(open) mission: hit the beach

[aithinkthereforeaiam]

Date & Time: July 18th-24th, Exsilium Time
Location: Sea Shore during the Late Cretaceous Period
Characters: All! Oh those pesky mandatory missions.
Summary: In lieu of the success of the space shuttle's test flight, all of the Transports have been sent back to the Cretaceous period to gather mineral supplies and volcanic rock, while doubling as a sort of 'vacation' and chance to get Transports out of the Initiative's hair. With well stocked supplies, camping gear, and more burlap sacks than anyone could possibly ever use, the Transports have been set under a protective dome and told to collect what they can... and to enjoy the sunshine.
Warnings: Shenanigans!

The overflow log can be found HERE!

It's almost surreal, the quality of color, of light, of oxygen saturation in the air once people arrive. It's so rich that the Initiative sent people back with respirators, to help ease the transition, and warned those who would listen about the effects of too much oxygen on a system.

What they don't warn for is the sheer alien familiarity of the landscape, the warmth, the roughness of the sand on the beaches. This is not the fine, sandy beaches out of vacation dreams, but a rougher, larger granule sort, with shells that might be recognizeable as ancestors to ones those from Earth would remember washing up on familiar beaches, millions of years later.

Most striking is the lack of abundant wildlife found among the fronds and leaves and foliage, or underneath the surface of the saltier, much warmer waters extending off the beach. While acting as a permeable membrane to oxygen and water, along with the sorts of phytoplankton that kept sea creatures alive, all the larger animals had been pushed out by the Initiative's installment of the safety dome. Along the transparent walls, curious creatures would come close, peer in, tap against the barrier and run off if frightened, but very few were found inside at any size larger than that of a house cat. It was for the better in the long run.

Too bad that the Initiative didn't have ultra-violet blocking technology in their shielding. For all the atmosphere is in much better shape millions of years in the past, the sun is as strong as ever, and the unwary will be burned through and through if they're not careful.

Comments

kyouko | open!!

[invocation]

[Everything was so bright. Kyouko's eye had mostly healed, but it was still sensitive, and she had to keep her head lowered for a while as her vision adjusted.

She's tense, and irritable (per usual. collecting stones? screw that), but even she's outright fascinated by the creatures she can see past the barrier, and presses close as she can to it to watch.

She does that for a while, but eventually she wanders out a bit more, heading toward the beach. She is definitely not going anywhere near the water, of course. Who knew what kind of freaky man eating creature was lurking in there?

Also, she can't swim. Someone (Madoka's) at least gotten her to wear a swimsuit, however.]

(ooc: people can either find Kyouko pressing her face to the barrier like an overexcited kid at a zoo, or poking her feet in the most shallow ends of the water like a huge wuss.

other places she can be located: near camp sites...probably eating something. feel free to find her in any of these places!)

[limitstorm]

[ dun-nun.

dun-nun. dun-na-dun-na-dun-na--

riku has been swimming for quite a while now. he takes to swimming like a fish to water; and understandably so, with being raised on a set of small islands. when he sees a few feet poking in, he doesn't actually know who it is--but he kicks his feet, propelling himself upward until he breaks through the water, gnashing his teeth. ]

[invocation]

[Kyouko's dislike (and mild fear) of both water and whatever weird water monsters lurked beneath it makes her jumpy enough to outright shriek when Riku comes barreling out of the water.

Her immediate instinct is, hilariously enough, to pitch a seashell at his head. Then she relaxes, figures out who it is —]

Hey! What the hell didja do that for?!

[—and throws another seashell at him, for good measure.]

[limitstorm]

[ the first seashell just bounces off, and he raises his hand with a wince to the crown of his head.

he tries to avoid the second one, laughing, but it hits him flat on the face. he snorts, getting up, hands on his hips. ]

I didn't know it was you, but you sure are jumpy.

[invocation]

[She crosses her arms and huffs.] I'm not jumpy. You just came outta nowhere!

[She gives the water a suspicious look.] I bet there's some kinda giant shark in there. [Not that she was afraid of sharks, of course. Or water.]

[limitstorm]

Are you afraid of sharks?

[ this is him, striding over to loom and lean over, hands on his hips. ]

You do know there's a shield keeping us safe, right?

[invocation]

Tch! Yeah, right. [It doesn't seem possible for Kyouko's scowl to deepen, but it does.]

And duh. I know that. [Idly, she draws patterns in the sand with her fingertip.] It's not like we've gotta go in the water for this dumb mission anyway. What's the big deal if I don't want to go in?

[How could anyone stand it, she wondered. The ocean was too vast, too dark and formless. And this Earth had none of the familiarity of the one they'd left.

She wasn't afraid of it. She just didn't want to be near it.]

[limitstorm]

If you don't, that's fine with me. I'm just making sure it's not 'cause you're scared something's gonna eat you.

[ his expression gets a little softer. ]

I haven't swam in a long time, though. Feels good to do it again.

You're just sitting and tanning?

[invocation]

moved!

[caligulas_aquarium]

[He doesn't recognize Kyouko considering their only interaction had been through text(and their little run in during the ball at Christmas a while back was too long ago for him to remember her), but despite that her wariness of the water is very apparent. He walks over to her from behind, stops right beside her and idly kicks forward through the water; it's not directly aimed at her, but she could still be splashed a little.]

What, you afraid of a little water or somethin'?

[Though he hasn't actually changed out of his usual attire for the occasion, he's at least capeless, though it's spot on his back has been replaced with a pair of wings courtesy of the initiative.]

[invocation]

Oi! Watch where you're going! [She raises her arm to block the water when Eridan splashes her way, but she's only partway successful, and gives him a withering look.]

I just got no interest in it. [She notes the wings, but makes no comment, just yet.]

[caligulas_aquarium]

Yeah, none a' you humans seem to, as a matter of fact.

Probably that attitude that lead to how it is back on future Earth.

[invocation]

That dump isn't like any Earth I've seen.

[She's not particularly defensive over it — her attachment to her Earth and Exsilium's mostly correlates to the people, not the environment.

A shrug of her shoulders.] I bet your world's so great, huh? Gimme a break.

[caligulas_aquarium]

Yeah, it was actually - heaps better than that shithole of an Earth.

[He really doesn't care that much about the ocean, he just feels like he should.

SEADWELLERS.]

If you all don't wise up yours is probably gonna end up the same way.

[invocation]

moved here!

[galactically]

[Sheryl is the middle of her stroll, dressed in a two-piece bikini with a sunhat shielding her eyes from the sun. She seems rather calm and carefree, smiling warmly at the sights before her — the sun, the sand despite how thick and coarse the grains feel against the soles of her feet, and the ocean. It's right when she approaches the edge where the tides slowly begin to ebb that she recognizes Kyouko dipping her feet a little.

Letting out a giggle, she approaches the girl with a hand on her hip.]

Is this your first time at the beach?

[invocation]

No. [She grumbles this out — it's just shy of being petulant. What was so wrong with sitting on a beach, she wondered. People acting like she was some kind of weirdo for not wanting to jump in mutant dinosaur-shark infested waters...

Just because everyone else was crazy didn't mean she was, no sir.

She glances up at Sheryl briefly, and then returns to glaring out at the water, resting a hand against her chin.] Of course I've been to one. I just don't wanna hop in this weird ocean. Nobody knows what's in it, but they're acting like it's a normal beach.

[galactically]

(OOC: continued here!)