OPEN LOG: A beach party.

[bouchonne]

WHO: Everyone.
WHAT: A beach party.
WHEN: On a very hot day. At some point during the month.
WHERE: A beach just outside of Kirkwall.
NOTES: It is a beach party.

During a particularly hot and oppressive week in Kingsway, the Diplomacy division announces it will be diverting some of its funds to organize a party on a nearby beach. Kirkwallers are invited as well - a relationship-building sort of effort - but the party is mostly intended for morale boosting for Riftwatch itself.

The party features the following:

• Transportation to this lovely beach from the Gallows and from Kirkwall.


• Sunbathing and swimming in skimpy (or non-skimpy, if you're a fuckin square) bathing suits.


• Live music and dancing.


• Delectable grilled meats (and some vegetables, if you're a fuckin square).


• Rum drinks served in hollowed-out fruits.


• A sandcastle-building competition.


• A swim race.


• A few fun little sailboats bobbing around out on the water.

Does all that sound too wholesome? Great! There's also a cave system in the cliffs next to the beach. These little grottos are full of nooks and crannies and are perfect for a bit of sinful action after dark; in one cavern, there'll be some gambling games where some of Kirkwall's citizens are losing money; in another, you're likely to run into people making out.

Have fun! Soak up sun! Don't get in trouble! Or do, whatever, it's a beach party.

Comments

Colin | OTA

[keenly]

I. This is my moment in the sun

Ordinarily this would be far too large a party for Colin to be comfortable with, but it's outdoors, and a little discomfort isn't killing him. Unlike at other parties he's been to, there are clear things to do besides talk, drink, get high, and throw up. He's also happy to soak up as much sun and warmth as he can before winter comes. He brought a woven mat and he lies out on it, eyes closed, completely blissed out.

II. Sandcastles in the sand

Utilizing whatever he finds at hand, Colin is very, very slowly building a detailed sand castle. Slowly. He's so focused on detail that he seems oblivious to the world around him. The castle might get finished in about ten years. We'll see.

III. Flooded with justice (swim contest)

He's just lately learned to swim, thanks to Sonia. The point, of course, is to have fun, which is why he's still grinning after coming in last place. By this time, the sunburn is starting to appear on his skin, but he doesn't mind. He's a healer, he can take care of it.

IV. Wildcard

II

[muckspout]

Edgard stops and observes the castle being built. It's slow going, but the detail is pretty incredible. It looks like he's starting from the bottom up, carefully sculpting a moat and drawbridge.

"Nice castle. Where'd you learn to do that?"

No response. He's concentrating too much.

"Hello? Roommate? Griffon man?"

Then at a slightly raised volume.

"Sunbeam's Owner?"

[keenly]

It takes Colin a second to realize those names are being directed at him. He stops and blinks up at Edgard, trying to figure out what was said, but what comes out is,

"Huh?"

[muckspout]

Edgard cocks his head to the side. Is Sunbeam’s Owner ok?

“I said I liked your castle and was wondering where you learned to do that.”

[keenly]

At the Royal University of Sandcastles, Colin thinks, but that seems a bit too tart for someone he barely knows.

"I just...do it. Did you call me Sunbeam's owner?"

[muckspout]

Edgard will never understand how people are just gifted at things without learning how. It seems unfair. He registers the question.

“Well. Yes? I mean, you are.”

[keenly]

"No, I'm not." A puzzled blink. "The griffons belong to the Wardens. I'm just allowed to ride one."

[muckspout]

Edgard stares in shock. His entire view of this man has shifted in one moment.

“You don’t own Sunbeam?” He runs his hand through his hair and then feels indignant on the gorgeous griffon’s behalf. “So you’ll just ride any griffon?”

He feels deceived.

[keenly]

"N-no, just Sunbeam. It's...a griffon can have more than one rider, but a rider just has the one griffon. You have to build a relationship before it lets you ride.

[muckspout]

A griffon can have more than one—-holy shit! Excitement rushes through him all thoughts of sandcastles gone.

“How do you do that?” He shouts. “TELL ME PLEASE!”

[keenly]

Colin gives him a vaguely surprised rundown of the process.

"Usually the griffon finds you. Animals know who they like, and all that."

[muckspout]

Edgard sits down on the sand cross legged.

“What do you think Sunbeam thinks of me?”

He grins at this griffon expert. They’re friends now for sure. This is what did it, not the healing.

[keenly]

"Um," says Colin. He thinks it's too early and too rude to ask that the man wash her off after riding her. Though it's more likely he'll have to wash himself in order to ride her; Sunbeam is very vain. He softens as he thinks on her. Who is he to decide who she can or can't be friends with?

"She loves catnip," he says softly. "And she's very vain. She loves to be groomed. You treat her like a queen and she'll love you."

[muckspout]

Edgard smiles and leans forward hands on his knees which are jiggling excitedly.

"This will not be a problem. I can be very charming. Where does one get this catnip?"

[keenly]

"The apothecary."

iii

[vorbratta]

Despite spending the better part of the day in the water, Sonia had chosen leisure over the swim contest, but she's still wading around in the shallows when it ends.

"Oh, well done," she says cheerfully with a little clap, and then pulls off her wide-brimmed hat and holds it out to him. "But here, put this on. You're going to be peeling tomorrow."

[keenly]

He pops the hat on his head with an unconcerned chuckle.

"I'll just heal any burns. It feels good to be out in the sun for a bit before winter."

[vorbratta]

"Wear it anyway. It's very fetching on you." She grins. It's nice to see Colin coming out of his shell a little.

"It is, isn't it? All the sun we got in the jungle wasn't exactly the gentle seaside sort. I missed the ocean." She takes a deep breath, savoring the salt sea air. "There's just something so soothing about swimming. A feeling of weightlessness."

[keenly]

"I remember more sweat and insects in the jungle than I remember sun," Colin says, wrinkling his nose. "Under the trees it was mostly shade, but I couldn't tell if the sun was blocked out by leaves or by insects."

He shudders a little and glances back out to the ocean--a proper ocean.

"Where is it you're from, again?"

[vorbratta]

Eugh. Sonia has been trying very hard to forget about the insects. She shudders too, pure reflex at the thought, then shakes her head as if to rid herself of it altogether.

"Southern Ferelden, just north of the Hinterlands." She smiles fondly, shading her eyes from the sun. "My father always took us on trips to the beach in the summer. Even when he was busy with family affairs, he somehow always carved out the time. But I never made it out there last summer. I don't think I realized how much I missed it."

[keenly]

"The northern beach?" It's sort of a stupid question, he thinks after it has left his mouth. It would be a long journey east to get to a rather frigid ocean.

[vorbratta]

Sonia laughs, but it's a light sound, carried away by the wind. "Yes, the northern beach. It was always a bit of a trip, but I have some cousins up there. A family visit was always a good excuse. But when I couldn't go to the ocean, there was a small lake not far from my home. Not quite the same as the beach, but just fine for swimming."

[keenly]

"That sounds wonderful." A gentle smile. "Do you have siblings?"

[vorbratta]

Sonia bobs her head in a nod, her smile sunny. "Mmhm. Older. I'm the baby, of course." A quick flash of teeth in a mischievous grin. "My older sister's name is Ophelia. She was my dearest friend when I was a child, an affection I returned by relentlessly harassing her with silly pranks. Then she went and fell madly in love with the most boring man in the world and abandoned me for his estate."

She lets out a thoroughly theatrical sigh, her hand to her forehead. "But I suppose I forgive her. She writes me every day." She grins. "And I get to have nieces and nephews."

Her expression sobers slightly then, though the fond smile never quite leaves her face. "I had a brother, too. Evgeny. He was the middle child. Often caught in the middle, as it were, between his two sisters."

[keenly]

He catches the past tense. He wants to commiserate, but would like not to be a huge bummer at a party. His head bobs a little.

"I was the baby for a while," he muses. "Till my parents had an accident when I was..." There's a moment as he tries to calculate it in his head. "Seven or eight, I suppose. So I had four sisters--three older, one younger."

There. Now they have something else in common. Unless the past tense and melancholy expression were an accident.