It's just one of those gorgeous nights in Oahu. Saturday night, 7pm, the sun is down and the new moon is up, even if you can't see it. The stars are out and while the beach at Waikiki might not be as busy as it can be during the bright light of day, the clear night sky has left people with a desire to enjoy the warmth. And so, there are plenty of people milling around on the beach, wandering here and there, some in the shallow water though notably being cautious of sharks. Most people, however, are just enjoying some sitting around time with picnic dinners and enjoying moments with friends. There may have been a luau earlier at one of the big resorts, because there seem to be plenty of people out in shorts and Hawaiian shirts, muumuus, and comfy looking dresses. There are still, however, plenty of people out in their bathing suits that may well have spent the majority of the clear, sunny, day outside and were just rounding it out with an evening of continued fun before they headed into town to hit the random bars, grilles, and clubs for the night.
Ayi is one of those on the beach, seemingly only recently having left the water, judging from how her white bikini, and the ever present red sash around her waist, is still wet. She's stretched out on a towel, with a big bottle of some sort of drink in one hand. She mostly seems to be relaxing and not paying much attention to what is around her, though occasionally she'll take a look around to see if there's going on she can get involved in.
Lili was enjoying herself, moving along in the tail ends of the waves as they crashed against the beach. She kicked, danced, walked, jumped, and all in all seemed to be enjoying herself as she played with the water. Every so often she switched it up and did a cartwheel, flinging water with hands and feet as she did so. Luckily, she wasn't dressed in something as dangerous to do cartwheels in as a dress or skirt, and was wearing instead a bright, coral colored bikini that at least fit her well enough she didn't come spilling out of it, no matter her antics. Her waist length hair was pulled back into two, pig-tail style braids that were dripping with water from the times they'd lashed at it while she'd been playing around. Turning and walking backward, she gave a wide, happy, smile to Noah and matched it with a wink. "Not so bad that we got off work late, especially when the beach is this nice tonight, neh?" She sounded decidedly pleased, possibly because they finally WERE off work, or just because they were out enjoying some early evening fun.
Noah adjusted his tan underarmour shirt over his athletic shorts as his bare feet carried him down the beach at a deliberate pace to keep up with the more energetic Lili. The corner of his mouth stayed up in a continuous hint of a smile. His eyes narrow a hint, "Do you honestly consider it work? When workers are vibrating with anticipation, the assumption is cocaine or meth. I'm definitely more old school, so I'd likely guess sugar and feel closer to the mark." The man shifted the extra set of flip-flops to the old hand, joining them with the other.
Out in the water, a few people seem to have ventured a little deeper than the shallows. The three male figures were paddling around and looked to be swimming in circles together, like they were practicing for some sort of synchronized swimming event, without the flair of arms and legs that would mark a medal worthy performance.
Farther in around the shallows, people continued to play in the water and have fun. With the true finality of the sun having gone all the way down to leave the beach in nothing but starlight and the glow of the nearby city, some people began to pack up their beach towels, trudging a little slowly toward their resorts and hotels to get a shower or possibly just to get some food, after smelling the picnics that other people had toted along.
Ayi glances around as some people star to leave the beach and others to get food. After a couple of moments she shrugs her shoulders and takes a swig from her bottle before starting to wander down the beach. Stopping at the first of the picnics she comes across she offers a smile and says, "Do not suppose you have any extra food. Not for free, of course. But I would be perfectly willing to trade a story song or dance for a bite to eat."
Lili made her way back toward Noah with a wanton grin on her lips and a shimmer in her dark blue eyes that only seemed to mimic the starlight from above. "No'ah'uh, are you saying that work with me is like working with coked up people?" She laughed brightly and flung herself at the man, leaping like some sort of lemur toward an awaiting tree trunk. While she might well have just expected him to catch her, Lili wasn't one for forcing such a decision onto someone else, and instead she caught herself... on him. Her legs wound around his hips as her arms moved up around Noah's neck, and she laughed with pure delight as the water that had managed to coat her arms and legs soaked into his clothing. "Aloha mea wela, you look pretty good for someone working with a crack head all day!" Lili snickered and gave Noah a kiss that had a couple of people fanning themselves at a nearby towel.
Noah looked out over the water at the synchronized swimmers for all of a moment, but instead executed order 'Catch Bounding Lili' and catch her with a groan. The man stared at her as he exhaled a chuckle, "Coked up people is way more accurate than coked up person." Adjusting his hands under the woman, he hopped in the place to get her a bit higher. "Definitely people... I could almost hear the beat of hummingbird wings, but that could have been my imagination." He continued walking with her back a few steps from the water line. "Do you want food? I don't mind the battery running out, but sleeping Lees try to curl up with sandwiches."
The people that had been unfolding their picnic and handing food among the 5 of them at the nearest blanket to Ayi looked up at her and grinned. The man (presumably the father of the three youngers and the husband to the woman) gave her a wave and cleared his throat before saying in stilted English, "We can share. It is spicy, hot hot!" He waved his hand at his mouth, but lifted a container filled with some sort of hot stewed chicken, the spices heavy in the air around it. "Bread, cool off the lips." He motioned to his lips, then lifted a second container filled with baked flatbread of some sort, which smelled strongly of garlic and thyme.
Out in the water, in the deeper area, the three men that had been swimming around in circles seemed to break from what they were doing and started coming in closer to land. Instead of walking up onto the beach immediately, though, they swam in another set of close circles with each other, moving deliberately and with a steady pace as if they were once again practicing a formation that would eventually lead to competitive arenas.
The tide is low and ebbing.
Ayi flashes a grin of her own and replies, "Ah, a bit of spice never hurt anyone." Except all those people with heartburn and ulcers. One hand resting on her hip she tilts her head slightly to one side before asking, "So! What do you want in exchange?" She trails off after the question, glancing out at the water, brow furrowing slightly at the people swimming there. After a moment, though, she shakes her head and returns her attention to the likely family in front of her.
Lili didn't fight against the adjustments, just let herself be hiked up a bit like someone that might have flung herself at this particular tree trunk a time or two. "Ooooh, hummingbird wings would be FUN... I'd get into all sorts of trouble if I could fly, though. I mean... It would be the most AWESOME of trouble, but definitely probably get myself arrested even more than I do now. We'd have to up the money we put into the 'Free Lili' fund." She cackled happily and seemed to simmer down a moment to ponder the question of food. "Oh yeah, I could do food. I could kill a whole pig and eat it I think, though I'd share, promise. And falling asleep with a sandwich is the BEST. You wake up, and bam! There's a sandwich! You don't even have to go make one, it's ALREADY THERE!" Some sort of internal beat had her bouncing a little on Noah's waist as he moved her up away from the water. Her eyes managed to scrape their way along the water and she spotted the synchronized swimmers, giggling. "Man, I wouldn't want to swim like that in the dark. Seems like something you'd do when it was light out, so you don't kick each other in the face."
Molly comes to Waikiki from Honolulu.
Noah snickered, "I'm pretty sure you would have put your parents into an early grave if you could fly... When your mother isn't smiling, she defaults into the hundred yard stare that you see on vets." Noah gave her a long stare and smallest shake of his head. "No... You have a deconstructed sandwich and laundry," he corrected her gently and went back to his smile. He glanced at the swimmers once more, "They're coming in. Apparently being eaten by sharks isn't their idea of a good time." He chuckled softly, "Whole pig... Moonless night isn't the best for hunting, so I guess we'll settle for barbecue..."
The children spoke to their dad as he asked them questions, likely he and the mother the only ones that spoke much English. Whatever language they were speaking, it was something that contained much in the way of hand motions and excited, fast paced, responses. The mother finally put her hand out and said something in a soft voice, getting the kids to calm down and then turn to stare up at Ayi with nearly unblinking eyes. Finally the mother and father spoke to one another, and the mother looked up at Ayi and offered a gentle smile. "Perhaps a song or dance? Music is easier to understand than stories, for the little ones." Her English wasn't quite as stilted, but was very formal, and carried a heavy English accent, denoting she'd likely learned The Queen's and not American English.
Out in the water, the three men swimming in their concentric circles continued to move closer to the beach, to the point they must have been pushing themselves along the sandy bottom of the bay to continue moving. Their legs also were kicking less ferociously, as if they might be taking care not to hit their knees and toes into the sand. As they moved, their speed might have slowed a bit, but they all continued to swim in rhythm with one another.
Ayi tilts her head from one side to another before giving a slow nod. "A song it is, then." She sits down, cross-legged, and closes her eyes in thought for a moment. "No musical accompaniment, I'm afraid. Just voice. But I'm sure I can make due!" Eyes still closed she takes a breath then starts to sing. Though not attempting to keep quiet, she's not belting out the lyrics either. And to anyone who could understand the lilting song they'd recognize it as the Northeastern Cradle song.
Lili managed to let loose a resounding cackle as she heard Noah describe her mother. "Is that what you call it? I like to think of it as she's looking back remembering all of her acts of bravery and settling into the fact that she's a super hero." Lili waggled her brows at the man and leaned closer to nuzzle her nose against his. "Barbecue sounds awesome. Can we go to Ray's? It's gonna be mad busy, but the grinds... oh the grinds... and then we can decide if we get two desserts or one. Because I NEVER eat there without getting some of his sugary stuff. He makes killer stuff, if we can get there before everyone else eats it. I mean... I bet we can, it's Saturday. He always makes extra foods on Saturday because of all the people off work that stop in all day, so maybe he even has some of that Manju!" The woman was clearly cranking herself up for dessert, because she adjusted how she was holding onto Noah and switched up to just clamping at his sides with her thighs, her legs kicking out behind him like a kid on a swing, back and forth. "Those dudes are dedicated..." She mentioned it idly as she looked back at the water and raised her brows. Lili's head cocked to the side, sending one soaked, long, braid to swing into empty air. "I wonder if it's a bet... Ooooh, do you hear that?" Her eyes then zeroed in on Ayi and her singing, making Lili grin widely. "Pretty!"
Noah nodded soberly, "That is what it's called. In Vietnam, it was the difference between an ambush and a near ambush. The average person is not a fan of grenades..." His mouth formed into a smile, "Ray's it is. I could definitely go with anything with red bean paste in it..." When the woman continued squirming to watch Ayi's singing, he lifted her higher up his chest to watch over his shoulder. Noah paused to listen to the sing, "I think I've done it before... I could not say where."
"Molly's got a-a gun!" Molly's singing happily, possibly having had one too many drinks. She's wearing a sarong around her waist tied over her left hip, and a white t-shirt cropped above her belly and, one might surmise, no bra underneath. She's got a gun, too! It's made of red plastic and it's full of water. Well, partly full of water, she may've used it on someone at some point. The young student makes her way up the beach, until she finds herself among people she recognizes. "Hello!" she grins, lifting her free hand to waves at Lili, Ayi, and Noah. ...Yep, definitely had maybe just *one* more than she ought to have.
The family listening to Ayi sat quietly, quite politely actually, though they did continue to eat as the woman sang. Soon enough the kids were swaying and smiling, munching on the spicy chicken and bread while they enjoyed the entertainment with their dinner. After not too much longer, the man and woman that seemed to be the kid's parents leaned in together and simply sat, listening quietly, soft smiles on their faces as their kids were entertained by someone other than themselves for a brief while that night.
Once the three men swimming in circles got to the point that bellies would be scraping on sand under the thin veil of water, they pushed up to standing, and walked in from the water onto the somewhat drier sand at the line between beach and ocean. All three of them stretched their arms up high to the sky, like they were loosening the kinks in their backs, and then began swaying back and forth while speaking in some odd, heavy-tongued dialect that could have been anything from Russian to Algonquin. It was definitely something with some dissonance in the words, though. As they swayed, it almost looked like they'd lit some sort of glow stick in their hands, because blue, bright lights were starting to shine from them, leaving tracers behind their movements in the darkness.
Ayi continues her singing, though at the noise from the water an odd expression crosses her features. Shaking her head slightly she changes songs, her next one just a little bit louder, and a bit faster, than the soft lullaby she'd been singing previously. Though, hopefully, not enough to rile the children up. Just something a little different to try and outdo that annoying competition from elsewhere on the beach.
And unfortunately for Molly, because of course not having Ayi's attention would be unfortunate, she's focused enough on her singing, and with her eyes closed at that, that she doesn't notice the drunk girl's greeting.
"Oh man, so you're saying my mom's like a war vet instead of like a super hero? Maybe they're the same thing." Lili grinned at Noah and gave him her full attention for a long moment, complete with a sappy smile. "No'ah'uh, my hero. My war vet. I must have a type, or my momma raised me right despite the challenges." Her arms and legs moved to tighten around Noah again as she gave him a slow, sweet kiss that was as much a 'thank you' as it was an obvious sign of affection. Of course, not a moment later, there was the drunken Molly making her way across the beach. Lili cleared her throat a little as she pulled back from Noah and turned her gaze to Molly, leaning her temple up against the side of Noah's head. "Aloha! You sound like you've had a good night, wahine." Lili chuckled slightly then blinked as she saw lights dancing along the shoreline. Her gaze turned to watch them, and she blinked again. "Noah... am I hallucinating? You see that?" She loosened one of her arms from its hold around Noah's neck to point rather obviously out to the dudes standing well behind him on the beach. "They look like they're starting a rave."
After the kiss, Noah's attention was drawn to the light show that was the three men coming from the water. "Nope... Not hallucinating." The man patted the woman's rear and loosened his grip on her to set her down. The man stared at the beach goers, staring at them for a long moment. "I'm going with... Pyrotechnics show... Using copper gel? I'm starting to think that you need to up your fire dancing Lee, because this is some straight out grade A stunt man work." The man grimaced, "Tea... I have a sudden and consuming end for hot tea... And goat... Octopus goat..."
Molly beams, grinning like a pair of headlights. "Yup!" she affirms, firing a shot from her water pistol into the air over her head. "Been a great night!" She isn't slurring her speech, but is talking with somewhat more volume than normal. "Had two martinis and three tequilas... or... was it three martinis? I'unno." She shrugs emphatically, before peering sideways at Noah, and perking an eyebrow upwards. "Octopus... goat? I dunno 'bout that, but they *are* definitely up to something." She pauses, peering at Ayi for a moment before realizing no answers will come from that direction, so she focuses on the three men instead. "Definitely doing magic or something. Is that glow coming from their skin?"
As if on cue, the men who were swaying and making that odd, sing-song sort of chant in their rougher language reached up to bring their hands together over their heads, making themselves look like a human teepee. The light grew very bright, then flew up into the air and began burning, like a star brought low to earth, blue and clean, inviting. The burning light was warm and welcoming, thrumming with a pulse one might have heard while held in the womb.
The family listening to the song that Ayi had been singing seemed to have their attention taken slowly, as their heads turned toward the bright, shining light hanging in the sky. The kids stood up first, starting to walk quite literally through the picnic, uncaring of their feet crushing chicken and upending the containers that had been brought along to spill them entirely. Other children along the beach moved almost at the same time as those at the picnic Ayi was sitting near, heading toward the light. Parents seemed concerned, and started reaching out for their kids, only to have their attention solidly pulled by that glowing orb above the heads of the three men. Then, the parents stopped reaching for their children, stood up, and began walking in the same direction, headed for the three men.
By now, the pull was obvious. It was drawing people from within 100 yards of the three men in every direction. Adults and children alike gave up what they were doing to walk, moving along as if summoned. Their eyes all glowed a hollow blue like they'd been given a flame internally that hadn't been there before.
The tide is low and slack.
Ayi stops her singing rather abruptly, gaze turning toward the ocean. For a moment her expression is rather dulled, but then she's shaking her head and a spark of awareness returns to her eyes. That does not stop her from climbing to her feet and starting to move toward the water, however. As she moves close to the kids she was singing to she scoops one up in each arm. Then, from under that ever present red sash, a fuzzy white tail emerges, wrapping around the last of the three kids, lifting them from the sand. Her stride, carries her to the parents, and the ocean still, and the children are handed off. The one with the tail around them is offered with a sheepish grin and a finger against her lips to indicate silence.
Lili was lowering herself down from Noah's waist when the light went off up above the heads of the three men. She looked up at it, raised her brows high, and whistled as she was obviously a bit impressed. "Wow, that's a pretty spectacular light show." She looked over at Noah and beamed a smile, rocking on her feet like they were at a fireworks display. "And I didn't even have to make the pretty lights! Not bad, not.... bad?" Her voice trailed off a bit as she watched people's eyes start to glow a little, and begin walking toward the three men, and naturally the ocean. "Uh... Noah?" Concern caused the woman's brows to knit together tightly, and not a moment later, the little fire-brand on the back of her shoulder burst into life, becoming a full on, blazing point of flame that cast its own shadows behind her. Slowly, the orbs of her eyes filled with a molten blaze and any moisture that had been on her skin seemed to sizzle away, even her hair drying out within a few moments. "That's not OK..." The sound of fire crackled as she started walking forward, but not with the dazed quality that those entranced by the light seemed to be portraying. No, Lili's eyes had narrowed, the blazing orbs within her eye sockets flickering and angry as the woman marched over sand in the direction of those three men.
Noah blinded as people started walking towards the three men. "I gave up on understanding my cravings a long time ago, because uttering them make me some like a crazy people." The man glanced back to Molly in time to watch her eyes go blue. He stared for a moment, then looked at the others on the beach walking and walking towards the trio with blue eyes, and to Ayi quieting and starting to walk as well, pushing the kids to their parents. The man dropped the pairs of sandals in his hand, "Lee... Try not to light me on fire..." And with that, he ran straight out towards the trio, closing the distance to them in haste.
Molly was jut about to say something. She was; and it was pertinent, and important, and she can't remember what it was. "Wow..." she kind of mumbles, her muscles going all... relaxed, as she gazes at the men and their magic. Slowly, she turns to stumble off towards them, dropping her water pistol on the beach as she staggers, clumsily at first, towards the water. Her jaw goes slack and her eyes go wide, gazing up at the display with a look of rapture. And why not? It's beautiful, after all; and somewhere, in the back of her mind, Molly is thinking that this, perhaps, is the night she finally gets devoured by something. But that hardly matters.
Adults that were wandering toward the light seemed to look around every so often, not sure why they were following this urge forward, but then they'd see the light again and keep walking. The parents of the children Ayi had handed over nodded to her gratefully, though they didn't stop their progression toward that light and the three men standing ahead of the ocean. The mother, however, looked at Ayi's tail, and then at the young woman, and blinked, seeming slightly shocked. She hugged her smallest child close but was soon drawn to look back up to the light again, and kept walking forward, while the children held by herself and her husband all turned their heads to stare at the light without diverting their gaze.
Children that had been walking, and were the closest to the three men, seemed to stop just under the light, staring up at it intently as their wide open eyes burned with a bright, pulsing, blue throb that matched the glow above them in the sky. They made no sounds, muttered no words, simply stood, still, waiting.
As people started moving faster, and glowing... well, it caught the attention of the three men putting on the light display. One of them remained with his hands upward, pointed at the orb of light, but the other two dropped their arms and moved forward into a protective sort of blockade ahead of the man with the focus on the lure. While those two men took up position, the man with his hands pointed at the light started to walk backward, and the glowing orb moved with him, causing those that had stopped to stare up to move and follow, like a trawler dragging bait.
With the light showing more of their features, it was easy to see that the term 'man' was only a loose allocation, here. All three men had extensively wide mouths, with slick, slimey looking lips and skin the mottled color of lichen. They shone like they were wet still from the water, and anything that might have seemed like hair on their heads was actually a strange combination of seaweed and something that looked like underwater mosses. Their clothes were soaked and stuck to their skin, covering most of their arms, legs, and torsos, but their feet were webbed and bare, as were their hands, all of which contained digits tipped with vicious looking, black, claws.
The tide is low and rising.
Ayi continues along toward the ocean, hands moving to adjust the sash around her waist, fully concealing her tail again. Though unable to really resist the lure of the light upon seeing the men for what they are she calls out, "You know, I would appreciate if someone could get me my staff. Can't miss it. As tall as I am, thinner. Made of metal. Fantastic for hitting things. Would really be nice." Despite her words she doesn't make an attempt to detour to wherever it is, instead continuing her inexorable advance.
Lili got herself a bit closer, shook her head as her eyes left angry orange and yellow tracers in the night. "Not OK! Kapohoikahiola won't appreciate you taking the people that love his gifts, you jerks!" Her voice was angry, almost vibrating with it, and when she lifted her hands forward, heat caused the air around them to shimmer. Rubbing her thumb and forefingers together, sparks started to fly from her hands, and then, Lili breathed life into her spell, and a massive vortex of spinning fire built itself from the air over the man casting his brilliant orb of light. As he shifted to the side, though, and then took another two steps back, he managed to completely be out of the way when the fire tornado wrenched itself down out of the sky and slammed into the sand, turning the area into molten glass. Unfortunately, the caster from the sea wasn't burned to a crisp in the process, and Lili let out a highly frustrated sound.
Noah slowed his step as he neared the three men, his gaze moving from each one to see where their gaze went as flame tornado sprung to live. He settled on the one walking towards the water with the ball of light over. "Lets see if you can hold that in flight..." Then Noah blurred with speed, appearing next to Zabow with a grin as black veils spread through his skin. "Hi." Then Noah grabbed him and with a spin sent Zabow flying through the air and into the sandy beach. His gaze went to the other two, "You boys done fucked up..." And Noah's eyes became orbs of obsidian.
As Zabow fell down onto the ground, rather heavily, after being flung there, the orb that was floating up above seemed to stop moving, and stalled. It flickered, two, then three times, and started to slowly dissolve into pieces that floated out into the sky, like fireflies escaping a freshly loosened net. This had the added effect of the lights suddenly going dim in people's eyes, many of them stopping their forward momentum and shaking their heads. Children, completely confused and bewildered, began crying in earnest and turning around as if lost beyond belief. The deafening wails of "MOMMMMMMMY!" In several different languages could be heard as they started searching for parents, and the parents seemed equally bereft as they called their children's names. Given the reprieve, the family that Ayi had been helping to hold onto their own kids turned and started moving toward the parking area above the beach like they'd actually been lit on fire. One doesn't mess with things that cause flocking toward light in their culture, apparently.
Molly keeps stumbling forwards, right up until the moment when Noah sends one of the men flying. Oooh! That's got to leave a mark somewhere. Molly might be more or less free of the effects, but coupled with the drink, they've left a mark of their own; if fortunately a temporary one. For the time being, Molly just sort of plops down face-first into the sand. ...Is that snoring?
So... Crazy shit going on at the beach. Bjorn had been heading there to just relax, but then there's crazy lights and fish monsters and people getting lured places. As he blinks and watches the combat unfolding he looks about at the fish people present. As Molly face-plants and others snap out of it, he starts to run at other people, shaking them 'awake' more and starts to motion and otherwise get people to run to safety. He bellows out to make sure everyone can hear him, in that way that big men can yell, "That's it everyone! Off the beach! Everyone get out of here, it's not safe! Move quickly!" He might have a bone to pick with said fishy people for ruining his time at the beach, but so far everyone else dealing with them seems to be handling it, he'll get people safe first.
As more people began to pull themselves together, they started running. Not toward the water, because that way lay what was perceived as dangers, but away from the water. Away from where the light had been floating in the sky. Parents scooped up kids, and disconsolate children started to flee even if they hadn't been taken by their parents yet. Mass panic hit and the beach started to desert itself, leaving the three men and those that might possibly have taken issue with them.
One of the two men that had moved forward, and been so handily passed by the super-sonic speeds that Noah had gotten up to, whirled around and wrapped his arms up ahead of Noah's shoulders, then around the back of his neck, starting the process of securing the man into a full Nelson. Illegal moves indeed! His limbs moved in a way that suggested they weren't arms, but tentacles as they tightened.
The second man whirled around and attempted to slam his meaty 'fist' into Noah's face, but the man just managed to have enough room to move to get his favorite face out of the way of the incoming hit, and the hit went into nothing but air, whiffing past Noah.
Zabow pushed up to his feet with what could only be described as a disturbingly inhuman motion, knees bending the wrong way and back arching to lift his head up rather than just his neck. His gaze focused on Lili and he lifted his hand. When his mouth opened to spew guttural and disgusting words into the night, a thick, grossly, greasy line left him and shot out directly toward Lili. When she dodged, that line of disgustingly grotesque energy ran its way up the beach behind her, rotting a picnic and a picnic blanket to nothing but dust.
Ayi stumbles slightly as the spell is broken and full control returns to her. After seeing the family she was going to dine with previously running off she turns her full attention toward the 'men'. Almost under her breath she muttering in a singsong, to the tune of 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas', "It's beginning to look a lot like fishmen. Everywhere I go..." As she does this she leaps toward the spellcaster, her arms moving to wrap around him in a grapple.
Noah groaned as he wrapped up in a full Nelson. As the second came in, he kicked to throw Elgin off-balance enough to avoid the punch. "Awww... I told you this is a bad idea, son..." Elgin watched as oily tendrils began to spend onto his skin where he was touching Noah. Noah grinned and Elgin's hold started to lessen as his life force began to wane. "We going to take begs to see if I can make you a withered husk? You boys managed to interrupt dinner plans, but... I'm adaptable."
Seeing that things were coming up with people grabbing onto bad guys, Lili's targets were suddenly limited, unless she wanted to walk up and start boiling people with a touch of her hand or something. Still, not worth frying friends when you've got perfectly good foes to handle. Lili focused her eyes onto the man that had attempted to strike Noah, and twisted her sparking fingers toward him, calling out a strangely excited "BOOM, BOOM, FUCKER!" At which point, fire started to light between his skin and clothing, then strange, BANG, sounds happened, and little explosions went over all over his skin, searing him where they sparked, and sending tendrils of smoke out into the air around him as he crackled and popped like someone was overcooking very fatty fish.
As everyone files out off of the beach finally, Bjorn turns and takes stock of what's going on with the fish types. There's magic being thrown about, can smell it in the air (or the after effects anyway), and it's somewhat evenly paired off. But fighting fair was never smart, and as such Bjorn took the moment to tear his clothes off so he wouldn't ruin another of his favorite shirts, before letting the change take over him, his body growing even larger and hairy, face growing into a maw as he shifts into a giant polar bear, letting out a roar of challenge. Picking the one not grappled and having been exploded he charges at the thing, rushing him and practically trampling him as he bites down, shaking his head violently back and forth to tear pieces off of him.
The tide is high and rising.
The man holding onto Noah attempted to tighten down, partially in panic, and partially just to try to incapacitate the man entirely. Unfortunately, Noah was particularly slippery and managed to wriggle more than enough to keep himself from being locked down.
The man that had been slightly charred and then mauled by a bear, Grub, let out a howling sound of pure anger and frustration, then he leveled his gaze at the nearest target, the massive bear. Lifting his hand, a sickly green color started to swirl around it, then leapt from him into a straight-shooting orb of greasy dissolution. As it struck Bjorn, it ate away at his fur, during it to fine dust, and then began rotting through the flesh of his hide, pitting the massive Polar bear's skin like it had aged much akin to old fruit.
The creature being held by Ayi threw back his head and hissed like a snake, or perhaps like a land bound eel. He tried to get free of her, speaking wicked words in a lashed tongue that promised pain, but the wily Ayi wouldn't let him loose enough to cast his magical pain against her.
Ayi lets out an almost animalistic growl in whatever passes for the fishman's ear when he tries to cast at her, though the bear likely could have done a better job. One of her feet lashes out, kicking one of his legs forward, while that white tail shows itself again, wrapping around his other ankle and pulling that leg back. As he starts toward the ground she unties the sash from her waist and, before he can recover from the shock of his position, loops the ends around his wrists and the sash between his legs. "Try to lift your hands to cast now..." Then she turns toward the beach and calls out, "You know, the southern United States introduced me to the concept of a fish fry! But I never got the chance to try preparing one myself. Anyone want to help out with that?"
Lili nodded her understanding when she was asked to produce a nice, healthy fire for a fish fry by Ayi. That, my dear, is only one of the best things she'd been asked today. "YOU! YOUUUUU Look like perfect KINDLING! One Fried Fish, Two Fried Fish... FRY FISHIE!" She screamed it, her voice carrying heat and dripping with anger at the man that had not only tried to hit Noah, but also tried to rot her favorite Polar Bear to a husk. A bonfire roared to life beneath the feet of Grub, and he went up like a forgotten and discarded Christmas tree on the 2nd of January. That is to say, it was GLORIOUS. Bright and fearsome, he burned hot and soon became a fallen over log, burning away as Lili's magic granted him the beauty of metamorphosis, into lapping, dancing flames.
Noah struggled with Elgin attempting to tighten his hold. "I gave you a chance to bolt..." Black ooze began to drip from his skin and fall into the water. The tendrils on his skin grow cold as they began to bury themselves into the fomor's flesh. "I'm begging you give out before I do... Mostly cause I'm going to use your stamina before I use mine... Admittedly... Super unfair of me."
Ow. OWWWW. Hit with a beam of icky necrotic entropy whateveritis,... Yeah that /hurt/. The bear howls out in pain, a roar as he looks around. The target of said hurt is now a burned crisp... So the blood filled rage in his gaze looks about, the other is held under an Ayi... Finally he sees a suitable subject of his wrath. It looks like it's picking on a Noah... Wrong fuckin' alley... He bellows a loud roar and runs over to the two of them, rearing up to his eleven feet height before baring down and biting the fish like creature on it's head trying to bite it right off of his torso.
Zabow, currently hogtied, struggles against the sash that holds his hands tied together between his legs, curses spewing from his lips along with thick ropes of viscous spittle. He was enraged, but it was utterly in the realm of impotent as he couldn't even wriggle himself enough to loosen the ties Ayi had bound him into.
Elgin let out a gurgling, bubbled sound of shock and dismay as his world went red with blood. Lashing out toward what he could see and understand, he tried to claw his way into Noah's chest cavity to no avail, as his arms swung wildly. Blinded by a cascade of fresh blood, his head crushed under the weight of heavy jaws, he looked more and more like a chicken post chopping block than an eel man of the sea.
Ayi bends down and hooks her hands under Zabow's shoulders, starting to drag him along the beach. She doesn't seem to be struggling much, which means the grip causing his bound hands to press up between his legs is just for her own amusement. As she nears the fire her tail twitches behind her and she whistles a jaunty little tune. One which reaches a crescendo when she bends down to pick the fishman up and casually hurl him into the flames.
After a moment Ayi's tail droops and her shoulders slump. "Damn it. Now I need a new sash."
Lili waited until Ayi had Zabow thrown into the fire, and then the blaze of molten heat nearly dripped with anger as she stared at the man burning in her previously lit bonfire. "Well done, I think. Yes. Burn for me!" The light of the fire blazed up into the sky with mighty, crackling flames. The inferno swirled around the shape of the sea-faring caster that had been tossed in like so much kindling and soon, he stopped moving. Stopped screaming. Stopped everything but crackling as his skin burst and his body's juices just fed the rage of the fire. With his hands having been bound, and the rate of speed his body was consumed, the chance for a death curse was completely taken from him. Instead, he just cooked, and died, far faster than the potential kidnapper likely deserved.
Noah gritted his teeth as he held off Elgin's claw. "I got some bad news for you, buddy. Right now, you're probably thinking you should start calling out to some god... Some poor bastard god that everyone above the waves forgive..." The tendrils constantly lengthen and worm their way in and out of the fomor's body. Noah tried to twist his way out of the hold on him, grunting from the effort. He glanced at the polar bear, arching his eyebrow, exhaling a chuckle. "The one only bastard to die on a tropical beach was the first episode of 'Lost'... Better pray he finishes you before me... 'Cause scratching you out of the Book of Life is an understatement..."
Yes, blood, flesh.... Vengeance at the evil thing messing with him and innocents never tasted so good. As the thing tried to escape somehow from between Scylla and Charybdis, Bjorn bit again and again, until his new chew toy stopped moving, or at least stopped scratching at Noah. He probably chewed a little while longer as well and shook at it, shaking it off of Noah if possible. Letting out a roar of triumph, honor satisfied after getting necrolasered, he sits back down on his rump, slowly changing back, his nasty wound in his shoulder from the beam mending and knitting closed as he does so. He sits there, naked, exhausted from the process and the fight, just catching his breath. He looks about for his clothing but otherwise just sits, trying to move his arm and roll his shoulder some as it feels stiff from what happened.
The night around them was disturbingly idyllic. A roaring fire, burning away at logs that were slowly falling to nothing. The stars burn in the sky brightly where the smoke doesn't hide them away for brief moments. The water just kept lapping at the beach. Currently, it would seem the four of them have the beach to themselves, as there are no other creatures of danger nearby.
Ayi stares at the fire for a few minutes before turning away. She walks down the beach, fetching her staff, or big metal pole, whatever. Then she turns back. On the way back to the fire she stops to collect the food that the family she'd been singing to had left in their hurry to get away after the spell broke. Then she returns to the fire and sits down, proceeding to eat. After a couple seconds she asks around a mouthful of bread, "Anyone want some food? It's kinda spicy."
Lili walked toward the others, stooping to pick up Bjorn's clothes as she did so. Her eyes slowly died to their usual dark blue, and the burning flame on the back of her shoulder snuffed out in a puff of smoke, making a light 'pop!' sound as it did so, going back to the normal seared shape of a flame on her back. As she got to the people near the fire, she first dropped Bjorn's clothing next to him and patted him solidly on the shoulder, giving him a smile. "That was pretty impressive. Remind me never to poke the bear, yeah?" Eyeing the dead body of the third fomor, Lili moved closer to it and knelt down, using her legs to bicycle kick the thing into the still brightly burning forms of its two compatriots. "Another log for the fire." She huffed out the words and finally laid back, keeping her feet near the fire to burn off the nasty blood she'd collected during her efforts. Looking over at Ayi, Lili grinned wider still. "I'll get in on some grub, I need to eat. That shit burns all the calories EVER. I'm Lili, by the way, and I love your tail. This is Bjorn, and that's Noah." And then Lili lifted her head and swiveled it to the side, looking at Noah. "Hey baby, you want to eat some here before we go to Roy's? Whatever the chick with the cool tail has, it smells good."
As the polar bear pull Elgin's body away from Noah, the tendrils of inky darkness stayed like ropes of tar leading back to Noah. At the exact moment of death, the ropes fell to the water and sand, slowly returning to ectoplasm. For a slip second, he turned to face the polar, his fists tightening to the point his knuckles cracked and the man just looked... Hungry. Taking a deep breath, Noah closed one of his obsidian eyes, risking a glance to Lili as he let out a pained chuckle. "I probably shouldn't be hearing anything remotely connected to digestion for like... A year." He managed a tight lipped smile, "Thinking we should stay at my place... So you continue having a lawn... So your neighbors continue having a lawn..." With a groan, he slowly walked back up to drying sand. "I don't know... You feel like sleeping for 16 hours at a time?"
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