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[ Winona - Wandering the Beach ]

Winny pulled gently at the sloping sides of her sunhat, squinting despite the shade it offered. A frenzy of activity stretched from the parking lot to the whipped sand, sending her stomach into uneasy knots. She wasn't prepared for this. With the last of her paperwork processed and the Bistro closed for re-flooring, an impromptu trip shore side promised the gentle calm she had been craving throughout the week. Instead she found the familiar stretch of beach packed with a colorful array of characters and their strange, floating companions.

If it weren't for Dr. Kyou's lab advertisements plastered allover the city, particularly the one on Crepe's* glass door, all those glowing, legless beings would have sent her into a fit. She felt no panic. In fact, she was curious.

The sun-baked pavement stung her feet, urging her forward. Short, quick strides carried the petite woman onto the sand, arms crossed tight over her chest as she stole glances and chewed her hesitance. She'd never seen a Raevan before, not in person. Lost in their mythic presence, Winny paid little attention to her path and suddenly found herself overcome by chattering party-goers, a polite grin begging her pardon. Feeling extraordinarily out of her element, Winny scanned the packed sands for a niche to carve.

* Winny's secondary employer, seaside Bistro.

(( Tatiana - In the water - Revontulet & Doucette || Trox - Buffet - Everyone by the buffet / Ren & Doe ))

Tatiana shuddered as a warm breeze lifted her heavy hair and tickled her wings. She smiled large and all but dove into the water like it was home. Absolutely entranced by the salt water streaming through her hair, her hands outstretched and pushing the water away. Her ribbon stretched it's spiral and she felt weightless. It was amazing. Her very first encounter with water and she loved it. But how did she get out of it. The Hamsa stopped, and slowly began to float upwards- finally finding her axis she moved with a little more speed releasing her air and gasping for more. Swimming was hard work.

It was then she noticed the familiar pair moving down the beach. She flung an arm up, spraying water as she moved and glided back towards the sand, smiling large.

"Ren! Ren, the water feels so amazing!" She shouted moving closer to the women. She was drenched, water slicking off her wrists to pool like bangles- orbiting the limb slightly. Her hair sparkled a bit more vibrantly and she grinned as she flapped her wings off. "Doe, you look so huge! Your baby must be bigger!"

No filter.

--

"Help yourself and hydrate! 'scuse me though..."

Troxel grabbed two gatorades from the pile he unloaded and turned to the crew he hadn't interacted with- throwing Justin and Melanie and Ian a large boyish grin that crinkled his face before moving towards Tatiana and Ren.

"It's my other girls!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms out as he walked over- if only accentuating how bad his farmers tan had actually gotten. He was going to burn faster than toast in a fire.

"Revon, you look..." She looked paler than normal and thin.... A slight frown furrowed his brow before he wiped it away with a cheeky grin, "elegant."

He then wrapped Doucette to his chest and squeezed gently, actively pressing both ice cold gatorades into her exposed shoulders and muttered into her hair. "You look stunning too."

(( Ian → Buffet Bar : Justin & Melanie ))

Embarrassingly enough, Ian had found his eyes wandering to the few Raevans that had shown up. From his position at the bar, he could see three: a beautiful girl with long dark hair, another girl with a much cooler but still brilliant palette, and a green male with smaller, webbed wings. The variation in these creatures was breathtaking; he knew vaguely how they worked, with the souls and essences, but... What were these combinations?

When Justin and Melanie spoke again, Ian's hazel eyes snapped back to them and he blushed, feeling foolish and rude. He almost apologized, but surely they would understand? He also didn't want to interrupt them. "Ah, nice. Well I'm glad they found someone to do it, I'll bet their computers are very important." He tried to be funny, but it came out obvious and stupid instead. Oh well. He laughed softly at Justin's little jab at Zeke, whoever that was. Justin seemed nice, and Ian was glad.

"Oh, wow, you're a reporter? That must be such a fun job. You get to see all sorts of cool things, right?" He smiled brightly at Melanie, but his voice was still soft. However, a voice from a ways off made him perk up and turn his eyes toward the parking lot.

(( Caroline → Arriving (Buffet Bar) : Justin and Melanie ))

"Ian!"

Caroline's voice echoed above the soft hum of the waves as she raised her hand above her head, swinging it back and forth to wave at her brother. Unlike Ian, she was dressed for the possibility of swimming: a simple black bikini under an unbuttoned shirt and a pair of cut-off denim shorts. She trotted across the sand with a striped tote bag in toe, full of a few things she could use on the beach. When she finally reached the bar, she grinned brightly at her brother and the other two people, addressing Ian first.

"There you are! I thought you were going to wait for me near your car? So rude," she teased, pinching his arm gently as she pulled a long fire-red braid over her shoulder. As if just remembering that there were others present, she blinked and offered a friendly smile, extending her hand. "Oops, sorry to intrude! I'm Caroline, Ian's sister." She was just as pale as Ian, and she sported the same swath of freckles on her cheeks, but her eyes were a soft icy blue instead of Ian's grassy hazel.

[[Andreas - Parking Lot / Mordekai, Claire, Anita + co]]

Drey had heard about this get together from Johan, so he had come -- and try to piss him off with his brand new pineapple swimtrunks.

But he was here and he couldn't see Johan yet - he did see Mordekai and the fact that Mordekai was in a group did absolutely nothing to his willingness to walk over to him and make a minor nuisance of himself.

"Mordekai, good to see you." And then he turned his attention to the people he didn't know, which was... Everyone but Mordekai, actually.

"I'm Drey," All tanned skin and white grin, an incredible amount of boyish charm for a man into his 30s, he gave them about as much dazzle as he could. "Nice to meet you all."

ex o ex snoof

Rookeries

alpha lyrae

(( Claire, Aaron, Ivy & Misha - Parking Lot --> Anita & co., Duncan, Mordekai, Drey ))

"Sorry about that, the boil and clean-up were just such a hurry that it slipped my mind to ask, but next time, hook me up, I'm all about crawdads." Aaron's stomach gave a little growl at the memory of the dinner, and he laughed to hide his embarrassment. "My stomach agrees." As the newcomer joined the group, he extended his hand and offered a friendly smile. "Aaron Holmes, nice to meet you. This is my wife Claire."

"Hello!" she replied, offering her own hand to Drey, and added with a laugh, "we're both rather new to proceedings too so join the newbie club!" Next to them, Misha barked as something caught his attention on the beach, and his leash pulled taut as he struggled towards the dunes.

"Heel, Misha." Ivy tugged his leash firmly and returned her attention to the conversation with Duncan. At the mention of the farm, a smile touched her features. "Had some delicious produce if I remember correctly. Don't tell me that's your booth, is it?" While she was absorbed, Aaron was checking his phone, shielding the screen against the glare of the sun.

"I think Justin said he might be here. I texted him last week about it when you told me, Claire, so he's around somewhere I'm sure. Let's go find him." She nodded and turned to the group.

"We're going to go find a place to park the chairs. Let's catch up in a few, okay?" Aaron was already taking steps towards the beach and Claire followed with a cheerful wave, but paused when she noticed her mother staying put. "Ma, you coming?"

"Y'all go ahead, I'm gonna talk shop with Duncan here, if he doesn't mind anyway." The older woman laughed and swatted Duncan's arm gently. "I have a feeling you're a fellow garden enthusiast. Gotta swap trade secrets. I take it you're more a produce man if you were with Hartline Farms?" Ivy did not waste time when it came to her passion and flew into questions quickly. It had been too long since she had had a fellow gardener to chat with, other than her neighbor!

((Harrison – Buffet -> Revontulet & Doucette WERD LIMIT? WHAT WERD LIMIT!? | Tatiana—Beach-> Revontulet ))



The aviator hugged a little tighter than the loose familiar embraces he was keen on giving someone with wings but honestly his newly heightened father senses were going off on the aurora. She looked skittish and a slight bit thinner. He wasn’t a doctor, he wasn’t a medic, he didn’t know these things but he was for all intents and purposes a worrier. He always regarded the raevans with a slight stigma of frailty – from his experiences in the jungle to his niche as a guardian [of course it varied with raevan to raeven]. And Revontulet was all iridescence and translucence with a side of petite and tiny wrists, seeing the aurora floating lighter and acting more like a whisper than the forward Frei he knew? It raised a hair.



He rubbed her shoulders when she broke away and gave her a strong and very be-freckled smile as the frei moved to join Tati at the water. He then turned a concerned gaze to Doucette once he released her from the allotted amount of ice-cold-beverage-on-the-back torture time. He unscrewed the cap of the fruit punch one and offered it to Doe before nodding in the direction of Tatiana and Ren.



“This may be crass but is she on her thing? I mean to Raevans have a thing? I am very ill prepared for Tati if they do…” He flustered a bit looking around to make sure no one heard his babbling, “Like—sure no ovaries yet, but hormones and things? Wait. Are you two in a fight?”



He paused to breathe and flushed realizing he had steamrolled the early education teacher’s greeting and small talk. He dropped his pout and gave a wide eyed smile in response before uttering a, confused ‘sorry?’.



“Oh! The Gatorade. Yeah it’s a thing I do. Hydrate or die, right? I’m tellin’ ya. The amount of guys that would go down as a heat casualty while on leave or something was ridiculous- sleeping in the sun is dangerous. Especially for you if you’re taking those vitamins I picked up…”



Then the question of Cam arose and felt a tiny pang of guilt. Giving the man the boot had been a difficult measure but he needed the space for the foreseeable future- what with Tatiana, Guest room for Ren when they stayed over. Makeshift nursery for the baby. To sell not to sell? And three dogs?



“Oh that ********? He’s fine. Had him over for dinner last night,” He cleared his throat and reached into his swim trunks, grabbing out his blackberry and shooting another text to the Cajun ‘where you at?’ while continuing his conversation, “He’ll be around shortly with some sample IPAs for everyone- said he needed to finish something about suppliers for What Ales and will be by after. Hates the beach what with his butthurt feelings about scars and his prosthetic- but I talked him into it. Tatiana misses her uncle- she keeps asking if she can work at the bar once it’s open...”

--



“I can prooomise you,” The hamsa said with a large smile dimpling her cheeks, “It will feel cool, refreshing, tingly and nothing short of amazing.”



Her crimson and bejeweled ribbon hung looser under the weight of moisture, dipping into the lapping waves. Her wings were fully extended to catch the feeling of the warm breeze. Luckily- the pilot had also warned her away from wearing makeup- no embarrassing runs down her cheeks or in her eyes. It was freeing really. The frei stretched her arms out wide to capture as much sun as possible- feeling almost completely in her element. The salt water was just a tad sticky. The frei moved forward, hands outstretched and willing to hold Revon’s but only if the aurora were to initiate. Some people didn’t like water and shocking her by grabbing her hands and pulling her to the water probably wasn’t the best course of action to maintain a strong friendship.



She tilted her head, letting the sopping wet strands of starlit hair slide and stick to her shoulders and wings as she wiggled her red stained fingers. The water droplets around her wrists began a tiny orbit like angles as the drops evaporated and became smaller.



“And I won’t let you float away~” A tad bit less comforting coming from a Frei who had stability issues on solid ground- let alone in the water.

[[Andreas - Parking Lot / Duncan, Mordekai, Damien, Anita, Ivy]]
This was perfect; he was perfectly content to go around and shake hands all damn day, already trying to put all the names to memory. Duncan, Aaron, Claire... Each hand got a shake and the greeting politely returned, but Damien was the one who got a full-out grin and a "Thanks, man.".

"Nice to meet you both," he called after Aaron and Claire as they left, and Cruz (assuming that was his name).

Now that it was quieter and calmer, he was content to focus on the people nearest him.

"I didn't catch your name, sorry," he addressed Anita directly. It had been too busy for him to even have an attempt at catching her minuscule retreat.

ex o ex snoof

Rookeries

alpha lyrae