ic Tropical Getaway: Bernadette's Version (IC)

[Thevshi]

Rai Ki Wai Estate

Wakaya Island, Fiji

Saturday, February 17, 2024, 9:00 AM local time

 

Bernadette O'Connell had been one of the last ones to arrive at the Main Quad for Lawrence to provide the means of traveling to Fiji. The Irish teen was wearing a black T-shirt with her band’s logo on it, a pair of cut-off jeans shorts and sandals. Her long red hair was currently pulled back into a ponytail, and she was already wearing a pair of sunglasses. Over one shoulder she had a small bag and was carrying a larger duffle bag in one hand.

 

The redhead was pretty quiet and more subdued than normal. Last night her band had performed at a local club and after which she had gone out for a bit with her bandmates. After that she had gone to see Charlie, given she was going to be spending most of the weekend out of the country, so she was presently operating on only a couple hours of sleep. Added to that was that while she had not drunk much alcohol last night, with only a few hours sleep, she was still feeling it some.

 

As she stepped through the portal created by Lawrence, the eighteen-year-old was somewhat reminded of when she had been briefly transported to another dimension during summer break. As crazy as that had been, it had also directly led to her and Summer Sands deciding to start their band, and how she had inadvertently ended up with Trebel, the singing fish that occupied a small tank in her dorm room.

 

The redhead looked around at the sprawling compound and the ocean beyond as she adjusted to the suddenly sunnier environment, only half listening to Lawrence's quick orientation. Coming from a blue-collar family of Irish immigrants, this was far posher than she was accustomed to, even considering how much time she had been spending over the past few weeks at the mansion that now served as the Young Guardian's base of operations.

 

Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Bernadette held out the duffle bag she was holding as a duplicate appeared beside her.

"Ya know, I am just as tired as you are." The duplicate grumbled quietly as she took the bag.

 

"Then bloody drop it off somewhere in tha house an' come back out ta take a nap as well." Bernadette replied with a smirk as she walked over towards one of the lounge chairs scattered around the massive deck.

 

Dropping her small bag down next to the chair, the redhead pulled off her T-shirt, revealing a colorful bikini top underneath. Her jeans shorts followed to reveal the matching bikini bottom. Sitting down on the chair, Bernadette removed a small chain with a cross from around her neck and reached down to drop it into her bag and pull out a large bottle of sunscreen, which she began to apply.

[Poncho]

Irrepressible but relaxed, Michael could just about be in two places at once on fhe small island in Fiji. He wasn't going to get too far from Carmen, but that didn't mean he wouldn't check in with others at the same time! Part od having a vacation was spending time with friends you hadn't seen in awhile after all.

 

So while Bernie was putting on her sunscreen, the brown haired Michael was flying around the house with the freedom that came from not having to hide having superpowers at this moment. When he had done enough circles, he floated down to where Bernie was sitting.

 

"I guess Charlie couldn't come since this was a Claremont thing, huh? Sorry about that. How are you doing Bernie? Hey are you selling any CDs for your band yet? I'd like to get one if you do a limited run or something."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Fortunately for Consuelo she had been provided with a few different options for her disintegration-resistant super suit. Her two-piece version came in handy for the Fijian warmth. And her darker complexion came in handy for resisting the more unpleasant aftereffects of exposure to the rays of the tropical sun. "Ooh, sunbathing! I can do that!" Tossing her own duffle bag unceremoniously on the patio floor, she hovered over towards the lounge chairs where Bernie was sitting, frowned slightly, and then announced. "Just maybe not on a chair."

 

Still floating a little above the ground she settled down into the lotus position, closed her eyes, and hummed in satisfaction at the heat seeping into her bones. Consuelo had been doing that a lot lately, sitting in the lotus position with her eyes closed. Like she had been to a yoga retreat or something.

 

One of her eyes opened and she looked at Michael. "Hey, uh, Michael. What's a  . . . "CD"?"

Edited January 30 by Huckleberry
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[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Michael glided down near Bernadette just as her duplicate had reemerged from the main house. The duplicate had a towel draped over one shoulder, and was holding another towel in her right hand. In her left hand, the duplicate was carrying two water bottles that appeared to be chilled. As she drew near, the duplicate tossed the towel in her right hand at the original Bernadette, who caught it without looking up.

 

Setting the towel down beside her, the original Bernadette looked up at Michael, pausing a moment at his question about Charlie not being there. She then chuckled and smiled. "I suppose ya got his name from lookin' through some old yearbooks." She said with a smile.

 

"A very Charlie thing ta do." Added the duplicate, who was now just in her bikini as well.

 

"But anyway, Charlie tends ta have a lot o' 'projects' in tha works, so was too busy. Probably fer the best really." The original continued. "We likely have been seein' a bit too much o' each other since the start o' the year. A weekend apart is probably a good thing."

 

Bernadette paused, and then tossed the bottle of sunscreen over one shoulder, where the duplicate behind her easily caught it and began applying some as well. "Hey ‘Suelo." The two Bernadette’s said in unison at the arrival of the green haired girl.

 

"As fer how I am," the original Irish teen continued as she spread out the towel on the chair and laid down on her back, "right now, bleedin' knackered. Currently runnin' on less than three hours o' sleep. Had a gig last night, we were the last act (an' it was packed by the time we took the stage). We didn' finish until after midnight. Then I went out fer a bit with the rest o' the band, and then went ta see Charlie. Didn' get back ta the dorms until after five this mornin'."

 

"So, the plan is ta just relax a bit an' get some sun. Maybe take a short nap." Chimed in the duplicate who was still applying sunscreen.

 

"Don' worry, not planin' ta sleep the day away." The original said with a grin. "In an' hour or so I will hunt down some coffee, an' then the fun will really begin."

 

She paused slightly as she let out a yawn. "As ta yer last question, we have not really put together an' album yet, but we do have several tracks on Spotify or similar platforms for download. If there are any yer interested in, let me know an' I can get ya copies. When we do get an album together, I will be shoor ta get ya a copy." There were a number of other things in the works for her band, but at the moment Bernadette was not at liberty to talk about them.

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

Rosalind was not the beach kind of person, all those sexy people lying on the beach showing off there tans was not for her. Not that she minded the heat, she was a Jersy girl after all, along with good Greek genes for just such climates.

 

So whilst the others created a ruckus she snuck back to the house to maybe catch some sun. She was wearing as much you could get away with whilst still calling it beachwear, a colourful sarong over a sensible one-piece bathing suit.

 

Turning the corner it quickly became apparent that she wasn’t the only one who’d had the same idea…

 

“Oh… erm… hi, nice place you have here!”

[Poncho]

"A CD...?" Michael looked at Consuelo a little confused. "Like, I guess they're kind of old now, but they're discs with music burned on them. You know, so you have a band's entire album on one disc and you can listen to it in order. My older brother actually collects vinyls, which are even older. He has a special player to play them, says the music just sounds betterwhen you play it on Vinyl." He turned back to Bernie. "Yeah. If you release one let me know. Then I can get you to sign it and when I'm famous I'll frame it on my wall so people know I knew you before we were big, right next to Baz's antennae." He grinned. Then he thought about the other thing, regarding Charlie. He floated in the air still, doing some flips and spinning aroind leisurely as he did so.

 

"You think that was a Charlie thing to do? Hmm. Well, I did talk to him after the party...and we did sort of grow up on a similar vibe. But I think he's a lot more impressive than me. I look up to him, even if I think we're gonna diverge a lot. So...thanks? I guess. I think it's a compliment. But I'm gonna figure out my own stuff too." 

 

It was pretty obvious thst Michael was talking and thinking at a much more casual pace than he usually did; intentionally slowing down since he was on a break. When the new girl wandered up, he planted himself in a chair finally. 

 

"Hello. I'm Michael Adon. I don't think we've met before, but you're a senior, right? Nice to meet you."

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

"Vinyl does sound better." Bernadette said simply as she lay back on her chair under the warm sun. Her duplicate had also finished with the sunscreen and had laid down as well. "We are lookin' inta what it might take ta have vinyl copies of any albums made, would like it ta be on demand, but might have to opt for a limited run or somethin.' In the meantime, we do have some posters an’ T-shirts if ya want any."

Looking up slightly as Michael thanked her for what he perceived as a compliment the redhead gave a small smile. The Irish teen had not exactly meant it as a compliment, as while Charlie had a lot of good traits, his tendency to take inquisitiveness into the realm of being rather nosey was not exactly one of them. But she also had to admit that it was useful at times as well.

 

Bernadette's smile widened as her former roommate came over to join the little group that was forming near the pool. "Hey Rosalind. Planin' ta grab a chair an' relax in the sun fer a bit?"

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Starshine

“Ah yes, I’m Rosalind, as already explained I guess… Pleasure to meet you!”

 

 

She gently lowered herself onto a lounger as if it was about to make an attack or something. Sure she was safe she relaxed a little and tried to get up to speed with the conversation.

 

 

“My Gran has a collection of vinyl she bought with her, some Greek crooners that I’ve never heard of! I guess that makes her hip and cool!”

 

 

Rosalind knew for sure her Gran was very cool, but a suitable joke was never to be missed.

 

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko/Owain

 

"This is a Fijian," said the Crimson Katana as Neko Musume stood by his side, peering down at the mangled corpse with twitching ears. "They could be a proud people, but the British have made them slaves. We will liberate them," he assured the girl. "Now, you'll notice the other one," he added as they moved to the body next to this one, the stench of formaldehyde thick in the air. "The woman is of Indian stock, transplanted there by the British-" 

 

Back in the main house, Neko blinked away her memories and sighed. Girls who she didn't really care for and the beach were not exactly her idea of a good time, but Bernadette had been so excited about this she had let herself be swept along. Studying herself in the mirror, she adjusted her customized big floppy hat, wrapped a flowered wrap around herself, and padded out onto the huge deck behind the house. Glad to see so many friends there, she curled up, literally, on a big lounger by Rosalind and the others. Not bothering with an umbrella, she flopped around for a moment in the sun before stretching big, rolling around so her head was pointed down and her feet up.

 

"Hi everyone," she said. "Nyyah, what a trip!" 

 

Then came a booming, familiar voice. 

"CANNONBALL!" Dressed in swim trunks that proudly bore the Welsh dragon, Owain came tearing past the group and leaped straight into the deep end of the pool, sure enough making a big splash as he landed. (Neko had carefully placed herself near the shallow end and so avoided any spillover.) His head popping up a moment later, he added excitedly, "Woo! It is a party, is it not!?" Ever the gentleman he did not ogle the girls in their swimsuits and only had a glance to spare for Michael, who after all was a good bit younger than he was. 

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette smiled as her roommate came out to join them on the deck, claiming one of the lounge chairs for herself. The redhead was glad Neko had decided to come, even if she seemed somewhat leery of the water, and the ocean in particular. Hopefully she could at least enjoy relaxing some and would probably enjoy the sunny warm weather.

 

The Irish teen was pulled from her thoughts as Owain arrived, sending a big splash of water out as he jumped into the pool, a fair bit of which landed on Bernadette and her duplicate. She held back the urge to yell at him, after all, it was good to see Owain acting rather carefree, and as he popped back up to the surface and commented about it being a party, Bernadette could only laugh. "Aye, that it is, guess I can catch up on lost sleep later." As she spoke, four more of her duplicates appeared and immediately ran over to the pool themselves and jumped in around where Owain was floating, sending several more splashes of water all around the area.

 

Meanwhile, the duplicate that had been sunbathing got up from her lounge chair. "I'll go find some coffee, an' maybe some Aleve."

[Poncho]

"Greek crooners? That is cool...I don't know that i've ever heard any of those. My brother has a Vinyl of Frank Sinatra he really likes. I think music is really important to processing life, since so much of how you think about things is decided by the way your senses interact with it. Like how a meal is tastier when it smells good; if you're listening to good music, then you can come out of bad situations with a more positive vibe. Or something."

 

Then Owain jumped into the pool and Michael clapped approvingly. He felt weird around the other boy; he did like him. And he did think he was cute. But he had a girlfriend. And Owain was a bit too much older than him for him to be comfortable with at this juncture. Plus he had a girlfriend. So he would just appreciate from afar. He was not going to overthink this. So he waved, politely, at Owain, and then put it out of his mind.

 

He leaned back in his lounger and stretched out, closing his eyes. Vacations meant relaxing and he was going to sit in this chair until Carmen came and got him.

 

"Can you not have one duplicate sleep, and then when they wake up you absorb them and you're well rested? I mean, I have no idea how duplication works." He asked Bernie.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"Hey, Rosalind, what's happening?" Consuelo was pumped to see her. She was always just . . . so nice all the time.

 

Overhearing Michael's question about Bernadette just having one of her doubles sleep for her, she chimes in wickedly: "Well I don't know about sleeping, but I do know that Bernie has to go pee all on her own! Ha ha ha ha!" For some reason, she thinks that's really funny.

 

"Oh, jeez, okay. I was thinking about maybe flying over this teensy island just a little bit and then go take Zuki up on her swimming lesson offer. Anyone else wanna come along? Maybe we'll see Carmen, like, eating a feral pigeon."

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko 

 

Neko kicked off her sandals, wriggling her toes. Her feet were just a little bit furry, her carefully painted nails the color of the sky and sharp, like her fingernails. She considered what to say about Carmen, especially with Michael right there, and settled on the simple truth. "Pigeons here would be nice. Much cleaner than city birds, less...garbage." Even Fiji was overrun with people and their things by her standards, but she supposed that was hypocrisy since she was here the same as anyone else. She raised her arm to her face and noisily licked the back of her hand, not looking like she was putting too much effort into it. "Time zones make me sleepy," she added with a big yawn that showed off perfectly pointed teeth. 

 

Hooting and hollering, Owain had a fine old time with the various Bernadettes in the pool, splashing some and engaging in some light swordplay with pool noodles with others. Occasionally he thought of what it might have been like to meet a girl like Bernadette in his own realm, a wild woman of the Irish sea, but he was more than happy with her friendship. "Oh-hoh! Some of this, eh? You won't fool me, you squad of feminine brutes!" 

[Thevshi]

Mult-Girl

 

Bernadette had been about to respond to Michael's question about having one of her duplicates sleep for her when Consuelo interjected, referencing the pair's trip to Albright Institute toward the start of the school year. The redhead gave an amused scowl at the younger girl and scoped up the towel she had been lying on and threw it at Consuelo's head. "Very funny." She responded with a smile on her face.

"But yeah, not shoor that would really work Michael, wish it were so easy. I am just happy that they can help me study an' that I can recall what they review." The Irish teen stated.

 

When Consuelo talked about flying off around the island and she and Neko discussed Carmen possibly eating a pigeon out there in the wild, Bernadette frowned slightly. "I don' know if I would be too quick ta fly around like that Consuelo. Lawrence said there were staff that worked here, they could live on another part o' the island. There could also be other private houses like this one." But then redhead gave a small shrug as she finished, not really planning to do anything more to try to dissuade the green haired teen.

 

Meanwhile, her duplicates were giggling and laughing as they splashed and mock-dueled Owain the pool. "Brutes are we?" Asked the two of them facing off with the young man. "Guess we will just have ta do this then." Said another that had swum up behind him and tried to dunk his head briefly under water.

[Poncho]

"Huh. Well, studying is still nice." he didn't bother to open his eyes. He was absolutely not touching that other part of the sentence with a ten foot pole. It also gave him time to think about what to even say to Consuelo about the feral pigeon. It was an agonizingly long pause because he refused to speed up his thinking. This was an important part of the ongoing relationship between Michael and Carmen, but also the overarching relationship between the group of kids that he had carefully been working to cultivate friendships with. He couldn't help but feel that this was a test.

 

After a very long time, he finally said something, letting out a long sigh of contentment.

 

"If Carmen actually was interested in hunting something, she'd probably get more than a pigeon. She'd probably find some giant bear and defeat it in single combat or something. Or some prehistoric terror bird. You remember what she did to those girls at the Aquarium." Something not super defensive, but appreciative; Carmen didn't need him to fight her battles, but he could certainly talk her up.  

 

"I do want to go flying too, but I don't want to spook anyone or anything like that, so yeah, it might be best to stay low...Carmen did say she would come get me later though, so I'm just gonna sit right here and rest." And in his red suit with the sunburst pattern on the side of it, he continued to lounge in the sun. 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"Huh." Consuelo responds to Bernadette's worry about flying. "Ya think the HMO has a rule about no flying higher than ten feet?" She's a little miffed at the idea that people would tell her to keep out of their part of the sky. It's not my fault of people feel all weird just because I fly over their house. It's not like I'm loud or anything. "Don't know why I'm surprised. 'There goes the neighborhood' is practically my middle name."  She tosses Bernadette's towel back with a bit of a disintegration hole in it where it hit her head.

 

"Yeah, you're right, Michael. There's probably lots of giant bears on this tiny little island." Consuelo responds to the big guy's defense of his girlfriend's epic hunting skills with mock seriousness. "I'm gonna go take Mizuki up on that offer of a swim lesson. See you guys a little later."

 

And she flies off to the beach, but not too high. 

[Avenger Assembled]

As Consuelo flew off, Neko stirred comfortably where she rested and looked over at Michael. "Soo," she said in a soft, purring voice. "Michael." When he looked over her way, she was studying him with gigantic yellow eyes, and not incidentally had a large white and brown cast nestling on her chest and studying him with the same expression. "I left my book in the kitchen of the house. Can you be a dear and go get it for me?" she asked him, her tone ingenous and face hopeful. "I'm just sooo comfortable in the sun here, I think I could lay here all day..." She stretched her arms again, the cat mirroring her actions. "It's Tales of Ise, with the man and woman in Japanese dress on the cover." 

[Poncho]

He had been soooo close to falling asleep. He was gonna get a nice nap, take a chill pill, and be a log until Carmen woke him up. But he was also respectful of his elders, and Neko was a senior, and he was just a Sophmore. And she was friends with Owain, and he didn't want Owain to think he wasn't nice to his friends. And Neko had been nice to him, so really, what was the harm. So he opened his eyes and looked at her.

 

"...I will go get your book, Neko." he said, after another very long pause, then he slowly, agonizingly, got up and stretched before heading back into the house. He was not using any of his powers. He refused to even run fast for this, he wanted to relax!

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette caught the towel when Consuel tossed it back at her, glancing at the hole in the middle and dropping down on the chair next to her. She watched the green-haired girl fly off toward the beach for a moment before looking back over to Neko when the other girl asked Michael to go get her book from the kitchen. The redhead was quiet as Michael thought about the request (well, the original one was, as her four duplicates were still engaged in a lot of splashing and laughing in the pool with Owain).

 

When Michael left, the Irish teen just shook her head as she looked over to her roommate a moment. "You're so bad sometimes." She said with a smile as her duplicate emerged from the house with a cup of coffee and a bottle of Aleve. Bernadette took the Aleve first, opening it up and putting a couple in her mouth before taking a drink of the coffee to swallow the medicine.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko 

 

"What?" asked Neko. "I am just staying in touch with literature." Smirking, she folded her hands across her belly as another cat seemed to appear from nowhere and settle over her thighs. "My mother used to tell me Tales when I was very small," she admitted softly now that she and Bernadette were alone. "She couldn't read, of course, but we had a folding screen in the shrine that must have been two hundred years old. She would point to all the parts and make the poems just as if we were there. It is a good book; the translator is - very good.." She lay there in the water and over the sound of Owain and the other Bernadettes playing in the water listened to the silence. And then her smile returned. "Michael is a nice boy. Very...helpful. That is good for a boy." 

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette listened as Neko offered a somewhat rare glimpse into her past as she told the Irish teen about her mother's stories. Although she had gotten much closer with Neko since they had become roommates at the start of the year, there was still much about the catgirl that was a mystery to Bernadette. Of course, the redhead did not pry or ask questions, not even on the nights where Neko would wake up screaming from some nightmare. "I'm glad you found somethin' that reminds you o' those memories."

 

At Neko's comment about Michael, the redhead grinned slightly. "Aye, though, a bit too strait laced fer me. Still, a good friend." As she said that, Bernadette looked over toward the pool and Owain, whom she had had something of a crush on last year (in addition to the one she had for Charlie). Owain was also someone that had a bit too much of a…chivalrous manner, not that it did not mean Bernadette did not care about him or value their friendship any less. It was certainly nice to see him enjoying himself as he continued to splash about in the pool with her duplicates.

 

The redhead took another drink of her coffee as she just enjoyed the sun.

[Poncho]

Michael took himself very slowly back through the house to the kitchen. He took his sweet time, because he had to get up and if he was going to get up, he might as well handle whatever else he needed to. So he made himself a sandwich, grabbed a book of his own from his backpack- some homework he was reading up on- and then Neko's book, and then put them on a tray to take back out. He also got a new towel to replace the one that Consuelo had accidentally burnt a hole into, and anything else someone had asked him to get, before starting to make his way back outside, balancing the tray on one hand like the good server he was when he worked at Sampson's. If nothing else, that was a skill he had picked up.

 

"Here Neko." he said as he walked back out and slipped the book off the tray to hand to her.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko's eyes lit up as Michael handed her the book. "Thank you, Michael," she said in that soft, purring voice as she took the book from his hands. She was now definitely surrounded by what looked and sounded like cats (a not-uncommon sight for the senior when she was sitting in one spot for long enough) and rolled over on her back to read, nestling the book against a fat white and brown specimen that seemed to be resting on her chest. She smiled at Michael and offered "Will you sit?", pointing to a stool near her chair. "I can read you poetry, since you were such a help to me." She turned the cracked-spine paperback to the right page and said in a low purr: 

 

"Kachibito no
Wataredo nurenu
Eni shi areba" 

 

She looked reflectively at the pool for a moment, where Owain was just climbing out to fetch a cooler of drinks for the duplicates in the water with him. "It means 'Shallow the inlet - if the traveler wading in it - is not even wetted.'" 

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette had finished her coffee by the time Michael had reemerged from the house with Neko’s book and a number of other things. "Thank you Michael." The redhead stated as he handed her a replacement towel after delivering Neko’s book. Bernadette could not help but smile at the teenage boy's easy manner at making the deliveries, something she assumed came from his work at the soda shop in Riverside.

 

The Irish teen had gone to visit it once when he was working there after he had begun at Claremont and had seen firsthand how hard a worker he was, something she could appreciate given her working class/blue collar background. Until this year, she had also worked part-time jobs while at Claremont for some extra money. The only reason she was not this year was she was pouring so much spare time into her band, which was actually providing some money (as much of what the band made was currently going back into trying to do things to increase visibility, revenue and other marketing ideas).

 

This had Bernadette look about for a moment, considering finding Lawrence to ask him about what sort of sound system the house had. Given his mother’s fondness for dancing and the varied selection of songs she had played during the holiday party, Bernadette would have been very surprised to find out there was not a very nice sound system that not only worked inside the house but out on the patio area as well. But as she glanced around, the redhead noted Neko reading poetry to Michael, who also had a book of his own. Figuring that they did not really need any music at the moment, Bernadette just spread out the replacement blanket and lay back down in the sun, the faint splashing of water still occurring from time to time from the pool.

[Poncho]

"You're welcome." Michael replied to both of them before sitting down to listen to Neko's poetry. He listened quietly; the A student who listened to every lecture even when it was just coming from an upper-classman on a vacation, and he was focused on digesting the words as she explained them, considering the context, but he did ask the question to the makeshift instructor that Neko had turned herself into.

 

"So what do you think it means, Neko? I mean, people always say that literature is metaphorical, so...what was he talking about when he wrote the poem?" He asked. He figured she was trying to tell him something, picking out a specific poem, but maybe she wasn't. But he cut his thoughts off before he started spiraling. He was having a normal, non-super thoughts vacation. No super thinking. He just turned his attention to the water too for a bit, watching Owain and the Bernies play in the water.

"...That you can't traverse in life if you aren't willing to get into it and get your clothes dirty?" he offered.