[D5, LM] Beach Side Picnic! (Expecting, but Open!)

[Tamori Kanna]

So much talking was going on, but it seemed everyone was moving into the waters now. So Kanna whistled for Kaida to come back and went through the challenge of putting a float-vest on him. The challenge was mostly because Kaida was excited to get into the water too, and kept trying to run off before the vest was properly on. BUT eventually it was on with great success, and he dashed into the waves like a very fluffy canonball - that was also very tiny.

nip

"I can't think anyone would know more about crabs than you," Kanna remarks with a big grin and begins to wade out into the waves herself. "Ah! Oh, that wave was a little chilly. But apart from that, the water is great, Yasuki-sama!" She waves to lure Honoka out to join her. "It can feel a little intimidating the first time - I remember it helped me to take a big deep breath before I went underwater the first time learning this prayer to the water."

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

Not thinking before acting does seem about right. Hitomi laughs, bobbing up with the incoming surf. "OK, well...I guess that did add to the food for this trip, at least, so you definitely didn't lose to a fish." Assuming it was edible.

"After this morning's debacle, I'm going to appreciate roasting this one," she says with none of the bloodthirstyness that statement of vengeance deserves. "What'll you do with those teeth?" Which were definitely not edible.

[Agasha Sorato]

Kneeling she curls up a little looking down at the water as the others gather. Hearing her name once, perhaps twice, she didn't immediately raise her head but came back to the auditory input later. Now, looking up from her mental musing she would look first to Sorato.

--

"I do not know if I would say expert, but I do know a bit," she says, her voice a bit quieter here. Possibly even able to be missed if one wasn't paying close enough attention.

"More expert than us offworlders," Sorato says, lips quirking as he shuffles his bare feet into the water near Honoka, wading out a yard or two until the wavelets start to reach his knees. "Ever been under here before, though?"

Some yards distant, in the deeper water, a welter of bubbles rising to the top suggests something flaily is happening down there, probably involving Ochiba, but what exactly isn't visible from above the surface.

[Utaku Itsuka]

Itsuka seemed to still be quite taken by the underwater world, exploring it eagerly - even if struggling a bit against the current here and there, it seemed like the knew how to swim, but she was definitely not strong and mobile underwater like Ochiba.

Which she eventually stopped to observe in her fight and eventual complete success against the large-toothed fish. That was an interesting fish! The Rebel lea..... the Suzume's reaction to it was rather unexpected, but from the words that she could hear from where she was, a certain distance away, she did agree that it might make for a good meal.

For now, though, she had some more exploring to do... how long did Kanna's blessing last, anyway? Should she worry about that?...

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

Not thinking before acting does seem about right. Hitomi laughs, bobbing up with the incoming surf. "OK, well...I guess that did add to the food for this trip, at least, so you definitely didn't lose to a fish." Assuming it was edible.

"After this morning's debacle, I'm going to appreciate roasting this one," she says with none of the bloodthirstyness that statement of vengeance deserves. "What'll you do with those teeth?" Which were definitely not edible.

“Huh… hmm. Necklace? I seem to be collecting teeth and skulls these days… damn, that’s even awesome to say.”

With a cheery wave Ochiba charges back out of the water, grabs a knife and ensures mr fish will be contributing to any victuals, good thing they had some coolers in the meantime.

She then splashes bath past Honoka and Sorato, spraying water everywhere before diving in and disappearing beneath the waves and waving at Itsuka.

[Yasuki Honoka]

Honoka yelps when Ochiba rushes past, not quite ready for the water and definitely having expected it to be a cold splash. Recovering quickly with a muted chuckle she looks out to the water then focuses on Kanna, then Sorato, "No, I've never been under," she says, and gives pause. Thinking on how much she wants to reveal in this moment.

"I am.. not a very proficient swimmer either," she chuckles, a bit embarrassed, "which may seem odd considering I grew up here and yet my mother had a bad experience once and she never liked me being near the water. Didn't let me swim most times but," she smiles a little, "I did. So, this is a first of many.. but," she breathes in deep and takes enough steps in to match Sorato where the water meets her knee's, "I am ready."

[Agasha Sorato]

snip

"This isn't exactly like ordinary swimming." Sorato looks over at Honoka, lips turning up at the corners. "It's easier. Don't even need to float or hold your breath, the water kami will take care of you. They'll help you move a little more easily too. Just... relax, and trust the water. I've got our time." He holds up his left hand, turning it around to show the waterproof elemental tracker on his wrist, its clock display glittering.

He sloshes further away from shore until the water is lapping around his shoulders, then turns around to make sure Honoka does all right on her first time going under. There's no reason she wouldn't be fine, but it can be nice to have company.

[Tamori Kanna]

Like Sorato, Kanna was there to make sure Honoka would be safe. Everyone else seemed comfortable in the water, so it wasn't like it was unfair treatment to them that they paid attention to the Yasuki woman.

"Yeah, Agasha-san has it right," she assured Honoka with a warm tone. "The water kami make it easier to move too, and you can talk to us in the water thanks to them as well. So if you feel you need assistance with anything, we can help you!"

[Yasuki Honoka]

Honoka nods bravely with the encouragement from Sorato and Kanna. Spurred on by them she would step into the water, not with particular speed but measuring every step is correct. Once she got the water midway to her torso she hesitated a moment but found herself unable to wait as a wave coming in had to dip her head under or be splashed.

Once under, she struggles to allow herself to breathe naturally but it happens, after a necessary concentrated effort to do so.

"O-oh.. wow.." she says, "This feels.." she looks down at herself and around. Stepping further into the water, swimming, she aimed to get deeper so a wave wouldn't uncover her.

[Utaku Itsuka]

After a long time exploring and a wave to Ochiba, who her gaze followed curiously for a while, maybe scanning for other specimens she might be tempted to catch, Itsuka returns closer to where the Float is anchored. After another deeper dive and looking around with interest, she surfaces, climbs on board, looks at the others, sees Sorato and Kanna helping Honoka.

A weak smile blossoms on her lips. She looks at the sky, hollowness slowly returning to her eyes.

She shakes her head, looks up again, her eyes scanning the horizon as if she were searching for a star, an odd gesture in the clarity of that morning.

That weak smile returns, grows a bit at the edges. A tinge of determination seems to shine on her eyes.

She dives again, locks in to a set of rocks cropping up from the sea floor, starts trying to swim towards it.

[Suzume Hitomi]

“Huh… hmm. Necklace? I seem to be collecting teeth and skulls these days… damn, that’s even awesome to say.”

With a cheery wave Ochiba charges back out of the water, grabs a knife and ensures mr fish will be contributing to any victuals, good thing they had some coolers in the meantime.

She then splashes bath past Honoka and Sorato, spraying water everywhere before diving in and disappearing beneath the waves and waving at Itsuka.

"You've been collecting skulls?" And...the Mantis is gone, which is par for the course.

Hitomi spends some time figuring out how to get her feet under her and finds the water a bit over chest high for her...if she lets herself bob up with incoming waves. Otherwise it's chest high to well over her head as they wash over and surge back, the kami keeping her from being shoved entirely along with the water.

She looks back at the group coming in from the beach and waves, smiling. "The water's really nice! So many little things in the rocks to see too." She had not come across another of Ochiba's toothy fish yet, and that was just fine by her.

[Tamori Kanna]

She dives again, locks in to a set of rocks cropping up from the sea floor, starts trying to swim towards it.

Kanna stays near Honoka, but gives Itsuka a wave for her to join them.

The water kami carried their voices underwater too, with only minimal distortion. Magic truly was amazing sometimes. "Isn't this amazing?" Kanna calls out to the others, swimming with ease in the waters and she dives further down to look more closely at the shells.

"Oooh, I hope it's ok if we pick some seashells and bring them home. They're all so shiny and pretty."

[Agasha Sorato]

Sorato lets himself fall backward toward deeper water, his head going under as his feet lose contact with the pale sand. He's done this enough times that the transition is no longer very shocking. Floating near-horizontally, he rolls over and kicks a bit to propel himself further out, then revolves back to grin at Honoka and Kanna. "It's closer to the way fish experience the sea than to our usual way. I imagine it is, at least."

The salt water doesn't sting the swimmers' eyes, and the tropical sea off Namigashira beach is very clear, letting the sunlight illuminate the underwater scene very well. But that doesn't mean there isn't something a little unearthly about seeing one another in this watery environment. Sorato's short plait of hair floats weightlessly behind him, and the loose strands framing his smiling face drift like seaweed in the surface currents. He spots Hitomi coming over and waves to her, the gesture causing him to drift a few inches since he hasn't planted his feet on the bottom.

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

A little further out from the rest of the crew and a little deeper Ochiba was standing, or rather, floating upright on the ocean floor, arms raised and legs out to the side, facing a large crab which was mirroring her posture. Slowly the two circle one another, as she waggles her arms, it does the same.

"Hey Agash-san!...no wait, Yo, Yasuki-sama? What kinda Crab is this? He's a fighter?"
She raises her fists in a 'put up your jukes' motion and it responds in kind.

[Suzume Hitomi]

Leaning toward the beach with the next wave, Hitomi lets it carry her, 'assisting' with some comical arm movements as she tries to mimic what she's seen swimmers do. To make her way back toward the rest. She spots Itsuka exploring deeper, and Ochiba boxing with a crab. The laughs at the latter, shaking her head, but doesn't have any good Crab facts to add.

She laughs a bit at the latter as she tries to slow and pause closer to the main grouping. Becoming less aquadynamic is awkward-looking but effective, hair floating into her eyes as the water keeps carrying it forward. Looking down at the shells Kanna mentioned she says, "the really are pretty out here, and nobody will mind you taking some. There's tons for sale in the shops for tourists to take home. Just be ready for them not to be quite as pretty when they dry off." She'd had her own disappointments with bringing shells home.

"This is really an amazing way to swim! Too bad we can't engineer some spirit-gear that lets us do this all the time." She looks to Sorato, "or is there some Phoenix technology like that out there?"

[Agasha Sorato]

"Not that I know of." Sorato looks up over his shoulder to answer Hitomi's question about technology, having let himself drift toward the bottom to get a better look at the shells and weeds down there. "The prayer asks the Water kami to protect us individually, by name on the spot. Every person's body and being is so different, it might not work with a pre-encoded prayer. I don't know much about binding machines, though. Some genius might crack it."

He spins himself around to squint through the water at Ochiba's feisty crab. "I left my densai on shore! It's only water-resistant. Sorry, Yoritomo-san!" Instinct leads him to raise his voice somewhat to be heard further away through the water, even though the spell carries sound more effectively than air if anything. "Yasuki-sama, do you know?"

[Tamori Kanna]

"I will keep that in mind, Suzume-san!" Kanna said, and wasn't going to keep it in mind, as she swam down to the bottom to pick after some of the seashells. At least she checked to see if there wasn't anything or anyone living in the ones she picked up, and kept only the ones that were discarded and empty.

Either it was out of concern for the marine creatures that lived in shells, or she knew enough to avoid bringing with her some local sea-creature in her luggage back home. If the Dragon didn't cause a fuss over it, the Crab likely could.

One of the shells was not empty, and housed a little hermit-crab of some unknown type (to her). "Oh, hi there little buddy! Let me move you somewhere nicer so you won't get picked up by folks."

Even without the kami's aid, Kanna seemed to be a pretty proficient swimmer, gliding with ease through the water like a short and athletic mermaid. With legs.

[Yasuki Honoka]

Honoka had been, after her initial trepidation, absolutely taking to the water. Losing herself in the practice of swimming. However, when Ochiba and Sorato called out to her she snapped back into her conscious mind. Swimming over toward Ochiba she would get near, and smile broadly.

"Oh!! That one is an Emerald Queen actually," she says, and swims in closer toward Ochiba and the crab. "You might not have guessed because they do not initially appear green. However, it is easier to see in open air, but they have a fondness for a particular kind of algae that glows. That green vibrancy in the algae is adopted a bit by their shell after they've had enough of it to eat, and for some time after. Of course, the ones originally found and thus named were found amid a whole algae bed of the stuff so the name kind of stuck even if most of them aren't properly green like you might suspect."

"Or have seen at Crabkaku. We make sure the ones we keep in captivity are well fed with the algae so that they can maintain their greenish hue. But you can see why we use them for food, they are rather large and have a lot of meat in them!"

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

Snip

Ochiba blinks, trying her best to retain the arrival of Crab Lore.
"Emerald Queen eh?" She mimes a few blows to which the queen responds in kind.

"Good name for a crab! Uhh, thanks. They were not kidding when they said you knew your crabs. I really gotta go to that restaurant sometime."
She nods at her mighty opponent as well, one queen to another.

"I think this one has earned their freedom, unless they pinch a toe, then it's game on!"