EVENT ★ GONE FISHIN'

[futurologists]

Thanks to your help, repairs to the flood wall are complete. The Nalawi are still largely without their Gifts, so they are thankful -- without the aid of ALASTAIR recruits, they would have surely drowned or been eaten by sea monsters. Despite the barely averted disaster, the residents of Komo have decided to go along with their lives as planned, perhaps to bolster morale instead of giving into despair. By chance, their annual fishing contest is scheduled for today! As honored guests, recruits are invited to participate. FISHING CONTEST Dugout canoes are provided for all participants, patterns that suggest fish scales burned into the wooden sides. Curiously, no fishing rods are offered; if a recruit requests one, they will be given a strange look, but the harbormaster will acquiesce. Due to the rough seas, the passage between Komo and the other islands is still inaccessible. Contestants are reminded to stay behind the reefs or venture east toward open ocean for their quarry. It’s only when the contest begins that the quarry in question is actually announced . . . Sharks. You are fishing sharks. And, judging by the lack of equipment (or the puny fishing rod you requested), you’re expected to do this by hand. The tiny deer people don’t seem bothered by this predicament at all: the goal is to catch the biggest shark, by length and poundage. Better not embarrass yourself in front of the locals. GET PUMPED Mettaton has announced over the jewelry that he will be hosting a celebration in tandem with the fishing contest, in order to help the native Nalawi and the ALASTAIR recruits get to know each other better. This includes singing, dancing, and all sorts of different performances -- and, of course, reporting on the actual fishing. If you aren’t the fishing type or maybe you just need a break from chasing sharks around, this is a good chance to bust a move and show your teammates how you can get down -- or just sit back and watch! It’s bound to be entertaining one way or another. Plot for the stage here! Olivia will be the final performer in the showcase. Anyone who witnesses her dancing may feel themselves super-charged by the spectacle . . . with possibly unexpected results! Characters may feel even more determined to win the fishing contest, or perhaps they’ll take this surge of optimism to help rebuild some of Komo’s destroyed buildings before the day winds down into night. THE FEAST After the fishing contest, the sharks will be collected and prepared. Grilled shark, fried shark, shark caviar, and shark jerky from the results of last year’s contest. There are fruits and vegetables and breads available as well, but if you want some protein, you’d better go native. During the feast, some of the Nalawi perform dances and song. The subjects range from their goddess Nalanni to love songs. Want to show off your talents again? Now’s the time! Or, if you’d prefer to step away from the excitement, the beach is quiet and empty, and the baths are unoccupied since the whole of Komo is at the gathering. As the feast winds down, the Nalawi will pass around their very potent alcohol for a toast to Komo’s health. Someone shouts, interrupting, wondering what good that will do if Nalanni has abandoned them. Concerned murmuring fills the gathering, spoiling the mood. ALASTAIR recruits may attempt to put them at ease -- otherwise, the feast will disperse on a sour note. OOC INFO If you would like your character to win the fishing contest, please sign up below. You must thread out fishing in order to participate in the drawing. There will be only one winner, decided by RNG. The winner will be contacted on April 1st. The prize is a necklace of shark’s teeth, which has a one-use spell that will make all sharks in a one mile radius sleep for 30 seconds. <b>PLAYER:</b> Name <b>CHARACTER:</b> Name <b>USERNAME:</b> <user name=username>

Comments

[hydesout]

I like it best when you take the stage.

[And then it's a music hall.

Still, he makes a frustrated noise that's somewhere between a growl and a huff.]

Look, it isn't about laying anything on, it's telling you what's really on my mind!! What's so hard to believe?! You can choose to ignore it, not care a lick, but don't even think that I'm spinning tales!

[alamob]

[Obviously he's taken a heavy blow to the head at some point during the day, or else there's another factor in this willful belligerence. Stubborn ass.

Hyde can be so much like her when he's determined, but his dogged pursuit and noise has gone from irritating to being the source of the boiling blood in her belly. She strides on, as if to outpace it and him.]

Won't matter what I believe or what your truth is, if you're having me on or what. Not bringing me closer to you or whatever [I] you thought we had.

Loving someone don't call them back.

[hydesout]

I'm not having you on!

[He could tear out his hair for all the frustration this brings him too. Because it's better and easier to be frustrated than properly sad. And he so hates not getting his way.

A frustrated and despairing, if anything else, howl escapes him.]

What am I supposed to do if you won't even listen?! Having it go in one ear and out the other is cruel punishment!

[alamob]

[Her eyes close and shoulders tighten, but that's the most his outburst gets. If Bella stops walking there's a sliver of a chance she won't finish what she started.

And that's unacceptable.]

Live with it! I said, loving someone don't call them back to you.

[hydesout]

Aaahhh, now you know that isn't how I operate! How can I live with it, I can't live with it!

[This could almost be one of their petty yet heated arguments. If it wasn't cutting to the core.

He wishes she'd just look at him. It would be an easier pill to swallow if she did, walking away makes him need to pursue. Of course he still would pursue either way, but this way it needs to be now, he can't back off to regroup.]

[alamob]

Never loved another soul who didn't love you back, then!

[Like a real child.

He'll learn rejection. Bella did ages before the first night he clambered up, uninvited, onto her balcony. It's shaped like grief but lasts half as long if he moves on. If that's what it takes, she'll tell a white lie. Or two.

Ten houses down the way, she catches sight of the top of the inn.]

You're a little boy who's lost his shiniest penny down a gutter, and like all little boys, you'll survive it.

[hydesout]

There's plenty of shiny pennies, don't sell yourself short when you're something one of a kind - it's an insult to both of us!

[When he catches up to where she was and sees the inn coming closer too, that's when the real panic sets in. Getting close to a door being slammed in his face. Anything he has to do to avoid it, even if it's spent fighting and hurting being in her presence a little longer is better than that. That's what the lingering effects of the dance tell him, so he acts immediately on instinct, grabbing her about the waist to spin her around and kiss her.]

[alamob]

this is so disgusting that I'm leaving it

[alamob]

[It would be easy, the easiest damn thing to let him smear her lipstick and coil around Hyde with her lower half like a snake-woman out of storybooks. Bella remembers it hasn't been such a long time since the last.

Her instincts serve her better than that. This is not a storybook, and her resolve doesn't crumble because his mouth is hot and certain. Her balled fists slam mercilessly over his ears.]

I hate

[hydesout]

[Is that something that's going to stop him? No. He grunts a bit of pain, but carries on, grip and mouth both full of desperation and frustration without proper outlets.

But even he knows going on for too long isn't going to help a bit, and it's really not doing anything for him either when it's one-sided. Pulling back but keeping his hands clamped on her shoulders at least gives him the opportunity to look her in the eye.]

I'll kiss your ass too.

That's lovely, Hyde. You're doing great. Keep it up

[alamob]

[Rage pours into the void she's nursed and sets her nerve endings on fire. Just not how he'd like them to burn.]

You unbelievable bloody pig-arse. You --

[Dehydration, liquor, anger and overexertion conspire to become a quadruple threat against holding onto her lunch. Bella's throat and torso convulse. He receives no other warning before a stream of vomit splats over his front.]

Smooth™

[hydesout]

[.......Ah.

Well that'll wake him up, as it were. It reminds him she's ill and he's supposed to be looking after her, not making things worse. That would be a good way to start getting back in her good graces, rather than arguing pointlessly. And rather than continue to shout louder, his voice softens with the pause he takes.]

Bella...

[So does his expression. He cares - god damn it, he actually cares, feelings of sympathy and good will like a real person. His shirt comes off, left in the sand to be someone else's problem.]

I was an ass. I know you won't like it, but let me carry you the rest of the way. Somewhere I can get a needle.

[alamob]

[Get this child out of her hair.

At least the puke wasn't much more than a mouthful of bile that smells like the booze she'd bullied him into fetching. Bella shoves at his chest, stronger and stronger. Her head pounds to its own beat. She's disgusting and disgusted by him; snaps her fingers at the discarded shirt.]

Pick that up, you ain't leaving it for the Nalawi. You're not getting a bloody needle either. [She'll lose it if he dares touch her, so say the too-wide glassy eyes trained on his.]

[hydesout]

I'm giving you my blood to heal your illness.

[And that's that, apparently. Although with a heavy sigh he stoops to pick up the shirt. Fine. Fine. But it's being turned inside out and balled up, and he's going to throw it in the trash as soon as he can.]

[alamob]

[What a swell thought. Truly a transfusion to make her green around the gills. Their shouting match after he lured Tenebrae agents into her drinking hall included an explanation of his plan to save Ravi, else Bella might reject the blood yet.

(Still half of a mind to.)

Once she's a hundred percent positive he won't leave the shirt she puked on for a poor local to stumble across, and scrubbing her throbbing mouth, the trek resumes. Slower.]

Don't have a clue where you'll dig something like that up.

[hydesout]

Plenty of reason to use a syringe, even if they prefer magic to pharmacy.

[He doesn't think she should be walking around after he probably made her condition much worse, undoing whatever good he did earlier... But he's not going to push it, either. He'll just be ready to help her if need be.]

Wonder if drinking it's good enough.

[alamob]

[She'll literally puke at him out of spite if he does push things. Good call, bruh.

Even her voice coming out in a disgusting croak doesn't quell the venom.]

Hell I'm swallowing any. You find a needle, tell you what, I'll let you stick me with it. Piss off until then.

[hydesout]

[That's his cue to hold his hands up to show he won't do anything.]

Yes ma'am. You won't have any problems from me, when have I ever caused you trouble.

[Of course he says it because he knows the answer is all the time.]