2019-10-13 - Under the Sea

The night of October the 13th, a Sunday night, is one filled with the slight nip of the fall air, a stiff breeze that rustles through the trees, and the promise of rainfall overnight. Greg, Frankie, and Grant are all hanging out in the trailer at Huckleberry when they begin to nod off to sleep while watching a movie. Poor Kailey has been chugging the nighttime sneezing coughing sore-throat how-the-hell-did-I-end-up-on-my-kitchen-floor medicine and does, in fact, pass out on her kitchen floor. Kass had just stepped outside the Platinum cabaret to take a breath of fresh air on her break. And Justin was crashed out on his couch with Caleb, the puppy, asleep on his legs.

When suddenly, they all find themselves underwater, which would be particularly disconcerting if they didn't also figure out after the initial startlement of finding themselves beneath the waves, that they could breathe underwater. This was fortunate. All around them, a thick kelp forest reached from the sea floor up toward the surface far, far above them, just a sparkling light from where they stand on the bottom, littered with sand, rocks, and shells. At the moment, it's difficult to see anything other than the waving fronds of sea growth, and the brilliant colors of the coral, but each has a sense that there are others there, and can catch glimpses between the leaves. An attempt to call out, or to speak, would also reveal that they could speak as normal in this surreal landscape.

"What the fuck!" Greg exclaims as he's jolted awake, suddenly underwater. In a sudden panic he claws upwards, straining for air, while his brain works on catching up to the fact that he's already both spoken and breathed. After a quick dash, he regains his calm. He realizes he is, in fact, breathing, and looks around to take in his surroundings. Seizing on to the memory of where he was, he yells harshly, "Frankie! Are you here?" His voice is tinged with anxiety. "Grant! What the fuck is this?"

Kailey has a very small kitchen in her camper van. Good thing she wasn't cooking anything. Waking to sudden immersion is a shock. And she gives a little shriek as she flails, trying to orient. Where is up? Where is down? Wait I can breathe? As her startlement also reveals an inhalation of water. "Oh...oh. Ummm..." She checks her legs and arms for fins as she treads water. "This is different..." As she hears Greg shout out she turns in that direction with a frown. Then slowly begins to swim that way, using the kelp to hide.

Maybe it's just having grown up in town, or maybe Frankie just assumes this is a very normal, not at all scary dream. Instead of a Dream. The initial wake up is simply assumed as a transition from one dream to another and she seems to be willing to go with it. Until she hears Greg, and it hits her that this isn't a dream, not normal. And that is when she has the moment of panic, and she tries to flail through the water. But breathing, she was already doing that, and it is a momentary panic before she's trying to head in the direction of the sound, "Greg!"

Grant is already looking around. His pick, spiked hair waves atop his head like he's part anemone. His eyes are huge. There's a smile and a sloooooow grin forms. When his Chronic-in-Chief asks him where they are he proudly tells the Fred to their Doobie Gang, "We are underwater, Greggo." WOw he is... amazingly helpful. HE is, weirdly, also the most alert person they have, but not always to the important details. "She's right there and... Suuuup." He sees a couple others lifting a hand in wave. "Something's moving out there. You think it's Snorks?" Turning to Frankie he asks, "Hey you remember them? Smurfs with the tubes on their head. Aquatic?"

Justin suddenly finds himself underwater, and that initial panic that seems to grip most people overcomes him as well. He startles and tries to head up toward the surface for a moment before he realizes that he is breathing, and that he can hear voices. Turning in the water, he begins to make his way toward those voices. "Hello?" he calls out. That's when he spots Grant and the others and makes his way toward them. "Maybe the snorks know how to get out of here," he suggests when Grant mentions them, though he looks a little skeptical.

She'd been told they had to wear an oufit. A skimpy one. So Kass took creative license.. and went to Grant for help. Instead of a tube top and booty shorts, she wears pasties and a fleshtone bikini style panty to allow for the 3D paintjob he's sprayed across her body. Ursula has arrived! Or, well, Kass cosplaying as Ursula. Her entire body is covered in purple body paint, suckers painted along the backs of her legs and arms, even the palms of her hands, reminiscent of all those stocking tattoos that were popular for awhile, albeit with paint. And looking like suction cups. The purple fades to a deep violet-black at the tops of her arms and shins, countouring airbrushed in with blacks, whites, and greys to really complete the look. And to top it all off, she's used a temporary silvery white dye in her hair. It was an excellent effect, gained her lots of attention at the club... perhaps less so in the water where the poor visibility might make her seem a monster. "AHHhhhhhshit! Cold, cold cold! I.. wait.. what? Did I.. is this... oh no.. nononononono... not now. Not when things were going good!!!" Her voice comes across in increasing levels of panic and fear, thrashing about in the water and kelp, likely starking to get herself tangled in it.

From somewhere not too far off, there is the quiet sound of weeping coming off beyond a clump of coral that rises up into a sort of series of spires, and beyond it, what appears to be some sort of cavernous entrance, the area within deep and dark. In the opposite direction, should they take stock of their surroundings, there appears to be the wreck of a large ship, it's bow sticking straight up out of the water, the wooden vessel fairly well preserved beneath the water. From that direction, one can hear the sound of metal against metal, like clanging and clinking of things colliding together.

Kailey swims a little closer to the group forming. The group that seems to know itself. For the moment she is uncertain and confused. As the reality of this not being just any dream hits her. Reaching out she does, in fact, pinch herself. Then scowls. Are these people friend or foe? The panic begins to rise and she clings to a kelp frond and breathing water slowly. Trying to keep calm. The water actually helps. Mermaid? She totally loves being a mermaid in her normal dreams, so...

"Water smurfs," Greg tells Grant with a grin, calming now. After all, his favorite people are here. He looks down toward Frankie and starts swimming towards her, looking to meet her in the middle. He looks around, taking stock as he notices others from outside the friend group, who weren't at trailer. He treads water, waving to Justin, and then to Kass. "What the shit is going on here?" He directs his question to Frankie. She's the smart one. He points towards a distant shipwreck. "And what's that boat doing?" He twists around towards the crying when he notices it though, his brows drawing. "It sounds like somebody's having a problem over there, yo." He spots something else, glittering and shiny on the ocean floor below, but he keeps that knowledge to himself for now, reaching for Frankie's hand. "What do you think we should do, baby?"

Snorks? Frankie has no idea, so there is a shrug for Grant at his question, "Sure." She'll totally by into this, and believe that. "Water smurfs wear white shoes." Which should be comforting, or rather, smurfs wore white shoes and who knows if water smurfs do or don't. When Greg reaches her she lets her attention get redirected towards the shipwreck, and she shakes her head, "No clue...but I feel like when you're presented with the potential for pirate booty, you should probably ask yourself if you're ready for an adventure." Which all totally makes sense, doesn't it? Either way, she curls her hand around Greg's hand when he reaches for it. "Help them, right?"

Kass calms herself after a few moments, seeing flashes of familiar faces helps. She checks her surroundings, trying to get her bearings, trying to see what's being spoken of. Shrugging, the painted young woman looks to the others and shakes her head, "None of this makes any sense. I.. I know most of you, but why are we all here? And underwater? And breathing? And talking?? Shouldn't we be like.. drowning? Or something?" Glancing in the direction of the ship, she winces, "Are we supposed to go there? It doesn't look inviting... or.. safe. Or good. Don't sirens do this? Like.. pretend to be mournful, sad women and then kill the people that try to come help them?" Not that she won't follow along, of course. Who would want to be left alone in the middle of the ocean?!

"Well, we don't seem to be drowning, so that's a bonus," Justin says. He looks around toward the others and says, "I'm going to stick with you guys if you don't mind. This is.." He doesn't really have words for what this is, exactly. "Last time I was in a dream that felt like this, I found myself in the middle of the woods."

Kailey watches the others and bites her lips. Glancing towards the sorrowful sobbing and back to the sunken ship. Finally she swims forward to be purposefully seen by the rest. "I-I think Sirens actually only ever tempted men...women were immune...but I could be wrong."

Grant agrees with Greg proudly, "Yeah. Lil bong Smurfs." It's not like they're not. He looks up to the ship when Greg asks what it's doing. "not floating." Super accurate and not at all helpful. He shoud work for Microsoft, truly. He may be missing his calling. Waving to Justin, Kass, and Kailey with a relaxed grin. The only person possibly more easy going might be The Dude. Looking to Kass he shrugs reasoning, "Equal opportunity sirens. It's a very progressive day though my ex? Maaaaan I can totally see 'em drownin someone. Just like... don't breathe in and you can't drown." Sure he makes it sound easy. That said he pushes off the sand and stony water floor and up over towards the kelp and the sobbing.

"Somebody needs help," Greg says, his voice hardening, "And I mean to give it to them." He smiles towards Frankie, squeezing her hand before releasing it. With a glance towards the ocean floor, he holds out his hand, and an old cutlass from that shipwreck zips up from the ocean floor and into his grip. He tests his ability to swing it underwater, turning towards the crying. "Who's coming with me? We're safer if we stick together."

The mentioning of the crying gets a shrug from Frankie, "Maybe." She agrees, but doesn't seem to be opting out of what is going on. When Greg asks if they are going there is a nod, "Of course." Just in case women are actually immune, afterall.

Kailey's eyes go a little wide as she watches that weapon go from ship to Greg. There is fear on her face and she swims a little ways behind the others. Eyes wide and worried. "I...I gotta say...ummmm...I...never done this with other people before..." Her voice shakes as she talks.

Glancing towards the ship, she shudders, then hurries to keep up with the group. "I'm sure as Hell not staying here by myself! If we're gonna do this, lets do it." She flicks a glance to the others around them, then to Frankie again, then to Greg, then to Grant. She swims in a little closer and murmurs, "If.. if things happen. If I start... breaking.. things. Stop me, okay? However you gotta." Then she's hurrying along and trying to just keep up with the group.

Since no one seems to object to his presence, Justin moves along with the rest of the group, following along to see just how this is going to unfold. He watches as Greg snatches up a sword out of the pirate booty littering the sea floor and he brushes off the handle of a cutlass and pulls it up out of the sand, coming up with only the broken shaft of one, frowning a little bit. Well, it's more than he started out with, so he takes it with him.

As they begin to move toward that dark cave and the crying that seems to be coming from that direction, they pass the spires of coral to either side of them, and find themselves within a wide cavernous space. There, within, there seems to be a dim glow of several bioluminescent spheres that lead back toward what appears to be a mermaid. She is curled in on herself, long silvery hair floating all around her, obscuring much of her body, the shimmering scales of her green tail catching some of the light. She holds something in her arms as she weeps, something that appears to be a figurine of some kind, but it is broken in half, and half of it is missing.

"Breaking things?" Frankie glances over at Kass, a flicker of a smile passing across her lips before she shakes her head, "Depends on what you're breaking." She then turns her attention forward once more, to where they are heading. When they get within the wide, cavernous space, she pauses a moment, letting her eyes slide around, taking in the dim glowing spheres, and then the actual mermaid. Whatever danger there might be she seems to ignore when she spots that the mermaid is holding something and crying, and she moves forward with a pained look on her face.

Kailey curls in on herself for a few seconds. A soft whimper coming from her. She closes her eyes and then stops shaking. Blowing out a breath the scowl doesn't leave her, but she seems to have gotten over whatever. So she is the last to swim up on the mermaid in the cave. Hanging back and eyeballing her. "Bet she has a mouth like an angler-fish. Five bucks."

Greg lets Frankie guide the way for him, but hovers over her like an anxious guardian spirit, wielding that sword. When the group arrives at the cavern with the mermaid, he hastens to keep up with Frankie. "Yo!" he calls to the mermaid. "Something happen here?"

Grant calls back to Greg, "Already ahead of ya." He pauses and reaches up to his ear and... huh! there's a shell behind his ear on either side like a long, thin tubed snail shell. Well that explains that. Nice to know his gear metamorphed for the trip. Looking to Kailey and Justin he stops and turns around clearing his throat and like the ambassador to weird shit invites them, "Well, welcome to weird ass shit. I'll be your tour guide. Most just call me Bax. That's Greggo , she's Frankie and that's Kass." With some conspiracy to he he tells them, "Well now we're not strangers and that... that is not Syd. Sooooo...I think we're safe." Looking back to the Mermaid his face light up. Don't tell him she's got a face like an-too late, "Oh bad ass! Heeey there. We heard you. Yoooou sound upset and that's kinda a bummer so is there, like, something we can do to help ya?"

Hearing the voices approaching, the mermaid suddenly looks up, and her eyes, all silver like mercury grow wide, and she trembles a bit, hugging her broken figurine to her chest and seeming to retreat further back into the cave just a little. Though, when they don't seem to be attacking, she continues to stare at them, each in turn. Finally, she says, "The shark riders came, and they took the figures." She gestures to several small stands that seem to make up a shrine of some sort, all of which seem to be missing their figurines. "I could only save part of this one. Why would they take them? They mean nothing to the shark riders." She looks at the group as though they might know. Her voice is soft, and sounds like a song when it comes out, melodious and she does not, in fact, have a mouth like an anglerfish.

Kailey eyes the mermaid thoughtfully. She even seems to listen. "Huh...well glad no one took the bet," She mumbles to herself as she lets the water float her. "Shark riders?" Her eyes swivel to glance at all the others and then back. "Oi...what kind of sharks, dare I ask and be helpful?" Her voice is braced with sarcasm and a little smirk flirts across her lips.

"Anything... I.. can't always stop when I start." Kass responds to Frankie with a nervous little shrug and continues along. Through the spires with a cringe, and down into the ship itself. "Okay.. the spheres are pretty fucking cool... I wish I could get some for my place." Beat. "When I get one." She turns and offers a wave and a nercous smile towards Kailey and Justin, "Hi, I'm Kass. I don't normally look like this, I was at work." When they get in closer to the mermaid, she spots the broken figurine, her head canting. "Oh, that's.. huh..." She's no people person, so she leaves the handling of the mermaid to others more suited while she starts doing a dedicated search of the area.

"Hi Kass," Justin says to her. "Justin," he introduces himself then says to Grant, "Thanks for the introductions." He turns his attention to the mermaid, though, when she explains what had happened, and he glances to the others. "Maybe we could help figure out what happened to them? Where they went?" I mean, why not. They're down there, after all, and it's not like he has anything better to do at the bottom of the ocean.

"Shark riders?" Frankie glances towards the others, her brows lifting just a moment before she moves towards the mermaid, "What figures were taken?" She lowers her voice, speaking calmly in return, trying to ignore the voice and the spike of fear that maybe sirens are a real thing. More problematic then mermaids, somehow. She lets her eyes settle on Greg, then the others, "Sound we find the shark riders?"

"They took Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Haephestus," the mermaid says to Frankie, and then looks down to the figure in her arms. "And they broke Poseidon." This one, clearly, means the most to her, the one that she couldn't quite rescue, but tried. "If you could find them, I would be very grateful." And while her voice is beautiful, and musical, there is nothing compelling them in it. They all retain their free will to choose whether or not they wish to help.

Greg nods his head, hefting the sword. "It seems like the thing we need to do," he says lightly, looking around to the others for support. "The stupid, probably dangerous thing." 'Shark rider' conjures a broad range of imagery. Greg is really hoping for the small end of that scale.

"The shark riders. Are they.. men on sharks? Sharkmen?" Kass inquires of the mermaid before they strike out to find them. She glances to the others then back to the mermaid. "What are we going after if we go after them?" Not that they won't anyways, but its good to know.

Kailey glances at Justin and then Kass as if considering whether to share her own name. But she puts on a smile and says, "Fiona. I'm bad with names though so don't take it personal." Then her attention strays back to the mermaid. "And what kind of sharks. Cause if I gotta deal with Tigers or Great Whites I'm gonna need some of that diver armor shit..."

"It's a Dream." Frankie gives the mermaid one last look before she retreats to Greg's side, her arms crossing over her chest, "Diver armor shit won't help against this, maybe slow them down. A little. But if the Dream wants you to get eaten by the shark, you'll probably get eaten by the shark. Best to just outsmart them." She glances between them to see if anyone else agrees with her that direct confrontation is just a really bad thing.

Grant helps Kass out informing Frankie, "We made her Squiddy for the Octoberfest thing> With the costumes not the sausages." He pauses and confers with his House Homie-to-be, "Well not like that anyways." Looking back a glance confers with Greg arching an eyebrow. "Dude... we can ride sharks." He's totally forgetting that he's a food-group. But dude, it's awesome!" This dude is really just riding the tide on this one. "ALso which way did they go?" Oh sure, ruin your image with a perfectly sensible question, G-Bax.

Greg closes his eyes for a moment, shutting out the others while he concentrates. When he opens his eyes, he points his sword back in the direction that they came. "I think the other half of her statue is in that sunken ship we saw. The, uh... starboard? No, that ain't right. The fuckin'... front part." He holds out his hands to suggest a V. "Man, it sure would be nice to bring sharks to the shark fight, Bax. You got something for that?"

"Port is left, starboard is right. Fore is front, aft is back." Kass murmurs absently, already looking back the way they came with a pained expression. "I knew that ship was going to be trouble..." She flicks a glance towards Frnkie and alifts a brow, "I have absolutely no idea what you're saying. But.. uh.. sure? I mean, I prefer not fighting to fighting anyways..." Nodding to Grant, she looks down at herself, "They really liked it too. And I thought it was really cool.."

Kailey wrinkles her nose at Frankie. "Still would make me feel better. I have no intention going toe to toe with any fucking sharks..." She glances at the mermaid and back. "BuuUUuuuuut...looks like we gotta get her precious to get outta here? Am I grocking that right?"

"Prow? Prow of the ship?" Frankie doesn't know ships, but she's heard that word somewhere, but then Kass is offering up the other information, which she nods, "Fore of the ship, I guess, then." Directions established, she attempts to clarify what she means for Kass, "I mean that there's very little about these things we control, so it's just better to think around them then try and think through them."

Totally makes sense, right?

"I can call on some of my friends to help you," the mermaid says when they begin to ask about the sharks. She takes out three shells and lets out a shrill whistle through one, and then a deeper, more sonorous sound through the others. Then, into the cavern after a few moments come swimming a series of creatures. "They will carry you wherever you need to go, and they will fight for you if you need them to." For Greg, there is a hammerhead shark that lazily swims over in his direction and comes to a stop. For Frankie, there is a sleek looking skate, with a long whiplike tail. For Kailey, a sea turtle that doesn't seem to be moving quite as fast as the others, but that appears to be well armored. For Grant, its a seahorse, and it's all purple and green and iridescent and shiny as fuck. For Justin, a shiny silver fish that looks roughly the size of a small pony. But there is no creature for Kass. Instead, the mermaid takes out another shell and she blows bubbles in Kass' direction. They surround her, and when they dissipate, her body paint has become her form, indeed. And she possesses the lower half and tentacles of an octopus, allowing her to propel herself through the water.

Greg reaches out his empty hand to run it along the hammerhead's sleek bulk, then mounts the damned thing with a small shrug. "Well that worked out pretty okay," he muses aloud, watching as everyone gets matched up with an appropriate ride. One of them even becomes the ride! Meta. The implication of his hammerhead is not lost on him, and he shoots a wry grin at Frankie. She surely gets the joke, if anyone does. "So we're really gonna do this crazy shit, then," he says, looking around, and it's in no way a question. He pats the hammerhead on the, erm, hammer head. "Alright boy," he starts to tell the shark in an encouraging tone. "You see that skate? Anything happens to that skate and you're sushi, buddy." He pats the beast affectionately. "That's really my only rule. Otherwise just go nuts, I guess. Have fun with it, pal."

Grant murmurs to himself, "So that's how the three seashells work. Right on." He confers with Kass nad Frankie, "For one, you did look awesome, for two then twhat is a forcastle the- oooooh shit!" Was there conversation? He taps Justin on the shoulder and croacks, "Check this out man!" And he swims over to teh seahorse and holds out a hand and pets it murmuring, "I'm soooo getting a tattoo of you later. Who is a pretty pony?" he pauses and rolls that back, "Other than Greg's." This is not a time for a throwdown Rainbow Dash argument.

Kailey points at Kass and her mouth opens wide. "AAAAAaaaayyy! That's pretty epic there, Ursula!" She says with amusement ringing in her tone. As the turtle comes up to her she grins and strokes the head of the giant creature. "Whoa...you're probably, like, a hundred years old. Look at the size of you," She finds it easy to praise the amphibian. "All right...in terms of cool factor this is still pretty high up there." She moves to grip the edge of the turtles shell. Kicking her legs to give them an extra bit of thrust to follow the others.

"Amazing." Frankie looked mildly worried at the sight of the shark, but since it's not eating anyone and things, she looks mildly less concerned about it for a moment. Then she moves to climb onto the back of her new ride, "So, back to the ship, and we're going to find this figure, and be the hero."

When the bubbles first comes towards her, Kass is expecting maybe a flying cloud of bubbles... but this. This is just BITCHING. And WEIRD AF. She spends some time getting used to the tentacles, to twirling them, bunching them up and propelling herself through the water. "Oh now this is super cool. Can I stay like this? I like this. I could totally be the lady in the... ocean. No samite, no sword. Just a chill octopus woman, livin' large." She flashes a grin towards Kailey, "Sweet, right? This is super cool!" Because they totally aren't heading into horrifying danger! Nope, this is just an awesome undersea adventure now! She turns the grin towards Grant, "Check it out! Life imitating art! Also, the forecastle, or fo'c'sle, is in the upper deck, forward of the foremast.. just ahead of the sailors' living quarters. Usually a small space and generally used as storage for like.. extra rope and stuff."

Justin, too, climbs about his shiny silvery fish, and holds on, looking a little bit uncertain about all of this, but since the others are embracing it. He apparently decides to as well, and he has to admit that he's impressed by the selection of their little undersea cavalry, not to mention Kass' transformation.

And then they are off, following Greg's lead since he is the one who knows what direction the figurine lies. They make their way out of the cave, and are carried toward the jutting prow of the enormous shipwreck. As they begin to approach, they are able to see that there's quite a bit of activity going on below. Treasure from the wreck has spilled all over the ocean floor, and it seems that small green fish-like beings with webbed toes and hands are bagging up bits of treasure and hooking the bags up to hefty sea turtles to be slowly hauled away.

Meanwhile, more of the same green beings, the aforementioned shark riders, appear to be circling the area, keeping guard, on what appear to be blacktip reef sharks, roughly five feet in length with silvery grey bodies with a black tip to their dorsal fins and tails.

Greg turns to the others, hovering in the water on his shark, and looks each of them in the eyes in turn. "What do you think we should do?" He looks to Frankie last, with a smile. "I would charge in like a dipshit, but I think maybe that's the stupid play. Maybe we could make a distraction and sneak by them somehow." He shrugs. "I'm down with whatever the team decides."

Kailey taps her lips as she considers the sharks and then the fish-people. Peeking over the shell of her sea turtle friend to do so. "Huh...ummmm....if I could get close enough I could yoink a figurine maybe...not sure how heavy they are...But the best bet with sharks it turning them upside down." Trivia to the rescue! "That makes them go into a coma-like state.

"I can do it." Frankie replies with a quick smile, then she and her skate zoom off a bit away from the rest of the group. Once away she folds her legs, criss-cross applesauce style, hands settling on her knees.

It's just a moment, but then something seems to shimmer and swim into view on the other side of where the group is, sounding trumpets and being generally very distracting. It's more merpeople! And they seem dressed for battle.

Grant is having the time of his life. Are there sharks? Oh yeah that's right. "Mercowboy to teh rescue! I eamn.. wait, manatees are water cows right/" He pauses and reconsiles, "Yeah this chrcks out." Using the mover ability? That could work! If you can do that jedi force pull stuff we can cover you. OH shit idea!" ANd that said he pulls his hand up and makes like he's smudging the hypothetical glass between he and the group and... oh hey they all look like little green shark riders. "Just like ... don't speak. I ain't that good, merpeeps."

Kailey glances at Frankie and seems to wait. When the trumpets sound she blinks and then her lips pull back into a smile. "Oooooooh. Oh yeah. I can play that game!" She says and rubs her hands together. Then her eyes focus on the green-skinned fish things. Letting fear get the better of them as she lets her mind wander to theirs. Stoking their innate fear into raging infernos. One at a time making several of them scramble back and flee.

Granthaving done that charges in expecting the others to follow sending a few of the little green dudes fleeing! Yee haw!

As Frankie swims in, Kass offers a little aid, stretching her hands out towards the little green men, her fingers stretching then curling, wrists turning. Actually looking graceful for a short while! The strands of kelp near the green fish-men stir and start to stretch, extending up and out, spreading, curling around limbs, bodies, whatever they can reach. Subduing a small group of them, at least for a time. Her hands clench into tight fists, working to keep those in her seaweed grasp from wriggling free and interfering with the rest. "Don't worry about the other half of the Poseidon statue.. I can fix that... just grab the others..."

Poor little fish people. Here they were, raiding the mermaid shrine and looting the wreckage of the sunken ship like they do, everything peaceful and orderly. Then, chaos breaks out. Total chaos.

First, there are trumpets and a merpeople army appears on the edge of the area that they are patrolling, and the shark riders go into action, immediately swarming en masse to head in that direction.

Then, the whole group suddenly looks like little green fish men thanks to Grant's illusion. Just don't talk, people, these guys don't speak English.

Then, in the midst of all that chaos, the looters carrying their bags of goods are not only snagged up in long tendrils of kelp that reach out to grab them and hold them fast, several more are gripped by an inexplicable terror that has them dropping their loot and fleeing for the hills, er.. shoals, er.. somewhere else.

Justin, in the midst of all this chaos, swims in as a little green fish person on his fish and begins searching through the bags and the wreckage to try to find the figurine. He does come up with one, but it's not the Poseidon one. He finds Aphrodite in one of the bags nearest the ship. He holds it up to the others to show them what he found, and then continues the search while the fish people are duly distracted.

Greg shoots an impressed and slightly fearful look towards Frankie, then moves in on his shark to follow Grant and the rest of the group. As the efforts of the others are so successful in disarming the situation, he joins Justin in searching the bags for the idols. He seems to have a particular knack for searching the right bags. "Check that one over there," he offers helpfully to Grant. "I think there's one in that bag, too," he says, pointing with his sword. It's good for something, at least! He collects a couple of the things, tucking them under his arm. "We're not getting the other half of the Poseidon idol, I think," he observes, pointing his sword towards one of the huge cargo turtles rapidly swimming away. "Are we sure we don't need it? The mermaid said that Poseidon was the most important one, right?"

There is a highly satisfied look that crosses over Frankie's face when her illusion works, and it only grows as the others start to layer more chaos on top of it. She glances around, watching it for a moment until she hears Greg mention they aren't going to find the statue they are after, "I don't remember if she said it was the most important, but we should try to recover all of them."

Kailey swims in as the rest of them break away. Happy and wiggling with it as the fish-people run off. "Come on, girl, let's go find some statues," She tells the giant and rides along as they swoop in. She is specifically searching the abandoned treasures, though she looks up at the other turtles. Burdened so by the treasure. "Tsk, would you like me to free your friends? I bet you would," She is talking low to the turtle as they swim in. And so before searching she reaches out to begin to release the poor turtles of their straps and ropes and burden.

Kass keeps her focus on holding the little looter men in the strands of kelp, binding them slowly tighter to ensure that there's no escaping and suddenly attacking the others. As they start searching in earnest, she swims herself in a little closer and offers, "If you find it, you find it, if you don't find it, I can remake the statue from the half she has." In other words, if you find it, cool. If not, don't spend undue amounts of time looking!

Larceny! Awww America's new favourite team sport! He swims over and says "And try not to break em. That lady looked sad enough they like ruined her shit. Way... way un cool." Glancing around he keeps tabs on people present and accounted for to see where isn't being searched and starts there. "Just don't take One-Eyed Williy's rich stuff, peeps."

It doesn't take long, with Greg's help, for all of them to locate the remaining figures. Kailey begins to loosen the straps and harnesses on the sea turtles and the bags containing their relics drop to the ocean floor, including the one that contains the other half of the Poseidon statute. It doesn't take them too long after that to locate that one as well. Unfortunately, just as they manage to do so, the shark riders seem to realize that the army of mer people is just an illusion as they pass straight through them, and begin to circle back, seeing the chaos behind them. Uh oh. Incoming.

Well shit. As the shark-rider dudes start to return, Greg almost bolts -- but then he remembers, they look like little green fishy dudes right now too. Steadying his cargo of idols, he goes back in to guardian mode, urging his shark into a holding pattern around Frankie's skate. Anything that threatens that skate will have a sword-wielding drug pusher and a hammerhead shark to reckon with.

"Oh...well...that's not good. Incoming!" Kailey/Fiona shouts the last as she spots the green men returning. Snatching up a bag she tucks a couple figurines into it and swims back up to her turtle. "Let's go!" She tells the turtle. Once more letting her brain do the bulk of the work, pulling the water over her to hide herself, her turtled, and the prize. Retreat! Well, that's what she's doing anyway.

Justin immediately turns his fish around, "Hi ho, Silver, away," he says to the fish in question, and books it on out of there, heading back to the others with their prize, and beating a retreat from the ships. No time for poking around anymore in the wreckage than that.

"Greg..." Frankie is at least quiet about it when he starts to circle her, "Get the statues back..." She does not have any statues on her, and she does seem to be in agreement that going is the option. But then she isn't going herself, instead she's making one last piece of effort towards getting them extra time. Directly into the minds of however many of those green men sharks she can get she shoots a command, "Attack the one next to you."

Once everyone is away from the loot (and the looters), Kass releases the small group she'd been holding, instead flinging her hands towards any of the shark riders still incoming that haven't fallen under Frankie's mental prowess. A brief barrier, the kelp won't last long, but perhaps long enough to give them the time they need to skedaddle!

What happens next is ugly, ugly and bloody, as several of the sharks turn on one another and start attacking each other, even as others are lashed at with the kelp. It's not a pretty scene, and the entire group is able to safely get away in the ensuing carnage.

It doesn't take long for them to return to the cave, either, their new friends dropping them off before swimming off into the ocean, to return from whence they came.

Kailey has one question for the mermaid when they come up to the den. Of course it requires pulling back her mojo. But she does that and is grinning and looking cocky to boot. "We got 'em!" She crows with delight, brandishing her own net bag of figures. "Hey, what's this turtles name anywho?" She asks the mermaid.

Greg seems reluctant to see the shark go. For one thing, between the idols and the sword, he's weighed down so much that he has to stomp along the ocean floor like a pleb. Lame. "I'm not leaving this," he tells anyone who'd like to listen, brandishing the sword. He tramps unceremoniously into the cave, carefully setting down his idols as soon as he can find a spot that seems sufficiently chill. "Your idols," he tells the mermaid as he treads water once more, freed from his burden. He's careful not to really look at her all that closely, though, generally keeping his gaze well-placed on his fiancee instead.

It's not pretty, and Frankie should honestly feel pretty bad about causing things to attack each other. But she doesn't. As soon as the carnage starts she's joining the rest in a retreat, giving her skate a wave when the time comes. She follows everyone else towards the mermaid to return everything, giving Greg a smile for his comment about the sword, "You won't be able to bring it back."

Age-old adage... "You can't take it with you..." because leaving the Dream is like dying, right? Maybe. A little. Kass seems simultaneously disappointed and relieved to be back to her normal self rather than the awesome octo-form she'd been sporting. Staying behind Greg and Frankie and Kailey, she seems to be watching the mermaid curiously, waiting to see what she does with the figurines. How she reacts. She seems particularly interested in how the mermaid reacts.

Grant holds onto the back of the dorsal fin as this seahorse. He's weirdly good with animals and says, "Awww, I'm a miss you lil buddy. Feel free to visit and hang out." He looks up to Frankie confused and bewildered. "Yoooou wanna put money on that Frankie? Wrong person gets the other a pizza?"

"I've brought something out of a Dream before," Greg comments with a casual shrug. "Actually remind me some time, Bax... you might like it." He gives a sly grin. "It's pretty lit, not gonna lie."

Kailey looks at Greg sharply and she raises a brow. "Really? What was it?" She asks curiously. Very curiously. Her green eyes, currently a pale jade hue, seem to lock on him. It is possibly a little unnerving because she isn't blinking often as she looks him up and down and up again.

Justin returns with the others, bidding farewell to his silver fishie as it swims back off into the sea, leaving him with the others. The idols are all returned to the mermaid, and then he steps back with the others.

The mermaid thanks them all, looking so relieved when she goes through the bags and finds that all of the figures have been returned, and particularly the other half of her beloved Poseidon. She then goes to each of them in turn and thanks them for their help. Her voice is a soft song that seems to flood their senses as most only vaguely remember what she whispered to them. Things begin to get hazy, as though the water were getting murky, their eyelids growing heavy.

When Kailey wakes, she finds herself not on her kitchen floor but tucked away in her bed. Greg, Grant, and Frankie find themselves back on the couch, the television having gone over to snow during the night. Kass finds herself at home, even though she started out at work, in her own bed. Justin finds himself still on the couch, the puppy still asleep on his feet.

The next night, and several nights afterward, each will dream of the sea, and each will have received a gift from the mermaid in those dreams, something that each of them desires, until on the fourth night, the dreams fade, and things return to normal.