ic Tropical Getaway (IC)

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"In the blue bag I got the stuff that don't inflate itself. Couple large rings, a Orca, some mattresses, and the battery powered pump with a couple solar panels for people's smart phones."

 

She swims over to her practically huge yellow bag, pulling out a trio of large-purse size pouches. They inflate into smaller, single person rafts, which she ties to the main raft with their own lanyard-like ropes. "There we go... and these things got shade if needed. The stuff I salvaged from the family yacht before we sold it off..."

 

She pushes herself in the water, heading to the beach proper. But taking her time. It's been a while since she's swam in warm ocean waters. Particularly as warm as these... "Missed this feeling."

Edited February 3 by The Sailor

[Thunder King]

Sever

 

"Holy...%$#@." To Ryan, Fiji were a concept. not a place. It was as real as Disney World. Sure, it existed, but the idea of ever going there was entirely alien to him. The furthest he had ever been from home was one time on a school trip to Washington DC. California, Florida, these were places he might visit one day if he ever got into a band.

 

He was the last through the portal, eager to visit a faraway place, as Lawrence had hinted.

 

He had a small backpack with a couple of pairs of shorts, a pair of swim trunks, and a few t-shirts. He also brought, on a whim, his newish acoustic guitar. It had been a gift from one of the workers at the orphanage. It was not an expensive guitar, but it did the job, and it was in a case he had slung over his back.

 

"Hi, um, I'm Ryan. Nice to..." At that point, he noticed the pretty, bikini clad redhead lounging by the pool. He corrected his gaze and looked away without lingering.

 

"Nice to meet all of you."

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah took his sweet time getting to the estate, looking on the nonplussed side of things.

Not that he wasn't impressed, he didn't think that he would ever come to Fiji, but he was hoping to get to the more rugged terrain on the interior because... well Jonah had a type. That wasn't the sunny climes, but he wasn't bothered so much as ruminating if he could duck out, but he figured that'd he get lost and well there was a limited time table.

He still was dressed for February in New Jersey, a heavy red flannel, a knit cap over his unruly blonde hair, work out sweats, and battered sneakers that protest his continued growth spurts. He was filling out that six foot eight frame. His duffle was filled lightly, as he didn't really keep much on him where for this trip, apart from a book provided him by an advisor assigned to him and some changes of clothes. Not that he really was ever bothered by weather. "'Lo Ryan," he rumbled at the other guy as he moved past him. And given he was in a safe space, or at least one he could stop holding his one trick, he released the 'disguise' and his skin faded to a chilly blue, his hair turning into the white of a fresh snow on a mountaintop, the temperature lightly lowering around him.

Moving to a chaise lounge, he straddled it and lowered his bulk down onto it, and he fished out electronics to put them into the bag, and glancing at everyone else, noting them.

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt
 

Vueriz glared up at the monstrous Class G Star that seared at her skin as Consuelo asked her question. "We do relax in sunlight on Zirtimzar, but while Varagos is hotter than your Sun, it is much further away." She turned back to Lawrence as he asked after her wellbeing. She didn't like admitting weakness, but while Zirtimzara were tough and she was unlikely to be permanently harmed by the heat, she didn't want to spend this whole vacation dying in the heat.

 

"I- It is too hot here. Zirtimzara are not adapted for this level of heat." She looked up at the pair from beneath the shadow of her Skyboard. She hesitated, not entirely comfortable with the idea of sharing just how uncomfortable the heat was for her. "Zirtimzar has an average temperature of -49 degrees Fahrenheit."

 

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker shakes his head when Baz bounces off with Mizuki to take those swim classes. Yeah, that might be a good idea, or he'll end up running himself ragged pulling him out of the water all the time.

 

Vueriz, he knows, but Ryan and the guy that shifts to blue skin? He has seen them around campus, but not much else.

 

Like Lawrence, Parker is obviously worried about Vueriz and her reaction to the heat, as he approaches. "Come on, let's you inside. I'm sure there's AC, right Lawrence?" 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"Oh." Lawrence said, his concerned expression now also becoming somewhat surprised. "I…I am so sorry that I did not even think to ask," he paused a moment as if in thought, "and failed to pick up the hints that were right there." He gave a small smile. "I think I was just used to Mizuki not being bothered by cold anymore, thought you might have the same thing, failed to consider you might not do as well in hotter environments."

 

"But yeah, Parker is right, the is air conditioning in the house." The blond teen added, looking over to Parker and then back to Vueriz. "It will help, but, probably not going to be all that much fun having to stay in the house most of the time while the rest of us…." Lawrence trailed off as he seemed lost in thought once more, then a smile came to his face and he snapped his fingers. "I got an idea."

 

Lawrence started leading the others toward the main house as he pulled out his cellphone and continued talking. "So, on the lower floor of the main house is a gym, with a sauna and steam room," he glanced back to Vueriz, "which you will want to avoid as they are considerably hotter than out here. But, there is also a cold room. So later today we can get that set up for you for when you are ready to go to sleep for the night and turn the temperature down as low as it can go so you should be comfortable for the night."

 

"But, so that you do not have to sit in the house all day, Mizuki has several inflatable rafts, we can put one of them in the shade down at the beach, and fill it with water and ice and create an ice pool for you to either just hang out in, or at least use to cool off in, so you can be with the rest of us. When we want to move back up to the deck or other places on the grounds, between Parker and all the other superstrong teens we have, should not be a problem moving it wherever we need to. So, we will just grab several bags of ice to take down there."

 

The teen sent Mizuki some quick texts.

Quote

 

Hey, Vueriz is not doing well in the heat

Can you set up a small raft in some shade down there?

Got an idea to help her out

 

 

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

As Mizuki gets back on shore, her smartphone in her personal effects bag goes off.

 

Quote

I think I know just the thing... one sec.

 

She runs back into the water, thankful her smartphone is in a waterproof and buoyant case, and swims over to one of the three single-person rafts and unties it, bringing it back to shore. She sets it down under a luckily placed gazebo that seems to have it's shade positioned right... the sun shouldn't bother things here.

 

Quote

Okay got a spot at the green gazebo. Raft's on the floor. Has a canope she could put up for additional shade... got a cooling source?

 

She sends a picture from her phone of the location and the raft to Lawrence.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

A cold room? 

 

And its all the way down there, while they're up here... Lawrence has ideas about setting up a pool, shade and everything, but he starts to have another idea. It isn't really something he has tried before, but, there's a first for everything, isn't there?

 

He looks down at his hand. Black crackle is starting to rise from his palm as his powers begin to activate.

 

"Lawrence, where exactly is the cold room in the building? How far away, do you think?"

 

Once his friend has told him, he nods once, then looks at Vueriz. "Just give me a second, alright?" He reaches out with his senses, figuring out the distances, and then, he closes the distance between Vueriz and the cold room, the temperature beginning to drop around her.

 

"How's that? It's not really a permanent thing, but I think I can keep it up as long as you're near me."

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz was grateful that her schoolmates immediately jumped up her aid, Lawrence even apologizing for not thinking of her divergent biology, which she hadn't either to be fair. It took all of her (not so) substantial will power to not run for the house when it is mentioned that it is cooled, but instead follows Lawrence as he starts walking towards it, explaining his plan. To which she starts nodding excitedly as he describes making an ice pool.

 

Then Parker asked Lawrence his questions before asking for a second and activating his power. The sudden relief from the heat elicited a groan of bliss from her. She was unable to resist throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him as tightly as her arms were able. A moment later, muffled against Parkers waist a quiet, "Thank you both." Could be heard.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence was grinning as Parker asked his questions, already working out what his friend had in mind to help out Vueriz. The blond teen continued into the house and toward the kitchen area. "Of course." He replied to Vueriz's muffled thanks. "I would be a very poor host if I did not do what I could to help my guests enjoy themselves. And an even worse friend."

 

Looking down at his phone and the texts and photo from Mizuki, he smiled slightly as he sent a text in return.

Quote

 

looks good

can set up a hose to fill it, getting ice to add

Parker has come up with another thing to help

be down soon

 

 

Leading Parker and Vueriz through the kitchen, Lawrence led them into a large walk-in pantry. In addition to a door to a walk-in freezer, there was a large freezer unit that the blond teen pointed to. "Plenty of bags of ice in there to use for a cooling pool if Vueriz wants to get even cooler. Grab a few and I will go turn down the temperature in the cold room and be right back, then we can head down to the beach. Mizuki has things set up down there."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Warmed now from her recent exit from the New Jersey winter, Consuelo drifts down to the beach. "Holy smokes, Mizuki! You packed all this stuff? It's like a whole theme park down here! I think I'm gonna splash around in the water a little bit. But I'm totally down for a swim lesson whenever you're ready."

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

When they were offered this opportunity to get to know some of the other students, neither Daniel nor Iris expected the trip to be this big. Sure they brought some stuff for the summer, but the portals, the mansion...it was a lot. The fact that there were a lot of people here with their own shared histories did not help at all. 

 

Daniel was in some board shorts and a t-shirt, on his feet was some sandals. His eyes looked around in amazement! Though overwhelmed, he was still in awe of not just this place but the power that brought he and his sister here! These young heroes were extremely powerful it seemed. His bag floated alongside him. Despite being more extroverted then Iris, even poor Daniel felt a bit out of place here. 

 

Iris came out behind her brother. She was wearing a purple bikini top and some jean shorts over her bikni bottom, she had sandals on her feet as well. This trip put her on edge a little. The portal had been impressive, though she did not express it as much as her brother did, she too was amazed at Lawrence's power. 
However this many people? At once? No. No she couldn't handle it. Iris moved over and held Daniel's hand, gripping it before leading him towards the house. Not that he resisted as that was where he wanted to go as well. 

The two had heard the brief however, they understood where everything was and who was sleeping where, but they just kept quiet. 

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

"Go for it, Consuelo... just don't go out of your depth... your powers are liable to pop any floats or wear out any life vest I could give ya, given long enough exposure."

 

She scratched her head. "Speaking of... has anyone that's been looking after your power template's effects come up with any way to resist that? I might wanna confer with them... come up with some gear built just for you."

 

She grinned as best she could... Rot's aura being something that still scratched at the back of TL2's mind. But the more exposures to it, the more she got used to it.

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz happily fished the first bag of ice from the freezer, the largest she could spot, hooking it to her skyboard before returning for the one beneath it. This was slightly more difficult for her diminutive stature, but she managed, even if she had to grab somethingto stand on to manage it. This too she hooked onto her skyboard, before returning for the one at the bottom of the stack.

 

Despite stretching as much as she could she couldn't even touch it, her fingers dancing inches away from it's tantalizingly chill surface. This is where she made one of the classic blunders of short people trying to reach the bottoms of things. 

 

She jumped for it.

 

Just a small hop, but it was enough, carrying her just inches off the small stool she'd been standing on as she seized her prize, a quiet laugh of triumph echoing from the bottom of the freezer, before she tried to lean back to get out. And went nowhere.

 

"Profanity." She uttered, her Translator censoring the statement. She kicked her legs, flicked her tail about, tried rocking back and forth but failed to budge. She couldn't call her skyboard, hands (and therefore gloved) occupied with the ice she was holding. Thinking quickly, before one of her classmates caught her in such an embarrassing position, she searched around with her tail for something solid to pull herself with, finding it after a few moments.

 

With a heave, she managed to right herself, emitting a small cackle as she clutched her icy prize, turning to see her tail still gripped onto Parker's wrist. She turned slightly pale for a moment, before a purple blush spread across her features. Yanking her tail back, she pointed an accusatory finger at the boy, with a cry of "YOU SAW NOTHING!" Before scampering away post haste (she would call it a valiant retreat).

 

She was about to leap on her board and fly away, when she remembered the condition for the cooling effect Parker was maintaining.

 

On 2/3/2024 at 10:13 AM, RocketLord said:

"... I think I can keep it up as long as you're near me."

 

This stopped her short, and with a very put upon groan she (pouted) waited against her better judgement for her classmate, before taking off for the beach.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker had remained close to make sure Vueriz wouldn't get too hot again. Once she was down below, he had disappeared to his room, but by the time Vueriz was digging through the freezer, he was back, now wearing a pair of black swim trunks.

 

How long had he be there? Who knows. 

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says in response to Vueriz, not even looking at where her tail had gripped on to him a moment before, even if he is grinning. "C'mon, let's get to the beach. I'm sure Mizuki would love to get to teach more people to swim."

 

With Vueriz riding her board, Parker focuses on his own distance to the ground and changes it, flying alongside her towards the beach.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

It might be more than just Mizuki getting used to Rot's creepy aura. Ever since winter break, it seems like she's had it under better control. Sometimes even animals can stand to be around her. Not all the time. Those spooky, corrupted vibes seem to sneak back out whenever she gets upset. 

 

"Uh, my sponsor has given me, like, a dozen supersuits that don't disintegrate. None of them, like, float though. And . . . I don't technically have any idea who my sponsor even is . . . . I guess i could give one of my supersuits to, like, some other science guy . . . and maybe they could figure out what this stuff is . . . " And she snaps at the black lycra-like material her two-piece bodysuit is made from.

 

Between the nearby islands surrounding this tiny one and the reef just offshore, the water at the beach is quite calm, and the slope is shallow. Humming to herself, Consuelo wades out a bit, flinching slightly upon entering the water. She splashes the water a bit, then looks back at the beach self-consciously, to see if anyone is watching and/or laughing at her.

 

Confident that no one is explicitly standing there judging her, she sinks down onto her hands and knees and blows some bubbles. She motors around on all fours a bit like that, then goes for dunking her head. Then she pushes around with her feet on the sand, picking her arms up off the ground and relying on the converging hydrodynamic effect of her body in forward motion to keep her trunk in line.

 

She gives a kickoff with her legs and tries a few flailing paddles with her arms. It's . . . neither graceful nor effective, and she gradually sinks over the course of a couple yards, standing up and shaking water out of her hair and blinking her eyes fiercely. She tries about six more times with similar results. "Yeah, that's kinda hard . . . I think I'm gonna take a break and just fly above the water for a bit . . . "

 

Consuelo hovers horizontally about a foot above the water and begins to skim over the surface, looking down through the clear, tropical sea. After she's kept this up for a little while, she calls out. "Hey, there's a ton of colorful fish out here by this reef!"

 

Consuelo takes a deep breath, holds it, and stops flying, to plunk into the water. Below the surface, it's a whole other world. Light is filtered, her dreadlocks start floating around. She can't believe the beautiful variety of shapes and colors of corral.

 

Like a cork, she pops back up through the surface and into the air. "You guys! That was awesome!" She plunks back into the water to take another look. She does that a bunch of times. Bloop. Bloop. Bloop.

 

The last time down, she sees something new. Holy Smokes! A dolphin! She can hear it clicking and chirping while it . . . tortures a small turtle. Hey! What're you doing with that turtle? Consuelo lamely frog-swims towards the dolphin with the little turtle. The dolphin drops the turtle, and Consuelo catches it. She laughs a little, then panics for breath. The turtle nips her a bit as she lets go, popping back up above the surface, sputtering.

 

The dolphin porpoises back up out of the water, and Consuelo splashes at it. She gives chase, ducking down in the water when the dolphin does. The two bounce around out beyond the reef, apparently both having a great time.

 

The dolphin dives down, and Consuelo follows after, using the momentum of her flight to chase it deep underwater. It zigs and zags. Consuelo tries to follow after, but her maneuverability is pretty limited, and she can't really keep up. It goes behind her and, by the time she turns around, she can't see it anymore. Giving up on catching it, she swims towards the surface.

 

Or does she?

 

Huh. Seems like I should be to the surface by now. Can't really see anything down here . . . Consuelo gets a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Oh crap! Maybe I'm going the wrong way? She turned around and gave a kick and a few clumsy strokes. Oh crap! This doesn't look right either! Consuelo goes into full on panic. Her head starts to feel light, and she gets really confused. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah couldn't help in time, though it seemed it was resolving? Frowning, he didn't know what to do, but he yelled out, "Hey, if it really comes up I can help with the cold stuff!" One hand cupping the side of his mouth to help carry  as he stared after them, and he frowned. Debating a little about going to water himself, he felt the call of the cliffs, or that's how he was going to say it to himself, and his head turned to look back towards those cliffs.

Then he shucked off his flannel, leaving himself bare chested, his sporting background showing his muscled body. He was big, and had been gaining mass, but was still on the leaner side, given most of his physical training went along with his best hobby. Yes, he liked other ones, but all the competitive sports he used to do were just not a thing. Sure the intermural stuff was fun, but it wasn't the same, even if the simulator thingie made climbing pretty easy.

It wasn't the same though, and that thought bored into his head as he pulled the legs of his pants up and cinched them at his knees as they were actually climbing pants intended for that, and he worked to fish out the supplies needed.

 

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"Hmm..."

 

She looks back at the water... the surface was calm, barely rippled from the Dolphin that had just jumped out.

 

"Consuelo should have popped out of the water by now..."

 

She walks up to the edge of the water, taking off the snorkeling vest she had on, and tossing aside her hat. "Yeah she's been down too long." She said, grabbing what looked like a small air tank... some spare air someone could use... only one or two breaths, but that could be all that's needed.

 

Mizuki goes in... starting to search for Consuelo... there was an outcrop that could confuse an inexperienced swimmer. She saw what looked like a shadow of a person's form for a moment, but wasn't sure... she goes to investigate.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence had finished setting the temperature of the cold room to as low as it could go and started back to where he had left Vueriz and Parker. Finding the two already gone, presumably with ice, the blond teen continued on back outside to the deck and the pool. Glancing toward one end of the pool, he saw the seniors on the trip gathered in one area (with several of Bernadette's duplicates in the pool with Owain) and Michael talking with them.

 

Looking ahead, Lawrence spotted one of the newer students to campus standing off to one side looking out toward the water and seeming a bit unsure of what to do. "Hey Ryan!" Lawrence called out as he slowed down and headed towards the other teen. "Mizuki has set up a bunch of stuff for people to enjoy in the shallows inside the reef down by the beach. Why don't you drop your suff in the house and I show you the way down."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

Baz started forward. Baz stopped. 

 

This was water. He told himself he could swim. He told himself that he was fooling himself. He told himself that of course he wasn't fooling himself and he should shut the hell up. He told himself to stop talking to himself. He told himself that he was a hypocrite for telling himself to stop talking to himself. 

 

He realised that wasn't getting anywhere. 

 

"This looks like a job for Gamma Buzz, baby!"

 

And besides, it was water. It made a great splash. 

 

He took a giant cockroach leap straight into the sea besides Misuki, landing with a magnificent belly flop. 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Nothing was making sense to Consuelo. Am I almost to the other end of the pool?  Wait, no, I'm in the ocean. Her head hurt. She wanted to breath so bad. No, no! I'm underwater! Just keep swimming!

 

It wasn't just a shadow of a person Mizuki saw near the outcrop. It was a person surrounded in shadows, with eerily glowing green eyes. An aura of violence and cruelty reached out from the shadowy form, and the two green eyes glared like a demon.

 

I'm dying! No, I won't die! I'll destroy this whole bay and reef, if it gets in my way, and everything swimming in it! That dolphin and everything else that swims. That swims . . . wait I know who swims. . . .

 

The green glow disappears from the eyes, and the envelope of shadows dissolves to reveal Consuelo, reaching out to Mizuki. She looks weak, so very, very weak.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

It was all academics. In a quick burst of speed it seemed Torpedo Lass went from where she was right to Consuelo. She shoved the regulator on the rescue air tank into her mouth. At this depth it'd be good for one or two breaths. And should be more than adequate to get to the surface. She held up her index finger then pointed at her mouth then gestured with a thumbs up for the surface, slipping her arms under Consuelo. The shadow of a Whale Shark passed by as the two began to surface... it was deeper than Mizuki wagered... this tank might barely be enough... but she can't risk the bends. Half way she could hear Consuelo taking another breath... They were half way, passing by the whale shark... that meant they were further out than she wagered too...

 

You know you don't have to do this, what's she to you?... scratched at the back of Mizuki's mind... but she fought it off, shaking her head for a moment before looking up kicking with her legs to start heading back to the surface at a more normal swimming speed... slow enough for a safe surfacing. When they cracked the surface she pulled herself with Consuelo to the beach. She spat out water to the side before looking back to Consuelo. "Talk to me, Connie... ya still with us?"

[Thunder King]

Ryan nodded to Lawrence.

"I should practice using my powers." He said.

 

He held his hand up and a sword seemed to fold itself into reality, materializing in Ryan's hand. It was a three foot longsword with a plain golden pommel and crossguard. Ryan twirled it briefly in his hand before slashing in front of him.

 

A hole appeared in thin air that showed a location closer to the house. Ryan stepped into it and vanished, appearing right in front of the house  The sword vanished into nothing again as he walked into the house to drop off his things.

 

A few moments later, another hole appeared in the air and Ryan stepped back out.

 

"Still getting used to that. So, beach?"

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo gasps violently for breath as she lies plastered to the beach. "I didn't breath any water Zuki. Didn't breath any water."  She gasps several more times with her head up before flopping it down to the sand in utter exhaustion. "So weird, so weird. I didn't know which way was up. Is that normal? Who knows which way I was going . . . . "

 

"¡Dios mio!"

 

Examination reveals that Consuelo is fine, just really shaken up. 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence waited while Ryan used his longsword to teleport himself into the house to drop off his bag before teleporting back outside. The blond teen gave him a smile. "Well, should become more familiar with practice." He stated before nodding and starting off along the path down the hillside towards the clear blue waters below. "Yes, just down this way."

 

Soon the two teens were down at the beach, spotting Vueriz and Parker over by the life raft that Mizuki set up. Out in the shallow waters between the beach and the reef, Mizuki had set up a number of rafts for the group to use as they enjoyed the crystal-clear water. But then Lawrence noticed Mizuki over near Consuelo, who was lying on the beach. Moving over quickly toward the pair, he looked down at them with some concern. "Is everything okay?" He asked, looking at Consuelo and then to Mizuki.