2019-09-12 - Seafood Splatter

FOOD! It was reason enough to pull herself out of bed. Lyric had heard of this food truck and the infrequency of scheduling for the driver to actually bring it to these parts. So there she is, in line. And it's a healthy line! Pretty long. But good food brings them out. She's got her thumbs tucked into her front pockets of her jeans as she waits for her turn. Her gaze drifts to look around at the others in line. Mostly for familiar faces. She was a local there were bound to be some!

Dylan is already present and accounted for, sitting at one of the picnic tables with a half eaten bowl of gumbo before him. Sitting across from him is Nicole. He's dressed in brown cargo pants and a grey t-shirt that has an old dusting of black ink on it from some spill long ago, having seen better days. Currently, the man has a sketchpad out, fingers wrapped about a pencil to work on a landscape that includes the beach and food truck.

While Byron Thorne may have heard of this particular food truck due to word of mouth gossip and the like, it's rare that he ever has the time to pay it a visit before everything is sold out. While he's here now, taking a breather from the chaos that is the life of a landlord in a cursed town (Not cursed building, people!). Out of his usual professional attire, this is a brief moment in his day to relax and try to take his mind off of serial killing ghosts, goblins and things of that nature. Wearing a light flannel buttoned down in greens and grays, a pair of jeans and combat boots, he turns his ridiculously expensive sunglassed veiled gaze in the direction of the said food truck. "Looks like we got here in the nick of time." He's in the company of Lilith Winslow, his arm snaked behind her back as he starts on his way to join up with the other foodie types.

Sutton sits off to the side on top of a table already seats-full with patrons grubbing down on some seafood from the truck. She's dressed in running clothes—short shorts with high slits, a fanny pack with a small water bottle tucked into the mesh of one side, and of course a long-sleeved, sweat wicking running top. Her pale blonde hair is pulled up in a tail, and she doesn't seem to give a shit about the clouds or the fact that someone just spilled gumbo down her leg. As long as that doesn't soak into hers sock, she's good. "Ellis, I would marry you if I didn't have a deep-seated fear of commitment." She jams some shrimp into her mouth, putting back the calories she spent running earlier in the day. "Maybe I'll marry you anyway, you hot mess of a beautiful man." What? She loves seafood, ok.

Nicole has a fried fish dish in front of her as she chats with Dylan at the table. She wears jeans today, artfully frayed, a pair of tan leather sandals and a lightweight, cap-sleeved blouse of pale blue decorated with outlines of small flowers decorating it subtly. She eats with her fingers, picking off small bite sized pieces before popping them into her mouth. She talks while Dylan sketches, her eyes drifting down to look at his work on occasion.

"They're always out of stuff by the time I get around to remembering it. We're getting to know the rumored awesome today, damnit. There has to be a reason it's got staying power. And neither of us has been eating right lately, time to get fat." Lilith tells Byron, all kinds of cozy canoodled with him walking at her side with her own arm slipped around behind the small of his back in tandem affectionate latching. She's wearing a long peasant skirt with tiers of sheer panel layers in olive green that falls over lacing black sandals, paired with a fitted black camisole and a smoky cardigan to catch ocean breeze chill, "And looks like we're catching a break, finally, still taking orders, maybe today's okay."

Ordinarily now is Sleep Time for Haven. She's a third shifter, as the perpetual dark rings under her eyes obviously mark her, but today she is up. And she's got a bowl of something delicious in her hands. Walking away from the food truck with her precious cargo, she moves over towards where Sutton sits on top of a table. "Good day, Donut Thief." As the table is full up AND has an EMT's butt on it taking up room, she just stands there and blows on her gumbo. Since the last time the other woman saw her, she's shorn her long locks in favor of a very short pixie cut, pale blonde in color. She wears a pair of worn Adidas soccer shoes on her feet, a bright yellow t-shirt with a panda slurping noodles that says Pho Real and form fitting leggings. "I trust you are well."

Julia just loooooves when Ellis comes to town. Which is to say, thanks, she hates it. Chefs are all about their turf wars, but she always shows up because sizing up the competition is worth taking the time. However, she arrives late.

There's a giggle from the line. Shellfish nature. Lyric gets it. She'd perused the menu until she had it memorized what she was getting, down to the drink and everything. Opening her mouth, she's about to say it when she notices him get suddenly distracted. She peeks around to see what it is that caught his attention. "I want the.." she begins again, but he's not listening so she really tries to see what he's looking at.

That conversation between Nicole and Dylan, for those who don't know the artist, sure might seem one sided given the very few words that come from him. "Good?" Comes the inquiry about that fried fish, offering no hesitation about letting the woman peek now and again at what he does. Now and then that pencil is twirled around the knuckle of his thumb while he ponders a detail here or there of that oceanic scene he's sketching.

"It's not like we don't have a perfectly good fish shack in town as it is." Byron says as he slips off his sunglasses to fold then tuck into his shirt breast pocket. "But I keep hearing about this guy and how he moves in out of town like a ghost. Well, more like a man prepared to do business and making a killing in our quiet little town." This is a little dark humor on his part... It probably is too soon. He's forced to loosen his hold on Lilith as he reaches into his pocket for his wallet, they were next in line after Lyric, after all.

Lilith takes a moment to look up and aside at Byron as they stand behind Lyric placing order, waiting their turn, "I think I want to try something new. Like seafood gumbo, I'm so used to getting baby shrimps from the other place, maybe I should mix it up. That or-- wait, what's that stuff that...comes in the cup with the lime and tomato juice and marinates all the seafood inside? Ceviche?" The woman looks down from Byron after bodily nudging him with lean in the close quarters, apparently going on a food quest today instead of sticking to what's perfectly normal and predictable for her when it comes to seafood. She looks about to ask about whether or not Ellis in the food truck actually has ceviche, but he's suddenly turning to look at the ocean mid-order, so naturally, like a paranoid bint given the way of things lately, her eyes snap to follow.

"Huh. That's a big ol' seaweed patch floating in. Or something." She mentions this to Byron, but overall doesn't seem concerned, it's probably fine.

"Perfectly good?" Julia drawls, arms folded over her chest. Her eyes slide toward the water, but she still addresses Byron and Lilith. "Try the best. And you should check our weekly specials, Lilith. Ceviche is in the rotation."

Sutton smiles around a shrimp and salutes Haven with a two-fingered touch to her brow. "I'm not dead yet," she says, in answer to hope that the day's good. "Did you enjoy your Unicorn donut this morning?" The donuts have been unmolested all week since Sutton's been absent the lineup over on Fire's side. PD has a short reprieve. "... Shellfish nature, Ellis? Ex-wives mystery solved." That last part is muttered.

Sutton's responding to Ellis, so she notes his face. No more seafood puns? She turns to glance out at the ocean, watching something rise from the water. Over the sand, the sound of something comes to her ears. Is that French? She's not totally sure, because she doesn't speak it. "Come on, no." Her shoulders fall. She puts down her paper boat of shrimp, jamming one more in her mouth. "Be driftwood." It's not going to be driftwood, is it? She unzips her fanny pack behind her back and slides around past Nicole and Dylan, tapping Haven's arm.

"Yes, I did. You can really taste the sparkles, you know," the puckish rookie cop tells Sutton, reaching up to rub her mouth absently. Mmmm sparkles. Haven is about to dig into her bowl of gumbo when she notices the other public servant set down her food, adjusts her fanny pack and taps her arm on her way past some of the others. The fingers touching her arm has her looking up at the woman and then out at the shoreline, scanning for whatever might have upset her. "Why are you leaving your shrimp unattended?" Probably a trap. Donut thieves aren't to be trusted, after all.

"Mm, delicious!" Nicole comments to Dylan at his question before people start to mill about, looking towards the water. "What is it you are drawing?" she asks, not overly concerned just yet.

Lyric sees nothing special. Just seaweed. There's a shrug and she starts to place an order for a lobster roll and lemonade. On order that never happens. She jumps back with a squeak, likely plowing into some behind her unless they were prepared for it. It seems rather incredulous what happens as the seafood on revolt comes in waving their flag. "What.. the.. hell?" Was everyone else seeing this?

Dylan's mouth opens to start to talk, but he doesn't get to answer Nicole by the time Ellis is slamming shut his food truck, and that? It's more than enough to jerk his head over toawrds the beach that now has everyones attention. And he? He does speak french, which explains the appropriately timed, "Sacre bleu," That comes rolling from the tip of his tongue. His gumbo is forgotten, and up he begins to stand, turning about with that sketchpad in hand, torn between capturing it all on paper, or doing... something else.

There is no missing it now, the panic of others calling her attention to what is going on. The slam of the truck's shutters has Nicole jumping, looking out just in time to see the flagpole rise up, covered in... crabs? They aren't close to her yet but still, she jumps up onto the bench of the picnic table. Confused -AF- she looks from the crabs to the seal to Dylan. Is this real? "What the..."

"Where you going, Ellis?" Julia calls out, "You afrad of a little - madre de dios!" She looks at the seal, then back at the truck. "How did we end up in a fucking Lewis Carroll story?" she asks warily.

The initial shock seen on Ellis' face is something which Thorne missed, but when the man slams down the shutters right in Lyric's face, which in turn, is like slamming down those shutters on both himself and Lilith, he just has to blink. "If he's out, he's out. No need to be rude about it." The wallet remains snug within his pocket. "Looks like we're eating elsewhere today." Before he notices Julia looming nearby and he flashes her a bright smile, "Right, The BEST fish shack in town. And probably in the reg--" With Lilith trying to catch his attention, he's cuts whatever he's about to say off.

Byron's gaze is directed out into the water, but he doesn't quite see... When that flagpole begins to emerge from the dark depths, a hand instinctively reaches for Lilith and Lyric's arm, as they are both nearby, No, that's not a pleased expression on his face, "Let's all just get the hell out of here." Sounds like sage advice, especially when he realizes the sea creature sailors on deck. "Yeah. Let's."

Lilith spins around like she's been caught cheating when Julia speaks up and breathes out a sudden half-laugh, the dark patch in the sea waters momentarily forgotten as natural ocean phenomenon, not anything strange, "Juuuuuulia, okay, okay, I'll do the ceviche taste-bud adventure at your place, I promise. I lived in Miami for ages and somehow never tried--" Her conversational greeting and somewhat humored placating and claims of seafood loyalty to the other woman nearby stop, though, when the window slams and she looks at the truck, then Byron with confusion. Then she looks at the water and what very much isn't seaweed with her eyes widening and her arm unlaces from around his back when she realizes the extent of NOT SEAWEED. Crabs pinch! And there's a lot of them! And what the hell is that-- are those shrimps and lobsters and... Byron's taking hold of her arm and she looks more than ready to comply with wherever he yanks her.

"Shit. Today is not okay. Please hit me next time I say that. Do shrimp bite when they're alive?" It's a morbid, helpless curiosity right now, breathed out.

Because a baseball bat is ridiculous, and honestly people were starting to look at her oddly, Sutton pulls a metal rod from her fanny pack. She gives her wrist a snap and the sharp SHUNK of a metal baton telescoping is both unmistakable and loud. Looks like the blonde's going in. Crustacean invasions will not stand. "I've had just about enough of this shit this week." It could be that goblins in her apartment building have put her on a ledge.

"I swear to god if I get bombarded by Magickarp..." Yes, Sutton is saying these things out loud. Yes, she hears Dylan's sacre bleu and her rage meter dips with a snort. "It's gonna be hot in that big silver pot, bitches." She asides to Haven, "I hope you're armed." And then she's hopping down to the sand. Oh, yes, yes, she is. Mark did not knock enough sense into her the other day.

Haven considers the marching sea life for a long moment, still blowing on her gumbo through pursed lips. When the crab starts spouting French, she turns to set her food down on the table before turning back towards the army of crustaceans. With no further hesitation, she starts off through the sand towards the seal-mounted Head Crab. Stopping at minimal safe distance (reactionary gap FTW), she crosses her arms over her chest, then asks: "Excusez moi, do you have a permit for this demonstration?"

"As a duly sworn member of the local constabulary, I recommend that you and your companions remove yourself from premises before I arrest you all for criminal trespass and unlawful assembly," as the words leave her lips, Haven pulls a handgun from her person. In a textbook isosceles stance, she points the weapon at the Head Crab and says, "Welcome to 'merica, Jean Lafitte. Land of the free and home of the all you can eat crab leg buffet."

Before he knows it, the beaches are swarmed with an army of seafood. Dylan just stares before he tosses down his sketchpad, but that pencil is kept in hand, squaring off with more than a touch of uncertainty. It's to Nicole he casts a glance to see how she's taking it all, before he dryly deadpans to the hairstylist, "Critics everywhere."

Lyric doesn't mind at all that Byron had taken her arm with Lilith's, it saved her from being ran over by the food truck. There's been only a little combat in her life before. At least on this side of the veil. When she sees them approaching still, she prepares herself, having no intention of running away and leaving them to attack others at the beach. Or the town.

The sheer quantity of crabs moving toward Julia are like something out of a horror movie. She can't help but slowly retreat as they surge forward, but what is less apparent is her effort to reach out with her power. Not to the crabs themselves - they're alive, after all. But the sand beneath their feet is only so many tiny tiny particles of rock, ground fine. A teeny tiny earthquake, resulting in them being swallowed in just over 200 pounds of sand might do a good bit to cease their forward march and smother them. Hopefully.

Sutton shoots a brief glance to Haven, who now has a gun. "The shit were you hiding that —" Focus, Sutton. "Forget I asked." She has eyes for the seal shortly after.

The blonde thumps across the sand in her running shoes, baton at the ready. If watching Game of Thrones has taught her anything, it's always cut down the noble steed of the idiot leading the charge, then beat the crap out of him any way you can, even if the steed is a fat seal. Even if the leader of the charge is a knife wielding piratical crab called Charlotte.

Yes, her noble goal for the start of this buffet is simple: club Lucille.

The bench simply will not do. Nicole jumps to the top of the table now, food be damned. She holds her arms out like a basketball player guarding the dude with the ball. Yeah, she doesn't know basketball either, but, she looks ready to run if she has to. At Dylan's comment, she looks at him wide-eyed, half surprised people are all taking this so lightly. "Has the town changed that much since then?" she wonders in a murmur. "Too bad I do not carry my scissors with me, Rink. Perhaps I should start, in case I see the 'Style' signal!"

There's a navy of sea creatures out in the water and Byron is ready to nope out of that. He's not afraid of sea creatures per se, not normally; but he's had enough of these dreams, if that's what this is. He'll keep ushering those around him to step back, all the while surveying this crazy scenario with both sight and mind. "The only way to get out of this is to go through it." He'll repeat something a few people have told in recent weeks. Factoring in all of the players that he can see, he finally turns to Lilith and Lyric looking terribly dissatisfied that they are probably going to have to stay and fight-- though it seems that Lyric plans on staying, he just has to shake his head, "God damnit it."

Loosening out his limbs, he's glad that he's not wearing a suit today. "Stick with me." He's probably telling Lilith, but he could be talking to anyone else around him. That's when his eyes narrow, sensing something else in the water. "Interesting."

Lilith has eaten a whole lot of shrimp in her life, it's her favorite thing, she doesn't want to be attacked by them and have the trauma of not being able to eat them in the future because of some epic shrimp revenge. Supposedly, she could stay on Byron's hand and arm and run, but... Julia is being targetted. And running away seems not quite in her bones when it comes to these things. Automatically after pause, she starts to take aim and quickshot the crabs coming toward Julia with heat bidding up around her, reflexively, but after a glance aside at Byron... she steps back and takes a moment when she sees Julia disturbing the sand to hurt and sandblast the egress on her.

And as she stands there, there's more chill in the air around her as she sucks the heat straight from it to bid up to shimmering intensity around her immediate person, harnessing and building it and focusing. It's terribly powerful, igniting the air like that without an actual flammable substance and she's sure to stay close to Byron, but still keep cautionary space.

"Well that wasn't nice!" Lyric tells the crabs. "I wasn't even going to eat you. I was going to have the lobster!" But now she's bleeding a little bit on her chest. Her shirt was broken now, a little rip in it. Rude! But she's not finished yet and it seems neither is her small group of crabs.

Seal 1, pencil 0. It's more like Dylan's fist as he finds himself along with Sutton tackling the crab mount, casting a square look at the blonde who seems to have a better handle on all this than he does. It's only when the big seal engulfs Haven that those blue eyes go wide as saucers, a long, hard gulp given down, only puctuated with a yelp of utter surprise and pain when prawns start to nip and bite into his left arm with as that damndable shrimpapult strikes home. It's a nod towards the baton wielding woman, before his focus changes to trying to distract that food truck sized monster. He puts his high school french to its best use with a couple of insults to try and get the attention of rider to give Sutton a better opening. "Casse-toi! Blaireau!"

"You are very large," Haven states matter-of-factly and without fear as the Elephant Seal comes lunging at her, knocking her to the ground, but not quickly enough to avoid getting struck in the arm by a piece of sharp shell thrown by one of those Special Forces Groupers. She shifts from trying to make a shot to trying not to get trampled a la rolling away in the sand and hopefully getting clear. "Ha ha," she laughs, yes, laughs as looks Sutton's way, a happy smile on her face. "This is exciting!"

Julia lets out a shriek as one of the crabs makes a leap and manages to give her a really sharp pinch on the nose. She's bleeding a bit from it and it's making her eyes water, and snot is involved and she is really unhappy. This unhappiness equates to loud cursing in Spanish, as driftwood flotsam begins to quiver, probably in the expectation of being used to pancake the little buggers. Are these blue crabs? Blue crabs are notoriously nasty - but so, so delicious.

For a blubbery mass, Lucille is surprisingly agile. Sutton's baton whiffs just past those glittery black eyes when the seal lunges for her fellow donut enthusiast. The blonde grunts and stumbles two steps, kick-tripping over a couple of small crabs. She turns, foot likely crunching one into the sand.

Sutton used to play high school softball, and her dad, the marine, is a golf enthusiast who often took her to the driving range. Charlotte's free of her perch now, presenting a tempting target for an underhanded swing, nestled into the sand as she is. The paramedic comes to the defense of Haven, naturally! "Keep smiling, rook."

Nicole's just trying to stay clear of french speaking sea life (like, what? She's going to have some thoughts about this later), especially a few Rock Lobsters that seem keen on her. She blinks as prawns fly through the air at Dylan, latching onto his chest and him. She can't keep her eyes on him long though if she is to keep clear of all the things, so turns to look at the rock lobsters angrily, her heart racing so hard she can feel it in her temples. not quite sure if she is stuck in a nightmare or what, she seems surprised when her foe seems to take an injury, looking around to see who might be helping her, and seeing no one looking her way.

Quaking earth? No problem.. Though Byron's doing his best to connect to these other aquatic creatures, seeking out the best allies to use against their quirky foes. Reaching out into the minds of a group of lion seals, his lips tighten, calling upon on their hunger for fish. Once he's focused in on them, his gaze roams the sand and the shallows to settle in on the army of Groupers found there. "Let's just call this an early dinner, guys." He's focused, though tosses a glance here and there to survey the area.

Casualties were taken on both sides of this beach front warzone and he witnesses several of their own soldiers being struck down hard. Julia being one of those! "Fuck." A quick look is given to Lilith, she knows that look, before he moves ahead to act as a buffer between his childhood friend and this group of crabs that seem to want her hide, for probably good reasons, but he won't say that aloud. "You alright?" He calls out to Julia now.

Lilith winces as Julia is washed over by pinchy crabs and maybe she should have taken the time to flambe them on the other woman's behalf, but with all that heat shimmering around her, growing and growing with white hot intensity, she keeps focus out on the shrimp grouping and notes everything around them at a distance. Then she grits her teeth and lashes an arm up to swirl through the heat bidden as it starts to turn bluish and orange in flickering turns, pure flame pulled from manipulating the heat of the air.

She's nice enough to at least yell warning, "Fire!" Then all that harnessing of terrible power and fire she's bidden up is slammed out of her and at the distant grouping of rock throwing creatures. She has to hiss and step back to avoid being knocked on her ass with the force of it to keep it on target and prevent rogue fire, but she manages.

A muted scream comes from Dylan when the shellfish pummel his face, not willing to risk opening his mouth to let the suckers inside. He woobbes like a top, knees nearly ready to topple him right on over, but somehow, he manages to stand up. Not that he seems all that /aware/ of what he's doing as instinct kicks in, that primal fight or flight, and fight it is as a spark of static electricity comes from his balled up fist as he lashes out at the nearest thing he can find, which just so happens to be that truck sized seal that is impossible to miss.

Julia's eyes are still streaming with pain tears and her nose is snotty and bleeding and it's not a good look for her AT ALL. She flails at the crabs trying to leap onto her, batting at them and twisting this way and that. "GetoffmegetoffmegetoffmeGETOFFME!" she shrieks, as the bit of driftwood swings wildly, attempting again to make crabcakes.

Mid-roll, Haven let's off a roughly aimed shot that knicks and no doubt makes Lucille love her even more. Unfortunately, that slight slowdown is exactly when Charlotte Crabay lashes out with her rusty knife and gets the copper in the chest. That? Is less fun. And it takes the smile right off the rook's face. Undoubtedly it is painful. But her training kicks in and she keeps rolling, drawing a bead on that nasty little crustacean what shanked her and leaving behind a trail of her own blood.

Lyric's group kinda gets 'sploded. Or taken care of in some way or another. She looks surprised at what she was able to do herself! So, naturally, she helps others when it comes to it.

"Stop stabbing the rookies!" This is the worst game of whack-a-mole that Sutton has ever played. That little fucker keeps zipping around the sand like some kind of oil-slicked dervish whirly, twirly of tetanus. "God damn it. Hold still, you little fucker." Whack, whack, whack!

Lilith seems a little stunned at the violent explosion of fire across attacking sealife after she slings the bidden and aimed fire gout into a rushing assault of heat and fury that way. In fact, she takes a moment to stare before checking where Byron is with Julia and seeing that he's got things managed over that way, she winds up and back with an arm to quicklash up some heat for a more singular spot-- those goddamn shrimps. She is not getting eaten by shrimp. She eats shrimp.

It's funny how you rationalize these things, really, when they happen. Is it really about not ruining future dinner? No. But it sure orders it somewhere up top when everything is real screwy.

The RockLobstahs seem to fall, no longer trying to get at the evasive Nicole. She stills tands atop that picnic table, looking ready to bolt, when she sees her friend get hit by screaming shellfish. Nevermind that her brain can't see this as real, she gasps and turns towards the direction the shellfish came flying from; Theshrimpapault! "You bastard!" Screaming in anger, her cheeks flush and her fists clench tightly.

Byron feels like some wartime General right about now, watching from what should have been a safe distance as his seal troops devour the line of Groupers, ripping them to shreds. But with Julia being the target of some resentful crabs, he tries to keep them at bay. And then a bright light flashes across the sky, filling the air with so much heat that it should be incredibly uncomfortable. This makes his squint, turning his face to the side, his eyes only adjusting once everything clears.

"What the hell was that?" He calls out, head turned to look at Lilith again to check in-- or see if that was any of her doing. He knows she can set things on fire.

The seals gets spooked by the heat and start to dive back into the water. They aren't useless by no means, it's just that their sights are now set on the retreating crustaceans which also make a fine meal. No matter, it looks like he'll have to try and take matters into his own hands as the fist clenched at his side begins to spark and crackle.

"Um. A fireball. Hadoken?" Lilith calls over at Byron confirming 'that was me' quite nerdily from their Street Fighter days at Kevin's, sounding... hell, a little sheepish about causing a whole damn explosion because that's kind of new for her. You know, mania in her eyes and flush of adrenaline aside. She generally just immolates things that are already flammable, and while she might have noticed that the air itself is easily heat manipulated by her now, she had... no clue what that could do until she saw the carnage after harnessing it. Which she's done again, body reeling and catching itself with balance check after it's slung.

It's with a crackle of static charge that Dylan's fist connect's with the seal's head, and while it isn't a horribly damaging smack against Lucille, it does at least make the artist feel better about the fact that there is now an H6 pencil stuck out of her forehead, buried perhaps half an inch deep. He's still swaying a touch, pausing for just a couple of seconds to fling a few prawns off of his face and chest that still cling to him before winding up for another punch.

Finally, all the fucking crabs are off her, and her eyes are starting to clear. "Thanks," Julia sniffs, wiping her nose and nodding at Byron and Lilith. "Turnabout is fair play, huh?" And then there's Lucille. Julia blinks blearily at her. "Oh, fuck this." she says, gaze narrowing. Coincidentally, the heavy driftwood starts to missile its way toward the large piniped.

Electrocuting a small army of crabs is something that Byron never expected to ever do in his life. But they wanted a piece of Julia and he was standing right there in front of her. The pair of them make short work against those snappers, sending claws and shells parts all over the beach-- not due to the electrocution, but whatever Julia has in store for them.

When it's confirmed that Lilith was the cause of the fireball in the sky, she'll get a single nod from Thorne, his brows lifted in a way that may hint at some amusement, but more so a look of surprise. "That's... that's pretty impressive, Lily." He downplays things. Maybe this Seal thing, not one of his, took notices of their mage type person, but Byron sees that Lucille is going after Lilith and his hands light up yet again, "Lily, watch out!"

Finally jumping down to check on Dylan. While he is busy flinging prawns left and right, Nicole settles a steadying hand on his shoulder, looking at him. She knows better than to ask how he is right now, seeing arcs of static on his hands. Glancing at the beach to inspect the all-you-can-eat seafood fest laid out, she notices only Lucille, complete with pencil in her head. "That thing's a beast... someone needs to take the fucker out..." Her eyes narrow as her hands then pluck a couple more prawns off Dylan before she steps back.

Sutton whack, whack, whacks! Charlotte the stabby crab into a bunch of tiny, tiny pieces, smashing her crunchy little shell far past the point of necessity or socially acceptable rules of killing the shit out of your enemy. Bits of raw crab meat fly. It's pretty gross, the little beastie viciously pounded into the sand. Sutton picks up the rusty ass knife from where it lays in a gobbet of meat, fingers along the blade, safe from the sharp edge. "Well." She blows a strand of loose hair out of her eyes.

Sutton looks briefly to Haven, and says, after a pause. "Crab cakes."

The paramedic turns, adjusts her grip on the rusty knife once wielded by la révolution's fallen crabby leader, and hurls it hard at one mightily cantankerous seal.

You would think that Lilith would back up or, you know, run with a raging Lucille the seal coming at her in a rage, but no. She stands her goddamn ground and tries to go for the dome with precision this time instead of lashing out with fire. Because face it, no one wants a seal running around ON FIRE attacking people and it's too close to everyone else with come in to really try and explode with another fireball. While not as outwardly impressive as whole gouts of fire, there's a thrum of destructively violent power in the air around her she tries to direct right with crush of the seal's approaching skull, fingers curling and twisting as a personal focus aim.

"I just need... a second!" When Byron calls out, she's battle lusted and stubbornly insists on getting off this attempt at headshot to possibly bring it down before it can fully rampage on others. She darts kind of to the side of him for the sake of staying together, probably in grab range to wrangle her in for the next bout, but... also in seal rage range too. Little wily shit is probably about to be in some pain.

Lyric stays around to help the others that are still fighting. They were little crabs and shrimp for goodness sake. The seal is a little bigger but not so much. It doesn't mean she's not going to do her best against it though.

Haven lowers her firearm after helping obliterate Charlotte and uses her right hand to start to push herself up to her feet. With the blood loss, it is certainly debatable whether it's a good idea. But getting crushed underneath a raging elephant seal seems like it would be a much worse life choice at the moment.

Backing away to give herself some distance from the beast, she takes up the cry: "Crab cakes! How's that Revolution working out for you now? Huh!?"

Lilith can dole out a whole mess of pain. She's dangerous and deadly and flings fire and crushes bones and splatters blood. She's also kind of built like a Barbie doll and a glass cannon, as tough as she pretends she wants to be. When she lashes out to try and crush the encroaching and raging seal's head with Sutton's knife flinging at it on the way... it's too close and her aim changes to split the waterproofed chest with seal blood that splashes down onto her as she's crushed underneath and wrecked by the pressure of the rampaging body.

With blood leaking from her own mouth that's very much hers, the thing rips away with gash of claws on top of the crushing pressure when it turns to focus on Haven . Lilith is torn into at the chest while trampled on like beach trash and sand before it's off and away. Stubborn as hell, she stays conscious just long enough to try and pull with one arm behind Byron or a rock or something, but she can't get wind in her lungs and she hurts. Succinctly, she passes out.

It's a staggering step back Dylan takes when Nicole grips his shoulder, that falling short of that punch as Lucille just dashes forward. He blinks a few times, not quite putting together two and two on why she is suddenly there, trickles of blood coming down in little rivulets from where those prawns had taken bites out of his face and chest. He doesn't bother trying to keep up with the seal, isntead turning his full focus upon the great beast in what just seems to be watching her as he concentrates.

You'd think an elephant seal like Lucille were an easy target to hit, especially when you're not the one its after. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, when Byron takes a few swipes at the creature, his hands crackling with electricity, Lucile moves just out of his grasp... to steamroll in Lilith out of everyone on the beach. Sure, he noticed that it was heading her way, he even called out to her to warn! But did Lilith Winslow listen? Nope! All that Byron can do now is try to dogpile on the medium sized gray thing, hoping to help pull it off of their fireball wielding spiritualist.

There's this wild desperation in his eyes, his mind filled with angry thoughts. If he could, he'd plow his fist into this final boss, but seeing just how maddened and wild Lucille is, he'll try another route. He was able to get a group of Lion Seals to their side, why not do something similar again. Something soothing or calming. Then maybe some of the others can butcher that it. He's forced to keep his distance, staying close to where Lilith is fallen, but putting all of his focus on that damn seal.

Julia is still pissed, still blurry-eyed, and still trying to club the seal.

Sutton has given up on screwing around with the enormous seal, and turns her attention instead to putting her medical abilities to good use. Sure, one of the party's healers just went house on a crab. It's fine; everything's fine. Sutton flicks a little crab goo off her baton and slinks across the sand to drop down beside Lilith, assessing the woman's injuries, skirting around Byron who looks like he's taken issue with Lu's performance.

All she can do is look towards Lucille, fists clenched tight still. She is no match, she knows, and can't run towards the thing. Nicole wants to just get everyone out of there, call 911... prepare for the loony bin when she tells them they were attached by french speaking sea creatures.... She is breathing fast from the adrenaline, the blood still pounding in her head as she stares at the frightening seal. Anger fills her, fear, confusion... all of the above.

Shots missing, Haven can only watch as the Angry Seal bum-rushes Lilith and makes with the Slamming. While the trauma of witnessing that and being helpless to stop it is pretty awful, it has one side benefit: she does not miss when Lucille whips around and looks her direction. Pistol disappearing from whence she had it hidden on her person, she lowers herself into a defensive crouch. "It's time to protect and swerve," she states, mostly to herself.

"Oh no! Lyric misses. Not so much misses, but it's not a dead on shot so she tries to get a better aim on the seal. Worried for Lilith though she's a little distracted. The seal looks as if it's headed for someone else now, someone she doesn't know, but she'll try and help!

Lyric manages to hurt it a little again but she steps back when it seems to be too closer to her. Magic was crazy but she was suddenly glad she had it. Until it does that sad little thing. Awwww! She suddenly felt so not cool. "I'n not gonna hurt her again." Sadface.

"Byron... kill it." Lilith's merciless, revenge bent little crushed ass awakens with a gasp for much needed breath as Sutton takes the time to put some rousing wind back into her lungs after the crush. She doesn't move at all, but there's power in the air with flash around her, apparently set on vengeance or ensuring Byron or someone else doesn't meet the same fate as her crushed there on the sand, lips and torso bloodied and trampled. She reaches a hand for Sutton's forearm with eyes blearily blinking, murmuring once she recognizes who it is, the woman that's hovered over her before while her body was broken from car crash, once upon a time, "Ten peanut butter cups."

The air around Byron is suffused with sheer will and maybe a little inexplicable confidence in the moment that may well passively seep into whatever he decides to do next. She doesn't really realize the seal is leaving or... talking. Maybe he shouldn't try to kill it. But she's immune to the d'aws at the apology like the others being crushed and unaware like she is.

Dylan just blinks a few times as the seal suddenly changes course, and a small frown curls into his mouth as the thing begins to shuffle back off, especially when it picks up what is left of it's rather crushed, beaten, in so many pieces and dead crabby friend. So instead, he just starts to shuffle off until he finds one of those picnic benches to sit down on, slumping against the table.

"Let her go." Julia calls out, wiping at her nose. Her vision is starting to clear, and the blood staunching. "But make sure she knows what's waiting for her if she comes back." This is not the most surreal experience Julia has ever had, but it's up there.

Sutton takes Lil's arm. "Lily, we have to stop meeting like this." She smiles at the mention of peanut butter cups. "You're gonna need a little trip to the hospital to be sure nothing important was injured, love." She's so calm about this, so sure of that assessment. "More peanut butter cups for us, right? I know a guy. Try not to move too much." With her other hand, she slips out her phone, probably to call for EMS response.

The sudden dump of adrenaline Haven didn't realize she had been holding onto makes her knees shake unexpectedly as Lucille suddenly decides to Not Turn Her To HavenJelly. She straightens back up out of her defensive crouch and awkwardly (think Tinman from the Wizard of Oz) walks over towards where she left her gumbo. Sitting on the top of the table like Sutton was before the Revolution, she blows on it one more time, then picks up her spoon and starts to eat.

One thing after another has caught Nicole off guard, left her feeling confused about what the heck is actually going on. Seeing Lucille get bonked a couple times then turn around to pick up her friend... by eating her... to return to the sea is just another. Her lips pout, but her brow remains furrowed in fear and anger of the uncertain, and her body still poised to run away if she needs to. Her muscles are taught like a wound up spring about to go off. Dylan walks back to a picnic table and Nicole does a double take when she realizes he isn't beside her. She takes a few steps in that direction and just quietly sits next to him.

Sutton chucks a sterile bandage pack at Haven. "Treat yourself."

Lucille is calmed and, while not regretful over what she's done, Byron can sense that tinge of sadness within her after her fallen crab friend, watching her chew and swallow the dead crustacean. But that thing hurt Lilith. Badly. His mind is racing at the moment, emotions fueled by his own rage over what that thing dared do. If it left them alone before, that was one thing. But it crossed a line with him.

He makes no move, though his fist clenches tightly at his side, signs of electricity coursing through them can be speak in the sparks and crackle. Then he hears it. Lilith giving him this... consent to avenge her. She sounded pained, her voice weak despite it all and that's enough for him. She wants that thing dead as much as he did. While others might tell him to let it go, there's no turning back now. Launching himself forward to catch up with the retreating creature, he seethes out between clenched teeth, "You can see your friends in Hell."

Lyric glares at Byron, nevermind she did more damage to the seal and crabs, but she still glares at him. "Bully. She wasn't even fighting back." So rude!

"Byron, no - " But it's too late, and the seal's gotten away. Julia looks around at the others. "Okay. So. Buy one get one free crab cakes at Fried Fish for the next week. Any takers?"

His left arm and poor face smacked around from prawns, Dylan has clearly seen better days, and probably got a concussion from the whole damn thing. It's a blurry eyed look he casts to Nicole, before he concludes, "No desert." FOr this particular choice of meal. A bit of laughter comes from him at Julia's words, something he instantly regrets, features scrunching up before he drags himself up from that picnic table all to let his wounds get seen to and make certain there isn't any prawns where there shouldn't be.

Nicole is kind of staring at her shoes, slightly moving to lean a shoulder against Dylan's. "I may never eat seafood again... " She didn't even notice that Byron tried for a last shot, she herself is in a bit of shock. Looking up to meet Dylan's blue eyed gaze, her hand lifts, a couple fingers brushing aside a small sweep of his hair. "You need some stitches maybe?" As he rises up to get seen to, she looks towards Julia and just shakes her head. "No.... I might just go vegan after this."

Lilith makes a downright whine of noise when Sutton says 'hospital' and starts to radio in, but she's so bloodied and crushed and broken laying there, she doesn't have the heart to really put up a fight over it beyond that. Then she notices Byron is... away because... oh right, she told him to kill it, is it dead? She hopes it's dead, she feels pretty close to dead, but horribly still alive in all the ways pain says she's alive. And it's awful, every breath hurts. Maybe next time she'll listen and hop to running next time Byron says heads up. Maybe. Right now, at least, she's hating herself for not listening.

She tries to turn her head to look at the others and find Byron visually, making sure the now-departed seal hasn't killed everyone else, but... they're all on their own mend and lining up for likely Sutton attention or the approaching EMTs. But she finds Julia instead with her eyes and says, "... this... is what I get.. for cheating on you, huh."

It's hard to say what happened, whether the dream was fading or if that thing really was just a seal. When Byron makes a grab for it, his palm open, fingers outstretched to fry Lucille's mind, while contact is made, it's too little, too late. The shock administered from the bare touch of his palm, sending a minute jolt against the seal's tough skin. Then it's gone, leaving him standing on the sand, murderous eyes staring out into the depths of the ocean. He'll find her again. He was inside of her mind.

It's takes a moment to break away from his trance. While he pays Lyric no mind when she calls out to him, now his priorities is Lilith as he hurries his way along the sand to drop down to his knee beside her. While he doesn't look calm, the darkness from his eyes are gone. He looks like someone terribly worried, wildly so. Eyes lifting to look up at Julia and Sutton, he asks as he tries to cradle Winslow in his arms and help keep her propped up, "Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?"

"I love crab cakes, I'm in," Sutton says. "Yes, love," is her reply to Byron's inquiry regarding Lil. "She'll be fine." Eventually. Probably.

After the carnage is spent, and all players have played their last, Sutton pauses beside the surf, turning into a slight ocean breeze, and lifts her phone with the front camera on. Click, click, click: three selfies in a row. She lowers her phone without so much as a glance up, types in a caption: Beach run & seafood. Yum. #Crabtivating #NaturalSealection