Temba Beach Party!

[beholding_archivist]

WHO: EVERYONE!!
WHERE: Temba Beach
WHAT: BEACH PARTY TIME!!
WHEN: noooooooow
Notes: Mix & Match the prompts as desired. Any format goes!
WARNINGS: Pride Birbs. It's Pride month. So. PRIDE BIRBS! Oh. And you may add your own warning labels to the respective threads, I suppose.



Isn't it amazing what people can achieve when several come together and pool their ideas and resources for a shared goal?

It certainly is in Jon's eyes, whose innate lack of creativity originally has gone as far as bringing some blankets to the beach and hoping for a good mood. What has ended up being set up on the bluish, almost purple sand of the beach is far beyond anything he would have imagined and he won't deny being glad he has reached out over the network with his little suggestion.

Of Barbecues, Grills and other Beverages

Do you remember Cobb asking for a grill to be made for him? Right. That grill can be found at the party. Kyle has offered to prepare burgers to be grilled along with whatever meat selection the diner has to offer and Clarice is the person to thank for the home made ice pops, created from native fruits such as glueberries and mangourd. Of course these are kept fresh under a parasol and in an insulated box mostly buried into the sun. That's how the majority of the drinks offered at this party are being kept cool as well.

If you want to catch one of those fat green lobsters roaming the beach as well and toss it onto the grill, you sure can try.

INTO THE OCEAN!!

You better bring your swimwear, because jumping into the water is an option. No actually dangerous creatures are this close to the shore, making swimming or potential swimming lessons very much possible.

Tony also ensured there is a little kiddie pool for the babies. And Cobb.

Someone brought an inflatable Eyeball?

Before anyone asks, it wasn't Jon. But it's there. An inflatable eye beach ball.

Any questions? Yes? Good.

Lounging in the Shade & Music

Parasols, blankets and a guitar borrowed from Cayde's bar. Sit down, relax, chat. And if you know how to play this instrument, you're very welcome to do so.

Let there be BIRBS

Have you wondered yet why those birds are in the banner for this party? It's because they are here.

At first they linger in the trees near the beach, watching and squawking and being colorful parrots. As a little time passes, they leave the safety of their trees and start coming over, sitting on parasols, hopping curiously between this oddly large amount of people gathering at their beach and in all likelihood attempting to steal a snack or two.

But if you pay close attention, you can also observe them swooping down at the nearby lobsters, easily picking them up and carry them back into the nearby forest. Apparently these birds aren't just colorful and curious they also hunt lobsters. Who could have known...

Don't forget the Caves

Actually not far from our little party waits the entrance to the caves. Take a wrong turn in them and you will find yourself in a large chamber filled with those energy crystals that make all your technology glow and go insane or result in your powers to fluctuate greatly. Take the right turn, and you find yourself at those mysterious hot springs only few know about.

To be fair, the actual party is at the beach, but who knows when the need for some privacy arises.

When it gets Dark we gather around the Rainbow Colored Fire Pit

While set up at the edge of the gathering, the fire pit Tony and Cayde have set up to have a bonfire in easily is one of the center pieces of the party. Benches and seats either brought over from Temba or crafted from different material are set up around it and once the sun begins to set and the bonfire gets lit along with the many torches set up around the party, the invitation to remain a little longer couldn't be clearer.

There's more to it than just a cozy fire, a pleasant atmosphere and the company of friends. Next to the fire pit sits a small box. In that box, wrapped in plain tissue paper, are what at first glance are little more than lumps of wax. But mixed into this wax are different chemicals and tossing these into the pit will result in the fire burning with different colors or even sparkle. Way to set the mood and linger as the party winds down.

Due to health concerns Jon does not recommend cooking any food over the chemically altered flames, thank you.

Comments

[cannot_flinch]

"It's better to say we do not stay dead," she corrected herself. "When I die, my ghost will resurrect me with the Light. Some Warlocks even study death, dying on purpose."

It was a strange field of study Ikora had only dabbled in when she was a young Guardian.

"But if our ghost is killed we can't be brought back." Ophiuchus couldn't resurrect Cayde. That wasn't how the Light worked. The bond between Guardian and Ghost was another thing Warlocks could study.

[out_of_order]

Cal blinked at that. This was obviously a completely different sort of resurrection than what Merrin could employ with her magick to raise her dead sisters. "So you've experienced death..?"

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. It was difficult to explain the little knot of emotion that had twisted there, a faint thing that could probably be unraveled with some patient easing. He'd lost people and there was no coming back for them. His master's death would always be painful to remember, but he'd finally come to accept it and his own failed responsibilities that had played part in it.

But to die and come back meant a repeated experience. Dying on purpose for its study just seemed...wrong to him, and perhaps that opinion surfaced just a touch in the faint furrowing of his brow then. As Ikora continued, Cal looked towards Ophiuchus. So it all fell upon this ghost in the end. "...and Ghosts can't be brought back?"

[cannot_flinch]

"More than once." Ikora knew the way Guardians viewed death unsettled people even back home where normal humans lived hundreds of years. She was not as casual about it anymore but it was still an aspect of her existence.

She looked towards Ophiuchus who turned his attention away from BD-1 to answer Cal. "No, we can't. When we die our Light returns to the Traveler. No one but the Traveler could bring us back but in its current state it can't do that."

And that was it. Without her Ghost Ikora would die her true death. She was glad he had come with her here. She could do a great deal more to help without the fear of death.

[out_of_order]

In a way he could understand. When those close to you died, you learned from it, if you could. Experiencing it so intimately could either teach you to be more careful or to be reckless, though, and the Jedi valued life.

Glancing at Ophiuchus, Cal found himself frowning, but he nodded. "Kind of like returning to the Force. What's this Traveler, exactly?"

[cannot_flinch]

Ophiuchus projected an image of the Traveler which, unfortunately, looked something like a damaged Death Star just white instead.

"The Traveler is a paracausal being that chose to uplift humanity with the Light. From it, we gained our Golden Age." Ikora had the history memorized. Somewhere in that Golden Age she was born and died, then awoke as a Guardian with no memory of that past life.

"We the collapse happened, the Traveler sacrificed most of its power to keep the Darkness back. It also made the ghosts and tasked them with finding Guardians." Ikora wouldn't get into the gritty details of the history. It was a lot for anyone not familiar with her universe.

[out_of_order]

The Death Star wasn't something that Cal was aware of, still in its early stages of development as it was. While he wasn't sure what to make of the sphere, there was something about it that conveyed a sense of mystery somehow.

Vague as the details provided were, it was enough to follow for the gist of what had happened in Ikora's world. "But it's still there? The Traveler?"

[cannot_flinch]

"It's still there above the Last City." Ikora actually missed its presence in the sky. It seemed so empty to look up and not see it. She hadn't dreamed much either while here. "It isn't as powerful as it once was but its still looking after us. It hasn't abandoned us."

As many feared it would. Some argued that it couldn't. Ikora had faith in the Traveler. That it would stay and help them push back the darkness.

"The Force doesn't have a physical embodiment, correct? It's just an energy in your universe?"

[out_of_order]

Having some kind of symbol to look up to, literally, he could understand that need. The Jedi had been that, at least until everything just went so horribly wrong.

"You could say the Force is embodied in us, and in everything around us. We don't own it, but we're all a part of it, and we just tap into it if we have that extra sensitivity to it." Cal gestured vaguely with his hands. "And when we die, we fully become one with the Force."

[cannot_flinch]

The presence of the Traveler was a reassuring sight but even without it, the Light was always there. She could feel it flowing there here, probably just like he felt the Force.

"When a Guardian dies their true death that's it. We're dead. We don't join the Traveler or the Light." It was death as it was meant to be. Ikora used to fear it but now she could talk about it without flinching away from it.

"I've spent some time in the Temple watching all of you train. The respect you show your power is noticeable."

[out_of_order]

That finality sounded... Cal wasn't really sure. Sad, in a way. "And that's that, then..?" Yet she'd said death was studied because they were able to come back. He'd think that one would still be more cautious about it, being gifted with such an ability, but he could see how being able to come back from death would affect one's mindset.

"I think that goes for any power. The more unknown, the more respect should be given as you come to understand it, or have to deal with or make use of it. Even with the Light you've described, I respect it for what it gives and allows you to do."

[cannot_flinch]

"I haven't seen anything in that bridge between life and death that makes me think there's another side," she said with a simple shrug. If true death was the end that would be fine with her. She could rest. "But there is a Warlock famous for his studies of death who seems to exist between life and death even after he truly died."

Toland was a strange figure among the Warlock order. Admired by some. Feared by others. Misunderstood mostly.

"A healthy way to approach things. Not everyone is so thoughtful." There were Guardians who never wondered about their powers and simply used them.

[out_of_order]

"I've heard that some Jedi still manage to hold on to something of themselves even after becoming one with the Force. I saw my master in something that wasn't quite a vision, but most definitely a test." It hadn't been a pleasant experience, but he knew now that it had been a necessary one.

"There's a lot of things we still don't know about how the Force works, so I'm not sure how to really explain it. But then there are natural places in the galaxy that seem to be particularly steeped in the energy of the Force, where it just seems to flow stronger."

[cannot_flinch]

Ikora wasn't sure she could explain Toland without having to go into a detailed history of the Hive and their structure and Deathsingers. It would be a lot to take in. "Masters can be difficult even when you don't see them for decades."

Or centuries in her case with Osiris.

"There are places where shards of the Traveler fell and they've left behind pools of energy. But mostly it's centered in us Guardians and our ghosts. I think your Force is more far reaching."

[out_of_order]

Had it been entirely his master or had it been somehow twisted by the darkness that seemed to permeate Dathomir? Cal wasn't sure. Maybe something of both, and the inner turmoil of his own guilt mixed in.

"I think it would be more difficult finding a place where the Force wasn't," Cal said with a nod. "The Traveler definitely sounds more localized. Was it always there?" It must be called the Traveler for a reason.

[cannot_flinch]

"The Traveler has always been in the universe as far as we can tell but not always in our galaxy. It helped enlighten many races before coming to the Sol system."

And it abandoned many of them as well. The Fallen were the first to come to mind, but they weren't the only ones. The Travel hadn't abandoned humanity when things were dark but some didn't trust it.

"It's localized but even here in this place to can feel the presence of the Light and I know that's the Traveler." It was a soft whisper but the power, the warmth was still there.

[out_of_order]

What was its purpose? Or was it to enlighten others? Maybe there was more to it, but it seemed like that was one of the mysteries of this particular entity.

"That's interesting..." Cal said quietly. "Well, light does have a way of getting around." He added that with a quirk of a smile.