Raul Moreno Martín

Valeska Krol’s silvery voice suffused the Dance Macabre like rippling water, permeating every corner and wrapping around the dancers with such breathy intimacy that more than one patron glanced abruptly behind them, as if she’d murmured the last verse softly behind their ear. The stage lights diffused through fog wafting up from haze machines, slightly damping air that somehow remained chilled despite the packed club of dancers on a summer night. The mist glistened on Valeska’s waist-length tresses of riverine green hair as she seemed to dance with flicking afterimages of herself, each in a different state of joy, longing, confusion, dread, and gushing wounds. The crowds of fans, clubbing enthusiasts, and followers of the local music scene that’d flooded the Dance Macabre’s normally subdued atmosphere took it as a trademark display of Valeska’s knack for stage technology. Yet, Valeska hadn’t used such tricks for four hundred years, just as she’d no need of a microphone to engirdle every nook and shadow of this place in song. Every once in a while one of the dancing clubbers would glance up, only to meet Valeska’s pupiless grey eyes as she gave a wistful yet knowing smile.

Raul broke away from those heart-piercing pearl eyes with a shudder, chest rising and falling in deep breaths as if he’d been sinking into something deep, airless, and dark. He forced back that weird abyssal feeling and the club snapped back into focus. Raul disentangled himself from a dance partner and caressing fingers that traced longing lines down the veins of his neck and arms. He murmured apologies and made an excuse of asking tonight’s acquaintances if they wanted any drinks. Some just replied with muffled chuckles and pressed kisses against his bare shoulders, but Raul’s club buddies that still had both their wits and pulses made some groggy drink requests.

Raul eventually pushed and weaved his way past dancers to the bar. Turns out Diego was there. Given that his brother was both clothed and not crowd-surfing his way into some inexplicable Instagram moment, Raul concluded that this was one of Diego’s slow nights. Raul leaned against the bar beside him and gave him a jocular grin, face flushed with the adrenaline of dancing and skin damp from the stage mist. Raul’d lost his jacket somewhere and the tank top revealed a trickle of blood amidst the hickies on his neck and shoulders. “How’re you doing man?” Raul asked before rattling off some drink orders to the guy behind the bar.

—

Since arriving in Wicked’s Rest, Diego had been avoiding his brother—a real feat, given their shared apartment. It was not… intentional, not really. It was just easier for Diego to communicate in quick asides, in half-conversations held as one of them passed the other in the entryway. For him to leave concise messages on the refrigerator, scrawled warnings to avoid opening the cupboard between the hours of midnight and three o’clock, bits of cypher left where Raul would see (only after Diego had made himself scarce). There was no real reason for it, right? At least, none that Diego was prepared to admit to anyone. Luckily, Raul had not called him on the pattern and, by all appearances, seemed to be on the same page. (Though, would he have been able to tell?)

All that in mind, it would have made sense, then, if Diego had vacated the Dance Macabre tonight as quickly as he had arrived. If he had seen his brother on the crowded dancefloor and left Raul to his own madcap devices—Diego had a decade of practice, after all. Instead, he had ordered a single glass of water, no ice, and lurked at the bar, waiting out the inevitability of Raul’s notice. As the man ambled over, Diego took stock of the state of him. A little ruffled, but mostly in order. Well, except for a bit of bleeding, barely noticeable in the dim light. He guessed, more than heard, Raul’s question, only reading about half of the words from his lips, the rest scattered by the strobe and sound. “Sober, if that’s what you’re asking,” Diego said over the music, shooting an apologetic grimace at the bartender. “You don’t need to worry about me, promise. Just needed to stretch my legs.”

The blood caught his eye again. Diego could never remember if vampires and their ilk had enhanced hearing. Facts slurried together in his head with what almost had to be fiction. Fear, maybe pride, led to stories about the undead, especially among the younger sorcerers. Late at night, watching for flickers in the aether, it was difficult to tell what was learned experience and what was a base attempt to distract, to frighten. And so, Diego kept his voice low as he leaned in to offer Raul a glug of the water, exaggerating the word as he said it: “Neck.” For good measure, he tapped the side of his own, hidden pointedly under a turtleneck tank top. Fashion, to the uninitiated. Warning, to the rest. 

… And a warning that he was more than happy to give to the man who had appeared over Raul’s shoulder, if it came to it.

—

Ah, home sweet… whatever this place was. Mickey was certain he had been in here before, though he couldn’t quite recall the name. It hadn’t helped that he had been distracted on his way in the building, ignoring the name on the outside in favor of talking someone’s ear off. He was pretty sure the conversation had been about hockey, and could only look back now and hope that the conversation had been at least partially more than completely one-sided. He had long since lost the acquaintance that he had walked in with, a random stranger he had met at the previous bar where he had lost the actual friends he had originally shown up with. Luckily, this was par for the course for this particular couple of friends. They had formed a partnership on not necessarily wanting to spend a night alone but not liking to be tied down to each other either. They really just used each other as an excuse to get out of the house and in the door of a club. After that, it was the Wild West.

Or whatever the goth equivalent of the Wild West was, judging by the vibe of this club. Mickey was in the know about the supernatural enough to know there was something going on with this bar. He had spotted more than a few necks that seemed freshly bitten, and not in a kinky hickey way. Well, maybe in a kinky way, actually, but not in the hickey way at least. Despite how hot the place ran, he also spotted more than a few turtlenecks. Mickey had always run hot, a side effect he could only attribute to spending so much of his childhood on the ice and in ice rinks. He had worn a mesh football shirt in an attempt to keep some circulation going but suddenly felt incredibly exposed compared to the general population.

Mickey hadn’t quite decided where the night was going to take him, at least until he spotted a vaguely familiar face. Running into people that he had treated at the hospital wasn’t uncommon, especially in this town. But for the most part they were forgettable. This guy hadn’t been forgettable. Sure, the concussion-induced rambling was entertaining, but it was the offhanded comment that had intrigued Mickey the most. A quick remark about magic. He pushed through the crowd, figuring he could at least say hello and see where the conversation went. They locked eyes before he got close enough to be heard over the crowd, so he settled for waving wildly instead. “How’s your head?” Mickey yelled out once he thought he was close enough, rethinking the words quickly. “Scratch that. Hi there! Not sure if you remember me, but I wanted to ask about your concussion,” he rephrased and realized quickly that Diego may have already been locked in a conversation. He gave a small wave to the stranger. “Hi, sorry if I’m interrupting.”

—

Raul had run a napkin down his neck with the unhurried impreciseness of muscles relaxed by a liquid buzz. “Thanks,” he murmured back, but whether Raul intended to promise caution or mock Diego’s chic vibes with horny bravado was cut off by… uh, whoever this dude was.

“Concussion,” Raul mouthed in confusion with a quick glance at Diego before shaking his head at the newcomer. “Nah man, it’s fine… Did you blackjack Diego for his Z-bucks or something?” he asked with a smirk.

—

Diego felt his lips twitch with the beginnings of a smile. How’s your head? Points for being direct. But his amusement morphed quickly to confusion, then embarrassment. Ah. He had hoped not to run into Doctor Hartmann again. Diego had been teased by the nurse who had checked in the next morning. For things he had said while he was delirious, things he could not remember, not even a little bit. “I’m, uh, fine. But a bit late on the checkup there, Doc. You’re not even dressed the part.”

Catching the smirk, the implication, in Raul’s question, Diego hastened to add, “Absolutely not, man. Shut up. You remember when I first got here, I…” Damn. Had he actually told Raul any of the details? Not like he had needed help with it. Hopefully Raul had enough of a buzz going that any tension would be smoothed out. He waved a hand between the doctor and his brother. “Nevermind. Doctor Hartmann, this is Raul, my brother. Raul, this is Doctor Hartmann. He patched me up, once.”

—

Mickey had definitely interrupted. Tact was not a strength he was putting on a resume anytime soon. Too late now though, it seemed. Maybe he was just drunk, but he couldn’t begin to process whatever Diego’s pal had just said to him. “I couldn’t begin to tell you what that means, but sounds fun. Count me in.” His grin was wide, partially fueled from the alcohol and mainly fueled by the possibility of new friends for conversation.

“I’m multitasking,” Mickey assured. He didn’t currently have a drink in hand, but he did have a sucker in his mouth that had been passed to him somewhere between the entrance and now. “And please don’t call me Doctor Hartmann here. Not outside of the hospital walls. I’m Mickey!” He redirected his attention to Raul, apparently deciding that the name being yelled wasn’t enough and a personal introduction was in order. “Hi Diego’s brother, Raul. I’m Mickey. It was mostly just a minor check up. He even assured me that protection was used.” Sure, the lack of context was chaotic. But it was also fun.

—

Raul’s buzzed brain puzzled over the start of Diego trying to remind him of something they talked about on first coming to this podunk town full of prehistoric god blood. Wait, what? Which was he talking about, touch my toothbrush and die…? The sock on the doorknob rule…?

Oh, Jersey-Casual over here had a name apparently.

Raul’s lazy smirk became nonplussed as MickyD awkwardly confirmed Diego apparently got a quickie after getting concussed at the doctor or something. TMI, but unsurprising. “Well, uh, glad he wasn’t a fool and wrapped his tool, I guess,” Raul commented with a stretching roll of his bare shoulders. 

Quite content to not hear anything else about his dumbass brother’s turn and cough with Dr. Mick, Raul busied himself with bothering the waiter about the drink order. Soon a collection of drinks that varied between pale liquors and suspiciously dark crimson were plopped on the counter. Raul clapped his brother on the shoulder with a jocular air. “Well, have fun with the prostate exam, man. Hope the doc gets you to unpucker and actually fucking relaaaaax,” Raul murmured with a squeeze of Diego’s tense shoulder before moving to start picking up his friends’ drinks to head out.

—

“Protection?” Diego said to neither man in particular, incredulous and unimpressed with his concussed self. The latest, thrumming song had ended and Valeska Krol took a moment to slow her set down, to work the crowd. It gave Diego the slimmest moment of, well, not quiet, it was never quiet in a place like this, but enough space to let his brain work, to let his brain think. It occurred to him that Raul was right; he was tense. But why? It made no sense, his being uncomfortable. It usually took more than an insinuation, even a false one, to get under his skin. And Doctor Hartma— Mickey was no threat, had done nothing to raise his hackles. As far as he knew, the doctor had done his job and left before Diego had even woken up. Their running into each other was a coincidence. Another month or two, and Diego would have forgotten Mickey’s face entirely.

It begged the question, though: Why did Mickey remember Diego? Had he just been that memorable? (An irony, that.) And, if he had been, why? What about Diego, about their interaction, made Mickey bother to ask about a concussion, a months-old one at that, in the middle of a club? A part of him wanted to ignore the twisting feeling in his gut. Let Mickey have his fun, let Raul make some assumptions. If he had a few drinks in him, Diego might have done just that. Might have papered over the hole in his memory with some news ones. After all, feelings were not facts, or truths, and, much as his magic was emotive, Diego did not like to let his feelings make his decisions for him. Even so…

“You’re going to drop those. Let me help before I head out,” Diego said to Raul, picking up a few of the assembled drinks. He turned a tight smile at Mickey, trying to summon up some of his usual charm. “Mickey, it was,” a pause, “unexpected. Thanks for patching up my foot, seriously, but I’ll try my best to stay out of your exam room. If I’m not careful, next time it’ll be my hands, and I’m bad enough at typing as it is.” (... Had he said that before?)

—

This Raul guy seemed pretty direct. Mickey appreciated that, from a conversational standpoint. Based on the flippancy he had towards whatever acts of indecency he thought Mickey and his brother had gotten up to, he was probably a pretty fun guy to hang around the club with. Especially if the secret Diego had accidentally spilled applied to both him and his brother. Admittedly, Mickey had no idea if spellcasting was genetic or random or born from a blood sacrifice.

It had come to Mickey’s attention that bringing it up wasn’t the best idea. If he had been any good at minding his business he would have forgotten about the moment entirely and moved on. In his defense, he had mostly done that. It wasn’t like he had sought Diego out or anything. This was purely coincidental, and therefore a hard opportunity to pass up. In his current state of inebriation, Mickey wasn’t super confident in his ability to ask anything subtly. “Oh yeah! I think you mentioned something similar when you came in that night. About it being better the feet than the hands? You bad at spelling or something?” He tried to put just enough emphasis on the word that it would care some suggestive weight, but as the room started spinning around him he wasn’t sure that being too subtle was the issue here.

—

Figuring he’d misjudged the vibes, Raul accepted Diego’s help with the drinks with the normal ‘nah I got it… okay fine’ routine. “Hey, I mean you don’t have to head out just yet, got a friend here, think she’d like to…”

The attempt to wingman for Diego was cut short by Mickey going on about something. “Wait,” Raul murmured with a look back at Mickey over his shoulder, something about the exchange needling at his brain. “What’d he…”

—

If anyone asked Diego to pick the moment where the situation had veered sharply out of his control—if he was ever forced to explain this to, say, a jury of his peers, spellcasting or otherwise—this would be the moment. No sooner had the word spelling left Mickey’s mouth than Diego was pushing the last of the beverages into the hands of one of Raul’s disjointed entourage with nary a flinch. Panic would only complicate things.

There was still time to salvage this, though. Diego had certain advantages here. Namely: “Huh. Doc, I think the drinks are getting to your head. Let’s get you to the bathrooms, okay?” There was no need to lie; Mickey did look a bit pale. But there was nothing altruistic about the tight nod Diego sent to Raul. No kindness in how Diego slung his arm around the doctor’s waist and guided him to the rear of the club. If Mickey said anything on their little march, Diego did not hear it.

Several single-occupancy restrooms lined the wall. Diego could decide, later, if he felt bad about depositing Mickey unceremoniously into the one at the farthest end of the line. At least someone had scrubbed it clean of blood. The deed done, Diego slumped against the door, body a soft barricade. With any luck, Mickey would assume it was magically locked long enough for Raul to actually lock it. Though Diego could not trust that luck was on his side.

After all, if his luck were any good, Diego would not be sitting here at all.

—

Mickey was pretty sure he wasn’t nauseous, but he did also know that the room had started spinning and his body felt a lot lighter than it had before. Sure, Diego wasn’t a doctor or anything, but he certainly seemed more sober than Mickey was currently. So he let himself be ushered towards the bathroom, finding out that being dragged across a club floor was not fun against the multiple bodies he bumped against as they made their way through the crowd. Inside the bathroom, Mickey was quickly deposited into a stall and left alone. Nobody to hold his hair back, rude. Not that Diego knew the man well enough to need to help with the alleged puking and Mickey’s hair wasn’t long enough to warrant being held back anyways, but neither of those factors were the point.

Still, in an abundance of caution, Mickey obliged Diego’s warnings and lowered himself to the ground in preparation. He pulled the sucker from his mouth and held it with his hand straight into the air. He listened to the ambient noise of the club, focusing on the pulsating beats leftover from music he couldn’t quite make out from here. He figured if he just focused on that rhythmic thumping he could get this part of the night over with. He wasn’t unfamiliar with puking in a bathroom, he had just never had to think so hard about doing it. 

—

Raul had continued dancing, giving his brother and Mickey space to do whatever for a time. Going tearing off after them just because of some weird vibes sounded like a drag. Better to act casual. The group of friends Raul was hanging with tonight were a blast to be sure, but Raul never forgot for a moment that many were still predators beneath the skin.

Sure enough, Zinaidia paused in the dance, letting her perfect yet cold lips drift playfully up Raul’s shoulder and neck before whispering in his ear. “Where’d your adorable brother and the golden retriever boy go?” she asked in her rich contralto.

“Dunno,” Raul said, letting Valeska Krol latest song, something about freedom in loss, roll over him. “Think he had too many,” he answered but instantly regretted it.

“Oh?” Zinaidia tensed with excitement in Raul’s arms, the anticipation of a hunter who’d scented wounded prey. “Does he need help…? We could go over and…”

Mickey had given weird vibes and affected Diego in a way that felt like drama, but there was no way in hell that Raul would leave him at the mercy of Zin’s ‘bedside manner.’ There was a line between jackass and soulless bastard after all. “Nah, he’s probably painting the stall walls from his ass or mouth right now,” Raul said with intentional coarseness, causing the risen heretic in his arms to sneer in disgust, fun ruined. “I’ll see what’s up,” said Raul, ducking out of Zin’s embrace before a new form of sanguine mischief occurred to her.

Raul made his way through the dancers and around milling throngs at the dance floors periphery. He kept his pace casual and unhurried, but ignored lingering touches on his shoulder or murmured offers that tried to redirect him to discreet corners. Raul kept them at bay with a purposeful stride and smirking mask of indifference.

Eventually he found his brother guarding the stalls as if trying to protect the club from a hungry velociraptor he’d trapped inside. Sadly, Raul’s buzz was ebbing slightly without any new drinks in a bit. He leaned against a nearby wall and regarded Diego with the mournful annoyance of a man forced to turn on his brain cells too soon. “If there’s an extradimensional parasite bursting out of Mic in there,” he began with a smile that was gentler than the gin-heated one earlier, “we’ll probably need to grab some silver calipers first.”

—

It took Raul fractionally longer to find them than Diego had expected. Enough time for Diego to piece together, then immediately discard, several elaborate plans to ‘handle’ the situation. Most required some… light interrogation and, without knowing where, exactly, he had misstepped, asking further questions would be a non-starter. And, besides, what use were plans, were questions, anyway? It was unthinkable that the Pacto Áurico had softened their protocols on interlopers in Diego’s decade of absence. Raul was of the coven. Ergo…

Diego barked out a laugh despite himself. “Afraid not. Only thing bursting out of him is secrets.” He let the implication hang in the air for a moment, before gesturing at the handle to the side of his head. “He hasn’t tried anything yet, but you might want to stick the lock. Happy to walk you through it, if you’re rusty. I just didn’t want to add dimensional instability to our problems.” He mimicked an explosion. “Or worse.”

—

Raul hmmed in thought, the regretful buzz-down expression on his face deepening as it started to become clear that the rest of tonight’s thrill wasn't in the cards. The sorcerer took some time to center, opening himself up to the currents of energy that flowed into this plane from the Ether. He didn’t hurry, as that could go sideways with alcohol still in his system while in a place so saturated with necromantic… guests. A slight pressure built in the air as power pooled and Raul fixed his intention firmly in mind.

Raul reached into a pocket and retrieved a piece of chalk from his wallet. Made from prey fossilized by a basilisk, Raul let the life-transfixed mineral become his conduit to the cosmic principle of Stasis, systemic cohesion and retention of form. Walking to a place beside his brother, Raul sang in a soft harmony of inhumanly precise notes, as if geometry had become music. The stanza concluded as Raul completed a perfect circle of interlocking circles around the lock. It was a minor thing on stasis, commanding the pieces within the lock to retain their state and position. Even sound shouldn’t be able to travel through the door now, as molecules would refuse to vibrate.

Unless, of course, Mickey was some sort of mighty Doctor Demon, in which case that little stasis lock was about to shatter like freeze-dried pork.

“‘Kay,” said Raul as he released his hold on the local ether and the unseen pressure faded. “Now why would this guy be spilling secrets? ‘Specially the kind that’d warrant a ward.”

—

The moment never came for Mickey. He had sat in silence for a while now, an accomplishment far greater than either of the new friends he had made tonight could comprehend. He had almost chalked the moment up to Mickey just being too sober for his own good. At least until he had tried to leave the stall and couldn’t figure out how to get the door open. “Door: 1, Mickey: 0,” he mumbled to himself, trying one last push against the door before giving up on it. So maybe he wasn’t quite as sober as he thought he was a few minutes ago. He was stuck in limbo. Too sober to puke and too drunk to escape the bathroom stall. A predicament he was sure that many had faced over the years.

Admitting defeat and accepting that he apparently did need a minute to re-center himself, Mickey rested his back against the door and slid onto the ground. He pressed the flat of his feet against the opposite wall and stuck the sucker back in his mouth, only mildly aware of how gross it was to have a sucker while in the bathroom. He tried to listen for other noise, but it was surprisingly quiet now. Unable to handle this prolonged silence, Mickey began tapping his shoes against the wall and humming to himself to pass the time.

—

“Thanks,” Diego mumbled, standing from the floor. His hand went to the door handle, testing it the old-fashioned way. It held firm—the ward simple, but effective. Diego had known that, had long since stopped questioning Raul’s warding, but he had picked up a bit of a nervous habit after the accident, avoiding his own gifts and relying on covenless freelancers with loose fundamentals. Better some offense to a stranger than his fingers blown off because of misdrawn figures.

Injuries, though, reminded Diego of his—their—predicament. He sighed, cocking his head at his brother. Raul seemed to be taking this all more calmly than Diego had anticipated. Were the rules more lax in Wicked’s Rest? Eve had made it seem like secrecy was still paramount, at least to the hunters. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t remember. Seems like I had looser lips while concussed. Doubt he knows much, but… I don’t want to spill anything else. Instructors always told us one memory is safer to cut out than a mess of them.” 

“Unless…” Diego started, glancing askance at the door. “I mean, we could wait until he sobers up. You could talk to him. Convince him that… I don’t know, man. Something else.” It was a weak effort, and Diego knew it. But Raul had always been the more… clever one—and better at lying. Half as a joke, he added, “Could leave him locked up.”

—

“No need,” Raul assured with a light tone and dismissive shrug, but with enough force to actually rule that option out. He would’ve preferred Diego take care of this, as he was the one who broke the veil in a daze. However, Raul could see how uncomfortable this made him, with the panic lock-up of it all.

Also, Raul knew he would do whatever it takes, should Mickey not prove biddable. It wasn’t the most positive trait about himself, kind of scary at times, but it had its uses.

Raul put a hand on Diego’s shoulder and gave reassuring pressure. “Don’t worry, man. I can take care of this. I’ll find out what he knows, see if it needs solving.”

—

“Okay,” Diego said, voice dull. “Alright.” He should be grateful, really. For once, there was a problem that could actually be solved. But his heart thumped a staccato beat anyway, one too dissimilar from the music to be mistaken for the bass. Did it make it better, if he was scared for Mickey? Probably not. But he hoped that whatever Mickey said was enough to convince Raul to stay his hand.

HARRIET didn’t have the heart to harm the little sniffy guys who got into her flower shop. But every time they got in, every plant in her store lost its beautiful fragrance, and her customers simply left and bought their flowers someplace else. Yes, she needed to do something with the little sniffy guys. Harriet had managed to shepherd at least a dozen of their small, fleshy bodies into the back of her van. She’d purchased the Toyota only a couple months ago and had been enjoying that new-leather-smell, but now her nose picked up only its absence. 

“Alright,” she said, pulling up to the beach. “You all ready? This’ll be your home now. Not my flower shop.” One sniffled. “Do you all understand me? Right here; you’ll stay here.” She looked over her shoulder and saw all the little sniffy guys shuffling about in the trunk, the tips of their noses pressed against the glass. A few vibrated with anticipation. Harriet realized she didn’t smell that pungent, rotten eggs algae the state always had to scrape off the rocks each summer. Maybe these creatures belonged here after all. She slid out of the car and opened the trunk. One by one, each little sniffy guy rolled out and tottered across the beach, nostrils flaring. She watched them trip and sniff up sand and disappear from view. 

Her eyes weren't the sharpest, but from a distance, she could see a growing gathering of people, and what looked like a firepit, craft tables, food, and... there went her little sniffy guys. Oh dear, wasn’t that bonfire happening soon? 

[Little sniffy guys here: https://wickedsrest-rp.tumblr.com/post/793319132889235456/astomi ]

REGAN felt like she passed some unspoken test. Several people had asked what she planned to bring to the bonfire this year. Presumably, because the pile of festering fish she so carefully curated last year was a great success. She remembered how everyone had looked upon it, commented on it. She couldn’t help but be a little stressed about this year, though, which was quite human of her, really—how could anything she brought this time possibly be better? For weeks, she’d been asking Jade for thoughts. But Jade ranked all of her ideas highly, which didn’t leave Regan with much feedback. She could ask others, but humans enjoyed surprises, she’d learned. Or she could ask Dr. Rickers, except she refused and needed cite no reason. 

The answer came to her at 3am, as Jade’s arm draped over her. Arm. Arm! It was so obvious. Plus, it wasn’t a leg—Regan didn’t wish to traumatize anyone (humans were possessed of great trauma; she, of course, was effortlessly stable and couldn’t conceive of being so afflicted, because of the effortless stability that was so effortless and stable). It took a few tries to find an arm, and unfortunately, the distinction of forelimbs and hindlimbs wasn’t significant to the lay human. Mooses had four legs, they thought. To Regan, the bleeding limb she cradled could just as well be called an arm. Shredded strips of the extensor carpi radialis stretched past the edge of the fur, swaddling broken bone. Yellow-red marrow plugged up the center like the congealed top of a creme brulee. Who could look at that and call it a leg? No, she had nothing to be concerned about. The smell would be appreciated if nothing else.

Before LIL had left for six months she really had never thought about events like this in Wicked’s Rest as anything special. After all, they were pretty normal and she had skipped many of them, but after coming back and especially with not knowing where most of the Ballard’s were, it seemed almost necessary for her to be at events. After all, she didn’t want to be a ghost haunting the town and part of her felt obligated to roam. 

As she got to the bonfire Lil relaxed stretching as she brought marshmallows and other stuff to share. She wasn’t at all cook, but she was patient enough to not burn the marshmallows to a full roasted outside. “Hey - if you want one I’ve got plenty of supplies,” Lil said to the others around, hoping to at least not make them as paranoid as they could be. “Even got the good chocolate and the stick things.”

ZACK was excited when he saw the flyers for the Bondfire around Downtown. It seemed like it would be the perfect opportunity to reconnect with the town and its citizens, and maybe make some new friends along the way. Upon arriving, he quickly loaded up with a complimentary can of Sharp Claws (apparently blood orange flavor, though there was a typo on the can, declaring it as "Blood. Orange!") and mingled through the crowd, trying to keep a friendly smile on his face. Zippo was riding on his shoulder, but kept swiveling his little head toward the firepit, black glossy eyes reflecting the flames. 

"Do you like s'mores?" Zack murmured to his familiar, grin widening. He made off toward the firepit, scoping out the assembly line of chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows. He grinned as Lil, a familiar face from his first stint at Wicked's Rest, announced that there were plenty to go around. "Hey, thanks!" he greeted, spearing two marshmallows (one for his s'mores, one for Zippo) onto a skewer and holding it toward the bonfire. "I'll never say no to a sweet treat, but this is the perfect day for s'mores." 

A private smile crossed his face as he considered his own abilities in spellcasting. He had never tried, but Zack was confident that he could make s'mores anywhere, anytime with his magic. And if the marshmallows he had on his skewer didn't roast precisely how he liked, he might even try the trick right then and there -- assuming he could do so sneakily. "I'm a charred on the outside, molten on the inside guy myself. How do you like your 'mallows?" he posed to Lil, and any of the others around the fire as well.

MADISON had decided that she needed to 'get out and about' more. It would help her find people who were like her, and it was also recommended by not only Marielle, but Brooklyn too. Her other siblings had agreed, and she wasn't going to not do something they thought she should do, even though she'd texted Salem separately to say how much she wished that she could be there too, especially. Salem was starting college this year, but Salem was back home in North Carolina. 

She hoped that maybe she'd run into someone who she knew here, but if not she could just vibe and eat good food.

JADE had to take it upon herself to find a winter coat to sacrifice to the bonfire. It was just… You know, way harder to convince Regan to buy one for the occasion. Once Jade saw that bright* 'I have an idea'* look on her partner’s face at the concept of arm all bets were off. (It was a powerful look, one that made it hard to ever contradict Regan) (The life of a simp wasn’t easy, but it was totally fulfilling). Besides, that didn’t mean she was letting go of Baz’s brilliant idea to commemorate the event at last. Nuh uh! Nope, she could celebrate it by herself. After all, she was the person who won the most out of the last coat exploding into a billion pieces. The reasons why this coat burning ceremony was so important were irrelevant right now, she knew it would be confusing to explain, what with the wings and the pixies and the cabins in the forest, but it was a year in the making, and that was all anyone should know. 

She carried the coat in her arms, with a lot less care and love than Regan did her arm (even though it looked like a leg) (the arm, not the coat. The coat looked like a coat). Mostly cause she didn’t wanna get attached to the soft fabric and the puffiness. This was a coat meant to burn. Not one to comfort. She strolled toward the gathering, memories of last year’s making her heart soggy with fondness (she’d even worn the ‘societal menace’ bracelet Vic had so nicely made for her). This was gonna be just as great. Even better, probably. Cause a coat would become dust.

DREW wasn’t a fan of social gatherings but she’d agreed to participate more so for the sake of monitoring the amount of trash and debris that failed to find its way to the proper disposal sites than to actually have fun or interact with anyone. As she approached the growing crowd of residents she slid her usual scowl into place to discourage anyone from approaching her and began to slowly make her rounds, eyeing all of the plastic that was sure to cause some trouble if she didn’t stay on top of it. The company she worked for had suggested sending out a large group of people to help with the efforts to keep the area as safe for the local wildlife as possible but Drew had insisted that she was more than capable of getting the job done on her own. It was hard enough to get the general public to respect what marine conservationists did for a living, she didn’t think that showing up in large numbers and being seen as “party poopers” would really do anything to benefit their cause. So, comfortably alone and concentrated on the task at hand, she began monitoring, listening in on the interesting conversations and rolling her eyes at the awkwardness of others meeting for the first time.

ELIAS hated the idea of showing up to this bonfire, but he also knew that he needed to leave his house before he lost his mind completely. As soon as he rolled up and saw everyone present, he decided to stick to the outskirts of the gathering, idly picking at his nails as others began conversing with one another. Maybe if he stuck to the shadows, no one would see him. He's... admittedly had worse ideas. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted two familiar figures. Oh, that wasn't good. Best keep his head down. Nothing to see here, folks.

THEA was confident in the powers of Lumpy Dog. Was being the operative word here. Once Lumpy Dog was completed and she spun around, looking down the beach at the other sandcastles, she realized that what she had was a nothing more than a pile of sand with a carrot in it. It was a very cute pile of sand though, wasn’t it? She certainly hoped someone thought so. 

Thea stared out at the water like a forlorn sailor. She turned, contemplating walking away, when she saw them: astomi waddling. Well, just the one; he looked a little lost. Thea couldn’t exactly tell if his beady eyes were filling with tears at this distance, but it gave that impression. Thea only bent to grab her bag but when she looked up, the astomi was gone. This, if anything, was a job for a Scribe! It would be catastrophic if the astomi sniffed up all the smells… or so Thea assumed. 

She marched down the beach, toward the main gathering, her eyes peeled for noses. Her nose peeled for smells that she actually couldn’t smell, so, really, she had her mouth peeled open to ask everyone about smells.

At the question LIL shrugged as she carefully turned her marshmallow in the fire keeping an eye on the sugary confection with a rapt attention the woman usually didn't have “I kinda like them fully roasted you know the nice brown. At least the first few before I just want to eat them quickly.” She eyed the creature but decided to let it be. After all, everyone was allowed to go to a bonfire in Lil’s humble opinion and Zack hadn't ever caused her problems. It wasn’t quite cool in the air yet, but Lil was already in the mood for fall.

MOLLY, who'd been trying to get out and about more in Wicked's Rest lately heard a few students in one of her classes talking about the upcoming bonfire. Molly asked one of them about it on their way out and immediately knew it might be another good excuse to get her out of the house and meeting new people. For someone who had been living in Wicked's Rest for an entire year, she hadn't met too many others, at least not outside of a simple catch up and a few interactions online. 

So when the day of the bonfire came she slipped into one of her favorite pairs of ripped jeans and wrapped herself in one of a red and black flannel that seemed appropriate for a beach bonfire. After she arrived at the beach, she rolled up the cuffs of her jeans and headed straight for the water, standing out to admire the horizon just where the waves could barely reach her bare feet. She was startled for a moment by the sounds of tiny splashes beneath her but her gaze wasn't fast enough to catch a good glimpse at the little creatures that scurried away down the beach.

Looking ahead at the group, REGAN'S throat swelled. She never liked things like this. And she saw more people than she’d been around in… possibly since the previous year, actually. Then, she had managed not to scream or do anything that drew undue attention. Since then, Regan had only improved, hadn’t she? But the clams… no, no, focus. Her fingers tightened around the bag’s handles, moose limb safe within. Her other hand found Jade’s and squeezed just as hard. She could feel the heat coming off her bone partner—Jade was likely excited, but Regan suspected she might be nervous about running into certain… people. Or she was just really looking forward to setting that winter coat alight. It wasn't even one Regan had worn before, but its meaning was obvious. “Here we go. Maybe I’ll stick by you. If people think we’re literally stuck together, they may neglect other questions.” 

"Who are we trying to avoid?" Regan said, perhaps a little too loud (if there was such a thing) as they neared the fire. "Siobhan... Elias." The name scorched her stomach and burned up her throat. "He wouldn't be here, would he? No, no, probably back in California again. I'll walk into the ocean if he shows up. Clams. You know how... passionate I have become for them. And... Emilio? Where are you with--" Regan tripped over someone's sandcastle.

EVE would never say no to a party (except for all the times when she did). She'd even brought food to add to the potluck table not far from the bonfire. A chateau Marcel even sounded fancy and French (Henri better be impressed), but it was actually incredibly easy to make taste good. Presentation, on the other hand? She'd made finer work. It looked a little like a mud pie. Her back began to burn, but considering how many town's people there were, that wasn't so surprising. Anyway, tonight wasn't hunter night... or at least, not until she spotted the young woman who had been weird about Rangers online. She walked over, offering a slice of cake. "Can I bribe you? I need people to think I'm not serving them something I dug out of The Pines. It's just chocolate, I swear!"

As much as she tried, there was nothing that could keep DREW away from the water for long, even when she was supposed to be working. She slipped off her shoes and went to stand a little ways away from Molly, close enough to strike up a conversation but far enough away so that it didn’t feel intimate. She’d also heard the tiny splashes and looked around for the source but couldn’t find anything, so she decided that it was just some of her fish friends coming to say hello.

“Did you enter the sandcastle competition?” She asked Molly, her eyes glued to the water. She wasn't good at small talk but she’d give it an honest try. If it didn't work out all she had to do was walk away, now that was something she was good at.

Raul was thriving in the sunshine. Sure he was technically here to check if the telluric currents between the new island and the mainland shore matched. However, after some half-hearted surveys and some substantial pre-gaming, Raul had decided a break would obviously help the research along, definitely. 

So it was that Raul had spent most of the morning surfing, with of course the occasional thought about the research he was going to get to any moment now after the next wave. Yet, hours had slipped by and on coasting onto the shore Raul had noticed the gathering and remembered those community posters he’d seen around town. Original purpose forgotten again, Raul jogged lazily towards the bonfire, surfboard under an arm.

Someone came over to her and MADISON briefly startled, before recognizing the lady online who seemed to know something about rangers. Or maybe Rangers. Madison wasn't entirely sure. Either way, she was talking to her now and offering her cake and her eyebrows knit together. "I mean, sure? But I've been told not to take food from strangers... but I guess this also is a potluck a little bit too, so I probably can have it?" She shrugged. "It doesn't have nuts or whatever in it, right?"

Even though his last attempt at a large social-ish event hadn't gone so well, GUILLERMO felt determined to try again. If he gave up after every bad experience, how many good ones could he actually have? Anyway, he'd gotten here early to avoid tripping over anyone, and was plopped in the part of the beach designated for sandcastle building, still working on his masterpiece. Which was mostly just some mounds in the shape of what hinted at a building, with a bunch of sticks jutting out of the edges. You know! How building are decorated! (He didn't know what a building looked like, to be fair. The sticks just felt right.) His hands brushed over sand, poking holes here and adding foliage there, hoping that it might come out looking half-decent. If he didn't win, that was okay. He'd gotten a little more used to not winning things that were easy for people who could see.

When MOLLY heard Drew's voice over the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, she looked over at her. "Oh? No, I didn't enter." She replied, shaking her head before looking out at the water once more. "I'm afraid I'm not too creative when it comes to building with sand." She couldn't help but chuckle, "Though I could probably offer some pretty good decorations to one that's already up if I had some fun shells to add. What about you?"

If there was a social gathering in town, then MONICA was going to be there. Nothing thrilled her more than getting to bond with the humans - and maybe even some fellow fae! Though as she arrived at the beach, she scanned around for any familiar faces to no avail. She was far from a shy person, but the thought of having to infiltrate one of these existing friend groups made her a tiny bit nervous. She kicked some sand around as she tried to decide her first move, finally deciding that the actual bonfire itself would be a good place to start. "This is so nice!" She exclaimed rather loudly to no one in particular as she sauntered up to the main group.

TEAGAN found herself struggling to strike up any conversation. The last time she'd attended that bonfire, Felix was there, having a hard time because someone hated them. Then she quickly discovered someone detested her presence too. 

That year was different though. People were gone, and people were pushed away. Teagan was alone, struggling to make some sort of effort to speak to literally anyone. She grumbled some Welsh obscenities to herself, plopping down on the sand to at least enjoy the sun quietly while a few others enjoyed the water.

DREW shook her head. She was admittedly very good at building sandcastles as it was something she’d done her entire life, but she was there to work not engage in childish activities. “No, I didn’t. I think some people teamed up though, you probably could’ve joined with someone and decorated after they’d actually built it. Maybe you can do that next time.” She glanced over at Molly, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to continue the conversation or go on her own way. In the end she decided that it couldn't have hurt too much for her to continue talking until she actually got bored. “Don’t think I’ve seen you around before. I’m Drew.”

"That's fair," ZACK said, nodding to Lil's marshmallow choice. The top marshmallow was only starting to get crisp on the outside and soft, hardly taking on any color, but Zack withdrew his skewer from the fire. Even though Zippo was a fire salamander, he still didn't want to give him something too hot to eat. "Here, bud." He swiveled the skewer up and around so his familiar could munch on the confection. Zippo gripped onto the marshmallow though, toasting it a little further and drawing a laugh from Zack.

He looked up at the excited shout from the girl who just drew up to the fire and gave her an enthusiastic nod back, hoping to match her energy. As he looked up, his eyes were drawn to the surfer jogging up the shore. No, he wasn't moving in slow motion. It was just that Zack had perhaps watched a bit too much Baywatch at a formative age. His eyes lingered before he deliberately set his attention back to the fire.

THEA watched in horror as Lumpy Dog became more lumpy, a woman with a bloody bag (literally bloody, not in the British way) tumbled into it. His carrot nose fell down. Were Thea capable of crying, she might’ve. 

“Murderer!” Thea called out. “Murderer on the beach!” It did not occur to her that this was a bad thing to yell on a beach full of people. “And she has a leg! Contraband leg!” This was such a lawless Bondfire! Who was keeping the sandcastles safe? Or all the smells? The astomi were going to sniff everything up and this woman was going to destroy all the hard, lumpy work of the good people.

“Quite a - pet you got there,” LIL said fascinated by the creature on Zach’s shoulder but not enough to say much more. Lil turned slightly to the new person and nodded, “Yeah the bonfire this time isn’t too small at all. Do you want to make a Smore? They’ll be pretty tasty this time of day.” She asked offering Monica one of the long sticks she had pilfered from her families garage and cleaned before coming down.

EVE shrugged, barely mollified. "I mean, there's a full pot luck over there, which is all food from strangers." She shook her head. "No. It's just eggs, butter, chocolate, sugar." Her eyes flicked over to some movement on the far end of the beach, where noses were starting to move around. Even Eve recognised them: Astomi. Shit. She shifted her weight, so the woman she was chatting with ould have to turn away from them. "Have you been to one of these before?"

“Yeah it’s deec” Raul replied to Monica’s general address with a sun-flushed grin . “We’ll need to build it bigger though, start jumping over it and whatnot. If someone’s gonna call fire hazard or whatever we’ve got to make it worth it first, thems the rules”

There were tons of beautiful, familiar faces gathering around. (There was Lil in the s’mores station, and oh! Eve looking gorg, and wait… was that Elias trying to hide his practically 7 feet tall frame from them?). JADE was itching to go say hi to literally everybody, but she knew that everybody would still be there in five minutes, so pacing herself wasn’t so bad. Plus, she felt the tight squeeze of Regan’s hand, and she immediately knew her partner had to be feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of people and whatever her banshee senses might be picking up on. “I can definitely be your social lube, baby. Before you know it, you’ll slip right into every convo,” she pressed a kiss to Regan’s cheek and continued to pull forward. Who did they have to avoid? Considering last time she’d gotten to hang out with literal nemesis Vic and Metzli, she figured everybody was aware that this was supposed to be like a conflict free zone. So she had no intention of avoiding anyone. 

“I think Elias is trying to avoid us,” she mumbled, looking at his head peak from above the crowd despite his best efforts. She got it, she knew she had to give everybody time. Maybe they could approach once the vibes were confirmed to be awesome. She was gonna comment on the fact that Emilio hadn’t answered her text asking if he was coming to the bonfire, but before she could, Regan was gone. Literally gone. She’d become one with the sand. And sure, she knew her partner loved the beach, but not like this. She crouched to check up on her, “is the leg— I mean, the arm okay? Your arm…not, you get it” she craned her neck, wondering if the owner of the messed up castle was around. She didn't have to wonder too long, cause someone started screaming murder. "Um, she fell! It was an accident."

MADISON grinned. "In that case, how can I say no? The best thing about being in college is I can do whatever I want and eat whatever I want! Not that my parents ever put a stop to that back home, but eating cake just because feels so wild I could burst! Not literally, because then I'd be dead and that's not what I am or what I want to be, so yeah!" She turned toward the other woman. "I have not! I-d-k if there was one last year, but I've only been here that long so yep! This is new for me."

A wave of uncomfortable needles spread up TEAGAN'S back at the loud mention of a murderer on the beach. The nix whirled her head around a bit frantically, not seeing any faces she could recognize as murder-y. She continued to look, unsure of what the screaming was about, and when she landed on Zack, she stiffened. If he was there, perhaps Arden would make an appearance too. She stood up and shuffled her way around, seeing Jade and Reagan as couple-y as can be. She sighed, wiggling her way into a conversation with strangers. "Eggs, butter, chocolate, sugar...what about flour?"

To be honest, MOLLY hadn't considered joining anyone on a sandcastle build. She hadn't considered joining anyone because she really only knew a handful of people around here and this was one of her first big events she'd really paid any mind to since moving. "Yeah, you're right." She agreed, "I guess I'm just still new so I wasn't sure who to reach out to yet." She offered a shrug of her shoulder, the one that wasn't sore from her encounter earlier this week. And when Drew introduced herself, Molly looked at her again. "It's nice to meet you, Drew. I'm Molly," She said with a smile. "I've lived here for about a year but I don't get out much, until now. Or, rather I'm trying to get out more now."

At the outcry of someone being called a murderer, ELIAS couldn't help but look up. Sure enough, there was Regan, tripped over a sandcastle. Ah, so it wasn't real murder. Just sand-related murder. He took a step over toward Jade and Regan, overhearing his name. His heart sank. Of course that's how he was being painted in their eyes. He had to get over himself. 

"I think murder is a crazy word to jump to," Elias finally spoke, looking over toward Thea with a bemused expression. Hiz gaze flickered over to Jade and Regan crouched in the sand, then gave a single nod of his head. Hopefully that would be enough for now.

ZACK grinned at Lil's comment, casting his eyes to the side, watching the little guy happily devour his marshmallow. "Isn't he neat? His name is Zippo." Turning back to Lil, he shrugged sheepishly. "I'd offer to let you pet him, but unfortunately he...ah...runs kind of hot, so you might get burnt." Which he knew was something like an insane thing to say, but he didn't want Lil to get hurt. He had gotten scorched a few times, early on after adopting Zippo. 

Zack turned at the sound of someone screaming about murder, but that seemed to be more about sandcastles than actual murder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Teagan, heard the lilt of her accent... But he wasn't exactly sure where he stood with the woman, and so he let himself focus on the surfer instead. "You're asking for a visit to the burn unit, with that." He wanted to comment that he could help in growing the flames but, obviously, that would be saying too much. "Unless you're the Jackof 'nimble' and 'quick' fame."

There was some commotion further up the beach that caught DREW’S attention but once it died down she was able to pull herself back to the conversation at hand with Molly. “Sometimes it’s best to stay as far away from the goingson in this town. I’m honestly only here because I’m technically working, but I might grab a s’more later if I’m really feeling crazy.” She joked. She would have much preferred to slip into her pelt and go swimming but she knew that with so many witnesses around that wouldn’t have been a good idea at all. “I’ve been here a couple years but still don’t know that many people and sometimes I think that’s a good thing.” Another splash, closer that time. Drew became a statue as she tried once again to figure out where it had come from. “Were you feeding the fish?” She asked Molly. “Because I think something’s really trying to get our attention.”

REGAN landed on top of at least two sandcastles, the moose limb bag clutched to her chest. Unscathed. And she didn't even scream. At least two positives, right? But then a finger pointed at her, and a child started screaming (unimpressively). Regan bristled. "It's mine. And it's not technically a leg!" Regan climbed to her feet. Addressing these lies was more important than anything else right now. "What was it that you were making anyhow? Not a human being. I'm no murderer." She looked emphatically toward Jade, who always had her back (not literally). "Maybe you're the murderer. You call that art? Perhaps I improved it, now that it's been in the presence of a moose limb. That was missing before. If you had introduced it to some decomposition, maybe I would've noticed it in front of my feet. You killed art." Regan didn't know anything about art. 

There were a lot of eyes on her right now, weren't there. "Stop shouting," Regan hissed at the child. First time she'd ever said that. "People are starting to--" Tall, anxiety flying off him, half-trying to duck away even as he spoke. Regan's arms went slack, and she almost dropped the moose limb. "It's... fine," she said to Jade. But her eyes were on Elias. Her voice was quiet. "I should have stayed in the sand. I can make a convincing cadaver when necessary." Too late now.

MONICA wasn't quite sure what she was expecting as a response, but she beamed when someone nodded back at her enthusiastically, then even more so when their companion offered her a stick of her own. "Sure! I love smores! Thank you, nice people. I'm Monica!" She said, plopping down next to Zack and Lil. As she started to skewer some marshmallows, she raised an eyebrow at the surfer who had strolled up beside her. "Well if someone were to call a fire hazard on this, then they'd be a certified party pooper!" 

As Monica was about to hold her treats over the fire, her head whipped around at the sound of commotion near the sandcastles. She wasn't quite sure what was happening, but between the people yelling and people on the floor, there was clearly some destruction happening. "Oh shit! Our sandcastle!" She yelped at the thought of her and Estella's sandcastle getting caught in the line of fire. As quickly as she had inserted herself into the bonfire group, she dropped her marshmallow stick onto the sand and bolted off. "Sorry!! You guys are super cool but I need to check on something," she called out to her momentary acquaintances at the fire as she headed towards the sandcastle commotion.

EVE's spine itched as more people walked past. It felt like as soon as one fae had walked a little further out, another fae passed close by. With so many people milling about,it was impossible to parse out who was was, but it was uncomfortable. Someone screamed about murder, and Eve glanced over briefly, but it looked like it was just about a sandcastle. (And it was Thea doing the yelling. No thanks.) No one she recognised as a Ranger either, damn it. She glanced back at Madison and her enthusiastic energy. "I wouldn't want you to burst, but have as much as you like! And oh my god, welcome to town! This is a good time of year to be here!" 

Just then, someone else joined. Eve looked over at the stranger with a smile, shifting her weight again to keep the Astomi out of view for both of them. "No flour, so it's totally gluten free! Do you want some?"

LIL chuckled and shook her head, “Nah I don’t want Zippo to feel uncomfortable. And it’s nice to meet you Monica.” She said handing over a stick and the bag of marshmallows. At the idea of jumping over the bonfire she raised and eyebrow but pulled a fire extinguisher slightly out of her bag. She had learned from her older siblings, and well demons that it was pretty good practice to have one when you were going to be around fire. “I mean go ahead I got a - yeah it’s not expired.” Admittedly at the idea of murder Lil looked up and saw that it wasn’t anything that was her business and shrugged instead making her smore. She was sure it would calm down and she saw Jade over there. If they needed help someone would go holler she was sure.

“Nah,” Raul waved with jocular dismissiveness at Zack’s caution, “Besides, that’d just help sterilize the sunburns right? Healthy, hygienic. Wait,” he frowned, “Jack Quick? That you,” the Spaniard asked pointing at Zack. “Oh I see how it is,your the fire jump champ trying to psych me out! I’ll take you up on …” Raul looked over at Monica’s compliment “oh uh thanks! Do you wanna ….oh ok, bye “

With her jeans cuffed around her ankles, Molly was on her way to the water along the outskirts of the bonfire gathering. She figured she'd have plenty of time to mingle but wanted to give herself a slow start as to not overwhelm herself too quickly. A comfortable smile settled across her lips as she spotted Madison arriving too, and Molly couldn't help but feel proud of Madison for getting out and about too. "Hey!" She waved and approached her, "I'm glad to see you decided to come today! I'm proud of both of us for making it out of the house." She added with a laugh. 

No flour? TEAGAN almost grimaced, but kept her face free of disgust. It wasn't fair. Some people couldn't handle that delicious gluten. It was actually thoughtful to bring something for dietary restrictions. On top of that, the woman was cute and appeared to try to be the center of attention. Teagan could play along. "Cute." She smiled, "What is your dish exactly?"

He was hearing a few voices he recognized (and many he didn't), but GUILLERMO wasn't sure about getting up and wandering around without an escort at this point. He had his cane, but the warmth and smell of the fire was a bit off-putting, not to mention that people could be sitting literally anywhere and he wouldn't know until he ran into them. 

Besides, someone was yelling about murder, and he'd just as soon stay out of that. He was feeling a little peckish, though, and had no idea where the food was. Of course the ocean was a fair bet in that regard, and he could definitely listen and sniff his way there. His stomach grumbled and he decided to give it a go, getting up from where he was sitting and dusting off his shorts. Then he started to wander toward the sound of the waves, moving slowly and carefully so he didn't end up stepping on anyone else's sandcastle. Finally, the sand turned wet and the waves hit his feet, and all at once he felt better. Folding up the cane and tucking it under his arm, the shifter quickly shuffled his way into the water and sat back down where it came up to his chest. He could just... wait for the fish to come to him, right?

There were a lot of people talking to her, and MADISON wondered if this was what it felt like to be popular. She did feel more than a little bit overwhelmed, but she could feel her heart relax. "Hi Professor Hiatt!! How are you?" There was another person too. "This is real nice, I think! I did bring one of my books on Linear Algebra in case I have some time just to hang out. Unless any of you fancy some neat math on the beach?"

Before ZACK could offer a greeting to Monica, she was off, running toward the sandcastle massacre. Secretly, he was grateful for Lil's caution. He was fairly certain he could tackle any fire related problems that might arise, but back-up was always smart to have. 

The surfer's optimism about fire and sunburns didn't sound right to Zack, but he didn't know enough about medicine to dispute it. He did laugh as the other man turned it into a challenge. "Oh, you got me. I won the National Fire Jump Championship the last five years. I'm not Jack Quick, though I do rhyme. I'm Zack." He offered a hand to shake, swinging his skewer around with the other hand to get his marshmallow back into the heat.

"You're working?" MOLLY asked, "What kind of work are you doing here? If you don't mind me asking." She asked Drew curiously. "And I've heard that from several people lately, mentions of keeping quiet and not asking questions around here." For Molly it was a struggle because she was innately curious but at the same time tended to avoid awkward situations at any cost. "But a s'more sounds great so if you want company, I'm down for that kind of party." A sweet treat was going to be necessary this evening. Then, Molly heard the splashing again. She noticed Drew go rigid, as if attempting to pinpoint the source. "Uh, no." Molly said. "I don't usually feed things, unless it's ducks at a pond.." There was splashing again. "What'd you say we go and get those s'mores earlier than planned..." She offered, now feeling a little uneasy at the repetetive sound of something lurking around the water.

“You’re only saying that because it wasn’t you who was murdered,” THEA said to the extremely tall man. He must have been, like, a billion feet tall. Of course, Thea was taller unglamoured but the only competition here was for sandcastles. Thea gestured to the leg—it was obviously a leg. Then to Lumpy Dog, obviously deceased. The sand had the imprint of the woman’s face, almost perfectly, like a fossil. 

“Sand has feelings! But I don’t expect someone with a contraband leg to understand the nuances of art and life and love and liberty and another L-word. But not like the TV show.” Thea huffed and then sensed something in the air. Something… dare she think it… awkward. Thea was very good at sensing personal history, mostly because she didn’t have any. She looked at the woman who was with the murderer, and the tall man, and then the murderer. She nodded slowly. “I’m sensing unease, at least a five on the THEA UNEASE SCALE(tm),” she said, stepping back. “Maybe even, like, personal regret.”

Daniel showed up later than originally planned, but it wasn’t as if he minded. He preferred moving through the area unnoticed and joining in with the commotion happening all around the beach. He heard someone yelling about murder, but seeing the lack of reactions from everyone else, he decided it probably wasn’t the most important thing at the moment. He glanced around the area, and he spotted a few familiar faces. He thought maybe he could swing by and chat with some folks, but then he saw Eve. He felt more comfortable with her than the others. He saw others were with her, but he assumed he could hop into whatever conversation they were having. He probably wouldn’t have much to say anyway. He moved through the people towards her. “Hey, Eve,” he greeted, always a man of many words.

DREW snorted and shook her head. “No thanks, I wasn’t planning on doing any kind of math tonight as a way to relax. If anything it would make me more stressed than I already am… but thanks for the offer, I guess.” She chuckled again at the odd request that Madison had made. “I promise I'd be of no use to you when it comes to school work."

Suddenly, somebody else was by their side. It wasn’t surprising that Elias came out of his failed hiding once she noticed Regan’s fall. Like, sure things were awks and a lotta stuff had to be discussed between all of them, but he had a heart as soft as hand butts, of course his heartstrings were pulled seeing his bestie in need. JADE nodded at him and left it at that, deciding it was better to join forces against whoever was claiming Regan was a murderer. Three against one felt a little bit like bullying, but who cried murder first? “Right? It’s literally sand. Like, what’s next? Claiming that killing dead people is murder?” She huffed at this person, who also looked vaguely familiar. Maybe they’d talked online before. She had no way of knowing they felt so passionately about sandcastles.

Jade helped Regan get on her feet, predicting the verbal smackdown that was about to ensue when the sorta stranger came for her leg (the one in her hands, not her literal leg). If she felt some type of way about Regan going full Karen, that was neither here nor there. Except it was definitely here. But again, Jade subscribed to the ‘no conflict during bonfires’ policy, so she did look to diffuse the situation. “Okay, guys… nobody killed anybody here, come on,” least of all, herself (obviously). She sensed the vibe shift once Regan realized who had also come to her aid, so now things were extra tense. The stranger, who came with their own personal scale, now spoke some sense. (She was gonna need to hear more about this scale, too.) (Like how was it in comparison to the her scale of bad vibes from 2 to 9?). “Right! Why don’t we all put our hands into rebuilding the castle?

LIL's eyebrow raised at the idea that the two were actually going to jump over the bonfire, but then again it seemed pretty tame with everything else seemingly going on. Munching on the smore she just said, "Might want to wait for later when it's further down." She saw - something scampering and her eyes narrowed to see a ... nose? It looked kind of like a nose with a body and not the other way around. Still, she kept calm letting the little creature scamper on the outskirts of the bonfire. It didn't seem demonic, and it was a ghost. Simply it wasn't her day to deal with it.

ELIAS Took in a breath, then nodded in agreement with Thea. "Yeah, me too." He muttered to the girl before giving a two-fingered salute to Regan and Jade before striding off to where someone sat, looking out toward the ocean. Yeah, that's definitely more his speed than dealing with a THEA UNEASE SCALE (TM) rating. 

"What's the plan here?" Elias asked as he waded into the water beside the serene-looking stranger. "Whatever it is, it's better than ninety percent of what's happening over there." He looked over to Guillermo, then took a deep breath. Maybe he shouldn't have come. Maybe he should have stayed indoors.

"I'm doing alright!" MOLLY told Madison, and she found herself shaking her head. "And it's okay if you call me Molly, I don't mind being on a first name basis with students." She encouraged all of her theatre students to call her by her first name. It was how everyone had greeted each other across the professional world of theatre so as long as the respect was there, Molly had no problem encouraging that among her students. And she couldn't help but laugh as Madison mentioned her Algebra book. "I also have a book in my bag, but it's Shakespeare, which is way more my style than math. Unless we're counting shells I'm not sure math on the beach is a task I'm up for." It was never Molly's strongest subject. "Have you tried any of the food yet? I'm starving."

“I’m a marine conservationist, I’m just making sure that the beach is properly cleaned once this whole thing is over with.” DREW was still preoccupied with searching for the source of the splashing but Molly’s comment about feeding ducks instantly grabbed her attention. “What’re you feeding the ducks? You have to be very careful that you’re not harming them, their stomachs can be really sensitive.” She nodded, looking out at the water one more time. “Yeah, sure, let’s go. We can bring your math friend too so long as she doesn’t ask me to solve any equations.”

Madison was distracted by someone else approaching, so EVE turned to the other woman with a smile. "It's a gateau Marcel! My mom taught me the recipe when I was a kid, it's half cake, half mousse." There was an Astomi snuffling around her ankle. "I love your skirt, by the way! I have a dress with that patchwork style in blue, it's so cute." Eve pointed down at the detail, aiming to draw Teagan's eyes away. When she looked back up, oops, that Astomi would be nowhere to be seen. And if it splashed into the ocean next to where a couple people were fishing, hey, that was free bait, right?

GUILLERMO lifted his chin in the general direction of the new voice, brows raised. "Huh? Oh! I'm fishing!" He stuck his arms out in front of him, clenching and unclenching his fists a few times underwater, then he laughed. "I... might not be very good at it, though. I was kind of just hoping they'd ccome to me--" He let out a surprised squeak as there was a large splash beside them, then reactively tried to grab for it. "A FISH!" he yelled, catching something... not covered in scales. Ew. What was that texture? He held it up, looking at the stranger standing next to him. "What is it?"

Rushing up to where she and Estella had left their sandcastle entry, MONICA let out a huge sigh of relief to see that it was unharmed. She couldn't say the same for one of the sand creations a few spots down, where several people seemed to be having a particularly tense standoff beside a crushed sand pile. Her intention was to sneak past them as quickly as she had rushed over here, maybe return to the nice people at the fire and brush off the sand from her marshmallows, but the mentions of "murderer" and "contraband" caused her to let out a surprised squeak. "Oh! I'm sorry! Pretend I'm not here," she said to the seemingly grumpy group standing before her, a little bit more weary of what was going on here. However, at the mention of rebuilding a sandcastle, Monica couldn't resist herself. "I can help with that if you want!! I love building sandcastles!!"

"Okay, I'll call you Molly if you're really truly sure about that." MADISON sighed. The other woman didn't want to do math either, which she supposed she should have expected, but that didn't make it any less disappointing. "Okay. I guess no math on the beach right now. Also no, I haven't really had food, but that lady," she gestured at Eve, "was offering me some sort of cake, but I'm starving." She turned the other woman too. "Do you wanna come and get food with us?"

Raul smiled and reached forward to shake Zack’s hand, the motion hopefully not clotheslining some poor sod with the surfboard under his other arm. “Raul, honored to meet the reigning beach gamer here,” he said with an inclination of the head, affecting iron awe at Zack’s status. “So like, if you iguana ruts hot, is it going to sshhlep” Raul made a motion that seemed to suggest Zippo had a chameleon tongue. The wizard knew and was confused by the presence of a salamander here, but had decided to opt for stupidity’s natural camouflage. “And cook some of these mallows with its tongue….can I throw one for him to catch. That’d be sick.”

Ah, so the dish didn't need flour at all. How awful it was for TEAGAN to assume. "Do love a good mousse. How long did it take for you to make?" Sadly, her attendance had been up in the air up until the last moment, Teagan had nothing prepared. "I like to cook and bake myself, but didn't think I was coming so unfortunately you don't get to taste my work."

REGAN was preparing to do... something. She wasn't sure what yet. But her mouth was hanging open, her finger was half-pointed in Elias's direction, but now there was no one there. He just left. How could he do that? Sure, Regan had specifically wished to avoid him--there was too much there--but that... he just left! 

Jade was trying to diffuse things, Regan could tell, but if she were to try to build a sandcastle right now (which she wouldn't, because she wasn't a child, unlike the child) her hands would build an Elias-shaped clump of sand. Or maybe his organs. Him, though. "Let's just burn the coat," Regan mumbled. She looked over her shoulder at Elias, then away, then back. He looked like a buoy in the water, but covered in skin. "I'm going to unwrap the limb, let it air out a bit. The smell should be a nice reprieve from all of this." She pressed in to Jade, intertwining their arms. Was Jade at least having an... engaging ti-- fun time here? That mattered more than the insistent prickling of her skin and fog of grief that drifted over her in Elias's place. 

They headed toward the fire, and Regan set the bag down and lovingly pulled out the limb. The moose limb and Jade. She wouldn't let anything else get to her-- those were her two loves right there. She'd wrapped it in plastic (the limb, not Jade). Something was wrong though. Like it dried out or... maybe the plastic was effective at keeping the smell contained. Regan gave it a puzzled look as she freed the not-leg.

ZACK nodded at Lil's warning -- not actually intending to do any fire-leaping at all. He hoped Raul was only joking about that as well. He did laugh again as Raul turned his attention to Zippo. "He's a salamander actually. I don't think he has quite the same kinda tongue..." Not as long or accurate as an iguanas, anyway. "But he did already have a marshmallow and he seemed to really like it, so he might still dive bomb for one." Raul didn't know how close he was to guessing Zippo's abilities. "We're probably better off sticking to the bonfire to cook these things."

THEA shook her head as she watched the murderer go—though she felt she did like the murderer’s more sensible, hand-holding friend. She waved but tried to indicate that the wave was only for the nice lady, not the murderer. “Wow, those two are such good friends,” she mumbled. 

Then, she turned to her hero: this new, spunky stranger. “Hi! Thanks! Let’s rebuild! I’m thinking lumps and bumps, but cute!” Thea stuck out her hand to this cool, new, amazing, awesome person who would never destroy a sandcastle. “I’m Thea!” Dimly, Thea was aware that she had another mission. Something about… Ass-toe-me? Eh, it probably wasn’t important. Look at this cool new friend that she was totally going to make!

“I’m LIL”, she said as Raul introduced himself ducking slightly as the surfboard got close-ish to her. “I’m not much of a fire jumper. She didn’t jump a whole lot anyway, after all she usually had wheels on. Lil raised an eyebrow as Jade and Regan got closer to the bonfire with a - leg? She had heard sometimes people roasted things on bonfires but she hadn’t seen it here. “Uh what’s up?” She said looking at Regan trying to connect exactly what was going on and if she was going to have to do something.

"Oh, that's neat!" MOLLY replied with a nod, now it made sense. Otherwise Drew seemed to blend in perfectly with the other eventgoers so she wouldn't have realized she was on the clock. "And uhm, my mom would make a mix of corn, oats, and birdseed when we'd go. I got a lecture from her about never feeding them bread or anything else. But I haven't been to feed anything since I was a kid." Molly really didn't get out much. But she also took one more glance towards the water before turning to the bonfire. "Okay, no solving math equations, promise! But she did say that someone else was offering cake and I think cake always sounds better than doing math.."

It almost felt like Elias's presence had been an illusion or something, or maybe he was truly spooked by THEA’S UNEASE SCALE (™) (so that definitely meant this situation was a solid 8 in her scale). But just like he’d come, he peaced out on them. (Honestly, she was sensing a theme) (But at least he wasn’t gone to travel the world; he was like, right there, a few feet away, talking to somebody else near the water. JADE didn’t let her disappointment show, cause at least Elias was out there being social, which was a total plus in her book, and cause they had the matter of the sandcastles to rebuild, if Thea wanted it done.

And she would’ve had so much fun building a castle with THEA (should she scream their name anytime she mentioned it?), but alas, Regan seduced her with the prospect of finally burning the coat. Yup. 13 out of 13, right there. “Let’s go do that, babe,” she said, but glanced at THEA with an apologetic smile on her face. “Super sorry about this accident, though. A total non-murderous accident. Hm? I definitely plan on making it up to you. I’ll build all the castles you want, pinky promise. There’s just the thing I need to get to first. I've been meaning to do it for a year, you understand...” And so she walked away, with Regan by her side and the coat clutched in her hands.

ELIAS made a horrified sound as the Astomi was brought up to his face, causing him to stumble backward and stare at the thing. "It looks like a sentient nose." He exclaimed, shaking his head. He felt wrong, like he should leave. Everything about this place was quickly becoming more than he could handle. He looked over his shoulder, noticing Regan staring at him, but couldn't quite make out her expression. He messed up again, hadn't he? He looked back towards the other, shaking his head. He'd deal with it later, just like everything else.

"I'm definitely sure about it!" MOLLY told Madison with a confident nod. And she glanced at Drew, too. "No math right now," But maybe she'd let Madison impress her with some of her math skills later. She felt a little bad now that no one seemed to take her up on the offer. "But I think cake sounds like an excellent plan!"

EVE smiled at Madison and the woman she was talking to. "Food would be great, let's!" And began to move with them, inviting Teagan along with. Her gait was awkward, the prosthetic leg struggling more with the dry loose sand than she usually did, and the bright sun was warming the black plastic on her thigh and making her warm. A cool drink would certainly help. She answered Teagan's question, "About an hour, with overnight setting. What made you come by last minute?" She looked to the three of them. "I didn't catch your names, by the way! I'm Eve." There were more Astomi by the pot luck table. For fuck sake.

"A... sentient nose?" Well that was a confusing statement. It sort of explained the weird skin, though. Sort of. "So not a fish. Okay." GUILLERMO shoved to his feet, reeled the creature back behind his head with both hands, then threw it as hard and as far as he could out to see. "I don't have anything against noses, but that's just a little too much for me, I think." He turned to face Elias, scrunching his nose. "I know there's food here, um... I'm just worried about getting there on my own. Could you show me the way? I don't think I'm going to catch a fish and I definitely don't want to catch another nose."

MONICA watched the tense crowd disperse one by one until only one other person remained. "Were you the owner of this...this?" She gestured to the crumpled creation. "Don't worry, we'll build it back even better than it was! Lumpy, bumpy, and very cute!" She happily shook the other's hand, grinning at them before kneeling down onto the sand. "I'm Monica! It's very nice to meat you, Thea!" As she gathered a sizeable mound of sand in front of her, she couldn't help but let her curiosity get the better of her. "Erhm, what were you talking about with those other people? Something about murder and legs?"

Raul gave Lil a pleading look, as if concern for potentially charbroiling people was cruel and unusual. “Hey but like, we gotta take up the challenge,” he told Lil as if their real concern was just intimidation at Zack’s hyper hops. “Otherwise Zack’ll just rest on his laurels, get soft, have no character development,” Raul shook his head, wet hair flopping about mournfully. “The worst part of every sports movie.”

“Woah a wild snoot…” The hell was that feyish nostril goblin doing here! What!? “ Ooooooh yeah I forgot …iguana reptile, salamander mammals,” Raul nodded at Zack’s ecological correction, keep his face amiable. “Eh alright,” he commented at Lil’s demurement. “Bet your better then you think though”

ELIAS made a face, then sighed. "Yeah, I don't think I could explain it if I tried," he admitted sheepishly. "It's definitely too much for me too! Let's... go eat things, yeah!" He looked toward Guillermo, then nodded. "Yeah, I can help you. Can I take your arm?" He asked, unsure of what the boundaries were when helping someone who was seeing impaired.

"Alright, then I'll believe you!" Because otherwise her nerves would get the better of her (as it was, this already seemed well on its way to happening). "Food is good. Yes. I hope they have at least something with potatoes. You can't go wrong with potatoes. At least I think." MADISON tried not to let herself be bothered by people's refusal to do mathematics with her. "Let's go eat!"

“Thanks. I like it, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.” Completely unsure of how she’d gone from wanting absolutely nothing to do with the gathering to somehow being accompanied by two people on her way to grab some food, DREW exhaled sharply but decided that she was too far gone to turn back. Nodding to both Molly and Madison, she begrudgingly removed her feet from the water and turned to join the rest of the residents further up the beach. She remained quiet, much more comfortable with listening to the other two speak and only paying attention enough to know if and when a question was pointed towards her. By doing that she was able to pick up that Molly was some kind of teacher and Madison was a student. She enjoyed learning things about people, especially if she was going to be able to use it in the future.

REGAN leaned back and breathed deep, expecting to be met with glorious decomposition, but there was nothing. "It's a limb," she said to Lil. "But it's..." She held it up a bit. It dripped fluid onto her lap. "It's in the wet stage now, but I don't smell a thing." In fact, she couldn't smell the fire, either. Or any of the food. Or sweat or perfume or anything. Had she lost her sense of smell? Regan turned to her side and pressed her nose into Jade's hair, but she couldn't scent her shampoo at all. "Nothing..." She swallowed the warning in her throat. It wasn't time to panic yet, but the offense of losing those particular smells cut deep. "Can you smell it?" Regan held the weeping moose limb closer to Lil's face.

GUILLERMO beamed and stuck out his arm when asked, nodding enthusiastically. "Please! Sorry I'm all wet." They made their way carefully back across the sand toward where the tables of food were, and the shifter was surprised at how little of the food he could smell. "Hm... is there anything here that looks seafood-y to you? Seafood is my favorite. If there's shrimps, I'll go apeshit." He chuckled. "I'm kidding. I just learned that word last week and wanted to use it."

MOLLY smiled as Drew mentioned that it was a job she'd always wanted to do. Molly loved when people were able to find something that they enjoyed for work, and Drew's job seemed like it was fulfilling for her. As she walked between Drew and Madison towards the main gathering, she smiled at Madison. "You really can't go wrong with potatoes," She agreed, and noted two others joining on the other side of Madison. She caught that one of them was named Eve. And it wasn't until they got closer to the potluck table that Molly noticed the incredibly odd looking creatures milling about. Was it just a big walking nose? Molly thought. She leaned closer to Drew and nodded her head in the direction of the creatures. "I wonder if those were the source of the splashing we heard..."

LIL raised her eyebrow looking at the fire and then back at Raul. “I’ll let Zack have this one.” When the other came closer with her to the limb, ordinarily Lil might have done something like scream or leave the area, but the genuine confusion and the distress made her lean in to take a sniff. “Uh - no it doesn’t smell like anything - that’s so weird.” She said curiously. She wasn’t a stranger to decay and rot, and she knew what it should smell like. Frowning she saw another one of those nose scuttling around and tilted her head. “Something's afoot - or maybe a nose?”

Monica was actually the coolest person ever. THEA just casually had to seduce Monica into being a friend. No biggie! That was so easy to do. Thea crouched into the sand and started pushing the lumps and bumps together. “So, uh, you come here often or….” At the mention of the previous interaction, Thea shrugged. “Y’know, it’s like… the haters and stuff y’know, y’know,” she said, trying very hard to sound unaffected. “This lady with a leg—by the way, a full contraband leg—just like, totally murdered Lumpy Dog. See! You can still see her face in the sand!” Thea pointed it out. “Memorize that face, Monica, for it is the face of sand-murder.” Thea continued pushing sand into a general lump shape.

Linking his arm with Guillermo's, ELIAS ignored the sinking pit in his stomach as he guided the shifter towards the tables dedicated to the food people had brought. "Being wet is the least of our worries in place like this," Elias admitted with a deep sigh. As they reached the tables, he looked about. "I see a shrimp cocktail, yeah." He then said, bringing the man to stand in front of it. "Right in front of you, reach straight out and you'll touch it."

TEAGAN felt relieved. "Figure it would be good to get out of the house." And it was. She was meeting all new people and even got invited to continue on to the next stop, happy to see that food would be involved. And apparently some of the more pest-like kin. Since she didn't know who was human and not, Teagan decided to pretend they were simply normal. It was easy considering Eve was enjoyable to look at. "I'm Teagan." She walked side to side with Eve, asking "Do you need something to help with the sand?" Eve seemed fine, but sand was incredibly invasive and difficult even without a prosthetic.

ZACK gave a little bow as Lil decided to let him keep his entirely fictive title. Offering a salute to the two, he made his way back toward the table to assemble his s'more. He kept one eye on the crowd of people, looking for a familiar face, or just someone who looked like they could use a friend (or a flirt).

Sticking his hand out as instructed, GUILLERMO wiggled his fingers around until he touched a shrimp, then grinned and snatched it up. "Yes!" He popped the whole thing into his mouth, tail and all, happily munching away. His hands went out again, this time to grab a fistful of the shrimp, and he detached himself from Elias. "Sorry, you can have your arm back to get yourself some food now too! What kinds do you like?"

To DREW’S great pleasure even more people joined their party and things officially started to feel overcrowded. As a way to keep from turning around and going back to the shadows where she was most comfortable, she busied herself with twirling her necklaces around her finger and keeping her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary which, thanks to Molly, wasn’t hard at all. 

Drew frowned as she observed the strange creatures that appeared to just be... noses? “What the hell…?” She wanted to get a closer look but decided that it was probably best to keep some distance. “Yeah see, this is exactly why I keep to myself in this town. Eventually you’ll learn that it’s the best thing to do. The weird shit is kept to a bare minimum whenever I'm safely at home."

Raul solemnly returned Zack’s salute. “And so the champion departs to lands unknown,” he intoned with gravitas broken by a soft chuckle. The surfer promptly plopped on the sand beside the fire. “Yeah asnoot,” he replied to Lil, but kept his peace as it become clear that we were sniff testing stray body …parts? Raul looked at one of the passing little creatures, wondering if one of them had assumed the human form of Regan. Was she their alpha? Was the nose-pack circling for a limb feast? “Huh.. guess the sand-pipers are molting he said,” eye to eye with a passing nose goblin.

MONICA frowned. "Screw the haters! They just hate seeing other people succeed, you know?" She said as she recalled some of her own biggest haters. "Contraband leg? Like a turkey leg for the potluck?" She simply couldn't imagine what other sort of leg Thea could be talking about. As she gazed over to the faint imprint in the sand, Monica squinted hard at it before giving a determined nod. "Right! We shall get justice for Lumpy Dog! We can't just let leg lady get away with this," she said as her eyes darted over to the bonfire where the pair had gone. Seeing the nice fire guy and marshmallow lady and surfer dude from before still there, she momentarily thought about going to warn them, but forced herself to focus on one thing at a time. 

"As for your other question, I do come here often! The beach is soooo nice in the summer, don't you think" She said to Thea, packing some more sand onto the back of Thea's lump and poking some indents into it.

"Amen to that. Anyway, it's good to get out and meet the neighbors, right?" EVE agreed. "Community spirit goes a long way in a town like this. And hey, now we get to enjoy your company too." She grinned, noticing Teagan's appreciative looks. She smiled and shook her head at the offer. "I'm fine, just slow. It would be easier if it had rained this morning, but I'm not going to complain about the sunshine while it lasts." They reached the pot luck tables, and eve carefully nudged an Astomi under the table and out of sight.

"Asnoot - That's a lot better," LIL said with a laugh sighing slightly as she stretch letting the fire keep warming her. "In anycase I don't think their hurting anyone." She looked around at other people nodding as Zach disappeared and said, "Still free smore stuff if anyone's interested." Settling into the position Lil felt pretty good that no weird demons would come to the bonfire, and for once the chaos seemed just a little bit more manageable then normal - or at least out of her wheelhouse.

MOLLY's eyes narrowed as she studied the creatures from what was hopefully a safe distance for now. Drew seemed just as surprised and Molly wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. "Have you ever seen those before?" She inquired. "It's just... a nose?" Maybe Drew was right. Up until recently Molly would say that outside of a few hiccups, she'd had a pretty normal experience living in Wicked's Rest so far. Now that she was trying to get herself out there, she was noticing more and more very odd things. "Yeah, I think I'm seeing what you mean by that." Surely these things seemed harmless, though? "It's a shame though because I'm really trying to get back out there and meet people again. Finding a balance of comfort and not wanting to become a meal for something is honestly not something I'd considered would be necessary before I moved here."

Staring blankly at Guillermo, ELIAS shook his head. "Sorry, I... need to leave." He decided instead. "Enjoy your shrimp, I... I'm sorry." And with that, Elias's anxiety finally got the better of him, and his arm slipped away from the stranger's to instead make way to his car. Everything was too much. At least he could escape to his car while he still had the chance.

"Oh! That's okay! Um, have a good rest of your day!" GUILLERMO shouted after him, rocking back onto his heels while he munched on the shrimp, wondering what he was gonna do now. Eat, he supposed. Hopefully people wouldn't mind him putting his fingers all over everything. Salt water was disinfecting, right? Right. He'd totally heard that somewhere before.

THEA pushed everything together and stood up. In the end, her and Monica had… a much more phallic looking Lumpy Dog. Thea followed Monica’s gaze. “We should join them,” she said softly. “Now that we’ve successfully repaired Lumpy Dog.” She nudged Monica, smiling. Her chest—where her heart would be, if she had one—felt warm. “I need a beach expert like you to help me navigate,” she said, trying to wink but it was more like a very slow blink. Maybe the two would raise awareness about the evil leg lady, maybe they would make new friends, maybe they even partake in a s’more. Thea caught sight of Eve and her evil blonde bob and suddenly remembered the astomi. Maybe they would deal with that. The world was their sandcastle and anything was possible with Monica—a girl she literally just met but now was unhealthily emotionally attached to; such was the way of the beach and of Lumpy Dog.

"I suppose you're right. More often than not, I find that the neighbors are awful, but I can't just give up when people like you are around." TEAGAN shrugged, "As long as it's not too much of an obstacle." They got to the table and Teagan picked up a plate to fill it up with fruit and the mousse Eve made. She took a bite with everything combined and her eyes rolled back in satisfaction. "My, this is delicious." Teagan looked over at Molly and the astomi she was referencing. "I wouldn't pay those...kids much mind." She took another delightful bite, calculating her next words. Carefully, she spoke again, picking everything so it wasn't a lie, but still misleading. "You know how elaborate costumes can be around here."

DREW shook her head. “No, never, and I hope that I never see another one after tonight.” She’d run into her fair share of “oddities” around town since her arrival and while each one was disturbing yet fascinating in its own way, she much preferred to stay as far away from the strangeness as possible. She was a little happy to hear that Molly was more or less thinking the same way and she offered a small smile. “At least you’re aware of the fact that there’s things around here that wouldn’t hesitate to turn you into dinner, there’s a lot of very oblivious people around here and they’re almost as dangerous as the things hunting them. Stupidity is a threat to everyone involved.” She glanced at the strange creatures again before deciding that she’d had enough. “Alright, I’m gonna grab something to eat then go around and make sure everyone’s cleaning up after themselves.” This was always the awkward part, thanking someone she hadn’t intended to meet for hanging out with her when she’d planned to be alone. “It was… nice meeting you. See you around?”

Though MONICA had no clue what the original Lumpy Dog had looked like, she was ecstatic at their final creation - and the fact that she made a new friend! She was a little confused why Thea was slowly blinking at her, as if she was sending her some sort of secret message, but she just blinked back with a smile. "I would totally love to be your beach expert," she said with a mock salute, then grabbed Thea's wrist as she dragged them back to the main group. "Now come on!" 

Upon her return to the fire, Monica was thrilled to see that her first friends were still there. "Hi! Oh my god, I'm so sorry I rushed off like that. So rude of me! I just had to make sure my sandcastle was okay after some murderer went on a rampage," she said apologetically to the group, then giving a dirty look in the vague direction of wherever the leg lady had gone. Glad to see that her discarded skewer was still on the ground, she brushed off the sand nonchalantly and stuck it in the fire. Though she could've sworn she saw something run at her feet, she was not going to let something else distract her from her tasty treat.