It's a little bit after sunset on a perfect evening to be at the beach. Of course, in Hawaii, is there any other kind? Let's be honest, even when it's raining it's kind of perfect. This beach is not //quite// 'locals only,' but it's definitely out of the way of the usual foot traffic. Right now, though, there are already several people about halfway down, cooking around a fire that they've got going. There seems to be food for all comers, as well as plenty of drinks in a couple of coolers, and no one seems to be looking too hard at the people who come by and ask for either.
Peter skulks along the beach, not looking at the other beachgoers for the most part. But then something tasty-smelling wafts over and tugs at his attention. He slowly approaches the fire, trying to suss out if this is a private or public party. He finds a spot nearby and settles down onto the sand, listening and watching for now.
Aolani breathes in the pristine evening ocean air as she strolls down the shoreline with the woman beside her. The Filipina-Hawaiian woman has her silky black hair tied back in a high ponytail, with a fresh red hibiscus tucked in it. She's dressed for a beach party, in a gauzy white bohemian camisole with wooden beaded straps, fluttering over a red bikini top and a pair of well-loved denim short shorts. Stacks of cowry shell bracelets clink on her wrists, and she wears a handmade choker of shells and kukui nuts. "Lili, do you smell that?" she asks of the woman beside her. "Something smells like aloha, to me!" Aolani laughs and picks up her barefoot pace to an enthusiastic trot. "This place shouldn't be overrun with tourists. And at least here, if anyone tells me I look just like their bobblehead when I dance, I'm allowed to bobblehead them back."
Coming in from the water, Kirsi's pulling a surfboard onto the sand. Apparently she took the ocean waves like, well, a duck to water, and has bought her own board and everything: a bright thing decorated with two stripes of a white plumeria floral motif against lime green leaves, each stripe flanking a lavender and white mountain scene depicting the Rocky mountains down the middle of the board. Custom-made.
Her red hair's in two wet braids and she's there for sport and play in board shorts and a bikini top. She moves toward where she's left her gear, squinting at the fire and the faces around it to see if she knows anyone.
Akhlut had apparently bodysurfed as way into shore because the man just sort rose out of water and strode his way onto beach like he owned the whole. And holy shit, he actually had shorts on, so no blushing or screaming people. Raking his fingertips through his beard in an effort to comb it, he picked a hairband out of his pocket to bind. The man had tattoos, ranging from band of triangles around a forearm, tick marks up the other arm, and a pair of five year writing on his peck. A wide grin appeared, and he raised a hair to Aolani and by proxy, Lili, "Aloha! I have my own this time!" Laughter rumbled from the man on his way to a shovel impaling the sand. "And Aolani Peter!"
Lili moved along beside Aolani, heading toward the beach while taking overly large steps that upon closer inspection were actually her doing some sort of celebratory dance. Anyone near enough to the duo could hear her talking to Aolani in bright, happy Hawaiian with a giant, dimple producing smile on her face. Her energy was almost like a crackling, live feed from some high powered generator and fairly radiated off of her.
She'd dressed for playtime as well, though Lili chose to leave her long, waist length dark hair down in heavy waves without anything restraining its movement. Her legs and feet were bare, no need for shoes on the beach after all. For a top, Lili had layered a partially shredded, rather holey AC/DC tank top that had once been black and white over a bikini top so bright pink it almost glowed in the darkness. She had on a short, pleated, white, skirt as well, something that likely shouldn't have been worn without at least a set of leggings underneath, but with the flashing of insanely bright pink that the brief skirt provided, it was obvious Lili didn't care since she was wearing a bikini, everything else was just windowdressing, right?
As Aolani mentioned food, though, Lili's mouth stopped moving and she tilted her head to the side, taking in a big whiff of the nighttime air. "Oh AKUA... Someone feed me, I'm wasting away!" Cue Lili running in a playful jog alongside and then ahead of Aolani, turning to face the other woman and motioning her faster. "Come on, makuahine wela! Before some big brah gets it all!" Then of course Lili spotted Akhlut waving to Aolani and laughed in a high, surprised sound. "You even KNOW THE GUY that's gonna eat it all, you little sass!"
There are various 'alohas' at all the various people who approach the fire, whether or not they initiate -- it seems to be an open party. "Gimme a burger," one of them says to the griller, who is currently transferring the burgers, hot dogs, and chicken from the grill that's been placed over the makeshift fire pit to a platter beside him. "Hold your horses," he replies, his eyes coming up to see Lili instead. "Aloha," he says, giving her, and then Aolani, appreciative looks. "You guys want to eat?"
A woman near them who had been sitting on top of one of the coolers stands up and opens it instead, and starts to pass out beers and sodas to whoever's hands get there first.
Peter eyes the people arriving, and offers Akhlut a wave. "Aloha Akhlut, how're you doing? Is Nala not with you this evening?" He offers Kirsi a wave as she walks by with her board. "Nice board!", he says to her. Aolani and Lili get a wave too, but the food catches his attention now, and his stomach makes a loud growling sound. The young man is patient though, and waits.
Aolani laughs brightly and kicks her trot into high gear to catch up with Lili, pausing briefly to admire Kirsi's custom board, giving the redhead a thumbs up. "Oh, that's maika'i, wahine!" But the laid-back hapa-haole has to keep moving to keep up with Lili's high-charged energy.
"Howzit, Ak!" Aolani hollers over to the tattooed mountain of a man. "I'm happy to hear it! I couldn't take it if you wore it better than me again!" She breaks out into a peal of laughter, then points towards the gathering around the fire. "Do you smell that? There's a cookout!" As she gets close enough to Lili, she reaches out to try to catch the live wire by the hand. "Hey, wait for me, pupule wahine! You don't have to worry about Ak - he's a champ among eaters, but he knows how to share."
Aolani joins in the chorus of alohas as she joins the cookout, starting with a grin and a hearty "aloha!" to the crouching Peter, not-hidden Peter. "Aloha ahiahi!" she cheerfully returns to the chef. "We are definitely here to eat if you're here to feed us. Chicken for me, please, and if you have macaroni salad I'll love you forever!"
"Thanks," Kirsi says with a smile to Peter, glancing to Akhlut who she recognizes, but doesn't know well enough to call out to. picks up a towel to rub over her face, legs and arms, toweling off as much of the moisture as she can before picking up a sweatshirt from her pile of things. Rather than pull it on over her wet shorts and bikini top, though, she heads to the fire, giving a nod to those who seem to have organized the party. With the sun set, the warmth of the fire is the quickest way to dry off so she isn't walking around in damp clothes. "Evening," she says to those gathered, moving close to the flames to let them dry her quickly.
Akhlut pulled up the shovel and started it shovel, like people with shovels do. "We are making our way around the island, it goes faster when we go separate ways. I find myself readily distracted by her, and as much as I enjoy it, it lends to little else happening." Again, laughter erupted from the man as he continued to put shovel to sand, pausing to nod at Aolani. "It smell delicious, but I try to avoid taking what is not mine, it would leave little for anyone else. And have found time for food. It too was delicious." The man continued shoveling, offering a nod and a warm smile to Kirsi, "Aloha to you as well!"
Lili looked over to see Kirsi and grinned, nodding to her board and giving a sharp whistle. "Nice board, lady! Aloha ahiahi, I love your hair, man." Lili admired Kirsi's red locks for a minute, the native almost looking like she might be feeling the pangs of covetous desire. She shook her head though, lifting a hand to Peter, the one Ao hadn't taken hold of, and offered him a nod. "Aloha, brah!"
As Aolani mentioned that Akhlut could share, Lili squeezed the other woman's hand and chuckled. "I hope he knows how to share, there's enough of him to feed Oahu." Then she upnodded to Akhlut and gave him a wide, friendly smile, her dimple showing deeply in her cheek. "Aloha, Ak! Nice to know you, man!"
Finally, Lili managed to spin around and stare at the fire for a minute, eyeing it with far more appreciation than she'd even managed for any of the dudes around, or the ladies for that matter. "Niiiice airflow on the bonfire, brah." Lili let go of Aolani's hand to move up to the guy offering food, holding out her hand to fist bump him. "You got this place lit up like daylight, I'll eat whatever you feed me!" She reached out a hand to feel the heat of the fire, her fingers moving through the haze of it like they were dancing. WHen offered a beer, she accepted from the lady handing it over with a nod and a bright, "Mahalo, 'o ka lede nani" before opening the beer and letting the immediately overflowing foam fall onto the beach without getting it on herself. Possibly a pro-move from a million beach bonfires in her life.
"Girl, how you gonna have a barbecue without macaroni salad?" the cook says with a wide grin at Aolani, and he grabs a plate from the stack and starts to serve. Everyone gets chicken or a burger -- or at least, anyone who comes close enough to get one, whether they are known to the cook or not -- and everyone gets some macaroni salad, too, whether or not they want it. And they better not leave it, either.
"Thanks," the firemaker says with a smile as he looks toward Lili. "Looking like it was gonna rain earlier. Good thing it cleared up.
Peter tilts his head to Akhlut, "Do... you and her swim around the island or something? And what's wrong with being distracted and little else happening? I mean, for a little while, at least? And what are you digging? A fort?" He grins and looks to Kirsi. "Do you surf professionally or just for your own enjoyment?" Aolani's response to him has him smiling more broadly, and the young man stands, moving to wait his turn in the crowd of people looking to get free food. His attention turns to the treeline nearby, and he seems intent on it for a bit. After a few moments, he walks over to Akhlut, and speaks quietly to him. "Hey, uhm. It looks like there's a couple of wolves in the trees over there. But they have red eyes. I think they are looking to take some of the BBQ... or possibly a person."
"Yeah, you know that's right! Mahalo, Hoaloha!" Aolani exuberantly thanks the cook as she takes her plate, gleefully chomping into the heap of macaroni salad. "What are we celebrating? Rangi keeping Hi'iaka's rainclouds for himself tonight?" She grabs herself a beer and clinks it with a fire-mesmerized Lili's, then raises it to Kirsi. "Nothing like a beautiful bonfire after catching the last rays of sunshine on the ocean, am I right?" The dark-haired hapa-haole finds herself a seat on the sand, with the treeline on one side and the ocean on the other. Perfect harmony. "Ahhhh, this is the life," a happy Ao sighs contently, though her brown eyes flare amber as her gaze is pulled towards the trees. "We aren't the only ones appreciating the smell of the food, it seems."
She beams back at Akhlut. "We won't hold your healthy appetite against you, it's clearly working for you, Ak. At least come enjoy the fire with us." Peter's explanation has her nodding thoughtfully, with a furrow to her brow. "I didn't think wolves were native to this area...I mean, there aren't many big predators native to the islands."
Lili's words make Kirsi grin braodly in the woman's direction, and she shakes her head, causing the braids to swing with the motion of her head. "I'd rather have your tan and not these freckles, but thanks," she says turning to let the fire warm the backside of her. Good to see you," she tells Akhlut. "Been a while, but you're hard to forget. Sort of make an impression," she murmurs, eyes squinting as she looks past him to the treeline and tips her head. "
Even as she watches, she shakes her head to Peter's question. "Hardly. Started a few months ago," she adds to Peter. As he turns to talk to Akhlut, she's already beginning to move in the direction of the trees, narrowing her eyes and trying to adjust to the darkness now that she's a bit fireblinded.
Akhlut continued to shovel the sand to start building a mound. "Better to walk than to swim. The water washes away the signs of anyone passing unless it's something big." The man just smiled, leaning a touch closer, "That is nothing wrong with the distraction, the fact you think that means you haven't found a proper mate." The man started laughing as he continued to shovel, glancing at the trees. "Amaroq do not call this place home, but even the ones that chose to be with people, understand fire." He nodded to the cooking, "Stay without its light, and you should be fine." Tossing another shovel full of sand onto his pile, he smiled, "It's too rare that I have a good breeze over wet body. Fire would dry me out too quickly."
Lili gave the firemaker an appreciative partial bow. "It's the best kane that sets up a fire the rainclouds would have to work their tush to put out. I like it." She gave him a wink, then turned to accept her plate of food with a bubbly smile and a happier still "Mahalo! I was starving after work, this is exactly what I need. And I might come back for more of the salad, carbs are where the fire comes from." She lifted the plate and her beer in thanks and moved over to where Aolani was sitting. Of course, rather than take up a second chair, she called out "Incoming!" in time to give Aolani a moment to move her plate before Lili landed onto the other woman's lap. "Did you try this macaroni salad yet, na papalina maika'i?" She asked as she moved her beer can between her knees to hold it, then turned and shoved a spoonful of macaroni salad into Aolani's mouth before taking a spoonful for herself. Sharing is caring.
Lili gave Kirsi a wide smile while keeping her lips tightly together and shook her head, swallowing her bite of food before she replied "I think haoles are sexy, don't change a thing. I'd totally put a poster of you up on my wall." She nodded surely, then looked over at Akhlut, grinning. "Nothing wrong with being warm and wet, though, right? You could come hang out so we don't have to send smoke signals to find out how you know my little Ao over here." She bounced on Aolani's lap, to indicate the woman she was sitting on. Lucky for Ao, Lili's built like a dancer and not like a weight lifter.
Hearing some of the other conversations, Lili raised her brows and snickered, looking directly at her macaroni salad and food on her plate, having noticed nothing strange. "There's no wolves on Hawaii, you guys. Seriously, we have rat problems because we don't even have enough Owls."
"Wolves?" the cook says as he passes a plate to Peter, and he glances to Aolani when she agrees, giving a nod. "What are you talking about, brah? There's no wolves around here." The fire guy nods, too, and there's a general nod of assent that goes through the party-throwers, especially as people add their opinions about whether or not there are, in fact, wolves on the island.
"Probably someone's dog that got lost, if it's anything," the cook adds, and he looks over at the trees, squinting to try and see past the fire. It's not easy at all.
However, suddenly, there's a low growling sound, so low that it almost feels more like a vibration than an actual noise form an animal, and then a snarl and a snap, and something bounds out of the trees toward the people by the fire. It does look like a wolf, only a lot larger, and with two glowing red eyes, just as Peter had said. It is no ordinary wolf, that's for sure. It does seem wary of the fire, but it starts to stalk the group, baring its knifelike teeth.
Rick dropped Darkhound 1.
"I know what I see.", Peter says to those who say there are no wolves on Hawaii. He moves towards the fire, and is just pulling out a torch-sized stick from the fire when the creature bounds out from the trees. Circling the fire, he steps forward, jabbing threateningly at the creature. "Haaaah!", he yells, "Git! Git back, yaaah!" He continues to wave the glowing, burning end of the stick at the beast. "There was a second one, be wary!"
Aolani is suddenly gifted with a spoonful of macaroni salad and a lapful of Lili. Fortunately, she knows how to read the signs and cleared her own place in time, so she could feed Lili a nice, freshly grilled juicy bite of chicken in return. "Mmmfph-hmmpf," she nods in agreement, with her mouth very full. "Ish deluhshhshh." Ao gives a big innocent smile as she jabs a finger into Lili's side for that remark about rat problems. Weird. Unfortunately, that company she'd spotted in the trees comes out to dine, after all. Swallowing hard, Ao calmly raises her voice, "I think everybody should probably stay close to the fire. Maybe it's just hungry." She heaves her chicken out towards the treeline, as far away from the fire as she can manage. "Aloha and e komo mai, Malihini. If you're hungry, we can feed you. You don't need to fight for your food here."
"It might be chow time, but you're not a chow," Kirsi says cheerfully to the darkhound, out a little farther than most when the creature comes out of the treeline to start stalking them. She lifts her hand slightly, trying to be subtle about it, fingers curled artfully like a chalk painter holding their pastel, and her hand draws a symbol in the air as she whispers a soft word under breath. There's suddenly the sound of a whistling blade slicing through the air, so many yards away from her, and suddenly the creature is wounded, a rip across its fur on the front of its chest.
Pulling his shoulder out of the sand as the dire hound came bounding out of the woods, Akhlut started backing up towards the surf. Curling his bottom lip back, he let out a sharp whistle. "Away amaroq! This is not your place!" The mountain of a man was farther from the fire than most, lifted the shovel overhead bringing it down flat on the sand to make a metallic clank and lifting it off so the tone sang longer. The man repeated to start a metal drum beat.
Lili opened her mouth to take the bite of chicken Aolani gave her, more than happy to open it extra wide and take a huge strip of meat from the other woman's hunk of bird. She was chewing, giggling softly as she was rocked by Aolani moving her, when the sound of the apparently ravenous wolf-like creature was clearly audible even to her.
Seeing the creature suddenly gain a real wound after some sort of invisible force hacks at it, Lili moved to stand with her dark blue eyes rather wide. "Ok... Don't want whatever's going on over there to happen over here." The mark on the back of her shoulder, which normally just looked like a little, perfectly shaped flame brand, suddenly glowed to life and burst into a small, dancing flame sitting on the back of her shoulder instead. She lifted her hand, held it palm out toward the wolf, and shook her head, eyes seeming to fill with liquid, burning fire that left tracers in the air as she did so. "Stay BACK!" She commanded, and whether she was talking to the dog or to whatever was attacking it, it really didn't matter.
A moment later, heat moved in a wave outward from Lili's hand, noticably causing the air to distort, then struck the earth between where the wolf was and the partying people were. A 12 foot long, 8 foot tall, wall of thick, violently crackling flame grew up, reaching toward the sky, imposing itself solidly between the ravenous hound and all the more human people.
There's a chorus of shrieks and yells when that thing comes out of the forest, the naysayers having been put in their places by the fact that there was actually a wolf there. Or something. Worse than a wolf. The cook and the fire guy scramble backwards, but they don't seem to know whether they should run away or stay by the fire for its relative safety. In the end they opt not to run into the darkness. Probably smart.
The thing snarls as Peter brandishes the stick, and it starts to lunge forward, but then its being slashed open by...something. There's a loud howl of pain and rage and it staggers, blood so dark it looks black leaking out of that rend in its chest. It shies away from Akhlut as he yells, circling back, only to be confronted by the wall of fire. Hm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea...
However, soon enough, Peter is proved to be right, because another one bounds out of the tree line then, perhaps heeding its compatriot's call for help in dispatching their next meal.
Rick dropped Darkhound 2.
Peter prepares himself for the beast to come, and blinks as the wolf is slashed open. The young man tries to keep the burning stick between him and the creature, and he glances over his shoulder at Akhlut. He then gives a YELP as suddenly there's a big wall of fire, and he retreats back to the firepit. But he plays it cool and simply thrusts the stick back into the fire to rekindle its burning end. "Be cool. Make noise, people. Raise your arms up and yell. Be big and noisy!"
He turns back to face the creature just as the second one makes itself known, and he steps forward again, holding that stick out before him. "So, anyone else want to take a guess at another creature that you think doesn't exist on Hawaii, but actually does?" Peter grins toothily and runs a hand through his wildly coloured hair.
As Lili stands up to conjure her wall of flame, Aolani rises to her feet as well and steps to one side to get a better look at the assaulting creatures. Her eyes, blazing amber completely taken over their natural dark brown, fixate on the two creatures, studying them. The hapa-haole's head rotates as she studies them from various angles.
"They aren't wolves..." she raises her voice again to be heard over the clanging and the fire. "They're darkhounds. But they aren't malicious - they're pure instinct, mindless. They're probably just hungry! If we feed them, they might go away. We definitely don't want to attract the creatures that generally keep these creatures!"
"They're not natural," says Kirsi over her shoulder to Aolani, shaking her head. "They can hurt innocent people, wildlife... shouldn't be here, like the big man says." Akhlut, that is. Her hand lifts to mark that symbol in the air again, her voice whispering a word. Again, the sound of a blade slicing through the air comes, but this time there's no connection, the hound is too fast. Kirsi winces and begins to look for something -- a stick or rock, perhaps, on the ground. She really needs to start carrying something with her, like some of her coworkers are so fond of doing.
Akhlut moved forward, trying his best to press the hounds towards the wall of fire. Beating the shovel against the sand once more, his backswag carried it over his shovel. When his singlehand joined the first, the mountain of a man let out a shout as he brought the shovel in a wide arc, the metal making a resounding twag as it connected on one of the darkhounds. "No easy meals this night." The man's mouth curved into a wide and fierce grin, showing too many teeth to be friendly.
Lili frowned slightly, but nodded at Aolani. "Even if they're bad, if they're hungry... they'll go to food, right?" The flame wall continued to burn, huge and steady, but Lili turned the burning cinders of her eyes toward the grill, and the surrounding area where food had been left in the hurry of escape. "Throw the food... over there, just by the fire!" She called it out loudly, hoping someone would listen, then she curved her empty hand in the air, like a cup, before tossing her own plate up into the air. As she did, she pushed her other hand forward with a slight spin, causing the air around her to whirl and send her hair going in mad directions.
As Lili breathed out, the air flew forward in a spinning column, pushing her own chicken she'd looked forward to enjoying along like it was shot out of a cannon. As the brush of turbulent breeze moved over the grill, it took the scents with it, moving them around the single morself of food as it landed with a thud a little bit beyond the wall of fire. The scent from that area became quite strong indeed, like the barbeque had been lit there, instead of near the actual bonfire.
The second hellhound starts to stalk around the wall of fire, pacing back and forth to try and figure out some sort of way through to its meal. It has to lunge to the side, though, to avoid getting Kirsi's knife strike like its fellow. It does avoid it, and it looks about to try and attack...well, someone...but something catches its attention. It sniffs the air, and its large head swings in the direction of the scent. It doesn't go yet...but it is looking.
The first darkhound is clearly wounded, and behaving so. Its snarls are threaded through with a little whine, and it really sounds just like a dog for a second. If a dog had dagger-sized teeth and glowing red eyes. It brings its head up toward Akhlut just in time to get smacked with that shovel, and the howl is even more pronounced this time. Either it hasn't smelled that delicious smell yet, or it's just too crazed with pain, but it pushes of the send of the beach then, jaws snapping as it attempts to sink its teeth into him.
Peter's eyes shift to the one that came out of the woods first, and chuckles at the thing trying to take a bite out of Akhlut. He moves over to take a swing at the beast. "Haaah!" Whiffs as the creature moves, still trying to worry Akhlut.
Aolani bites her knuckles as the hounds close in, and people move in to engage with them. There's no avoiding this fight now, it seems. "They don't like the fire because they can't be in sunlight. They also don't like holy water. You know...if somebody has any...on them." She's already midway through the sentence when she realizes how silly it sounds. As the darkhounds seem pretty occupied, Aolani creeps towards the tree line, around the wall of fire. "I'll go for help! Just be careful, these darkhounds are mindless, but they're used by Black Co- ..uh...magic...users." Maybe not the time nor place for full exposition.
Aolani creeps past for the treeline, just far enough to be out of sight, and strips quickly out of her clothes. As the Lehua red wings on her back and arms flare into life, the inky feathers wrap around her shoulders like a cloak and the woman's form shrinks down until an amber-eyed pueo owl flaps its wings and rises out of the pile of clothing.
Kirsi moves closer to the distracted dog, suddenly jumping into the air and spinning to deliver a round house kick to its head. It's quite a thing to behold, good form and technique. Clearly she's been trained in martial arts and is not a beginner. Sadly, though the animal also sees her coming and is well on its way to moving out of the way. Her foot -- bare as it is -- does connect with the thing, but it's a glancing blow at best. She lands, moving quickly to get out of the way before it can bite her. One hopes.
As the darkhound leapt at Akhlut, the man brought the shovel chest level in front of him as he took one step back. The short change of distance caused the darkhounds open maw to lock on nothing by the handle. All humour drained from Akhlut's face as he leaned in, staring the beast in the eyes. "So you know... This is my favorite shovel." Offering the darkhound a quick snap kick to its exposed underbelly, Akhlut spun the shovel to pull the beast off balance as he ripped the handle away. Drawing the shovel in a wide arch, the air hissed as the blade of the shovel cut through the air just hissing at nothing, because the dire wolf rolled back on its feet and bounded out of the way. Akhlut gave the creature a nod as split his grip to ready the shovel, "My shovel may yet if a home in you."
Lili watched as the darkhounds continued to attack, narrowing her eyes so that they looked like burning, narrow slits on her rather grim-set face. "Ok.. Less movement. More whining." She lifted her hands above her head, rubbing her fingertips like she was making the 'Money Money!' sign, then cocked her head to the side. "NO ESCAPE!" Her fingers started to shimmer as heat built around them, then spark, like they were flint catching fire. She pulled her hands apart, then clapped them together making the sound of a large fire popping under high stress. A giant, column of fire shot up 20 feet into the air like a flaming geyser, a little bit away from the fire wall she'd already created. When she pulled her hands apart, the spire of flame grew at the base, shortening its height, until it created a V-shaped formation of 8 foot tall flame, all but linking up with the other wall she'd set earlier. Now, the night was lit up like a city was on fire and the beasts were walled in on 3 sides, forced to go in the direction of Akhlut, Kirsi, Peter, and the Ocean. Aolani? Hopefully not scurrying through that dangerous pathway herself.
The first hound dodges Peter's strike, and snarls at him, avoiding Ahklut's shovel swing and lunging to snap at Peter instead. The second one gets kicked by Kirsi, but it looks more annoyed than anything else, being interrupted as it was from smelling that delicious smell. It snaps at her, and starts to attack as well, before it's drawn up short by that flaming geyser that Lili brings up right before it. It lets out a howl so loud that the ground almost seems to shake, and backs away, now torn between attacking and fleeing. It doesn't flee //yet//, but it's considering it.
Peter manages to dodge the beastie when its teeth snap at him, and the hound returns the favour by ducking out of the way of Peter's sandal'd foot as he makes to kick it in the head. "Quick buggers, aren't they?", he says to Akhlut. "You holding up over there? Shite, the girls are going to set everything on fire, aren't they?"
Owlani swoops out of the treeline, her flightpath interrupted by...you know, giant walls of fire. Not wanting to be barbecued, she flutters up high enough to get a birds' eye view of the scene...specifically, the unharmed dog waffling between retreat and fighting. She swoops down at the second darkhound, right in front of that gaping maw, then wheels around to shoot towards the forest. Her head turns nearly 180 degrees to see if the darkhound is taking the bait. "Hoot!"
When the flames shoot up, Kirsi squints up from her crouched spot. The dog is looking at her, but distracted as well, especially when an owl suddenly swoops at him. He looks about ready to take off running, but Kirsi glares. "Crashing a party and leaving without a goodbye? That's just rude," she says, standing straight again. As she makes her symbol in the air, this time, now that the fire gives enough light for all to see by, rather than her being in the shadows, anyone watching her will suddenly see a large pair of black wings, shiny like a raven's, on her back where there seemed to be none before.
Yet again, there's the sound of whistling blades and the murmured word, before the darkhound is slashed, this time through its neck, and it falls to the sand, dead.
"Fuck," Kirsi says, stepping back like she might have just run a bit too far too fast. "I need a beer."
Akhlut watched as the flame pillar formed and started moving towards them. Making a steady clicking sound with his tongue, his feet moved purposely beneath him to start cutting the angle down. "My shovel still has forgotten." He allowed the metal to hit the ground with a clank as he purposely exposed himself. And in the flash of motion that followed, Akhlut sprang onto the dire wolf's back, pull the handle under its throat to choke the beast out. The dire wolf whipped in circles to get him off, tripping and falling into a partially dug hole. In that instant, Akhlut dragged the shovel around its neck, using it like a long handled short sword, repeated stabbing the wolf with black ichor flying. Then the spine severed, Akhlut stepped off the beast with a growl, dragging it's twitching body into the waves.
Lili moved one of her hands in front of her slowly and the flaming walls of the torturous trap she'd set for the Darkhounds seemed to receed back down into the sand of the beach in time with her movements. The sudden darkness when there had been so much light was likely quite a shock to the eyes. All that was left behind as evidence of the once brightly burning flames were lines of slick glass on the beach that had developed from the melting sand beneath them.
Lili took a deep breath, stretched her neck with a delightfully satisfying pop first to one side and then the other, then rolled her shoulders. Closing her eyes, she hummed softly, and the little burning mark on her shoulder snuffed out with a barely audible 'fizzz', a little puff of smoke rising up from her shoulder as it went back to being nothing but a brand. When she opened her eyes again, they were back to their dark, deep, azure blue and she smiled.
When Lili stepped forward to move closer to the others that had been physically attacking the Darkhounds, though, her feet had to break free from icy sand that had formed around them, making a sharp, cracking sound as it shattered. She shivered, looking down at the ground, as her mouth formed a surprise 'O' at the 10 foot wide swath of ice that had grown. "Oh... huh. Well." She moved quicker, then, running across the ice quickly and almost slipping, but sighing in relief when she got to un-iced sand, as it was decidedly warmer on her bare feet. "Oooh, better. Much better. Careful if anyone walks.. well.. anywhere barefoot right now!" She offered as a warning to the others. "Little slick over there."
The darkhound does get distracted by the owl, and it jumps up in the air, probably to try and catch her. It misses, but its jump is unpleasantly high. Then it starts to follow, snapping and snarling...until it falls to the sand without so much as a whimper, the blade having nearly severed its head completely off.
The first wolf...well. We know what happened to it already.
All that remains of the partygoers now is some scattered dishware, discarded food, and coolers turned on their sides. There's a pretty big mess, but can anyone blame the mundanes for not wanting to stick around when hounds started biting and fire started flying?
Peter blinks as it's done and he looks over at the women. "That was quite the blast. Uhm... did one of you say that these critters were used by black court vampires?" The young man looks over at Akhlut, "You went to town on that one." He heads over to the still burning campfire, and roots through the discarded coolers and food. "Hotdogs, anyone?" Peter pulls a beer out of one of the coolers, and gestures to Kirsi. "Here, catch!" He underhands a beer bottle at her in a lazy arc. Standing, he pulls a few more out, and grabs three hotdogs. "I'm off then... uh, if these things are around... does that me we need to start sharpening some stakes and do some vamp hunting ala Bram Stoker?" He shakes his head and starts heading up the way he came. "G'night!"
Aolani is looking behind her when she sees the darkhound try to follow her...which means she's also able to see the hurt that Kirsi brings down on it. Not to mention the send-off Akhlut gives the first darkhound. The bird hoots several times, to no avail, as translating services are apparently not available. The pueo ruffles its feathers and flutters over to the vat of macaroni salad and skewers a macaroni on each talon of one foot. "Hoot!" The owl glides to Lili's shoulder with its prize, perching on one foot while nibbling on macaroni with its beak.
The beer is caught deftly, and Kirsi salutes Peter in thanks, turning to look at her fellow combatants. The wings are gone, if anyone saw them at all, and she looks just like the cheerful, freckled redhead surfer she was before this all started. "Nice work," she says, glancing at those nearby, before bending down to rub a little blood splatter off of her knee cap, before moving back in the direction of her board. She does swipe a bit of chicken from a forgotten tray, popping it into her mouth as she walks, grabbing a flip flop that happens to have a bottle opener in the sole. Then she takes a long, long drink of the beer.
Akhlut didn't seem to have an ounce of fear as the man seemed to be chest deep water with the carcass of a dead animal when the most of magical flame disappeared. There was occasional splash and the crash of wave, and near a minute had passed before there was sign of him. And he came marching back out of the water, leaning his shovel over his shoulder as he made it back to the beach. "The lure is set... It should attract something larger and tastier." The man seemed satisfied by this thing as he looked to the others. "Was anyone hurt? The wounds should be tended while there's still light."
Luckily, Lili's shirt couldn't really be ruined at all by owl talons. In fact, the new little tears that might come about from playing perch would only add to its ultra distressed look! AC/DC would be PROUD! She reached up and scritched at the beautiful bird on her shoulder, saying something ever so softly in Hawaiian that the bird could obviously hear before she looked at Kirsi and Akhlut. The wide smile on her face hadn't lost it's luster, and she seemed entirely like she might start doing jumping jacks or some sort of insane cheerleading routine.
"Wow.. that was... insane. You guys are absolutely off the freaking chain." She shook her head and flashed Kirsi a shaka. "You might get the award for baddest haole wahine I've ever seen, and I definitely want you on my wall now." Lili turned to Akhlut then and gave him a smile as wide as he was, eyes dancing. "And you, sir... Ak. Wow. I hope you catch something that actually gives you leftovers or something. I don't know anything better for a big brah with a big appetite." She nodded to the guy, then lifted her hand, waving to both of them.
"I'm gonna grab some grub and head home, this was enough excitement that I've got to go dance about it, anywhere that I haven't left ice all over." She snickered, then turned to walk over and pick up some food, and a few beers. Lili was super careful when she bent over, though, leaving plenty of time for the owl on her shoulder to balance as she did so. Once that was one, she called out a bright "Aloha ahiahi, be safe!" And started toward the direction of some rather convenient bushes, that happened to be wearing a super awesome red bikini.
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