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It was finally summer and Derrick had finally found some time that he could take off work to just enjoy the warm weather. Luckily Key had been able to join him and they had suggested going out to the resevoir that had opened in the past year. They had packed what they needed for a nice day out, hoping that it wouldn't be too crowded or that they could at least find a quiet spot to enjoy each other's company outside.

Unfortunately no one had told Derrick of the squeakiness of sand and not only did he wonder what the **** the sand was made of, but could feel his eye twitching almost immediately as soon as they had to start walking on it. He turned to Key, moving the strap of the cooler that he was carrying and adjusting it on his shoulder a bit. "I don't know about you, but it might be better to find somewhere that doesn't make so much noise while walking and makes you think you're walking on balloons." He grunted out, trying not to feel like he needed to punch the sand to make it be quiet.

Derrick took a deep breath and let it out. He knew that he shouldn't be getting so angry at things like this. How anyone could stand this sand though, they must have been deaf or something. "I wonder if they couldn't just get rid of most of the sand and replace it." He said after he heard the stranger's comment. "It is a man-made reservoir right? Where the heck did they get squeaking sand from?"

Someone screwed up, but with the amount of people that still continued to come... maybe one just got used to the sound? "That sounds like a good idea though. I think I see a spot on the other side, and not too many people around." He wasn't sure if it was in the shade, or because it wasn't on the beach, but there was a spot some yards away that he thought might be good for the two of them.

"Not sure about some strange monster though. Unless it's a Youma, but I don't believe there have been any reports of the creature doing anything other than what the Loch Ness monster does, which is swim around." He didn't really believe them. Unless people were missing around the reservoir, which he hadn't heard anything about, then it was probably something fake. Sure, magic was a thing, but the only "monsters" he knew of were Youma and if it wasn't attacking people, it was probably just some lost inflatable or something.

"Maybe they don't care about it or already know it's there. Wonder if we shouldn't come here sometime later ourselves to check it out." Going on patrol near the reservoir wouldn't be bad, but he did wonder how his powers would work in a body of water. The reminder that Knights and Senshi barely got together to investigate or discuss things... annoyed him and he could feel it rising up again.

Well, the constant squeak, squeal, squeak while he was walking didn't help anything either.

He let out another sigh instead of a curse. "Yeah, agree with you there. As much as I like the peace, it always feels like there's something on the horizon that's going to somehow catch us off guard." He hated when that happened, and it did too often. And it was such weird stuff that he often wondered if he had just dreamed it.

They eventually made their way over and Derrick carefully placed the cooler on the ground, glad that the shade was doing something to shield them from the heat. There were spots where the sun was coming through the leaves but he didn't mind. "If it was another day or time, I would say that this was a pretty good place to have a romantic picnic." He looked at what they had with them. "I mean, without all of the people around here. We already have what we need, but it would nice to come back here at night with some wine or something and just watch the stars." They would need a blanket or something though. He did not want to have to worry about bugs crawling all over him. He turned to grin at Key. "You know, for investigation purposes."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be surprising." It was a wonder that they had managed to keep the city without getting taken over by the Negaverse yet when they couldn't even communicate if they had checked something out or not. Sometimes Duncan wondered if it was just by luck they hadn't been taken over yet. Something was keeping the Negaverse at bay, and he had a feeling that something else might be doing it.

Still, that just meant that they had to work harder at all of this. "Which sucks, but it makes you wonder. Not sure if the Negaverse feels like they'll have a larger pool of victims to drain from, or if they're on the same schedule as us and also have their own lives they have to deal with." He couldn't really tell if that was a good or bad thing, but it did mean that unless one were to take a vacation on a non-holiday, they would never really get any days off of fighting. Not that they could now, but often when he patrolled he found nothing most of the time, which made him wonder if it was because he was now an Eternal, or there just weren't that many.

He chuckled. "We can do the investigation first. Then if we don't find anything, we can have the dinner. That way we won't have to worry about anything." It sounded like a plan, and one they had been wanting to do for a while. "Whenever we can go out to patrol next, we should come here on that night then." That way they would have a place to patrol and could try to find if there was really anything going on. "For now though, I think we should try to enjoy being here during the day, even if it's crowded as heck." He almost started whispering the last part, hearing another squeak and having to keep himself from throwing something at the horrible sound.

"It also means we potentially interact with them on a daily basis in some cases, and have no idea who's out there hurting others." He slightly mumbled what he was saying, but it annoyed him to no end. It wasn't unexpected though and Key was right. He shook his head. "I'd assume you are correct. And I agree with you on our part. We shouldn't be waiting for them to make a move." Too many times that had happened, too many strange things had gone on around the city. And he had been unable to tell if it was the Negaverse's fault or something else.

Considering however, that he could have sworn he had seen Agents fall victim to other Agents schemes, he wondered if they communicated at all, or if others caught in the "crossfire" were just seen as disposable.

Not a pleasant thought.

Getting back into the conversation he realized that Key was talking about the reservoir monster. "I can't believe you nicknamed it already." He chuckled. Sure, they had to call it something, but it was a bit funny.

"The sand." He grumbled, being reminded of the evilness once again. He was pretty sure the Negaverse was evil, but the sand was torture and assaulted everyone in the immediate area. "Let's just... try to pretend it doesn't exist. You want something to drink?" He looked at her. "Want to talk about something else instead? Anything you need to tell me?" He said, giving her a sly smile. He truly was interested in her life and didn't expect any huge news. "Though if it's the same as always that's okay too. Been that way for me at least."

"Makes you wonder if work would be more interesting if we knew." Perhaps there would be battles in the office? Of course, it was much more deadly and dangerous than he would have wanted, but if it was less of either of the two, he could imagine a typical day in the office where everyone was working and suddenly a fight broke out with no one batting an eye. It made him laugh thinking about it.

When he finally calmed down and had told her what he had thought so she wasn't left in the dark he sighed and replied, "Yeah. I wonder if we couldn't make our own group? Or at least encourage more gathering and information sharing. The database that we have is fine and all, but I feel that some are more active than others and would be willing to do more if they knew that there were others like them and they could work together." He wasn't sure how they could make it, but he didn't think it would be impossible at least.

He chuckled a little when she puffed her cheeks and couldn't help but think she looked adorable. "Nothing is wrong with it, but it does make it sound kind of cute." I mean, if one were to have named Godzilla "Spike", he didn't think anyone would take that seriously until it was too late.

"I understand. I have been myself as well." It was hard to get motivated when you felt so alone in doing so. It was like being in an army except you barely knew who any of your comrades were and then barely had any information on the enemy as well. They might as well be playing battleship, except there were even less clues than in that game!

"Sounds different, in a good way. I would love to try them." It would give them new ideas on what they could make later and he did want to try new wines. Not enough to get drunk on them, but he wanted to be able to taste the difference between them. And besides, it was always a good excuse to eat some gourmet cheese as well. "Do the wine boxes come with suggested cheese boxes?"

"It would be something though wouldn't it." He said, smiling faintly. He noticed that she turned to him and gave her a questioning eyebrow raise. But when she explained he couldn't help but let out a sigh. "I know. Honestly maybe no one would respond. But... that doesn't mean we couldn't try. Keep the line open, add it to the database, and others can join it if they want and maybe eventually either we or someone else will be able to gather enough people." It was a dream, but he was sure that if they really only could work together that something could be done about the Negaverse.

"I know when there's an event people answer the call, but it feels like we should be more organized at least. Or maybe start a chatroom using the Mauvians' help. Then we could at least chat with each other if we weren't seeing others." At least something would be better than nothing.

He moved closer to her. "Yeah, sounds good. I'd like to try both of those. It could be a fun night we do once a month or more. Have some cheesy-wine, or winey-cheese." He said chuckling.

"I'd also like to try more. I know we have a variety of restaurants here, but that's not good for the wallet and if we made everything at home, it's not quite a variety. So if you have any you specifically want to try go for it." As long as none of it was liver.

None.

He watched a cloud go buy for a moment, just enjoying the peace an-SQUEAK! he almost jumped when he heard it again and cursed in his head. "Seriously..." He muttered. He couldn't even enjoy a quiet moment with Key here!

"Yeah, we'll have to see if we can send a message out to as many as possible. The more the better, though I understand if others don't want to risk their lives just to help me with my own Homeworld problems." It hurt a bit to think about it, that no one would want to help even though they were all supposed to be in this together. "We'll have to think about it later though."

The snack boxes sounded good though, but the beach was starting to really get on his nerves. "I bet." He said with a chagrined look on his face. "The boxes sound good, but honestly, I think we should move somewhere else less... squeaky." He said, starting to gather their things and before he snapped and started punching the squeaky sand or something. Or leaving anyway. He just wanted to get away from it at this point. "I think I know of a hill that has a really nice view and no squeaking. And privacy." He said with a little laugh as he helped Key to gather her things as well. Just as long as they got away from the squeaking!