X-DREAMERS [mission 03: Shadows of an Island]

[Mikasa361]

 

ウタカタ - Hierophant

X -  Flee | ▢ - Drink

△ - Chat | O - Prank time

 

He’d been enjoying the conversation, but looking up he sees something that catches his attention. He sees someone who he assumes is a man based on his frame. The man trips an unsuspecting woman and sends her falling face-first into the food she was trying to obtain. She yelps, and now her face is a mess. Secretly he feels bad for her, that has to be embarrassing. 

 

But what a basic, basic prank. Was there nothing else he could do to start some mischief? Or was he just trying to be an ass? He has no idea. It doesn’t quite spark his ire, but rather an urge to start some mischief of his own. After all… If most of the people here aren’t Lara’s friends, who the hell cares? 

 

He thinks back to the time when he had his revenge on Kaito, sometime when he last made Hamako cry. Utakata had made sure Kaito had a rather rude awakening when he found himself waking up to many explosive bubbles that were set up when Uta snuck into Kaito’s room in the middle of the night. That was glorious. Hmm….

 

What are you thinking, Utakata?

 

Mischief, that’s what I’m thinking. But I don’t want to do it alone…. But I’m really feeling the urge to leave slug slime on somebody’s chair or something. 

 

…I mean…. That does sound fun. 

 

It does. He concludes his little conversation with Saiken as he turns to Anaya. “It’s been a pleasure, Anaya. I just need to take care of something.” Anaya waves at him, and Utakata walks closer to Tien and his little group. As he does, he notices the same man who tripped that poor woman start grabbing utensils and stuffing them in his coat. Those forks and knives may be worth something, but come on, is it really smart to go around stealing things like that in plain sight? He sighs and waves at the group, making sure to keep his voice at a low. “So… Anyone else see that guy thinking he can just go ahead and mess the place up?” He glances to the side as a miniature form of Saiken takes shape at his side. “Anyone wanna teach him a little lesson on manners?”

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Mikasa361

[hikarinomemori]

 

Temeraire Rhowa, Warrior of Light
<Status: Stable; slightly amused>
<Location: Mauna Kea Beach>
<Current Class: Ninja>
<People: Tien | Sieghorse | Yosuke | Milk Cream | Rufus | Kuu | Utakata>

 

~~

 

Well, this got interesting fast. No sooner had Temeraire finished speaking that she saw someone trip one of the party-goers and she landed face-first into one of the pies. Her first thought was how amusing the situation was, but part of her couldn't help but wonder if the woman was injured. Of course, the man who had tripped her barely acknowledged her and most certainly didn't apologize. While this wouldn't bother Temeraire at all - after all, she'd seen it so many times in Ul'dah - what did bother her was the same man taking the silverware as if he owned it.

 

That's-- That's stealing! she thought to herself. Yeah, there was no way she was going to condone stealing, but she didn't want to cause too much of a scene. This wouldn't be easy...

 

As if on cue, she saw Utakata walk up. "So... Anyone else see that guy thinking he can just go ahead and mess the place up?"

 

"Oh, you bet I did."

 

"Anyone wanna teach him a little lesson on manners?"

 

"You read my mind. Only question is how we're gonna do that."

[Mikasa361]

 

Lara Rochelle - Empress

X -  Walk Away | ▢ - Drink

△ - Chat | O- Just Bloody Run

 

The third suitor today. Lara sits at the bar, looking at the couple of green tea shots she ordered from the bartender. She starts to question why she even showed up here, if people were just going to bother her with promises of marriage and a future she doesn't want right now. A lot of the time she wonders if it's just because these people want to marry rich, or if they're already wealthy if they want some sort of "alliance". None of it makes any sense to her, she never really had friends in the upper class. Lara downs one of the shots, ignoring the taste she normally loves and focusing in the warming in her throat as it goes down. Sure, the party is fun, except for these goddamn men who think they know her enough to spend the rest of their lives with her. She doesn't even know half of their names. But, it's been nice seeing Anaya again, and a few of her other college friends. She even had the chance to meet Zip's friend Alister, a history grad student who seems to have a good head on his shoulders. If and when she decides to come home for good, the two men could be good help for the next expedition she goes on. 

 

...Bah. That's assuming she ever wants to go home. Lara takes the other shot, swallows, and lets out a deep sigh. That's the last drink for a while, she doesn't want to be unprepared in the off chance things go awry. 

 

"Lady Croft?"

 

She glances to the side to see Winston looking rather concerned. She gestures to the stool next to her so Winston can sit. Winston shakes his head. "I'll stand, but thank you. Are you alright?" Lara nods. 

 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

 

"Are you sure?" Winston raises his eyebrow. "You seem rather preoccupied."

 

Lara shakes her head. "The bloody suitors. Some man from Cambridge promised he would 'take the best care of me' and I would 'have no need to work again'. The gall, assuming I don't love what I do and that I need someone to take care of me." 

 

"I apologize, Lady Croft. If there's anything I can do..."

 

"Please, get a drink for yourself." Lara says this with a smile. "I appreciate it, but I can handle suitors. You do plenty for me already, and I appreciate you for it. Please, take the day off, enjoy the party. I'll be alright, I promise."

 

Winston smiles back. "Thank you. I will be sure to do just that." Lara flags down the bartender, a kind young woman with her long red hair tied back. Her silver eyes sparkle as she walks over. 

 

"What can I do for ya?" She asks in a Southern drawl. 

 

"May I get a water for myself, and a Guinness for the gentleman here?" 

 

"You got it," the bartender affirms with a wink. Lara looks over at Winston, who seems tired. 

 

"Please, Winston, take a seat. Stay a while."

 

 

 

ウタカタ - Hierophant

X -  Flee | ▢ - Drink

△ - Chat | O - Hang on

 

Utakata grins, thinking of the many things he could try to do and the mayhem it could cause. Just the thought of pulling one of his old tricks beings him back to his days in the Academy. He crosses his arms over his chest and takes a minute to think. The grin is still on his face, feelings of anticipation stuck in his chest. Mayhem! Brilliant! 

 

"Utakata, I want nothing to do with this. Keep me out of it, I only want to watch," Saiken chirps from on the ground. The jinchuriki looks down at the cat-size slug and frowns. Then he looks up at the sky, thinking. Hm... Now how to convince a centuries-old slug that a little trickery wouldn't be so bad.

 

"What if I made you a whole five-course meal?" The slug's antennae twitch, and Utakata knows he's considering it. "I'll include whatever complicated dish you want, just so you can watch me squirm. Deal?" Saiken seems satisfied with that. He nods his little head and wiggles all six of his tails in delight. 

 

"Now you've got my attention. If you need a prank involving slime, count me in!" 

 

Utakata grins again. Excellent. 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Mikasa361

[Kiran]

Dennis

Allies: Kuu, Rufus, others

Location:  Mauna Kea Beach - Food Table

 

Yeah, no, there was no way that he was leaving Kuu to look for Rufus alone. While Kuu wasn’t malicious, unlike the demon, he could cause just as much chaos with his stunning lack of awareness of social norms. Leaving him unsupervised wasn’t an option.

 

Sighing, Dennis takes off jogging after Kuu, wishing (not for the first or last time) that he still had Vista on his team or that he had a Mover power. It’d make keeping his two idiot boyfriends from getting into trouble slightly more manageable, though he doubted any power would have been enough. He arrives just in time to see Kuu teleport away again. He’d never been able to understand the words “low profile”, and Dennis had just about given up on trying to remind him. No riots started, but the guests, all wearing fancy outfits, were looking pretty unhappy. 

 

Among the normal human guests, he feels out of place. His helmet was off, collapsed and held in a pocket on the back of his armor. Other than that, he wears his full costume, grey and white with the image of a winged clock on the chest. 

 

It’s not the costume that makes him feel out of place. It would have been easier if he were wearing his mask. 

 

Fortunately, he’s not there to talk to people, he’s there to find Kuu and keep him from stripping in the middle of the party or doing something worse. Rufus, too. 

 

He finds Kuu holding out an egg towards a woman with pie smeared on her face. He decides not to question it, and instead looks for something he could give her to wipe her face with. There’s a thin sheet of cloth stashed in his costume, but it’s large enough to cover several people at once and takes ages to fold back up again. Instead he grabs a cloth napkin from a table, automatically taking note of his surroundings as he does so. He can’t let his guard down. 

 

“Here, this might help more,” he says, holding the napkin out to the woman, gallan- graciously resisting the urge to poke fun at the woman. He was getting better at that. “Rufus?” he asked Kuu, though it really wasn’t a question. Who else?

[Eto]

二番隊

.

.

 

Why is the lady not taking the egg? There is nothing wrong with his hand-egg. Instead, the woman stares at him incredulously, as if she can't quite believe what's happening. Kuu, for his benefit, pushes the egg closer to her face.

 

However, before he can begin to question her on why she doubted his gifts, Kuu startles when a familiar voice appears out of nowhere. Dennis! When had he gotten here? How had he known? 

 

His boyfriend is offering a piece of paper to the lady, and Kuu wants to laugh -- that is what happens when one lives not even half a century; they begin to offer useless items to humans in need. He has been a shinigami for centuries now, and he knows that humans value food over --

 

Kuu nearly falls over when the woman reaches for the cloth offered, thanking the hero as if he had not just appeared out of nowhere and stolen the spotlight. Frowning, Kuu is half-tempted to not answer Dennis' next question, but his need to get someone to stop Rufus outweighs his brief grudge. 

 

"Yeet," he confirms, hoping the modern lingo will attract him more to the lady so that she will take his hand-egg. As if hoping to confirm his thoughts, he pushes the egg even closer to her face and she backs away, wiping at the pie on her features, alarmed.

 

"Stop him," he tells Dennis, referring to Rufus. "I can't wait any longer. I have to practise my Shunko." 

[Pachimew]

 

Tien blinked at both the sudden consensus of doing something and Yosuke’s casual affection, but he found a grin spreading across his face regardless. He made a mental note to figure out who’d roped Yosuke into this later; they sounded like they deserved some low-level revenge, too. 

 

"I have pockets full of rocks and a talent for...misdirection," he volunteered. That was the most obscure reference to Lightweaving he could think of. His skillset was limited but useful; a good eye, illusions, and the ability to convince people of nearly anything.

 

As for actual prank ideas… "When I was a kid I used to sneak bugs into the house and down my brother’s shirt, but I don’t know if there’s any…" He trailed off, eyeing Saiken. "...Slime could make a good substitute, though."

[Kiran]

Dennis

Allies: Kuu, Rufus, others

Location:  Mauna Kea Beach - Food Table

 

His hard work learning 2019 slang just to teach it to Kuu is paying off, at least. It’s always nice to see his efforts bear fruit, even if the results just end up terrifying the poor woman even more. Good. He’d toiled for hours to accomplish this. 

 

Still, he can’t let Kuu smash the egg into the woman’s face, and Kuu’s dangerously close to doing just that. “No eggs,” he says, grabbing Kuu’s wrist and stepping to insert himself between Kuu and the woman. Behind him, the woman takes the chance to scurry away. 

 

“You really don’t,” he says, snorting. “What was that you said before? ‘Stay there’? It’s a good thing I followed you, if you’re giving up so quickly.” He plucks the egg from Kuu’s hand and pops it into his mouth. Not bad. “C’mon, you can practice your Rufus-tracking instead. It’s more useful, anyway.” 
 

[Eto]

二番隊

.

.

 

Kuu lets out an undignified squawk as Dennis abruptly takes his hand-egg and tells him he's not allowed to practise his Shunko, all in one sweep. The shinigami watches with murderous eyes as Dennis pops the egg into his mouth, chewing as he considered their next movements, and he stares sadly at the space where the egg had been only a second before. His victory -- shattered.

 

"I do -- Shunko is very useful," he insists, completely ignoring his boyfriend's next words. "It is an advanced battle technique practised only by the highest-ranking members of the Onmitsukido. it combines physical abilities of Hakuda and Kido spells to fire Kido at enemies through arms and legs. My captain, Sui-Feng, is one of the most experienced users of this technique --"

 

Launching into a description of Sui-Feng's endless talents has a physical effect on Kuu; he straightens up, beaming, as he continues to talk passionately. His captain was just so amazing! 

"She would be able to find Rufus in just under a half-second," he finishes proudly, thinking of his beloved captain and disregarding the expression on Dennis' face. 

[Kiran]

Dennis

Allies: Kuu, Rufus, others

Location:  Mauna Kea Beach - Food Table

 

“-combines physical abilities of Hakuda and Kido spells to fire Kido at enemies through arms and legs, u-huh,” Dennis says along with Kuu, having heard the speech enough times to match his intonation. “And I’ve never seen anyone better at it than you, so just take a few hours off. You can do that, right?” Actually, he probably can’t. Dennis doesn’t know how many times he’d been woken up in the middle of the night by Kuu practicing, only that the answer is “too many.” It was hard enough to sleep without being woken up by Kuu’s yelling. “Fifteen minutes?” That was doable, right? “And look, I’m sure she could find Rufus in half a second, but anyone could. Look, I can do it too. I bet he’s stealing from someone right now-” 

 

As he speaks, Dennis turns around and is met with the sight of exactly that. Barely a few feet away, Rufus shoves silverware into his pockets without a hint of shame. 

 

Why. 

 

He sighs, only a little fondly. “You’re getting predictable, Rufus.” He must’ve run out of babies to steal candy from. That wasn’t a joke; he’d actually stolen candy from a baby once. It'd been hilarious for how stereotypical it was (and besides, candy was bad for babies' teeth). 
 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Kiran

[Mikasa361]

[Prank Squad - Everyone, pretty much]

 

 

Saiken wiggles his tails when Tien acknowledges him. Utakata rolls his eyes. “Saiken, you’re the strangest pet I’ve ever had.” Saiken’s tails stick straight up in anger. 

 

“HEY. What did I tell you? I’m not your PET.”

 

This makes Utakata chuckle. “Just needed to get that one out there.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “I mean, I have a few things off the top of my head. Namely, anything to do with bubbles. I’d do an example of explosive bubbles, but that’d ruin the whole thing. However, if we’re talking slime…” He glances at Saiken. “Saiken has some pretty gross slime.”

 

“My specialty,” Saiken says with pride. 

 

“I could see if I could sneak some in a couple bubbles and pop them over his head. Of course, the trick there is making sure he doesn’t look up.” 

 

“I can help with that,” Tien says, cocking his head to the side. “I can probably distract him long enough, or cause a commotion to make him look away.” He pauses. “It would probably be easier if I just pull him into a conversation. He seems...focused.” Tien’s nose wrinkles like there’s another, much ruder word that he wants to use.

 

This makes Utakata grin evilly, his golden eyes twinkling with delight. “Catching him off guard will be fun. Anyone else got something? Because I feel I might not be satisfied with just that. He seems like a serious prick who needs to get whipped into shape.” He looks back down at Saiken, who’s back to wiggling his tails. He seems to be more interested in the meal he’s going to eat after this. 

 

Yosuke had nearly forgotten about conversation completely. He was staring down at the strange snail creature wiggling on the floor.

“It talks,” he mumbled in a hushed tone. It would take a lot of effort to find some bizarre costume or creature to a party out on a Hawaiian beach and even more time and effort into placing a microphone on it so it could maintain the appearance of being a strange, talking creature. Yosuke hummed to himself before pushing up his glasses by its bridge with two of his fingers. Considering how hard and impractical it would be to fake having a weird slime pet, that could only mean…

“So,” Yosuke exclaimed, quickly brushing his thoughts away. He unwound his arms from Tien’s and Temeraire’s shoulders so could clap his hands together. “I’d agree that any explosions are out of the question, but if you need a distraction we have a few options. I am still a waiter and we do have two lovely animals that could make for quite a conversation topic.” As though realizing he had been mentioned, Milk Cream let out a soft meow. He walked up towards Yosuke and brushed the side of his body against his leg before looking up expectantly. 

“See?” Yosuke said, gesturing towards Milk Cream. “He knows what’s up! We got his old lad as well.” To emphasize his point, he patted Sieghorse’s muzzle, eliciting the horse to perk up at the sudden attention press himself more firmly against the offered hand.

Saiken looks at Milk Cream, with a puzzled expression that only Utakata knows. Utakata sighs, plucks a small appetizer from one of the trays the caterers are carrying around, and holds it in front of Saiken’s maw. He takes it happily, making rather odd yet pleased noises. Utakata nods.

“Animals are a good diversion. Saiken could even work in a pinch, considering how odd he is.”

“How many times- Agh, I give up,” Saiken mutters in defeat. Utakata carefully takes out his tube of bubble fluid and pipe from the small pouch he always kept in his kimono when he didn’t wear the elastic belt. He looks down at the cat, who seems to also be expecting a treat.

“....is he allowed to have treats? …..can I pet him?”

“Utakata will you focus,” Saiken snaps. 

“We’ve got plenty of options for distraction on the table,” Tien says, waving his hand in a ‘move-along’ motion. “We can pick one later. What are we doing after he’s distracted?” Hiding behind Telinar’s persona, it’s easy for him to fall back into authority, even when he’s planning pranks instead of trying to organize training for the Signal Corps. “Explosive bubbles? Slime? Send a horse charging at him?” He gestures at Utakata, Saiken, and Sieghorse in turn, then pauses. “...Temeraire?” 

Temeraire pauses, considering everything that had been said. "Explosive bubbles and slime do sound like good options, but I wanna make sure this sticks - I was thinking a huge mess. Anyone got any ink?"

“I can make something similar in a pinch, but…” Tien turns to Utakata. He seems the most likely to have it on hand. 

“I mean, I can make some ink bubbles. I just need a container to pop them over if you need a good amount of it.” Utakata furrows his brow, “if there are bowls here, that’d be ideal.”

Saiken hums. “This will be an interesting evening, that’s for sure.” 

Yosuke clasped his hands together and pointed at Temeraire with the both of them. 

“I’m going to veto the explosive bubbles again, but the slime and ink?” Yosuke brought three fingers to his lips then slowly pulled them away as he made a “mwah!” sound. “Brilliant! There’s quite a few unused bowls and such back over in the kitchen.” Yosuke gestured towards the north, past the bar. There was a small brightly lit building where several waiters were entering and exiting from. “I could go grab a bowl and bring it here so you pour the ink into it.”

With that, Utakata grins. “Perfect,” he says. He looks at Saiken, who shakes his little head.

“You’re ridiculous.” 

"This is gonna be so much fun." Way better than trying to punk some Monetarist back in Ul'dah. She didn't even think she'd be able to get away with such a thing in Ul'dah. "I don't know about all y'all, but I'm more than ready to prank a thief." 

The energy of the group is infectious, and Tien can’t help but grin as well. Storms, how long has it been since he did something like this as a team? “I’m ready if all of you are.” 

“Well, if everyone is in agreement, I’ll go grab a bowl.” Yosuke lightly nudged Tien with his shoulder. “You said you were going to distract him, yes?” Yosuke asked in a hushed tone, the edges of his lips curving upward. “Go dazzle him with your beautiful face.” Yosuke made a clicking noise before shooting Tien a finger gun. “Why don’t all of you go pose in front of him until he’s too distracted,” Yosuke said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Or maybe burst into tears on the spot because you just can’t believe the host had the audacity to use the wrong spoons for the caviar.” Tugging at Sieghorse’s reins so the stallion would follow, Yosuke pivoted and began walking away from the group and towards the building in the distance. Noticing that Yosuke was leaving, Milk Cream ceased rubbing himself in the sand and chased after Yosuke, meowing desperately with every step he took.

Tien blinks after Yosuke for a few moments, eyes wide, cheeks turning red. How long has it been since he’s been flirted at so blatantly? Has that ever happened since Keor--

He flinches away from the thought. Keor has been dead for three, almost four years now, and it’s still a wound in his heart; not a gaping one, but a scab that can still be easily scraped off. Wasn’t that why he’d been hiding in the first place?

Tien gives the remaining two a half-smile. “I’ll go do my thing, then. Don’t hit me.” He pivots on his heel and heads for the ostentatious thief.

Deep breath. Take in Stormlight. Dazzle him with your beautiful face. Well, it’s not exactly his face that Tien plans to use. He shapes the Stormlight around himself in a few quick, familiar motions. Stronger jawline. Sharper nose. Fade the brown to black. Smooth away the freckles. Yellow eyes. Stand straight--raise your chin--look like you’re authority.

Telinar Mevani is, perhaps, not the best person to confront a thief, but he’s better suited to it than Tien is. 

Utakata watches Tien work his magic with awe. He’d only ever seen other ninja use that sort of genjutsu, but he’s nonetheless impressed. He looks down at Saiken, who’s munching happily on some fruity dessert a frightened guest threw at him. 

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Mmmm, I’ve never had such delicious food in the centuries I’ve been around.” 

Utakata rolls his eyes. “Ouch. And here I thought that was my cooking.” He taps his foot as he waits for Yosuke to get him a container of some sorts. If he can get one of those, he could do something of use. For now, he looks at Saiken. “Think we could use a little acid?” 

“I don’t think so, I think even if we used a weak one it’d pose a problem.” 

“Right. No acid today.” He glances at a woman who was passing them, giving him a dirty look. “What?” The woman turns away and walks off with a huff. Utakata rolls his eyes. “Snob.” 

Temeraire had to blink a few times when Tien's appearance suddenly changes. A glamour? She has to admit that she's a little awestruck...

Not too far away from the pranksters, Rufus was examining a mother of pearl caviar spoon. It was particularly pretty, having a white sheen and being inscribed with decorative swirls. Rufus twirled the spoon around in his hand, humming to himself. He could stuff the spoon into his jacket with everything else, or he could be a heathen and do something more fun. Grinning to himself, Rufus grabbed a slice of nearby ham with his ungloved hand and wrapped it around the spoon as tightly as flimsy ham could be wound. He looked over the plates of food in front of him, squinting his eyes as he searched for the best target. There! Forcibly, Rufus stabbed the spoon into a beautiful dome-shaped jello with some sort of fruit in the middle of it. He dug the spoon into the jello. He lazily picked up the ham and stuffed all of it into the hole the spoon had made. Satisfied with his work, Rufus turned to Dennis who had finally realized Rufus was standing right next to him.

“Your observation skills never ceases to amaze me,” Rufus said. He returned to where the silverware were, idly picking up a fork before stuffing it into his jacket. “It’s a wonder you live up to this point.” Rufus picked up a second fork, twisting it between his fingers. From the corner of his eye, he could see that someone had approached him. He glanced over his shoulders, catching sight of a young man, a teenager perhaps, who was staring directly at him. Rufus narrowed his eyes, glaring at the stranger for a few moments longer before turning back towards the table in front of him. “What do you want?” Rufus asked casually as he hid another fork into his jacket.

“Love you too,” Dennis said, grinning and cheerfully flipping Rufus off. 

“You’re not very subtle,” the young man said, half-smiling as he pointed at Rufus’ jacket. “I was wondering, are you trying to annoy the guests, or are you just that stupid?”

Rufus paused, frowning. He glanced back over his shoulder, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Do I look like I’m trying to be subtle?” he asked. He twirled a fork between his fingers before pointing it at the stranger. “I don’t care about what you or some rich humans think about me or what I’m doing.” To emphasize his point, he turned his back to the young man once more and pocketed the fork in his hand before reaching to grab another.

“You don’t care about getting kicked out either, I suppose. Not that you were invited. Unless you’re just looking for a fight.” Rufus wasn’t looking, but Dennis could still watch the man raise an eyebrow that seemed almost challenging. 

Rolling his eyes at Rufus’ antic, Dennis rested one hand on the table. He focuses his power on and through the tablecloth, encouraging it to affect only the cloth, the ornate dish the silverware was held in, and the silverware itself. It took a good bit of concentration; he wasn’t used to being so selective, but he felt the power take hold of the silverware. Which. Probably wasn’t the best way to deal with Rufus, but it’d be worth it to see his face when he found out that he wouldn’t be able to steal any more knives for a few minutes. “Nah, we don’t want to fight,” he lied. A partial lie, anyway. He didn’t want to fight some random civilian, at least. “He’s just like a magpie. Picks up anything shiny he sees on the side of the road.”

Rufus let out an amused srnk! 

“You really think you or any of your pompous rich friends scare me?” Rufus asked, chuckling. “Please, save your threats for the cheap labor you hire because you know that they’re too poor to say no to pocket change.” Rufus thought it would be best to accentuate his point by grabbing one of the fancy knives and pointing it at the rich stranger’s chest. When he went to pick up a knife, he found himself gripping at its handle and yet unable to move it. He frowned, trying from another angle but the knife didn’t budge. Rufus’s lips pressed into a thin line. He could practically see the condescending look on Dennis’s face as he began spinning some lie to the stranger.

“You know, I don’t recall giving you permission to speak for me,” Rufus said. He folded his arms across his chest as he turned around to face the two men. “Maybe having to sit around for a few days while watching some rich people gawk over a can of caviar made me want to start a fight with some rich people. It’s not like anyone’s paying me not to, so what’s the harm in it?”

The younger man cocked his head, thought it over, and shrugged. “Well, you’ve got me there.” Before Rufus could recover from the surprise of being agreed with, he continued, “But I’m only making observations. You, on the other hand, are, hm…” He tapped a finger against his cheek. “Are also making assumptions, but you should know they’re rather less accurate than you might like.” 

“You’re the one that insisted we do the caviar thing,” Dennis noted, snagging some kind of fancy, cream covered pastry. He wasn’t going to spend all day chasing after Rufus without something to eat. “I’m sure we can find some other rich people to fight, ones that are actual threats. You can take their stuff, Kuu can do his Kuu thing, and I can actually get something useful done.” He was itching for it, honestly. The job on Oddworld had felt off. It could have been because he didn’t care about a can of caviar, it could have been because they hadn’t been involved in a single fight, or it could have been because they hadn’t had a real goal to work towards. He’d done more than a few morally ambiguous things and worked with shady villains before, but usually there was usually more of a reason than just “Rufus wants money again”. Regardless, he felt just as restless as Rufus did. 

With a wooden bowl in one hand and Sieghorse’s reins in the other, Yosuke approached Utakata and Temeraire with Milk Cream hot on his heels.

“Pro-tip for the future, don’t try to bring an entire horse into a kitchen,” he said, wiping sweat off his brow. “Maybe half a horse could work, like the front half or the back half, but the whole horse? Terrible idea; not my greatest plan. Ignore those stains on my pants. They’re unimportant.” He held the bowl out to his companions, but frowned suddenly. He glanced around, realizing that there were a person short. He glanced over at where their target was, and although he saw two men conversing with him neither of those men was his man. “Do you two know where Telinar went?” Yosuke asked, looking back at Temeraire and Utakata.

“Er….” Utakata blinks. “No, he just walked off, I’m not sure where Ti— Telinar went.” Utakata glances up to make sure the flamboyantly-dressed man isn’t looking and grabs the bowl Yosuke brings over. He takes his pipe, blows a small stream of ink bubbles over the room, and waits for them to settle against the bottom of the bowl. Then he blows another one over the top of the bowl to make sure none of the ink splatters. He snaps, and the ink bubbles underneath splat against the bubble-lid. Content, he snaps again and allows the lid to pop. “That should be enough,” he says as he turns to Tem. “What’s your plan?”

“What about slime?” Saiken peeps. Utakata narrows his eyes at the cat-sized slug. 

“We’ll work out the logistics in a sec. I want to see what Tem is planning.”

“I want to see what Tem is planning,” Saiken mocks him bitterly. Utakata throws his pipe at him, which Saiken grabs with one of his tails. Utakata rolls his eyes and turns back to Temeraire.

“Anyway, what’s about to go down?” 

Temeraire gently took the bowl and checked to see if the thief was sufficiently distracted. Seemed like it, considering the argument he was having. Good. "Pipe down and watch, boys." She then snuck behind the thief, holding the bowl in her hand, and motioning for the person he was arguing with to keep quiet. She gently raised the bowl... a little more...

And then she proceeded to dump all of the ink on the thief's head.

Utakata spits the sake he brought with him from the bar. He admires her straightforward approach, that’s for sure. Saiken covers his mouth with all six of his tails to muffle his laughing. Utakata, though, does not hold back. He doubles over, arms around his waist, and laughs. It’s not even the act itself that does it, it’s just how blunt Temeraire was in dumping the ink on the man’s head. He can’t help and laugh at how she just took the subtlety of pranks and tossed it out of the window. 

“Oh boy,” Saiken mutters, “this moron’s about to give himself away if he does this during our portion of these shenanigans.” 

Utakata nudges the slug with his foot while he puts his head down. He takes a few deep breaths, and in a few seconds he’s done, minus a couple of giggles here and there. With that he takes another sip of sake, trying to play it off as if he hadn’t laughed in the first place.

The stranger’s reply was enough to give Rufus pause. It seemed as though he had been incorrect in his assertion that the stranger was rich, despite sharing clothing similar to the other party-goers, and that made him want to rethink his approach. Want being the key word. Before he could open his mouth to reply, a thick, black liquid began pouring down his head. He sputtered, rearing backwards as he hastily tried to rub away the ink drooping down into his eyes. He pulled one of his hands away, feeling the liquid between his fingers. He experimentally opened and closed his fingers. The liquid was somewhat sticky, staining his fingers an awful black. It was ink, he realized with a frown. Who was carrying around ink at a party?

Rufus spun around, quickly locating his assailant. She wasn’t even trying to hide it! She was still holding an ink-stained wooden bowl in her hand, for goddess’ sake! 

“The hell do you think you’re doing?” Rufus growled. Not too far off, he could hear a human let out a disgusting belly-laugh. Rufus grinded his teeth together. “Who carries around a bowl of ink, huh? What was your end game?”

Tien bit back on the laugh he wanted to let out. As soon as Rufus spun around, he let his expression of false surprise relax into a grin, raising one hand to cover the small snicker he couldn’t quite repress.

And with that, Temeraire feigned innocence. "I'm so sorry! The dress got in the way - I'm not used to wearing this sort of thing and I tripped... I caught the bowl but I must've tilted it by accident...!" It wasn't a complete lie.

Nailed it.

Utakata snorts. SMOOTH, he thinks to himself. He kneels down and pets Saiken, whispering “ready for some slime?”

“Of course,” Saiken replies. “You got the bubbles?”

“Always do.” He grabs the pipe and opens the cap, keeping his back away from Temeraire and the man. He nods, and Saiken opens his mouth, ready to spit some slime. He looks at Yosuke. “Got another bowl?” He keeps his voice low, taking this opportunity while the man is distracted. 

“Another bowl?” Yosuke asked, frowning. “That might take awhile to go back to the kitchen and grab one.” He tapped his chin curiously, eyes drifting towards the commotion by the dinner table. He hummed to himself, his lips curling into a smirk. “I’ll be right back,” he said, waving at Uta as he headed towards the table.

“Oh, so you just tripped, huh?” Rufus hissed at Temeraire. “A cute excuse if you were carrying anything that wasn’t a bowl full of ink at a party on the beach!” Casually, Yosuke strolled over towards the table before letting out a dramatic gasp. 

“Goodness, what a mess!” he exclaimed. Quickly grabbing the bowl from Temeraire’s hands. “I’m so sorry sir,” he said with a short submissive bow in Rufus’s directions. “I’ll clean this up right away!” Rufus growled under his breath, but kept his cool and simply waved the waiter off.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” Rufus said, turning back to Temeraire. “I know a trick when I see one.” Not too far away, Yosuke returned to Uta’s side, proudly presenting the ink-stained bowl.

Utakata grins. “Thank you,” he replies. He takes the bowl and leans down to let Saiken spit some slime. Dipping the wide end of the pipe into the soap solution, he presses the narrow end to his lips and blows a few bubbles. For each one, he pours a little slime into it and lets it float into the air. He hopes that the man is too angry and distracted to not see them floating a couple feet over his head. But he puts his supplies away once the slime is all used up, tucking them into the kimono. He places the bowl elsewhere, just in case. Subtlety, especially now, is key. Utakata sits and waits, looking for a window of opportunity. He smiles and nods at Tem, mouthing “nice one.” 

Tien glanced at the bubbles overhead, then at Utakata--grinning briefly--and then back at Rufus. How to make sure he stayed distracted...ah. Intervene. Of course.

“Calm down,” Tien said, stepping up next to Rufus and turning so he half-shielded Temeraire from the other man’s glare. “You’re scaring her. She just said she’s not used to this, it’s probably her first big party.” He turned to Temeraire, making sure that Rufus couldn’t see his face. Nice job, he mouthed, grinning. Then, at an audible volume, “Are you alright?”

Temeraire smiled when Tien came in to defend her. Truth be told, she had very much dumped the ink on purpose, but it wasn't like she was about to admit it out loud to this thieving jerk. "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks. I should've known my friends were setting me up when they told me to bring that ink to the party... Now I know why... man, I need better friends." A ruse of being misled by a group of "friends"? Brilliant. She was on fire tonight.

Oh, that was good. Tien faked a frown. “I suppose this one here isn’t the only party trasher tonight.” He tilted his head at Rufus, keeping his tone light. “Not that I blame you. It’s unfortunate that they’d do that to you, especially if it’s your first time coming to this kind of event.” He couldn’t just leave it at that. He had to keep Rufus distracted. Come on, think of something…

Tien’s gaze caught on the spot where Fractal rested on his jacket. Ah. Perfect. He brushed at his sleeve. “I don’t think I’d be surprised if someone started setting…” He trailed off, waving a hand vaguely. Did they have chulls here? What was something big and loud that Fractal could mimic?...Wait, duh--“...Setting wild animals loose. You know, I saw a horse earlier?”

His spren, fortunately, seems to get the message, and zips off his sleeve and across the party floor.

"Oh, yeah! I saw a horse earlier, too! Maybe it was the same one? I didn't think there'd be horses around here, but with this kind of party? You never know..." Praise that King for bringing his steed along. But would it be worth drawing Xander's ire by intentionally riling up his steed? "...but, you know - just saying, if I were to cause a scene - I'd be using something loud and obnoxious. Something like... fireworks. Sometimes those loud popping sounds they make get on my nerves, and they're too bright and colorful on occasion..."

She hoped Tien got the hint.

Tien had no idea what those were. And anyways, Fractal had already gone off. Which was a shame, because they sounded perfect. He nodded thoughtfully, crossing his arms, and chanced a glance at the bubbles that were now hovering directly over Rufus’ head.

Temeraire, too, noticed the bubbles - those had to be Utakata's work. She had a feeling that they would pop soon, and when they did...

Well, they wouldn't need fireworks then.

It takes a minute for him to go to the bar and grab some drinks. He grins, knowing he has a chance. Utakata smirks and, keeping it hidden, snaps his fingers. He turns around to watch as his work begins to come to fruition- the slime raining down on the ink-covered man. He grins and downs the shot he ordered, content with his prank. Utakata flags the bartender and asks for another bottle of that sake- for another successful prank.

Dennis wasn’t sure why these people were bullying Rufus- well, no. He knew exactly why they were bullying him, and he couldn’t blame them for it, but he also couldn’t just stand there while they attacked him with some kind of power. It was possible that the bubbles were harmless, but it was also possible they were filled with acid, and from past experience acid was more likely. 

“Rufus!” He lunged forward, trying to shove Rufus out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough. Wasn’t that how it always was? Always too slow, too weak. Rufus was spared from the worst of the slime, which instead hit Dennis, but some splattered onto him. 

Dennis couldn’t do anything about the slime on his hair or the cloth parts of his costume, but he could at least get it off of his skin and armor panels. He froze the slime on the front of his body, then stepped backwards, leaving a slimy imprint of his body floating in the air, then repeated it for the slime on his back. Possibly an overreaction, but he knew what had happened to Victoria. 

OH, THAT SON OF A B—

Utakata’s eyes widen in anger as he sees the man who appears to be the thief’s friend knock him to the side. He quickly pours himself a large glass of that sake and sips on it, seething. What he hadn’t accounted for was that. He had half a mind to plant an explosive bubble behind them both and pop it. But, taking a deep breath between sips, he realizes that it’s nowhere near worth getting so riled up over something so juvenile. 

He also realizes, however, how quickly he’s sipping. So he pours himself another glass and walks back towards the others. That actual son of a… Way to ruin a perfectly good prank. He sighs. Perhaps some of it got onto the man, but the full brunt of it would’ve been art. A goddamn shame. Perhaps he’ll keep this bottle to himself after all. It’ll be gone in no time.

Yo, what in the seven hells is this guy on?! Temeraire was fuming - things hadn't quite gone according to plan thanks in no small part to the thief's companion. She almost wanted to scream bloody murder in their faces, but no, that would definitely cause more issues. Part of her wished she had gone to rile up Xander's steed, after all…

Alright, that was more than enough. 

Rufus furiously wiped the slime away from his face, spraying the sand with slime. He was tired of these children fooling around and he tired of Dennis being such a hero all the time.

“You’re such an idiot,” Rufus said, turning his back to strangers as he cupped Dennis’s face and began rubbing the slime off him. Despite his frown, his voice dropped softly so lightly it was hard to detect. “Quit trying to help.” Satisfied that the rest of the goop wasn’t going to obscure Dennis’s version, Rufus removed his hands from Dennis’s face and turned to face the strangers. 

“You.” His expression darkened considerably. “Do you really think I was born yesterday?” he snapped. “This universe is full of weak humans which, clearly, none of you are.” In his anger, Rufus had completely neglected the obvious signs of the strangers being interdimensional travels as well. There was the girl’s cat ears, the younger man’s weird moving fabric, and the strange slug creature beside the man who had belly-laughed earlier. Rufus shook his head, furious at both himself and the strangers. He normally would just assume it was a harmful prank, but he already knew the consequences for not taking the threat seriously. He wasn’t going to fall for that ever again.

“Let me make this perfectly clear,” he began. “I detest humans, loathe them even, but I know what some of you people do. I know what happens when you give certain people access to the multiverse and I’ve already done my fair share of cleaning them up.” Rufus’s fingers twitched, itching for the chance to summon his gun. “So how about we stop playing this little charade and you tell me where you’re from or who you work. If I like the answer, we won’t have any more problems despite how annoying you all are. If it turns out that this--” Rufus gestured towards his entire body. “--is a prelude to something worse you have in store for this world then I’ll keep things brief.”

They’d gone too far. They had very much gone too far. Tien had started to realize it when he recognized the sheer panic in the red-haired man’s face--the kind of panic you get when someone’s about to be horrifically injured or killed in front of your eyes. Rufus’ inflamed speech only drove the point home.

Tien had taken a half-step forwards to reassure the slime-covered man, frozen and watched in fascination as he demonstrated strange powers to remove the slime from him, and now he took a step back at Rufus’ speech, raising his hands in silent surrender. Storms, he hopes Fractal hasn’t agitated Sieghorse yet. He calls her back to him with a mental tug, and after four heartbeats she settles briefly around one finger as a ring before releasing herself back into her pattern form along his jacket’s arm.

Upon the fog of anger clearing, his heart falls deep into his chest. Utakata recognizes that sort of trauma in the redhead’s face- that sort of fear that everything you know and love is going to go to hell. And frankly, almost seeing Hamako get killed during the Chunin exams those three years ago? He knows how that feels. How could he have taken into account something like that?

You don’t. That is a lesson he learned before, you never know what a man is going through, not unless he tells you straight to your face. He sighs and takes another whole drink. Now he feels it, but he won’t admit that he should probably slow down on the sake. As well as hating humans…. If he hadn’t had his family or his cell mates as support, he would have felt the same as this angry blonde man. He doesn’t give a damn about the blonde, that man can go to hell, back, and hell again if he so chose. But the redhead…. No, he knows the trauma all too well. So he pours one more glass. He sees Tem doesn’t look too happy, and his heart sinks that he can predict what’s about to go down. He calls Saiken to him and thinks to him, there’s a chance I might need you to come back in, I might need you. But I’ll let you know. 

Of course, Utakata. I’ll be ready to come back inside, but let me enjoy the air a bit more.

Alright. Don’t go anywhere though. He looks down at the slug and takes one more sip of sake. Yeah. He’s gonna need this. 

"...so you hate humans. Am I supposed to be scared?" The sweet, innocent tone she'd had while telling those lies had all but vanished, and now Temeraire's voice was practically drenched in venom. "Listen here, bud, we weren't the ones who tripped some poor woman into a fruit pie and started flat-out stealing silverware from the table. Who was the one who did, again...?" She glared at the thief. "Oh, yeah, you. If you think that we were just going to let you get away with doing whatever you wanted... well, bud, you thought very, very wrong. And if you really think that the XDRS is the one tearin' up the multiverse, you got another thing coming. So back off, or we're gonna have a problem."

Tien backs up two more steps, pointedly away from Temeraire.

Utakata looks at her and blinks, rather slowly. He sinks back into one of the tall chairs around the bistro tables and takes a drink. Oh… Oh NO…….. He will admit, though… He’s rather impressed at the gall she has. 

Rufus throws his head back and barks out a laugh.

“That’s what you got out of what I said?” he asked, fists clenching. “Listen here, I know it might be too much for you to understand but there’s a distinct difference between messing with a world’s inhabitants and slaughtering them indiscriminately because you--” Rufus blinked. His brain slowly caught up with the rest of what Temeraire was saying. “Sorry, did you say you were X-Dreamers?” Rufus asked, his tone completely losing its venom. “Really?” He straightened his body, glancing between each person in front of him. “You guys?” These were… a bunch of children. None of them looked much older than 25. Granted, Grand Chase was also populated by people in their younger 20’s, but he had expected a semi-prestigious organization to have people of a high caliber than a bunch of adolescents. 

Utakata nods. “We’re with one of the senior agents, Lara Croft. I’m not sure where she is, but…”

“I’m here,” Utakata hears from behind him. “The devil are you doing giving us away like that? Seriously, Temeraire. Utakata.” When Utakata turns around, there’s Lara. He almost hadn’t recognized her if not for her snobbish accent gracing his ears. But there she is, hopefully there to bail them out with proper explanation. Though with that frown….. He kind of wishes Stan were here to put Lara in a less witchy mood. “And what, pray tell, is going on here?” 

Tien panics. Behind Telinar’s mask, that panic manifests as diving deeper under his false self. “I’m not associated with them,” he says, a higher-class accent soaking more heavily into his words. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I’ll be leaving, bye.” He spins on his heel and walks out of there as quickly as he can without outright bolting.

He needs someplace quiet to collect himself and recover. “Fractal,” he whispers in his normal voice, threading through a knot of people and vanishing from the others’ view, “go back and keep track of what they’re saying. I’ll come back in a bit.”

His spren hums assent and darts back to the group of agents. 

Bugger me. She'd done it now, hadn't she? Temeraire had to go and give the guy the devil, and now Lara had shown up. "...h-hey, he asked. I wasn't gonna keep going with the ruse. Besides, it could've ended up a lot worse than ink and slime."

Lara sighs. “That doesn’t explain what in God’s name is happening here, does it? Well? On with it, then. One of you. I don’t have all day.” She looks at Utakata, who seems to be taking another drink. “On with it does not mean take another goddamn drink.” 

Utakata sighs. “Look. Yes, the ink and slime—”

“On. With. It.” Lara says as if she were shooting a gun with each word. She glances at both of them. No way in hell were these people going to make Lara Croft look worse in front of people who already knew her reputation. Nor was she going to allow them to ruin an impression of her by screwing around at her party. “Well?” 

"Cutting to the chase, then. This guy--" Temeraire distinctly points at the blond-haired thief. "--tripped a woman into a pie and started stealing silverware. We weren't just gonna let him do that, so I dumped ink on him and Utakata followed up with popping slime bubbles. And that's when vocal hells broke loose. That enough of an explanation for you?"

“Devil may care what he was doing, you don’t respond in that matter! Did I not tell you not to cause a scene?” Lara puts two fingers to her temples. She takes a few deep breaths. Calm down, Lara Rochelle, this is a party after all. “Still. Someone who was stealing… Lord almighty, you could have informed me and I’d have dealt with it. The man looks distinct enough, doesn’t he?” 

With that, Utakata puts his hands up in surrender. “Alright, yeah. I’ll admit I wasn’t mature in this situation. I apologize, it wasn’t the right thing to do at all.” Even he had a sense of honor, after all, and he couldn’t just stand by and let Temeraire deal with it. Lara’s wrath is probably worse than the emotional beating he took from the thief. “And for making a ruckus.” He takes a swig of sake. “All of that could’ve been handled better.” Ugh. I feel it again. Yikes, am I about to be wasted? ...So be it, if everyone’s mad at me. I’ll take it. I’ll wash it down. I’ll forget about it for a while. He downs the rest of the drink.

Lara nods. “Thank you.” She doesn’t seem completely content, but it seems to halt her rage for a bit.

Temeraire huffed a little - she'd said her piece and was now internally cursing Tien for just up and leaving like that. No doubt Lara didn't like her much now. She needed to cool off, bad, but she had no way to relieve the stress without making things worse. The poor Miqo'te was tense and there was no way to ease it. She seriously hoped Illidan and Xander got back here soon.

I'm never going to another fancy party again, she vowed to herself. It wasn't worth it anymore.

Lara sighs. “That being said,” she adds, turning to the blond, “I do not take kindly to the idea of things being stolen- especially for a party of mine, and if I have to pay for missing items, you will be held liable, am I clear? Being a senior agent of XDRS, I won’t hold back.”

Oh by the goddesses they were children. 

The newcomer, Lara they called her, began demanding they explain themselves to her and they did in a manner akin to small children nervously confessing to their bad deeds to their parent. Rufus considered calling Ronan for a brief second and asking if he had actually researched X-DRS before telling Rufus to join it. Sure, Rufus like their arrangement, but was Ronan really okay with sending Rufus to fight alongside people with the maturity of tweens? Rufus sighs, carding his fingers through his inky hair. Think about the paycheck, he tells himself. 

“You know, this would have gone more smoothly if you told me you were XDRS in the first place,” Rufus said, sighing. “You nearly had me convinced you were here to wipe life off this planet and I--” Rufus chuckled darkly. “Well, it’s nothing you have to worry about now.” He glanced over at Lara, the one they claimed was the senior agent. “You’re Lara Croft?” He asked, nodding towards her. “Rufus Wilde. I was part of Grand Chase, another organization that spanned across the multiverse. We disbanded some years ago after our target, Kaze’aze, was killed. My brother-in-law, Ronan Erudon-Isolet, contacted your group some time ago about sending some of our own to join you, but it doesn’t seem you got the message. He sent me over to help you and let me tell you, your base must be somewhere special.” Rufus waved his hand in a circle. “It’s real hard to find one place in the multiverse especially when you don’t have coordinates. So--” Rufus’s expression hardened. “You can have your silverware back. I was under the impression that this was a party of snobby rich people.” Rufus pulled out the silverware he had stuffed into his coat and tossed them into the pile they came from. “That said, can it with the threats. I didn’t spend nearly a decade fighting a crazed god to be threatened by a mere human. I’ll be amiable, but if you think you can intimidate me with empty threats you best think otherwise.” 

Lara grins slightly, closing her eyes. She’s quite amused at how he seems to bark like a little chihuahua at her. Perhaps it’s true that he could kill her, but would he, knowing that she’s got an in like that? “Mm, I see. I’ll keep that in mind, sorry. Either way, don’t mind them. They’re all new. I’ll see to it that they figure out what not to do when they’re not in their own universe.” She glances at all of them, her expression no longer hardened. “Anyway, I can have Winston take you to the hotel where you can be cleaned up, if you wish. Your companion as well. I apologize on my behalf as well, I should have been more attentive to what’s going on.” She gestures to the butler, who nods and starts stepping in the direction of the hotel.

“If you don’t mind, I can take you,” Winston says kindly. Lara smiles at Winston.

Then she sighs. “The Devil…. ‘Course this happens, doesn’t it.” She turns and walks back towards the group of friends she was originally speaking to. 

Utakata sighs and downs the rest of the sake. He’s more mature than that, and he just got talked down to by someone younger than him that he could absolutely beat in a fight. 

But whatever. It’s fine. It’s all fine. Never been better, has he. 

Perhaps he’s already had too much. This sake is starting to get into his brain. He lurks over towards the beach and finds a chair to slouch in. Who knew he’d be talked to like a child, and give off such an impression to a possible newcomer? ….I’m a goddamn idiot, he thinks to himself as Saiken comes near and places another bottle that he likely grabbed from behind the bar. 

“Take,” Saiken says as he drops it in Utakata’s lap.

“....You’re a horrid influence.” He smiles at Saiken anyway. “Thanks though. Seems I can at least count on you.”

Edited October 25, 2019 by Mikasa361

[Pachimew]

Tien'd had a few minutes to calm down from his panic and think things through now. Fractal came back and told him the whole thing had been defused, which also helped. He’d had...maybe too much time to think things through now.

Tien winced at himself as he reflects on his actions. More specifically, at panicking so badly that he’d locked himself into hiding behind his lighteyed mask so early on, without even having the benefit of Lightweaving. It was stupid and sloppy. He should be better than slipping behind it in a panic.

Also, now he couldn’t bring it out for the rest of the party and was going to have to pretend he’d had no involvement whatsoever in the whole thing. He could do that, though. That was kind of a relief. 

So. First order of business. Avoid Utakata and Temeraire. They knew who he was, and he really didn’t want to face that right now. Which left…

Yosuke was still petting Sieghorse when Tien slipped up next to him. “Hey.”

[Mikasa361]

 

ウタカタ - Hierophant and Lara Rochelle - Empress

X -  Flee | ▢ - Drink

△ - Chat | O - Bonding Time

 

 

“Oi.” 

 

Utakata turns his head to see Lara, yet again, behind him. 

 

“This seat taken?” Lara gestures to the chair next to him. Utakata shakes his head, allowing Lara to take a seat in the chair. She looks at him, her expression gentler than it was before. “Hey, um… I wanted to apologize for losing it at you. I was going to talk to Temeraire as well, but she’s a bit preoccupied at the moment, doesn’t seem willing to talk.” Utakata looks at her and knits his eyebrows together. She’s holding a glass of some sort of wine, and seems to be drinking it slowly. He curses himself for downing that sake too quickly, he feels weird. “I was too harsh.”

 

“Just a lil bit.” 

 

Lara chuckles. “Perhaps I do have a little bit of that ‘rich spoiled brat’ aura during parties like this, I just… felt mortified that people I was associated with- adults, for that matter, were playing around like children.” She takes a sip of wine and looks down at the ground. “Truth is, I was also jealous that you were trying to have a little fun here. I’d been stuck trying to socialize and avoid suitors today so much that I remembered why I hate parties like this.” Pause. Utakata takes that minute to think about things a little bit. Then he sighs.

 

Then he decides to speak. “I’m sorry I contributed in that foolery. I guess I was bored, and the idea of pulling pranks brought me back to childhood. It sounded like fun, but I realized I went too far.” He takes out the pipe, opens the lid to the soap water, and dips the pipe in. “That man…” he blows some bubbles into the air. “The one who knocked Rufus out of the way… I knew I messed up when I saw him.” 

 

Lara raises her eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

 

He blows a few more bubbles. “His body language, his eyes….. it was as if he were going to lose someone he loved dearly. I’ve been there, but I was so focused on how he ruined my prank that I didn’t see it right away.” More bubbles. “....I’m an idiot. Why did I agree to something so stupid….”

 

“That I don’t know. But we’ve all ed up at some point. It’s human. Don’t think of yourself any less just because I yelled at you.”

 

“Don’t flatter yourself. My self image was ruined years ago.”

 

Lara raises an eyebrow. “Oh… Er… I’m sorry.”

 

Utakata waves it off and shakes his head, playing it off. “No, don’t worry about it. My stepbrother is a pretty nasty person, didn’t like having a little brother one bit.” 

 

“...Oh…” Her voice is soft. Painfully soft.  Utakata shakes his head again. 

 

“Bah, sorry. I shouldn’t bother you with that. I’m a bit drunk, I tend to spill when I’m there. ...Look out, I might become a bit more giggly soon enough.” He looks at her to see if she’s disappointed. Clearly, yes. But all she does is shake her head at him. 

 

“Bloody hell… Ah, well. Seems as though everything else was running smoothly, so…” 

 

She looks over towards the beach, and her eyebrows knit together. Had she spoken too soon?

 

Edited October 25, 2019 by Mikasa361

[TehUltimateMage]

Stan --  Mauna Kea Beachfront

[ on the water ] - [ planned tardiness ] - [ has an inappropriate amount of explosives, as usual ]

 

Far into the distance over the sea, a man was on a small boat. The motor was at full strength, spraying water and leaving a powerful wake behind him as he sped forth towards the beach.

 

Stan stood at the front of the motorboat with a pack slung over his shoulder, directing a light to chart the path forward in response to the darkening sky. Behind him was a man operating the rudder, and between the two of them was sweet, sweet weaponry and enough black powder -- in several forms -- to blow the vessel out of the water several times over. 

 

Internally, Stan cursed himself for being sloppy. Why hadn't he noticed the signs earlier, instead of having heard of them through a chance encounter? He was lucky, but he should have kept a closer look on the people coming and going during the party's preparation. Then again, for all their banter, he didn’t know Lara that well. Hell, he barely knew anything of her past career or her family or friends, other than the hints she had left here and there about her dead parents. Unsurprising that one wouldn't want to talk about these things very frequently. But to be infamous enough to be personally targeted? He knew he himself had that kind of notoriety, but he imaged that the list of people Lara would have slighted would have been rather short.

 

Still, Stan was impressed that Lara’s instinct was right on the money. Bringing agents was a smart move -- and it was even better, with Xander here, however crazy it was that he brought his horse. (Who brings a horse to a dinner party?!). Initially Stan thought that all he would need to do was defend her against suitors, but it turns out that the party was about to get a lot more interesting... and he didn't even have to use Winston's credit card for the boat rental.

 

~~ several hours earlier ~~

 

While everyone was out purchasing clothes, Stan was doing a little shopping of his own. He had considered perhaps wearing something out of the current era, but then his strangeness would be overshadowed by the rest of the XDRS. It sort of ruined the effect, you know? So, he opted for classic, timeless menswear. Black tie, not too formal, complete with a dark cravat for a distinctive setpiece and unbuttoned just enough to feel casual. He already had the suit on hand, albeit carefully folded into his luggage. He had all the time in the world to return to the rooms that Lara’s butler had so graciously reserved for them.

 

…Well, that was the plan, anyway. In reality, he dropped off his things and wandered around town, occasionally bumping into the pockets of clueless tourists and then apologetically returning their wallets with a few bills short. Lara had a credit card, but is just didn’t feel right to take advantage of her like that, wouldn’t it? Besides, for these kinds of skills you either use them or you lose them, and he was dangerously close to losing them. For personal purchases, he made sure to use his personal gains. 

 

Leaning against a telephone pole outside a comic book store -- excitingly vintage! -- Stan flipped through the final issue of Watchmen. He wasn't quite reading it so much as literally flipping through the pages and glancing at the pictures, excited that he had another piece to add to his growing new collection. The act of owning something was already a happy moment. He didn't need to actually read it, other than to kill time and procrastinate on actually important tasks. 

 

"--Lara Croft... party..."
 

Stan titled his head to listen better, but was cautious enough to hide the fact that he was evesdropping. Did he hear correctly? Was her name mentioned?

 

"gonna blow this whole joint--"

 

Well. He might not be current with the slang of this time, but as an expert in the field he knew what that meant. He snapped his book shut, audibly, to catch the attention of the people whispering around the corner.

 

"Gentlemen," Stan began, stepping forth. He held a hand out, palm up, to stop the businessmen from fleeing right away. "I believe I can help you with the lady of the hour."

Edited October 28, 2019 by TehUltimateMage

[Mikasa361]

[U and L - Mauna Kea - Beach]

 

Utakata has a horrible feeling about that small boat that seems to be coming in rather quickly. Something settles in the pit of his stomach- he turns to Lara who seems rather intrigued by it. In the dark, he has no idea who the people are on it, but it doesn’t matter. Everything, since he got to this area of beach, felt off. Somewhere inland he picks up on an odd chakra, his eyes widen as he sits up and looks around, seeing if there’s any immediate danger. God forbid if it were another Forbidden Jutsu here of all places… Especially to a caliber of that of the Tsuchigumo clan.

 

“Lara… I don’t have a good feeling.” His eyebrows furrow together. 

 

Lara rolls her eyes. “Are you going to vomit—"

 

“NO, Lara. Something isn’t right.” He looks around, but relaxes back in his chair. Utakata blows one singular bubble and allows it to float in the direction of the water. If it’s a danger…. he needs to be able to help take care of it, as drunk as he is. Perhaps planting a bubble in itself is a bad idea. “It feels like there’s some weird chakra around here…”

 

“The Devil are you talking about?”

 

Utakata shushes her and narrows his eyes at the boat heading their direction. "Does that random boat speeding in our direction not look suspicious? Come on, Croft, listen to your instincts here." He gets up out of his chair and stands up, crossing his arms over his chest. Grabbing the bottle of sake he just killed, he smashes it over a rock, which causes Lara to jump. But Utakata has a method to his madness, as he picks up the biggest pieces and places them on a bistro table. The rest he collects, and wraps them in a cloth napkin, so as to not leave the mess lying in the sand. 

 

Lara raises her eyebrow. "Was that really necessary?" Still... He's right about one thing. That boat is awfully suspicious, she doesn't see that many piers around here. Could... Could her worries this entire party have been correct?

 

"Makeshift shuriken. Just my pipe isn't going to be enough if we're being attacked."

 

"Attacked..." Lara repeats that last word and looks at the boat. She grips at her purse and opens it, carefully taking out the loaded revolver. A sense of dread settles in her chest. If Utakata's (and, deep down, her) instincts are correct, then.... Will the revolver be enough?

[Pachimew]

Tien blinks as the small, furry creature--he hadn’t quite picked up on what it was called--brushes against his pants, rumbling loudly. It hadn’t hurt him before, and it is kind of cute, so he goes ahead and crouches down to stroke its fur.

 

Soft…

Wait. Right. Don’t forget about Yosuke’s question. Tien looks back up at the waiter and smiles. “I got nervous and panicked a little,” he admits, carefully leaving out the fact that he’d panicked once Lara showed up, not before the prank started. “Do you think it went well? Was it…” he hesitates briefly, Dennis’ desperate expression flashing through his mind. “...worth it?”

[Pachimew]

Tien watches Milk Cream stalk away from him, feeling more hurt than he probably should be by the rejection. Fractal slides to the floor to trail after the creature, and she must hum at him or something because he jumps so hard from his sitting position that he does a backflip. The sight makes Tien laugh before he turns his attention back to Yosuke. 

 

“Eh, I can’t blame you for bailing,” the waiter says, examining his nails. For a moment, Tien thinks he must be using it as a deliberate cover for something, but no, he really is just looking at his nails. People do that sometimes without using it to mask something else, amazingly. Yosuke seems surprisingly uninvested in the whole thing, which Tien supposes is fair enough.

 

The other boy looks back up with a grin. “I had fun! Well, as much fun as I could have,” and Tien hadn’t quite been expecting that considering his attitude seconds ago, but Yosuke’s grin makes something go warm and soft inside him. 

 

Despite that, when he leans in, Tien finds himself leaning back automatically. The conspiratorial tone he takes sparks Tien’s interest as someone who’s spent years collecting secrets, but the rest of the situation makes him both uncomfortable and vaguely amused. It feels like a leadup to something cheesy, like the answer will be “a pretty boy” or something, and--and, honestly, Tien doesn’t really know if he can, or wants to, handle any flirting right now. 

But Yosuke is...and it’s been...and Tien can humor him a little bit. “What?”

[Pachimew]

 

Tien wonders if he should be disapproving or something of Yosuke stealing the pendant, but it honestly sounds like his friend deserved it, and then he’s distracted by the animal--it has a name, doesn’t it? What was it…

 

“Milk Cream,” Fractal answers softly. She’d climbed back up to his shoulder at some point.

 

Right. Tien mutters a thanks to her and then grins as Milk Cream once again stalks off in the sand. 

 

“Crazy cat,” Yosuke mumbles.

 

“Oh, is that what it’s called?” Tien says without thinking. “I’d been wondering.” ...Good job, self. Way to pretend you’re from here. Well, it’s not like it’s hard to pick up on with the company he’s been keeping… 

 

Tien shakes his head slightly as Yosuke says something else. “What--? Oh, that.” He finishes processing it a moment later and makes himself give the other boy a smile. “I’m fine. It’s just been a while since I…” he gestures at the party. “And never quite like this.” Never without something to do. Someone to follow. And add that to the prank that went too far…

 

Tien winces as the redhead’s panicked face flashes through his mind again. Why is he focusing on that so much? It’s not like he hasn’t seen worse.

 

Your fault.

 

...Ah. Of course. Self-blame. Tien doesn’t have the time or mental energy to grapple with that right now, so he slips away from that line of thought with practiced ease. “What about you?” He asks Yosuke. “I mean, you told me some of it, but--any reason you haven’t just…” He makes a circular motion with his hand and gestures vaguely towards the beach as he trails off.

[Mikasa361]

[Oh no, she’s here fellas]

 

Still mourning the loss of his perfectly fine egg to the merciless pit of Dennis’ stomach, Kuu is momentarily distracted by his thoughts. In the time it had taken him to get over the egg’s disappearance, his boyfriend had already walked towards Rufus -- now targeted and in the direct line of fire for a scolding -- and the shinigami is just about to join the two when a sudden pulse of energy through the room makes him freeze.

 

Looking around, Kuu analyses the situation. No one in the room had reacted, but the air itself shifted with a slightly-familiar aura -- as if a hollow had appeared, and yet not quite the same. As a shinigami, it was his mission to protect and serve the humans, and nothing stood between his oath to serve and what was clearly a disruption in the natural order. But ....

 

He glances back, hesitating. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Rufus or Dennis -- both were perfectly capable of handling themselves at any given time -- but just that this was a dangerous line of duty, and he feels better knowing others are at his side.

 

But they have no time to waste, and he would rather confront the source of evil than have it spring a surprise on them. He can almost hear his captain’s voice in his head, telling him he has learnt nothing -- still, after all this time, he doesn’t regret heading off to face Aizen alone. If he were to go back, he would do it again -- stronger, more ready than last time. 

 

He steadies the grip of his Zanpakuto, and flash steps into the hallways of the mansion, away from the party. The not-hollow’s scent is easy enough to track the closer he gets to it, and he teleports again, this time through the walls until he is outside. 

 

Perfect. He is closer to the sky here, and it is easier to use his abilities as compared to fighting indoors. Here, the not-hollow’s energy is almost overwhelming, and Kuu knows for certain that he is close. Ducking behind the venue’s grand decorum, Kuu surveys the area before him. 

 

There is nothing -- at least, not at first, but then his eyes narrow down between the carefully trimmed bushes at the very end of his property, and he sees a flash of platinum-blonde hair.

 

There! It seems she is trying to approach the venue without a trace, but he won’t allow that to happen. Raising a hand, palm-out, he holds the edge of his wrist to maintain a steady balance. 

 

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south -- Shakkahou!”

 

As he speaks the familiar words of the incantation, a small ball of focused energy begins to gather in his open palm; Kuu focuses on his magical ability, manipulating the Kido to his will. He doesn’t want a large cannon, not right now -- just a small warning shot of concentrated energy.

 

He fires the Kido spell in a straight line, piercing red hot energy heading in the direction of the woman hiding in the foliage. Without giving her time to recover from the sudden attack, Kuu steps from his hiding area and draws out his Zanpakuto, the blade gleaming in the sun.

 

“Reveal yourself!” he commands. 

 

Amanda has no idea why he’s speaking like some sort of medieval-era knight, but she doesn’t care. If he ruins her plan of being subtle, then there will be hell to pay. 

 

Who is this weird man, anyway? The way he’s dressed indicates some sort of Japanese battle wear, probably from a previous century. Strange, indeed. Could he be travelling the multiverse as she is? …This gets more peculiar as she thinks about it. But she’ll play this little game. 

 

“Reveal myself?” She looks at him, eyes wide and hands up in surrender. “What are you talking about? I have nothing to hide here!” What a lie, she thinks to herself, but can he pick up on the lie? Does this man have some sort of power? With that ball of energy he threw at me, he has to have something.

 

Kuu narrows his eyes at the woman, who holds up her hands with a look of terror on her features, responding to his question with a question of her own. What did she mean? 

 

Was this … deception? He has heard about it before, seen Rufus do it plenty of times by tricking Ronan and Lass into various scenarios until Elesis told them to knock it off, but he has never considered he would have to face it alone. Battles he can do -- word games, not so much. He has never been the most eloquent of people.

 

“I can sense it,” he says stubbornly. “Tell me right now, or I’ll kill you.” 

 

Damn. So it isn’t stupid. Amanda furrows her brows and drops her hands to her sides, shaking her head. What a shame, this could’ve been something as simple as a lost young woman who needs to get somewhere. Her plans to get in here in a subtle fashion were, in fact, ruined.

 

She chuckles. “I see, so that’s how it is? Shame.” Amanda gives a mocking pout and crosses her arms across her chest. “I’m only trying to find my friend Lara, have you seen her?” With that, she chuckles at her use of the word “friend”. “Friend”? Bah. 

 

She grins. “Well, fine, if you insist. But just so you know,” she says as she places her hand to her choker, “I, myself, am not the one you should be worrying about.” Amanda casually unhooks the mask off of her choker and takes one more look at it. “Let’s see what this baby can do.” Quickly moving her hands closer to each other, the mask begins to float between them and glow a bright magenta color as the beast that once separated her from Lara begins to take shape around her. 

 

Showtime. 

 

“If you’re friends,” Kuu says blankly, “shouldn’t you know where she is?” He has never heard of a Lara, and isn’t too sure who she is, but it seems slightly reckless of the woman to lose a person that is important to her. 

 

Before he can get a response, however, it seems his words are wasted as the woman chuckles to herself, pulling out a mysterious mask that levitates in the space before her. 

 

That -- ! As soon as he catches sight of the mask, Kuu’s eyes widen. That item -- it is absolutely the energy he had been feeling earlier. So she wasn’t -- a hollow? But how could she possess an item that would give off such a strong aura?

 

Before he can wonder too much about this new mystery, the swirling energy around the mask envelopes the woman whole and stirs the ground before his feet. Kuu takes a couple steps back, hopping to avoid being in the line of potential fire, as an unnatural shape emerges from the mist and Kuu finds himself staring at a strange monster that roars into the skies.

 

It is like a hollow, but not -- there is still the same energy of dead despair, but none of the usual hollowification marks. 

 

But a monster is a monster, and Kuu has trained centuries for this. He raises his Zanpakuto to the skies, feeling the familiar energy course through his limbs.

 

“Reach to the heavens,” he says, as distant thunder rumbles in the skies above, a threat to the monster -- even as it appears unfazed. “Raijin no Kaori!” 

 

The transformation is instantaneous -- white light overtakes his blade, and from the light emerges a long yari, the ribbon on the end of the weapon dancing in response to the fast winds. 

 

“Let’s go!” Kuu challenges, brandishing his weapon at the monster before him. “Bring it!”

 

Amanda can’t speak in this form, but she can certainly maneuver. She immediately yanks upwards into the air, floating around the unfamiliar man to strike from behind. Her movements are quick, she assumes that she will be able to get him first. 

 

The not-hollow is fast as she moves, and ruthless; Kuu swings himself around as she suddenly disappears from his sight, spiralling upwards, and he slides back just in time to avoid the creature’s sharp claws from making mincemeat of his organs. He slides his yari into place against her form and concentrates, feeling his Zanpakuto’s spirit echo within him.

 

“Thunder,” he calls, his words accented with the darkening clouds in the skies above -- he hopes someone will take notice of the changing weather, and that no one is currently out on the waters for what he has planned. 

 

He brings lightning down in the direction of the not-hollow, his blade tipped with yellow energy as he jumps, bringing the spinning weapon down to strike at the creature.

 

Amanda just barely dodges the hit. The beast screeches as it’s hit with the electric energy. Continuing to screech, it flies back in the air and floats for a second, diving back down. She’s not going to lose to this man, not after all she has planned. No. This is not going to end how he wants it. 

 

It’ll end on HER terms. She dives back down and sends out a ball of dark energy towards the ground. Hopefully it’ll hit the sand in the event she misses. But hopefully she hits. It misses and hits the sand, not even close to the man. If she were still in her human form, she would definitely have cursed a few times.

 

Still, she persists. Amanda sends another ball of energy that direction, aiming closer to the man than the sand. 

 

For good measure, she also dives down to attack again.

[hikarinomemori]

 

Illidan Stormrage, Lord of the Illidari
<Status: Stable>
<Location: Mauna Kea Beach, Hawaii>
<People: Xander | Temeraire>

 

 

 

Temeraire Rhowa, Warrior of Light
<Status: Stable>
<Location: Mauna Kea Beach, Hawaii>
<Current Class: Ninja>
<People: Illidan | Xander>

 

~~

 

"...what the hell happened here...?"

 

Illidan was absolutely stunned - he had not expected to come back to... whatever this was. The first thing that caught his attention, though, was Temeraire pacing back and forth in what he recognized was sheer anger.

 

"Knock it off, Temeraire, you're going to wear holes in your shoes. What happened here?"

 

Temeraire crossed her arms and made that strange cat-like huffing noise, only this time it sounded angry instead of amused. "...I don't wanna talk about it."

 

Oh, how the tables had turned. "You sound like you need to talk about it."

 

"...fine, but I'm making it short. In a nutshell, I pranked a guy, yelled at him, and pissed off Lara."

 

"You made Lara mad? I just-- oh my goddess, Temeraire." Yep, this definitely wasn't Illidan's night. "She told us not to cause a scene, and you went and did that anyway!"

 

"The guy had it coming! He was trying to steal!"

 

"So you thought it would be a good idea to prank him?! Look, Temeraire, I love a good prank as much as any mischief-loving demon out there, but they're only fun if everyone is having a good time... and from the sounds of things, Lara and whoever got pranked were not."

 

"But--"

 

"No 'buts', Temeraire - what you did was childish and stupid, and yelling at the man only made things worse. You should have just gotten Lara, or Xander, or hell, even me, and we would have handled it in a way that wouldn't have pissed off anybody." He sighed, pausing and listening to the sounds around him for a few minutes. "Look, I don't know how things work in this 'Ul'dah' place you keep mentioning, but this isn't Ul'dah. Whatever worked for you there won't work here."

 

Temeraire averted her gaze. Now that she thought about it, she had overreacted. Illidan was right; this wasn't Ul'dah. She needed to stop acting like it was. She looked down, clearly embarrassed with herself. "...guess we're even now, huh?"

 

"...you could say that."

 

Temeraire looked at Xander. "...what happened to him?"

 

Illidan opened his mouth to speak before his ear twitched a little. "...I'll explain later. Do you hear that?"

 

Temeraire paused, and her ears, too, twitched upon picking up the noise. "Yeah... It sounds like thunder..." Not a cloud in the sky, though, so... Her eyes widened."...oh, that can't be good. Wanna blow this joint and check it out?"

 

"You read my mind, Rhowa."

 

Off they went, towards the sound...

[Mikasa361]

[U and L - Mauna Kea - Beach]

 

Damn it. Utakata definitelty had a bad feeling about that lightning he saw when he turned to his right. The chakra nearby is going wild, as if there were another jinchuuriki nearby going into tailed beast mode. But there couldn't be, right? Not to his knowledge. Still, something is totally wrong, and he needs to figure out what it is before that boat gets any closer. He looks back down at the pipe and back in the direction of the lightning. 

 

....Yeah.

 

Utakata dips the pipe back in the soapy water and sends a flurry of bubbles in the direction of the lightning. If he can help halt the threat, maybe it'd be a good idea to do so. He glances at Lara, who's fixated on the boat. "Lara, prepare yourself. We could be under attack at any second." 

 

"Since when were you the senior agent?"

 

"Since you decided to start staring at the random boat instead of looking and listening. Do you hear that?"

 

Lara takes a second to listen. There seems to be some sort of scuffle nearby. Whatever it is, it's with some sort of unnatural being. Lara's eyes widen as she listens, whatever it is it's pretty close, probably coming from the foliage near the edge of the beach. She gets a tighter grip on the revolver. This does not, in any way, seem like it's going to end well. 

[Kiran]

Clockblocker

Allies: Kuu, Rufus, Utakata, Temeraire, Illidan, Lara, etc.

Location:  Mauna Kea Beach - Food Table -> Fighty Spot

 

Dennis let out a sigh of relief. As absurd as Rufus’ sudden transformation to a polite human (or demonic, whatever) being was, it was convenient for his purposes. Those purposes, of course, being keeping a fight from breaking out and getting them in a position to help the multiverse. He didn’t trust XDREs in the least, but it was their best bet. He could work with shady organizations if he had to; he’d had practice. Working alone would never be enough to make enough of a difference. 

 

He occupied himself with trying to scrape away more of the not-acidic slime from his face and hair. Ugh, his hair had to be a weird plastered mess now. It couldn’t be moved by anything but his own body, so if he touched it it would stay that way until he could find a mirror and fix it. At least the slime couldn’t penetrate too far into it. 

 

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of distant thunder. Reflexively, he looked up and saw the sky darkening from the direction of the sound. 

 

Kuu. 

 

“Come on,” he said, taking hold of Rufus’ arm. “Kuu’s probably trying to kill some fish.” Despite his casual words he was worried, so he ran towards the source of the thunder, letting go of Rufus to pull on his mask as he did so. He wasn’t the only one; the cat-eared girl that had dumped ink on Rufus and a giant Case-53 looking man had also started heading towards the foliage. Slime Jerk sent a stream of bubbles towards the sound, and Clockblocker took note to avoid them. 

 

Kuu was fighting something that certainly wasn’t a fish. He’d tagged a far faster before, but the not-fish was still quick enough that he wasn’t sure that he could get close enough to touch it without getting shredded by the claws it was armed with in the process. Of course, that would still be a win, but he’d rather avoid injury if possible. More importantly, the not-fish had sent a dark ball of energy towards Kuu. There was nothing he could do about that; he’d have to trust Kuu to take care of himself. 
 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Kiran

[TehUltimateMage]

Stan --  Mauna Kea Beachfront

[ on the water ] - [ the obligatory sappy speech ] -[ dinner and a show ] 

 

Stan motions to the man driving the boat to stop once they are within swimming distance of the beach. He runs a hand through his hair to smooth out the strands and compose himself, even though not many people would be able to see him in the darkness. Taking in the sea air through a sharp, refreshing breath, he raised his megaphone to his mouth.

 

Showtime.

 

"Good evenin' everyone! And apologies to Lara for being late to the party. I got ahead of myself and prepared a little surprise on the way here for the most wonderful woman i've had the pleasure to know for half a year. As some of you might already know, Lara has been doing work for the Extra Dimensional Restoration Squad, an organization that dedicates itself to resolving dangerous otherworldly anomalies caused by problems in the multiverse. It is important work! And so we, her friends from the organization here to celebrate not only another year older for Lara, but also another year of great experiences, achievements, and friendships. Lara and I have met for the first time on this very world, investigating Excalibur, and ever since then I couldn't have imagined my life without her laugh, the mornings she has with her tea in our dining hall, making jokes in the atrium, or performing research in the library. I -- we -- admire her beautiful strength and her endless well of determination.

 

So, my esteemed Lara Croft, this one's for you!"

 

He tells driver of the boat to slowly drive left, parallel to the beach, while he himself lights a couple fuses and throws them overboard. The sound of whistles fills the air, and with a series of successive pops, letters form in the sky one at a time:

 

 

 🟊 HPPY BDAY LARA 🟊

 

And finally, the boat doubles around. Placing a hand on his heart and humming to himself, Stan launches the last set of fireworks into the air shortly after the first set faded.

 

 ❤ ILY ❤ 

 

He turns to the man behind him, who looked like he had never been praised in his entire life. "Nice driving, Ryland. Couldn't have been a sappy chap without you."

 

That should have bought enough time, right? Those text fireworks were an absolute masterful find when shopping for flashbangs and other explosives. 

 

 

~~~

~~ several hours earlier ~~

 

Woah. He didn't think saying "take me to your leader" would have actually worked. He also half expected them to blindfold him and throw him into a van such as to conceal the location of their destination, but to his pleasant surprise, they seemed to have brought him to the exact hotel that everyone was staying at. Whoever their boss was, they chose their location rather deliberately, as if they were keeping an eye on the XDRS the moment they had arrived. Probably was keeping better tabs on the gang than he was. Who knew what Xander and his horse were up to at this hour.

 

Stan attempted some small-talk with the two men during the elevator ride up to the penthouse meeting room. Neither of them seemed rather talkative. It was almost a relief when the elevator alerted them that they've arrived. Stan follows quietly between the two, arms crossed, as they go through a set of double doors. At the end of the room sits a platinum-haired bombshell of a woman, dressed in all black. Perfectly sharp brows and a striking lipstick. If only she didn't look permanently pissed off at something. Forehead wrinkles were unbecoming. 

 

Amanda knits her eyebrows together in surprise when James and Ryland walk in with a tall, stocky green eyed man. She leans into her chair and looks him up and down, rather appalled that her lackeys would bring in some random man. One of her eyebrows raises.

 

“So… Who exactly am I looking at here? James? Ryland?”

 

So those were their names, Stan thinks, and commits them to memory. Truly triumphant. Now they would have no choice but to engage with his smalltalk. Though, which one was James, and which one was Ryland? Either way, Stan takes a gamble and evades the boss' question entirely, shifting his weight to one side. In the tensest situations, remain relaxed.  "Are you planning to draw out Lara Croft?"

 

"He says he's Stanley Gulliver, ma'am," clarifies one of the men. Ryland. "He's close to Lara."

 

"Rrrrreeeeeealll close," Stan repeats, annoyingly rolling his R's and extending his E's the same way he did when he told J and R the first time.

 

Amanda leans forward in her seat, propping her chin up with her left hand. Oh, she definitely understood what he meant by that, and she attempts to avoid flaring up. Instead, she closes her eyes for a second, thinking. So this is the Stan that I heard about… They’re pursuing a relationship? That figures… Lara really does have a certain taste in men, doesn’t she… To which she opens her eyes. 

 

“Real close? ...Now that’s news to me. Ah, so it appears you went off, didn’t you… I’d heard of a group of about… nine plus a horse in the nearby shopping center. So tell me…. Why haven’t I heard of you being in their group? Did you go rogue on your own girlfriend?” Amanda chuckles. “Interesting.”

 

She glares at both James and Ryland. “And you morons, that’s the very reason why I told you to not say anything about the mission in public, dammit!” 

 

Neither of the men flinched, used to Amanda’s little snaps. 

 

Amanda rolls her eyes and looks back to Stan. “So, you got me. We are planning to draw out Lara. What’re you going to do?” 

 

"Not every day you see a horse in full armor wandering around," Stan muses. How much did she know about the XDRS? If the letter was a plant, then that could mean bad news for the organization itself. 

 

He shrugs and shakes his head. "I guess I could've shot you dead the minute I walked in, but unfortunately for me, your friends were competent enough to take my guns and make sure I can't fire any finger lasers." They didn't seem too surprised by his self-built mechanical bits while they frisked him. Maybe finger lasers would be a good idea, now that he thought about it. "Not that it matters, for such underhanded tactics are clearly beneath me."

 

He winks, then takes a seat. "I'm just here to have some fun."

Edited November 11, 2019 by TehUltimateMage

[Mikasa361]

[U and L - Mauna Kea - Beach]

Utakata can’t read the letters in the air, but he can get an idea of what it was just by hearing Stan’s little speech. He glances at Lara, who covers her face with embarrassment. At that he laughs, it’s amusing to him to see her so flustered. But still, the weird feeling in his gut exponentially grows. Why would he make such a spectacle of himself? Sure, it’s his brand. Yes, he’s very over the top. But something about it…

 

Remember. Art of deception.

 

Right, Saiken. I know.

 

He crosses his arms and stands like a bouncer as Stan gets closer and closer to the shore. He really doesn’t like any of this, even in his inebriated state.

 

Lara thinks the gesture is very grand, but very sweet. She ignores the chit-chat from guests, the aww’s and the “wait she’s taken” comments, and the curses coming from a very persistent suitor. Instead, as Stan gets closer, Lara approaches the waterline. “Love, what the devil are you doing,” she asks as Utakata looks on. Maybe he's bitter at the idea of never being in a relationship, but he has no idea why it bothers him so goddamn much. But an even more pressing thought...

 

He really wonders what those two idiots see in each other.

 

[Pachimew]

 

“Let’s say I have an invested interest in this party.”

 

Is he doing this on purpose? Yosuke is doing everything Tien has been taught that points to a bigger plan or someone behind the scenes. It’s so suspicious it’s comical, and very possibly fake. But he can’t dismiss it out of hand--he’s been trained too well for that. Is it a joke? Is he trying to cover up the real motives of whoever by being way too obvious about it, so I’ll assume it’s a joke? Is he just really bad at hiding things?

 

...Is he trying to make me smile? 

 

There’s so many possibilities, and Tien doesn’t have time to think any of them through before a sharp bang echoes across the beach. He flinches hard, jumping back a couple steps and pressing his hands over his ears as the booms continue. Heart beating wildly, his gaze darts around for the source.

 

There’s...something exploding in the air. Though Tien doesn’t lower his hands, the light and color mesmerizes him, even as the sounds make him flinch every time one goes off. He starts to Memorize it--

 

Yosuke shoves him suddenly, and Tien can’t help a yelp of surprise. Wha--

 

Oh, Sieghorse. Poor thing isn’t reacting any better to the colorful explosions than he did. Is, he corrects with a wince as yet another bang resounds through the air. The horse shakes his head wildly, and looks like he might rear again when someone rushes in front of him.

 

“Woah, there! Easy boy!” Xander says, reaching out to calm his horse. What happened to him? Or is suddenly sprouting horns something normal for his world? For all Tien knows, it could be. “I’m sorry about this. He’s had bad experiences with loud noises.” 

 

Tien, wincing through another explosion, can very much sympathize.

 

Yosuke’s faint warmth leaves Tien’s side as he says something reassuring to Xander. Tien kind of wishes he would come back. Fractal starts up a hum on the back of his neck, something steady that he can feel as much as hear, and it helps ground him through the intermittent, barely-predictable bangs.

 

He turns his gaze back to the sky, slowly lowering his hands--still flinching at each boom despite Fractal’s help--and starts Memorizing again. The interplay of light sparkles against the night sky, and Tien’s struck by a sudden appreciation of the beauty within it.

 

“Well! That was something, huh?” Yosuke says next to him, lightly nudging his shoulder. “Things got pretty wild there, huh? Really makes me wonder who’s setting off those fireworks. Someone working for the “Extra Dimensional Restoration Squad,” whatever that is. Pretty weird if you ask me.”

 

“Mm? Oh, that’s me,” Tien says without thinking. “I’m here with them.”

 

“It was Stan,” Fractal informs Tien.

 

“Pretty sure that was Lara’s boyfriend,” he repeats to Yosuke, gaze still trained on the--fireworks, are they? Tem had been talking about them earlier. Yes, this would have been a nice distraction. He winces at another bang. A very nice distraction.

 

Fractal’s grounding hum turns uncertain. “Something feels...strange. An odd presence. Distant, but pressing.”

 

“Well, should we do something about it?” Tien asks, dropping his voice so his words are more hummed than even whispered.

 

“I do not know. Maybe.”

 

“Let me know if it turns urgent,” he tells her, and then falls silent next to Yosuke.

 

...Hm. He hopes the other boy will take this well.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Pachimew

[TehUltimateMage]

 

 

 

~~ several hours earlier ~~

 

He winks, then takes a seat. "I'm just here to have some fun."

 

Amanda leans back in her chair and gets another look at this man. Interesting. He’s willing to go these lengths for… fun? …He better turn out to be a competent man, he already seems like an imbecile. ...Well, scratch that. He seems competent, but…. Hm….

 

“Well, they know you’d probably be dead before you had the chance to turn the safety off, but it’s good to take precaution.” She folds her hands over her lap. “And I doubt you’re above dirty tricks, not if you’re here.” Her left eyebrow raises. “You’re only here for fun? Hm.”

 

"Bold of you to assume I run around with the safety on," Stan retorts. "The fact that you're even entertaining my presence already tells me that you're interested in spicing things up a little."

 

“Well you seem to know a thing or two about the party. The people you were coming with, and a few other little tidbits. And something tells me you’re just chaotic enough to do it.” Amanda once again leans forward, elbows on the desk, resting her chin on her folded hands. “And the idea of Lara being betrayed by someone she calls ‘love’, or ‘darling’, or whatever nickname she has for you… couldn’t be more satisfying, really.”

 

Stan nods. "Daddy," he clarifies. "She calls me daddy."

 

That was the one lie he was sure was going to bite him in the ass sooner or later, but it was too good to resist. Everything else was calculated, but this? This was for the sheer hilarity.

 

"But information ain't free, darlin'." He brings the topic back. "I assume you're not going through all this trouble just to assassinate her, so I'm sure someone as calculating as you would have an elaborate plan ready to deploy."

 

Amanda clears her throat at Stan’s initial clarification. “...Ah, I never knew her to be the type… I guess things can change in a couple of years.” She glances at the window awkwardly. Um… Lara… As much as I despise you, why? 

 

She snaps back into focus. “Well, of course I have a plan in mind, one that you’re gleefully throwing a wrench in.” To this, Stan has a rather smug grin on his face. She wonders whyLara finds him kissable, Amanda finds he has a rather punchable face. “So of course I’ll have to adapt it accordingly.” Her eyes narrow. “And in the event you go rogue, I’ll need a plan B, maybe even a plan C. I don’t know how much Lara would’ve told you, but I’ve always been a Type A about these things.” Yeah… of course I have. Amanda grabs a folder from inside the desk, placing it on the table and slipping it forward. “Normally I wouldn’t show it to someone like you, but I think if your being here already makes these plans null and void, I guess it’s okay to show you.” 

 

Stan shrinks back, placing one hand over his eyes and waving the other in front of him blindly. "Woah woah woah! You can't just go and whip out your massive goods like that and show them willy-nilly to strangers!" Still, he peeks through a gap between his fingers, rather deliberately, and slowly leans forward to peel open the folder. Stan recognized it as a sheer product of obsession, once he had it open all the way, with images, locations, and lists, as if it were documentation compiled by a conspiracy theorist. "Looks pretty comprehensive. It'd be bad if someone from the XDRS got their hands on this, huh," he comments, taking note of the various labeled tabs. Summary, Lara and Connections, Mauna Kea Beach, the Shadow World.... 

 

The Shadow World? Last he remembered, 1990s Earth didn't have a shadow world. Nobody was playing card games here. 

 

Amanda rolls her eyes when Stan pretends to look away as if she had just walked out of the shower. She then sighs. “Of course it would. Which is why I made sure to keep this folder with me, no matter what. A fair amount of those folders are things I already knew. Lara, that whole section? I filled that out from what I remember. I had to dig for some of her connections, for example…” She flips to one of the pages in the connections tab. “Toru Nishimura. Investigative reporter from Japan. From what I was told, Lara saved him on a mission of sorts, he’s a strong connection for her. If there’s one thing I can praise Lara for, it was the friends she’d been able to make. She has a few others- a history grad student, a tech guy… Looks like a couple of other people as well.” 

 

Stan nods rhythmically. Lara had never told him any of this. "Which you invited to the party?"

 

“A few of them. Obviously they’re Lara’s good friends. Better to have people there who she trusts there. Of course knowing her, even then she’d bring a few people from XDRS with her. So I had to dig a little- going to the black market seems to be a source of some good info. Unfortunately for me, it’s not enough. Which is where you come in. You’d know more about the others than I do.” Once again Amanda leans in her chair- she had never been the type to sit still for long. “And, perhaps, enough about Lara now that I can get into her head a little.” 

 

"She doesn't really tell me much about her own life," Stan admits. A truth. 

 

“Hm. Is that right. I suppose she doesn’t really do that, too many things that already mess with her head. Thinks it’s better not to burden anyone with her problems or something like that.” Amanda sighs and drums her fingers against her knee. “Well, I suppose you’re not completely useless.” She flips to another page. “Care to take a look at this?” 

 

In the next part of the section were typed up notes and photos about the XDRS, and it was clear that Amanda was directing his attention to an entry about Stan himself. He should have made a brief comment about the photo being less handsome than the real thing, but for a split second he froze until he could confirm that the sheet did not include any incriminating information. Still, the older man blinked once, saving the snapshot of the folio to his memory. 

 

"This is rather sudden. It's like the time I tried to Google myself," he says as he recovers himself. "Explosives specialist. That's me. I also repair weapons and do a bit of mechanical engineering. Refused to get drafted into the Mars Protectorate when I was sixteen even though they said I was a prodigy at fixing things. Had a bunch of girlfriends--"

 

Amanda furrows her eyebrows at Stan’s reaction. She avoids the temptation to lean back and kick her feet up onto the desk. She takes a second to remember that this is the multiverse, of course someone could live on friggin’ Mars if they so chose. Google? The hell is--- no, she’s not going to ask that question, not even to herself. “And I’m sure they were all lovely,” Amanda interrupts as Stan starts talking about himself. “All except the one.” 

 

"Oh, no, most of them weren't," Stan adds, hiding his anger at the indirect insult. "You know what they say: don't stick your nose in crazy. I just have the bad habit of getting involved with the crazy ones."

 

“I suppose there truth in that,” she says with a little venom. Then she sighs. Amanda crosses her arms over her bosom and leans further into the chair. It is, in fact, a rather comfy chair, all things considered. “You do seem useful. Maybe even more than useful. So I guess there are a few things I’ll need to tweak in the plan to make room for you. Namely, in the explosives we’d be using. If you’re the expert, tell me. What would you recommend.” She flips to the plans part of the folder and points at a few things. “One of the rough plans involved land mines. But I figured it’d be beat to go with something more mild. Unfortunately, I got my degree in anthropology, not demolitions.” 

 

"Land mines?!" Gee, lady wasn't kidding when she said she knew nothing about explosives. Well, he figured, to someone who didn't know explosives, that would be the first thing that came to mind whenever someone considered bombs in the ground. Visibly taken aback, he shakes his head vigorously from side to side. "Landmines are triggered by the vibrations of people stepping around them and have significantly dangerous payloads designed to maim and kill their targets. It's hard to predict how or when they'll go off. You wouldn't want to destroy your darling miss Croft before you got to her, yeah?"

 

"Sooo," Stan takes this moment while speaking to skim the plan, "To cause mass panic and confusion, it would be easier and cheaper to put in something that's just loud and flashy." Like myself, of course. "Hide something like flashbangs and smoke machines at the party then hook that series to an external detonator, and when the guests inevitably get a little drunk, make them think they're suddenly caught in World War Three." He smiled with close lips, squinting his eyes. It was a figure of speech to supplement that futureman vibe, of course. World War Three never happened. They jumped directly to Solar Wars. Which actually, was an expression that would have worked just as well--

 

"That is, unless you were intending to wreck this beach in particular and murder all of Lara's earth friends. That's a whole different plan were you'd have to lure her out first, and in that case, assuming that the XDRS agents survive -- which they probably will, knowing most of them -- you'll have some mad lads on your tail."

 

“Interesting… So I guess that leaves a few ends that I need to tie up- namely the other agents- but for now I should clarify. I suppose somewhere in time I did want Lara dead, but the current idea is to lure her out. I want her to suffer.” Amanda taps her nails against the desk again. “Hm…. Flash bangs and smoke machines? External detonator… That’s something I’ll leave you to.” Amanda takes out the iPhone that she stole from some unsuspecting teenager when she travelled to 2016 Earth. Opening out her notes app, she types a few things down, her nails making loud clacks against the screen. “But I’ll need you to tell me exactly what you’re doing so I can incorporate it into the plan effectively. You seem like a loose cannon, and I want none of that bull happening.”

 

"I don't know, people usually write down 'then Stan does a thing' in the script," he retorts with a shrug. Reaching over the desk, he grabbed a blue pen and began to scribble on the already marked map. "But since looks like I'm obliged, I'll set out a proposal. After dusk, when the party is far underway, I approach from this direction over the water. Payloads should be planted here, here, here, here and here, in addition to the fireworks on the boat itself which I will release to draw people to the waterfront while your people take position, then detonate when ready. The noise would scatter people towards the exit with the exception of the XDRS agents who will attempt to investigate the threat, which would make it easier to isolate your target."

 

"I gotta ask though, what's this secret weapon that keeps getting mentioned in the doc?"

 

Amanda taps the little mask on her choker. “I’m afraid that’s something that you’d have to see for yourself.” 

 

Stan squints, skeptical. "But you have a whole section on the shadow world at the end, which definitely seems relevant if it's included..."

 

“Well, yes. The two are very much related. It’s not like I can show you at the moment, else the whole plan get screwed up.” 

 

"Just a peek, pretty please?" Eyes bright, begging.

 

“Stan, it’s dangerous if I show you now, the whole hotel could get destroyed.” 

 

"Are the documents self-destructive or--"

 

“Wait- ah. Notes.” Annoyed at her own brain fart, Amanda rolls her eyes and grabs another folder, slipping it in front of Stan. “Feel free to look those over."

 

"I see..." He scans the new document and blinks to take another snapshot. The notes revealed what she meant by it being dangerous to show him directly. A wraith-like monster... Was it native to this world or was it collected from the multiverse? On the one hand, Lara's version of Earth, however mundane, had ghosts and spirits and magical items sometimes, and on the other, Amanda's handheld device didn't match the aesthetics of the 90s at all. 

 

Amanda looks over her notes and the drawings Stan made on the map. Then she looks everything over again with a critical eye. She grabs her pen and copies these notes onto another map. “Right. So I’ll be coming from this direction,” she says as she draws a messy circle somewhere inland, near the outskirts of the beach. “So if anything goes wrong…” She crosses out a couple of things from where she would make an entrance. “Don’t detonate any of these. Instead, focus on around the party. I do agree that we should get the other guests out of the way, they’re only useful for keeping Lara busy anyway.”

 

Then Amanda sits back and looks at the map she doodled on. “....And depending on where Lara is, we’ll have to consider the chance of her escaping. So I’ll have people inside already keeping her as far from the exit as possible. Or at the very least block it if she’s near it.” Amanda writes a few notes on the map itself. “And about the other agents…. what would I be able to expect?”

 

"I can hold her in position and keep her distracted. They're all newbies, with the exception of myself, Lara, and Xander, one of our leaders. I don't know much info about the new recruits, partly because nobody has been concerned with doing the paperwork or updating the databases." An in a way he was thankful for that. If nobody knows what's going on, then it's hard for information to fall into the wrong hands, because surprise! The information never existed in the first place.  "I think most of us assumed that it would simply be a fun party, so our more experienced agents were assigned to missions with higher stakes. But, from speaking with these people before departure, I'll tell you that they aren't real pushovers, either. Temeraire, the cat girl, has cat powers, that the kimono man, Utakata, can make bubbles as well as summon a tiny sluglike pet, Illidan's superpower is being a tall buff demon man, and I'm not sure what Tien does but he seems like a soldier of sorts."

 

Amanda takes a second to consider the lack of information she has. “Cat power…. Bubbles…” She says with venom. “Like hell these people aren’t pushovers….” She sighs, “But this will be sufficient. I’ll make a note of that.” No paperwork…. What kind of multiverse organization omits paperwork? Or a database? She rubs her temple. “...seriously, what kind of ‘non-pushover’ makes bubbles….”

 

"Dunno. Sounds pretty lethal if you manage to trap a fart inside one."

 

“Mature.” Amanda sighs and frustratedly clicks her pen. “Well it looks like I don’t have much else to work with. So I’ll have to play it by ear… Damn.” She closes her folders and takes a minute to mull it all over. “Interesting…. Quite the motley crew.” She rests her face in her hands. “God, Lara really has gotten desperate if that’s what she chooses to work with…” She sighs. “Then again, it’s Lara. When is she not desperate.”

 

Stan lets out a small huff, which he twists into a short laugh. "I just want to see one more thing before we rendez-vous at 9 tonight--"

 

Taking the first folder, he opened it to the last tab. The notes here seemed to be a bit more sparse, but once again, he was uncertain if this was an multiversal intervention, or simply something native to this world. He simply glanced at them but took a last picture for him to look at more closely later. It appeared that Amanda was still experimenting with this facet, but it could spell trouble soon.

 

"And also," Stan added with a grin, "I assume you wouldn't mind me using your credit card to make a few purchases to get the venue ready?"

 

“Yeah fine…. but I need to be able to pay it off this month so don’t go nuts.”

 

 

~~~

Stan --  Mauna Kea Beachfront

[hello love] - [goodbye love] 

 

Score! Stan grins widely. It worked! Despite Lara's words, he could tell that she thoroughly enjoyed the effort he put into the display. Woo the woman you love and chase off the suitors, all in one fell swoop. "I'm just being me, baby!" he yells back. He orders Ryland to drive the boat into the beach so he could meet Lara, who was standing beside blue kimono man, who was now red kimono man. Once it lands onto shore, Stan jumps off the prow and lands in a crouch onto dry sand, grimacing at how he was getting it all into his nice shoes. At least they weren't wet, but why were fancy parties on the beach even a good idea in the first place? He wasn't overdressed or anything.  

 

And now was where things got a little tricky. Despite his reassurances that he wasn't going to try anything funny, he is entirely aware that his escort still had his eyes on him, and would already be getting off the boat himself. Amanda really didn't trust him, huh?

 

Not that the suspicion was baseless.

 

He rises from his crouch, making sure the drawstring bag slung over his shoulder was closed properly, before he runs towards Lara and grabs her into a big hug. Holding her tight so she couldn't pull away easily, he whispers an apology into her ear, careful not to look too suspicious to his accomplice, though perhaps plenty suspicious to the man who Lara was standing on the beach with. "Sorry I'm late. Amanda is alive. She's trying to make your life a living hell with black magic. I--"

 

Thunder claps again and a pair of forms barrel through the trees framing the beach. Stan lets Lara go and immediately shoves his bag into her hands. Out of the two fighting forms, one was an unrecognized but clearly multiversal man with a katana -- was it a katana? -- and the other was a shape that looked exactly the same as the sketch in Amanda's notes. 

 

Seems like the plan, already, had fallen apart, and without even needing his interference! Stan watches the fighting and waits a couple beats, shutting out the noise of the rising panic of the people around him -- then flipped the switch in his pocket.

"Killer queen has already touched this party." It was a line that one of his old friends used to say.

 

Sand suddenly explodes upwards with a bang in multiple places around the beach, including the spot where the monster and Kuu were. Smoke fills the area. The boat behind Stan pops and explodes as well after a short delay, and he reaches into his pockets to put a pair of sunglasses over his eyes just as blinding bright flashes punctuated all the noise. Nice.

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by TehUltimateMage