Innsmouth Beach Party!

Innsmouth Beach Party!
Date of Scene:	22 June 2014
Location:	Summer
Synopsis:	Ruri Hadou has decided to reward Ariel and Al by sending them and a few allies to the expensive Innsmouth Resort! Nothing bad will happen, surely!
Cast of Characters:	2, Arthur Lowell, 39, Staren, 135, 219, 231, 253, 274, 275, 353, 385, 395

---

Herbert West (274) has posed:
INNSMOUTH RESORT!

It really has gotten quite a renovation in the past few years. The Hadou Group bought up the land some time back, and the local island was converted into a fairly expensive, fancy beach resort. Think Hilton Head for those of you who have been there. Kind of upscale and ritzy, only it actually delivers on its promise unlike Hilton Head. The sunny beach is nice and clean, and it's upscale enough, and expensive enough, that it isn't super crowded.

... That's it. That's all that's happening, right now.

Jinx (39) has posed:
Leave it to Jinx to find a party and crash that sucker. The Loose Cannon is sauntering up towards the beach, sans Pow Pow or Fishbones, it would seem. In their place is a massive beach umbrella and a basket of something or other under her other arm.
Also she's wearing something Extremely Loud to go along with her personal volume, and should be easy to spot from any possible distance imaginable.

Psyber (253) has posed:
Psyber is here. And true to his promise on radio, he is Not Embarassing Ariel.

Instead he is Being Cool Beach Guy.

Since his normal attire would be absolutely terrible for a fun-time beach vacation, Psyber is wearing more casual affairs. His current outfit is a black pair of board shorts, a vibrant Hawaiian print shirt, no undershirt which leaves his chest and stomach exposed, and a pair of flip flops. Covering his red eyes are a HUGE pair of aviator glasses.

In his hand is a beer. In his OTHER hand is a vibrant blue, incredibly alcoholic beverage known as an Adios Motherfucker. He is alternating between drinking from both of these things.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Beach! After losing her match and dragging a sleeping wizard out of faerie, Lex wants to relax. She's wearing a conservative, black, one-piece swimsuit and carrying along a small basket of goods. She's wearing her necklace, but otherwise unarmed. She drops down the basket and takes out her beach towel, spreading it across the ground. She then flops down on it and takes a few moments to look at the sky.

Ariel (219) has posed:
ARIEL is here and dressed in a one-piece swimsuit, which is actually MORE clothed than she usually is. It is a light cream white to go with the shade of green that her chitinous exterior sports, and the little unicorn - in her humanoid form - is currently in the shallows of the surf, playing 'steel frisbee' with the giant Atlantean warhound, Iyoshi.

This mostly consists of throwing a heavy steel disc and watching him catch it. Unfortunately it's already showing bite marks. Sigh.

Of course since Jinx is easy to spot, she pauses as she tugs the disc from her pet, and gives a quick and eager wave! "HEEEEY! Hello, Miss Jinx! Fancy meeting you here!"

Apparently Ariel knows and is on good terms with the psychopath.

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer actually wore a perfectly nice bathing suit! It is indescribably awesome, and so no effort is made to put it in words beyond simply that it is a green two-piece swimsuit. She is not currently doing anything particularly evil, unless someone wanted to count simply that she is rather paler than the average sunbather, a side effect of decades of spending most of her time in various taverns and caves and other places without sun.

Nyarie, her abstractum, is currently presumably asleep, possibly as a result of sipping at Laer's drink. Laer certainly isn't, waving it around as she moves, lifting a hand in greeting as she notices Ariel, mostly not seeming too concerned in general.

This might be because she hasn't seen Amalthea yet.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
Homura has picked up a trick from Vruasa.
That trick is to suddenly appear, produce several lawn chairs, and just flop down with some sort of fancy drink. There is a table full of fancy drinks, in fact! Juices, though, no alcohol. There is a bottle of whiskey with 'for Psyber' on it, though. Good whiskey too! Good, illegal, prohibition era whiskey. He could drink it or collect it, really. Either way it's there for him.

Her swimsuit is pretty simple though.
Just a purple two-piece.
No fancy patterns or anything, just plain purple.
Red ribbon's still in her hair though, she's not planning to swim.

"This is nice. For once. Hey ML, no backstabbing today," she idly says, first at no one in general, and then towards Laer as she spots her. "Put some lotion on or you'll burn, though."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
ARTHUR LOWELL!!

Jeeze this kid. He's kinda pale and thin. You usually can't see it under all those baggy clothes. Hope he's got sunscreen on. This time, though, he's wearing simple swim trunks in his classic green color. He's built a sandcastle. He may be abusing his gravitational powers a bit to make it stand up right, or his precision manipulation to add the intense, fine detail. He's only been here a short while and he's already got some massive semi-urban cathedralesque complex.

He may infrequently and somewhat trollishly be building it to surround various people who don't move for long periods of time.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna has tagged along with Ariel and her family, and is currently wearing a light blue sundress which *might* happen to have a swimsuit of some kind underneath it. She's been helping get things set up for a nice relaxing day at the beach, and may have helped wrangle the grill into place for roasting hot dogs, burgers, tofu, veggies, and whatnot.

With whatever set-up that was necessary completed, she lets out a breath and grins, waving to the folks she hadn't already greeted ... including Psyber, Arthur, Jinx, and even Laer. "Hey there!" she calls out, then glances around. Where's a good place for a girl to change?

(She's not too worried about where to put her dress for safe-keeping; Elner's flitting about as well.)

Amalthea (395) has posed:
"God DAMMIT, Psyber." This is horrible.
Amalthea is wearing the same exact Hawaiian shirt Psyber is. Just smaller and sized for her. Though her swim trunks are tie-dye. "One of us is going to have to go home and change and it's not going to be me." The metal mythic ribs at the half-angel.
She is holding a coconut and it has an umbrella in it. Even grumpy knights need vacations from time to time and it looks like this is it for her. It's totally awesome and destressing until. "... Who the hell's that?" Jinx she's eyeing a bit but.
Her eye focuses right on Laer, pupil contracting into a single pin-point.

Ellestaria (231) has posed:
This is a vacation, and Ellestaria looks the part. Despite her earlier antics on radio, she changed out of the school swimsuit and into a two-piece of her own, of a deep purple color. She also has her hair back in a ponytail for once, and is wearing dark sunglasses. Unlike her lookalike Mir, Ellestaria has a rather deep tan already, so she looks like she belongs here.

Sip. Sipping a drink, the Atlantean chuckles a bit at Ariel, then sighs. To Amalthea, "You know, is this the part where we express concern for the company she keeps?"

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx waves at Ariel, and grins happily. "My PARTY DECTECTOR went off so I ah, came out here. Gosh, this... is a lot of people I don't think I know." She plonks her basket down in a bit of sand near Homura's suddenly sprouting Beach Chairs, and jams her Umbrella next to it. The Umbrella is of Decent Work. It is festooned with pictures of bullets and explosions.

She then sighs, fiddling with the end of her massive braid, and looks up at everyone along the beach. "Well I'm feeling outnumbered. OH WELL. How's it going today, Princess Unicorn?" She's sidling around, trying to see anyone else she recognizes.

Psyber (253) has posed:
"Bitch, I am rocking this ensemble waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than you are." Psyber says in a sassy tone, rocking his hips back and forth while he two-hand drinks his beverages, "All the ladies are just swoonin' over this rockin' body or somesuch. So you better get to steppin' Giiiiiiiiiirl." He pauses, "I'd snap sassily, but my hands are full."

The half-angel finishes off his beer and tosses it into a nearby trashcan, giving whoever greets him a faint nod of the head. A hand comes up to adjust his sunglasses and then he drinks from the blue beverage some more. Overall, though, he's just kind of chilling out with his big aviators on. Of course, with one hand free of a drink, he picks up the Whiskey that Homura left for him and holds that in the other hand.

Gotta keep it balanced and all.

Staren has posed:
Staren flies out onto the beach, energy wings disappearing again as he lands. He's stripped down a bit though he doesn't quite look ready to jump in the water. He's without his signature coat and his pants have been shortened to shorts. His magi-punk goggles appear to function as sunglasses and he has them on. Slung over his back is a carrying case for a collapsible chair. As he starts looking around, Homura suddenly appears nearby with a bunch of chairs. "Nice." He starts waving to people he recognizes, and then flies over to Arthur because walking through sand is annoying. "Wow! Nice sandcastles!

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex hears a lot of familiar voices, and sighs. She pushes herself up, "Did I seriously pick the same spot for a day off as you guys?" She walks around Arthur's sandcastle, heading straight for Psyber, "Hey Boss." She pauses, and then adds, "That outfit isn't particularly swoonworthy, sorry." She smiles faintly, "It's a nice beach here, isn't it?"

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Al Azif did not change out of her school swimsuit. She's giggling at Ariel and the dog, but tenses up when she catches sight of Laer. "Oh, great." Sigh. Well, maybe they'll leave her alone. For now, the grimoire is wading out in the water(wait, isn't she a book?) and enjoying a little sun time in the shallows, floating there in an inner tube that is an off-yellow color and seems a bit... weird. Who packed that?

"Takeli-li!" the tube declares with a burbling noise.

RURI HADOU is also here, in a very elegant swimsuit that both covers her modestly, and makes her look incredible. She is also reclining... inside Arthur Lowell's fort, because a castle is very much the sort of place she should be. "Oh, this is pleasant."

"Indeed," says the tall man next to Ruri. He, unlike the others, is in a very nice black and white FORMAL SUIT with a tie tugged up to his neck. This is WINFIELD.

He is The Butler.

Laer (353) has posed:
Arthur's sandcastle will draw Laer's attention, and she'll make her way over towards that. Naturally, she's coming to help the one way she knows how with an engineering project: Criticism.

"No, no, didn't you learn anything, Arthur? It's not a real castle, or real defensible, without a gigantic skull atop it." She is presently completely oblivious to both Al Azif's mild disapproval and Amalthea's attempt to laser-glare a hole through her neck.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel spies Alexandra talking to Psyber, and gives her a friendly wave as well, before she turns back to Jinx and tosses the frisbee to her. "Relax! Did you want to play with Iyoshi?"

SPOILERS: There is currently a 200 lb ragged dog of pure muscle bearing down on Jinx with his tongue lolling out.

Seeing Laer makes Ariel a bit... awkward, but since she's talking to Arthur with such casual friendliness, she decides to try to be civil. Not that this is hard for Ariel. There are very few people she won't be friendly to in these circumstances. "Ah... Miss Azati, wasn't it? What are you doing here?"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
Yes this is the time when Amalthea expresses concern. Because if Amalthea DID have laser eyes she would certainly be making a much more serious attempt on Laer there.
"Bollocks," She counters to Psyber, "Tie-dye's my look and you know it." She grumps.
So grumpy.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"HELL YEAH it's sweet, THANKS! Gonna get some RAD fuckin' defenses up in this bitch." Arthur says, grinning like an idiot, as is by now per the norm. A brief wave to Staren punctuates his words, and then a few nods to Laer. "Well SHIT, when you put it THAT WAY, now I gotta get a SKULL to put on one'a these things. You got one handy? AH HELL, never mind, 'COURSE NOT, it's the fuckin' BEACH. I'm sure I got a SKULL somewhere, we'll stick that shit on here somewhere..."

Ruri has gotten a nice and regal-looking section of sandcastle. Something noble-looking.

Ariel gets a friendly wave! "Helpin' me with SANDCASTLES, y'know? HEY, you got a SKULL with you somewhere?" No explanation is given for this statement.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna shrugs, and - given the lack of convenient changing booths - just pulls her sundress off to reveal the bikini that she was indeed wearing underneath it. The dress is quickly folded up and 'handed' to Elner ... and it disappears as the robo-faerie shunts it into the 'pocket' which holds Yuna's normal possessions when she's in her Light Suit. Or something.

"Seems like the place is open enough," she says with a smile that's particularly directed to Jinx and Laer. "Don't think I've met you yet ... Jinx, is it?" she asks the blue-haired woman. "I'm Yuna Kagurazaka, Ariel and her family are friends of mine - and so are Psyber, and Arthur. Good to make your acquaintance!" She offers a handshake to Jinx, clearly not fearing any possible consequences.

Arthur's request for skulls prompts a slightly wary look from the blonde idol, though.

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer, on the other hand, isn't awkward at all about seeming friendly to someone she nearly killed. This is largely because she doesn't care too much. She'll reply to Arthur, first. "I only have the one skull with me. I can get you a fang or a claw in relatively short order, though not immediately, but I don't really keep skulls handy. Normal ones give kind of a necromancer vibe, you know?"

She'll look over to Ariel, even smiling. "It's Laer, typically. Or Colonel if you want to be super formal and all. I believe I'm currently bothering Arthur." She gives as an explanation of her presence.

Psyber (253) has posed:
"FIIIINE, whatever. You guys suck," Psyber grumps, kicking the sand with one of his flipflops, "I'm just gonna go sulk in the sand fort-castle for a while if it's gonna be this way!"

The half-angel starts to shuffle his way across the beach with his flipflops, kicking up spurts of sand as he goes. Ariel, however, still gets a friendly wave from him when she looks his way. No sense being rude to innocent bystanders, after all. Which is why Staren gets a wave and a, "Yo." from Psyber as well.

He does still storm-shuffle his way around Arthur. HOWEVER, he stops and notes, "Thank you for actually not sending me anything last week, dude."

And then he shuffles into the castle and plops himself down right next to Ruri and her butler, grousing a bit to himself before asking, "Sup?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
"Arthur, not every housing accomodation needs a skull on it, you know?" Homura throws towards the sandcastle building God of Space, because she knows exactly why he thinks it needs a skull. Him and his evil lair. They sure ended up making that place look ominous without intending to.

Homura does not seem to mind the sudden umbrella drop, or in fact much of anyone's presence, because... well, really, look at all of them. If something went wrong here it'd be a hellzone within seconds, and most of these people are incredibly powerful. As long as Laer's not going to attack Ariel again, hey, who cares.

Then to Amalthea: "I'd be more worried your daughter is bringing the Necronomicon and all manners of monsters with her to a beach trip, really. You guys may have made her too good at making friends."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
Amalthea heaves a slow, long-suffering, sigh.
She has had a grudge against Dunsany for forever since the damn innertubegoth ate her taco pudding.
"I hate that thing." Is her reply to Homura.

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx perks up at Ariel, and carefully /jumps/ up to snag the Frisbee, just about in time to catch it and eat 200 pounds of dog. She tumbles back into the sand, legs kicking up into the air and letting out a delicate 'hurk-bleaugh' of mock deaditudeness.
One red eye cracks open though as Yuna slips over, and she smiles toothily around the dog trying to get the frisbee. "HELLO! I'm Jinx, it's nice to put a face to people! Now who I know who I'm supposed to shoot. You know, when I'm not taking a day off of shooting."
The grin turns somewhat more predetory at that, before the look is gone, and she's waving over at Homura and Psyber as they walk past towards the sandcastle... "Oh right." She looks back up to the dog, and goes back to being Obviously Dead.

Staren has posed:
Staren shrugs. "I dunno. There's a certain... something to an imposing skull lair, I suppose. But what it /really/ needs is..." He pulls a stone from his bag, takes a few steps away and presses the stone into the sand at his feet. A little magical push to awaken Iianor's gift, and... A ten-foot-tall, vaguely humanoid being of sand rises up, sucking up the sand from immediately around him. Staren stumbles back a little but manages to avoid falling over when the sand starts to move. "SAND-O-TRON, mighty mechanical defender of the kingdom! ...Huh, this'd work better if he were sculpted to look more like a robot. Maybe with a skull motif." Staren considers his temporary creation.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
The sun is shining, the tide is pleasantly mild, and the seagulls are crying! Even better, there's not very many of those weird-faced protesters that the locals send out about today. So it's all in all a great time to have fun!

"Elsa will also help Darling, robo. She will not be defeated by her rival in love!"

Wait, what? Yes, the pointy-eared ELSA is here, patting at the sandcastle as well. She's wearing a very pretty swimsuit with side-tie bottoms and a frontal-tie top, a green two-piece that shows off how 'well-made' the gynoid is. Which is weird, because West himself seems to have about ZERO interest in such things. Must have been a lucky break for Elsa, huh?

But where Elsa is, West often is. Such is true here. The mad scientist is immediately spotted for several reasons, one being his ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS swimsuit that is the full-body sort a very conservative man would wear. It is red and white with stripes. Another is the collection of BLACK LODGE goons, complete with black trenchcoats and white masks. They are lounging around sipping drinks and enjoying lawn chairs, with one of them reading a book.

As for West himself? "AHAHAHAHA! So, it has come to this! A SAND CASTLE CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGE!" He snaps his fingers, and with a rumble, a half-dozen small drones with drills on their tops erupt from the ground. They have backhoe, shovel, and bulldozing attachments, and immediately set about digging and molding the foundation of another large sandcastle.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex watches Psyber sulk off, she sighs. "I didn't think he would have such thin skin." She heads back to her basket, grabbing her thermos, and relocates her blanket to somewhere inside Herbert West's sandcastle, "You don't mind if I sit here, right?" She waits for him to respond, at least, she's not that rude.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"RIGHT, RIGHT, yeah, I mean, not EVERYONE'S gonna keep SPARE SKULLS around, that makes sense. Not like ya can SWAP OUT a SPARE or somethin'." Arthur says, nodding and laughing briefly. Then Psyber! "HEY BA! Good t'seeya! Yeah, I didn't wanna make things weird or nothin'. I'm sure y'already know how much of a COOL DUDE you are without me givin' ya GIFTS about it."

Homura gets a grin. "Well YEAH. But I got more ARTSY types than ME tellin' me that skulls SHOULD go on this thing, gotta follow ADVICE from EXPERTS, yeah?"

Arthur laughs good-naturedly at Staren's robot. "SEE, now HE'S gettin' into it! This shit is great. RAD BOT there, bro."

A smokey buildup preceeds the HOUND OF TINDALOS, the weird, horrifying, twisted, spindly-armed animal-creature with its long snout, showing up. It has its awful tongue wrapped around a clean human skull. "OH HEY! Thanks!" Arthur says, affectionally rubbing its head in an approving and friendly way before he sets it on some solid sand foundations to make an imposing profile for one of the castles.

"GAH!!" Elsa is here suddenly, how did Arthur miss her?! He also looks around urgently after kinda being startled back. "Wait, what? Rival in... Which /one/?" WAIT NO THAT WAS THE WRONG WAY OF PUTTING IT. "I-I mean who are you talking about here? Er... And... Thanks? For the help. Thanks."

He does slightly better when HERBERT WEST challenges him. "SHIT, YO." He says, with some enthusiasm! "Well in THAT CASE, let's get this shit GOIN'!" He tries to push SOCIAL AWKWARDNESS out of his mind by way of immediately engaging himself directly against West; with quick gestures and simple spells, Arthur Lowell is already magically constructing defensive structures and fortress-esque bastions at a quick pace!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna sweatdrops a bit at Jinx's answer to the greeting. "I'd be a lot happier if you didn't shoot me," she says sheepishly. "You probably would be too, seeing as ... y'know. I shoot back. But, nothing more than water pistols while we're all relaxing, right?"

Then a very big dog is 'playing' with Jinx. "Nice to meet you, in any case; hopefully we don't fight very often ..." She turns to take a look at the sandcastle -

... which now has a proportonally giant golem ('robot') guarding it, Elsa helping with the construction, a brain-breakingly freaky dog of some kind providing the skull Arthur had an interest in ...

Yuna closes her eyes, shaking her head - gently, then extra-hard, then gently again - and, keeping her eyes closed for a few extra seconds, going over to the drinks table. "Hey Homura," she greets the Puella Magi, opening her eyes again before picking up a cup and a bottle of orange juice. "Nice weather for a beach party ... thanks for bringing some refreshments." She smiles - a bit wryly, her brain is still re-railing after Hound of Tindalos sighting - and 'toasts' Homura with the cup of juice.

Staren has posed:
Staren gives Elsa a wary look. Her unwanted affections towards Arthur have convinced him that she has a few screws loose. Almost certainly literally. And then he whirls when he hears the laugh. O... Okay, so West and some goon-looking folk are going to the beach, that's not /necessarily/ a crime...

And then the drones come out and a challenge is declared! "What." He turns to Arthur. "Is this seriously happening?" But, Arthur seems to be taking to it well, so... Staren shrugs. Why not? He walks around, raises five more sand golems, and orders them to start constructing a crude outer wall around the sand fortress. Someone else can do the detail work. Then Staren changes his mind. "No, we need water... no, a moat! For wet sand to build with..."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
"Dude. Chick." That would be Amalthea. She is addressing Alexandra. "It's not thin skin. You just kind of broke the biggest rule of all ever." The metal unicorn grunts.
"You never insult a bro's broppearance. It's not cool."
Though she still has her eye on Laer, she's about to take a sip from her coconut when she chokes and sputters on it.
"WHAT THE FUCK!"
One finger is pointing right at Elsa-- then West.
"Seriously?! Seriously are we going to do this here and now?!" She seems like she's ready for some kind of GIANT ROBOT ATTACK, because she--
Pauses.
The challenge sinks in. Sand castle building.
Up come both her hands.
"I'm out. I'm not with it. Call me when pissed off sea monsters attack or something."

Ellestaria (231) has posed:
Sipping her drink, Ellestaria realizes what is missing. "You know... I believe I know exactly what we need to do." Lest rises and glances at Jinx, but then seems to be satisfied(or dissatisfied) that the giant dog is not murdering Jinx.

Then she announces, "I am going to go fetch some shaved ice!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
Homura gives Yuna a thumb up.

She then stares towards Doctor West and his small army of sand castle building robots. There are so many different questions that could work here.

Or idle comments, really.

Instead of asking or making any of these things she just sinks deeper into her lawn chair, puts her hands behind her head and decides to pretend this is not happening at all. Sadly all the noise is making it hard.

Well as long as it doesn't turn into a fight... no harm done? She just can't decide if this is because Arthur attracts weird people, Ariel befriends weird people, or West is a weird person.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Iyoshi is chewing on the frisbee and sniffing all over Jinx. Since Jinx has not SHOT AT Ariel, the dog decides to be friendly and gives a a cold nosing somewhere ticklish, then bounds off to try burying the frisbee in West's moat.

"A-ah! Doctor West! Um... hello," Ariel says awkwardly. "We aren't going to like... do a big robot fight or something are we?"

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Ruri glances up, "Oh, the paranormal investigator. Thank you for the help with the Al Azif case now and then. Winfield suggested we send you a complimentary bonus, but I'm not sure if it's gone through accounting yet."

Winfield has an Adios Motherfucker on a tray, which is lowered toward Psyber. "I'm certain the briefcase full of bills will be in your office shortly. I will deliver it personally if need be."

Al pokes her tongue out at Amalthea, then wades out from the shallows with a shake of her head. Her hair is up in two buns, now, to keep it from getting soaked and plastered all over. The Grimoire peers at some of the newcomers though. "Huh, I recognize Knox from the channels, but my Master seems to make new friends every time I turn my back."

Laer (353) has posed:
"Oh, there you go, then." Laer says, as Arthur gets his skull. "I hope that thing isn't planning to stick around too long, though." Laer says, gesturing vaguely at the Hound.

"...We're getting pretty close now I think, to being perfect. Once you finish, Arthur, you can spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach with your girlfriend there." She suggests, not at all because she's a horrible troll who delights in even her own friend's torment.

Glancing over towards Psyber, she'll ask about his earlier drinking style. "Isn't that kind of remarkably awkward to hold on to..?"

Jinx (39) has posed:
And now that she can get up, Jinx rolls herself back up to her feet, brushing sand off her suit and shaking out her hair as best she can. "ACK! Sand in my everything!" She giggles though, as she trots over past the suddnly burgeoning construction area, sorta duck walking as she goes. "When did this turn into a freaking giant construction fight? I mean, I get it... but..." She looks between Arthur and Al's castles, tapping a foot. "Han, gonna wait till we get something BIG to start judging here."

And Al gets a bit of a blink, and a wave. "HI! Name's Jinx, I shoot people, how-d-ya-do?" She holds out her hand and grins toothily at Miss Azif.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Elsa beams as Laer calls her Arthur's girlfriend. "It is good that you see Darling has chosen already, robo~!" She bounds over to cling to Arthur's arm, eyes narrowing briefly. "Others, robo?" Uh oh, she did pick up on that. Better start talking, Arthur! She's so laser-focused she doesn't even notice the hound!

Though Elsa does make one idle comment, "Elsa needs to fight in nodes, Darling, so Elsa may be busy! Elsa needs to get an alternate form for Heart-on-Sleeve to make a good swimsuit, robo!"

As for DOCTOR WEST, he has his guitar out(what?) and is doing an electric BADASS METAL RIFF while the dozers and scoops mold sprawling battlements rather than a typical boxy sandcastle. He's taking this seriously! "Ahaha! Don't worry, there will be plenty of time for SANDCASTLE JUDGING very soon!" Another strum, and he looks to the Union.

"I am here on VACATION! But if you insist, I will BATTLE IT OUT HERE AND NOW!" Another snap of his fingers, and with a bubbling ROAR a massive, drum-shaped form erupts from the sea nearby! "My SUPER WEST INVINCIBLE ROBOT TYPE-28 H: POSIEDON EDITION ~Life Is De Bubbles~ Is perfectly capable of having a throwdown right here!"

It is indeed a destroyer robot. Much of its body is steel. It has apparently been in the SALT WATER for quite a while, because it is rusted and pitted. One arm creaks and falls off to splash back into the sea.

Psyber (253) has posed:
Psyber sets down his bottle in the sand and then takes the drink from Winfield, "Wow. That guy's good," He comments to Ruri, "I didn't even see him leave to get the drink." He narrows his eyes at the man, "I'm impressed."

To Laer, he simply shrugs his shoulders, "Two hands, two drinks. It's the same principle behind when I use two guns at the same time. You balance, compensate, and learn to watch your ammo in either hand." He advises with a simple tone and professionalism about his drinking.

He then affirms to Ruri, "Yes. I'm the hunter," He holds his hand out towards her politely, giving her a smile and even lowering his glasses to peer at her with his red eyes, "You can just call me Psyber. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. And extra payment is unnecessary, I just like helping out."

He won't interfere in the sand-castle building competition, but he will shout to Ariel, "YOU SHOULD HORSE-KICK HIS LOAD-BEARING SAND PILLAR!"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna stands by the drinks table/cooler (and by Homura, who's clearly the coolest girl here) for a few moments, sipping her juice and watching the goings-on. If the Hound is still lurking about, she's making a very deliberate point of not letting her gaze come too close to it. Psyber's own share of antics prompt - principally, the 'tactical advice' to Ariel - prompts the idol singer to start giggling; she reins it back in to drink more juice ...

And then EPIC GUITAR RIFF from Doctor West followed by the summoning of a giant destroyer robot. Yuna immediately spittakes, and starts coughing even as she's trying to refill her lungs so she can call for El-Line, or at LEAST her Light Suit.

Elner, still floating more or less within Yuna's immediate vicinity, is rather more calm about the scenario that is rapidly developing. "'Invincible,' he says ... does that mean it's rusted over so badly that there's nothing we can do to break it?"

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Also, to ALEXANDRA, "Oh, take a seat, tell me if there's any extra wings or the like you want!" West lowers the volume on his guitar, for once, so he can actually TALK to Knox. "ROBOTS! Listen to her suggestions!"

Wow, rather trusting, isn't he?

Amalthea (395) has posed:
"HEY!" The unicorn looks sour when she has a book sticking tongue out at her.
But then Amalthea's hands come RIGHT UP. Palms out. Palms out at West. "No. No thank you. No throwdowns. I give up, I surrender, you win. Just. Stick to the sandcastles." She replies as the DESTROYER ROBOT rises from the depths. She doesn't even care about the salt damage, she is simply not equipped to handle it right now. In a fight with that thing, while she's only in swim trunks, will still be a nightmare for her, and she knows it. "No throwdowns. Vacation. I am here on vacaneymoon with my wife and daughter and friends. I'm keeping it that way."

Staren has posed:
Staren's overseeing moat construction when West declares a ROBOT BATTLE! Staren draws his laser pistol (still holstered on his belt, which he was going to remove for swimming) and turns to see...

A rusty hulk falling apart. He lowers his weapon, and looks back to West. "Are, uh... are you sure it's ready for a fight right now?" He sounds more confused and concerned than snarky.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"H-hey! She's uh..." Arthur starts, to Laer. What is Elsa, exactly? "...Never mind." Arthur can't actually say anything here that produces a good outcome, so he shuts up briefly. She cornered him! Damn it. And then Elsa picks up on his accidental statement. "No! No others! I just wanted to know who you were talking about. So I could know to..." So he could know to what? "Not give you the wrong idea?" Jesus what a social tailspin.

Then he builds his sandcastles through a LENGTHY MONTAGE! Panning shots of Psyber and weird 80s music with lots of electric guitar stuffand everything. During this he inevitably winds up indulging several romantic drama cliches such as accidentally touching Elsa's hand or weird events involving the shaved ice Ellestaria's going to come back with or whatever, we probably don't need to describe Arthur's socially awkward torture in too great a detail.

Thankfully, being CHALLENGED is helping very much! There's certainly going to be a lot of dramatic cross-composition shots that show the scientist and the mage!

The end result may wind up being a pair of sandcastles that are EXCESSIVELY LARGE. If West ever made multi-floor buildings, Arthur's matched that! Walls taller than people? TIME FOR GRAVITY MAGIC TO ERRECT BIGGER ONES! It's like the cold war out here. Except, you know, on the beach. So, kind of a hot war, actually.

This may be going on just in the background of Amalthea punching a giant rusted-out robot, if Doctor West winds up attacking her. The giant robot isn't actually... ATTACKING anything with people who can't defend themselves at it yet, per se. So Arthur knows to leave well enough alone and wait for there to be actual danger to civilians or things like that. Some robots are just giant! Don't be prejudiced against vertically challenged robots.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex smiles at West, and the Robots. "Sure, thanks. I would like a throne room right here." She points at where she is standing, "Surrounded by a wall and moat, with one opening to the outside, a gap that is just big enough to ensure natural sunlight on the throne. Surround the moat with a second castle, including guest rooms, a ballroom and a barracks, put walls around that too, with towers, and another moat around that, beyond that, another wall, and don't forget the drawbridges and hallways." Apparently Lex either has good imagination to think that up so quickly or she's recalling something. She prepares her towel to place it on her incoming throne. She waves at Al Azif when she hears her name, but hasn't responded to Amalthea's comments about brocodes at all.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Al Azif tenses as West announces a giant robot battle... then sighs softly, shaking her head so she can look back at Jinx. "Ah, hello. I'm Al Azif, the Necronomicon and greatest grimoire in the world." So modest. "Ariel is my current Master," she explains, as to how she knows the unicorn. Boy, Al has gotten a lot more polite after meeting Ariel, or maybe she is just looking for a distraction from the sand castle wars.

"Takeli-li!" the inner tube burbles, reaching out to poke Jinx with a disturbingly amoebic tendril.

Ruri notes, "Winfield worked for my grandfather before me. He is one of the best butlers in the world. Possibly the best, I wouldn't be surprised." She fans herself as the castle just keeps growing around her, how fitting. "... where are they getting all this sand?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"We're on a beach," Yuna observes to Ruri, as if by way of answering where all that sand came from.

... which really DOESN'T explain it, but what are physics, anyway? She's a magical girl who can summon a super robot, and Ariel can apparently summon one as well when the book-girl helps her do so. Not to mention that apparently the Super West Invincible Rustbucket was hiding underwater *without* flooding the beach.

So ... yeah, 'on a beach' seems to cover the sandcastle building materials. And with that, Yuna finishes her orange juice, puts a conveniently-discovered seashell inside the empty cup to weight it down/mark it as used, and heads towards the water's edge. "So who wants to go swimming?"

Herbert West (274) has posed:
"AHHH! IT'S ALL RUSTED!" West flails his arms around, "How could I, the greatest genius in a million billion years to ever be born in the Multiverse, have made such an obvious mistake! It's ruined now, ahhhhh! I'll have to get another one out of the garage!"

Well, at least he isn't insisting on a fight.

The robots don't have nearly the advanced AI that Elsa does, but they do have the capability to largely follow what Alexandra tells them, shaping up the walls and digging the moat rapidly. Where ARE they getting all this sand? Well it doesn't matter, because the race is on!

As for Elsa, she seems satisfied with that answer and there are of course numerous awkward stumbling blocks thanks to her belief that romantic comedies = real life. Thus, eventually she ends up in a volleyball game. A high-stakes volleyball game with spikes that cause the ball to catch fire.

Laer (353) has posed:
"Oh, don't worry. Arthur's way too old for me." Laer reassures Elsa, as if that were precisely the manner in which she should be reassuring.

She'll glance over at the robot, then back this way. "There seems to be more interest in the sandcastles then in the giant robots. I'm not really an expert, but even if there weren't the seawater, isn't sand kind of bad for those sorts of things?"

She doesn't want to distract too much from the music and the montage, though, so she'll wonder around a bit. Stopping shorts when she ends up, at last, face to face with Amalthea. "Oh! Uh, hello." She hasn't got regrets, exactly, but she's vaguely nervous suddenly.

Psyber (253) has posed:
"Oh, then he's probably from a secret clan of Butlers that live deep in the Himalayas. In their mountain top fortress, they train for generations to hone the craft of Shaolin Kung Fu Butlery. Only the chosen few who know of their existence may request their service," Psyber theorizes, rubbing his chin and looking at Winfield, "Yeah... yeah... I bet you can focus your chi-slash-ki-slash-qi-slash-TenkaichiBudokai and then you crouch, crouch forward, walk a little bit, punch once, and can shoot hella sick fireballs."

He then turns his gaze over towards Ruri curiously, tilting his head, "How about instead of sending me a briefcase of money, you just come hang out at my office as an unofficial member? Play video games, lemme buy you a burger or something sometime? It's gotta get so boring stuffed up in a mansion."

As for the question about Sand, he postulate, "Arthur may be bussing it in from other beaches using Space bullshit."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
"I'll fucking kill you in your sleep." Amalthea returns Laer's greeting.

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx smiles back at Al, blinking a bit at the explanation, but also the rather not quite an inner tube that's poking at her. She's completely missed the new crisis with the GIANT ROBOTS as she pokes right back at the Yellow Thing, red eyes swimming a little bit before she manages to tear her gaze away from it. "So, like Void stuff? I know a few of those sort of guys from back home. Okay, so."
She points at the others. "I sorta want to know who all these people are, cause I REALLY should be getting out more, I guess. So, I know the loud one threatening one of my bosses is your Mom. What about the others? The loud kid and the quiet girl and Mr. Red Eyes?"

Staren has posed:
Staren stares at West for a moment, but when no fight is forthcoming he holsters his laser again. He goes back to directing the golems to dig a moat around Arthur's structure.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
One her throne is done, Lex drops down her towel and sits down, she snaps her fingers and points next to her, "This throne room needs some room for refreshments on both sides of the throne, and some actual refreshments, let's go for dr. pepper, not made out of sand." She may be trying to figure out to which degree these robots will follow what she's asking for, or just enjoying the chance to be a princess.

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Ah... um..." Ariel blinks at West, then sighs. She shuffles over to join Al and Jinx, "Oh, you've met Al! Um... I guess I could introduce people... and uh, yeah, the unicorn is my mom. The girl tanning who left to get ice is my other mom. Red eyes is Uncle Psyber, and um, who is the quiet girl?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"I'll TELL YA where we gettin' this, it's from DIGGIN' TOO DEEP AND TOO GREEDILY, 'cause what the hell ELSE do ya do for problems 'round here?" Arthur says, laughing.

He also winds up in the middle of a heated, intense volleyball game! He seems really hype about it, but it isn't clear how he got involved. What is clear is that he'll be going home with the first ever examples of volleyball burns from irresponsible disregard for flaming materials. This has possibly resulted in less overall awkwardness. The guy seems very comfortable with competition. Now if only he could remember what the stakes were here.

Jinx gets a quick introduction. "HEYA! I'm the LOUD KID!"

Herbert West (274) has posed:
When she demands drinks, DOCTOR WEST's robots halt for a second and seem to buzz a few times at ALEXANDRA's request, but then one of them scutters off to look for a cooler. They are pretty dumb, but they can take an order like that. Just don't expect them to understand how to pay for a drink, so they are probably raiding Homura's cooler. This may result in returning with a DR PEPPER and/or a MORNING RESCUE, or perhaps nothing at all depending on how HOMURA AKEMI is feeling.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
"Arthur, if an ancient horror from the deep underground comes out because of your sand castle, you can fight it off alone," Homura glares towards the extremely energetic teen-god, before glancing to her right towards the raid taking place against her stockpile of drinks.

She is in a good mood so the robots are allowed to scuttle off with large quantities of MORNING RESCUE. But no soda. Unfortunately Kyoko has the monopoly on any and all soda that enters their place. Also most snacks and otherwise unhealthy food. Can't be helped, you really don't want to be the one explaining to her you're out of soda because you went to a beach trip and didn't invite her.

Returning her glance to 'battlefield' reveals a volleyball.
Homura shrugs.

To most people here she does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Man this drink is good. Sip. Yep, this is the life. Finally getting a god damn day off.

Possibly completely related to the fact she did absolutely nothing is the appearance of five additional volleyballs in the air for Elsa to hit.

Staren has posed:
At some point Staren notices that the head sandcastle constructor has left! He looks around, and sees a volleyball game in progress. "Hey! What about the sandcastle contest..." He heads over there... but he's impressed with Arthur's playing! "Man, you're pretty good at this! Can I-- ooh, multi-ball mode!" He charges in, his clothes reshaping to provide fire retardent gloves for his hands, and hits back one of the extra balls. That time it's a desperate save, but afterwards he goes for the spike whenever he can. The objective of volleyball is to hit the ball in such a way that it lands in bounds but the opponent can't hit it back! Staren does his best to achieve the objective. It's a clear and direct one, he like that.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex stares at the morning rescue... she sighs and opens one up, "Good enough." She starts drinking it, and looks around the sandcastle that's being built, "Put a giant sand dragon on top of the barracks, and then two on each side of the entry into the castle, to ake it prettier." She's smiling, "This is fun." She hands half the Morning Rescues back to the robots, "Bring this back to wherever you took it from, please."

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Al Azif is, truly, a bit concerned that Ariel can so easily make friends with so many psychopaths. It's kind of surreal. "That would be Arthur, he's... uh..." Playing volleyball instead of dealing with the castle fight? You know what? She isn't going to ask.

"What are Black Lodge doing here, anyway?" she wonders aloud, scratching her head. Well, even villains need a vacation, she guesses.

Ruri is quietly chatting with Psyber about Miskatonic U, most likely, but the player can't think of anything specific at the moment. "Oh, the Hadou Group keeps me very busy," she's saying. "I'm sure that Winfield can keep me informed if anything comes up, however." Eh, close enough.

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer will pause a moment in responding to Amalthea, and naturally, being the soothing, diplomatic sort will immediately try to calm the situation down. "I'm not even certain what it is exactly you're upset about, but regardless, I think that there's something covering the situation and that threat very simply: Bring it, then."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
Ssssssip.
Amalthea still has that coconut. And from up close it looks like it's full of something noxious, toxic, and green.
"You know -exactly- what I'm pissy about." She snipes at Laer. But for all her grousing, this is a beach vacation, she is not going to throw down right here, as much as she happily envisions holding Laer's face under the surf water until she stops moving.
And she is envisioning it.

Psyber (253) has posed:
"Aw now where's the fun in that? All business and no play is boring," He counters, stretching out in the sand and sipping on the drink Winfield gave him. He may be a little disappointed that Ruri either willfully or ignorantly ignored the hint behind his request, but he doesn't say much about it.

"Though I suppose I'll take what I can get if that's all you're offerin'," He adds as a secondary note. He doesn't have much interest in the greater shenanigans going on outside, so he doesn't mind chatting with Ruri about Miskatonic. She might be surprised to hear he's an alumni of his world's version of it, so they have some common ground in it as a discussion topic.

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx smiles at Al and nods. "Well. Loud kids I know how to handle." She gives the Book a thumbs up, and adjusts the shoulder strap of her swimsuit to wander over to the edge of the DEATH VOLLEYBALL TOP GUN BRO ZONE, plucking up one of the vaguely murderous boozeahol drinks that seem to be floating around. A sluuuuurp, and she waves andsmiles around her straw. "Loud is good, though a bit awkward maybe."
She glances over towards Elsa and the dead robot in the water and bites at her lip. Something's fishy here, though her lack of Heroism Points might be throwing this all off.

Laer (353) has posed:
"Oh. Is this about that training thing?" Laer says, for a moment, before deciding to just triple down on the absurd lie. "Because here I was, thinking that you were the sort of RESPONSIBLE parent who would want her daughter well-prepared for Them and giant robot monsters and other facts of life. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you wanted her to be coddled until one day down the road she's destroyed because of your neglect. And here I thought you loved her."

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Puttputtputt goes the little robot to return some of the MORNING RESCUE to the cooler, which is where it belongs on this HOT DAY that is so HOT and SUNNY. Also there is some kind of complex MULTI-BALL game of volleyball going, but nobody seems to actually be clear on who the TEAMS are, so it's pretty strange.

West twangs on his guitar a few times, looking rather satisfied about the whole castle debacle. He doesn't actually care who wins, in this case, but he did have fun.

But everyone should be more concerned that the sky is suddenly DARKNENING, and the wind is picking up as if a sudden storm is coming on! This isn't all that strange for an island resort like this, and people are already picking up their umbrellas and the like.

What IS strange is how it suddenly drops in temperature from 'scorching hot' to 'below freezing,' and flurries of snow begin to howl in as ice starts to form in puddles of water left in the surf, the sky filled with a keening, HOWLING noise.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna isn't even vertical when Elner teleports her out of the water and back onto the beach. A large, very fluffy towel appears almost immediately thereafter; she gets to her feet, wiping off as much water as she can in a hurry. Then the towel disappears with a blink of light ... and Yuna's bikini may have disappeared with it, since she's in her Light Suit when the blink subsides. "Elner, how fast can the others get here?"

"Not very," the robo-faerie answers, "But they're en route now."

"Terrific," grumbles Yuna. "Shining Prism, if you're of a mind to wake up, now's a good time ..." Yes, her amulet materialized as she transformed; Elner's thoughtful like that. The Matrix Divider materializes now too, as Yuna raises her arms, trying to sight in on ...

Wait. Nothing in the sky but clouds and wind, nothing to sight in on. That's annoying.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
Amalthea gives Laer the flattest look imaginable. But before she can open her mouth to continue this verbal joustery, the weather shifts. One finger points RIGHT at her. "I'll deal with you -later-." She hisses, reaching into the pocket of her shorts to show that she is -not- fully unarmed, brandishing an ebony dagger in her grasp.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex looks up as the snow starts falling and the temperature drops, "Thorax." She intones, a breastplate forming on top of her swimsuit, she doesn't have any other weapons, but she chooses to make do with a piece of flotsam, "Today was a day for relaxing!" She is complaining, "Who is being so rude?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
Homura is suddenly dressed for winter.
Or, rather, she's got a heavy coat on and some pants.
As usual this just sort of happens out of nowhere and instantly.

She also has a good old Flammenwerfer 35 out and already warmed up.

"I don't know," to Alexandra "But it's about to regret it."

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx... well it's never all that cold in Zaun. There's more than a little shivering on her part, that braid hardening thanks to damp in her hair. But now people are starting to get tooled up, and the skinny girl lets out a happy, slightly murderous noise. "Yeah /yeah/ YEAH! NOW THIS IS A PARTY!" She shakes out that bangle on her wrist, and then a rather impressive looking giant pink minigun is slung over her shoulder, the motors inside revving up anxiously.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur Lowell doesn't waste any time with things like "putting on clothes" or anything like that. Whoever won will have to figure out what the stakes were! There's also no time to judge SANDCASTLES! Arthur Lowell is ANGRY that something is interrupting his day at the beach!

"What the FUCK!? Who's gettin' THIS SHIT up ins!? FUCK THE SNOW." He declares, intensely, The first thing he does is snap and create... It's a tiny sun, right over him. Or, at the very least, a compressed hot-fusion magical atomic energy construct. It's not nearly big enough to heat the whole beach, though.

What it IS big enough to do is heat Arthur and anyone right next to him up. And possibly also be OFFENSIVE to the new page in question, who he intends to draw straight to him to engage in INTENSE BEACH COMBAT!

He's doing this from inside his sandcastle, so that the others can use the surprisingly durable defenses to their advantage while dealing with the page.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
"Oh no... Ithaqua..." Al sighs lightly, then looks at Ariel. "All right, Master! Guess it's time to get to work! I never thought the WORST POSSIBLE page would interrupt our vacation!" She suddenly vanishes in a flash of light, which swirls around Ariel to grant the unicorn her Magius Form and enhanced sorcery powers.

A little tiny chibi-Al appears on Ariel's shoulder.

Psyber (253) has posed:
Siiiigh. Psyber's conversation with Ruri will have to be interrupted.

The half-angel stands up and heads outside of the sand castle, idling pulling a notepad out of the breast pocket of his jacket, "Come on, Al. It's not that bad of a page to show up. I hope you'll remember our deal."

The half-angel flips through pages on the notepad before tearing one off and tossing it up into the air. As he puts the pad back in his shirt, the paper flutters up and then materializes a pair of pistols. He catches them, twirls them, and then prepares for the fight.

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Ah, thanks Arthur!" Ariel calls out! She's surrounded by magic, and soon is in a skintight bodysuit with wings made of pages, flexing the wings while she looks up at the sky. "Nnn... if I had Cthugha I could do something, right Al? But SOMEONE took Cthugha!" She glares at West and Elsa for a moment.

Too late to worry about that, isn't it? "So I guess we have to go into the storm and find Ithaqua, huh?"

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Also, Ruri and Winfield take cover in the castle! Or, more appropriately, Winfield carries Ruri to safety inside. "We'll let them handle this, Miss Ruri."

Jinx (39) has posed:
Oh wait. Jinx looks up at everyone.... moving into the Towers. Of Sand. Sand towers.

She grins, settles in, and feels immediately right at home. Under the towers.

Staren has posed:
"Yeah!" Staren spikes one of the balls. He's so into the game he doesn't notice the dropping temperature until it's approaching freezing. "What the hell..." He looks around, then runs over to his bag, retrieving his hot/cold protection charm necklace and putting it on. "Ah..." His clothes swiftly reshape into his normal clothes anyway, though. He looks up in vain, searching for the cause, and hears some shouting about eldritch-sounding names. Orange ENERGY WINGS, like a stylized insects, form on his back and flutter as he flies over to Ariel. "Ariel! Necronomicon! What's doing this, and how do we stop it?!" he shouts over the howling wind.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
WHAT TO DO WHEN ITHAQUA COMES CALLING!

There is a draconic force forming in the sky, but the group won't have to fight it this time! The snow flurries whirl about and batter at the fortifications of the castles now. They seem to be getting heavier, sleet now joining it and concentrating on... the volleyball field.

West is atop one of his battlements, ROCKING TO THE HEAVENS! "YEAAAAAAH! YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE FACING!" He then starts to play a ROCKIN' METAL song that is somehow very magical girly when Ariel transforms!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Igzt4xJXkE

Elsa suddenly has her tonfas, brushing her hair back and glaring up at the wind. "It is runining Elsa's vacaneymoon with Darling, robo!" Oh, she looks angry!

That's when the storm swirls down to a funnel and forms a curvy, silver-haired woman right on the volleyball court. She smirks, showing fangs, and adjusts the wire-framed glasses on her nose. Then she spins a volleyball on her fingertip before tossing it in the air and SPIKING it down, leaving torrential winds in its wake.

Laer (353) has posed:
Laer shivers at the onset of the cold, muttering as Amalthea marches off. Laer hadn't really brought that much in the way of equipment with her to the beach, and she'll begin to think on what her best options are. Leaving is one option, of course, and it's one she'll consider, but.. "Aah, fine. I'll show just what I can do, then." She says, starting to whistle. But.. it's a bit drowned out by the Doctor's metaling it up. "F.. fine, then!" She'll say, opening a portal to somewhere, taking a moment...

Arthur Lowell has posed:
ARTHUR LOWELL is apparently on a vacaneymoon. "What." Arthur says, staring briefly at Elsa with a bit of a wide-eyed look. BUT THEN, COMPETITION! Just like before, he keeps himself out of a social tailspin by zeroing in on a competitive context and engaging it at ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT!!

"SHIT!!" He declares, articulately. He blasts forward, leaving holes in his castle in his wake, and a cloud of sand! He skids over the sand so that he stops where the volleyball is coming down. And then, with burned hands, he slams UP with massive force, releasing a titanic shockwave of force around his feet as the ball impacts his hands and presses him hard into the ground! He's intending to fire it high UP, so that someone else can slam into it! Presumably firing it back at Ithaqua, or spiking it to the other side if it's planning on actually playing.

"Get OFFA MY BEACH an' get IN THAT BOOK, ya CHILLY SHIT!" He is yelling. He is also still not wearing anything winter-worthy. Presumably he doesn't need to; HOT BLOOD is keeping him warm.

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex takes a look at what's going on, then decides 'screw this' and heads back to her throne room, opening another, freshly chilled, Morning Rescue. She instructs the nearest robot, "Pull up the drawbridges." And she sits back down on the throne, relaxing whether there is a monster or not. "I hope they can handle this quickly."

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jinx blargs as that volleyball is spiked in her direction, more ice cold dirt and sand pelting at her delicate tender squishy flesh. Goodness. Well this won't stand. But Arthur's set up the first hit! That's a bump! Blue hair goes flying as PowPow gets slung across her back, and Jinx dives into the middle of the combat, laughing merrily as she gets up and under the MURDERBALL.
The Minigun comes up and- Brrrrrrraaaaap. Bullets send it up and close to the net!

Psyber (253) has posed:
Following up on Arthur's incredible space-time powered lob, boosted by Jinx, Psyber darts in towards the battlefield (Volleyball court). One part of him is glad to see that this Ithaqua looks relatively similar to prior incarnations. The other realizes this has to get handled before he can actually express that.

So he holsters his twirls the pistols in his hands and then jumps straight up. With his hands occupied, he backflips in the air, catching the ball under one foot and vaulting it even higher up into the air for someone to spike it.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Oh hey, we have fortress-level sandcastles. That's useful; Yuna hurries inside with the others, although she's still not entirely sure what to expect.

She is sure, however, that the storm condensing into a human-scale form - or 'human' form, even - was NOT on the short (or long) list of expected occurences.

Neither was this resolving into a volleyball duel. But on the plus side, she can afford to let the Matrix Divider vanish - seriously, who plays volleyball with weapons? .... oh hi Jinx - and she does a flying leap, trying to follow up on Psyber's launch and spike the ball down on Ithaqua's side of the 'net'.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
What...?

Al Azif doesn't even know what's going on now. "A-apparently she got jealous of... the volleyball game?" She doesn't know! Things are going very strangely and it's as if she's in a storyline that's gone way off the rails, though she really does like her Master so maybe it's okay? Who knows!

"ARIEL! We have to seal the Page!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
Oh hey it... turned into a volleyball game.
What.

Homura's flamwthrower disappears into thin air and she just sort of sits back down onto her chair. There is no way whatsoever you are getting her to play volleyball.

She's just going to sit back and grumble.
Does this still count as a day off is she does absolutely nothing to help?

Ariel (219) has posed:
Wings spread and... Ariel stares. VOLLEYBALL? Well, at least the others are on it with their rapid SPORTS-RELATED team effort and MUSICAL BACKGROUND! The unicorn darts forward, sand kicked up and mingling with the snow, aiming to come around behind Ithaqua when she has a chance! The idea is to swoop in and seal the page after her 'defeat' if the others can handle it.

Staren has posed:
Staren has flown AWAY from the volleyball game... when it starts up again! O...okay, Staren can dig that! But he should probably stay on the sidelines, Arthur's stepped up and it looks like this should be a 1-on-1 affair... or not! Still, Yuna's already gone for the spike, so for now, Staren just flies back over to the volleyball 'court' as it were and watches, ready to help out if Ithaqua's able to intercept that spike!

Laer (353) has posed:
And, finally, Laer will reach into the portal, and from it withdraw.. her Electric Eclectic Bass. It really doesn't look like she should be capable of playing it, of course, but the elf will start to rock out on the bass. Naturally, being a supporting instrument, it'll tie into Doctor West's theme. There's not actually any buffing magic behind it, for once. It merely sounds awesome.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
It is a TEAM EFFORT! That's right! Only a few are needed, with the fast response! The BOOM of the SPACE GOD hitting the ball launches it up in an arc, and it's altered in trajectory by the bullet spray and quick response from Jinx and Psyber 'setting' it up for a spike from Yuna, causing the ball to hurtle downward at high speed!

Ithaqua actually isn't all that great at sports, she was just kind of lonely or something. So while she tries to bat the ball back, it's coming in with too much force, causing an EXPLOSION of snow flurries.

West is just JAMMING it up now for the match, with a MULTI-GUITAR theme going with Laer because of her bizarre instrument.

Shortest page battle yet.

Ariel (219) has posed:
As soon as Ithaqua is spiked into oblivion, Ariel gets right on that! She weaves a quick binding spell, trying to trap the essence in one place and focusing all her power on it, crackling electricity running down her body. "Al! I think I have it, now!" That's her signal to the grimoire to Seal the page monster!

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Al vanishes, and so does Ariel's Magius form! The grimoire reforms right where the ball is cooling in the ground, holding out both her hands to concentrate with her chant. "Decipher Aethyrs encryption. Overwrite program. Return to thy true form- ITHAQUA, THE WIND WALKER!"

And now the pages form together and swirl about, shuffling inward to merge with Al's body in a cascade of ruffled leaves of paper. Well that looks weird.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Oh, that was quick. As soon as Ithaqua is sealed, the temperature starts to warm up and the skies begin to clear. Within about fifteen minutes it will be sunny again, but for the moment West is shivering. "Ahhhh! Now I got all wet! All right, who wants to go swimming?!? Stay away from the Destroyer robot, you don't want any tetanus shots!"

Just another day in paradise.

Psyber (253) has posed:
After the page is so swifting sealed, Psyber flips in the air and lands in the sand nimbly. He twirls the pistols in his hand a couple times and then tosses them straight up in the air. His pad is produced again and then written upon, causing the pistols to vanish into it.

"Well, I'm glad that got handled." He says to Al and Ariel.

Staren has posed:
Nope, turns out Ithaqua's a terrible volleyball player. The day is saved! Staren lands next to the volleyball net. "So... if Ariel's a magical girl..." he turns to look at her, "Were we just in her series's beach episode?"

Alexandra Knox (275) has posed:
Lex overhears the ruckus outside the sandcastle, and so she fingersnaps once again, "Lower the drawbridges, please, Charlbot." She looks up at the sky, a quick glance, then heads out of the castle. "Swimming sounds like a good idea right now."

Herbert West (274) has posed:
"Yes," Elsa says bluntly to Staren. She tucks her pompoms away, loosens her hair again, and bounces over to GLOMP on Arthur. "DARLING! You were amazing, robo!"

Al Azif (135) has posed:
Al brushes off her legs, then lightly bumps the volleyball over the net. "Where's that shaved ice? I think I'll take some of that!"

Ellestaria (231) has posed:
"Here," Ellestaria says, handing out cups of shaved ice. Because nobody has had enough ice for the day! No, she wasn't going to play volleyball. Probably sitting next to Homura for that whole episode there.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
With the chaos now HOPEFULLY over, Amalthea slumps herself to sit on the drink cooler. She now has shaved ice.
She looks like she wants a do-over for this whole beach trip.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Well, that's over with! Ariel accepts some shaved ice, wrings out her hair, and then suckles on some ice while she wanders over to where Jinx and Laer are. Time to fight the Confederates!

"Thanks for helping out!" Iyoshi bounds over and circles around Ariel protectively, but the unicorn just offers, "Hey, after dinner let's go play some ski ball."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur Lowell collapsed briefly after setting that. Apparently stopping the ball was actually a REALLY BIG DEAL for him! It's a wonder the thing didn't fucking disintegrate on impact.

But now he's back up again, after that sealing! And wow, it is goddamn cold. Not for long, apparently, though. And then, he is glomped! One of those comical near-falls ensues, where Arthur grapples with both physical and social dazing. "Oh. UH." He stammers awkwardly. WHERE IS COMPETITION NOW, I NEED COMPETITION TO STOP THE SOCIAL AWKWARDNESS. "Thanks." He says, uneasily hugging her back for a moment.

Well that actually went really well! Mostly. As things warm up, Arthur's entirely willing to get to swimming now, enough time on the beach definitely. Is Elsa waterproof? I really hope so.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Already was swimming," Yuna answers West with a rather rueful tone.

She's also sprawled flat on her belly in the sand, having nailed the spike but muffed the landing. "And I think I'd rather go somewhere and get warmed up ..." The blonde idol/sorta-kinda-magical girl gets back up, brushing sand off of her skin and her armored bodysuit. "So that's what you and Al are dealing with, huh Ariel? Interesting ... glad I was able to help out!" She smiles to Ariel (and Al Azif, shoggoth-innertube notwithstanding - if Dunsany is even still around Al's waist or wherever, after all of that).

Jinx (39) has posed:
Jink perks up, Pow Pow vanishing back into her pretty bangle. "HECK YEAH! I love skee ball! Is there prizes around here? I could get you a crap ton of prizes if you look away from me while I do it. Magical trade secrets of the prize counter. Very Hush Hush."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
Loppy ears prick up. Ariel is going off with Jinx and Laer?
Jinx isn't minded so much (right now) but -Laer-?!
Amalthea's howls of frustration can be heard for several worlds away.

Psyber (253) has posed:
Psyber walks up to Amalthea and puts a hand on her shoulder, "I guess you could call this one..."

He adjusts his aviators, "Vacaneyruined."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
And having said that, Yuna waves to everyone, henshins back to the sundress she was wearing when she first got here, and heads out of the sandpalace ...