(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

18th

[whatsupcroc]

( Collette was prepared to be REALLY ANGRY. By which I mean upset and fuming until she laughed off and shrugged off the feeling, because when she heard beach, she knew what else was coming.

No chair, no free movement, and way too tired still to maintain via morph.

But then... a miracle! She was being asked to test a prototype solar powered ATV. Which was interesting, she hadn't known such a thing existed in Exsilium, but that appeared to be part of the problem. They didn't know if it'd actually function!

Oh, but as she figured out the controls and tried not to look too excited, what, with her helmet pulled on (egads, the heat was horrible!) and her hands caressing the handles of her ATV. Okay, what had she been told? What did she remember from like, four years ago? )

Okay, turn the key, then press the button for the ignition...

( The engine purrs, the sound much much softer than she remembers. )

Put the thingy into drive...

( She was so amazingly technical, really! )

Then press forward on the thro--woah!

( Turning the throttle forward a little too much, the ATV lurched forward, then stopped as abruptly when she applied the break. Collette blinks where she sits, then lifts both hands off the ATV in a victory gesture over her head. )

Wahoo! I can drive!

( ... Perhaps preemptively celebrating, but really, come on! )

[velveteened]

( between the noise, her cheer, and the sand thrown in multiple directions by the atv in question, oz has certainly noticed her. he looks up at her with a grin, offering a brief round of applause with the pencil still in one hand. )

Congratulations!

[whatsupcroc]

( She brings her arms back down, turning her head Oz's way and grinning. Adrenaline sent her on a pathway toward a version of reckless abandon that has her making a very characteristic offer, extending a hand in Oz's direction.

Oz. Hey Oz! Come here Oz! )

You! You busy? ( She grins. ) 'Cause this is totally the perfect day for a picnic and a ride!

( She uses her fingers to gesture for him to come on over. Collette is far more excited than she is charming, eyes bright and the tiredness that's clung to her since her illness seeming to fade for a while. Oz can probably tell she's still wasted from the respiratory infection that had killed so many, even after it'd been switched out to a bacterial infection instead of the original virus.

She was doing better, but there was still a decent way to go.

Heck, Oz would win in arm wrestling right now, and that was just wrong! (Even if he was a boy.) )

[velveteened]

You're right, it is!

( it's infectious, the excitement, and anyway it seems more fun to go with her on the - vehicle than just sit around lazily. they're on a beach! in the past! with dinosaurs! but mostly on a beach. so he considers leaving his pencil and notebook behind before picking them both up instead, shaking some sand out of the small book as he shuts it; they may see other interesting things he can draw and look up later, and anyway there's no guarantee they'd still be there when he gets back.

so it's with both in hand that he approaches the atv. )

[whatsupcroc]

Great!

( She grins, turning her torso enough to pat on the seat right behind her. Collette leaves the offer unstated; he had already agreed, so it was little more than an action to show him how this would go. )

We could pick up something from the supplies tent, have a picnic up the beach someplace. You like drawing?

[velveteened]

( he climbs up onto it, pocketing the pencil and balancing the notebook on his lap, holding onto it. )

That sounds fun! ( as for drawing - ) I want to remember what the - ( what were they called again ) - animals look like.

[whatsupcroc]

Dinosaurs!

( She offers with a chirpy excitement. )

Big ones, little ones, flying ones, they're mostly all dinosaurs! Plus bugs, and some mammal like things. Hold on!

( She sets herself in gear and twist the throttle, gently enough to not be terribly jarring -- unless one wasn't used to motorized vehicles at all. Collette steered them slowly through the immediate area, heading toward the supplies tent. )

What do you think? Something easy and simple? Cheese, hard tack, and whatever fruit we've got?

[velveteened]

Dinosaurs!

( he's corrected, letting the unfamiliar word roll off his tongue. it's a bit jarring, the vehicle starting to move, but not so much that he can't recover (yet, at least), holding on as she instructed. )

Cheese and fruit would be good. And bread, if there's extra.

[whatsupcroc]

Bread I don't know about. Maybe crackers?

( She muses out loud, pausing the vehicle to allow peopel to pass by. She starts up again, this time only stopping once they reach the supplies tent. )

I don't think bread does well in humidity! Here, want to see what you can flirt them into giving you?

( She flashes a grin back over her shoulder at Oz. )

[velveteened]

Really?

( he'd never considered that, or what it is that makes things keep well or not. it's always been someone else's area, even now; and more to the point he's never thought about trying to understand it either. at the question, though, he grins. )

Of course! Just wait a minute.

( leaves the notebook carefully perched where he'd been seated, bounding over to the person currently minding the supplies tent. there's a great deal of chatter and laughing, and it's not too long before he comes back looking rather pleased. )

[whatsupcroc]

( She watches him for a while, but the entertainment value in reading expressions and body language is not enough to keep her attention -- not when Oz leaves behind his sketchbook. As he chatters on, she reaches back, idly running a finger along the sketchpad's edge.

Should she?

... Sure, why not? She's curious to see what style of art Oz has, or what he's been drawing. Pulling his sketchpad around to her lap, she settles back and slowly starts flipping through.

He's good, she decides, and he has an interesting sense of shadow and texture. Being no art critic, what registers to her are all the erasures, the redrawn lines, the attention to detail. Such a perfect little drawing, followed by another, and another. The attempt to capture something seen with the eye on paper.

He does a good job. Collette traces the lines of one smaller dinosaur, fascinated. )

People are amazing...

( She glances back up, grinning in return to his grin. )

Somebody made out like a bandit. What's the loot?

[velveteened]

Extras of the fruit and cheese, ( is where he starts, giving the bag a gentle shake. he notices her holding the sketchbook, but opts not to say anything about it just yet. ) And you were right, there were crackers. There's also some kind of juice and taffy.

( he holds out the bag to her and will be sure that she holds it a little separately from his sketchbook before pulling himself up onto the atv and gesturing for both things - he can hold them since she's going to be driving. )

[whatsupcroc]

( She passes them both back when he's on, offering a question: )

Taffy?

( And an observation. )

You're a good artist.

( Before she's igniting the engine and using her hands to manipulate the ATV back into motion. It's always interesting with Oz, for what he does say, or what he doesn't. She doesn't think of it so deliberately most the time. Only in odd moments, or when needing to puzzle him out.

Bah! ) Do you like high places or secluded places more?

[velveteened]

Taffy! I was surprised too.

( he didn't think they'd have a stash of candy with them here, though he's sure break's already found a way to get into it - or will soon. it's on this thought that he accepts both things, balancing to keep both safe - food from spilling, and sketchbook from getting spilled on. he glances up at the back of her head with some surprise at the compliment, the sentiment spilling over into his voice. )

- oh, thank you.

( not the comment he'd been expecting, more of a light quip, than this. )

Secluded places. Though it doesn't matter that much.

[whatsupcroc]

( She hears that surprise, files it away and smiles with the pleasure that comes out of being able to point out something people should know about themselves, but don't seem to, for one reason or another.

Not that it ever seems to linger long with Collette. Oz gives her his preference, and as she navigates out of camp to hit one of the pathways she's created in exploring on her own earlier, she laughs. )

Oz! Should Caesar be worried?

( But it's such a light tease, and she tosses a look and grin back over her shoulder. Double the jest. For one, like Oz ever would. For two, like Caesar ever would! )

I'm going to speed up now! Let me know if I'm going too fast for you!

[velveteened]

( it's exactly for those two reasons - like either really would! - that he shrugs playfully, amused, and winks. )

Maybe it's a good thing for him to worry a little!

( it's less an allusion to how caesar had missed his birthday dinner and more a gentle jab at his attitude in general, something they both know hides a nicer person than he'd ever admit. )

Alright, I will!

[whatsupcroc]

Or worry a little less.

( She quips right back. What they both know, Caesar has to know they know. And if not, then he surely suspects. She was never so upset at him missing his own birthday as she was for him leaving without a word of warning that he might, or that he would.

It's unsettling.

The mood of the area is hot and humid and muggy in a strange way, but she feels more refreshed than she rightly should, taking them in among the muggier trees and following near invisible wheeltracks over crushed vegetation. Slowing down to pick her way down a slope, she speeds up at the far side, cutting a sharp inclining angle to pull over the lip of the hill they'd been faced with. )

Bertie and I had a lovely dinner on the 13th -- ( she says, as means of conversation, followed by a: ) -- duck!

( For the low lying foliage and limbs, not the creature. )

[velveteened]

Did you - ?

( he's looked over at her interestedly, which means he's not looking at their surroundings; when she says duck, he glances around for once - foolish considering their time period - and gets a thwap to the face. luckily, from a small enough branch that it's only his dignity bruised. )

[whatsupcroc]

( Collette bursts out laughing after the fact. )

Oh gosh! Oz, wow, are you okay? I was saying you needed to duck, not talking about Ahiru --

( ... Wait. Wait, was that one of the things she was supposed to keep secret? Uh. )

But yeah, we did! It was great, the food was still warm even after I had everyone over to get details about looking for Caesar, there was even a genetic search going on that was pretty intense and way not helpful considering you guys were over a thousand years in the past!

( If she babbles fast enough it won't matter. Science! The curve of the hill slopes down to freshwater, and she slows down to cross carefully over this relatively shallow, rock-strewn part of the stream. )

[velveteened]

( HIS LIFE IS SO HARD IT'S SUCH A TRAGEDY. )

I'm fine, really -

( he shakes his head, wrinkling his nose at the faceful of FOLIAGE. the mention of ahiru and subsequent babble. )

Collette, I know about Ahiru.

[whatsupcroc]

Oh! Oh, good She makes a cute duck, doesn't she?

( Because that's appropriate conversation! Steering around a fallen tree, Collette loosely follows the creek up river. )

Though what, were you hoping to see her?

( That grin invades her voice. )

[velveteened]

( MILDLY: ) I think of her as 'Ahiru' and not 'duck,' you know.

( wonders if there are ducks in the cretaceous - likely not, but it's not a history he's ever studied. there's a thoughtful pause before he goes on - )

I wonder if every world had a time like this in its past.

[whatsupcroc]

So you do think of her.

( Collette teases, slowing down as they emerge out of the thicker foliage into the relative open area of the bank by the creek. )

I don't know. I like to think there is! Though what it was like, that has to change depending on what world you're on. Maybe your past was like this, too! I mean, you're pretty much from an Earth, aren't you?

( She slows to a stop. The engine hums then dies. Soon after, the sounds of nature take over; the burble and crash of water coming down the falls, the hum and thrum of insect life, and the smaller bustling and swishing of creatures moving through the underbrush.

There's a lack of the birdcalls she associates with nature. It still makes her shiver when she thinks about it -- that the birdlike calls coming through the air come from such different animals.

Everything was so alien while being so familiar. )

[velveteened]

I think so. We call it Earth, and it's not that different from this one.

( it's very different, but he knows she'll follow his meaning - in the basics, in things he wouldn't necessarily think or know how to articulate like earth and air compositions, equivalent gravities, all the unseen things that just translate as the same. more to what he knows, there's familiar or almost familiar flora and fauna, architectural cues that sometimes ping him, and other such things.

he pauses, then carefully gets off after she stops, setting down the bag and notebook and pencil a little distance away, and a shaded bit of clearing that's nearer the water but not muddy. it's with a smile that he comes back and approaches her in preparation of helping her over, as well; and turns when he's close enough, crouching as necessary to be at a reachable level. )

Can you get onto my back?

[crocodilesmiles]

( She watches him come back, intuiting his meaning before he turns around and crouches down -- and she has to laugh, flushing momentarily, because this isn't something she knows how to say thank you for. Normal kids didn't spend a lot of time around her or the friends she mostly ended up making, partly due to access, partly due to the thought that has to go into how she navigates her day to day life. It's dumb, but it's present and real, so having people be thoughtful without it scoring them "nice person" points with an invisible audience is refreshing.

Not like the people she knows here can put this on their transcripts or anything. She shifts, pulling her far leg over the seat and settling down so that she's facing Oz's back entirely for a beat. )

Sure! Just don't slip -- ( she says, voice teasing, as she leans forward and then half pulls, half flops onto his back. )

Hey, Oz, does this make you my valiant steed?

( A grin if he looks at her face at his shoulder, but otherwise carried in her tone of voice. )