exsiliumlogs | (open) mission: hit the beach

Entry tags:

(open) mission: hit the beach

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( Collette had managed to get out into the waters to test out a morph she rarely uses, and never in clean ocean waters since her arriva in Exsilium. The bottlenose dolphin feels how this water is different, both warmer and more bouyant than any she's experienced before, but it's nice, that floating feeling, and it's not yet aggravating her skin or irritating her eyes in a way she can't live with.

So she's out twisting and jumping out through the water, enjoying the freedom of movement she had while she had it. The dolphin's natural cheerful spirit paired well with her own; when she spots break, she rolls up underneath him, calling out with a warm and friendly mental hello. )

< Kinda drifting far from shore, Cookie Monster! What were you planning to do once you hit the barrier, use it to help you swim back in? >

( She's a solid presence at his side, fins kept lower than where his body hung in the water by merit of how muc she'd rolled herself to the side. )

[ At first he'd had the presence of mind to listen for sounds from shore, but the relaxation of just floating had distracted him. Now he's far enough out that he can't hear anything at all but the ocean, and he is starting to feel alarmed because does the barrier extend through the water too...

Until there is a voice in his head and he's surprised and he gulps a mouthful of water and he can't breathe and he's thrashing and panicking, grabbing for something, anything to hold onto. This... thing, this fish, whatever it is, he'll throw his arms around it an use it to haul his head out of the water.

Now he coughs and pants until the crisis is over. By the time his breathing returns to normal, his mind has processed the greeting: Cookie Monster ]

Er...

[ It feels odd talking to a fish ]

Are you.......Collette, by any chance?

( A smooth, firm, and very patient fish that wasn't a fish at all, considering the lack of scales and also the wrong taxonomy and everything. Though to someone who was blind, she's not sure it'd matter at all.

Collette had kept herself still and by his side as he flailed, knowing that was a good sign -- drowning is much less of an event, and something much more worrying because it was so calm. Once he has a firm hold on her, she makes sure to carefully roll so that she has breathing access, but no so fast that he can't adjust his grip, or fail to find her dorsal fin. )

< In the flesh! Dolphin flesh, but flesh nonetheless. Sorry, I wasn't trying to startle you! You're just out futher than I'd expect you to be. >

( She doesn't sound terribly sorry, but the sheepishness attached to her upbeat tone mostly carries through in her mental tone. (Tone being tricky when Thought Speak was used anyway.) )

< Want a ride back toward shore? I could beach myself, it's about time for me to get out of the water anyway! >

( She knew this would be hell on her system, but she'd had to go at least once. Just once! She's swum in the Cretaceous Ocean! )

My goodness, that's really quite a trick! When you said you could morph, I had no idea...

[ Now that he's not choking anymore he's got the presence of mind to feel a tad embarrassed about the whole thing, which is about when he realizes... ]

Er, oh dear, I'm touching your... ah...

Edited 2013-07-19 14:34 (UTC)

Fin! Ahhahahahha!

[ He giggles for some time, rubbing and patting the smooth skin of her neck, while still holding on. It's ridiculous and really wonderful, to think she could be free of her chair like this. Everything about this mission has been ridiculous and wonderful... ]

Yes, all right. I'll take a ride if you're offering.

( His laughter makes her laugh, too, bearing stoically with the rubbing and petting like she's learned to over the last year. It serves a purpose, and isn't unpleasant so much as weird. )

< I'm bringing us in fast! I'll slow down close to shore, but let me know when you can touch the bottom. >

( She can maneuver in relatively little water, but at a certain point, she'll be resigned to beaching herself with Break. She might need to anyway. Her time was about up!

She waits for him to have a semblance of a good grip on her fins before kicking off with her flukes, powerful motions shooting them at an exciting speed through the water. She keeps a check on how well Break seems to be doing as they head to shore, slowing down when the swells of the waves are moving them more than she is. It's a less restful motion, and she can't imagine what it feels like blind, other than a little exhilirating. (She sees the positive in the unknown and uncontrolled.) )

< Land, ho! Woah! Is it just me, or are these swells totally getting largerraah! Hold on! >

( Were she swimming incapacitated, she would have dived under the swell she feels coming on from behind. With Break holding on, instead she darts sideways, running along the length as it starts cresting right behind them. )

< Hahahaha! Break! We're body surfing in the Cretaceous! Cowabunga! >

[ Some time later, it will occur to him that he rode Collette and he won't know how to feel. For the moment, he is concentrating on:

1. Holding on for dear life

2. Trying not to swallow all the sea water crashing into his face

3. YAAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!

This last wave in particular sounds like nothing he's ever heard in his life, a deafening roar and it's all around them and how are they going so fast and--

You know what, he is just going to let go of her fin and stand up on her back. She's a big fish after all, and he can totally balance and experience this exhilirating speed without his body acting as a drag on her in the water. She'll be able to go faster and--

This lasts exactly half a second before he falls off. WIPEOUT!

(Several seconds after that, the big wave deposits him unceremoniously on the beach. The only thing hurt is his pride.) ]

( He's bugnuts crazy, and she loves it. Collette can't believe Break's on her back for the few seconds he manages, feeling the weight shift and the sudden balancing throwing her off her own balance. Thus with a degree of hilarity, when Break wipes out, Collette does too, into a sideways roll that gets her tossed and tumbled and washed in to shore, until her fins touch sand and her fluke smashes into a rock.

She lets out a mental yelp and a startled, high pitched squeal, temporarily disorientated after the roll through the incoming waves. )

< Break! Where are you? Are you okay? >

( Now faced with the partly beached whale condundrum, she weighs the time she has before she needs to demorph against the possibility that it just don't matter at all. She can demorph now, into her swimsuit. That's more than good enough!

... Oh. But finding her ATV would be more problematic. This was the right stretch of beach?

Her dolphin's mind screamed about how she had to get back into deeper waters or die whil her internal debate continued, water pulling past her and leaving her temporarily belly-bottomed out on the sand, before the next incoming wave rocks her and she's almost floating. )

[ He can hear that shriek in his mind, in his ears and it's piercing. The wave had worked him over, but it doesn't matter, he doesn't feel it. He's up, he's on his feet, and he's running towards that sound (and catching a toe on a largish pebble and lurching forward and finding his balance again and running). ]

Collette!

[ He nearly stumbles into her, but there she is: that big fish (he knows nothing of sea mammals). Can she breathe? Don't fish need water? River fish do, probably sea fish too. ]

Are you--

Do you need to go back into the sea?

[ He can feel her half-floating. It would be easy enough to push her back in. ]

( The water retreats again, pressing her weight down into the sand. Oh, she can so easily see why this is uncomfortable, what with her instinctual screams to leave leave leave and fight for the water at her back and side with all she has in her.

Good thing those screams are just on the brain she's overriding. Collette can keep them firmly locked down. )

< I kind of need the opposite. Do you think you can get someone to help, um... okay, so if I demorph, do you think you can get anyone to help bring me back up to my ATV? >

( She's worried about him running around when he can't see, and there could be all sorts of dangerous small things around here -- but she conflates some of her worries with his, making it harder to suss out what she needs to worry about for Break's sake and what she'd worry about were he more like her. )

[ Get someone to help.

He's affronted, at first. He doesn't need help, he's the strongest man in Pandora. He could carry her, no problem! He'd been injured that night at the bar, when he'd had to summon Oz's wagon to take her home. But now he's completely healed. He could carry her from one end of the island to the other, and--

But she doesn't trust him. Because he can't see, she fears he'll trip and drop her. Well! He'll just remind her how good his balance is and there's no way he'd ever drop her and--

...

And this is when he remembers - he's no one's white knight, not anymore. Even his own little Sharon has called him out for what he really is: a middle-aged man who thinks he can do everything alone. ]

Of course~!

I can get help, it's no problem! Go on and change back, it'll be fine, 'kaaay?

< Thank you, Break. >

( She sounds honestly grateful, glad he's not going to push himself, glad she doesn't have to keep pushing herself. Collette envisions herself, feeling the demorphing begin with the haphazard way it always does.

Where there'd been a dolphin, now there was a girl in her two piece bathing suit, gasping as the water surprises her with a wave that rides up her back and prompts her into pushing herself up off the ground and twisting over. )

Woah! Oh that's warm!

[ His hand had been resting on the back of the dolphin; as she demorphs, he can feel skin beneath his fingers. Which is when he wonders...

Is she--?

Any lingering resentment he might have had about being required to call for help is gone in an instant, as he puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles, while waving his other arm above his head. ]

Hey! Hey Gilbert, over here!

[ That idiot has been fretting by the beach all day, watching anxiously for Oz, surely he won't fail to see. And if Collette is indeed in the altogether, he won't fail to weep! ]

[Fretting by the beach: check.

Prepared to weep: double check.

Break is right on all accounts as Gilbert sits in the shade near the shore, chin propped up on his knees as he sits and ponders just what sort of effect this trip has left on their home. Had he left the stove on? It's going to be a while, they should have thrown away the food that would rot before leaving. Dust will surely settle, he'll have to end up dusting first. No, wait, rotting food will smell bad, trash can be handled before anything else. Of course they'll need to clean clothes after a week outside in this sand, that might end up being a day long chore all by itself, especially if Oz keeps spending as much time as he has in the sand and--

His attention snaps back to the water as his name is called. Damn it, what does Break need now? He squints and puts a hand over his eyes, focusing his vision on his superior and the person at his feet.

Wait. His feet? Is that really-?!]

C-Collette?!

[Never mind her state of undress, why is she so near the water?! Instantly Gilbert is stumbling to his feet and running at full speed towards the pair. He'll notice the bathing suit in. A second. Comedic timing, etc.]

( Man, she wouldn't have wanted those fingers in her mouth after the places they'd been! Talk about salty substances! The water in the Cretaceous was an experience unto itself.

Collette crab walks herself back toward shore on another incoming wave. )

How'd you know he'd be around?

( She asks as Gilbert runs over. She looks back over her shoulder to call out: )

We're fine, Bertie! We just wiped out!

( Not thinking about where all that sand is going oh ugh why are there no public showers a few hundred million years before humanity was a thing? )

He's always--

[ Urgh, Gilbert was probably keeping an eye on him, too. Idiot. ]

He's always hanging about. Lingering, like a bad smell.

[ Then as Gilbert's frantic footfalls approach, he calls out quickly: ]

Come on Gilbert, don't dawdle. It's rude to keep a lady waiting. She wants a lift, pick her up, chop chop~!

Edited 2013-07-26 02:37 (UTC)

That's not the point here--!

[There is a point here, of course, but as soon as he's close enough to see them properly, he very conveniently forgets it. Because Break is a jerk and Collette is definitely not wearing enough clothing! Why oh why didn't he bring his jacket with him to the beach? Stifling heat be damned!

He hesitates a few steps away from the both of them, unsure of how to...proceed...]

Y...you...you're....?!

[Wait for it.]

WHERE DID YOUR CLOTHES GO?!

[He'll ask about the wheelchair in a second.]

Gilbert! Keep it down, why don't you?

( Now she's blushing, even as she laughs: it's a nervous, near hiccuping sound. )

They're back up by the ATV, I couldn't wear them in the water! They won't morph along with me, you know? Break, you didn't hit your head when we came crashing in, did you?

( Determinedly looking at the blind man now because he's at least not making her feel indecent! )

[ Sorry Collette, Break can't answer you now. He's too busy giggling. ]

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!

[ Naked girl and freaked out subordinate. Best mission ever. Alas, if only he could see... ]

SHUT UP, BREAK!

[But she's right, he should keep his voice down. If her clothes are at the - whatever she just said - that means that they're close. He doesn't see her wheelchair nearby either so it must be there too. The word 'morph' doesn't register either, so the best he can assume is that Break carried her into the water which is so irresponsible he doesn't even know where to begin!

Okay, time to get her back to her clothes and a place to sit, then. Without thinking about it, he unbuttons his shirt and sweeps it off of himself. It's embarrassing to say the least, but it's only for a second until he gets her somewhere safe, and this way he actually pick her up without feeling like both a pervert and a fool. He's surprisingly well toned for someone who spends more time in the kitchen than anywhere else, and there's a long, angry looking scar that crosses from his collarbone across his chest and down his stomach. The chain holding his blood-seal mirror and Pandora emblem that's usually tucked under his shirt is visible as well. Blink and you'll miss it though, because as quick as he can manage, he wraps her up in said shirt and then picks her up like she weighs nothing at all.

His face is still bright red all the while. He might just pass out once she's safe. There's a good chance.]

WhereisitI'lltakeyouthererightnow-!

( With Break giggling, she's super suspicious, but Gilbert's movements have more of her attention because he's suddenly the threat and salvation all in one. She's about to point out he's still being loud, but it seems like a moot point after he doesn't continue past telling Break to shut up.

The love hate here, all that concern, it was almost fascinating. But not quite as fascinating as the glimpse of Gilbert's chest she gets when his shirt is coming off -- Ooh, Mr. Darcy! -- and there's that scar, and that -- what was it?

When she's swept up like she's a feather instead of the not-quite-at-optimal weight girl she is, Collette moves a hand to be the invasive, curious person she is. It's one of her numerous failings, and the cause of her blush fading in favor of wide eyes and a curious cant to her head.

She tries to run her hand over part of Gilbert's scar, toward the strange mirror-thing around his neck. )

Gilbert, what's all this? When did that happen? ( Over the scar. ) Is this that contract thing -- oh! Oh, the ATV! That's up the beach, toward the treeline.

( She nods her head to the left. )

That way.

Edited (fail is ishmael) 2013-07-26 04:35 (UTC)

[ He'd been laughing too hard to hear the sound of Gilbert disrobing over the roar of the ocean, but Collette's questions make it clear-- ]

Oh my goodness!

[ He's up, on his feet, and skipping next to them, flapping his arms up and down as if he were some sort of gangly stork trying to take off. ]

Gilbert, whyyyyyy! How gallant! Sweeping off your shirt to save a lady's modesty--

[ Now he leaves off flapping and lays one hand, fingers splayed, on the small of Gilbert's naked back. ]

--or was it more for your own sake, hmm?

[ Never walk around with your arms full in front of Xerxes Break. ]

Hnnhg--?!

[WHY IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING.

WHY CAN'T THEIR LIVES JUST BE NORMAL.

WHY DOES BREAK HAVE TO - EXIST.

He flinches terribly as she touches his scar, and though he doesn't seem like he's going to drop her, he still hunches his shoulders forward as though he's trying to hide his nakedness from her. Break is already aware of it all, even though he's currently without his sight. He'd had ten years to catalog everything about Gilbert and his ridiculous, awkward body, from his scars and superior height to his painfully embarrassing mannerisms and pathetic expressions. He doesn't need sight to know what's going on.

So the fact that he also touches him just pisses him off even more!]

--EVERYONE BE QUIET AND STOP TOUCHING ME!

[And that's all he's saying as he stomps up towards the ATV. He sounds a little angry, sure, but he's more flustered and mortified than actually pissed off. They can continue this conversation when everyone is clothed and sitting down and just - not in the damned sea.]

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