Scene Listing

||

Scene Schedule

||

Scene Schedule RSS

Owner	Pose
Rita Ma	This is "a day at the beach", but other planets have beaches too. It's immediately obvious out of the conveniently-close Warpgate that this isn't Earth. The sand is yellow and the water's blue, but a red sun burns in the sky above. Pillars of jagged chalk intermittently rise a hundred feet out of the sand or shallow water, capped with green grass: holdout survivors of the erosion that turned this place from cliff to sandy shore.      A handful of chairs and umbrellas are set up already, though Rita had encouraged everyone to bring their own. The smell of grilled fish and spices competes with fresh salt-spray: as the guests arrive, Rita- dressed up in an apron and a cute little hair-bandana- looks up from her tiny little grill and waves enthusiastically, tongs still in hand. "You're here!! I'm still cooking; sorry! But the soup is ready if you're hungry!" (It's seaweed with mussels in a big insulated pot. Surprisingly good, salty and umami with a garlicky undertone.)      On the grill at the moment is salted mackerel rubbed with spices; for familiarity or some other reason, she's avoided cooking with the local wildlife. There's raw ground beef and other stuff for burgers, too, but she hasn't started cooking with any of those yet.      Weirdly, one of the packages of ground beef is already torn open and emptied anyway.      Already, the tools for the collectathon are laid out nearby: hand nets, fishing rods, even some snorkels that don't look like they'll do much good. Also present are a few dozen fist-sized "storage capsules" that promise to conveniently preserve live animals in stasis, once caught.      THE SHORE      "Ghost crabs" on Earth are just crabs camouflaged against the sand. Here it's more literal. Energetic little crustaceans in vivid purple are only visible from a distance; when one approaches they fade out of view, only evidenced by their little skittery footprints in the sand as they flee.      The local equivalent of a hermit crab is pesky to catch too. They bury themselves in the sand, looking like an ordinary seashell until uncovered. As soon as one catches them, though, it becomes obvious why the ghost crabs are so skittish: the local equivalent of seagulls, somewhere between amphibians and flying fish, swoop down from the high chalk pillars to try and wrest the catch away.
Rita Ma	THE SHALLOWS      Accessible by wading, swimming if you're short, or casting out a line, the shallows here are calm and pretty if sometimes clotted with seaweed. Tiny, jumpy fish zip around at alarming speeds in between nibbling on the vegetation; their propeller-like hindfins leave behind trails of bubbles at the first hint of danger, and their bugged-out eyes constantly angle and search for threats in opposite directions.      There's something like a pink-red flounder here, too, remarkably easy to catch. The hard part is- once you've reeled it in- getting the hook out. Though it's not much bigger than a pancake, its jaws look like a set of bladed carpentry tools. If it's going to be a pet, you can't just leave the hook in, but do you really want to put your hand near that...?
Rita Ma	THE DEPTHS Out past the sand and waves is a 'blue hole', a sinkhole in the ocean floor that's a consequence of the same weird erosion visible elsewhere. It's like a flooded cave, but fifty feet across and plunging straight down for a hundred, providing a little island of deeper-sea life that isn't too far from shore. Getting down there safely requires natural resilience, a strong affinity for the water, or BYO diving equipment: snorkels won't cut it. At the sandy bottom, sunlight is severely dimmed, but there's still just enough light to see by.      Schools of palm-sized black bioluminescent turtles swim together like sardines here. They're not too fast, and ought to be easy to catch, but on sensing danger they interlock their shells like puzzle-pieces to form a solid jigsaw orb of bone. There's nowhere to get a handhold to pry one or two off for capture; catching some of them without injuring them with excessive force is going to be tricky.      There's a delicate little jellyfish here among the coral and crags too, glowing with beautiful purple-blue colors. It's surrounded by a cloud of tentacles, however, that are so thin and translucent one might not even realize they're there. On contact, they deliver an electric shock that jellyfish are only supposed to have on cartoons. Getting close enough to catch it requires careful thought, or just being a meathead masochist.
Redshift Operators	You wouldn't think that a team of violent mercenaries would stop to do fishing. You would be surprised to learn how surprisingly little time you can spend on violence, and how the rest has to be spent on recovering from it, or getting some peace to prepare for it. That doesn't mean the Redshifts don't visit while still in their classic outfits by any means, because they do. Masks, hardsuits, the works. It just seems to be what they always wear.     The team's giant has brought his fishing gear, and his exo-fishing gear, which means too many large hooks which make menacing, sharp metalic noises as they clack against the thick plasteel case. One of the team, the astronaut-looking fellow has a cap over the top of his astronaut helmet, though, with a popular game console's logo on it.     It reads: "I WOULD RATHER BE IN THE FISHIN' MINIGAME"     The cyborg ninja of the team busies herself with some waterproofing procedures for her robotic right arm. The gruff leader is the one lugging all the lawn-chair-like things for the team, held as if he were holding military hardware. With one free hand, he makes tactical signals. "Spread out. I want Giant on resupply with Rita, we don't want them to retreat. White, take shallows, I need you on extraction duties. Newt, you're on shore, I want those nets rigged for the rifles. I'm heading to the depths to prep deep dives. Redshifts, move out!"     The Redshifts are spreading out, and there'll be no shortage of chatter from them. No surplus of hurry, though, despite the very tactical approach it's actually a completely relaxed group! They're taking a little while to look around, or experiment with the local wildlife first.
Liza Grier	Liza shows up wearing the same black and red cross top bikini as the last time she was at the beach, because she isn't the right girl whose name starts with Li to be vain enough to constantly cycle through perfectly good swimsuits. That and copious quantities of sunscreen. She's reduced her PDA to a wrist bangle version, only really suitable for loading a few low-grade telecrystals at a time.     The first thing she does is consider her own chair, and then decide to use one thoughtfully provided by Rita instead. After, of course, acquiring some piping hot soup, and some legally distinct pokeballs. Eating before swimming isn't the order you're supposed to do it in, but Liza apparently intends to relax.     "Not that I mind seeing you in an apron, but I'm kind of surprised." she says to Rita between spoonfuls. "Normally I'd think you'd be all over a swim. Don't you want to pick out some favourites yourself?" Then she actually thinks about this for a moment. "Actually, no, I get it. Forget I said anything." She lowers her voice a little. "But still, I feel like we could have done this by ourselves."     She waves lazily from her chair as the Redshifts show up. "Aren't you taking this a little seriously?" It's an incredibly stupid thing to say coming from her, but then it's weird enough to see Liza Grier outside of her elite hardsuit anyways. Almost easy to forget there's flesh and blood inside.
Forte	Forte arrives. It's a bit easier if someone sets up an unsecured laptop with an internet connection, he can get there a bit easier, but he arrives regardless. Immediately, he floats over to check out the grill. "Just making sure," he says to Rita, examining it. "The grill has had its firmware updated recently? It's not going to flare up and burn you from a viral attack?" He seems a little bit puzzled by a grill that is actually just a grill and not a smart grill. Once that's cleared up, he focuses on the main event - pausing briefly to watch the operators squad up and spread out. "... Looks like they have everything figured out," he observes, approvingly, and then heads to the SHORE. Catching a crab is relatively easy - a quick stepsword slot-in, with net in hand, and he's teleported right next to one while swinging his net down all in one quick motion. "Simple enough-" is all he gets out before net and crab are both snatched right out of his hand by a gull. "..." His head and eyes turn to track it - but the rest of his body remains utterly motionless, his expression masked by his scarf, as he stares after the thieving bird.
Ishirou	Popping out of the warp gate, Ishirou was here to have a nice day at the beach.  He stops off by Rita first.  Today he's wearing boy shorts that are made for swimming, and a t-shirt to help protect him from weird alien red suns.  He doesn't have fishing equipment on hand or at least appears not to, which is odd, but he does seem to be ready for the beach. "Hello!" Ishirou says cheerfully enough, "I figure I should at least drop off.." he says, before a few cases of Water and soda fall out of his subspace pocket.  "The drinks," he says this while his POD is scanning the local areas for areas to go try.   He watches the redshifts in the background and makes a concerned face.  They are really into this and that's uh...frightening.  He does see Liza, to which he gives a friendly wave.  "Nice to meet you!" he says, before considering his choice of action. He could dive or do the shallows, but he sees the fish in those shallows and wonders.  The beach has those crabs, but he isn't sure how he feels about giving Rita, a good friend, crabs.  He decides instead to try the shallows first. The POD hops out into the water and somehow manages to pretend to be both hook and bait.  When a fish comes for it, telekinetic forces are used to grab the fish and drag it back towards Ishirou in the same type of hop.
Hibiki Tachibana	Where a Rita is in need, a Hibiki will be there. This is one of the unflappable laws of the universe - that, and it's also really hard to say no to a beach trip, whether it's on Earth or otherwise. You have to take those where you get them. It's win-win.     The magical girl only didn't bring her usual +1 along today on account of something keeping her occupied back on the homefront, but Hibiki seems to have came more than prepared enough to make up for the difference; a foldable chair and an umbrella held underneath one arm, and a mini-cooler slung over the other shoulder containing a few drinks because she's definitely going to be here for a while.     She's wearing orange-and-blue bikini bottoms and ostensibly wearing a matching top, though it's covered by a slightly too-big shirt bearing 'SUMMER VACATION MASTER' across the front, and if you ask her, she's not going to say where it came from or whose idea it was, nevermind the fact it's not even summer. Actually, it might be summer here, but shut up.     "If you're already cooking up some good food, I'm gonna end up spending all my time eating instead of catching," she calls towards Rita, sounding just serious enough about that. In short order, she's getting her own spot set up close by and picking out one of the rods set up for the taking for some SHALLOWS fishing, only pausing briefly to give Liza a glance and a tilt of her head.     She's still getting used to seeing her like this, but it's not as weird after the first time. Scratch that, seeing her in a bikini specifically makes up for the difference.     But she's genuine when she says, after the woman's comment towards the Redshifts, "And you look like you're gettin' plenty of relaxation in...good to see you guys. How'd you find a world a world as perfect for filling out an aquarium as /this/?"
Rita Ma	Rita's head tilts back to maintain eye contact with Red Giant as he approaches. And back, and back, and back. Her hands nervously grip the tongs, but her smile is still genuine. "Aaah... it's good to see you again, Mr. Giant!" Being passively intimidated, and feeling happy and secure, are not mutually exclusive things in her mind.      Maybe that's why she gets on with Liza so well.      Her big mistake is handing him a knife in full innocent trust. "Here, Mr. Giant. There's some onions that need chopping for the 'hamburgers', and I need the other mackerel cleaned too. Can you do those?"      Speaking of Liza, she gets an especially enthusiastic wave when she arrives. "It's okay to play it safe, but you won't need as much sunscreen, Ms. Grier! I picked one where the sun's less birght." She seems immensely proud of herself on that point.      Her smile takes on a slightly pained undertone when Liza floats the idea of catching some herself, but it doesn't shift to a frown (playfully bossy) until her friend talks about doing it themselves. "Just because you can do it yourself, doesn't mean you should, Ms. Grier! It's good for us to get closer to our friends, right?"
Karlan Nobles	The beach isn't a place that Pramanix nor SilverAsh have had much experience with. Why would they? They're from the snowy mountains in some place nobody cares about, so of course they wouldn't have a chance to come out to the beach until now. Thanks to actually making an effort, however, they've actually arrived while dressed properly for the occasion for once! Pramanix has a big honking sun hat to go with a light gray jacket that's just translucent enough to show that she's wearing some kind of one piece swimsuit underneath it along with a pareo, but not much else. SilverAsh has his own big doofy hat on as well, looking more like part of a pirate cosplay than a regular summer outfit between that hat and loosely fitting coat that practically scream 'wannabe pirate'. Also, the saber, the high boots and black pants, and the eyepatch with the little skull on it. "Thank you for hosting us, Rita." SilverAsh is the first of the two to greet her in his usual polite, but somewhat standoffish tone, peering at the grill briefly before taking note of the collection tools. "Hunting and eating on an exotic planet... People from your world truly are resourceful, aren't they?" "Thanks for the invitation!" Pramanix, unlike SilverAsh, just wears her appreciation on her nonexistent sleeves, bounding over to inhale that grilled mackerel scent and also eyeing those packages of raw meat hungrily. "I think I might just have to sample a little before I start. Do you need a hand here?" Liza's reaction to the Redshifts' intense focus has SilverAsh waving his arm out towards them. "Of course not. If we're to make the most of our time here, it only makes sense to gather what we can according to our specialties.  We can relax once we've finished capturing one of everything on this planet." "That doesn't sound relaxing at all." Pramanix counters with a light sigh, both in exasperation at SilverAsh/agreement with Liza, and also because she's trying to cool off her soup. She doesn't look like she's in any rush to get catching just yet, although she does watch Ishirou's pod-fishing at work for a few moments before laughing at the sight. "How far can that get away from you? I might have an idea if you want to get something further out at sea..." She has her bell today, of course.
Rita Ma	Rita perks up seeing Forte- "Oh!! I'm so glad you're here! I was worried you'd go be lonely again!"- but her eyes completely glaze over at the mention of 'firmware'. Teaching her to use a cellphone has really been the pinnacle of her tech education.      The word 'viral' is something she recognizes, though, and so she perks right back up. "Don't worry about that, Mr. Forte! I sterilized it." Of course she tries to foist a bowl of soup on him, whether or not he's actually capable of eating in the traditional way.      The bird-phibian locks big buggy eyes with him during the flyby theft, and it seems palpably smug. Spreading its fin-wings, it swoops back up to the top of one of those hundred-foot-tall chalk pillars above the water, presumably where its nest is.      It feels like a dare.
Redshift Operators	Liza gets a chattering response from the crew. "We take everything seriously." "*You* take everything seriously. I have swimwear under this." "...Sea Strikers cosplay." "Lilith Arnauld is a cute character!" "No guns at this beach. Hm."     The team giant regards Forte with three gleaming optics. His voice rumbles like gravel churning. "Every kitchen is dangerous." He says, sharpening a rather large knife he plans to use while he cooks with Rita. "Every. Kitchen. Be careful." They're a place where there's lots of heat and sharp things! One of the most dangerous places in a household. It's important to be careful! "Never knows what could get you hurt." Make sure you're safe, Forte! :)     "Rita studies..." The astronaut started talking, but then looks to her. "She studies. A lot. Ecosystems, I think. It's interesting to study." After a long delay, a few nods. "Relaxing to visit, yeah. Lots to take in, lots to do." He's rigging his takedown rifle with one of the hand nets, setting up a low-impact net-gun to fire on the crabs with. "There's a lot to work on."     "This *is* relaxing." Says the gruff man preparing for the deep dive over near the shallows. "Nobody's going to kill you or hurt you if you do this wrong. Nobody dies or starves if you take your time. So you can do it however well you want. That's relaxation. But the break time after is relaxation too." He chuckles, securing more of his suit seals.
Rita Ma	"Mr. Ishirou!" Rita shouts cheerily. Once he's closer, and she can lower her volume a bit: "Thank you for coming! You've really seemed like you could use a vacation day lately. How are you doing? How is being human going?"      Of course she avails herself of the bottled water. Actually it's faintly alarming how she drains the entire bottle at one go. Maybe she was dehydrated?      The POD lures in and snags a few of those curious propeller-finned fish, but a toothed flounder lunges after them a moment later, sensing stationary prey. It'll chase them right up to the edge of the water if it has to. Run, POD, run!
Rita Ma	Rita laughs in response to Hibiki's cajoling. "It's supposed to be that you don't get to eat unless you catch something for me! ... But I could never be that stingy. It makes me happy just to see people enjoying the things that I make, you know?" Her sunny smile is earnest, but it's kind of weird that she's not eating anything herself.      "Where's Miku, Hibiki? She's okay, right?" Bikki's obviously her main friend out of the two, but seeing the pair separated for leisure activities is so weird she can't help but be a tiny bit concerned.      Hibiki gets a bite almost immediately- maybe it's natural talent, maybe it's luck, maybe it's just that the flounders here are really greedy. Regardless, she hauls in a pretty pancake of a fish with a half-dozen enamel razors that look ready to make sure she can never count to ten on her fingers again if she extracts that hook wrong. Getting an assist on this isn't a bad idea.
Rita Ma	"You're really welcome, Mr. SilverAsh!" Rita says brightly, still bustling about her grill. "It makes me happy, you know? Being able to put a smile on other people's faces like this." His outfit gives her pause; her face scrunches up like she almost recognizes it, but can't quite bring the memory to the forefront of her mind. The symbolic meaning of the skulls, the black hat, and the saber completely roll off her without sinking in.      "Are you... a 'goth', Mr. SilverAsh?"      'Resourceful' brings a blush to her face, both from the flattery and from embarrassment. She looks away. "Ah, thank you?! But this is really just from the grocery store... I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't want to cook with something from here and risk it tasting bad!" That's only half the reason, but you'd never be able to coax her to admit the other half.      Rita's eyes trace Pramanix's hungry stare down to the raw ground beef, then back up to Pramanix's face again, then back down once more with dawning worry. She snatches up the hamburger meat and clutches it to her chest protectively. Mine.      Clearing her throat awkwardly, and still holding the meat like a teddy bear: "Ah... I think Mr. Giant will be most of the help I need! Thank you, Ms. Pramanix! The mackerel isn't ready yet, but I think the seaweed soup is really good."      She doesn't let go of the ground beef until Pramanix moves on.
Redshift Operators	Once Hibiki makes her catch, the cyborg of the team shows off her role in things. The surgical implements throughout her robotic arm make for a perfect suite of tools to rapidly extract the hooks. "Hmhmhm! <Observe>, nothing can hide in even the darkest maw from this <Cursed Arm's Grasp>!" Albeit, she's kind of sweating when she looks at the dangerous mouth. There's still pain sensors in there, despite the fact that she can use surgical clamps and tweezing devices to extract things at a bit more of a comfortable distance. "Shall I begin?"
Ishirou	Ishirou takes a bottle of water himself.  The water is cold, actually, thanks to certain storage hacks he had put in.   He leans over, "Thanks for inviting me!  And...yeah haha...it's been a lot of running around lately with everything going on.." he admits, with a laugh.  "I mean...I'd do it again given how it went down, she's much happier now." Ishirou says, "As for being human?  You know I expected this to be the biggest change, but I think a lot of 'me' has changed too.  Hard to imagine being the guy who tried to defend a corporation.." he laughs.   Inwardly, Ishirou considers bringing up what he knows about the condition but shakes it out.  No, we're here to have fun today, and Rita probably needs this as much as he does.  "Also, I wanted to watch how you cooked things...I'm trying to branch out and learn myself." Ishirou looks up to Pramanix, and he shrugs.  "Theoretically pretty far.  It has a basic intelligence suite inside of it and is very smart despite that.  It's just not as effective without me being around.  So if we wanted to go farther out, we'd probably need to go together!" Hibiki gets a wave from Ishirou as well, "Sup Hibiki?" he asks, remembering the last cooking adventurer already, and suppressing a laugh.   This is interrupted by the pancake fish.  Smaller fishes had been brought up, but now we have a large specimen.  The fish it had is released, and the POD signals for direction as it is chased.  "Alright POD, like we practiced!" he says, and they wait for it to jump the POD.   Then in the weapon-wielding field, they use to empower Ishirou's weapon handling skills, they grab the large fish and attempt to drag it back to shore trapped in the field, without a hook.
Rita Ma	Rita's eyebrows climb her forehead steadily, her eyes open wide, and her mouth hangs a little open with unarticulated fear at Red Giant's aggressive knife-sharpening. "E-every kitchen," she stammers out, then swallows a little and flips the mackerel over to grill on the other side.      "When did you learn to cook, Mr. Giant? It's a really nice skill to have, isn't it?"      Neutron's discourse makes her glance over from shaping the patties, even though it's hard for her to tear her eyes away from the raw red meat. "Ah... 'studying ecosystems' makes it sound really educated," she says with a note of embarrassment. "I don't really know that much. Just what things you can eat, and what things you can't. But thank you anyway, Mr. Neutron!"      "You", not "I".
Forte	>"Every kitchen is dangerous. Every. Kitchen. Be careful. Never knows what could get you hurt." Forte looks Red Giant in the eyes, expression unchanged, for a long moment. Then he nods at him. "Yes. Kitchens can be very dangerous. I'm always on guard, though." Just try it. Just go ahead and try it. I'm ready for it. "Even when you're among friends, having fun, it's important to be alert and ready." Yeah. I don't care that you're in the same faction, at a social event, I'll take you out without a second thought. "Knife safety is very important." I will be very careful when I take that knife from you and leave it in your forehead. There, mutual understanding established. Forte likes Red Giant. He's straightforward about being a murderous backstabbing bastard. He can work with someone that honest about who they are. With that out of the way, Forte goes back to the shore, and considers his target. "... Hmm..." He probably can't close in quickly enough, or teleport in quickly enough... ... He glances over at Ishirou, fishing with his floating drone thing, considering.
Rita Ma	Rita beams at Ishirou sunnily, seeming to approve of his analysis. "Getting away from Indus really has been good for you," she says firmly. "Thank you for growing, Mr. Ishirou. But... is that really more of a change than becoming human? I'd have thought that would impact you even more."      There's a slightly bittersweet look under her smile. Now's probably not the best time to discuss it openly, but of course she'd have strong opinions on the value of having a human body.      "Oh, has your sense of taste changed at all? Here." She gestures at the second mackerel with her tongs, still brining in soy sauce. "We're putting this in salt because the salt tastes good, but it also breaks down the fish's muscles and gives them a better texture. When we're done, we'll have to pat it dry before we put it on the grill. We want to brown the surface so it gets new flavors, but if it's still wet, it won't get hot fast enough to do that! If it's not dry the liquid will evaporate off, like it's sweating, and keep it cool."      She smiles, obviously satisfied with her own explanation. "It's all about chemistry and heat, right? People figured out a lot through trial-and-error, but the science of 'how' gets really complicated."      Even held so securely, the flounder gnashes and lunges as it's brought to shore too. It- and the little torpedo minnows- goes in a capsule neatly, the first proper catch of the day. With Hibiki's flounder too, she'll have a pair. They can keep each other company!      That or eat each other. It's hard to tell with alien fish. One tank, one queen, and all that.
Liza Grier	Liza stares at Ishirou with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know this twink?" she asks Rita. Despite the harsh words, it isn't upset. Just vaguely suspicious. She does wave back to Hibiki though. Despite being 'literal actual albino' in complexion, Liza doesn't look frail at all. The exact opposite, actually. Could definitely lift Rita up on one arm.     "If you don't separate out your work from your life, you don't function, and you don't get to be a human being. That's how they wear you down. I'm not falling for that while working on my own terms." For a certain definition of 'work' anyways. "Otherwise the bloodshed all just runs together and you crack. I've seen it happen."     "And nice hat." she adds. Liza sets down her empty soup bowl and and taps on her PDA, bringing up her internet uplink to the ship that is no doubt nearby. Judging by the little holo-window, she's looking up who or what the hell Lilith Arnauld is. She looks over to the Gruff Man, and this time stares at him for long enough for how red her eyes are to get a little unnerving.     "You know, actually, that's not a bad take. I'll let it pass. To each their own I guess."     Liza gets up and stretches, laced fingers to tip toes. "Alright, I guess I should earn my keep." says the woman who owns the ship that Rita lives on now, and is here solely for Rita's enjoyment. "You're so considerate it's almost scary, Rita. So, fine, fine, I'll make some friends." The way she says it is a little dry, so it's hard to tell how seriously she's taking it. Sadly, the bikini has to go away for a little bit as she bleep bloops at her PDA and her hardsuit is fired from her ship nearby as a beam of red teleporter splash. Stuffing her hair into her helmet is mostly done with the aid of a hiss-click vacuum seal. From there, she heads out to the DEPTHS, sinking gently and walking along the bottom of the shore to get there. Her optics glow menacing green-blue underwater, flickering as she swaps through visual modes until she gets the right filter. Coming up on the Red Dwarf and Neutron, she points out the jellyfish (with a laser designator). "Hey, do you think you could get that one? I don't really work with that type." She pops a capture pod over to him. "I have the turtles."     Liza scans the turtle school for a couple she thinks are extra cute and Rita would like the most. Then her optics weirdly sputter from green to red, tinged with a liquid ripple of purple. Using a slow and subtle twist of her fingers and wrist, and gently pulling her arm back against her body as a somatic guide, she grabs on to her favoured turtles with a perfectly diffused psychokinetic grasp throughout the blood in their tissues, pulling them over before they have a chance to retreat into a turtleshell phalanx.
Ishirou	Ishirou looks at Liza dejectedly after a moment, "Aw come on, not here too.." he says, with a sigh.  Though the 'how do you know' part is a little more embarrassing than the twink part.  "Look it's...she helped me against my...home?  I guess is the simple version.  The longer version is depressing and long and kinda not the day for it!" "I think both changes are big and together?  I think one facilitated the other, and I can't say I'd be the same without the other either!  It's.." how does he explain this, to Rita, who probably covets being human.  "I think it's more that I'm still learning what it means to be human?" "To a point, I'm not exactly human either, coming at this from a weird angle.  So I'm more trying to find out what I am, and not trying to limit myself to strictly other terms.  I think that's the best way to really go over it." Ishirou looks at the fish they caught, and nods, "Wow these things are neat!" he finally says, before watching Rita cook.  "So yeah, it's neat that something as simple as that can change how the fish comes out /so much/.  I'd have never thought of some of these techniques.  Oh, we got a cooking group chat with Ms. Tamamo, Miku, and myself.  You want an invite?" he asks because it's mostly recipes and stickers.  Also, Ishirou occasionally freaking out because he made an abomination.   The POD stares at Forte after its duty is done.  It floats there but is otherwise motionless as it stares.  Even though it doesn't technically have eyes, it just seems to face him.
Karlan Nobles	"Being able to ease the hearts of others is an admirable trait, and not one that everyone can keep for long." SilverAsh replies to Rita with a brief (super brief) (monosyllabic brief) chuckle, raising an eyebrow slightly when he catches her looking him over. When she asks if he's a goth, his expression remains perfectly neutral despite a distinct sense that he's deflated a bit. "N... No, not goth. This is the look of a classical adventurer. A pirate, in some parlances. One who explores vast, uncharted seas and faraway lands rather than mulling over the nature of life, death, and the darkness in-between." Pramanix, meanwhile, follows the movement of the ground beef with her eyes absentmindedly at first, not even realizing that Rita's noticed her looking at it or that Rita's the one that's moving it. She does hunch over slightly as it moves, as if something in the back of her mind is spurring her to twitch in response to that. Pramanix does finally straighten up once she sees Rita's protective hold, at least, and also turns her head briefly to wipe her mouth off only to get some soup into her facehole. "Mmrph... It is! To think that so much tasty food can be made even with stuff in the ocean..." Pramanix replies with a pleasant laugh, purposely trying not to look at that beef so as to not get herself too hungry too quickly. "I think I can handle scrounging up some fish and other stuff to eat, though! I can even keep it fresh for hours if need be~" Confident in her abilities to hunt and forage for edible or other animals, Pramanix turns to Ishirou with a firm nod. "Whenever you're ready, then! I'll make a bridge further out, and then we won't even need a boat. And if there's plenty of us with rods..." She pauses, then taps her chin. "Ah, but there's also those capsules. We really could fill an aquarium at this rate!" Pramanix concludes in agreement with Hibiki, and then she nearly gags on her soup when Liza calls Ishirou a twink. She turns her head aside to cough her into her wrist so as to not reveal herself, but SilverAsh is already staring right at her. And then he looks over at White Dwarf. "Sea... Strikers? What is that?" He sounds as serious as ever despite (or perhaps because of) the pirate cosplay.
Forte	"... Hmm..." Forte floats over towards the pod. "Getability.bat, read mode ready," he intones, with the same cadence as a spell. Then - "This might sting a bit," he says, going to clap it on what would be the shoulder, without further explanation or warning. It stings - but only lightly, only for a second. And then he floats off again, without further explanation or apology. With that accomplished - he goes to face down the bird again. This is now a careful balancing act... getting close enough to it, without it flying off. He flies steadily and slowly towards it, eyes narrowed at it, judging for the right moment... "Fishgrab P, execute!" And he dashes forward, hand outstretched, trying to rapidly close the distance and command-grab the birdfrog!
Rita Ma	"What's a twink?" Rita asks Liza with dangerous innocence. She wipes her brow with her forearm (though she doesn't seem to actually be sweating) as she passes the grilled mackerel to Red Giant for slicing and plating. She pats the second fillet dry with some paper towels, puts it on the grill in the first one's place, and shuts the lid with a satisfied little sigh, at loose ends just for the moment.      "I met Mr. Ishirou when we got in a fight," she finally answers brightly, with no perceptible ill-will. "But now I've been helping him! He was enslaved by an evil government, you know, but he's run away and gotten better now. Treat him nice, okay, Ms. Grier?"      That's the most Liza-sympathetic way she can think to condense his backstory. Rita isn't creative enough to be a good liar, but she's superb at convenient truthtelling.      In THE DEPTHS: Liza has definitely gotten herself the plum assignment, or at least the one that's best-suited to her skills. The turtles try to form up in their armored arrangement, but she's already grabbed four of them with especially pretty colors or cute shell-patterns. The remainder aren't willing to break formation to 'save' their comrades, and the ones she's snagged spin dizzily in place, disoriented by the gentle unnatural force.      The jellyfish remains for the Redshifts. Poor saps.
Redshift Operators	Hooray! Mutual understandings of the importance of kitchen safety have been established! The rumbling noise from deep within the giant surely makes that clear. The wet, brutal sound of flesh under knife...     Looking up Lilith Arnauld finds out that this is a "MILF" character from Sea Strikers, a popular anime that depicts historical submarine captains as thirty-something or forty-something undersea explorers and lethal battle-mages against the sinister forces of The Rising Deep. This shit is *nothing* but beach episode and biohorror back to back. The cyborg doesn't really have the body to pull it off, being far more athletic and far too young, but the outfits are cute anyway. Eventually she at least gets her thin turtleneck off, to relieve the perspiration she gets as she does her extractions.     "Yeah. Just a minute." The gruff man nods to Liza, scratching at his head (through the helmet). He regards his gear. Stun grenades? Would conduct way too hard in the water. Scooping with the capture pod? Too risky, something will get caught in the lid. Maybe... He approaches the jellyfish, pod under one arm, and reaches out with just his heavily insulated hand. He just... grabs it, and lets the electricity go through him. "GHHHHHHHGHHGHGHHGHHGHGHGH" He says, articulately, as he slowly and delicately maneuvers the jellyfish into the pod while it fries him.     When Liza's done, she can turn back to see: Ashed-out Red Dwarf, sizzling and occasionally arcing with electricity. "Got one." He transmits through the water, keeping the pain under control in his voice.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Oh--yeah," Hibiki replies back towards Rita, apparently both sensing Rita's concern and understanding why that'd be a weird thing with how much they do together. "She had to go see her parents for something...she won't be that long, but she couldn't make it. She wasn't really happy about it." She sounds noticeably moody saying that, like she's remembering something unpleasant, though it doesn't last too long as she follows up. "...But she told me to say hi, and wouldn't leave before I promised to bring back some of your cooking."     As her line is cast out, she regards Liza with another shift of her head. "--Yeah, that's true. I know exactly what you mean. I'm actually pretty glad to hear that from you." After a nod, she doesn't elaborate further, but she sounded serious about that. Less so when she takes a hand off to throw a wave back to Ishirou, putting on a small smile. "Yo. Looking good. I like the shorts. I didn't know you fished, though."     It's about that point she gets her tug and jumps right back up to give a mighty tug as only a magical punch girl can, producing one (1) razor-toothed fish. She's in the process of looking between it and her precious fingers when the assist of the century offers a hand - Hibiki takes a moment to look at the suite of tools with the same look she gave her own hand - before grimacing.     "...We'll do it together," she finally says grimly. "I've lost enough fingers for one lifetime. I'll hold its jaws open and stop it from biting, and you can go for it. Ready--GO!"     So begins the boss battle of the century.
Rita Ma	Rita finds her way over to a chair (adjacent to the one Liza was formerly sitting in) and collapses into it with a tired little sigh, still absentmindedly holding her tongs in one hand. All her cooking is now in a hands-off phase; perfect timing for a little break.      "That makes sense, Mr. Ishirou," she says after a little thoughtful pause. "Human is something that's not just on the outside, but the inside too. But you'll settle into it! You're already better at being human than some humans are."      Her expression wavers with bittersweet uncertainty when he mentions not being entirely human. "Well, I hope you get there soon?" she concludes shakily, obviously not really grasping the nuance. "I'm sure you can. I believe in you!"      The mention of a cooking group perks her up immediately, banishing all that awkward uncertainty in a second. "Yes please! I've got all kinds of recipes to share! But I'm still learning how to make landfood, so I'm sure they could teach me a lot too!"      What a way to put it.
Ishirou	Ishirou nods to Pramanix, "Uh sure!  I wonder how life is out in the deeper water, and getting out there will let me get a better scan.." he says, though looks up at that sun, "Life is a little weird here, I imagine it's a bit more carnivorous or bottom-feeding here.  With the sun not being as strong, plant life would need to be very specialized, and anything that fed off of them would need to be as well. He wonders if plankton could even survive here..?  Wouldn't they need to be a different color? I4 fumbles through his social media connections to make sure to get that invite out to Rita.  Though he frowns when he sees her slump before that.  "You work hard for it too, though you shouldn't have to.." he says, with a hint of similar bittersweet tone.  He scratches the back of his head, "Ah, never mind, I didn't say anything," he says again, with a nod and a smile.   "Haha...maybe so, but sometimes things prevent people from settling into it...and sometimes they get into it way too easy...being human that is.  I think it's less about what you are, and more about what you want to be that really is a big difference?  Some people take it for granted, and in turn, are cold to others...some have to fight and bleed for it, and so when they open their heart to others it's even more meaningful." "Man, we're trying to have a fun time and I'm being all overthinking.." he laughs a bit at himself, "Take the robot out of the man, but you can't take man out of the robot I guess!"
Rita Ma	Eventually Rita gets back up from her comfy seat and returns to cooking. While she flips the second cut of mackerel and starts to dress the burger buns, her lips purse in unreadable neutrality throughout SilverAsh's explanation.      "Oh," she finally says. With scathing, childlike simplicity: "Pirates are awful, aren't they? You shouldn't dress up as them, Mr. SilverAsh."      "'Even' with stuff in the ocean," she comments to Pramanix thoughtfully. She's put the raw ground beef back down by now, but she eyes it in her peripheral vision just in case anyone (read: definitely just Pramanix) makes a sudden move for it. "Even on a normal Earth, the ocean is most of the planet, isn't it? Of course it'd be where most of the tasty things are! The fruits and vegetables that grow on land are really nice, but I don't think they're better. But maybe I just don't know how to use them to their full potential, yet."      "I don't have enough spice or sauces left over for most things... mm, and I don't have the time for a real marinade. But if you could catch some good fish and then freeze it for just a second, maybe I could do some hwareo-hoe with it? Thanks, Ms. Pramanix!!"      This is definitely just an excuse to get her away from the beef.
Redshift Operators	The extraction is careful, precise, and if Hibiki looks very closely, maybe she just might see the ghost of about five different futures where the precognitive cyborg had her hand bitten off. But inch by inch, she can work the hook out, as well as make sure the fish will be safe! "Remarkable, to find wildlife that adheres with such dedication to the glass shards school of defense." She mutters, tensely. "Your bravery in this is admirable."     Once the task is done, she folds her arm back up to a more human shape, and flips the hook around its fingers dextrously. So cool!! "It shall certainly make for good company, soon."
Rita Ma	The bird-frog stares at Forte gormlessly from atop its chalk pillar. Despite having given the earlier impression of smugness, it's hard to imagine from the way it looks now that it's got two brain-cells to rub together. The crab still dangles from its mouth by a leg, fruitlessly trying to jab its rubbery skin with a pincer.      He lunges for it, and for once, its tiny brain knows fear.      Membranous fin-wings flare to try and carry it backwards out of his reach, but it's not fast enough. He grabs it, and it emits a panicked squawk-croak that is quite possibly the ugliest noise he's heard in his life. This lets the crab pull free of its jaws, scurry up Forte's arm, turn around, and retributively jab the frog in the eye.      The crab looks up at him with something almost like admiration. He's its hero now. Will he turn it over to Rita? Or keep it, and find something else to give her?
Forte	Forte stares at the crab neutrally for some time, still clutching the bird with a death grip. --- "Rita," says Forte, after returning to the beach. The crab is on his shoulder. "I caught you a frogbird," he says, holding the capsule out to her.
Rita Ma	The jellyfish, lacking a central nervous system or real specialized muscles, can do absolutely nothing to resist being maneuvered by Red Dwarf. But it might not try anyway. Its subtle color-pulses shift to cooler hues, and its swimming-pulses become more regular; one might almost characterize it as sadistic satisfaction at his very articulate exclamations.      CAUGHT: THE MOST AWFUL JELLYFISH      With the remaining turtles turtled up, and the jellyfish snagged, a hushed pall falls over THE DEPTHS. There is no longer any activity or noise to distract from the fact that you are in a dark, deep hole a hundred feet below the ocean surface with barely enough sunlight to see.      It kind of sucks really. Probably time to come up.
Rita Ma	Rita frowns just a little at 'she wasn't happy about it', but quickly slides back into her typical reassuring sunniness. "Mmm! I'm sure there'll be plenty of mackerel left for Miku, then! And even if there isn't, I'll do another batch just for her," she says with typical brightness. "You can tell her I said 'hi', too!! And I'm really glad my cooking could leave that kind of impression. Does she want any recipes?"      While she talks, she gets out a ladle and a thermos and pours some of the seaweed soup in, then hands it to Hibiki with a wink. "For her. No eating it yourself on the way home, okay?"
Rita Ma	"Huh? But, plants have to be the root of every ecosystem, right? Or deep-sea vents, or something. Things that eat other things can't be at the bottom of the food chain by definition, right?"      I4's comment about 'working hard for it' makes Rita turn her face away for a moment. She focuses intently on plating the second mackerel and putting on the patties, so as not to betray her emotional reaction. When he moves on from the topic, though, she responds in kind with a little feeble laugh.      "Yeah. It's okay. Don't worry about it, Mr. Ishirou. Like you said, you didn't say anything."      Her expression is thoughtful throughout his explanation, but a disagreement is bubbling beneath the surface. When he's done, she shakes her head a little ruefully. "I don't think that 'being human' is like that at all. It's just something you can lose-" a little glance up at his face, knowingly- "or something you can gain. How hard you work for it doesn't make it sweeter. Sometimes life is just unfair."      Smiling again: "But you can't make the most out of being human without a warm heart. I agree about that. If you get to be human, but you use your time to be cold anyway, you're just wasting it, aren't you?"
Karlan Nobles	"I've barely even seen the sea back home, so even 'normal' isn't something I've really gotten a good look at. Who knows what we'll find here? Ah, this is so exciting!" Pramanix certainly sounds excited, not bothering in the slightest to attempt to look like the refined snow pope she normally would. Instead, she's just chilling out, eager to go fishing or something while slowly forgetting about that tasty tasty beef. Rita's certainly doing a good job at directing her attention away from it, too. "That does make a lot of sense, yes... Hm. I'll have to ask the operators from the sea back home about what they usually eat out the next time I see them. What seasonings they use, what preparations, what stuff besides fish they'd consider... 'Normal?'" Even she sounds a little confused at that, as if it's an unfamiliar thing. Either way, though, she's ready to get to work on getting fish for the hwareo-hoe, and she turns to Ishirou with a confident puff of her chest. "Let's get to work, Twink! We-" Pramanix abruptly shuts up, gets out her bell, and starts the snow-summoning ritual to start getting an ice bridge formed out towards the sea. It's easier to avoid eye contact that way. SilverAsh, meanwhile, just stares closely at Ishirou to observe how he responds to that, but without actually saying anything in turn. He watches Pramanix for a time, too, before finally replying to Rita and loitering nearby while getting some soup for himself. "Most pirates are, I'd imagine. Thieves and brigands rarely do what they do for anyone's gain but their own, but there are exceptions. I've seen stories of more noble sorts who act honorably, defend those who are unable to do so themselves within the bounds of the law, and achieve changes that the law itself cannot. I suppose you do have a point about not associating with them, though, especially if..." He trails off for a while, slipping the eyepatch into his pocket and slipping off his coat so he can just tie it around his waist instead He might still be a little self-conscious about the goth thing. "Well, anyway. Thank you, Rita."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Electronic devices, AR displays--they blink with a notification. It's the only warning you get. Bercilak de Hautdesert is listening to ZZ Top on Discoverize. Listen along? Y/N The pulse detonation engine of the Wraith is as loud as ever, its lifter blowing aside curtains of sand as the bike races through the Warpgate. The piercing hiss of the engine slows to chest-thumping bangs as it nears the Spot.      Bercilak dressed for a beach day--unbuttoned white short sleeve, bare green abs beneath. Dab of sunscreen across the nose. Leopard skin one piece swimsuit. With a ground-shaking thud, the bike is parked, sending up another cloud of sand.      Bercilak dismounts, hefting something chitinous and freshly slain over one shoulder, an oversized cooler over the other. "Ei, what itides, bicches?! Bahaha. Quar lies thy cokening place?"      He drops the cooler into the nearest unoccupied umbrella-shaded spot, then sets up a towel. In lieu of one of those obnoxious shirts, it seems he's gone with a print-design towel. It reads: 'SATIRE REQUIRES A RACEHORSE DONG AND THE MIND OF A PLAYER - GEORGE ORWELL, ANIMAL HOUSE'
Rita Ma	The intimidation factor of the knife-pancake flounder is probably its greatest danger: fear will make the hands tremble, and a trembling hand is soon to be relieved of its digits. Its jaws salivate and tremble. The razor-blade enamel drips with something that might plausibly be venom.      But surgery takes a steady hand, especially in tense moments. If anyone can pull this off, it's White Dwarf- and so she does. As soon as the hook is out, the flounder's jaws slam shut with audible sharpness and multiple layers of interlocking clicks, giving her just enough time to pull its hand free.      And then she's home free! It flails and gnashes, but it can no longer resist being put in the capsule, and Hibiki and White Dwarf can both heave a sigh of relief.      CAUGHT: IHOP KNIFESHOP
Rita Ma	Rita stares at the birdphibian with eyes almost as bugged-out as its own. "Th-thanks," she says to Forte. What appears to be a sweat-drop rolls down her forehead.      It goes in the capsule as soon as she can deploy it, and he gets a cut of soy-garlic grilled mackerel as a reward.      CAUGHT: SEAGULL BUT SOMEHOW WORSE
Hibiki Tachibana	Fortunately, by this point, Hibiki is very very used to keeping her hands near intensely dangerous objects. There's still plenty of steeling herself to hold the flatfish right where it is while White Dwarf works magic - and reflexive wincing when her subconscious feels something terrible happen in a future-that-never-was - but when all is said and done, she lets out a way bigger sigh of relief than she has any right to, when her fingers weren't in there.     "Hah...I almost have to respect it. This seems like karma for calling this place perfect for fishing..." After another moment of staring at the creature, "...But it /is/ decently cute, so I guess it's fine." She gives a thumbs up, while the fish writhes and lashes about in her other hand's gorilla grip. "You too. Couldn't have done it without you. Not in one piece, anyway..." She grimaces for a second time.     The flounder is put into stasis with the other one caught in short order, and Hibiki gives Rita the most reassuring smile she can put on herself. "She's probably going to want the one for this, after she tries a bite." Though she tries to hide it, the wild Tachibana Hibiki struggles against the allure of mackeral soup this close to the meal. She'll be getting a bowl herself right after this for sure, but first she takes the thermos.     "I think she's been wanting to get some cooking time with you after the sleepover again, honestly, and I can't blame her. I'll make sure to tell her." She glances off towards where Liza went out to. "And if /someone/ wants to see her swimsuit so badly, they can wait until it hits summer on our world."
Ishirou	Ishirou stares at the knife skills of both the mercenary team around him. It makes him nervous, a little, but obviously, these are Rita's friends and they won't hurt him.  Right?  Right...?   "Mmm...is it?  I don't know.." Ishirou thinks, "I think there is a bit more to it, but..." he shrugs, "It's not like I know what it is either..." he says, with a scratch to the back of his neck.  "I think though it's more beautiful when it's shown regardless of what a person might be, rather than something that's expected.." "Yeah!" Ishirou agrees, "A warm heart is part of it, I have to agree with that.  Being mean or cold is a waste...though I think some people think that being always nice or bubbly is necessary.  I think I've seen more kindness out of Lilian than I have out of Staren..." Ishirou is distracted, however, by the ice bridge and his eyes light up a little, "Oh Wow tha-man, does everyone have to call me that..?" he asks, with a small grump.  "Oh, I have an idea with this ice bridge..." he stats to say, and then... Bercilak.   Like a deer in headlights, Ishirou isn't sure what to do, until he runs at the ice bridge full speed and attempts to slide out to sea as fast as possible. Moments later there is a far off splash.  He's likely fallen off the end.
Rita Ma	Rita's meat-defensiveness towards Pramanix soon gives way to sparkly-eyed wonder. "There are people who live on the ocean in your world, too? ... I guess I thought, if people had the choice to live on land, nobody would ever be on a boat. What's that like? Do they have sea monsters there, too?"      Answers may need to be postponed, though, since Pramanix is headed out to sea. Saltwater has a lower freezing temperature than fresh, so she might experience some unexpected slight resistance,but once she adjusts to that her plan should go off without a hitch.      Though her expression towards SilverAsh is skeptical at first, eventually she's nodding along in rapt fascination. "Good pirates... I guess that makes sense. Stealing isn't bad in itself, right? If you're stealing from the right people, or stealing just what you need... so there's nothing to say a pirate couldn't be good, too." She smiles a heartwarmingly sunny smile.      "Thanks, Mr. SilverAsh! I never would've known. That's really cool."
Rita Ma	Rita's torn between making sure the grill doesn't fall over from the wind, and covering her ears with both hands when Bercilak's hoverbike approaches. (Weirdly, she doesn't seem to feel the need to shield her eyes from the flying sand.) As soon as the engine cuts off, though, she's able to spare a hand to give him an enthusiastic wave.      "Mr. Bercilak!! We're cooking over here!"      Her eyes go wide and her face goes a little pale when he approaches and the scale of that chitinous carcass comes into proper focus. She glances from him, to the tiny portable grill that's perfectly-sized for half a mackerel, and back up at the monster slung over his shoulder. "We'll... figure something out! I'm sure of it, Mr. Bercilak. Don't even worry!"      Her eyes linger on the towel for several long seconds after he sets it up. Unasked questions dance on the tip of her tongue. Finally, she works up the courage to ask him: "Mr. Bercilak, what's a 'player'?"      Why is that what she asks about?
Liza Grier	"Pretty boy." Liza answers Rita with zero hesitation. "Effeminate. Usually kind of submissive and flirty." She eyes Ishirou a little sourly when Rita says they had a fight, but is played well enough when Rita phrases it just the right way. ". . . We've all been there. Good for you. For growing up." It feels like the correct thing to say would have been 'waking up', but it also definitely seems like she didn't misspeak.     IN THE DEPTHS, Liza has just captured the last turtle she particularly likes, just in time to see Red Dwarf tough guy through his utterly ridiculous capture method. Unable, and unwilling, to help it, she laughs out loud at the ridiculous display. Unfortunately, Liza's laugh is not cute, and her eternally broken helmet speaker makes it sound like a yandere cackling through some menacing testing facility's intercomm. "Good job." she chuckles, with an extra thumbs up.
Rita Ma	Hibiki's notions of "cute" are definitely questionable. The flounder is, at least, a pretty color, and once it's in a tank Rita won't have to deal with its teeth.      "I'd love to cook with her again soon too! She's really wonderful. I can see why you two are such close friends," Rita says with characteristic good cheer. She takes the capsule off of Hibiki's hands, and replaces it with a bowl of that delicious-smelling seaweed soup by way of reward. "You've been working hard today, Hibiki! Don't forget to eat and relax too, okay?"      She puts on a sly smile, narrowing her eyes playfully. "That's not your strategy, is it? To push yourself way too hard, so other people feel like they have to take care of you? I bet that's how you got Miku. I'm on to you."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"BAHAHA! Loke at that bicche atrennen." Eyes alight with wild mirth, Bercilak slaps his belly with a wide, meaty palm, pointing at Ishirou with the other. "Be solased, king! I lest to ilern thee not, this dai," he finally calls, one hand cupped around his mouth.      He turns and approaches Rita with the carcass, dropping it unceremoniously near the tiny grill. "'Tis of no gret bisihede," he assures Rita with a wave of his palm. "Hit may be ieten thusly, whanne necessarious." It doesn't look like it can be, or would be pleasant. Bercilak rips a hairy leg off and demonstrates--but this is Bercilak, after all.      Wiping his mouth, he makes a ponderous expression. "What IS a pleier? Hmmm... probabli som kinde of badde-asse," he sagely concludes.
Liza Grier	Deciding that she no longer wants to be sitting around in the mesopelagic zone, Liza returns to the surface with a bubbling kick of rocket thrusters, using the radio to conjecture about what kind of swimsuit Miku would wear if she were here, and valiantly defend White Dwarf's interest in cosplay, even if she snorts a little trying to imagine that girl pulling off a 'milf' look.     She returns to the SHORE, emerging from the deep with menacing glow eyes, and points to Ishirou like she's the reaper marking him. "Hey. Are you bullying Rita? Don't lie to me. And don't tell me you were either." Of course she missed out on getting to know why Rita looks like that, and unfortunately, she can read Rita's moods pretty well, even from a distance.     She stares at SilverAsh. There's a sense she might be blinking. A moment later, she remembers to remove her helmet again. "Oh. Privateers. Free traders. People who steal from the government and sell it to whoever. Yeah, that's different. Try explaining that better neck time." There's a mumbled 'jackass' at the end. "Well, it's not like real pirates wear that kind of getup anyways."
Redshift Operators	"Hmhmhm! The colors are what give it that appeal, certainly. And its shape accentuates." The cyborg admires the catch. "Do not worry. With my forbidden <Dark Medicine> techniques, I would have quite easily repaired your limb, had you lost it." Isn't that kind of contradicted by the fact that she doesn't have her own arm...?     The gruff leader under the water is full of conflicted feelings. Should he be scared by yancackles? Should he be embarrassed? What should it be? He just sort of jolts back and adjusts his helmet. "Guh! Wasn't tough at all. Probably gonna look good in the aquarium, too. You got that?" He looks at her pod, then nods. "Alright. Let's head back topside. Made me thirsty." He coughs, and there's a dusty, flakey sound in his helmet.     Bercilak's arrival has happened for something like twenty seconds. In that time, the team's astronaut has tried to net-gun one of those crabs from a distance, and then snipe down a gull that goes after it. It's several seconds after their fixated, focused moment is done that they finally attend to the new arrival: "What?" That seems to be their perpetual response to Bercilak, actually. Several seconds of attempted decoding on a long delay, followed by: "Huh?" Or "What?" Each time. At least they're very clearly trying to understand, even if they completely fail each time.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"O, iminde me not, frend," says Bercilak, throwing an arm around the astronaut. Pointing to a green temple with a sausage-sized index finger, "A lady fucked me in the hed, and forthy is my spekinge fucked. Thou shalt be custumed to hit, in time," he assures, releasing them to pat them squarely on the back with a hearty whump. "Art thou ahungred?" He waves the severed creature leg 'temptingly' at them.
Rita Ma	"Scary people can be really nice sometimes," Rita concurs with I4. "Maybe even the nicest. I've only met one or two scary people I didn't really like!" That has to be backwards somehow, doesn't it? Just what kinds of friends has she been making?      Ishirou breaks and runs at Bercilak's arrival. Rita tries to lunge and grasp at him to keep him from escaping, but it's half-hearted. Instead she's left forlornly waving him goodbye as he skids off the edge of the ice-pier and splashes into the ocean.      "I wonder if he's waterproof now," she finds herself murmuring.
Liza Grier	Liza is just dismissing the rest of her hardsuit when Bercilak rolls up. A low, semi-sarcastic whistle comes out in response. "Maybe you could have dressed up a little more. That's practically obscene. I'm shocked you'd show that to Rita." She doesn't sound serious enough. She appears to be pretty confident that Rita isn't about to be taken in by his big green abs or terribly inappropriate leopard print, somehow.     A little sigh follows, and Liza somehow becomes team mom again by dialing in the coordinates for a nanostove for that monster. This involves like a solid minute of her pointing a red holographic placement point at the sand and wiggling it back and forth over the spot where it turns blue for a split second, cursing and muttering under her breath. Once the nanostove drops in, she says "There. That's your battlestation. Don't damage it."     She also pops down some kind of aluminium pedestal with a hemispherical depression on the top. Placing the capture pods one by one, it displays a hologram of the critter inside and some inscrutable list of irrelevant statistics. She motions for others to give her their pods so she can form a checklist of what they've got, and most importantly show Rita the cute turtles.     "A player is someone who hits on a lot of women and somehow succeeds more often than not. Probably multiple girlfriends. And totally shameless. Thinks he's real popular." she adds blithely.
Rita Ma	"Is that really okay?" Rita asks Bercilak, nervously glancing between him, the grill, and the raw carcass. "I mean, it's..." She takes just a moment to covertly swallow her drool. "If you say so! I'm sure it's for more adventurous people than me, though."      He can tell how her eyes keep longingly darting back towards it. That's going to be a distraction as long as it's there. She seizes on what he says next to distract herself, nodding in comprehension.      "Some kind of 'badass'," she agrees. Then, after a little contemplative pause, she touches her face with the hand that isn't holding her omnipresent tongs.      "I wonder if Ms. Grier is a 'player'."
Karlan Nobles	THE BEACH "Indeed. There are certainly black and white aspects to it as well, but there's gray areas as well." SilverAsh replies to Rita with a knowing nod, pausing just long enough to stroke his chin again. " Or... That's what some people may want you to believe. Even in the world of pirates, heroes, criminals, and-" He pauses briefly, trying not to let her shot at his outfit get to him too much. "-... Privateers, many will try to lead you astray. They'll try to make you believe what's convenient for them, all to make their won goals that much or even a little easier to achieve." It looks and sounds like he might be getting into one of those contemplative distant stare faces as he takes off his hat that is totally cool and period-appropriate, but then Rita hits him with that smile. That damn smile. Even he manages to crack a slight smile of his own, however small it is. "I only hope that you and the others can keep doing things like this. For yourself, and for my s... Pramanix. She needs more opportunities to be normal." Speaking of normal, here's Bercilak! SilverAsh squints slightly as he looks rather focused while reading his shirt. "... Where does that first part fit into satire?" ICE BRIDGE Getting that ice bridge formed is a good way to take Pramanix's mind off her flub. Did she really just call someone twink? Maybe she can explain it away as a slip of the tongue and pretend she doesn't know what it means. That's the best way to hide it! All she needs now is for Ishirou to get to the water and make it sound believable. She can hear a loud voice in the distance behind her, and then footsteps and sliding coming closer. That must be him. "Ah, Mister Ishirou! I was wondering... What does-" Oh no, he's sliding, and he's coming too fast for her to adjust the ice bridge to slow him down! Pramanix shifts her foot over like a professional ice-skater as she tries to position herself to try and catch him, but unfortunately for both of them? A professional ice skater, she is not. Instead, Pramanix moves her foot to the side way too fast, and she catches it on his t-shirt just so that she ends up sliding after him, yelping on the way into the drink. The only silver linings here are that she has her bell tied to her wrist for safety, and she's already wearing a swimsuit underneath that light jacket. Also, she can swim and float fairly easily. "Bluh... Are you alright? Holler if you're not drowning!"
Ishirou	It turns out that Ishirou is in fact not vulnerable to water, and can enter it just fine.  Though he needs the help of the POD to get out of the water and onto the ice again.  He gets the third degree from Liza, and he shouts from his place on the pier, "I'M NOT!  GEEZE!" Though he responds to Bercilak, "YOU PROMISE???" He is of course decently far away, he's just got good hearing. "Ugh...sorry.." he says to Pramanix, the POD helps her up if she needs it.  "Uh...Bercilak freaked me out.  He's on hire from Hiromi to beat me up because 'strong survive' or some shit.." ugh...he kind wishes he didn't try and be so understanding.  It feels like he's being bullied. He's definitely being bullied.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Liza's comment draws a chuckle from him, for precisely the same reasons she hadn't been serious in making it. "I itrust she may resist the enticeninge," he offers back, just as serious.      "Well, she is a badde-asse," contends Bercilak on Liza's player status. "Which thusly imenes thou hath no shame. Verily, so als 'tis unhard to imagen her dalien with ladies."      Clapping SilverAsh on the back, "Per happes I imight sheu thee quar hit hemes," he says, followed by another one of his boisterous laughs.      ...      "I ASWEAR!" He bellows out to I4. "NAU GET THY ASSE ABOUTEFORTHE SO I MAY SMITE THEE!" ... "JAPING! 'TIS JAPES! ...Sothli, i shalt not smite thee, king."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Ahaha...thanks, but no thanks..." Hibiki murmurs in response to YAMI NO MEDICINE, feeling a phantom twinge go up her right arm at the very notion. "Even if it can be fixed, I think I want everything to stay where it belongs." The tone of someone who's used to having things not be where they belong is heavy. This only further drives her notions of cute into question, given the snapping lockjaws she was grasping only a moment ago that would have ended in certain death.     It's because it reminds her of a pancake, but she'd never say it out loud.     She's halfway through saying something about not working that hard when Rita teases her, and she stops short. "Eh!? T-That's not it at all! She's j-just...uh...mn..." Hibiki reflexively tugs awkwardly at where her scarf would be if she were transformed, but only finds the collar of her shirt. She admits defeat in the way she slinks to the side with soup in hand.     Just in time to stop mid-step as Bercilak rolls up. That's a sight she can always hear coming from a mile away, and gets rid of the lingering red in her face. She saddles up next to SilverAsh by pure coincidence, following up on his comment. Though she is ignorant on many things, this time she wisely intones, "You're probably better off not thinking too hard about it..."
Redshift Operators	"..." The astronaut continues to stare at Bercilak, eventually putting their hand on the chin of their helmet. It takes a few more seconds for, yet again: "Huh?" Seemingly no progress. Then five seconds later. "Oh, okay. I don't think I'll get used to it." That's said with no grudge, just a plain sentiment.     The cyborg instantly presses into the frame of the shot, sliding on one elbow. "Is Grier-san a *player?*" You can practically see the eyebrows shoot up behind her goggles. "*That* was an unpredictable question, which I would *love* to know the answer to. Are you a player, Liza?"     "God's sakes, no. Stop. Don't." The gruff man rambles as he comes down to a seat near the cooking area, depositing the jellyfish off to one side.
Liza Grier	To SilverAsh, Liza says "I assume it's like 'balls of steel'. Satire is only funny when you're punching up. Mocking powerful people that you aren't supposed to. You'll get hate for it either way, but you can't be gentle and toothless to try and minimize it; otherwise why the fuck did you bother? You've gotta know who you hate and what they did to deserve to be roasted for it, then go all in."     To White Dwarf, she laughs, and then without a moment's hesitation, she says, "Used to be. Well, more of one. I don't have as much time for that these days. So only a little bit. As a treat."
Rita Ma	Rita seems more than a little horrified by Liza's accusation, and even- if he's returned to shore by now- scoots in front of I4 a little, subtly trying to shield him. "N-no!! Mr. Ishirou could never bully anyone! I promise!" She is, unknowingly, damning him in a completely different way. Flustered: "And why do you think I'd get bullied anyway??"      When the topic changes, she relaxes with a little slump and an even littler sigh. She effortlessly hefts up the enormous carcass and plops it down atop the nanostove Liza's provided, eager to cook it so it'll stop smelling so delicious.      "So... you're not a player, Ms. Grier?" she asks with considerable hesitation and perfect innocence. Bercilak accuses her of 'dalien with ladies', in response to which Rita shakes her head firmly. "I don't think she's ever dallied at all, Mr. Bercilak. She's really motivated, you know."      For her own part, Rita is fully oblivious to Bercilak's 'obscenity', being definitely only into literal beef.      Turtles are a superb distraction from that though, and she toggles through the holographic projections of the different animals captured with naked awe. "Wow! Do they really glow like that in person?" "How do their fins twirl like that...?" "Oh, that'll go so good with the tank's colors!"      The only thing she doesn't have a compliment for is the seagullfrog.
Forte	That is fine. The seagullfrog wasn't consigned to confinement for Rita's sake.
Liza Grier	"That depends, Rita." says Liza, now clearly getting increasingly amused by this exchange. "Would you prefer it if I was?"
Rita Ma	Rita, in her infinitely innocent cheer, doesn't even have to think about it. "You're already a 'badass', Ms. Grier. You don't have to be another kind of cool if you don't want to."
Karlan Nobles	ICE BRIDGE/WATER Pramanix will definitely need that help. Not because she can't swim or float, but just because getting onto that ice bridge is a little tricky when she's already soaked. At least she's laughing by the time she's back up, and only partially at Ishirou's explanation! "Really? Ah, well, what's the worst that could happen? He's a friend, so just try and get a few good hits in before he takes you down. It's not like he'll break anything." Beat, and then she claps him on the shoulder gently after hearing Bercilak shouting over at them. "... See? It'll be fine~ Now, let's see if we can't catch a few more fish to freeze for Rita's sauce, hmm?" That, at least, is something Pramanix is more than confident enough to do once there's a suitable fish for it. All she needs is bell ring there, some fancy steps there, a localized blizzard, and the fish for the hwareo-hoe will be ready once Rita needs it! THE BEACH "Ah, so the speaker meant those specifically rather than the full package. There's certainly wisdom in those words..." SilverAsh nods rather seriously as Liza clarifies the meaning of Bercilak's shirt, stroking his chin after a few moments. "I've never had great comedic timing, so knowing that... I probably shouldn't start trying. But thank you regardless, Miss Grier." The clap from Bercilak, meanwhile, doesn't actually get him to flinch much! It actually seems to draw a really slight and brief smile from SilverAsh instead, even if he does go back to resting bitch face after. "I'll have to take you up on that. Expanding one's horizons rarely goes badly."
Rita Ma	Rita eventually goes back to stirring the soup, plating the burgers, and cleaning up the various supplies and surfaces she's gotten out. Just about everything's done cooking!      Her eyes glaze over a little at SilverAsh's philosophizing, but she eventually grasps at least some of it: "You're saying... I should be careful when I hear that someone's good or bad, right? And try to make up my own mind. Because everyone wants to say that they're good, and the people they don't like are bad. I'm not sure I'm that smart, but I can try my best!"      The more emotional talk about Pramanix, she takes to much better. "Yeah," she sighs with an unusually careworn smile, putting the top bun on a burger. "Getting to be normal, even if just for a little while, is really important. Without it, you sort of..." A pause for thought, interrupted only by a squirt of ketchup on another patty. "... come untethered. I know. And I'm happy to help her with that any time. It helps me, too."      She seems to peripherally sense his wounded pride throughout the conversation, and after she's done with the burgers, steps close and gives him a short, firm hug. "I really do think it's a cool-looking outfit, Mr. SilverAsh. I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was sort of mean of me, wasn't it?"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"Bahaha!" Bercilak throws his head back, as Rita throws the carcass on Liza's nanostove. "I shalt bere hit in minde."      Lightly nudging the astronaut's shoulder, "'Tis wel afin if thou perpend not alwais, sib," he offers reassuringly.      SilverAsh's agreement draws a smile to his face. "Verily?" he asks, a certain gleam in those red eyes. "Thanne thou shalt be in wantsum of this." A scrap of paper appears in his hand, printed into thin air by a swarm of impossibly tiny blue lights, like watching fire burn something in reverse.      He slips it into the inside pocket of SilverAsh's loosely fitting coat.
Ishirou	"Ugh...I can never tell with him.." Ishirou says with a sigh.  Depressing, he recovers to focus on fishing again.  Once more...POD goes out into the water, to try and attract fish, and then hops them out of the water to be frozen and then helps drag them back for easy pickup.   "Ugh, I don't want to be hit or anything.  That's the thing I don't like fighting, and Hiromi only seems to think that struggle like that is how things advance..." he frowns, not really liking it.  "But won't accept that there are other ways and that I can't be strong without...well that.." he mutters.
Rita Ma	Rita sees Hibiki off with an uncharacteristically smug, knowing smile. "Thanks again for the fish, Hibiki! I'd say 'take care', but we both know you won't~"      After that, her attention's drawn to Red Dwarf and his somewhat blackened armor. A hand comes up to her mouth as she softly gasps in shock. "Oh no, Mr. Dwarf! What happened to you?! Here, I can get you patched up."      Her idea of "patching up" is functional, but not nearly as skillful as White Dwarf's, and mostly involves insistently trying to push ointments and gauze on him. That, of course, would necessitate him taking off some of his suit in addition to admitting he needs the care, so it's likely to come to a huffy babyrage impasse.
Karlan Nobles	THE BEACH "Exactly. Even I've misled people countless times in the past, and I doubt that will stop anytime soon. Whether that makes me a good or bad person compared to those I've deceived..." SilverAsh replies to Rita, pausing briefly for dramatic effect. "That's up to you to decide whether it's justified or not. Your perspective can change as you learn more, and there's nothing wrong with that." When she shifts the topic to Pramanix and normalcy, meanwhile, he visibly relaxes in his posture and even in his face (slightly). "Sometimes, I wonder if being 'normal' would have been better, if considerably shorter. Survival can be its own normal, though, but merely surviving isn't always enough. People need more than that, and..." He looks at Rita, then at Liza and Forte and Bercilak and Hibiki and the Redshifts. Even Ishirou gets a squint in the distance! "We could have certainly ended up with worse company for however normal this is." Yes, SilverAsh does like his vaguely smart-sounding but very basic statements. He's also caught off guard by that sudden hug, and his first instinct is to hoverhand as though reflexively trying not to get hit by SCANDALS. Once he remembers where he is, thoguh, he does actually give Rita a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Not at all. It's... Admittedly, not the right outfit to wear on one's own. It would do better with a supporting cast, but..." "I'll have to try harder to convince the other two next time." He also takes that tiny paper from Bercilak in his coat without another word. He does raise his eyebrow slightly at that, but he'll probably figure it out later. ICE BRIDGE "Oh, the way he speaks? Or... The joking?" At some point, the quantity of the fish means Pramanix shifts from freezing them individually to just making a big ol' ice bowl with a fat upper lip to keep the fish stuck inside instead of risking them jumping out or freezing too early for too long. "Nobody enjoys being hit. I mean, unless you're..." Pramanix pauses, then goes right onto her next thought after a tense couple of seconds. "... But it's never a bad thing to be ready to get hit! To know how it feels, how to get hit less hard... Maybe not necessarily bulking up to never get hurt, but worrying about what might happen is too much. Being afraid of the hit could be worse than actually taking one for real, if you let it fester long enough." She approaches Ishirou and, without warning, reaches over to try and flick his forehead lightly. She's not doing it super fast or anything, though, as she's really just trying to see how he reacts to it. "Now imagine if you knew every hit might feel like that. Or if it was a really hard one. Would it be easier to prepare and plan around it that way, if you knew your limits instead of stressing over a hit that hasn't happened yet?"
Ishirou	"Eh?  The joking, the way he speaks isn't his fault.  That'd be kinda awful to be on that.." he says, pulling another fish in.   "It's not about that.." he says, with a sigh, "Sure I don't like being hit, nobody likes that!  Well I guess almost nobody, but.." he shakes his head.  "No, it's...not about getting hurt or avoiding it.  I just don't think strength is gained in that way is /necessary/.  Or..." He gets flicked, and tries to sho her away from his forehead, "Ugh...not like that, geez.." He sighs, "I'm used to pain, but it's not necessary to grow.  Or, not strictly.  It's one thing if you cause yourself pain to achieve something, but having someone fight me to try and get me strong..?" "Knowledge is better, not the force of arms.  Knowledge can do more, go farther...prevent needless suffering."