack & Chidi

"None is worse than the other, Jack. They both have their pros and cons. Besides, there's a reason phones are getting phased out in my world. See these beads on my hand? They don't need charging via being plugged to the wall." Chidi explains. He listens to her long story.

"So, in summary, a dice you found at a party led to you discovering a map to a cave behind a waterfall that contained breathable water. In this cave, you found the shovel, a chest of gold and the wings of a now-dead mutant bird." Which is what she should have done, given a summary rather than a novella. Not that he minds. Much.

It was an interesting enough story, after all.

"Cool! I had an adventure of my own, recently. I met a NERD superheroine in a bar, we had a few drinks and I helped her out on patrol. We ended up foiling a robbery and getting the villains arrested. No loot, but I made a friend."

Zaabi

"I hope so, we could use it for later. I could even show them back home, the kids would love animated sand for the beach!" Zara grins when Abi's eyes go pinker, and hugs back. They could plausibly have gotten a large portion fish and chips just before they got into the beach party, and their drinks from the tent. Of course, since the food here seems to be free, they could save some money instead.

Zara offers Abi a bite of her cheese, as well. "What if I bought you one? There's a tent for that, too. Insta-fit swimwear with magic, what's not to like?" She offers.

[Recaiden]

Libra definitely qualifies as "doesn't think about what she's doing."
"And some of the villains really do care, you know. Sometimes two superheroes are on opposite sides, yes?"
"Do you ever wish you could fix people? Who don't think? Who don't care?"

[bc56]

Beach Party - Swimming Supers

Yes, she sure does. But Jade doesn't know she's responsible.
"I've heard that suggested before, but never by anyone I would consider a hero. I can't stand that kind of violation of free will." The act of changing people's minds against their will is disturbing. Jade's a little more touchy about this than some, because before it was partially sealed, her curse had a mind-altering component. She isn't sure how much permanent effect it had on her.

[Recaiden]

Swimming Supers

"But they are heroes." Skye speculates, thinking that Jade is just holding unreasonable standards.
"Most people, I think, hardly ever use their will. Although that isn't what I meant to speak of in the first place. People get to be how they are simply by living in the world."

[bc56]

Beach Party

Jade shakes her head. "There's no easy way to know which problems are caused by the world, and which by people. If everyone had everything they needed, maybe things could be different. But greed drives people to take more than they need. It's a difficult question." She tries to find a good explanation. "You can fix some crime by changing people's circumstances, but not all. Some criminals just enjoy it. Others always want more than they have. They won't just stop."

[Recaiden]

That gets a laugh from Skye.
"I never said it was easy. But it shouldn't be beyond those 'super-geniuses'."
She ducks underwater and swims, if clumsily, a little distance closer before popping up again, quite possibly splashing Jade with water in the process.
"Some people are just broken. But really it's so few you might never see them."

[bc56]

Beach Party

Jade splutters and spits out water. She starts laughing too. "I don't know, it's stumped us so far." Then the idea of truly horrible people is brought up. "Believe me, I've met my fair share of them."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Beach Party]

Intersection on Vacation for some Relaxation!

Ithuriel has convinced two of her fellow officers to come out and enjoy some sunshine. Her form of convincing largely amounted to dragging them away from their books, insisting they all go enjoy themselves together, marching them down here, and keeping them within eyesight at all times so they can't escape.

"Quit whining, you two. If you'd lighten up for just a moment, you might even enjoy this!"

Officer Dibbles, looks anything but convinced. The scrawny, bookish lad seems ill at ease being out in broad daylight like this, around people having fun doing outdoor activities. "But tha's nah fair, Ith'rel! Ye look like ye were born fer this kinda thing, yer costume suits ye far better tha' meself or mah-" He awkwardly gestures at Dobbers.

Ithuriel raises an eyebrow and leans in to smile wickedly at at Dibbles. "And what do you mean by that, Officer Dibbles?"

"W-weel y'have tha righ' kinda fig're for wearing somethin' tha' revealing and-" Dibbles gulps.

Ithuriel leans in a little closer. "The right figure?"

"Y-y-y'know, all kinda curvy and tha-" Dibbles shrinks down, his face flushed bright red in embarrassment.

Ithuriel laughs and gives him a light shove, which isn't all that light from her and nearly sends the poor man staggering forwards. "Oh lighten up, Officer! We're here to have fun! And for goodness sake, learn when someone's messing with you!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Beach Party- D&D]

At the very least, Melvin Dobber's darker skin hides the fact that he's not been outside except for work terribly often. In addition, ever since he moved into a certain hippo-themed mansion he has had enough need for swimming-appropriate clothes to own some.
Unfortunately, the short officer beside Wilfred doesn't look any more comfortable with the situation than he does. Except maybe a little more enthusiastic to have been asked to the beach by Officer Ithuriel, the pride of T Division. Mostly because she's one of its only members who has had more than two years to get used to sometimes being a rhinoceros or whatever.
"Well, he does have a point, Officer Ithuriel. We're not exactly, ah, rocking beach bodies here. And it'll only get worse if-well you know." At this point Ithuriel might be aware of the two of them having the dubious status of being some of the only members capable of matching the extremity of their size-changing. Along with their sergeant, in the opposite direction.
"Did you ah, did you have anything in mind in particular?" he asks nervously.

[Recaiden]

"I'm not sure you have. I believe I've run into...between zero and two. And I've seen a lot of people." Too many people, honestly.
Skye starts paddling towards shore.

[bc56]

Beach Party

"When you make a job of stopping horrible people from doing horrible things, you meet some very terrible people." If you're lucky, you get to see them behind bars for the rest of their lives. Jade follows Skye back towards the beach, still a better swimmer. When she reaches the shore, she walks, her bikini-clad form emerging from the water. She looks much more confident than she did earlier.

[Rebonack]

[Moonwell Dragon Profanity Adventures]

So.

A slight problem here.

Geneva was MUCH closer to the moonwell than the ship. She had, as it happens, grossly underestimated how big that explosion would be. Her barrier can handle things like small arms fire, but not something like... that.

She's rather unceremoniously pulped by the blast-wave.

Bleeding and broken, the mew tumbles through the air a few hundred feet before evaporating in a cloud of pixels.

The OTHER Geneva back on the VIGIL ship, meanwhile, cries out in pain when her substitute dies, momentarily losing control of her telekinesis and flopping to the ship's deck. She's still alive, but isn't looking very happy right now. When the blastwave hits the ship she'll be tossed around, completely helpless. Hopefully someone will have the presence of mind to grab her so she doesn't go sliding overboard.

Well!

Looks like Substitute did its job!

Geneva figured there was a not unreasonable chance that she was going to get blown up and it turns out she was right!


[Marlick Bag]

The elf has, at some point, wandered off as soon as eyes were no longer on it.

Probably some sort of weird elfy magic going on.

No doubt the elf will never be seen again and is no doubt completely irrelevant. It would probably be best to just forget that it ever existed as it is completely unimportant and wholly unworthy of remembering.

Elf?

What elf.

No elf here, no sir.

Regardless!

Aside from Sekhmet's brain being tugged on there's nothing holding our heroes here. All signs point to there being one final leg in their adventure. They need to find this sea cave, wherever it is, and put an end to the otherworldly threat once and for all.

As for Zoph's question? Clearly the relics need to be joined together since they were once an Icon and some iconoclast shattered it. It would be wrong to allow such a perfect thing to remain broken. That's why you're here after all, isn't it Sekhmet? You need to put the Icon back together again. Why else would you be here?


[Beach Party]

"I'll admit I could probably do with more hobbies. Most of my time is spent with my research and VIGIL. And of course quality family time," Geneva says as she gives Nick an affectionate headbutt.

She really does act like a giant weird cat, doesn't she?

Some people think the non-human mannerisms are strange. Others find them endearing.

"Is there something wrong with your arm?" she asks, sounding vaguely concerned.

Meanwhile!

There.

See?

Hugs make everything better!

But what should the children do no-

"Sandcrabs!" Navvy declares, holding up a mole crab for Nick to see. The weird little crustacean has little eyes shaped like parascopes. "They're mighty funny looking and live all over the beach! They eat stuff that floats in the water I guess? They don't have much to say."

Indeed not.

Can Nick talk to crabs? He could certainly try.

Or is he limited to freshwater fish?

[bc56]

Marlick Bay

"Because they're, uh, supposed to be together. They'll make something better." Sekhmet doesn't really know. "Let's, uh, find that cave." Can she look through time? Find out where the horror she fought came from? Regardless, she seems distant as she focuses her power.

[Earl of Purple]

Beach Party
Prumathe's Girlfiend

"You can do that? You've had flying lessons? That... Would be quite awesome, actually." Prumathe is pretty surprised that Sekhmet can do that, now. He's not heard that she was having lessons.

Teen Loves

"Oh? You think you could help me in my studies in conjuration, leyline manipulation and magical theory ready to reach the point where I have knowledge of a requisite level to teach summoning and teleportation?" Natalie grins, since she's pretty sure that Karasu couldn't help, except possibly as an example student for teacher training.

Jack & Chidi

"Where'd I get some beads like that, then?" If they aren't as easy to find and buy as mobile phones then they might as well be magical. "And are they easy to use?" Her experience with phones shows she needs stuff that's easy to use.

"Oh, really? I know someone in NERD. Not a heroine, though." Jack has no idea it's the same person they know.

Zaabi

Abi frowns slightly. "Are you sure? I mean, you don't seem the type who'd approve of me wearing a bikini." Abi gestures to Zara's own very modest swimwear. Although she's not sure why Zara wears such, she's assuming it's some kind of conservative background. It might also be a case of Zara having serious scars that she's very self-conscious of, but that doesn't occur to Abi.

[UncleWolf]

Operation Seaslug

Well, everything Leopold Blackfur was telling TTN definitely sounded worrisome and she casts a glance over at Will. "If we have to run, I ask that you hold onto me." She advises before looking back at their guide. "If everything you say is true, then it sounds as if you're expecting a hostile invasion and for the citizenry to be attacked. And this is...frequent?" Titania asks, sounding appalled by the picture he'd been painting. She really wished she could have another plasma rifle at the moment, but she may as well wish for them to be anywhere else while she was doing so. "I just hope Tammy is doing alright." She adds, lowering her tone a bit with a shake of her head. She'd grown fond of the goblin warlock.

[Deathkeeper]

[Beach Party- Nick]

"Well, we'll just have to find some things for you to get interested in." Nick says as he returns Geneva's gesture.
"Yeah, if you need to see a doc we have ours for a reason." Nick assures the Detective. Their doctors are quite good! Just sometimes loud.

Meanwhile!

"Um. Okay. Hello, crab." says Nick Junior to the crab.
Nick can speak to all fish! But saltwater ones use a dialect that's kind of hard for him to get. He has to listen reeeeeally carefully.

[Morty]

[Beach Party]

"It's an old wound from when I was young an' thought all the planes were mine for the takin'," Michalson explains. "I was an adventurer before becomin' a cop. A planeswalker, as they call 'em back in Sigil. On account of travellin' through worlds. An' I imagine I do need to get it looked at again."

[bc56]

Beach Party - Prumathe and Girlfiend

Sekhmet looks a little sheepish. "Uh, I'm not sure I'm strong enough. But I can, uh, try. Okay?" Luckily the ground is soft here. Crashing hurts. Sekhmet knows from experience. She's not going to try anything with Prumathe unless she has his permission.

[Purple Eagle]

[Beach Party]

Teen Loves

"Well, I could help with the more basic stuff, like biology, mathematics, portal science and physics if you need that stuff." Karasu replies, splashing some water at her with a grin of her own. "But asides from that, you're on your own." She shrugs in defeat, still grinning. "Or... you could practice teaching me. I can't do your magic, but I could learn a lot about how it works. Could be useful, you never know."

Jack & Chidi

"Only exists in my world, as far as I know. You could probably get a variant, I saw a place selling the OmniTools they have in Mass Effect... it's a video game, but of course the Nexus has everything. As for ease of use... I wouldn't know. Kids grow up with one." Chidi rubs his beard. "There's probably an easy-to-use variant, as well."

When she mentions knowing someone in NERD, he turns to her and swims closer. "Does this person use hard light to fight, by any chance?" It's probably a long shot, but this being the Nexus, he figures it could turn out to be the same person.

Zaabi

"Know why I dress like this? It's not just because of my background and home culture, but because I prefer this style of dressing. I strongly believe in dressing modestly, my body is a temple and I don't reveal it to just anyone." Zara says, smiling afterwards in a manner that basically says 'except maybe you, eventually'. If they last till they're 18. "So, while I wouldn't wear a bikini, I'm not opposed to getting you one of your choosing, as long as it's not too skimpy." She pecks Abi when she's done.

[Recaiden]

"When you make a job of stopping horrible people from doing horrible things, you meet some very terrible people." If you're lucky, you get to see them behind bars for the rest of their lives. Jade follows Skye back towards the beach, still a better swimmer. When she reaches the shore, she walks, her bikini-clad form emerging from the water. She looks much more confident than she did earlier.

"Try employing horrible people to do horrible things. You may get a new appreciation for how terrible people...aren't."
Skye arrives to shore afterwards, but strides back onto the shore with total confidence.
There's a bit of a chill, as if the cold that had hung around her at first was waiting to get back into the air.

She heads off towards where the drinks are being served, not separating from Jade particularly, but not waiting for her either.

[bc56]

Beach Party

Jade follows. A drink is a good idea. Something to warm her up after being in the cold water. "I'd prefer not to. I'd rather stay on the good side of the law for the most part." Although she would make an excellent evil mastermind, she's not really interested in being one.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bag]

Considering what Zophiel was thinking about the elf, he fully expects the elf to already be down in the cave they're going to, blocking their way or whatever.
The only good thing is that he said he'd lead the way and that it was in the place he was previously, and didn't exactly give detailed instructions on how they're going to get there.

The paladin looks blankly at Sekhmet. "...I hope putting them together makes you stop obsessing over it," he says.

"Well." He looks at everyone else. "I'm going to run the whole way, to see if I can find the cave entrance," he says. Maybe help heal any random people along the way if they're seriously injured. "And make sure nobody else is waiting there." And, remember, just at the bottom of the hill.
If Zophiel still had a rope, he could just rappel off the cliff.

And,
so,
Zophiel heads back to go up the stairs again so that he can descend the hill again and head off to the sea, to turn left to the bottom of the church's cliff.

[Earl of Purple]

Beach Party
Prumathe & Girlfiend

"Yes, of course! Why would I not want to fly, given the chance? What can I do to make it easier?" Well, there's one thing he can think of, and he's doing it now- he's using his biomancy to make himself lighter. He learnt the trick as practice, and it was developed to aid hunters in not leaving tracks to follow.

Teen Loves

"Sure, you can help with anything along those lines. Maybe I could teach you some conjuration?" Though it might require other stuff, first. Natalie's schooling included several subjects and introduced some concepts that later helped her teach herself magic, but as Karasu's education provider originated in a world without magic, such underlying principles that Natalie learnt as a child might need explaining.

Jack & Chidi

"I don't know. I met him at a party. He invited me to his warehouse but, um, I forgot the address. I didn't see him fight." Jack still doesn't know what an OmniTool, Mass Effect or even a video game is, but doesn't ask at the moment. They're probably not important to the discussion, since it seems Chidi doesn't know where Jack could find some beads like his and doesn't know if she could figure out how to use them.

Zaabi

"I think your body would be a really nice temple, Zara. Like that gurdwara made of gold, or a fancy marble temple on a hill." Abi smiles, meaning it as a compliment. She'll take Zara's hand and squeeze it, before leaning over to give Zara a surprise hug.

Marlick Bay

"Putting it together should stop her from obsessing over it. I suspect it would kill her." Not that he expects Sekhmet to accept that, however. Since the elf has disappeared and escaped vivisection for today, Benedict dismisses his lens and pulls out the journal and starts to read it, skimming it mostly for any maps of the area or any references to sea-caves, relics or Icons. Hopefully he will find something interesting within, and not more telephone numbers. Benedict can read the Greek alphabet, as it happens, so if the author used those symbols instead of the Latin alphabet the information is still accessible.

[bc56]

Beach Party - Prumathe and Girlfiend

"Just, uh, hold on tight." Sekhmet reaches out to grab Prumathe tightly. She spreads her wings, takes a few steps holding him, and flaps hard. They both sail into the air in a rush of wind. They aren't high above the water yet, which is good, since Sekhmet's flight is a bit unsteady. She's never carried someone before, and she needs to get used to the balance of it.

[Earl of Purple]

Beach Party Prumathe & Girlfiend

Prumathe holds Sekhmet in return, squeezing a little but trying not to grip too hard- he's feeling... Maybe not secure, but he's sure that if he falls it won't be deliberate. He gasps as the world drops away, squeezing tighter as the ground disappears from under his feet. He concentrates on keeping himself light; hopefully that will help Sekhmet keep hold of him. He's grinning throughout, however; whilst this is possibly not the most secure methods of travelling, he'd never imagined ever flying like this, on his own and without anything to provide power to keep him aloft save the wings of his girlfriend. "Woohoo! This is amazing, Sekhmet!"

[bc56]

Beach Party - Prumathe and his Flying Girlfiend

"I know! Once I learned, I could never give it up!" Sekhmet's tail brushes the surf, sending up a line of spray. "It gets better!" She flies further upwards. "You can see the whole world from up high!" She's got a good grip on Prumathe now. She's not likely to drop him.

[Rebonack]

[Beach Party: Several Nicks]

"You really should," Geneva insists. "The medical technology here in the Nexus is astounding. I'm reminded of many of the breakthroughs we had back home before everything was bent toward the war."

The war that killed the world.

It was pretty awful.

And then rather abruptly-

"Wait, City of Doors? This place you came from, Sigil, it was abundant in natural Neihnstein-Roseluck bridges?" Geneva suddenly asks, looking quite excited and scooting a bit closer to the detective.

What?

She was making some inquiries to her PIPColt with sub-vocalized commands about the subject and it just kindly provided some data on her eyes-forward display. Augmented reality is handy like that.

Meanwhile!

Another Nick talks to a crab!

It doesn't make any noise in reply. But it DOES wiggle its antenna and mandibles a bit. That was either a 'hello dragon' or 'I like plankton'.

One of those.

"Catching them is really easy," Khannie says as she dips her hands into the water and comes up with a mound of watery sand. As the grains are washed away several goofy looking mole crabs are left behind.

That's just what they need, isn't it? More crabs.

"Oh I've got a swell idea!" Navvy exclaims. "We should build a castle for them!"

[Purple Eagle]

[Beach Party]

Teen Loves

"You cpuld try, Talie. I doubt I'll be able to, not unless I somehow turn into something else first. We can't do Nexus magic, and Nexusians can't steal our abilities either. Good thing, too... where I'm from, witchcraft turns the practicioner evil cos they get it from demons, no exceptions." Which could raise the question of why she wasn't suspicious of Natalie on first meeting her, but by then she'd been in the Nexus long enough to learn that witchcraft in the Nexus isn't always evil. "But! The principles I learn can be used to use my own power more effectively, or help you out in some way." She swims close to Natalie to cuddle. "For instance, how to better 'conjure up' my ink."

Jack & Chidi

"I have a friend, name's Mirai. He'll probably be able to help." He says. Though, they did meet in a bar once, and Mirai turned down her offer of fun because he was being monogamous with Zither.

Chidi's eyes widen upon a warehouse being mentioned. Jade invited him to the warehouse she was using as a base of operations.

Could it be? Considering he was hitting on Jade before learning that she was a man weeks ago, probably could be. "What was his name?" He's also wondering whether to tell Jack. That'd probably be an invasion of privacy... but if he shows Jade to Jack and there's recognition...

Chidi scans the beach from where they are in the water, and points to where Jade's laying on the shore. "Does that lady look familiar to you?" Though she can't go now because she's busy chatting up someone else.

Zaabi

Zara smiles at the compliment, but instead of hugging back, kisses her girlfriend hotly on the lips. "Thank you, Abi, that means a lot. And you, you'd be a priceless porcelain temple." She compliments back, kissing Abi again.

[Earl of Purple]

Beach Party
Sekhmet's Flying Circus

"This is... absolutely incredible. Wow, Sekhmet. Just... Wow." From this high up, he can see the whole beach! Even... Is that a shovel hanging in the air over there? Well, it probably doesn't matter, because he can see everything and it's amazing.

Teen Loves

"That doesn't mean you can't learn my magic, not for certain anyway. Just that you wouldn't be able to use it in your homeworld." Natalie might not be able to use her magic in Karasu's homeworld, if she can even visit. The possibility makes visiting less attractive, however. "And I have no idea how your powers work, Karasu. There might not be any overlap between the two." Natalie can't pull on ink from an extradimensional storage to use as she wishes, after all, but what she can do is bring Karasu closer in a hug.

Jack & Chidi

"I think I met a Mirai, once. He wasn't interested." So she doesn't remember much about him. "The NERD? Jason, I think. Or James." It's been a while, and Jack doesn't think back very much on who she's met. She does follow Chidi's finger to the women talking on the beach and frowns as she considers it. "No, I don't think so. She's pretty, though. They both are." Jade lost a lot of height with the curse, amongst other things.

Zaabi

Abi's eyes go pink and she blushes at the kiss and the compliment, before getting kissed again. Rather than say anything, she's going to head to the tent with the magic swimwear, holding Zara's hand. Abi isn't sure she could say anything coherent right now, as a result of those kisses and the compliment. She's feeling rather tongue-tied, which is unusual for the confident lass- doesn't feel bad, though.