Welcome to Gaia! ::

[[Doucette > Troxel & Cam]]

The redhead's brow furrowed uncomfortably with Trox's question regarding Ren and the potential of their being in a row. A small shrug was given of her shoulders in reference to Raevan's being 'on a thing', for beyond a few weird full moons, Revontulet hadn't exhibited anything that would suggest hormones were what drove her.

"You know Ren...she's always so close-lipped. We haven't fought, but rather she hasn't given me much argument about anything." Doe's lower lip disappeared between her teeth for a moment before her gaze rolled over to the aurora. "I think I should schedule a lab check up...I know something's off but I don't know what it is, and that girl never confides in anyone."

Doucette was heartened by the news Cam would be arriving, and let Trox move off to continue...whatever his mission with the drinks had been. Her eyes finally peeled away from the green-winged girl at the surf and started scanning the horizon of the parking lot for a familiar figure. Unfortunately she was too far from the whole incident to be any help when the poor man went down, but she finally caught up to him and Damien, practically waddling in her hurry. "Are you...ok?" she panted.

---

[[Revontulet > Tati, Domo, Anya]]

A subtle shift in the frei's demeanor towards the hamsa could hardly have been called cold, but there was a heightened haughtiness to the curve of her lips and the tilt of her chin. Who was she to describe the water to her who had lived with it for so much longer than she? Revontulet was made of water. Tatiana may enjoy swimming in it, but she how could she know what water truly was.

"Thank you," Ren said diplomatically, pulling her ribbon away from the reaching waves, "but maybe later."

Her words were spoken as a parched man in a desert, or an alcoholic who had gone too long without a hit. It ached inside her not to join Tati, and a flash of fear replaced the haughtiness for a brief moment.

As if to avoid looking at the ocean and saving herself, Revontulet turned away and caught sight of a familiar figure a ways off. "Yes, later," she confirmed for Tatiana before moving away and towards Anya.

(( Mordekai - Parking Lot (mention of Anita) -> Beachside with Camille & Tango ))

Mordekai was content with mostly standing by and greeting Tango and Misha as people exchanged pleasantries. He smirked at Damien with his casual pass at Drey, then raised his brows and smiled in attention to Anita's request. "OH! Yeah, would love to." He adjusted the stuff beneath his arms a bit and gladly took Tango's leash from Anita and leaned forward to scratch behind Tango's ears. "Ready to run around?"

He swatted his hand toward Damien at the butt-bump. "'Scuse you-- I'mma head out, too, good seein' you, Ivy! I'll watch our s**t for a bit, Duncan, so don't worry 'bout it." He offered Tango a few scratches on the head and ushered a quiet 'let's go, bud' before heading out of the parking lot.

Given distractions and the amount of stuff he was carrying, he hadn't recognized that Cam had glanced over at him when he pulled into the parking lot. Mordekai was quick to unload the things he carried, though, and he noticed Cam just shortly after he fell. He looked down at Tango and gestured toward Cam, "Les'go see if he's okay, yeah?" And paced over-- by then, though, Damien had already helped him out, and Cam was on his feet again.

"Camille!" he called out, a bit away from where Camille was, "'Ey!"

(( Duncan - Parking Lot -> With Ivy ))

Duncan chuckled at Ivy and bowed his head. "I don't mind in the slightest, the company's appreciated. He eased into a pleased smile and nodded, "I am, yes! I don't have a preference, though, no-- my son-in-law that you just met, Mordekai, he handles most of the growing for the farm, but we have quite the garden of our own back home," he laughed, "Yes, I would enjoy that. Shall we talk and walk?"

He gestured toward the beach and began walking, slowly at fist, his full attention on Ivy; her passion was undoubtedly infectious. "What about you, Ivy, what do you grow at home? I take it you're from Durem. The area's always so full of life."

(( Johan - Parking Lot -> With Leigh ))

A silver car pulled into the parking lot and settled near the edge of its entrance. They weren't spectacularly late, but there was some traffic from between Aekea and Barton. As it were, though, they arrived twenty minutes or so after Duncan sent his text to Leigh. Johan parked the car and glanced toward Leigh; he gestured toward the beachside.

"If you want to go find Duncan, I'll go unload the trunk."

ex o ex Snoof

theLimeTree

alpha lyrae

Ka-ray-zee

(( Cruz – Beach / Justin ))

Justin's absent minded response evoked little reaction from Cruz; it was his sudden turn around and firm rejection that sent the frei spiraling, wide eyed and worried. Cruz stammered while Justin did the same, trying to sort his thoughts out. Double negatives confused the hell out of him and Cruz's brows settled into a crooked state until Justin calmed down enough to give him a straight answer.

”Why?” he pleased over the ocean waves, ”You kissed her before, she's your friend – why can't 'Nita know?” That defeated the whole purpose of his assistance if Justin was a willing party yet ultimately refused to participate. Unfortunately, the croc didn't know how to get that precisely out of his mouth, so instead his sorrow dangled childishly. ”Why did you try to say you wouldn't?” Maybe Justin hadn't started lying, but he certainly backtracked as soon as he realized he gave a positive answer.

Why couldn't humans just be straight forward an honest?


(( Anita – Parking Lot / Ethiriel & Henry → Beach / Trox ))

”Uh-huh,” Anita laughed and gave Henry a quick grin before turning her attention back to Eth. ”Sure thing, he's not far. Would you--” with a bit of uncertainty and switching between them, Anita offered one of her arms, ”--like some help?” She wasn't entirely sure of Ethiriel's limitations but she knew for certain that needed a guide. Just to be sure the offer was noticed, Anita lightly tapped one of Eth's arms with the back of her fingers and held in place until the frei was suitably attached.

”Alright, they're just--” Anita looked back toward Duncan and the Camry; Damien was gone now, and Mordekai and Tango just ran off, leaving Duncan and Ivy who were starting their way toward the beach. She gave an exasperated laugh and gestured vaguely ”Well, you can say hi if you can track 'em down, now. See you in a bit, okay?”

With some gentle leading and a few quiet questions about Ethiriel's comfort in proceeding, Anita guided the tea frei out into the sands. Cruz was easy enough to spot, combing low to the beach beside Justin. There were plenty of other familiar faces around, now that she was able to look, and as they made their way carefully across the dunes, she caught sight of one Harrison Troxel.

Anita offered a high wave, ”Yo, Trox!” It'd been a long time since they'd had the chance to talk, so it would be nice to catch up with him once he dropped Ethiriel off with Cruz.

(( Ian & Caroline → Buffet & Bar : LuLu, Camille, Damien ))

Caroline looked sheepish immediately when the Raevan startled, and toyed with the end of her fiery braid. Ian, on the other hand, was left hanging and rather awkwardly pulled his hand back, sort of in two motions: the first to about halfway, the second letting it fall gently onto his knee. His smile twitched a little but remained on his face, and he took a breath to recover and clear his head. He appreciated Caroline's outgoing mission to introduce him to people, but not entirely; it was nerve-wracking!

"LuLu, what a cute name," he mused, sort of at a loss for what to say next. He couldn't just ask if she was a Raevan, that was extremely obvious and would make him look stupid. "So, um... Some of the others have..people with them. Guardians, right?" He glanced toward the beach, noting a few gatherings of people, Raevan and human alike. "Did yours have to work?"

Thankfully, Ian didn't have to flounder pitifully for long. A pair of men stumbled over, and one helped another onto a stool at the bar. The siblings noted their presence with a smile, one considerably more bright and open than the other, catching the introduction of one: Cam.

But when the redhead, who'd introduced himself as Damien, noticed Caroline with a laugh, the woman raised her brows high above interested blue eyes. "Oh? Well, thank you. It's not so bad, I suppose. You're pretty cute for carrots." She laughed, looking at Ian in blatant amusement. Sure, the line was corny and silly, but Damien was cute and had a certain roguish charm about him, relaxed but engaging.

However, Ian's big brother instincts kicked in immediately. He sat up a little straighter, and though his smile was easy and friendly, he looked at the other redhead closely. "I'm Ian, and this is my sister, Caroline. Damien, right? Nice to meet you." He extended his hand yet again, this time a bit more insistently. Caroline gave him a look before grinning at Damien again.

((Anya and Zeke --> Ren))

At the compliment the spider queen looked down at her figure, swelling with a little pride. She had decided on blue today, choosing a sleeveless top of a lighter shade patterned and offset with a darker blue paisley. The shirt was longer than her chest by far and so to keep it from making her resemble a wind chime too closely, Anastacia had added a belt around the end of her chest for added flair. With her hair tied up and both her parasol and bag in hand, she had felt quite fashionable. It was nice to see others outside the family circle agreed.

"And you are certainly fitting the occasion." The other femme looked as if she belonged at the beach and had done well to not make herself look garish. The same could not be said of Zeke, however, who had chosen a dark purple square-leg swimsuit accented with a blue that nearly matched the shade that now shared his head with a sickly sweet pink. Worse still, he had chosen green-tinted sunglasses and flip flops to go with it.

"It's nice to see you again." The vet's smile was bright in return to Ren, but with the umbrella now in hand he did not yet make the few steps over to shake the Aurora Frei's hand. "How have you been? And how's Dou?" He couldn't spy her from here, but Zeke was sure to track her down in time.

[[Andreas - Ocean >> Bar -- Damien.. and everyone else... ... and Mordekai..........]]

After a few minutes of swimming idly in the ocean, Drey was ... a bit bored, to be honest. Sure, it was entertaining, but he was also alone, which wasn't what he came for. At all.

Zeroing in on the dude who had already done some flirting, Drey crawled, wet and dripping, now somewhat sand coated, from the ocean and oozed his way to the beach. Slicking his red-brown hair back, out of his eyes, he slid in the stool closest to Damien that he could that also wasn't terribly obvious, picking a seat next to the young woman there.

Subtle, Drey, he told himself. Subtle.

Well, first off was to ignore him in favour of getting a drink and catching his eyes over it. Whether he caught Damien's eyes with his own eyes or, well, those other eyes, whatever.

"You mind if I sit here, miss?" He gave Caroline a winning cop smile as he glanced over to her.

ex o ex snoof

Rookeries

Cynnybun

theLimeTree

((Pasha - Beach | Zul, Tatiana, mention to Ren))

Pasha glanced up again, and found herself caught in the Demon's eyes. He could see it all…and suddenly, the Muse felt paper thin. There was nothing he missed, her brave facade was unnecessary. There was a time when such a look from him would have frozen her solid, but Melisande was realizing slowly that he was not that great beast she had once supposed, slumbering behind bars.

He coiled around her while she slept, instead.

"I would." Her voice was a breath, pitched just for him. He had been offering her a gift for far longer than she'd realized. Her lips parted again, but this was not the place. Instead, she closed her wings to rise swiftly and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Zul was patient. She knew that now.

Melisande turned in time to see Tatiana approaching, and Revontulet waving in the distance. She raised her hand in greeting in return. She'd liked the little ombre-haired Frei…especially her fashion sense. Tatiana and Revontulet had been together at the Potluck, so perhaps the latter would be joining them now that Tati was approaching as well!

"Tatiana! It's good to see you again! How is the water?" She kept her hand in Zul's. It was unlike her, but Melisande did not introduce the Demon to the Frei. She clearly recalled Tati's point of view on that.

(( Cruz – Beach / Justin ))

That explanation didn't make things any easier for Cruz. The whole angle of not being able to kiss your friends, or not even being able to tell them you would like to kiss them, went against Cruz's entire moral structure. Justin was firm in his explanation but it went in Cruz's one ear and crawled back out the same.

He wasn't having this.

”That's not true,” Cruz said with an obvious point, the tone of his words not matching his expression which was still thoroughly pathetic and worried. His fingers continued to idly wring through the sands, mindlessly searching for shells or obstructions. ”You don't know what she'll do. You-- Justin, you said you're helping. This isn't helping. How can you help if you're not even going to try?”


(( Anita – Beach / Ethiriel, Trox, mention to Ronan ))

Ethiriel's quietness while holding onto her arm was a little concerning, but she knew the frei to be a soft spoken one. Outside of the familiarity and not having heard from him in a long time, it was a little bit of selfishness on Anita's part to call out to Trox and break some of her own awkwardness. She knew it wasn't Eth's fault, but they didn't have a lot to talk about in the first place.

”Hey,” she laughed at Trox getting his back buffeted by waves. Anita tilted her head toward Eth for a private question, ”Do you mind if we say hi for a minute?” Anita hadn't the slightest idea Ethiriel and Harrison were already acquainted.

Anita guided them a bit closer to the sea edge, enough that her ankles would get drenched in the tide but nothing higher. ”Not much! Got here with some friends and I'm just taking this one to hang with Cruz now. What's goin' on with you? It's been a while.”

Movement in the water caught her eye and Anita glanced, expecting other swimmers – but not another familiar one. Anita scoffed and smirked, waving an arm in Ronan's direction as she caught him while his head was above water.


(( Damien – Buffet & Bar / eVERYONE... ))

Being genuine was a good color? Damien grinned. ”Well thank you, Cam,” against the bar, he did a small dip of his hips, almost like a curtsey. His brows raised at the prospect of free beer and Damien gave Cam a lopsided smirk. ”Think I can oblige that.”

Another stunning pearl in this growing sea of carrots approached, winded and round, and Damien peeled himself from the bar to make room for Doucette as Cam offered up his seat. Quietly, he asked if she was doing okay, but it was lost in Cam's familiar concerns. He had it handled. That gave him an out to let his eyes wander and follow the tall dripping form he'd complimented earlier. Both of Andreas' eyes were caught by Damien's, and then some as he unabashedly looked lower, higher, and gave the man a half lidded smirk.

Mordekai's voice coming towards the bar pulled Damien back from completely getting lost in Drey's abdomen, which lended the blond a wide eyed smirk and a laugh. He had Anita's dog with him, too, and Damien dipped his hand for Tango to sniff at. The mutt was too curious about everyone else to offer him any affection.

”You know this joker?” Damien asked Cam, pointing at Mordekai first with his index finger, then catching Mordekai's eye and grinning as he switched to his middle. With that, he turned around to the bar and fished through for one of the offered beers. Hopefully they were cold. The thirst was strong.