[RQ] Come out of your shell

The sun was up - though not very high in the sky yet - when the volunteers (or voluntolds) began to gather at the meeting place on the beach for the shell-collecting contest that Hadama was hosting. Baskets had been set out in stacks, lined with cheerful blue-and-yellow muslin cloth, and a table held an assortment of small pastries alongside carafes of cold, fresh fruit juice and hot coffee. There wasn't a cloud in that blue sky and the morning was still cool enough to be mostly pleasant - though the temperature was already beginning to rise.

The ocean was only a few steps away, however, the waves low and inviting as they lapped a little lower with each gentle rush onto the sand. Hadama stood in the surf, feet bare and legs clad in swimming trunks of sober dark blue with a pattern of tastefully small but cheerfully flaming molten pineapples. The solemn king had one basket over his arm and was leaning down to collect a few shells from his feet: a red-and-white swirled flat shell and large, light blue spiral joining the handful of others already in his basket.

There were others already joining him and still more arriving. The 'contest' was set to run until noon, and the rumored prize was a favor from the King himself for the person who collected the most shells of the appropriate size in the greatest variety of colors and shapes.

Nova Ronin Sohalia Vesper

RONIN

the white knight

Ronin is taking full advantage of the hot coffee before things heat up too much for it to be tolerable any longer; with a steaming cup in hand and his dark hair still impossibly mussed from sleep, the Knight waves across to Hadama in the surf as he enjoys his caffeine injection. "I'll be right with you!" he calls. A shell collecting competition seems both wildly out of place and also exactly what people might need after the events of the past few days, and after gulping down the dregs of his coffee, Ronin sets his cup to one side and rolls his shoulders.

The Knight is dressed, today, in a pair of bright blue swimming trunks adorned with pink jellyfish, though he hopes he doesn't find any of them for real while wading through the shallows this morning. Tucking a basket under one arm, he pads across the sand and leans down to collect a broad, pearlescent shell, turning it in the sun to admire before claiming it as his own.

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins

When Sohalia arrived on the beach, it was to find others already gathering - some of whom were familiar. She’d elected to wear a bright blue swimsuit with a tied sarong around her waist, and she’d gone barefoot even through the streets of Haulani until she’d reached the warm sands of the Coast. Her hair was in a loose fishtail braid down her back, and tendrils were already escaping to blow free in the sea breeze.

Waving to Hadama and Ronin, Soh gathered a basket and set out down the beach, hoping to avoid encroaching on the others’ space. The Luminary made her way towards the lapping waves and began her hunt. A large, shimmering shell caught her eye, but when she picked it up, she found that it was chipped, more battered than it had appeared at first glance. She returned it to the surf, continuing her hunt.

the Luminary

'Cause your heart has a lack of colour and we should've known
That we'd grow up sooner or later 'cause we wasted all our free time alone

code stolen from sky who stole it from odd

just because the fog is there

Vesper sauntered onto the beach like he hadn’t a care in the world, his pale hair tousled by the breeze and the sleeves of his breezy linen shirt rolled up to his elbows. Beside him, Nova glittered in the sunlight like a walking, giggling piece of driftglass, already barefoot and kicking sand with every step. The early morning heat didn’t bother either of them much—though the idea of coffee definitely tempted him, and he snagged a cup before making his way toward the baskets.

He handed one off to Nova with a casual flick of his wrist, the muslin lining catching the morning breeze like a sail. "Go on then, pick whichever’s lucky," he murmured as they stepped closer to the shore. His own basket swung lazily from one long-fingered hand as his gaze scanned the beach, already noting the shine of Ronin’s absurd jellyfish shorts, Hadama’s pineapples, and Sohalia off combing the shallows.

With a faint, sly grin, he leaned a little closer to his sister, voice pitched low enough for just the two of them. "Y’know...a favour from the king could be worth a hell of a lot more than a few fancy shells. We could get into all kinds of trouble with that in our pocket."

Not that Nova needed any encouragement to raise a little chaos.

He waded into the water just enough for it to curl around his ankles, shadows coiling at his heels like seaweed drawn to shore, and bent to retrieve a shell that gleamed like moonlight trapped in mother-of-pearl. Turning it over in his fingers, he glanced back toward Nova with a ghost of a smirk.

don't mean nothing's behind it

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

Without passion you don't have energy,

Did someone mention COFFEE? Nova follows Vesper's lead in snagging a cup from the table. Her first sip is too bitter and nasty, but after giving the liquid a good 50/50 ratio of coffee to sugar, the bean juice pleases her immensely. She can already feel the caffeine hitting her system by the time their trapsing through the sand, hence the skipping and kicking and barefoot delight. 

Nova snatches the bag from Vespy, always happy to collect different things, especially ones with pretty designs and colors. "Okay! The pretty ones are the lucky ones! Do you know why?" Per usual, she doesn't wait for an answer, her speech already starting to ramble with the coffee. "Because we're picking them! And we only pick the best, so they're lucky we picked them!" Obviously.

Holding her drink in one hand and the bag in her other, Nova searches the sands for whatever catches her eyes. When a shimmery alabaster shell peaks from the sands, she uses her air magic to float it into the bag, spinning fast enough to make her red and white striped dress flare around her legs. "Oooh. Even more trouble? I want to find ALL the trouble! Although Hadama's only ever sounded stern with me once and that was when I got close to those ugly purple flowers - I guess that one might have been for my own good. He doesn't seem to be the kind who cares much about what we get up to though. If anything, he must think we're so fun!" She lets out a loud giggle, thoughts spinning and jumping chaotically around him mind. In a split flutter of a thought, she's jumping up to splash in the shallow water that laps at their ankles. Her water magic swirls around her legs, snagging at a tiny purplish brown conch shell as she matches her brother's smirk with something brighter and sparkling.

Without energy you have nothing.

Nova

He was quietly pleased to see so many familiar faces join in the contest, though he did not pause his own shell gathering. Quality mattered, but so did quantity. They would need enough to place around the entire Coast, after all. No small task, and every pair of willing hands picking up a basket and wading into the surf was welcome, no matter their reason for being there.

He nodded a warm welcome to Ronin, ambling a little closer before reaching down to sift his fingers through the sand as the water rushed over it, tumbling new treasures into reach and uncovering old ones as it pulled back a little farther, the tide ebbing outwards. "Ronin. Good morning. Will your husband be joining us today?" Simple curious courtesy, though it was not uncommon to see one Taliesin without the other.

He glanced over as Sohalia joined a ways off, and he watched the young woman quietly for a moment as she chose and then discarded her first shell. He remained silent, thoughtful, but soon enough Nova's caffeine-fueled laughter drew his gaze to the children of Safrin and his expression lightened. He might have even caught his name on the wind as Nova danced through the water like a flower made of spindrift, her basket already containing several shells.

He rose with another shell in hand - pale pink with dappled spots of deep brown, or was that maroon? - that was intact and a deep, shiny coral color on its interior side.

just because the fog is there

He doesn't need telepathy to clock the sugar crash that’s coming, but gods if it isn’t entertaining while it lasts. Vesper watches Nova spin with her shell like she’s the eye of a particularly glittery storm, letting the corner of his mouth curl lazily. "You keep pickin' shells like that and they're gonna start thinkin’ they won the lottery," he drawls, watching the conch land in her bag with a little curl of mist behind it. "Some poor mollusc’s gonna spend its next life braggin’ it once got carried by you."

He doesn’t bother bending down to collect his next find—his shadows stretch like lazy cats through the sand, brushing aside grit to reveal a pale pink scallop. It rises into his hand, wet and perfect, as he drops it with a soft thunk into his basket.

As Nova splashes forward, the surf swirling around her, Vesper stays a step behind—ankles kissed by water, his gaze flicking to the deeper blue beyond. "Hadama’s fun if your version of fun is riddles in a suit and judgin’ you with the silence of a thousand years," he mutters, but there’s no bite to it. His shadows flicker, twitching at the edge of his feet as if mimicking her more playful magic, brushing water over the tops of his toes.

He casts a glance her way, constellation freckles soft beneath the early sun. Then, with a nudge of shadow, he sends a small shell skipping across the water toward her like a skipping stone, its splash just a flick against her shin.

don't mean nothing's behind it

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RONIN

the white knight

Smiling to those who come to join them - and offering a casual wave back to Sohalia - Ronin leans down to pick another shell to go with his first pearlescent number. This one is a burnt orange and in the shape of a long, spiralling screw, and with a soft and impressed hum, he adds it to the basket before glancing towards Hadama as he hears the other man's voice ring out. "Not today," he calls, grinning. "I thought I'd take pity on him, let him sleep in."

Wading further into the shallows, the next shell the Knight uncovers is a beautiful, cotton candy pink, but it's cracked right down the middle. Frowning - it won't win any competitions but that doesn't mean it's any less worthy of being picked and used for their quest - Ronin straightens up with it and deposits it in the basket as well. "I'm surprised you didn't grab a bunch of shells from the sea floor," he confesses to the Tidebreaker with a smirk. "They must be abundant down there."

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins

Nova arrived in all her effervescent glory, drawing an affectionate smile from Soh, with Vesper alongside. Soh picked up a shell that was bright blue on the outside, with a pearlescent sheen on the inside, and deposited it into her basket. Then she wandered closer to the Marins. "Hey," she said to brother and sister alike. "It's good to see you guys." Especially after the disastrous pool party. At least it hadn't managed to dull Nova's brilliance.

Shading her eyes against the morning sun, Soh marked another shell a ways down the beach, this one a shimmering white that caught the light just so. "I love your dress, Nova. Did you make this one?" she asked as she made her way over to the shell that had caught her eye. When she arrived, it was smaller than she'd anticipated, but no less pretty, and she placed it gently into her basket before searching for another.

the Luminary

'Cause your heart has a lack of colour and we should've known
That we'd grow up sooner or later 'cause we wasted all our free time alone

code stolen from sky who stole it from odd

Without passion you don't have energy,

"As they should!" She giggles, twisting other shell into her bag - a shimmery bluish-black one that has her glancing at her brother. "Oh, Hadama's not that bad. Have you seen him laugh? It's adorable!" Like ripples of moonlight on water, subtle but beautiful, nonetheless. 

Nova's grabbing a few more shells from the surf, spinning and swirling through the tide as she sips on her coffee with a buzzing energy that feels too fast to be natural. It's reflected in the sparkling movements of her magic, sweeping pearly colored shells into her bag with swift flurries of different elements that don't pause when Sohalia approaches. Grinning, she hops, the curly blonde and blue strands of her hair catching in the salty breeze. "Hi Soh! Isn't it such a pretty day for picking shells?! The water is so nice!" She kicks the surf, splashing droplets of water over her dress.

With another twirl to show off the tiny crabs stitched into the fabric, she lets out a flattered giggle at the compliment. "Thank you! I did! I added the little ruffles and stitched in the crabs after I found this really pretty glittery fabric at the store! It was kind of hard to work with, but I was able to get it to come out just the way I wanted! I can make you one too if you want!" That reminds her of the last skirt she'd embroidered for Soh, and she creeps forward to 'whisper' conspiratorially, a small girlish giggle in her tone, "How'd your date with 'K' go?"

Without energy you have nothing.

Nova

"I have heard of this... 'sleeping in,'" Hadama said with a thoughtful nod to Ronin, a gleam of sly humor in his eyes. "Though I have not yet encountered it." He shuffled through the shallows, feet dragging slowly through the sand so that when his toes encountered a shell he was able to lean down and scoop it up. One such shell was a coiled conch-like variety, brilliant yellow on its exterior, while its interior was a deep, rich red. One of its spines was broken but into the basket it went, along with a much plainer ancient white clam shell that was nevertheless the size of Hadama's large palm.

The question drew the briefest ghost of a smile to the Tidebreaker's face, but he only shook his head. "Mmh. But many of those still have... residents. And I do not think we will need them," he added, looking around at their group. Even spread out as they were, there were a good number of people hunting for the shells that would protect their home from all but Vox's passage.

He straightened with another shell in hand and glanced to the sky, noting the position of the sun as it climbed higher. The temperature was increasing as well, but the water they all splashed about in was a refreshing foil to Torchline's Longheat swelter. "Another half hour," he raised his voice to announce to the group. "And then the shells will be counted."

just because the fog is there

Vesper tips his head in lazy acknowledgement as Sohalia joins them, the morning sun throwing faint glimmers across his pale hair and casting long shadows at his heels. "Sohalia," he drawls in greeting, soft and unhurried, before glancing over to Nova, already vibrating with delight and coffee and half a dozen different kinds of magic. He watches her twirl in the surf, crab-stitched skirt flaring like a banner, before giving a low huff that’s somewhere between affection and resignation.

When she starts whispering with all the subtlety of a thunderclap, Vesper doesn’t linger. He saunters a few paces down the shoreline, giving the girls their space while stooping to pick up a shell shaped like a broken crescent moon. It’s worn smooth and light as bone between his fingers.

But he doesn’t stray far.

His shadows trail idly behind him like smoke in a breeze, and his mind remains tethered close. The soft hum of telepathy stays open, quiet but alert, sipping at the surface of Sohalia’s thoughts the way someone might swirl wine in a glass. He isn’t searching for secrets—yet—but certainly he knows that Nova will pepper him for answers about what the Luminary might have been holding back afterward.

don't mean nothing's behind it

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins

Nova was perhaps even more excited than usual today, leaving Sohalia watching her, bemused, as she bounced through the waves. Gods, how Soh wished she could borrow some of that energy! With Vesper leaving the girls to talk, Soh joined Nova, though her own movements were more measured than the other girl's.

The dress that Nova had made was indeed lovely, and Soh admired it as her friend twirled. "It's beautiful! You're really talented." Then Nova dropped her voice, and Soh leaned down to pick up a pearlescent shell to buy herself time before she answered. "It, uh... it went," she said with a soft laugh. It was a lot to explain - that Koa had rejected her, that he'd left after one of Vox's broadcasts, that they hadn't spoken again until hooking up at Flora's party, and that they were still in limbo even after all that. "That date didn't go so well," Soh said after a moment. "But then we met up again, and things are... better."

Hadama announced the nearing end of the competition, and Soh turned her attention back to hunting shells. There were a few down the beach that looked promising, and she splashed through the shallows to make her way to them before picking them up and adding them to her basket.

the Luminary

'Cause your heart has a lack of colour and we should've known
That we'd grow up sooner or later 'cause we wasted all our free time alone

code stolen from sky who stole it from odd

Without passion you don't have energy,

The shock of Soh's revelation only makes her stutter like a race car kicking into the next gear. "It didn't go well?! How?! You're so pretty!" As if that's the only parameter for a date to succeed. It's not like Nova knows any better with her wealth of relationship experience. 

Selecting a few more colorful shells from the clutches of the sandy waters, she bounces back like a glittery rubber band. "So, he realized his mistake then?! Were his eyes not working before? Are you going out again? Where? What are you going to wear?" The last part comes out as a squealing gasp, excited at another prospective project and completely unsuspecting that her assumptions might be off the mark.

Her eyes find Hadama as he calls out, a burst of competitive sparkles cascading around her as she jumps into a more frenzied search for shells. Nova snags at all the shimmering ridges of pearlescent shells, giggling in her determination to win. Magic, water, and fluttering skirts twist around her legs in a tornado of chaotic energy that sends any shell in her vicinity straight into the confines of her growing bag.

Without energy you have nothing.

Nova