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

[deal_me_in]

He's actually never been to the caves, now that he thinks about it. This is probably something to be properly rectified with some further exploration...once he finds a certain elf. Joke's on her, Cayde-6 never surrenders!!

While he can't do much for his glowing eyes, he's still surprisingly quiet for someone made of metal. He's also got his Ghost who's able to pick up nearby lifeforms on her radar, which definitely comes in handy when it's dark and there are so many nooks and crannies.

That way? He strokes the trigger of his water gun as he lines himself up for that particular tunnel path. By Sundance's sensors, the elf's close. Gravel crunches subtly underfoot as he gears up for a dash then, aiming to catch her by surprise, one way or another.

[holtfinder]

The sound of the gravel is definitely a tell to someone who has ears like hers. She turns and begins to move, but then she hears something else, skittering further down the tunnel.

"Cayde, we're not alone in here..."

She's not sure how far, how deep, or even what that sound was, but this might not have been the best place to try to play.

[deal_me_in]

The Exo draws himself to a halt, water gun raised, but there's something in Moonshade's tone that keeps him from pulling the trigger. With the stillness that settles between them, he can hear something, but it's just out of Sundance's range.

He lowers his weapon, glancing towards the tunnel. "Huh. Haven't heard these things were occupied..."

[holtfinder]

"Which means the information probably isn't out there. I can Send to Steadypaw, asking him to come back us up, if we want to see what's in there. Or we can back away. Your call."

She's almost eager to go looking, but she's not armed particularly well for this.

[deal_me_in]

"No time like the present," Cayde replies glibly, grinning a bit as he shoves his water gun into his belt. He's got his actual gun if needs be, and knives to spare aside from the one sheathed on his belt. Pulling a knife from his boot, he flips it and offers it to her handle-first.

"Go ahead and dial-a-wolf if you want. Let's have a look since we're here."

[holtfinder]

"You're not getting this back." Of course, a knife sized for him might be nearer to a shortsword for her. Which is fine by her. she tucks it into her belt, and looks toward the mouth of the cave.

If Cayde's sensitive to psychic phenomena, there's definitely one going on here as she reaches out to her wolf's mind in that magic elfish way. And low, about two minutes later, a whole-ass grey-furred slobber-tongued wolf arrives in the cave. And yeah, he's about the perfect size for someone Moonshade's height to ride.

[deal_me_in]

"What is it with people not understanding the concept of borrowing?" he sighs, a bit overdramatically, but there's something to his tone that suggests he doesn't mind providing arms for someone who needs it.

Cayde doesn't seem to sense whatever sort of signal passes from Moonshade supposedly to her wolf, but the resulting is quite clear as they find themselves in the company of a rather large canine. The only time he sees them around back home is in Lord Saladin's company.

"Now that is nifty. All right, shall we?" he suggests, nodding his horned head towards the tunnel.

[holtfinder]

Moonshade doesn't mount the wolf, feeling more confident on foot in this enclosed space. She takes point, moving down the tunnel slowly and carefully. One hand brushes against a layer of webbing along the wall of the tunnel, which she points out to Cayde.

Even as she does so, the part of her brain holding the information granted by the Agriculture data point almost seems to wave a signal-flag, drawing her attention to the web and its potential uses. "Remind me to either find or message Lark about this, later."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde holds a hand out, calling his Ghost to compile in the air above it. "Keep it low-light," he suggests, letting Sundance drift slightly behind him as he starts after Moonshade.

Optics narrow as the elf finds something, and he waves his Ghost over. "That's not what I think it is, is it?" he frowns, reaching our to poke at the webbing.

"I sure hope these aren't the same critters that went wild for nights on end. They caused some havoc in the city a few months back."

[holtfinder]

"I'm not sure if they are or aren't, but the webbing reminds me of preserver silk. I think we might be able to work with it to get cloth." If, of course, the spiders don't get too defensive of their work here. "Or..."

She trails off, frowning slightly. "Does anyone ever get weirded out by the information the data points just dropped into their head? I think I know a recipe for something to keep the spiders from attacking a person."

[deal_me_in]

"Preserver silk? -hang on, you wanna use this for cloth? Won't it be um...sticky?" Spider webs have always been, in his experience, sticky. "Sundance, let us know if anything starts getting close," Cayde tells his Ghost.

"Oh, I'm sure everyone who uses the things gets weirded out by it. That stuff isn't normal unless you're mechanical, hell- still weirds me out and I'm a robot. Which is why I haven't touched the things." He tilts his head. "Sooo these things're aggressive? Well that's nice to know," he says dryly. "How's that work?"

[holtfinder]

"What's a robot?" Moondance has gotten used to not knowing things, and she'd been assuming Cayde was some sort of man in armor all along. It's another case of just not having the relevant experience.

"The webbing can be washed and laid out to sun-dry to prepare it for spinning into thread. It won't be too sticky to use. My people do the same with the 'wrapstuff' that Preservers make, and that's about as sticky. As for the spiders themselves, there's plants in the greenhouse that can be made into a salve to repel them."

[deal_me_in]

She wouldn't be the first. Lark had been convinced of the same. At her inquiry, Cayde thumbs at himself. "All metal here," he says. "Believe it or not, this handsome visage is my actual face."

Washing webs. Huh. Who'da thought? "Interesting. I guess that makes more sense if these are alien spiders. Probably means you don't wanna get caught in that kind of web either, right?" If it's tough enough to use for cloth...

"So, what're we thinking here? See what we're dealing with or head back for now?"

[holtfinder]

Well, that is a distraction from the matter at hand. "You're a man made of metal? Is...some spirit inhabiting you, to make you move or...how does that even work?"

She reaches out toward his arm, but stops before making contact, catching how rude that might be. The potential threat of venomous spider danger is forgotten for a moment, because robutt.

[deal_me_in]

"Heh. Strange as that sounds, it might be closer to the truth now than before," Cayde chuckles. The Light did strange things with Exos. "Otherwise it's all complicated technology. I'm not sure how to explain it even to people used to that sort of thing. I did used to be human though."

He held out his hand, gloved, but she'd be able to feel the difference of the metal hand beneath it as opposed to one of flesh and blood.

[holtfinder]

She lightly examines his hand and forearm by touch, closing her eyes to feel his metallic form. "If someone had described you to me before this, the spirit of a dead human inhabiting a body of armor, I would have been a lot more scared to meet you. But even if you're not slowly-dying flesh like the rest of us mortal creatures, you're clearly a..."

The rest of the sentence is drowned out by Steadypaw (and likely Sundance) sounding an alert that the spiders are approaching, and not happy.

[deal_me_in]

Would she feel better knowing he's actually been brought back from the dead? They'll have to talk more later. Cayde lifts his head as Sundance voices a simple but firm, "They're coming," along with Steadypaw's warning.

"Right. Sooo. Best we make sure these things not crash the party. I'd hate to spoil everyone's day." He's already blundered into one too many bug nests that resulted in worse.

[holtfinder]

Moonshade draws the knife he brought her, standing at the ready. Memories of other battles she's braced herself for come to mind, some even in cave systems not entirely unlike this. Trolls, the Gliders of Blue Mountain, she's faced them all as bravely as any warrior.

"Steadypaw and I ought to avoid being bitten. But if we are, it likely won't kill us, unless it's a lot of bites at once."

The chittering and skittering of too many legs comes nearer, the sound echoing down the tunnels as the spiders make their proper appearance, chelicerae opening and closing, fangs dripping with venom.

[deal_me_in]

Asking her to stay behind him is probably out of the question, maybe even offensive. He knows he'd be a little miffed if someone suggested that of him.

"I'll help cover you- but if you need to fall back, I'll be the wall," Cayde offers instead. "At least they won't be getting any easy bites on me." He's no Titan, but he's handled plenty of oversized bugs here.

His hand falls upon the grip of his trusty hand cannon, hesitating before slipping across him instead to unsheathe his Hunter's knife, which from pommel to tip was nearly as long as his forearm. He loves his Ace of Spades, but it is not a subtle gun, and if making less noise keeps them from being overwhelmed by spiders, then he'll deal. "We thin 'em out until they figure we're not worth the trouble, then we can slip on out."

He gives the blade a lazy spin so he can grip it in reverse, and he gives Sundance an up-nod, the Ghost vanishing in a brief glimmer of light. As soon as the first of the spiders come within visual range, he moves, blade lashing out at the foremost ones.

[holtfinder]

As he leaps into action, so do Moonshade and Steadypaw. The pair are used to hunting together, him distracting so she can strike and vice versa. The spiders may have numbers (both in their quantity and their legs), but they're not particularly smart or coordinated, as often getting in one another's way as managing to flank their foes. There's a moment when a spider almost gets in behind Moonshade, but she manages to kick it off in Cayde's direction, calling out to him. "Got that one?"

The fight continues, with Moonshade striking at torsos while the wolf tears legs off the annoying arthropods. She isn't afraid to get blood on herself, about as ruthless as anything that hunts.

[deal_me_in]

The Exo swings back with his knife before he's even turned to look, his blade catching the spider's flailing legs. He spins about and plunges the blade down into its body, flashing Moonshade a thumbs-up before adding, "Got it!" in case she wasn't sure what the gesture meant.

A spider leaps at him, fangs bared, and Cayde pulls out his water gun, spritzing it right in its mouth, which sends it reeling back, flailing in startled confusion. Enough time for him to move in to dispatch it. Between the three of them they work pretty efficiently at clearing out the critters. As another skitters in towards the elf, the Exo twists, flinging his knife into it before it can launch itself at her. He's quick to retrieve it, punting the body at another pair to slow them down so their wolf friend can move in for the kill.

[holtfinder]

The wolf is a proper wild beast, accepting the help to go in against those two, Moonshade close behind so it's two-on-two. A fairer fight, in theory. In practice, the spiders don't know what hit them.

Once there's a pile of bodies and not even one chitinous leg left twitching, Moonshade turns to Cayde. "Gather all the webbing you can on the way out, and let's get back to the beach. I can start the washing and preparing process for the silk in the ocean. Salt won't hurt it, might even neutralize the stickiness some."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde wipes off his knife, sliding it into its sheath. They'd made quick work of the spiders, and he's rather pleased by the performance.

He does make a slight face at the thought of having to grab webs, but they may as well make the most of their work here. "All right," he nods, studying the flanking walls of the tunnel before setting to work, and not without making a few noises in complaint. Grosssss.

[holtfinder]

"You're covered in spider guts, but squeamish about their webbing? That's sort of precious." Moonshade takes as much as she can gather as well, setting a bundle atop Steadypaw's back. "We'll all need to wash up, after this."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo scowls. "At least you don't get tangled up in guts," he mutters, shaking out a hand as he tries to extract it from the ball of webs he's collected from the wall.

"Guess my gear's due for a scrubbing anyway."