JULY PLANET MINGLE

[save_the_souls]

Who: YOU. ME. EVERYONE.
Broadcast: IF YOU WANT
Action: YEAH!!!!!
When: July!

[Congratulations to the crews that did not get themselves blown up! Welcome to the Blue Planet, a planet full of charming islands and even less charming weather patterns! Are you going to take the time to enjoy the beach? Help out with the local Nunnilis population? Get caught in a storm with another person and have a rating boosting sexual tension moment? The world's your oyster!]

[Yeah in other words: ITS A MINGLE GET IN HERE]

[July Planet Info!]

Comments

[catamite]

Some of the rich people have them, but... I've never been in one.

[and modesty is definitely not a word in his vocabulary, if the mesh and patent leather he'd been walking around in hadn't been a clue. maybe he's just really dedicated to the club scene. he has the body of a dancer, at least.]

Oh... yeah. [what was the excuse he'd used before...?] I'm just... out doing stuff a lot of the time, I guess.

[and hey! shorts are on now, and he flounces into a little pose.]

--How do they look?

[mortalcoil]

[he readily nods, because... yeah. accepting the consequences of this mess had always been part of the decision. and he gestures in a big circle around them, indicating the whole island, and throws his hand disgustedly off to the side. he did everything he needed to do here, so he is so very much done with this place.

and, as small of a gesture as it is, having someone walking between him and the looming body of water... is actually helping to some degree. he's sensitive to his periphery, being flanked, having a blind side --all of that. so, to have one threat a little less present on his radar is really nice.

they might even make it to the ship without any other incidents, at this rate.]

[slukhtis]

It's water.

[ He decides to splash him again, being the mature adult that he is. ]

[slukhtis]

Lay on me then. [ He likes his laugh, likes the oddness of it so he grin lazily as shoulders rise and fall. ] Won't get any sand on you.

[wordmiser]

[A small sigh, and roll of her eyes.

Yeah. No. Probably not in the slightest. But Jinx is used to that. The boss man never spills the beans.

Can she help anyway? A quirked eyebrow]

Need help?

[geonomy]

[The first part gets a snort out of Clay and some quiet laughter muffled by his hand, because... well, yeah, that was a thing. Still! It looked pretty cool for what it was! And as for the second...]

2027. Space Odyssey was about fifty years old when I was born, so... yeah, definitely beyond my time.

[geonomy]

[Well, that's just not a good way to think at all! At that, Clay leans over to bump shoulders with Pearl, though he tries to keep a steady hand on the controls as he does so.]

Hey now, you haven't abandoned your duty. The inclusion of a powerful television loving entity wasn't in your plans either.

[tothefly]

Must be a lot of stuff to do. Busy guy.

[Hey, you never know. Armor doesn't have to be made of steel. Some people wear fishnets and glitter when they march off to war. It all depends on your battlefield. She knows better than most not to judge, just observe.]

[And speaking of observing, he's clearly looking for approval, which he gets with a once-over and the quirk of an eyebrow.]

Not bad. Almost like a real boy. Come on, let's go show you to the world.

[tothefly]

[That's one gesture she doesn't need a signing almanac to translate. Even with the rough motion and the way it sends him staggering just a little when he flings his hands to the side, she couldn't agree more. As the minutes roll by, putting the bar behind them, the ache both in her arm and in her head grows more immediate. Definitely something broken, she thinks, and of course it's just when she can least afford it.]

[Her pace increases ever so slightly, but never to more than he can match. She's getting him back to the ship through sheer stubbornness, if nothing else, and then she's going to Crusher to get this arm set and going the hell to bed.]

Remember where you parked?

[Even now, there's some sense of dry humor. It's all she's got left.]

[tothefly]

[Well, it wouldn't be a very good secret plan if she shared it, would it? Sharing would also betray the fact that as of this moment, she has no plan more nefarious than to sit here and enjoy this delicious beverage, and take comfort in the fact that for one minute the world isn't imploding.]

I'm not particularly planning on a hostile takeover of the locals. But if I change my mind, you're first on my list of lieutenants.

You can stay and help me drink this bar out, if you want.

[tothefly]

[She does some quick mental math, juggling dates, or at least fuzzy time periods, and the answer she comes up with makes her look at him a little differently. Almost like she's laughing.]

Yeah, I'd say so. You're still in primary school, when I'm from. Probably still a little young for megalomaniacal robot AIs.

[child_of_bhaal]

[Oh she's intently listening. If there's one thing that could ever get Syeira's full, unequivocal attention, it was a story.]

What happened then?

[The words feel both far away and familiar. She feels like a child again, demanding Gorion read the next page of an epic history or legend. It's been a long while since she'd heard a proper good story.]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[oh, he loves a captive audience. he nods and continues...]

Well, the monster could have gone on eating bears and lions and whatever else roamed the valley, but it saw these hunters and thought... What power these creatures must have. Yes, they were small, physically weak, unbalanced... But the monster watched them them speak to one another, create tools from almost nothing, and hunt animals many times their own size with cunning and cooperation. What a hidden strength must have dwelt in their hearts. It wanted that power for its own.

So, it took to catching and dragging off stragglers. Soon it was large and strong enough to devour them whole in its massive jaws. It reveled in the fear it felt growing in the people below. Greedy and swollen with pride, the monster finally clawed its way under the earth into the caves where it knew even more humans lived. It dove down to the lowest caves and ate anyone it could find. It ate and it ate and it ate, growing so large that it tore apart houses, left whole blocks demolished in its wake. It became so arrogant that it even began to eat other monsters, carelessly consuming anything that slipped into its claws.

[he waves his empty skewer around a little, to punctuate.]

Now, the other monsters did not appreciate this. Who was this brash newcomer, who thought it could disrupt years of tradition and social order? Who was this thing who thought it could just steal all of their prey? The more intelligent of them saw how fast it grew and began to worry that it would soon become unstoppable; if they did not act quickly, the whole city might soon be swallowed up in its jaws. For the first time in history, one of the more eloquent of their kind reached out to the terrified people of the caves above and asked for a truce, an agreement to end this monster for everyone's sake.

[--a short chuckle.] Very soon after that, the monster came across a single person wandering through the caves it had cleared to be its home. It had become quite audacious by then, and thought it funny to try to speak with the man, taunt him, inform him of his inevitable death. The man was not afraid as he should have been, and instead insulted the monster in turn. Furious that a mere human would dare, it chased after him... But the man was very fast, leading the monster down a series of confusing, winding passageways.

Very suddenly, it found itself in the Haunting, where many more monsters scrambling through the tunnels. It started eating them in a rage, screaming for the blood of the man who'd gotten away. More monsters began to stream into the tunnel, and it ate them too. It ate and ate and ate until there was not a single monster left in sight.

And when it tried to move--ha, to its great surprise, it could barely budge. It had grown so large that it no longer fit in the tunnels! It heard the exits seal closed around its bloated body, and realized too late that it had been tricked.

[ah... he can't help but grin. he's still rather proud of that part.]

So, to this day, they say that if you go down far enough, you can hear the Leviathan moaning to be let free, growling threats of revenge. When the earth shakes, they say that it's just Leviathan shifting restlessly through its prison...

[stickupherforehead]

[that gets a small smile from her. Shoulder bumps she can deal with. Hugs would have to depend.

And hah. Half sigh, half laugh.]

I still don't know how it happened, beyond blinking and waking up here. [can't even analyze what went wrong] Garnet should've seen it coming, at the very least.

[lord_wizard]

[He respects that Duke admits it, and since he respects Duke in general, he's inclined to believe his interpretation]

One is as true as the other, I suppose. Most governments will do what they must to get ahead.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda thinks back on her initial arrival aboard the Starstruck and the slight turbulence she caused. While she understands that the chip can feed her the information, it was doing so already for the most part. A teacher still felt kind of necessary.]

Do you know of any teachers?

[tothefly]

I've got a friend who's the pilot on the Tourist. Might be able to talk him into giving you some pointers.

[A moment, and a look, then:]

I'm not an expert, myself, but our shuttles can fit two, if you want me to take you out.

[faithfulwisdom]

[He grins back at her, clearly getting the gist of things.] Gladly!

[mylegacy]

I honestly don't know.

[It's possible he used something way more flammable than olive oil. He looks at her sideways, one eyebrow arched.]

It's okay. You can laugh.

[child_of_bhaal]

That is a wonderful legend. Is it true?

[Because some are.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda nods her head and smiles. She recognizes the significance of Nat's invitation. It was a warm gesture that many might not readily receive from the woman code-named "The Black Widow."]

If you are offering, yes.

[innercactus]

[ Asteffiel is confused by the clicking for a little bit, but then he sort of gets that it's like humming? Or singing with her work?

Singing at piles of sand is new for him, but he totally does it. He sort-of matches the beat of her clicking with his children's song, which is vaguely recognizable but seems to feature plants a lot more than it would normally.

Castle wall nearly done! ]

[forgetyourusedtobe]

[At first, Elena wants to point out that what he was trying to do wasn't fair. Or maybe fair isn't the right word for it. Not that she knew the best way to help with something like this--she definitely didn't know what she was doing the first time around when things were different from this--but she could have been made aware. She could have tried talking to him about the things that were missing, to try and help them fall into place for him again so he can be Stefan.]

[(And maybe that part is unfair. Maybe she shouldn't want that so immediately and quickly and let him be whoever it is he is now without worrying about Stefan Salvatore, but... Something just doesn't feel right having Stefan Salvatore gone forever. Not when he's supposed to be there forever.)]

[But then he's holding his temples and seems to have remembered a detail he didn't know before. She stands a little taller and nods.]

Yeah, it was a rose. Black ink. [She reaches out and touches his shoulder with her index finger and thumb indicating a size.] Right about here and that big...

[forgetyourusedtobe]

No, it's not that funny.

[She purses her lips even tighter, shaking her head. There's laughter in her eyes though.]

I hope no one got hurt.

[stefanged]

[His gaze falls down to her hand, memorizing the rough size to heart. Stefan doesn't plan on acquiring the tattoo: it's one of the big no-nos of Islam. Right up there with blood consumption, but you know, Salvatore keeps breaking religious laws right and left.

Of course he'd break this one too. Stefan resists the urge to sigh, instead biting on his lip for a few seconds.]

That's the one. In my memory, I mean. [Not gonna sigh, not gonna sigh.] If the Fleet's anything like home, it'll come back too. It's just a matter of when.

[How the Fleet can grant him old memories (and possibly an old tattoo), he's not sure. There's no Numbered to compare notes with - and that worries him a little. People can lose their Echoes back home. Does that mean that one day, Salvatore's just gonna be gone forever?]