2.5, mini-adventure: Pretty women

OOC: Yup, you have wipe out correct.

"Challenge excepted!" says Steve with determined enthusiasm, "One-two-three-go!" His cheating quick count gives him the early lead over Zelk, though he doesn't expect to keep it. After the race, he'll kiss her either way, either congratulatory or as his prize.

He'll also totally join Konrad and jump at the distraction challenge without a second thought.

Fedler expresses interest in Mihai's story, and shares something that she's heard a long time ago; the salty scent of the ocean is supposedly caused by seaweed, and not the salt found in the water itself. She has never bothered to check if this was true, but she imagines that seaweeds are part of the reason why the ocean smells the way it does.

She's also very curious about this mysterious dish Mihai has learned to cook, and is tempted to prod him for an answer until he relents, but she quickly decides otherwise, and tells him that she is looking forward to it.

Mihai wrote:"Helps if you wet the back of your neck first. Or just don't think about it and jump in; only takes a second and then you're fine. Just don't hesitate for too long, or you'll only lose your nerve." - he offers - "Or we can just go back to the shade, if you don't feel like it. It's alright."

"I won't hear the end of it from Steve if I don't even take a dip," she replies. After a long breath, and some hesitation, she follows Mihai's advice and plunges into the water. She immediately pulls her head out of the water with a gasp, and it takes a minute or two before she acclimates herself to the temperature. But soon enough, she happily paddles around with the others.

Right about this time, Zelk and Steve have already begun their race. Despite Steve's cunning, he soon realizes that he has no chance of winning against her; she has kept herself very fit, and by observing the way she moves her arms, she was definitely taught how to swim with efficiency. Once she has been named the victor, she approaches Steve with a smug smile on her face, happy with herself. She's in such a good mood, she doesn't mind kissing him in public as a consolation prize, although she keeps it short.

The moment Konrad scooped some water with his hand, Aemilia knew what he was up too, and she was left with two choices; flee, or counterattack. Being the proactive woman she is, she obviously opted for the second option, and a savage waterfight ensued. To this day, no one is quite sure who won this wet battle.

She also joined him on his treasure hunt, which surprisingly proved to be quite fruitful; there were plenty of seashells underwater, waiting to be picked up. Aemilia made a game of finding the prettiest ones, which was actually difficult since many of them had dirty marks on them or were entangled in seaweed. Still savoring her victory over Steve, Zelk agreed to help out the scavenging efforts. Her boyfriend however has caught sight of the greatest treasure of all; a big red crab, with huge pincers. To capture it without suffering any injury would require great deftness in his part.

The others being a distance away from Konrad and Zelk, he is free to talk to her if he wishes to.

Mihai plunges into the water right after Fedler does, and despite his own advice, can't help but initially grimace at the temperature himself. Once he gets used to it though, he merely lets himself float up, and stare at the sky as the waves rock him.

Konrad and Zelk
At last we can be alone, to...! Talk.

He looks her in the eye. "You don't smile very often." Right now, his luster and laid back mood has taken a backseat.

"Oooooooh!"says Steve in wonder. He looks around for a piece of driftwood or some other thing he can use to distract the crab--and especially its claws!--so he can pick it up.

The sky looks right back at Mihai.

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Zelk blinks, and after a moment of considerations, she replies, "You smile a lot."

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Steve does find one piece of driftwood, 15 centimeters long, and starts poking at the vicious creature. The crustacean is quick however, and its right pincer lunges at the driftwood to clutch it - it doesn't want to let go of it.

Its left pincer is still free.

Steve angles around so he is on it's distracted side and then tries to scoop it up in his hand. He figures it won't be able to grab him if he keeps his hand under it and keeps it facing forward. Once he has it free of the water he'll make his way towards shore. If he needs both hands to grip it he'll let go of the driftwood once he is confident he has it secured enough to let go.

---

"I'm a lucky man. You wouldn't have any ideas about messing with what we have going, would you? Frankly, whatever was on your mind back at the diner, I'm hoping it's more bad news for me."

Bad news for Konrad is one of Zelk's favorite things. He may be scum (more so than the others realize), but he is conscious of consequences.

---

Steve has no difficulty picking up the big crab and taking it to the shore (sneaking up on it from behind was definitely the right idea). Once Breeze catches sight of Steve, she abandons her castle and flies towards him with anticipating excitement.

"Ooooi! Steve!" she exclaims. "What's that? Dinner?"

She begins to poke at the red monster, but it immediately tries to clutch the small fairy in its pincers. That makes her laugh.

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Zelk is initially taken aback by Konrad's comment, even a little confused, until it dawns on her as to why he is saying that. She can't help but chuckle, then responds with, "I would definitely qualify this as bad news for you. However, I'm not planning to get between you and Aemilia." She smirks. "I'll just enjoy the show."

"That's the idea! Oh man, I can't wait. We could have crab cakes, or crab bisque, or plain old crab with butter so rich it all melts in our mouths and makes us sick later because we aren't use to eating rich food like that. It will be awesome!"

Mihai finishes his staring contest with the sky, and decides to swim over next to Fedler.

Zelk waves her hand in a dismissive manner. "Like I said, I'm not going to interfere. May the two of you live happily ever after."

She leaves him alone, and approaches Aemilia to make some small talk.

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"I wanna be sick too!" Breeze raises her hand in approval. "Oh, but we can't let the crab approach Dust Hill. It might destroy all of our hard work!"

She points to the sand castle, which is almost finished by now. Breeze's minions are tracing windows with their fingers.

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Fedler is intentionally paddling in such a way that her feet are splashing water towards Mihai. There's a discreet smile on her face.

"Quite right. We must have a cage for this great beast then if we are to celebrate the completion of Dust Hill." He looks around and finally settles on a beach towel. "Breeze, lay out that towel. I'll place the crab in the middle and then we each of us grab the corners and meet in the middle. I'll grab them all up and then we'll have a sack for it. We can worry about what to tie it with after. Unless you have an idea?"

Defeated, Konrad sings into the water until it's up to his chin. I've lost ground with her. If I want bad news, especially now that she has Steve wrapped around her finger, I need to cultivate a rapport...

He goes back to diving.

Mihai decides to submerge. Fedler is puzzled until fingers reach from the deep and start tickling her ribs. She laughs out loud, and begins trying to wrestle him into a lock. He makes her work for it, but doesn't offer a lot of resistance in the end.

She lets go of him and just keeps paddling, circling around and taking time to relax. Mihai just lets himself float along.

"No," replies Breeze. "But I don't think we'll need any kind of rope; the towel is big enough! And..." She examines the towel. "That looks too heavy for me..."

"Recruit your helpers then. The Lady of Dust Hill is never alone!"

"Right!" she says. "Gimme a minute!"

The fairy goes to get her minions, and they don't need to be told twice to help Steve imprison the big crab in the towel. This proves to be an easy task, and folding the towel on itself is enough to prevent the crab from escaping. The kids then introduces themselves as Tom (the boy) and Jerry (the girl) before they were quickly dragged into the water by Breeze, who needs them to scavenge seashells that will be used as decorations for the castle - but really, this is only an excuse to go swim. It occurs to Steve that it might be a good idea to stick around the fairy so she doesn't drown or get eaten by a gluttonous fish.

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A few hours later...

It is now almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun isn't quite as hot as before. For the last hour, the number of visitors on the beanh has slowly been decreasing. Among them are Tom and Jerry, who are now leaving with their parents and waving goodbye at Breeze.

"Remember!" she shouts at them. "You'll always be welcome in Dust Hill!"

While this happens, the rest of the group reconvenes on the beach near their parasol. Fedler is asking Aemilia about the types of ball she attended before, and how experienced she is with dancing. As for Zelk, she finds her towel folded in a strange way, but not thinking too much about it, she picks it up and unfolds it so she can dry herself. When the sea monster lands at her feet, Zelk's reaction is instantaneous; she lets out a shriek, takes a step back, and falls on her posterior. With no care in the world, the crab slowly makes it way towards the sand castle.

"Steve!" exclaims Breeze. "Our prisoner has escaped and is now attacking Dust Hill!"

The blue-haired girl flies towards her castle, lands on it, and proceeds to attack the monster with her fire cantrip, while Zelk, who is still on the ground, darts her eyes on Steve. He recognizes that glare, and it's going to hurt a lot.

"Uh." Steve says, seeing the anger in Zelk's eyes. "No-time-to-explain-gotta-go-save-Dust-Hill-love-you-bye!" Right hand on his hat so it won't fall off, Steve runs as best he can after Dinner, which he of course mentally named the crab. When he gets there, he attempts to scoop it up again from behind after tossing said hat in front of the crab so it will be distracted. He'll try to time it so Breeze doesn't set the hat on fire.

Mihai regrets not bringing popcorn.

Konrad laughs at the shriek. "I can try weaving a cage for your new pet, if you'd like," he teases.

Zelk doesn't ignore Konrad's comment so much as she can't register it. Without losing a second, she rises to her feet and runs after Steve. Breeze lets out a "Ooooooh!" of amazement when she sees Steve take the crab with him, thus saving the great queendom of Dust Hill.

"Go Steve go!" she shouts, cheering him on. "Oh, she's right behind you!"

"You're dead!" yells Zelk. "DEAD! You and your thing!"

On firm ground or in the water doesn't matter for Zelk; she is still faster than Steve, and he realizes than she is going to catch up to him very soon. Dinner seems to be enjoying the ride.

Steve hoofs it for the sea. "Save yourself, Dinner!" With a big heave he tosses the innocent crustacean into the ocean, hopefully to life and freedom. As it sails through the air, the young man finds himself remembering the good times they shared like that time Dinner pinched the shit out of that driftwood or when Breeze and the kids helped him tie Dinner up in Zelk's towel so they could eat him later. "Goodbye, old friend!" he shouts before turning around and running towards his impending doom at full speed to give Dinner time to get away.

He'll try to dodge Zelk as best he can, not unlike an American football player trying to break tackles. IF he manages it, he'll throw his arms in the air and say "Whoop, whoop, whoop!" and keep running back up the beach. If he doesn't, he'll try to tickle any part of Zelk he can reach for as long as he is able.

Konrad laughs at the spectacle openly.

"Just so you're aware, this is actually quite tame," he explains to Aemilia. "I think. I hope it stays that way."