Seaside 3: A load of carp

[Shadowcaller]

Rotten Ship

The undead creatures moans are cut short as Sorrow makes their head explode in showers of blood and gore. The 'werewolf's" arms and chest is blasted apart, and while it doesn't keel over, the remains that slowly staggers forward is but a bloody mass, it's lower jaw completely gone along with its arms. It had armor, once, but it didn't offer much protection against Sorrows bolter. The other undead won't offer much resistance either, they can hardly do much against sorrow with their bare hands and teeth.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore]

Unless there's any objection from Sharps, Manti will gather up a fair amount of driftwood and build a decent-sized fire at the entrance, lit with her flamepistol; as far as food goes, well, unless the Tau girl has got anything else, they'll be sharing ration packs, though Manti only has enough for a week or so at the outside, with them both eating out of the same stock.

Still, she is a Sister - her ration packs are the nice kind, albeit a bit bland so as to not be actively distasteful to as many people as possible, and made up of things that can be easily kept from spoiling for long periods of time, so it won't be a particularly unpleasant meal as such things go.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Eating rations together in the firelight as the sun starts to set over the water outside, wearing borrowed clothing (for a given value of "clothing") while her garments dry, Sharps can't help but find it... a little romantic, kind of. She barely knows Manticora, but the human has been nothing but kind and helpful. That, and she's so pretty---unlike quite a few others of her race, this particular Tau finds a special sort of allure in humans. She can't help it that there's just something about their warm range of brown-to-pink skin tones, their external olfactory-respiratory structures, the odd and yet fascinating shape of their feet. The fact that they don't completely suck at close combat can be intimidating, but in this case it's more comforting to know she has a Sister of Battle looking out for her.

Scooting up just a bit against Manticora's side, Sharps looks at the human. "Thanks for, uh... y'know, taking care of me and all. Hopefully I can be of more help later. I, uh... couldn't... help but notice we only have one sleeping bag. I think we might both fit if, uh... y'know, we squeeze a little. I-if you don't mind that, I mean." Blushing indigo, she smiles in awkward hope. Sororitas hugs are fabled throughout the galaxy, and she wants 'em.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Manti nods as she shyly shifts just a little tighter against Sharps, though a blush creeps into her own cheeks as well. "I don't mind, though, um. Are your clothes dry yet? Or, well. Your, uh, u-underwear, anyway." The skirt-y thing and the top aren't exactly going to be as good at their job if someone is rubbing up against her all night, after all. They're definitely better than nothing as far as that goes, but she's pretty sure they're not going to be incredibly hard to dislodge by accident when they're getting out, if not before then.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]
"
Sharps pokes at her clothes and finds her underwear still damp from the seawater. "It looks like it's not... uh, um, that's probably a problem." She swallows. "Although, uh... that doesn't need to be a problem." She smiles up at the human, hoping she's doing this right. Holy heck, how do you do this flirting thing?

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

"I, er. I-I don't have a problem with it if you don't?" Manti ducks her head as she speaks, half-mumbling her reply and fidgeting with her hair; what can be seen of her face makes it quite clear that her blush hasn't faded one bit. "W-were you tired now, or did you want to stay up for a while?" It's pretty clear that she's just trying to change the subject at this point, but it's also a good question; it's not like either of them is out of shape or needs a lot of sleep in general, and they didn't walk that far today.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Oh heck it's working. Aaaaaaa.
"I, uh... might... be pretty tired now." She scoots a liiiittle closer. "It's been a... really stressful day and all, and we should probably get up early tomorrow so we can get a good start on finding civilization of some kind."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

"It has. C'mon then, let's get some rest," Manti replies with a nod, turning more out of force of habit than any actual intention and trying to scoop the Tau girl up to carry her off to the sleeping bag.

If Sharps doesn't stop her, she lets out a little squeak of embarrassment once she's halfway there, having suddenly realized that this wasn't the Sororitas she usually carries off that way, but by that point it's a little late for her to stop before they get there, especially as she managed to avoid dropping the blue woman in her surprise and doesn't have that as an excuse anymore.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Sharps meeps as she's scooped up. This is so unexpected and yet... so romantic, just like in those translated novels she borrowed from the Gue'Vesa. As the human girl stops, she decides to take charge. She throws her arms around her neck and kisses her!

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Manti returns the kiss without any particular hesitation, though she's got a nagging worry in the back of her mind about if she's ever going to be able to stop blushing around this girl; still, it's not hard to ignore it when she's got a pretty girl to focus on, even if it does make trying to get into the sleeping bag pretty much impossible. For now, at least, she keeps her hands to herself though - getting too wandery is hard when you're carrying someone.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Wiggling, she manages to get her feet on the ground so Manticora can focus less on having to hold her. "I think we should focus on actually getting in the sleeping bag. Thank you for carrying me, though, that was very, um, nice..."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

"I. Um. Yes. Sleeping bag. That would be good." The Sister wisely shuts up at that point to avoid embarrassing herself further, fidgeting uncertainly with her power armor as she watches Sharps get in the bag - on the one hand, she wasn't supposed to be without it here, but on the other, she can't imagine it would be comfortable for Sharps to sleep next to; the Tau can probably tell what's on her mind, if she'd have any helpful insights to contribute.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

The Tau hesitates, watching the pretty human and tilting her head.
"Do you need help with your armor, hon? I can help, I know tech things... uh, that didn't mean to come out as flirty as it maybe was. I think."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

"I-if you want, yeah..." She nods a little, turning around so that the Tau girl can reach some of the trickier seals more easily. "We always have someone else to help us out of it back home, so don't worry about it. I know what you meant." Not that the offer isn't a way of flirting back home, half the time, but Sharps doesn't need to know that.

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Her nimble hands undo seals and disengage safeties, allowing her to help Manticora out of her power armor.
"Though... I mean... we kind of are already flirting, given..."

[Rebonack]

[Tanari Island]

Looks more like a wolfwhale at the moment. The human part really isn't apparent right now what with Orion down on all fours.

"I'll admit, I only have a tentative grasp of what's going on here," Orion replies to the gnoll. "But you said you want to hash out an agreement with the goblins to get their prisoners back, so I'll be mediating since I don't have a stake in either side of this dispute."

Orion thinks this is all a very reasonable thing to do.

"I'm not on the goblin's side. And I'm not on yours, either. Consider me a neutral third party."

Isn't that nice of him?

Hopefully he doesn't get stabbed in the face for his niceness.

[Gold Bluff Cove]

A wide, yellowish bluff of loosely consolidated sand and pebbles overlooks the crashing of the sea. Wildflowers, vibrant but short lived, burst from the bluff's face in all manner of colors. Sea-stacks dot the landscape, sticking out the waves and the beach alike. They're strange things of jumbled geology, many choked with vegetation and sporting one or two straggly streets that cling tenaciously to their crowns in spite of the ever-present sea spray. Colorful pebbles litter the beach, worn from the bluffs by the inexorable action of high tide and stormy seas. To the north, the stacks grow all the more craggy as the sandy bluff is replaced with great mounds of greenish pillow basalt pockmarked with tide pools, shelves, arches, and the occasional water spout. When the tide ebbs low, great mats of barnacles, mussels, and hungry starfish are revealed. Out in the surf, one can spy fields of kelp gently swaying in the current.

The only access is a winding trail following a creek that has cut its way into the bluff before meandering out into the sea and mingling with the waves.

Technically she's out here to follow up on a report of a bridge that cycles with the phases of the moon. That's certainly a new one. According to what she read, the bridge should be in a sea cave nearby that floods at high tide. Finding the place had been pretty easy, there aren't too many places were forests of mixed pine, spruce, and redwood grow right to the proverbial edge of the world. The parking lot up at the top of the bluff was pretty easy to spot, too. It's your standard wide asphalt deal, built at the edge of a natural meadow with a little road meandering back to one of the major highways connecting the large cities of the Nexus. Geneva drops earthward, sans her usual jacket and instead wearing some light, airy clothes with a wide sun hat. She wouldn't want to be cooked, after all. Alighting in the middle of the parking lot, the nimbus of magenta light around her fades, though her entry still draws some attention.

A boy with a pair of pokémon themed swim trunks pulls at his father's shirt. "Dad! That's the mew lady! Can I go say hi to her?"
"Don't bug her, Tony, she's probably busy."
"Aaww..."

Okay...

She can't just pass that up.

Especially after Fortuna's attempt at outing her backfired radically. Apparently she has gained a fan club. And that has done wonders for helping her Bridge project gain visibility. Geneva pulls her flight goggles off, allow them to settle around her neck as she strolls over to the boy. The child's grin and excitement alike grow with every step Geneva takes, until at about five paces away she lets her Transform dissipate, revealing a mew with an adorable tiny hat.

"You're so cool! Mew is my favorite pokymon!"
"I thought pikachu was your favorite pokyman."
"No, mew's my favorite now! Can I pet you, please?"

Geneva gives a small laugh, snagging her hat with her teek and pulling it off. "Sure, just be gentle, alright? I'm not very big."

With exuberance possible only in children, Tony begins rubbing the mew between her ears. "Haha, they pop up like cat ears."

Hopefully there aren't too many other children in the parking lot. Otherwise she might never make it down to the sea cave.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

"Y-yeah. The, um. That," Manticora agrees quietly, stepping out of her power armor and turning to face Sharps; under it she's wearing a fairly plain set of underwear in the same colors as the robe-things that Sharps has on. "So, um. Time for bed?"

[Beans]

[Southwest Shore Cave]

Looking at Manticora and blushing hard, Sharps fidgets. She's not sure about this, but... well, everything's so... sudden and confusing, and all she can be sure of at this moment is that the human woman is beautiful and kind and... safe.
She reaches for Manticora, holds her face, and kisses her. The borrowed robes hit the cave floor, as does the Curtain.

[Rebonack]

[Gold Bluff Cove]

It's a merciful thing that there are so few children up in the parking lot, otherwise Geneva might have never escaped to the beach. Once the petting is done, Geneva pulls a mew card out of her inventory and signs it for the little boy, resulting in a great deal of thank-yous and excitement. It's funny, really. Not too long ago, Geneva felt exposed when using her natural shape in public. But since it became common knowledge who she is... well. It's... actually kind of fun! Especially since she can be a good influence on children who might wish to be a pokemon trainer some day. And let's be serious, here, how many children don't want to be a pokemon trainer?

Maybe I don't need to hide myself? People recognize me now. Or at least everyone who uses PokeSpotter does. And if someone doesn't then they probably won't care much about who I am, beyond the Bridge project?

She zips down to the trailhead, gazing out at the sea from the top of the bluff. There's a cool wind blowing today, sending waves crashing against the rocks.

Maybe I can just go as me today? And if people get too excited I can just explain that I'm here to do work? I'm sure they'll understand.

The mew glances down, wiggling her toes.

Maybe I can even figure out how to use my hilariously over-sized feet today?

Honestly, she really hasn't ever bothered trying to figure out how to use them. She just always... floats everywhere. But given that her teek failed her when she was mentally exhausted, maybe some good old fashioned mechanical locomotion practice would do her good? She settles down to the trail, feeling the coarseness of the gravel below the soft evergreen needles that litter the path on the soles of her feet. She stands flat-footed, as she would if she were human, and tries taking a few waddling steps.

I feel like I'm wearing clown shoes... This can't be right. Come on, Geneva, you're smart. What sort of body-shape do you have? Long feet. Strong toes. Long tail. That would be for digitigrade walking, right?

Geneva lifts herself up on her tip-toes, using the time-worn post of a wooden hand-rail along the edge of the trail to support herself. She wiggles her toes, scrunching her little pads against the duff. Eeeeever so carefully she leans forward, holding her tail behind herself to maintain balance. And then carefully, cautiously, she takes a few tentative steps and ends up half walking half stumbling to the next post.

"Haha... yeah, see? This is easy. I can walk like a normal person. I don't have to float everywhere!" she announces to a large red snail slowly oozing its way up the post she's hanging onto. The snail is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not impressed. "Okay. Walk to the next post without grabbing it this time. And then... once I've got that down... maybe hopping? It feels like my legs are supposed to be made for hopping. Haha, sure, why not? What's the worst that could happen?"

Three minutes later

A pair of pink feet and a long tail are now sticking out of a salal berry bush at the bottom of a small hill where the trail suddenly jaunts to the left.

"Oow..."

[Deathkeeper]

Continuity Cruise Lines

Once they're alone again, Ben rather awkwardly turns to the girls, having devoured a large plate of food the second they were alone. He can't use utensils well and using his tongue and claws is a bit crude.
"So uh, what now? You girls just going to hang out in your room tonight?"

[Lost_Deep]

Continuity Cruise Lines

"Yeah."
"Yep."

No hesitation from either of them. A night alone with a loved one and computers? Sounds like a good time.

[UncleWolf]

Rotten Ship

With her gun dry, Sorrow doesn't bother reloading. She lets her gun drop, the sling catching it so it doesn't hit the floor. Afterwards she closes in with her armored fists in order to stomp and kick her way through the rest of the zombies. Her enhanced strength is likely enough to nearly rip off someone's head with a blow, so a half-rotten one shouldn't provide much resistance unless they're toughened somehow.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tanari Island]

Sargera bares her fangs, looking rather skeptical to say at least. "So the giant whale-human think that he has negotiation skills, does he? How do you expect to negotiate where everyone else failed, wolfeye? The green ones think us stupid savages and would rather kill us all than giving up anything they see as theirs. So how can there be a agreement when there isn't even mutual respect? We just want to reclaim what was once ours. To raise ourselves up from the barbarism we've let us sunk into." She explains as she gestures at Gnizel and his mercenaries who seems to be still talking to one another. "I wouldn't trust them if I were you. Being so small, the green ones has to use deceit to get their way."

Rotten Ship

Sorrow can easily rip their heads off, while their bodies are toughened by their undead condition (otherwise they would just fall apart by themselves) with her strength, there still aren't any problems. However as she goes about the ship she can hear knocking deeper inside the ship. It's coming from a door which have been barricaded from the outside. "Who's there?" A feminine voice calls out. "Could use some help..."

[UncleWolf]

Rotten Ship

Sorrow takes a moment to wipe herself clean and reload her bolter before nearing the door. "One moment and I will free you." She tells whomever is there before ripping down the barricade to let the person out.

[Shadowcaller]

Rotten Ship

The barricade is torn down, unblocking the door. As she opens it, it appears to have been a storage of some kind, being nearly completely filled with barrels and crates. Sitting upon one of the larger creates is a pale blue-skinned humanoid being. Female, if one compare her to a human.
But more importantly, a xeno.
The blue skin color and the hoof-like feet would suggest that it might be a tau, but those short tentacle-like appendages behind its ears, the human-like face and the horns indicates otherwise.
It is wearing a black breastplate and a pair of linen pants, the other parts of what must be the same armor, laying scattered over the floor together with a lot of empty bottles.
The xeno stares at Sorrow curiously, it appears to be unarmed, but you never knew with such creatures, it could be attempting to attack her mentally with its gaze alone. It raises a bottle held it its hand towards the Sister as... a cheer? "Echada! Most appreciated. Just as I ran out of booze too." She get's off the crate, but nearly falls over as her hooves connect with the wooden floor, her she manages to catch her balance and make a short clumsy bow before Sorrow. "But where are my manners? You are my savior madame. I am Faithel Suraan, at your service."

[UncleWolf]

Rotten Ship

Sorrow simply stares at the armored woman for a bit, fingers twitching ever-so-slightly on the grip of her boltgun, but she lets it go after convincing herself that she was in no position to pass judgment on a Xenos. For being a Xeno anyway... She thinks to herself as she kicks an empty bottle. "Call me Sorrow...are you drunk?" She asks, sounding disgusted before shaking her head with a sigh. "Get dressed and I can get you out of here."

[Shadowcaller]

Rotten Ship

Faithel makes a psh, sound. "Drunk? I'll have you know that I'm nearly sober. I was running out of booze after all." She smiles, probably meaning that to be a joke. "But seriously, I rather starve to death drunk than sober. You know how it is." She shrugs and starts looking Sorrow over, picking up a wrist piece of the armor from the floor with a tail that Sorrow might just have notice. "But before I start getting armored up, Sorrow, you should tell me how we're getting out of here. By boat? By land?" She asks as she puts on the wrist piece she just fished up.

[UncleWolf]

Rotten Ship

Even Sorrow has to give a small shrug of acceptance at that reasoning. However, the alcohol would have been calorie-rich enough to sustain someone for a good long time. At least until malnutrition set in. "We fly." Sorrow says. "You are at the base of a cliff and I can carry you up using my jump pack." She explains. Faithel will be able to tell that Sorrow is trying to keep her distance for now, wary and on guard just in case.

[Shadowcaller]

Rotten Ship

Faithel's eyes widen as soon as she mentions a jump pack. "Whoa, you 'jump packed'? Don't tell me you got that off a gnome, they explode every time I used em'. Besides, our armors combined are probably pretty heavy." As she talks she unsteadily straps on more of her armor, it might still take a bit at this pace.

[UncleWolf]

Rotten Ship

The insinuation that her jump-pack would be shoddy quality makes Sorrow pause. Even under the helmet it'll be easy for the woman to tell she feels somewhat insulted by it. "My pack..." Sorrow says, choosing her words carefully to mask any sense of annoyance. "Has been made with the utmost care. It will carry us both up without any cause for concern."