2020-07-29 - Under the Sea

August is taking a mental health day, because holy shit does he need one. He's walking along the shore in black cargos, urban hikers, a thin shell hoodie in purple, and a plain, gray t-shirt. Occasional detritus not-withstanding, the smell of the ocean is welcome, and the sounds of kids playing is too. He prefers it at night, but Eleanor's working a day shift, so he's found a way to not be in her hair at the shop the whole time by wandering around.

Grant has his work cut out for him. He's got Vyv focusing on soaking up sun and focusing on the surf and not all of life's little imperfections...which Bax really insists are called 'children' by everyone else. What can ya do? Bax is watching the beach longways working on , well, drawing Vyv and capturing him in a comic styling. He draws everything else, why not his dude?

Grant signs back to him <'No, you can see it when it's done. Do I eat your work before you're done?'> shit. busted. He murmurs watching the page while trying (and failing) to hide a sheepish grin, "Don't answer that." he looks up and checks the horizon again doing a double take giving August a whistle, with middle finger and thumb, <"Heeeey, Mr. Roen! Grats on the upcoming wedding. Heard about it in coffee shop."> At least he remembers August signs well enough.

Of course Lyric has a Popsicle, it's a green one because luck of the draw! Without a lot of patience for licking it, she is chomping on it as she meanders down the path. Wearing her jeans that are rolled up to her upper calves, she's sans hoodie for once. Navy blue and white converse are on her feet though, low tops. Her shirt claims her to be 99 percent Disney villain. Noticing the familiar faces she bounces over with a beaming smile. "Hi guys. I'm happy to see you all." She's cheerful like that. Who wouldn't be cheerful with a popsicle and the ocean and friends around?

Vyv, as it turns out, has legs. Or, okay, people have probably had sufficient evidence to be nearly certain of that already. But his legs have skin! And for that matter, so do his arms and chest and abdomen, even! He's part of the sunbathing contingent today, having made himself comfy on a long, plush towel, and he's in a pair of tailored navy swim trunks, because apparently even swimsuits need to flatter and fit perfectly, thank you. A light weight white button-up shirt is folded on the towel as well, and a pair of boat shoes rest on the sand beside it, while he idly eats one of the fruit pops, half-watches some participants in the frisbee game, and tries very hard (for the current ten minutes, check again after) to ignore the fact that children exist.

He doesn't really even need words to reply to Grant's chiding about poking at things before they're done, arching a meaningful brow at the purple-and-blue-haired young man beside him from behind his classic (and probably expensive) sunglasses even before the don't answer that. It's answer enough. And yet he still signs back «I'll keep that in mind next time I make cookies.» While lifting his chin juuuuust slightly to try to sneak a little more of a look at what Bax is drawing.

The whistle makes for a good distraction, though, and he follows the look toward August, catching sight of Lyric as well in the process. "Well, good afternoon," he greets, without particularly raising his voice, though he does also sign it. If one who isn't Bax can read his inexpert signing, impaired as it currently is by fruit-pop.

August's attention shifts to Grant at the whitle--as does that of numerous others, but they all stop looking a second later. He smiles, gives Grant an up-nod and angles that way. <'Thanks,'> he signs, while saying to Vyv, "Heya. Getting some sun while the getting's good?" Lyric gets a similar greeting, and a thoughtful look for the popsicle. Ice cream, hm...what an idea. Maybe a milk shake. He's the sort who doesn't care for cold desserts in the winter, but in the summer, he'll indulge heavily.

Grant is drawing at ease really . Look there's a lot worse things than the view and spending time working on one's creative process. He glances up to August and spends a second longer on Lyric waving to her in greeting with a lopsided grin that slowly fades as he works on capturing the background of the beach correcting the size of the wave. He signs , <'My cookies now'>. It's when he's trying to correct the wave height he notices it. He notices it because he's always lived here and if there's anything the skater loves second most it's a tie between eeking out what surfing they can and snowboarding. Part of the culture is just being fucking aware of one another so you don't have collisions. Being bereft of peripheral input? Well it's there to keep him alive... or... them?

It starts as a haunted look trying to sign <'Kid Drowning!'> as the tablet is tosses down and his sunglasses go off and he's already scrambling to run at the wave already without even thinking. He does yell (he hopes for the hearing) "RIPTIDE!"

Strange things are afoot at the beach. Lyric is busy greeting her peeps here and having her popsicle, biting a hunk from it. (absolutely nothing sexy about the way she bites it.) Then there's the whole eating it too fast thing that gives her a brain freeze. She puckers her lips and inhales the warmer air, trying to get over it. "Ow." A hand over her right eye and half her nose. With her left eye though, she notices the lack of people on the beach that was just full and glances out to the water, "Da... dun.. da.. dun.." Yeah, her version of Jaws there. "People are gone," she observes vocally. "People are always gone." UGH! A look to August then Vyv, then Grant. "So, uhh. Any ideas where they went? Cause it wasn't down the path!" That's where she jusr came from. Oh then there goes Grant and she watches him running. "Riptide? And why is he talkin' with his hands?"

There might, possibly, be something sexy about the way Vyv is eating the fruit pop if one's into that kind of thing and possibly has a slightly pervy mind. It probably isn't any more intentional than Lyric's potentially-threatening chomps. "Yes, I figure at least once a year on the Vitamin D, whether one needs it or not," he replies lightly to August, and adds aside to Grant, spoken as well as signed, "All cookies are your cookies sooner or later, darling, the world knows better than to fight it." Which is all the more reason he should get to peek at what's being drawn.

He's just finishing off his snack as he catches a sense of something slightly off -- from Grant, rather than the water. The glance he gives the younger man is questioning, brow furrowed, and he's just sitting up to follow the look to the water, and beginning to catch on to the Spot the Differences competition the waves have started, when Bax leaps to his feet and runs. "...bugger," he mutters, starting to rise as well, though rather than running, he's looking around for lifeguards or police or anyone else actually paid to run into danger and do something about this kind of thing. He doesn't ask them to make him eclairs, after all. Lyric's questions get just a flicker of a glance. "Because hearing aids and water don't mix, at least not if you'd like to continue using them as more than an unusual fashion statement," he answers, distracted, and a bit less so, "And irritatingly, I'm fairly sure they went under those waves."

Focus on the water and earlier attempts at ignoring may mean he's less noticed those missing from the beach proper. But as much as he may have been trying to expunge children from his experience of... anything, this is a bit literal even for him, and he gives an extremely exasperated sigh and starts stalking swiftly toward the shore, scanning the water for signs of anyone in trouble and backing up Grant by actually raising his voice, the accent crisp as it cuts through the air and into the psyche of anyone suitably trained by media to respect it: "All right, everybody out! Undertow!"

With a half shrug, August says to Vyv, "Probably not the worst idea, given how little sun we get overall up here." He's focused on Grant, Vyv, and Lyric, so it's not until Grant signs and launches to his feet in a panic that he has any idea things have changed. He blinks after Grant, half-turning to watch him run, scanning the waves for a sign of someone in the water in distress. (Which isn't what drowning victims often look like, but what would he know, he's no lifeguard.) But not only is there no one in distress--there's no one at all. He stares up and down the beach, back at the waves. Sure, one or two people getting caught in a riptide is a thing. A dozen? More?

"He's hard of hearing," August asides to Lyric, tone absent. Then he starts after Grant and Vyv, jogging slow and careful. When's the last time they had an undertow worth being concerned about in the harbor? Ever?

Grant dives in and tries to swim against it. He might be lean and make some derptastic life choices but he rolls with Greg and that means part-time veil superhero training pays off... or just skating every afternoon and staying in motion like a... well like a shark. The transformation happens while being dragges into the undertow trying to stay up and look for those kids for anything they might have slipped under and caught on like he is now.

No. Nonononono. There's that panic that is a rush like no other and in unhappy ways and one can either scream or get really resourceful really fast. He has things to live for and focuses now on that. He tries to kick off but there's no feet. Teeth grit together and he can taste the briny water on his tongue. Fingers trying to pull him upward are futile to the kick off he's getting from his legs turning into a tail coloured not unlike a sailfish with blue layered on white shot through the horizon with a goldenrod stripe.

Okay... cool! ... but where's the kids and where can he find air is still paramount. Surface, push for it!

"Since when?" Lyric is confused as she looks at Grant disappear beneath the waves before focusing her attention between Vyv and August. "We have to go get him, don't we?" Resigned to it, she knew before she asked, but she does look prepared to go do just that. "C'mon then, we'll go see if we can rescue the people and him too." The popsicle is gone, the stick gets tossed into the nearest trash bin as she races for the water, hoping the others are following. She gets to the waters edge but doesn't jump in unless the others are too. Self preservation and all that. Safety in numbers?

Vyv is not frequently ignored, and Vyv does not like being ignored... but it brings the rest of the odd not-noticing into relief, and there's a brief look of annoyed epiphany that crosses his features. Oh. THIS again. If only things not being normal meant they were safe. So, the ignoring? Still irritating. But really not his main concern right now. Certainly not when Bax disappears under the water, and this time he doesn't come back up.

He's very good at remaining cool and collected, but not perfect, and there's a visible widening of his eyes and speeding of his step toward the water, now. [Bax!] his mind sends out to the skater's, sending out seeking tendrils as his gaze scans the water he's fast approaching. What comes back is... weird. "He's-- I can't feel how far away, just down," he says aloud, and probably a bit more distressed than he'd prefer if he were thinking about that at present. [BAX. Where are you, are you okay? We're coming.] Somewhere. Otherwise, he is not currently inclined to much of a discussion.

This just went from bad to real bad. Of needing to go get Grant (and anyone else), August mutters, "Yeah," to Lyric. He has no idea how long Grant's been HoH, so can't offer anything about that.

"Grant!" he shouts, and hey his voice can get pretty loud when he wants it to. He starts wading into the water, looking around for shapes. Grant, the other kids--anyone who went in and didn't come back. The fact the Vyv himself is using his Art is enough to put August on edge. He starts grasping around too, feeling for minds--Grant's, anyone else's (aside, of course, from Lyric and Vyv, though no doubt he collides with them in true CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? style).

Panic. Yup that's exactly what Bax kinda really wants to do...and see how fast he can go buuuut... kids and... lost! and whine... there's a voice in his head he scrambles to answer ['V...Vyv...Ummm Atlantis?? I'm in the water and... Mr. Roen, I'm a fish and ... I can't see the kids and okay. I'm...I think I'm not hurt...yet?'] Breathe or... gills? Has he got those? Well he's not drowning.

The th-thump-thump of people being pulled in with him is jarring and he tries in equal measure to not get hit and also try catching and rolling with those he can find. If he grabs anyone's dorsal fins it's for purposes of survival he swears! also sorry. Awkward. He looks and scans for Vyv, grabs his head with both hands and presses his forehead to his.

['Glad you're all okay. Mostly. I don't see them anywhere.']

Into the water Lyric goes and she has just enough time for intense regrets before she's sucked beneath the surface and down, down, down.. the popsicle threatens to make a reappearance.. then it does as soon as she breathes in the first part of the smelly, salty fishy water. Fish have sex in here! The green popsicle floats eerily away with the current, and Lyric walks.. er.. wait! She has a tail! WEEE! She's a mermaid! All panic subsides because every girl dreams of being a mermaid! Now.. to get the hang of the tail.. She catches sight of the others, Oh right! Rescue mission. Swimming lazily, she attempts to learn how to use her new tail, completely distracted in the moment and the absolute freedom of it all.

Well yes of COURSE Grant's in the water, that's the whole (okay, main) problem here! Irritation is much more comfortable than fear and adding the partial relief of getting a response would probably have gotten Bax a response to that general effect... if the chef weren't finding himself grabbed and yanked down beneath the waves by something that far outclasses even the worst undertows of his childhood. There's enough sense memory to keep him from gasping or yelling or otherwise immediately breathing water as he tries fruitlessly to fight against it. Landing, though -- that's not normal, not subconsciously 'expected', and it pushes out a bubble of his air, just enough for his body to catch on that it can breathe.

It doesn't pass the information on immediately, though, and the effort to get back to the surface continues there, hampered by his attempts to use legs he doesn't currently have rather than the tail he currently does. Being grabbed helps. It is not usually an ideal method of making him more calm, but in this case, well. It leads to several realisations: Grant is more or less okay, neither of them appear to be drowning, and he has a tail. Also, sadly, that [Oh God everything tastes like preserved fish with a grudge.]

He returns the press of forehead to forehead and then pulls back enough to look Grant over for okayness, then his own tail (dark and iridescent, but tastefully so), then their companions and THEN any sign of the others drawn beneath the waves. [This was not my plan for the afternoon.]

August's yelp of surprise is lost in a gargling gasp as he's hauled underwater. He claws for the surface, then at whatever's dragging him down and down and--is that Grant?

He hits the ocean floor with a grunt, thrashing and trying to get moving up, he's going to inhale any fucking second now. And he does, except, the violent panic of drowning doesn't come. Just a briny breath.

Then another. He opens his eyes and stares around and...down. Where his legs should be (legs that do not look like he skips leg day, thank you thrity-odd years of physical labor), is now an ornate, gleaming tail of brilliant white-blue, black purple, and dusky orange, the caudal fin diaphonous and white-spotted, the rays and dorsals huge, spiny fans.

Are you fucking kidding me? his expression says. He turns it on Grant, which coupled with the frothy emotions bubbling off him translates to 'okay??? this is the furthest thing from okay!!!'. But, well, there's Vyv and Lyric, also mer-people, so at least it's a group activity. He watches Lyric, trying not to be annoyed by her enjoyment. Like Vyv, he had no plans for getting turned into a merman. He and Eleanor have to go visit the florist for a final decision on the flowers!

Grant holds onto Vyv's head until the situation is actualized...and then keeps doing it for his own sake...and to give Vyv something annoying to focus on and rally to like being, well, a fish. He smooches his forehead. "I can't find the kids. There's only those merpeople guppies and..." Oh. OOOOooOOoOooohhh, Thank goodness for mentalism, [*"The kids went that-" He pauses to look at Lyric and headtilts and looks back to August and Vyv, "They went that way. And it looks like... you guys see that kinda tentacly thing? Like a ... I dunno a sadness. This is very Pinocchio level shit going on."]

The city captures her attention, right after the bottom feeders scatter. There's an inaudible gasp of surprise as the colors and beauty. Oh yes. Lyric was home! This was something she felt drawn to, something she wanted to explore. A flash of a grin to the others and it seems she has every intention on swimming over to explore, maybe even following the kids for a fun game of hide and seek! "C'mon, let's go explore the city." Tentacles? Lyric shakes her head, Nope, nothing here! "You make it sound like Stranger Things." Except is she really talking? She's trying. Underwater. Can they hear and understand? Probably, since she heard Grant!

Vyv does not see the tentacly-thing, possibly because he's somewhat distracted by having his head captured. And smooched. Well, that's... various things, but embarrassing makes the list. Grant gets a 'really?' look, though not so much of one that Vyv actually swims away. Just moves enough to reclaim his skull, and to take a better look at this tail he's (temporarily, it's always temporarily, right? Right...) developed. He gives it an experimental movement, flaring out the fins and watching how light plays across the dark scales, and seems to decide it'll do. Which is good since he hasn't got much choice.

Since talking seems to be working reasonably well, he tries switching to that, making a slight face at how it makes him sound when he hears it. "That city does look lovely," he agrees, and takes another look around, "...and I didn't see any tentacles as yet, no." He starts signing it, too, as best he can given the combination of newbieness and water, then gives up and just thinks it to Bax as well.

August's general level of frustration eases a bit at the colors in the water as people swim. He's not happy about all this, not by a long shot...but maybe he can roll with it. (Does he have a choice? He's a mer-lionsfish in a purple hoodie.)

The color shift allows him to spy the mer-children and the city. He nods in response to Grant, the first acknowledgment of listening to the kythe. He still signs, though. <'Yeah. I see it.'> Well, they have to get those kids back. That's just how it is. He eyes Lyric and Vyv, surprised he can hear them, tries it out himself. "No, no exploring. We have to get those people back." His voice sounds warbling and high in his own head, but, whatever. The kids, they have to get them back. (He's totally not thinking of Eleanor and Addie, yanked into a dark wood and left to fend for themselves.)

Without bothering to see if he's followed, he makes to swim in after the mer-children. Except, he has no idea how to use these fins. How does a fish like this move?? So, instead, he flails, churning up seafloor sand. He makes a mental note to tell Isabella he is never, ever going snorkeling, not ever again.