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[[Paintball >> Stalking Prajna and Varun (Rivener) // Drinks Booth (Aphismet) <Yuurei>>]]

Rivener gasped in shock as an orange pellet smacked him in the chest. The red-hued gaze widened and snapped over to Varun, the Leviathan's gun raised and pointed at Rivener still... What the fu- Riv thought, interrupted by another stinging smack on his chest, this time of the more proper green color. Ruby eyes flicked over to Ebony, finding the woman grinning at him.

The Scorpion was frustrated already, and the two subsequent hits made his temper flare brightly and furiously. Fangs bared, crimson gaze narrowing to thin fiery slits, Riv spread his wings wide and all but trembled with the need to sting someone. Droplets of venom seeped out and harmlessly absorbed into the sand below Riv's angrily pulsing rune.

It took more than a few moments for Rivener to calm down, his hands gripping and twisting at the rifle so hard that some of the screws gave creaks of protest. Don't poison anyone, he told himself, calmly and rationally bringing himself down. No more poisoning, remember? Don't attack Ebony. And Varun and Prajna are Raevans, no harming Raevans, remember? Just calm down, breathe.

...Man, if there was ever a moment he wished he had Zul at his side, it was now. One purring hug from the Demon would have settled him instantly.

Although Rivener's temper wouldn't abate completely, he found the murderous urge leaving him eventually. Growling, teeth still bared, Riv zipped off the playing field to return his rifle now that he had no bullets left. He couldn't believe he'd only gotten two shots in, wasting all his time on Prajna... And those two needed to learn a lesson anyway. Riv had no real knowledge what the lesson needed to BE, really, but his pride just demanded he teach them SOME kind of lesson. He stalked off to find them, figuring that a pair of bright-red-haired half-bodies would be easy to spot.

Yuurei asked to be kept updated on Rivener's well-being, and Aphi smiled sympathetically. It was sweet of the blonde to ask, and it was sweeter still that she dropped the topic soon after. Both of them were unsure where the line lay in that conversation, so it was best they moved on to less sore topics.

Aphismet chuckled as he reached into the cooler, pulling our a pair of vegetable kabobs. Yuurei's reasoning for not asking for a burger, while considerate, was far from bothering Aphi: as expected, he offered the obligatory question: "You're sure you don't want a burger? I don't mind, you know!" But even as he said it, he'd put the kabobs on the grill. The sizzling sound was like an instant appetizer for the chef, and he was damned glad he'd chosen to cook one of the kabobs for himself as well. "If you change your mind just let me know!" he concluded, picking up the tongs so he could keep an eye on the food.

Vegetables took no time at all, and soon Aphismet was handing Yuurei her requested item on a thick, festively-colored napkin. The chef had his own, waiting for Yuurei to take the first taste...

[[ Paintball! TEAM MANGO!
Shot [4/6] [2: Hit| 2:Missed]
Aiming at: (hopping on the bandwagon in the shootout for: PRAJNA HIT!!! IN THE NAME OF RIVENER AND BROMANCE >8U ]]

The heat of the game was suddenly wearing down as the teams, seemingly all at once, began to run out of their bullets. Raevans, with guns no longer producing balls with which to pelt their temporary enemies, somberly (or angrily) drifted and ducked their way back to the Popsicle stand to relinquish their weapons rendered useless now that they were out of ammo.

Except for Eiry.

Who was still tucked behind his dune, quite out of sight and waiting for the exact moment he needed to take out his weapon and fire his precious few pellets of anti-cucumber goodness. for some time he had lain like that, against the sand and pressed down as flat as he could possibly muster, keeping his eyes on the swell and tide of the game. For some moments, it seemed like the other team was winning, especially with a smokey looking raevan with red hair parading about and harassing his brother, before the tide of the game seemed to switch again in their favor.

Narrowing his blood-red gaze, and feeling the tenseness of adrenaline rise up through his entire body like goosebumps at the end of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", Eiry felt a large white grin spread on to his cheeks. His brother was livid, he could see, belligerent in all the ways that Eiry could tell: wings swollen, twitching, and fists clenched tight, his face a dark brooding mess of paint and sand. And the source of that frustration and anger was the red-haired raevan, of...whose gender, Eiry couldn't rightly distinguish at his distance (not like it would help). No matter the circumstances, however, that raevan was the target of Rivener's odious rage.

And Eiry would avenge his brother.

Lifting up out of the sand like a ghoul of the marsh, Eiry skulked his way down the dune in a straight bull charge towards Prajna, his weapon lifting up and tucking against his shoulder. His eyes were keen, and knew exactly where it and another raevan Eiry had yet to meet hid in the sands, so were the fruits of his watchful labor. He leaned his cheek upon the gun, his eye following along the sight-line, and, as everything came into focus, Eiry released a terrible guttural chuckle as he rose above their hiding place that, with the squeezing of the trigger, erupted into a very loud, and very appropriate (at least for Eiry), "How now? A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!"

PAP!

Another clean shot against the forehead of Prajna, skewing up its bangs and splattering the wonderful color of slightly pastel red all over the offending face. Laughing aloud, Eiry gave a loud hoot of joy, "A hit! A very palpable hit! My brother, the name of Eiry shall be shouted on all tongues, for he has returned the bile hate against the enemy!"

[[ Paintball! TEAM MANGO!
Shot [6/6] [2: Hit| 4:Missed]
Aiming at: NOTHING. Missed! ]]

As soon as he caught the attention of his brother, Eiry had considered his job well done. While he had one paintball left, two paint balls less than he thought he should have had, the wispy frei thought that he had done extraordinarily good for being a bookworm himself. He had hit 2 individuals, one of them being a good friend and the other one being a stranger frei that had been aggravating his brother, so, all in all (even if his success rate was a sorry 33.3%) Eirdirsceol considered himself quite the successful Shakespearean Sniper. After all, he had hit the people that counted, and each on the forehead as it were! As for his other shots, they were complete and total fails in terms of accuracy, but Eiry didn't let it bother him. He was content in his play of the game, and happier still that he had gotten shots in at all!

He wanted to share this exciting revelry with his guardian. Turning his back to Varun and Prajna, Eiry waved his gun at him to get his attention. It was no use, for the unhappy boy with the too-thin legs was already quite deep into sleep where he lay on the beach undisturbed and far away from the paintball grounds. Giving a shout which was not heard, Eiry pursed his lips into a frown, his excitement momentarily blemished by the fact that Isi couldn't hear him. Settling his gun against his shoulder once more and tucking his wings tight to his back, Eiry aimed and fired his last shot at the sleeping boy, hoping to wake up. He didn't quite hit the lad, but he didn't quite miss him either. The shot exploded against the sand near his ear, splattering little drops of watermelon over Isi's face. Eiry watched with explosive mirth as Isi kicked his legs and jumped up into a sitting position, his hands smacking at the paint on his face. The call was almost automatic.

"EIRDIRSCEOL!" Isi howled. Snapping his eyes towards the tell-tale green of his sigel, he let his smoldering gaze rest upon him in hopes of perhaps burning a hole through his clothes.

"Yes, it is I!" Eiry happily bellowed, waving his gun again after dispelling his last shot, "Valiant am I in the field of war, my bullets are only for the crowns of others! Defender of the nameless stained steel and the brother of mine whom I call Rivener!"

The call replied in irritated exasperation, "Eiry, I don't know what the ******** you're talking about. If you're done, go return your weapon and get ready for the next game. Leave me alone! I'm trying to enjoy the beach." And with a long string of mumbled curses and explicative, Isi moved himself a bit farther away from the paintball splatter and settled himself down once more for sleep.

Content again once more (which wasn't a hard thing to accomplish for Eiry), he turned his back to his guardian and faced once again his final target, its companion, and Rivener.

"Sweets to the sweet, farewell," he said with a flourish and a bow, and when he raised up again, he turned his eyes towards the popsicle booth, intending to meander and relinquish his weapon.

((Delia=Popsicle Booth // Ebs -> Popsicle Booth -> Petting Zoo))

In that single moment of friendly embrace, Delia felt her emotions sky rocket ten fold as her heart gave a flurried flutter of happiness. So much so that the girl couldn’t contain it and had to giggle. It seemed this was something she would need to get use to whenever in close proximity of the eagle. Although, the snake had to admit, it wasn’t so bad a feeling when the emotion was positive.

“I have more at home.” Suddenly the Frei’s face lit up with excitement. “Hey I know! You should come over sometime! Then I can show you my room and my violin.” Her emotions dipped for a brief moment at the voicing of her instrument of choice. Even though Cordelia was still very much interested in the string and thus practicing, little progress had been made in getting back that bit of inspirational bliss she’d had the day she met Pasha. Another thought flickered to mind, causing a sly sort of smile to grace the serpent’s lips. The muse was around here somewhere, Delia had seen, so maybe if she found her again later she could find that fluid melody once more.

Gently coaxed from her reverie, Cordelia blinked at the little bit of metal in her hands. Slowly she examined it and watched how it sparkled and shone even in the slightly cloud covered sun. For a moment the shine of it seemed to remind the basilisk of something and yet as soon as the familiarity had come, soon it was gone. Hmm, perhaps it wasn’t anything then.

Smiling broadly, for Delia loved presents most especially shiny baubles such as this goldfish, the smoke colored girl gave her feathery friend another quick hug. “Thank you Dayo! It’s so pretty!” Another tiny chuckle of joy escaped her before she pulled away and pushed back her black sweep of bangs and clip them with the pin so that now her whole face was uncovered for the world to see. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful.” Came the sudden British tones of the basilisk’s guardian. Having seen that the whole of the paintball war was finally winding down, what with people starting to return their guns and much less paint flying through the air, Ebony had seen it as her chance to return as well. Gently placing the empty gun on the counter, “Ekundayo my dear, I apologize for having you dragged off like that, but I didn’t want you getting hurt or um…” Rather than finish her sentence, Ebony gestured to her coral splattered self as physical proof of what could have happened if the cloudy Raevan had decided to venture through the battlegrounds.

“It looked like lots of fun Ebby! Did you have fun?” For a moment, Delia’s face took on a most dire need to know look. For if her human hadn’t experienced the pleasure she wanted, it would be her fault because she was the one to sign the woman up after all.

Brandishing one of the most serene and loving smiles the snake had ever seen, Ebony lightly patted the girl’s cool cheek in answer before parting from the Raevan pair. Watching her leave, Cordelia’s happiness level shot up several notches, her blade like wings shuffling in response. “Don’t mind that Dayo, that’s just how Ebby is. She rarely likes to um…make a production as she puts it. She had fun though, I can tell.”

Not having wanted to butt in and be the ever-hovering mother type, Ebony had decided to make a quick exit to allow the girls time to themselves. Meanwhile, the Brit sighed at her sorry looks as of now, trying to rub off the drying paint as best as possible. Luckily she was just wearing her bikini and a pair of old shorts, the shorts of course were probably non-salvageable thanks to Lazarus. Figuring Alex might have water or something to get the majority of the paint off, the Brit made her way over towards the aquatic zoo.

Having seen Dayo, she was not surprised when she spotted Fathle there at the booth as well. Funny thing though was that small flare of jealousy Ebony felt as she saw the Italian hanging onto the red haired gent’s arm. She knew it was stupid to feel this way when she barely even knew the man, but even more so when she knew that Alex was happily tied to Aphismet. Well…as far as she knew. ‘No no no!’ Ebony thought, quickly shaking the idiotic ideas away. She was being silly! Alex was just like Cordelia, utterly comfortable with being openly affectionate towards others. She shouldn’t go assuming anything. Again, there was no real reason to be acting like this.

With a slower pace now as to give her enough time to smooth her face back out, Ebony finally came upon the group near the tanks. Once there she finally took notice to the other male standing by. “J-Jezabroux?! What are you doing here?”

(( Oceanside // Petting Zoo ))




He supposed he shouldn't have been so amused that Lucia knew all she did; she always struck him as a social butterfly, seeing as they first met by her approaching himself and LuLu at the pool party ages ago. Zul himself was oft the same when given the chance, simply less so in larger groups. He inclined his head in agreement for her suggestion, his smile gentle; it was to the benefit of the others to know the Kitten, in so far as he was concerned. He was, however, immensely pleased by the returned hug and the quiet words spoken against his skin, understanding them through and through. The demon could only chuckle in a sound of rolling smoke, leaning into the touch of lips to his cheek. "I gladly accept the blame," he replied in a good-natured manner.

"And not a thing will touch you but the ocean spray, I promise!" Despite the humor he felt at the notion of a whale wanting to snack on the femme, he gave her his best solemn look and nodded as though he had half a clue of what he was talking about. He was mostly certain that the large-bodied whales didn't care much for anything even vaguely humanoid for snacks, but really, with something so large, they had to consume something of equal or larger portion, didn't they? The demon considered his own food source, quickly correcting his thinking; perhaps their nourishment was something less. He'd certainly have to ask his woman later.

Zul tilted his tri-horned head at the mention of significant others, something flickering in his eyes. He didn't need them - he was fine as he was, she said. The Frei was touched by the sentiment, feeling that...yes, he didn't need to change for anyone else, much as he'd been contended with Jezebelle about the same. No one had to change. He was good enough as is. "You're a good lady," he told his dark-haired friend, smiling with a brilliance that had been mostly absent during the beach excursion. "I'm lucky to call you friend."

And then the teasing started, making the smile part into a toothy grin that easily reached his bright blue eyes. "I am!" he affirmed, floating just a little higher and puffing out his chest with self-righteousness. Admittedly, the words about ladies in the sea to be hooked baffled him and made him laugh, losing his upright composure in favor of a relaxed sense of mirth. "That is a very strange thing to say," he commented, glancing out to the sea and imagining women jumping amongst the waves like fish, earning another stifled snicker, "but I like that idea. That you shouldn't worry about what others say." Goodness, this applied to him rather heavily, didn't it?

"I hope you always feel that way. Even if you do find someone worth calling your own." Don't change, don't worry about what others think, and above all, be happy. If that wasn't love, then maybe he really didn't get emotion as much as he thought he had.

---

Dark brows disappeared beneath the low sweep of her equally dark bangs, a crooked grin forming. A date? Oh please! Like the red-headed man would actually--! "Silly," she muttered under her breath, not even able to be embarrassed; he was simply too debonair and gentlemanly for her to even be shy or defensive about the idea of a date. "I'll keep the phone near by then," she said with a light smile. "I still have to introduce you to my charge sometime..." Alex lightly squeezed the hand on hers and finally released the much taller male, politely side-stepping Fathle and Jezabroux as they began to talk amongst themselves.

The Italian glanced over as she saw purple bouncing in her direction, smiling with a pleasant warmth as her eyes found Ebony - it'd been a while since she'd seen her! The violet-haired woman then gave the white-swathed Jezabroux a surprised outburst, making Alex chuckle under her breath as she kneeled by one of the pools again. Seemed everyone knew everyone - that made life easier for all parties involved. A soft touch of a wet paw to her cheek drew her attention to the Chimera she was next to, extending her hands to scritch good and firm next to the small ears, earning a reverberating purr. She was better with the critters as it was, no accounting for her lack of social life!

[[ Somewhere on the Paintball field ]]

Varun puffed his chest and preened, lavishing in the attention Prajna was offering. See? See, he was an excellent friend, and oh- What was that? About to glance around wildly for the next thread, the Leviathan was caught by surprise and pulled into the Star's passionate kiss. Anyone standing nearby could all but hear the redhead's gears grind to a halt. Sea green eyes were wide open, wings and fins out to the side as the Raevan froze.

He blinked once, twice, nothing further registering even as Prajna broke away and was assaulted again. What just happened? And there Varun floated, helplessly broken, as Prajna whisked away to get itself into more trouble.

What just happened?