(open) mission: hit the beach STRIKES BACK

[initiates]

Here is an overflow log for the July 18th - 24th beach mission! Original log and setting information can be found here, and OOC information can be found here. HARTY PARD.

Edit: A new overflow log!

Comments

open + continuing threads

[onblackwings]

[ Despite the exhaustingly bright sun and disgustingly salty water, Khisanth isn't having a bad time. Honestly, she didn't think Earth had this many animals that she hadn't seen yet. It's fascinating, if she's being generous. She can be found exploring the bounds of their bubble in any number of shapes— something feathery, something frilled, something sleek and furred, and of course, something more attuned to the water than her own freshwater-preferring self. She's searching for larger, more interesting shapes to take (and creatures to eat), but no luck so far.

Still, though, it looks like she won't have to spend any time on this trip in her human form, so at least there's that. ]

( a: in the trees )
[ Sure is a huge variety of birds hanging out near the shore, isn't there? They occasionally steal food, divebomb people, and call like they're laughing as they fly off again. It's always just one at a time, though. And if you look closely enough, that one might blink suddenly into a different kind. Dinosaur birds are weird, man. ]

( b: in the water )
[ She's glimpsed truly large things, swimming out past the shallows, past the confines of their shield, but she's never gotten a close enough look at one of them to turn into it. So she has to content herself with the smaller things, fish, eels, a monstrous turtle, someting with jaws nearly half the size of its body. All in all, it's not so bad. And if you feel something brush against your ankles in the water, well... it's probably just seaweed, right? ]

( c: campfires )
[ Okay, fine, so she'll spend some time as a human. Namely, when she's exhausted herself with all of the shape changing. She'll plunk herself down at any fire, not much caring who's already there, or who thought it was their personal fire. They're sharing it now. ]

Do you have anything to eat?

[ It's sort of like a greeting, anyway. ]

( d: any shape/anything else! )

dick grayson

[onblackwings]

[ The pout, of course, goes completely unnoticed. How can she be bothered to absorb such trivial human reactions? But now she's bored of this shape as well, and there's a growing sense of something like adventure. With one quick buzz of her wings, she becomes a sparrow, launching into the air to flit about his head.

In a light voice this time, half song and half words: ] There isn't anything anywhere. All of the creatures worth finding are outside of our little cage.

OH OK FINE ;;

[pixieboots]

Quit it. [ He waves a hand in the empty space in front of his face and crinkles his nose, as if he might actually swat her away (he won't). ]

Yeah, tell me about it. I can't believe we came all this way and I'm not even gonna get to see a dinosaur.

[onblackwings]

A what?

[ His hand may as well be moving in slow motion, for all the actual threat it is. She perches with her question, landing on his head with no fear, tiny claws gripping hair. ]

Is that one of the creatures around here?

[pixieboots]

Didn't you hear what they said during the briefing? [ He still wants to call it a briefing, even if one of the liaisons posting on the network hardly qualifies. He lifts one shoulder in a small shrug. ]

We're in the Cretaceous period. That means we're so far in the past people aren't even around yet.

[ His head tips up, eyes searching her out even though he can't really catch more than a glimpse with those needlepoint claws tucked into his hair. ] I figured you had to know dinosaurs. That thing you turned into before was almost the same thing.

[onblackwings]

[ She looks around with renewed interest in those beady little eyes. She'd had no idea what she'd turned into, really. ]

Well, you figured wrong. [ She hops lightly down from his head to a nearby branch, feathers poofed out in (somewhat embarrassing) excitement. ] I think I'll go find something larger. I've seen them outside the shield, but never close by.

[pixieboots]

What do you mean larger? [ He's pretty sure he knows exactly what she means, and the thought makes his heart flutter. A dinosaur, a real dinosaur right there. ]

Wait! [ He tries to follow her as gracefully as he can. ] You're saying you saw them? Which ones did you see?

[onblackwings]

How should I know? They weren't nearby, and I didn't recognize them.

[ She flutters a few branches higher, slow enough for him to follow after, and making generally for the top of the canopy. ]

Are you coming?

[pixieboots]

How's that even a question? [ His foot slips and he has to scramble a little to recover. But she's including him - him - and that's already more than he'd really thought to expect. ]

You've gotta show me. I want to know exactly where you were when you saw them. If we see 'em again I can tell you what kind they are.

A

[soul_sister]

[It turns out someone else was watching the lizardlike birds with predatory eyes. Determined to catch one to bring home, Rosette had waited, patiently, OH SO PATIENTLY, by the bait of her breakfast. When the strange, almost unique one flies down to take their meal... she leaps, open hands extended to try to catch her new friend.

TOGETHER WE'RE GONNA STOMP ON THINGS BIRDIE!]

[onblackwings]

[ Well, that's what she gets for going for food that had looked like an obvious trap. Still, though, she'd thought she could be quick enough. sigh.

But either way, if she's actually caught, her captor can discover why Khisanth prefers the birds of this time to the ones in Exsilium-- these come with a beak full of teeth, which will be happy to latch onto anything they can reach. ]

[soul_sister]

[Had it been a real prehistoric lizardbird the heavy leather gloves probably would have been enough. But this one squirmed with a certain canny, toothy intelligence.]

OW! OW! SHIT! HEY! STOP THAT I HAVE FOOD! [Rosette struggles to keep any sort of a hold on it, but there are more than enough openings as she attempts to jerk out of the reach of FANGBEAKS.]

[onblackwings]

[ Oh, and she'll just be taking advantage of one of those openings, thanks. This human is just lucky she hasn't transformed into a bear to swipe her head off yet. She scrambles free, but doesn't escape. Instead she hits the sand, fluffs her feathers with irritation, and glares.

There was food mentioned. She's not leaving without it. ]

[soul_sister]

[She huffs, examining the beaky doom on her ar- ... The bird's still there. She wasn't expecting that.]

... Huh.

[She tilts her head, curious.]

Still here for the food?

[onblackwings]

[ She cocks her head, fixing one beady eye on her. And in a voice that's half screech and half warble, but still rather intelligible: ]

Obviously.

1/2

[soul_sister]

[A talking dinobird.









I must have it.


Feed it.

Love it.

Make it grow big and strong.

So we can stomp on stupid, brother stealing demons together.]

[soul_sister]

You can have half of my rations now, sure.


But if you come home with me, I'll cook for you every night.

[onblackwings]

[ man, if only talking gave her that kind of a deal every time. There's one thing in there she's not quite sure she likes, though... ]

Come home with you, as in to be owned?

[ never has a dino-bird sounded so offended. ]

sherlock holmes

[onblackwings]

[ from here! ]

[ So... maybe that's like... having a hoard. You could call Khisanth a gold keeper, if you wanted to be obtuse. But she can't imagine why someone would feel compelled to keep bugs. ]

Alright. And what do you do with them, once you have them?

[ she'll crack this mystery dammit ]

[deductus]

[He continues to not understand where she's taking this.]

I make sure they remain healthy and occasionally collect honey.

[onblackwings]

[ and she continues to not understand what's wrong with this guy, so they're off to a good start. ]

They'd do that on their own. What good are you, then?

[deductus]

They benefit because I can keep diseases away from them, or isolate the infected before the whole hive is destroyed and I gave them their hive.

The point is less to do with what we can do for each other and more because it pleases me to do this.

C

[governorkang]

Good evening to you, too, Onyx.

[Kang snorts, but he's amused as he leans over to cut off a decent-sized piece of the cooked bird on the spit with his dagger.]

Here.

[onblackwings]

[ Oho, excellent. She reaches over to take it with, as usual, no thanks at all, but the gratitude is somewhere in there. Buried deeply. ]

What is it? [ As if she cares; it's already halfway to her stomach. She's just curious. ]

[governorkang]

[He knows he won't get a thank you.]

Some sort of bird. All that matters is that it tastes good.

[And it does. Like chicken, really. He's managed to get cooked just right too, with blackened skin and juicy insides.]