Welcome to Gaia! ::

The warm sun rose up, reaching the absolute height of perfection. Clouds white, scattered, and far in the distance. The breeze light, cool, and refreshing. The smell of salt lingered in the air. It was a beach in all of its glory. The only thing absent, the rapid calls of hungry seagulls seeking an easy meal.

Melody was entirely pleased to finally have the opportunity to take advantage of her new-found tropical destination.

She waited anxiously for others to show but kept at a safe distance from the siren's call of waves breaking softly against the warm sand.

She was wearing a rosy pink two-piece with lacy black ruffles lining the bottom waistband and red ribbons in her vivid purple hair. She was accompanied by the usual beach attire; sandals, sunglasses, an oversized beach towel, and a grass-woven beach bag.

She kept looking behind herself before looking at her phone. She fired off another text.

Lawrence showed up not long after America, as always making it seem like he had simply coincidentally meandered up rather than showing up in pursuit of the huntress. He was wearing a pair of expensive looking Ray Bans and his usual pristine white outfit, topped off with a rather unique orange ascot and a darker jacket to balance it up. He looked more like he was going yachting than to the beach.

"Hello all." he practically purred.

The barbecue got a sidelong glance of disdain.

Horace slunk in, mainly because he couldn't back out now, but he wasn't happy about it. Depending on how many people showed up, he'd be reduced to ignoring one half of the crowd while looking like he wasn't trying to ignore them. All in all, it wasn't easy to slink in - the sun was high, everything was bright and sparkling, and his swim shorts were neon orange. Nothing was suited for stealth.

He noticed that America had made good on the bringing over a bbq. Horace also noticed that Melody was absolutely cute in her suit and purple hair. It was a shame he couldn't go over to introduce himself. He gave a wave to the three-people cluster, dropped his towel, and began wading out into the water.

Harvard showed up shortly thereafter, towel in one hand, beer in the other. He had been unable to find a suitable beach chair. Regardless, it was nice to be so near a beach, especially an uncrowded one, even if it occasionally spat up monsters. Harvard was sure if said creatures did appear, some of the higher-ranked hunters would flit out like hummingbirds to nectar and destroy the threat. It rankled him a little to still be so weak, in physical terms, but he was a doctor, not technically a fighter. Yet.

So, idiot redhead had not showed up, he noted. For the best, Harvard supposed. Caroline was supposed to show up (not nude, he'd made sure to mention) and he didn't feel like doing any pandering s**t like keeping his hands off of her. Instead, there was the dude who'd given him cake for Stormy - he now knew this was Horace - splashing about in the waves, America, judging from the hair color, and who could only be Melody. The other man he didn't recognize.

Slinging the towel over one shoulder, he adjusted his sunglasses and walked up to the small knot of people just as America began unfolding the barbeque. "Hey, I'm Dr. Falls. I see you actually did bring a barbeque! America, I guess?" He looked at each of them, noting the other man seemed a little out of place, but everyone had their personal tastes, he supposed.

"Sorry I couldn't bring any food - couldn't find anyone to part with some on such short notice." Sort of untrue; the one guy in the kitchen he'd approached had wanted an arm and a leg for fresh meat and for good reason. The beer had been considerably cheaper. Speaking of arms and legs... it looked as though someone had paid an arm for something, which ever so neatly identified the blond man as Lawrence, the creepy guy. Which also sort of explained why Horace was in the ocean. Sort of. From what he'd read, everything sounded complicated, but Caroline had mentioned she kind of liked Horace, so that was that. In a few moments, someone else walked up - paid for by America, interestingly, and deposited a cooler on the ground. Cigarettes - he needed to buy more, too. He was getting low.

He didn't really care unless Lawrence decided to bother Caroline more than he already was. "Can I borrow your cooler? If it's got room, that is." He hoisted his beer up a bit in explanation.

Oliver had picked the wrong day to ignore Twitter. He showed up at the beach without expecting anyone to be there, a bag of chips and a butterfly net in one hand, and a large bucket in the other. It was the perfect set of gear for catching creepy, twisted fish specimens for lab research. However, the frivolous appearance of his 'gear' was little help to his reputation, looking more like he was out to play than visiting the beach for serious purposes.

The small group that had assembled was composed of people who made him nervous, either because he didn't know them, or because he knew enough to be worried regardless. He would have quietly turned around and snuck away to find another place to collect the samples had he not spotted Horace heading into the water.

The kid set the bucket down some ways off from the gathering, dropping his net and potato chips inside, and nervously tiptoed to the water's edge. Although he suspected things between his friend and the other attendees had been smoothed over in a very superficial manner, he was hesitant to leave Horace without company.

"H-Horace, wh-what's going on?" He asked, glancing towards the group on the beach.

The redhead gave Harvard a grin and a wink, "Twitter's own Sexy Teacher, right?" The title was accompanied by a little hubba-hubba shoulder wriggle. America waved him toward the cooler, "Go ahead, hun. Don't worry about bringing food n'such to gatherings until you've ranked up. This place can seem a little...harsh, at times. But food's one of those pay it forward sorta deals."

Noting the pout from Melody, America made an assumption and commented, "Horace is a good fighter. He'll make sure the water's safe for you to go in, just give him a few minutes."

Oliver's arrival was noted but Lawrence didn't opt to go bother the timid man at the moment, simply seemed curious about his beelining for the dramatic figure of Horace in the water, saving him from his self-imposed watery isolation.

The towel was taken brightly and gratefully and Lawrence immediately chose a spot for himself half in the shade so he could choose if he wanted full sunlight or not.

America's comment to Harvard was behind him as he laid out his spot and he did not acknowledge it, instead watching the other figure which approached, familiar from twitter and the striking bright hair.

He muttered something quietly under his breath in Swedish as he straightened out some wrinkles in the material he was sitting on. It was probably not very nice.

Horace popped back out of the water at Oliver's approach. "It's a party thing. I sent you a text - did you not get it?" He slicked his wet hair back with one hand. "I'm, uh... I promised to stop by but it's a bit awkward," he said quietly, waving his hand at the partygoers. At least more people had arrived, so it wouldn't be so awful now.

"Do you wanna say hi? There's going to be free food." If this was what 'hiding behind someone' meant, then Horace would one hundred percent do it. He'd seen the waves in response, but thankfully missed Lawrence's wink.