Match of the Millennium

Description: The four Seabreeze Cottages are sitting empty waiting for the island-goers to serve as additional housing to the local hotels. They also seem like a very likely place for Zack to have hidden his coins. As any good adventurer knows, the first step in any journey is to loot the nearby houses for valuables. Perhaps they'll find some useful supplies as well, though food seems less likely.

[HAWKSLEY]
Yesterday, all Hawksley's troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. But enough mangled and mournful Beatles lyrics, today they've got to deal with what's happening. They, being himself, his mentoree, Henry, his dear friend, Chevy and her charge, Tanwen the tiny dragon. Or Welsh woman depending on what form she happens to be in at the time. The four young fighters find themselves trapped on Zack Island Part Deux and are facing an issue with food supplies. Taking charge of the situation, super commentators, Tom and Lou have sent the competitors out to scavenge for Zack Coins, the currency of the resort. These coins are said to open the vending machines installed on the island, which include, amongst other things, some much needed sources of calories.

Hawksley is dressed in the same clothes as the day before, a white tank top, blue denim shorts and white canvas sneakers, given he hadn't planned for needing a change of clothes. Between the boat ride, the appearance of an evil goddess and a clammy night next to Coco, he's putting his forty eight hour deodorant well and truly to the test. Somehow he already seems to have grown dark stubble, despite only shaving before setting off for the tour.

"Feck it's hot. Hopefully these cottages will live up to their name and give us a lovely sea breeze." The Cork fella comments, as they make their way along Niki Beach Road to the east side of the island's waterfront. He's lucky that he remembered to bring suncreen. He might have naturally tanned skin all year around like his da, but left long enough, he knows it's still possible for him to burn. A couple of long summer afternoons in beer gardens with his top off had taught him that lesson. He's drinking from a bottle and this time it's actually full of water instead of ale. He's mindful of the fact he only brought thirty two of his own brand of beer to the island, along with his silver flask and magic mug. He's already been handing out the ales to others, including Tom, Lou and the camera crew, he's saving the supplies in his flask for when he needs to fight and his mug is limited to three uses a month. God knows how long they are gonna be trapped here, so he will need to treat those with care.

So far this morning he hasn't discussed their run in with Junko with the rest of the group but he at least wants to check what state of mind they might be in. "I've been wondering, so I have. How the feck are you three feeling about everything?" A broad question perhaps, but it seems highly unlikely that anyone will have been thinking about much else.

[CHEVY]
Chevy's had a storm cloud over her head since her encounter with Junko^H^H^H^H^H Suzaku. For most people this is just a figure of speech. For the waterbender, it's pretty close to accurate: the air surrounding her is chilled and practically ready to burst into a light rain at any given moment. At least there's an upside: if the heat's too much for you, go stand close to Chevy.

The farm girl's seen better nights. She'd said "I'm sorry" to Hawksley not long after biting his head off for that strawberry shortcake comment -- and that's really been about it. Ever since Tom and Lou said their peace, the Carolina girl's been off with Buck walking their own paths around the Marina, confiding in one another with the understanding that their mentees would each feel a bit more comfort in their respective caregivers than with the gloomy hayseed.

Today... is an improvement. Chevy's sunny disposition may not be back out in full force, but she has been caught with a faint smile here and there. She's shed the button-down shirt she was wearing at the time; she's still getting mileage out of her teal bikini, Daisy Dukes, and white high-top sneakers. Like Hawksley, she'd put on a fresh coat of sunscreen before leaving Buck's side; unlike him, her fair skin needs SPF 50, even -with- the light tan she had built up aboard the Mermaid. She carries a one-liter bottle of water around wherever she goes -- an inexhaustible resource that the hydromancer can fill it whenever she chooses. It's one of a few items poking out of the lip of the canvas bag she'd brought from the Mermaid



As the five near the coast, the sea air provides a merciful breeze. It's not much -- but to a girl still used to Carolina humidity, it's plenty.

At the moment Hawksley asks her a question, she's having a finite amount of fun in opening and closing the mechanisms of a pocket knife she'd gotten recently. She looks up -- and gives him a bleary-eyed smile in reply.

"Coulda been worse, ah suppose."

She lets that thought hang in the air for a few moments, as she lowers her gaze -- lost in thought.

"I think if she's even halfway sincere about us respectin' the planet, she would'at least left us some'a them nanners."

Steering her gaze over towards Niki Beach, she lets out a small chuckle. "At least one of us got a good taste of 'em."

But, then she looks back to Hawksley with a sober half-smile. "I'll be honest, though, I'm scratchin' my head over what the heck she meant by the 'seed of sin' and, uh... what's the word?" Her brow furrows for a moment. "Blasphemers? No wait, it was that h word. ... Hare-ticks? Somethin' like that..." She shrugs helplessly, looking towards the others.

"What do y'all think?"

[TANWEN]
At the moment, Tanwen is not a tiny dragon, but rather a tiny Welsh woman. Well, five foot high, anyway. She's wearing an oversized sleeveless white tank top with the word 'Lifeguard' on the front over her Welsh flag-patterned green, red and white bikini, having evidently already started her looting on the way here. She's not a trained lifeguard, but she thinks that it sounds like a cool class to play. Guarding peoples' lives is very heroic, isn't it? She's not sure whether she's meant to be the tank or the healer, though. Maybe it's a bit like a paladin.

The outfit leaves her legs mostly exposed, showing off the prominent yellowing bruise along her left hip from where she got kicked the day before by an angry Brit while in her diminutive dragon form. Apparently the injury has scaled along with her body upon returning to human size, making it almost look like she was winged by a car rather than a size six woman's foot.

One beneficial quirk of being actually a red dragon is that Tanwen, with no aid of sunscreen, has proven almost immune to the negative effects of the scorching equatorial sun, and her body has already begun to tan, the coppery tones in her goldish-bronze hair deepening quickly to a richer red.

Winn, on the other hand, as an actual Welshman, has gone beetroot pink and retired to the Zack Island Casino's shade in a sweat after a morning of following Tanwen around, happily leaving the dragon girl in Chevy's conscientious care, along with the supervision of her fellow assignees.

One of whom has Tanwen crinkling her nose in confusion.

"Ehm, can you rephrase the question, Hawksley Moore? Are you asking how we should be stealing things, or throwing things?" she wonders as she plods along the path with the others. "Winn and I had a lovely game of catch, we did. As for stealing things, I don't think it's really stealing if nobody's around. I mean, it all belongs to Mister Zack, doesn't it? And he's said it's for us to use."

She's brought an oldish-looking brown satchel that's slung from her shoulder, the previous contents - mostly character sheets, pencils and a copy of a Dwnsiynau A Dreigiau player's handbook and monster manual - left behind for Winn to safeguard in the casino so that she has something to carry any Zack Coins she finds in. She still has her dice bag tied to the strap of her bikini bottoms in case they need to make any important decisions.

"It was heretics, it was," Tanwen supplies helpfully. As an avid roleplayer, she is of course familiar with the term, at least in the trope-ical sense. "It sounds like a side quest to me. Maybe there's a secret evil cult on the island doing naughty experiments!"

She seems rather discomfitingly excited by the idea for a moment before frowning.

"Oh. I hope they won't be trying to kidnap me for experiments. I'm a dragon, I am. You'll protect me if they do come and try, won't you? I've not found a sword and shield yet, so all I can do is breathe fire, really. And maybe bite their toes."

It's a tactic she's used to get her way before.

"Have you got a sword, Henry?"

[HENRY]
Henry trudges along, the last of the group. Fortunately as Los Angelean who spends spends a lot of his time outside in both California and Japan, the heat really dosn't bother him all that much. Sure, he's sweating, but that's just his body handling things. It just makes him look shiny rather than tired, his blue hair swept back and out of his face, honestly he looks like he should be walking on a Hollywood set rather than trapped on some weird island. Weird how he does that.

His white tee and blue linen shorts are airy and breezy enough to help. Sunscreen? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Water? Semi-check.

"I'm not going anywhere on this island without it from now on." He says when Tanwen inquires about his sword, reaching behind him to pat the hilt that sticks up over his shoulder, strapped as it is beneath his backpack, which in turn has his shield strapped to the outside of that.

"You might not need them though, and besides just finding them isn't enough. Unless you're trained in how to use them they'd probably just make you fight worse until you figure out how to use them." He says it evenly, like a statement of fact, not a prod at Tanwen's abilities. "If you want though, I can give you a few pointers." He adds with a smile. "A dragon flying through the air witha big ol' sword might be worth the show."

Eyes darting between the two mentors, his expression turns to a frown. "So what I find odd.." He starts, slowing down as he considers his words. "Suzaku is all burnt up," burnt up, get it?, "about humans destroying nature, and then goes and obliterates an island's ecosystem just to screw us over?"

Henry looks around and then back to the others. "Doesn't that seem sort of? I dunno. Counterintuitive?" He shakes his head.

He clams up for a bit after he says that, instead eyeing the cottages ahead of them with the eagerness of someone who despite being friendly with the sun would still really like some shade. "So does anyone know what these coins we're supposed to find even look like?"

[HAWKSLEY]
There'd been no bad feeling from Hawksley when Chevy had snapped at his strawberry shortcake comment. It was a cheeky move to mention it but sometimes the scrapper simply can't help himself. Most of the time to be fair.

When the redhead responds to his question, he lets out a loud laugh. "I suppose it could have been worse, yeah. She could have decided to make a bonfire out of all our bodies and then had herself a barbecue with whatever food we brought along."

As for the nanners, he's not much of a fan but beggars can't be choosers and he'd take them over a grumbling tummy. Given that he's able to produce an inferno at will, he's got a pretty fast metabolism, which might explain how he manages to stay in shape despite downing so many beers.

Whilst Chevy contemplates Junko's words, Hawksley shrugs his shoulders. "I've been called worse. Some of it by my own family. As for what her motive might be? Probably the usual, power. Perhaps with a side of spite thrown in."

The Irish lad looks towards Tanwen and starts whistling the Baywatch tune. Maybe it will summon Alexandra Daddario to save them all. In the meantime he offers the Welsh woman some sympathy. "I'm sorry about your bruise and all, cailin. Coco gets a bit feisty when she's in a bad mood. With her worst enemy showing up and all, you can't blame her for being a bit pissed off." Giving a sideways glance to Chevy, he adds. "Well, worst enemy since you two called a truce." His comment is definitely tongue in cheek, designed to lighten the mood rather than stir up old drama.

Cadwallader's confusion has Hawksley giving her a cheery grin. "Neither in this case. And yeah, you don't have to worry about us stealing the coins. It's all grand. We might as well make a game of it too, since we're trapped here anyway."

Tanwen's talk of the secret cult, causes the Cork fella to comment. "You and Coco might not have much in common and I know she tried to kick you into oblivion and all but that really sounds like something she'd say. She was on about all that conspiracy theory shite on the boat trip over. As for the kidnapping, we won't let them take you. Us fire fighters have got to stick together, so we have."

Hawksley turns back to look at his mentoree. How are you holding up, fella?" He checks. "It's a good plan to keep hold of your sword but don't you worry about our little dragon here not being able to handle it. She's skilled with a sword and shield."

The blue-haired boy makes a good point in regards to Junko's angry actions. "Yeah, that was a bit mad like. She probably fecked up a load of animals and plants with her fiery fit. She's a fecking hypocrite." He stops to run a hand over the back of his neck and then looks towards the cottages as they get up close to them. "Like coins I suppose. They're made of fools gold I think, so probably small and shiny."

[CHEVY]
Chevy feels a bit bad about the bruise on Tanwen's leg. At the time she'd received it, Chevy's attention was laser-focused upon Suzaku. The Carolina girl may have rushed between the two, but it'd still felt like too little, too late. It's clear that, with -both- women, there are still some topics that can act as hair triggers.

Chevy barks out a small laugh as Hawksley prods her again -- though, it's clear she's more worried about Tanwen than on stoking the Eire lad's flames. "Yeah, I shoulda been faster on the draw, there, Tan. I'm sorry you had to be on the receivin' end of that."

Thankfully, Tanwen doesn't seem to be too broken up about it, as she seems happy to talk about petty larceny as if it wasn't a crime. ... And without Winn here, it's kind of up to Chevy to weigh in on that matter.

"Stealin' is stealin', Tan, it don't much matter if someone's around to catch you in the act or not." The freckled farm girl isn't a stranger to the big sister act, but... it does feel a bit strange for her to talk like this to someone who's technically twice her age. "... But if we're just -using- or -borrowing- things, then I think that's okay. We're kinda stuck here, we are."

She doesn't seem to notice that she's starting to pick up speech habits like Tanwen and Hawksley.

"... Yeah, that sounds right." She agrees mostly to save face on not knowing the word 'heretics.' The notion of those people being a secret evil cult brings a frown to her face. Hawksley's response seems to say all she's thinking on the matter, as she answers with mute nods of her head. "Of course we'll protect you! But, naw, if folks are trying to kidnap you, that's one time I wanna say it's alright to set people on fire! That ain't right."

Briefly, she entertains the notion of Hawksley and Henry wearing firefighter outfits. Well, Henry wearing a firefighter's jacket the proper way, Hawksley wearing it tied around his waist.

She's able to keep that thought to herself though. Curling her hand around her deer antler necklace allows her to fully banish that thought from her mind.

She grins as Henry is inquired about his sword and responds to said inquiry. She wasn't sure if the weapon was just a prop or what -- but as the young child of Hollywood thought to bring it along on a three-hour tour, that puts him in the 'more prepared than Chevy' column of the chart.

"Oh yeah, that'd be a good opportunity to train! I know Tan ain't got her sword with her now, but we could probably scare up some wood -- some metal if we can find it maybe -- and hash somethin' together for 'er!"

Chevy twirls the multi-tool in her hand once for good measure, before stuffing it into a shorts pocket. "It could be fun to make somethin', anyway. We might need less fire ways to deal with hare-ticks."

She doesn't seem to notice that she's still saying that word wrong, either.

"... Oh. Yeah, totally counter-tuitive." She grins -- as Henry managed to express the idea that she was -trying- to say in a much clearer fashion.

"We got history, though, maybe y'all could tell. I still think it's dang silly for -us- to represent humanity in this trial or whatever it is. With how Braun pressed her face in it, she just come off lookin' like a bully."

Chevy starts to approach the nearest cottage, squinting at the environs. The boards creak as she takes her first step onto the entry porch.

She nods quietly at Hawksley's assessment. "Ain't sure how -big- they are, but the slots in the vending machines warn't -that- large, so... maybe the size of poker chips... or maybe a bit smaller?"

Now... where to start -looking-...?

[TANWEN]
Tanwen stretches her arms behind her head as she walks along with the others, her expression still thoughtful with the considerations on her mind. She tilts her head a bit under her limbs, peeking at the hilt of the weapon in Henry's backpack. "Oh, I have had training, though! I was part of the Greco-Roman Gladiatorial Reenactment Society of Flat Holm."

What she doesn't mention is that the society consisted of herself and, at her insistence, Winn.

"We had an instructor come in to teach us how to use a gladius and parmula. I think she was impressed that we had such a big group for such a small island, but she must have changed addresses, because she never answered any of my letters to come back for more demonstrations. People at the roleplay always say I'm dead canny though."

The girl puffs herself up a bit as she says so.

"I reckon Junko decided to burn things because that's what firebirds do. Sort of like dragons and chasing sheep. If humans wreck a forest or wipe out a whole species - like dragons - it's 'cause they decided that's what they wanted to do, not because it's what comes natural to them. Or maybe it does? I think that's what Junko was on about. But humans also made a bunch of cool stuff, and Junko's obviously a bit of a meanie-pants, 'cause she's a bad guy."

She taps her chin thoughtfully.

"It's a bit like Mister Smaug. The dwarves were digging too deep and too greedily, and the king was going a bit mad from being around too much gold, so Mister Smaug decided to chase them out of Moria so that they could get some fresh air and not wake up the Balrog, who was very nasty. Then he was minding his own business when an invisible kleptomaniac halfling came and started trying to steal his things, so he got angry and went and burned a town, because and he probably thought it was a human since Bilbo was all invisible-like. I don't know why everyone thinks he's a bad guy, though, and little birdies giving walkthroughs is cheating. I never trust little birdies."

She finishes her rambling tangent by scowling, then softens her expression. "I reckon we'll know the coins when we see them! Coins are round and shiny, aren't they?" She smiles at the thought of the gold to be found. "I bet they have Zack's face on them, like how they used to have the Queen's face on the ones at home."

She lifts her shoulders at the two offering their apologies regarding the bruise she's sporting. "It's okay. I was getting a bit too excited and forgot that not everybody likes Junko. I think she makes a good bad guy, but I don't mean I like her, like. I just think it will be fun when we beat her."

Tanwen stands on her tip-toes and presses her fingers together fervently in front of her chest as Chevy suggests that they can make a sword for her. "Oh! Crafting? Do we have crafting here? I love crafting. Do we have to make a roll, or just gather the ingredients?"

As Chevy starts to step up toward the nearest cottage, there's a faint sound of shuffling in response to the creaking stair. Tanwen, oblivious to both, bounds right past Chevy up the steps to the elevated abode. "I'm going to check for traps!" she declares, forgetting that that's supposed to be Evie's designated role. Then, crossing the wooden platform outside, she throws open the screen doors - and gapes.

Dozens of beady black eyes turn toward her at once as rodents of unusual size all over the rustic wooden room stop what they're doing and rise up at attention on their hind legs to regard her. The entire room appears to have been ransacked, piles of linen and destroyed pillows forming makeshift nests.

Tanwen quickly calculates the CR of the encounter before her, her amber eyes steadily widening as a high-pitched, shuddering wail starts to build in her throat. Instinctively, a pair of curved horns and a long, scaly red tail sprout the sides of her head and small of her back respectively as she prepares for action.

Her cry pierces the stillness like a knife.

"G-G-G-GIANT RATS!!"

She squeals as one of the meerkats, recognizing her as one of the great reptiles of ancestral memory, starts to bark, directing all as one to bum rush the tyrannical lizard, forcing her to dance her way around the stampede before finally losing her balance and falling on her front facing away from the cottage door. She then suffers the indignity of having the last straggler, shiny treasure in hand and still upright, walk across her prone form from ankles to her head before waddling away as fast as it can.

The view does afford her an epiphany that brings a smile to her face, though.

"Oh! That's what a Zack Coin looks like!" she shouts as the meerkat carrying the local currency tries to make its way past the other three humanoids.

[HENRY]
"Can't throw a rock without hitting a sword user." Henry says with a small shake of his head and a shrug, wokring loose a few strands of blue hair which he pushes back out of his face. With his offer of tip refuted in triplicate in short order, he frowns slightly and turns away rom the others, muttering under his breath. "Fine, whatever."

He makes his way in the direction of one of the cottages, only half paying attention to the conversation join on between Tanwen and the two mentors. "It's probably because of that previous history that she picked us." He finally speaks up again, pausing in the sand a few feet away from the cottage.

"I bet that your Junko isn't as gone as the big old bird was saying. She picked us because you guys are here." He crosses his arms over his chest, there's no blame in his tone, in fact its quite even and almost soft, but his eyes are definitely fixed on Chevy. "Whatever, its a good challenge."

"So poker chip sized coins that probably have that fake gold color they use in arcades." He sums up, poppin ghte top on his water bottle and going for a very small sip. There's no telling how long his supply is going to last and he intends to make it do so.

He arches one eyebrow at Tanwen as she goes off on a whole tangent aout Smaug. He gives a slight tug on his earlobe and says. "Erebor, not Moria. Wrong side of Mirkwood." And after a moment of letting his geek flag be seen, he shoves it right back away.

His path to the other cottage is stopped by that scream from Tanwen, making him pull his sword free and spin in the sand to face them. He only twitches a little at the horde of rodents spilling out of the cottage in a, and well it's not really a stampede, more of a rushed waddle over the prone dragoness.

"Think we can eat them?" Henry asks with an eye on the rodents, never mind the coin. Then sand starts flying as he runs off after the coin toting meerkats, sword raised overhead. "Come back here!"

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley is hightly amused by Chevy's change of speech pattern. "We'll be claiming you as a Celt before you know it. You've already got the red hair and freckles so you'll fit in just fine."

He raises his thick dark eyebrows at the idea of setting people on fire being a bad thing. He's never done such a thing directly but Djamila definitely got a bit scorched the first time he fought her. Maybe that's why she hit him over the head so hard with her staff, when it was time for a rematch.

Tanwen's talk of her society, crafting and, well, just about everything else, goes over Hawksley's head. It's a good thing the two of them didn't team up because they seem to spend most conversations confusing each other. He can't argue with her description of Junko as a 'meanie pants' though and it brings a grin to his face.

He follows the others into the first cottage. now humming Poker Face. Who knew he was a Lady Gaga fan? Or perhaps he's just been exposed to the music choices of his sisters. "I reckon we check under the mattresses." He suggests. "That's always a good place to hide shite."

From the looks of it though, it seems someone else has got their first. "It seems like people have been shagging or scrapping in here." He remarks. That's when he sees what the Welsh woman refers to as giant rats. "Those are meerkats, so they are. Like the ones who used to be on the advert at the start of Corrie. Feck,they look just the same in real life, but, you know, without the suit and smoking jacket and what have you." The fella seems fascinated by the furry creatures. He's standing there with a stupid looking smile on his face till Tanwen turns into dragon mode and terrifies the poor things.

"Ah feck, you've gone and fallen on your face now." Hawksley hurries over to help the dragon-girl up. As for Henry it seems he's up for the challenge of Junko, as well as that of the meerkcats! "I wouldn't eat them, fella." Hawksley calls after him. "I mean, not unless we're desperate. I suppose it's better than eating each other at least."

[CHEVY]
Chevy lightly slaps herself in the face as Hawksley calls out her little slip-up. "Always with the mommickin', Mr Moore..." she notes with a wry grin.

While Henry may feel a little battered down by the retorts, the Southern lass is quick to offer an ameliorating chuckle. Plus, as her expression seems to brighten from healthy skepticism to a cheery grin, it becomes clear that she's buying Tanwen's boast, hook, line and sinker.

"Oh! See, Henry? All I'd meant was, y'won't have to start from scratch! Y'all can start right up with some sparring, y'know, once we get y'all on equal footin'..."

Idly, Chevy wonders how -she- might fare with a sword in her hand. Perhaps not as comfortable as her galvanized steel pipe. But being that she has -neither- right now, she's at a bit of a loss when it comes to reach.

She nods along as Tanwen responds... though her eyes start to glaze over at the references the young Welsh girl is making. It's clear that Henry understands the material. But -- just as with most things D&D -- talk of Erebor and Moria just flies right over her nodding head. "... Mm, that sounds about right, yeah!"

The idea that crafting just involves gathering ingredients, though, is where Chevy feels the need to add some reality to the situation. "... Well, if you want a real sword, we'll have to make it for real. Ain't no rolling, it's just based on how skillful we can be..."

She looks a little put out as Tanwen bounds right past her. "... Now hold on, /I/ was checking for traps..." It's not clear if Chevy meant that she was 'in character' as Evie or not, but the redhead certainly wouldn't be the first to blur lines in that way. She reaches her hand out to the side of the cottage for support, before leaning in -- and seeing a tail and horns sprout from her disciple.

Drawing in her breath, she does the first thing that comes to mind: she stomps her feet, making a lot of noise to scare off the rodents. Wouldn't be the first time for -that-, either. "G'wan now, git!" she cries out, rushing into the house to scatter the little meerkats!

Of course, that's -before- she notices the coins. And she takes off running after them, leaving Tanwen in Hawksley's care for the moment! "Y-yeah, let's grab the coins while we can! I think Coco would tan our hides if she found out we were snackin' on these lil' guys!"

Henry might be worried about running out of water, but not Chevy. She starts to close the distance to the meerkats, but as she raises one cupped hand, a miniature raincloud begins to form over it. She reaches up, curls her hand around the raincloud, and clenches her fist...

In an instant, her hand is wrapped around a hard-packed snowball. And in the next moment she whips her hand forward, hurling the snowball at one of the fleeing meerkats with an intend to 'convince' him to drop the goods!

"Also, yeah, -please- don't eat me..."

[TANWEN]
Tanwen scrambles to pull herself back into the impromptu chase, using her tail to support her balance as she starts to clamber along the boards on her hands and feet like a lizard before lifting herself into a loping gait.

"Cooome back meerkats! We're not going to eat you!" she shouts as she runs after the closest one. She leaps headlong into a bush after it - then, from the other side, a tiny flying red lizard pops out in a burst of leaves after the meerkat, leaving a bundle of now-too-big clothing stuck in the foliage behind it. The little dragon zooms along at a faster speed than the running girl could muster, a determined look on its face - or at least, it seems like it's got a determined look on its face.

"I've got you now, meerkat!" Tanwen squeaks as she locks on to the coin-stealing straggler - just before she flies into a snowball that appears to have come out of nowhere, sending her into a tailspin.

"Oh nooo! Ice magic! My one true weakness!" the shivering dragonling shouts. She shakes herself out, then says, "It's not too bad, actually!"

Resuming her pursuit as the meerkat runs onto the beach, she breathes out a plume of fire along the sand in front of it, cutting off its escape. The meerkat turns to face Tanwen as she lands on her haunches, flexing her tiny claws at her sides before advancing on the rodent and trying to lock it in a collar-and-elbow wrestling tie-up. The meerkat proves a slippery foe, though, and nearly slips out of Tanwen's clutches.

"Let go! Meerkats aren't allowed to have Zack Coins anyway!" Tanwen argues as she ends up grasping the coin in her claws in a straight-up tug-of-war and contest of strength with the meerkat. "Meerkats are stronger than I thought," the wyrmling grunts, straining with the effort.

[HENRY]
"Yeah, come back! They won't eat you!" Henry calls after the fleeing meerkats in what he obviously assumes is a reassuring tone. Henry is still on the meerkat spitroast train though. He doesn't know how long they're going to be stuck on this island, and in his opinion being picky is being hungry.

There's a moment where he considers just leaving the coin to the pair of Chevy and Tanwen, especially as the later gets pelted with a snowball, though really, getting smacked with a snowball sounds quite enjoyable given the current situation. And there are three more coins to find.

He looks to Hawksley as if to find some advice there, he is supposed to be his mentor after all, his eyes dart back and forth between the Irishman and the frankly ridiculous scene in front of him. With a sigh he launches himself again at the meerkats, legs pumping to catch up. The glint of the coin shouldn't be too hard to follow, especially once a dragon latches on. Now just to get the meerkat to let go.

He looks at his sword. Without killing it... for now. Racing up he plunges his sword right into the sand of the beach, aimed at the coin carrying burrower, sending a chi thrust through his blade and into the ground in an attempt to make the sand ripple and maybe even erupt ahead of him, with the aim of knocking the meerkat off balance enough to let go.

[HAWKSLEY]
"The closer we are, the more banter you're gonna get from me." Hawksley informs Chevy. It's just the way that the Irishman has grown up, and both his family and friends back home give him as good as he gets.

The brawler exchanges a baffled look with the waterbender as their mentorees geek out. Perhaps once he's actually had a chance to play 'Lucky the paladin dwarf' he will feel more up to speed on such things. Though more than likely the lad will just show up and blag his way through the whole thing.

"It's times like these I'm glad I'm my own weapon." The Cork lad chatters. "I don't need to worry about leaving my equipment on a burning boat or in a bar when I've been on a bender. You can show me a few moves though if you like." He suggests to Henry. "I quite fancy myself as one of those swashbuckling types." He makes a slicing motion through the air with an invisible sword, that suggests he wouldn't be as good at it as he suspects.

The two red haired beauties run off in pursuit of the meerkats and Henry is hot on their trail. The fiery fella tears after them only to see the spectacular sight of Tanwen being smacked by Chevy's snowball. "Ah, you fecking got her, so you did. Maximum points for aim, cailin." He's laughing away like it's the funniest thing he's ever seen. This may be partly because of his lightheadedness due to lack of calories.

"Hollywood might eat you." He calls after the retreating meerkats. "He's got that hungry look in his eyes." He turns to wink at Henry. "I think it would be poor form to make a meal of the poor things but I'm all for getting the coins from them." It seems that the swordsman is aiming to do just that, as he uses his chi to switch up the environment to his advantage. "Nice work, fella." Hawksley praises, throwing in a loud whistle for good measure. Should the trick work and the furry beasts be thrown off-balance, he will launch himself at the neaest one and try to tackle it to the ground.

[CHEVY]
So banter is the price she has to pay for friendship with Hawksley? The Carolina girl shakes her head in a grin. "Well, since you put it that way, I s'pose that'll do... " She might not be as quick-witted as he when it comes to the retorts, but maybe that's a skill she can develop over time.

She draws her breath through her teeth as her snowball smacks into Tanwen instead of the fleeing meerkat. Though, anything could have happened, really! "... Ack! I warn't -tryin- to bean you with it, Tan -- sorry about that!"

Chevy does have another lead of her own to pursue though. And as she gets close, she tries another way of attacking at range -- making the air humid directly in front of the path of one of the coin-carrying meerkats. And when it hops into range, there's the sound of crackling ice as it suddenly finds its feet entombed in a block of ice!

Chevy catches up to her quarry at about the time Tanwen is wrestling for control. "Oh... These lil' guys are all muscle! Just like the hogs back home, they ain't got no reason to not use their whole strength. If we did that, we'd snap their limbs clear off!"

She picks up the half-frozen meerkat, laughing lightly as she notes him shivering. "Hey, sorry there, lil' man. I just need me this thing you're carryin'," she states just over a whisper.

To the others, she calls out -- demonstrating the technique on the thawing rodent as she explains, "Jus' grab hold of the coin with one hand and pry one of their lil' hands off it with your other." A moment later, her task is done -- and the victimized meerkat leaps free, scampering off into the distance!

She looks back to see -- and -hear- -- Henry unleashing a shockwave to stun the meerkats nearest to him, and nods with an impressed look on her face. "Oh yeah, that'll work! Survival of the fittest an' all that. Or, like..." Puzzled at her own thought, she turns the thought over in her head. "... Is it really -survival- so much as robbing fake gold from critters who cain't spend it?"

Eyes crossing for a moment, she turns the coin over in her hands with a grin.

[TANWEN]
When Henry drives his sword into the beach, it's not just one, but two animalistic squeals that ring out in response. Both meerkat and dragonling let go of the shiny coin as sand erupts around them, the force sending Tanwen tumbling away whilst the meerkat decides to abandon the trinket and run to its kin. Tanwen quickly recovers onto all fours and rushes across the sand like a puppy, snatching the coin in her teeth before flitting up and around to land on Henry's shoulder.

"I undewethtimated you, Henwy Thmiththon-Poweth," the chibi dragon speaks around the coin in its teeth before leaning forward, holding the coin out to let it drop into his hand.

"You know your Middle-Earth better than I would have thought. Do you know how any elvish swordplay techniques that you could teach me? Do you speak elvish? We could use it like a secret code, we could."

She turns her head toward the sound of laughter coming from Hawksley. "It's not very nice laughing, Hawksley Moore! Dragons are not for target practice!"

As fortune would have it, the meerkat that Hawksley has taken it upon himself to tackle doesn't manage to elude his grasp - but, as fortune would also have it, it turns out that the terrified rodent also doesn't have any Zack Coins.

[HENRY]
There's a distinct look of satisfaction on his face as his shockwave seems to work. It's nothing he's tried in battle, and if not for the sandy terrain probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did, but given that it did work, he's quite pleased. Though he winces as Tanwen gets caught in the blast.

"I have some tricks that work without weapons." He says with a glance to his mentor, giving a small wink. "I have to account for being disarmed, not a problem for you fist fighters." He pauses to think. "Unless we mean really disarmed which sounds absolutely awful."

As the dragon alights on his shoulder he gives a nod. "I've studied the choreography in the movies, of course." Then in a softer tone. "And I read the books a lot as a kid." Not that he isn't still a kid, but give the teenager his dreams. "Can't speak it but I know a few words."

He sees one meerkat veering from the group, and maybe a glint of gold coming from the little beastie? It's hard to tell in such bright sunlight, even with his glasses on. "Hold on." He murmurs to his shoulder companion, then leaving his sword where it is in the sand to spare himself the extra weight, he rushes forward, head low.

Leaping up, he kicks up sand behind him, but lands with one hand and foot on a palm tree, then kicks off from that, propelling himself forward and above his meerkat target, intending to just come down on the poor thing from above like a wingless swooping hawk, though perhaps a tad less graceful. "Gotcha!"

[HAWKSLEY]
"She was trying to get you, Tan!" Hawksley teases the farmgirl. "She had a real mean look in those blue eyes of hers."

Meerkat mayhem is now well under way. There's one trapped in an ice cube, which causes Hawksley to think about whiskey on the rocks. Leave it to Chevy to be able to handle it though, with her history of wrestling animals! She even took on the might of Bacon Storm. Before long she's acquired a coin, causing the Irishman to let out a cheer.

The tumbling Tanwen is the next to get some gold, albeit of the fool's variety. As she lands on Henry's shoulder, Hawksley gives the lad a grin. "It looks like you've found a friend, fella." As for himself, he's landed in trouble with the dragonette. "Ah, I'm only having a laugh, so I am." He defends himself, as he pats the meerkat down, only to find it empty-handed, or pawed, as it were. "Feck, this furry fella's got fuck all. Ah well, on to the next, I suppose."

He's soon back on his feet, dusting off his denim shorts and ready to discuss tricks and tactics with Henry. "It's good to be resourceful and have the ability to think fast. Pulling someone's arms off is a messy business though, so best avoided." The brawler sounds like it's something he's experienced.

The teen is then on the move again, athletically targeting his next victim. The Irishman gives him an approving nod and then looks past him to the next cottage. "I'm gonna go ahead and see what's in there."

[CHEVY]
Chevy smiles as she hears Hawksley cheering for her! But, it isn't long before she has a show to watch of her own, as the shockwave unleashes a wave of terror upon meerkat and dragon alike. She raises her hand towards the coin as it falls, but with Tanwen racing to scoop up the coin, she holds her position to watch with pride.

"There you go! Y'all got one!" The Carolina girl pumps her fist in congratulations, nodding as she starts to make her way back towards the cottages.

"Yeah... Junko done put us all through the wringer, in more ways than one. I wish things coulda worked out nicer with her, but that's how it goes, I guess..."

Chevy laughs softly as Henry gives a nod to the possibility of being disarmed. And... well, the comment Hawksley makes. "... I should -hope- pullin' people's arms off ain't something you're used to, Mr. Moore."

She starts to make her way back to the cottages, rubbing her thumb across the faux-gold coin to clean it off. And then she wheezes as a humorous thought occurs to her.

"I mean, you're better at pullin' people's legs!"

Chevy's teeth shine with a mischievous grin. Though, Henry's on the move again -- and her eyes widen. "And... yeah! That's a good one, Henry! You gotta have -somethin- rarin' to go in case you gotta tussle unarmed for a bit..."

Not long after, she's caught up enough to step onto the porch of the cottage next to Hawksley. She's... fairly sure he can take care of himself, but she's standing by just in case. She'll just look through the window, and check the front for traps, until she hears word from Hawksley's findings.

"Holler if y'all find anythin', alright?"

[TANWEN]
Tanwen clings on tight to Henry's shoulder, though fortunately she's been trained by her years with Winn not to use her claws when perching on somebody's person, or the furniture - an educational accomplishment she proudly lorded over Winn's pet cat prior to changing her own chosen identity from feline to humanoid. The tiny dragon lets out a Welsh-flavoured whoop as her trusty mount takes off in pursuit of their prize-carrying prey.

"You've got him!" Tanwen shouts as Henry catches the critter, now revealed to be holding another of the sought-after coins. The meerkat quickly lets go of the coin, instead focusing on attempting to free itself from the wingless bird of prey's talons. The little dragon hops off to collect the coin from the sand, holding it above its head with its foreclaws. "Ye! Utuvienyes!"

Then, for the benefit of everyone but Henry, she announces, "That means 'Yes, I've found it.'"

She turns toward Hawksley, lowering the coin down to her abdomen and looking perhaps as mortified as a small dragon can look. "You shouldn't be pulling peoples' arms off, Hawksley Moore. It's not very nice."

When Hawksley opens the screen door of the next cottage, he's greeted by a hissing sound, as if there's a gas leak occurring somewhere inside the cottage. Fortunately, it quickly becomes clear that there isn't a gas leak occurring inside the cottage, as the obvious source of the hissing sound (and perhaps reason the meerkats have avoided this particular cottage) is a massive slithering constrictor serpent that's taken over the queen-sized bed and is coiled in a pile of scales on its surface. Next to the serpent, laid neatly on the pillow, is a complimentary Zack Coin, awaiting the cottage's first resident - or perhaps its second, as it were.

[HENRY]
Henry lands in the sand with an oomph. Sand really isn't that soft a surface to go dive bombing fromt he air, but a life of stunt work training takes over and as he clutches the meerkat he goes into a roll to soften some of the impact.

Coming out of the roll, he eagerly reaches out to grab the coin from the meerkat, only to find that Tanwen already snatched it out of the air. Still, Henry has a meerkat in hand and gives it a once over look. "I guess you don't look that tasty afterall." He mutters, followed by a much louder, "Yeowch!"

Maybe the meerkat understood, as it decides to take a bit of Henry before the opposite can occur, and he lets go, the little beastie hitting the sand then taking off.

Shaking his hand, Henry gets to his feet, muttering under his breath about rabies. Let's hope not. But soon he's treking back along the sand towards the cabins, plucking his sword from the sand and peering at the two mentors. "Is there more in there?!"

[HAWKSLEY]
"I've never pulled a fella's arms off in my life." Hawksley laughs, looking between the two redheads. "Like you say, Chevy. My style is more pulling people's legs." He grins back at her. "I'll holler my heart out, so I will." With that he's moving deeper inside the cottage.

He hears the hissing sound right away. His eyes move straight to the bed in the centre of the room and he feels his heart start to beat faster. "Chevy Beaumont. Don't you dare step foot in here." He calls to her. He's very aware of her fear of snakes. She can't even look at her own boyfriend when he transforms into one and her phobia was obvious in her rematch with Coco. "The rest of you stay out there too." He advises, slowly starting to approach the bed.

Why doesn't he just turn around and run? Because he can see that as the snake slithers, there's something gold and shiny on the silk pillow by it. With their situation as desperate as it is, he doesn't want to risk the chance of missing out on any reward they can earn, particularly if it's of the edible variety.

Hawksley himself isn't afraid of snakes. He'd handled Buck transforming into a trio of them during their match in his stride. In that situation he'd told the serpents to feck off and then followed up by setting his hands ablaze. If it ain't broke don't fix it. No sooner are the words out of his mouth, then he's approaching the constrictor with flaming fists, intending to scare them off and leave the way clear for him to grab the Zack Coin.

[CHEVY]
Chevy pales as Henry lets out a cry of pain -- but she soon has something else to cheer for as Tanwen cries out a victory call. "Right on, another one! Great job, y'all!" Her attention lingers on Henry for a bit -- though, just to be sure, she asks tentatively, "Hey y'all, just checkin'... Henry, that was a 'yeowch, that hurt' and not a 'yeowch, I'm bleedin' out here,' right? I got some band-aids here if y'all need 'em..."

Satisfied with -that- answer, the Southern belle grins faintly as Tanwen gives Hawksley more grief for his hypothetical arm-tugging escapades! Allowing him to retort, she chimes in afterwards, "Well, he -does- some not-so-nice things at times, but maybe *that* warn't one of 'em," she explains cheerily.

And, as Henry asks about Hawksley's entrance, Chevy starts to take a few steps towards the Eire lad's cottage of choice -- right up until she's warned by her first -and- last names to stay out. This, of course, gets her even more curious to walk in.

Right until she registers the hissing, and roots right into place on the porch. Her jaw seizes with terror, and she lets out a mumbling sound that is about as close as she can get to 'sure thing' without actually using -words-.

Though. From the shimmering light patterns she sees reflecting on the cottage floors, she can surmise fire is being employed. That... makes her think more of spiders, which helps relieve some of her tension.

She turns her head sideways, directing her shout to Henry and Tanwen. "Well, it looks like he done found -somethin-..." she calls out. Turning back towards Hawksley, she starts to form a raincloud over her head in anticipation "Just... try not to burn the whole place down gettin' it, Mister!"

[TANWEN]
Tanwen tucks the coin between her teeth so that she can trot proudly back across the sand on all fours like a terrier with a bone. She wanders over to the entrance to the cabin where her swimsuit was left before, setting the coin down so that she can get ready to gather her clothing for her reverse transformation. With the other three focused on the other cottage, she decides to go ahead and quickly change back.

A short time later, she walks up behind Chevy and Henry, still tugging on her lifeguard top and straightening her straps underneath it. "Oh, what is it?" she asks, sniffing the air as she detects the scent of smoke.

She gasps, then runs in after the Hollywood Heat members. "Are you setting things on fire without me, Hawksley Moore? That's not very nice!" she protests before stopping short as she sees the snake. "Oh! That's the biggest slow worm I've ever seen, it is!"

Her amber eyes go wide with wonder.

"Oh, let me help, Hawksley Moore! I was a slow worm once, I was! I can reason with it!"

Approaching with a slight crouch toward the snake, she starts making a hissing noise with her tongue. This only seems to rile the snake more, which starts hissing even louder.

"Oh, I forgot," Tanwen says ruefully. "It will be a Caribbean Slow Worm. It probably doesn't speak Slow Worm Welsh."

She turns to Hawksley. "Don't worry, though. Slow Worms aren't very bitey."

[HENRY]
Henry high tails it across the sand back to the cottages, he lets Tanwen keep the coin for now, even though in his mind it is very much his coin. He divebombed for it afterall.

But it's hard to miss the tension Chevy displays on the porch, even if he can't see Hawksley inside the cabin at the moment, and he's not as good at smelling fire as the dragon.

"Slow worm?" He asks with no little curiosity. That's a new one to him.

So he moves a little to the side so he can see inside the cottage and even he freezes for a moment. "That's not a worm, that's a snake." He mutters, hefting his sword. He raises his voice a little to carry into the cottage for Hawksley. "Are you sure you don't want something sharp to help with this?"

He lowers his sword, putting the tip into the sand. "I did kill Medusa after all." More like beat Skye in a costume. Barely. Or maybe he's trying to inject some humor into the situation, because the way he's shuffling his feet it very much looks like he's rather not be standing there at this particular moment.

[HAWKSLEY]
The cheers from outside tell Hawksley that the other three coins have been claimed. This means that if he can secure the last one from the snake, they will have the full set.

Chevy seems to be heeding his warning and with that worry out of the way, the Irishman can focus on his intentions. "I'm not planning on burning down the building." He assures the hayseed. Should he have turned around however, he may have agreed that the raincloud was a wise move. As it is, his dark gaze remains fixed forward, his fiery fists dancing towards the reptile.

Once again, Hawksley finds himself in trouble with Tanwen, on the repeat offence of being not very nice. "Get your arse in here then, if you wanna help." He calls to her. "I'm not sure if you can reason with it, Welsh or not, but you might be able to frighten it off with some flames of your own."

Henry is on hand to correct the dragonette on her misidentification of the creature. "The fella's right." He chimes in, his Cork accent calm and controlled. "I'm not planning on killing the thing though, so I'll give the sword a miss. I did see that fight against Skye though, as it happens. You handled yourself well."

As the lad's rough hands come closer to the snake, it starts to edge away from him, making its way across the bedside table to flee the fire. From here it slips down to the floor, leaving the way free for Hawksley to grab the gold coin from the pillow. "Tanwen, make sure you guide it away from Chevy, so she can stay clear." He calls out, sticking the circular object into the pocket of his shorts and starting to head out of the cottage.

[CHEVY]
Chevy can't help but break into a snickering fit as Tanwen, once again, calls out Hawksley for 'not being very nice.' For starting fires without her, of all things! She'd do her best to stop laughing if Tanwen looks her way though. She'd -already- given him a warning by that point though, so she just keeps her yap shut for the moment.

... Mostly because everyone seems to be talking about this 'slow worm' that Hawksley seems to have found. Chevy still -- for the record -- hasn't even looked into the open doorway yet. She'd heard hissing, and even -that- has her rooted in place as Henry walks up to offer his sword of assistance. She does, though, give the Hollywood scion a friendly -- if anxious -- smile as he walks past.

When Chevy hears Hawksley start talking about the snake as if it might slither past at any moment, she takes that as a cue -- and -bolts- from the house as fast as she can. She doesn't stop till she's at least six python-lengths away from the house -- and at that point, she whirls around to level an outstretched palm towards the door's threshold.

She hollers back into the cottage from her safe distance.
"It's alright! I'm... I'm clear!"
The stormcloud over her head trembles -- and rain begins to drip onto her tanned flesh.

She's ready for the snake's exit. And she stands ready to dissuade it from picking -her- as a target!

[TANWEN]
Tanwen puts her hands on her hips as Henry identifies the Caribbean Slow Worm as Actually A Snake. "Oh, so that's what a Giant Snake looks like! I reckon it's probably got at least twelve hit dice, it does! Don't try to wrestle it, like! They do constricting damage!"

Tanwen lets out a gasp as Henry mentions defeating Medusa. "Did Medusa have a whole headful of snakes as big as that? That's so scary! She must have been a giant boss monster!"

The snake, fleeing the heat, heads straight toward the exit - on the other side of Tanwen. Naturally, she assumes that it's coming directly for her. With a squeal, Tanwen hops up on one foot defensively. "It's trying to grapple meee!" she yells, before turning to flee the cabin with the snake hot on her heels. Forgetting everything that she's been asked to do, she instinctively runs straight for her mentor and protector in an awkward gait. "Chevy, help! It's not a slow wooorm!!!"

[HENRY]
"You know, in some places snake is a delicacy." Henry points out as he lingers near the cabin entrance. Really. What is it with the Hollywood scion and his sudden interest in the edibility of every animal they come across? Well, he is a teenager and they are always hungry.

"Fine. No killing the snake." He replies to Hawksley, flipping his sword around in his hand to slide it back into the sheathe on his back. Though he does preen a little under the compliment from his mentor. He was particularly proud of that fight.

"Can't you just fly out of reach?" He says to Tanwen, even as he's backing away from the slithering creature himself. He looks up, and jumps to grab the edge of the cottage roof, then with a swing, flips himself up onto the roof where he can look down from a safe height. Or what he hopes is a safe height.

After a moment he looks at the thatch under him and hollars. "Please don't set the roof on fire, thanks!"

[HAWKSLEY]
As Hawksley hotfoots it out of the cottage, he's in time to see a glimpse of Chevy as she gets the hell out of the way. Tanwen is still lost in her world of gaming but whatever gets the girl by is fine with him.

"Top tip, Tan." He calls out to her. "Nobody wrestle the snake and it'll all be tickety boo." He actually recalls seeing a clip on Gogglebox where a fella got one of the feckers wrapped around his neck and it looked like a scary situation to be in.

The snake slithers out, passing dangerously close to the dark-haired lad's sneaker. It seems its ultimate goal is the Welsh girl though, or at least you'd think so by her reaction. "We won't let it get you, cailin." He assures her. "We've got four people in our party and we're armed with fire, water and a bloody big sword."

The man from Cork is more concerned when she runs towards Chrvy though. "Don't be scaring her." He warns. "She's not so fond of snakes."

Henry's response to his mentor's praise is noticed by Hawksley. It's grand, given that he's much more of a carrot than a stick type. Unless he's actually hitting someone with a stick, which has been known in his fights. "If we get desperate enough, then we can start eating snakes, meerkats and whatever else looks like it could be food. For now though let's find the vending machine and see what we can get with these coins."

[CHEVY]
Even if Chevy -is- good at grappling, she would rather take on just about any other species of reptile than a snake! The Carolina girl had figured it'd be better to flee from the snake rather than try to meet it head-on.

She stares back with incredulity as the three near the cabin start talking about the snake as if it were a harmless meal instead of a -murderous predator!-. "I warn't plannin' on rasslin' him -or- eatin' him!! Just... make him go away!"

She -definitely- does not count on it chasing her protege -right towards- her though! Panic starts to set in as a fearful Tanwen starts luring the beast right towards her! She'd ... tell her protege to run another direction, but time's running short! Sweat beads at the back of her neck...

And the sudden chill that runs down the bikini'd fighter's spine gives her an idea.

Baring clenched teeth, Chevy reaches both hands up to the miniature thundercloud hovering overhead. The cloud swells, then bursts open like a water balloon, unloading several gallons of water onto the ground between herself and Tanwen. Chevy backpedals, and the water chases her downhill -- but then it freezes over into a treacherous ice slick, into a rough patch roughly four feet across in all directions.

"Just jump towards me, Tan! I'll catch you!" shouts Chevy, holding her arms wide!

Though, as Tanwen thunders closer, Chevy is trying to keep an eye on that snake. She'd still be able to catch Tanwen, but she's hoping that the ice confuses the snake long enough that she can freeze it in place while swinging the smaller Atlantean to safety!

"Why's it always gotta be *snakes!?!*"

[TANWEN]
"It's not tickety-boo!!" Tanwen shouts as she scampers in her lizard-like sprint toward Chevy. As the snake slithers after her, the advice from Henry is lost to the hissing coming from the oversized serpent. She does hear Chevy's instruction, though. Perhaps Chevy was intending that she should switch back to her smaller dragon form to be caught, but regardless, the Welsh girl leaps bodily at Chevy much like a large dog that's used to being held as a puppy. At least she's still quite a bit shorter than Chevy is!

The snake, for its part, seems to grow confused as it hits the patch of ice, slowing down as its internal temperature starts to rapidly plummet.

And, watching from a short distance away, the leader of the meerkat tribe sees a moment of opportunity and starts yelping instructions to its fellows who have gathered to watch the commotion from a safe distance.

In a swarm, the meerkats start rushing toward the snake. At first, they surround it on all fours, tails on end. Then, when it doesn't seem to offer any movement, they suddenly rush the serpent, dozens of tiny paws grabbing hold and lifting the iced snake up above their heads before they start to carry it off toward the treeline.

[HENRY]
"What's tickety-boo?" Henry asks as he peers over the edge of the roof and down on his mentor. He's not coming down yet, if he can't kill the snake, he's staying up here and away from it.

Laying flat on the thatch, he crosses his arms and rests his chin on them, just watching the commotion around Chevy and Tanwen, and hiding his more than a little amused smirk. Good thing they're likely too busy to notice.

The conclusion of the spectacle is not what Henry expects though, and as the meerkats suddenly seem to be hauling off the snake for their own evening meal, he blanches.

"Maybe.." He starts softly, still looking down on Hawksley from above. "Maybe we should leave the meerkats alone. I'm suddenly worried what might happen if I fell asleep.."

[HAWKSLEY]
The ice is a bright idea. The poor snake has now battled with both fire and ice but its greatest foe is still to come in the form of meerkats. First though, he sneaks a peek at Tanwen as she goes flying through the air towards Chevy. The Irishman is intrigued whether or not the taller woman will catch her, and if so, if this might become one of their tag team moves!

"You should get Buck to give you some exposure therapy." Hawksley suggests when Chevy complains about the threat of the reptile. "Gradually build up how long you can look at him, while he's all snakey, like."

Tanwen is doubting just how tickety boo the situation is, and on that subject, Hawksley has just confused the hell out of Henry. "It's like grand. You know, everything is just fine, fella." He looks up at his mentoree on the roof and asks. "How's the weather up there, Hollywood?"

That's when the meerkats make their reappearance and what follows has the Cork lad creased with laughter. "Here we all are fecking about with the snake and they just come in and carry it off, cool as you like. They're making us look like eejits, so they are."

[CHEVY]
As the Welsh girl throws arms about her shoulders, Chevy catches her around the ribcage. The hayseed is used to pudgy porcines, so twirling around someone Tanwen's size is a snap! Which... she does, stepping and pivoting out of the direct path of the serpent!

So, by the time the two are out of harm's way, both members of Team Atlantis get a front-row seat to both a chilled snake and a flash mob of meerkats! As she sets Tanwen down, the Carolina girl can't help but feel -some- trepidation at the sight...

"I tell you what, snake must'a been on -their menu..." she comments, keeping her distance from the mammalian mob. As the meerkats run off with their chilled prize, she glances down to Tanwen with an uneasy smile on her face. "Well? Is everythin' 'tickety-boo' *now*?"

She casts her gaze up to Henry, after he makes a comment about the passing meerkats. "... Well, we know they like gold and we know they like their food frozen, so I s'pose it wouldn't hurt to keep a fire goin' at nighttime. And maybe someone should keep watch, just in case..."

As she and Tanwen start their way back to meet up with the cottage crew, she seems to have broken the frightened spell enough to rest her hands on her hips. "Well, I mean, that's a -thing-, but we done tried that. So long's I know it's Buck I ain't scared t'all..." And then, as Chevy finds it hard to tell a lie, she looks askance afterwards, clarifying: "... Well, maybe a smidge, but that's like, the first minute or so. Besides, fear ain't a -bad- thing, is it? Keeps me on high alert..."

So long as she's not fighting against Coco in a Scylla getup.

As she gets closer, she looks to and for sight of a vending machine. "C'mon down, 'Hollywood!'" she calls out, adopting Hawksley's nickname for the young knight. "I think we're safe from those meerkat thieves! But... let's go ahead and cash in these gold coins before those grabby hands come back..."

[TANWEN]
"I think it's a bit like 'Bydd popeth yn iawn,' it is," Tanwen helpfully supplies to Henry after she's been safely set down by her mentor. She then turns to watch in wonder as the meerkats surround the snake before carrying it off, her head slowly tilting to one side as her eyes go wide.

As the meerkat flash mob disappears, she turns to look to the others for the answer to the burning question that the events that have transpired leave her with.

"Do we still get experience for the encounter?"

She then answers Chevy's inquiry, scratching her own head as she does so: "I think it's tickety-boo now, like."

She looks delighted when Chevy suggests that they all go and cash their coins. "Oh, that sounds exciting, it does! Wait -"

Realisation slowly dawns across her face. "If we cash the coins, does that mean we can't keep the coins?"

She frowns as she looks down at the lonely coin that she's holding.

Conveniently, there's a Zack-in-the-Box vending machine positioned next to the junction between the cottages, presumably intended for new arrivals to have a chance to spend their complimentary Zack Coins (ZC) without having to go far. The ultra-modern vending machine seems to contain all manner of possible prizes, though there's no visible way to select what one wants - only a simple coin slot appropriately sized for the island's unusual currency.

[HENRY]
"Snake free." Henry says when the inquiry about the weather comes up. He's still squinting in the direction the meerkats carried off their prize in, shaking his head. "Depends. Do you feel more experienced?" He asks Tanwen curiously.

Gripping the edge of the roof, he swings himself over the side. Dangling for a moment by one hand, then dropping to the ground. He brushes off the front of his shirt and sighs. "I think I would have preferred a fight. But at least we got the coins, right?" He turns to regard the vending machine, frowning at Zack's mug painted on it. Zack and that stupid grin. He's not sure how but he's pretty sure this whole thing is his fault. He looks back at Tanwen and puts out his hand. "Can I get the coin from that meerkat I snagged?" He asks, still considering it his coin despite the dragon grabbing it out of midair. "Wanna pop it in here"

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley applauds Chevy's catch of Tanwen. "Nice work, cailins. I've got high hopes for your partnership, so I have." He can't help but follow this with a laugh when the North Carolina native prounounces tickety boo. "I love hearing accents." He states. "All of us with our different ones going on. It makes life so gorgeous and colourful."

As the hayseed explains her beau's efforts to help her conquer her phobia, he gives her a smile. "Well it sounds like you're making progress. That's grand to hear. One day you'll face down one of those feckers and not feel any fear. Although, I suppose you're right in that we do need some of that to help us survive. As long as we don't let it rule us and stop us living our lives."

It seems that Hollywood is catching on as a nickname for Henry. The Irishman is the creator of most of those used by his buddies back home, so he's glad to claim another for his collection. He watches as the lad in question climbs down from his refuge on the roof and then turns to Tanwen.

"You're a lovely lass, so you are, but I don't know what the feck you're on about most of the time." He follows his words with a wink, showing that it's playful teasing rather than meant with any malice. "You'll get the experience of having gone through it and you'll have a fantastic yarn to spin, the next time you're out for a drinking session somewhere."

He considers her other question. "I don't think we get to keep the actual coins because we'll need them to activate the vending machine."

He moves over to it, ready to insert his own once it's his turn to do so.

[CHEVY]
Chevy beams back at Hawksley's praise! "Haha, thanks!" There's a moment where she considers what just happened -- and what it must surely look like to anyone who -didn't- know the situation. Just Chevy in a revealing outfit, spinning Tanwen around like that? With how popular Rodrigo's last fight with Tanwen was, there'd be no telling how popular -that- clip might be -- that is, if there were cameras, and an internet to broadcast it on...

Chevy blinks back at Tanwen. She -tries- to say those Welsh words along with her. "Beeth pop peth an' yawn? Now that's a mouthful!"

She grins, good-naturedly, as she watches Henry clamber down off the roof. "Well, I mean, we -can- get some sparrin' in, if y'all want. Might not be a bad idea, really -- I cain't fight my -full- strength without a pole an' some buckets, but I'll make due..."

Chevy smiles broadly, hooking her thumbs in her belt loops. She grins back at the answer Hawksley gives. But... she did latch onto -some- of what Tanwen's strange speech mannerisms are about. "Well, yeah, we -all- get experience points here, don't we? We survived the encounter, I heard we all get -somethin- for it from the DM, don't we?" She gives her protege a little nudge with her elbow.

But then... well. The question of what to do with coins comes up. "Oh... right."

There's a moment of silence as the hayseed's forehead wrinkles in concentration.

But then she reaches for her back pocket. She'd felt silly toting her phone around since there's no service, but... she didn't have any other way to record things of interest. And this is definitely something of interest! She whips out her phone, noting: "We should record ourselves, first! That'll do, right?"

A few taps later, she's already chattering away to her phone, trying to maneuver Tanwen into view alongside her first.

"Hey Mr Tom! Hey Mr Lou! Team Atlantis here, checkin' in! Just wanted y'all to be able to see what we found. We're jus' about to cash these shiny Zack Coins we found -- but yeah check it out!" She shows off her Zack coin, then pivots the camera to Tanwen, and then Henry and Hawksley!

But then, as she stashes her phone, it's her turn to be perplexed by the interface.

"Ooh, moon pies. ... So, uh, how's this thing work? I don't see no buttons anywhere."

[TANWEN]
Tanwen twists her lips up as Henry asks her whether she feels more experienced. "Well, I don't think I've gone up a level, like, so it's hard to say, it is." She looks slightly taken aback when Henry asks her for the coin that she's carrying. "But did you lose the coin that I gave you before? I thought it was fair that I give you that one so I keep this one. You know, a bit of swapsies. Like Christmas." She starts to peer about for the one that she gave before, first on Henry's person and then in the sand in case it's been dropped, but she's distracted by Hawksley's commentary.

"Oh, but I don't drink, I don't. Maybe I'll tell Winn what happened and he can spin the yarns when he's out for drinking."

She's back to looking for that other coin as soon as she's spoken, frowning slightly at the thought of surrendering her coin to the vending machine. She's distracted again by Chevy's nudging. "Oh! I think you're right. It's just a bit of controversy when the DM sort of solves the encounter for you. But we got the coins, we did. Maybe just not the ex-pee for the snake, like. Ah! Here it is!"

Finding the coin she donated before, she snatches it, then deposits the one that Henry has asked for into his possession.

"Here you go! Ooh! It's a bit like Double Christmas, it is."

Smiling, she turns back to the machine. Truth be told, as much as she likes the idea of collecting shiny things, she likes the idea of buying things even more. It might even have chocolate inside!

"Okay! Here it goes in the slot."

Before any further protest can be made, she pushes the coin into the gap. With a whirr and a jingle, a door in the bottom of the machine slides open, and out pops a blue baseball cap into the collection tray before the door slides shut again with a force that suggests that trying to sneak a hand inside while a prize is being released might be risky.

Tanwen picks the cap up out of the tray, holding it upside down. "Oh. Is it for catching frogs?" she asks, before turning it over. "Oh! It's got a pirate on it! It must be a pirate hat!"

She shows the cap around to the others. The front has an image of the face of a severe bald man who, even in a slightly cartoonized rendition, looks rather intimidating, an eyepatch obscuring one of his eyes. Apparently the figure is meant to be recognisable enough to not need a label.

"I think I liked the coin better," she admits. Her expression sinks for a moment, then brightens hopefully. "Does anyone fancy making it a Triple Christmas?"

[HENRY]
"You gave me one?" Henry asks, brow furrowing as he tries to recall, then starts patting himself down and digging in his pockets, coming up empty with a shrug of his shoulders. "Guess we dropped it." At least he's not foisting fault completely on to Tanwen, instead helping to look around for the tell tale glint of fake gold.

He breathes a small sigh once the coin is recovered, turning it over in his hands a few times. At least they wouldn't need to find another one, maybe this time hidden under an angry panda or something.

"More like sad Christmas." Henry mutters. "I didn't even like Christmas in California becasue it was too warm." Not what Tanwen means, he knows, but it's his takeaway from the conversation all the same. He's about to slip the coin into the machine, but the Welsh lass beats him to it.

"That's not food." He mutters as the hat comes out, frowning at it. He even wrinkles his nose at the picture of the guy on it. "I'd have kept the coin." He says.

Even with that sentiment, he's turning to pop his coin into the machine, taking a step back as he isn't sure it might not just explode on him or something.

The vending machine makes a small mechanical rumble, but luckily does not explode. The thunk of something solid and metal landing in the vending drop has Henry lifting a brow. Carefully, as if expecting a snake, or worse a meerkat, he dips his hand in and extracts a can. Zack's grinning face on the label with the words 'Zack's Famous Baked Beans' across it in gaudy lettering.

"Well, at least it's food?" Henry states as he turns it over in his hands. "Maybe one of you can get some hot dogs and we can make a real meal of it."

[HAWKSLEY]
"I'm always up for sparring." Hawksley says, leaning against the vending machine and lifting his tank top up to wipe a few beads of sweat from his brow. As Chevy's phone comes out to record the quartet, he nods his head. "A grand idea." When it's his turn to have it pointed at him, he blows a kiss to any potential viewers. It looks like Tom and Lou might be in for a treat.

The coin confusion carries on around him, whilst the Cork lad finds himself feeling strangely contented. He perks up even more, when he picks up what Tanwen is saying about her guardian. "Winn likes to down a few, does he? Tell him I'll go for a few pints with him some time. He seems like a good fella."

The machine starts making whirring sounds, as Tanwen is the first to feed it with the golden coin it craves. Hawksley cranes his dark-haired head around to get a good view of the bounty she's secured. "A baseball hat. That's a solid start, so it is. It'll keep you nice and shaded from the sun. I wonder who the fella with the eyepatch is. He doesn't look much like a pirate to me. More like a fighter, to be fair."

Next up is Henry and he nabs himself some baked beans. They're not the Heinz brand that Hawksley is used to, but it's a bloody good source of protein, so a definite win in the Irishman's eyes. "Beans beans, good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you fart." He helpfully recites, before clapping Henry hard on the back. "Good work, fella. I'll be having my go next, so I will."

He steps into place and gives the coin a kiss before popping it into the slot. Soon the sounds of his reward being released are heard and he moves to grab it from the slot swiftly.

Holding up his prize, Hawksley gives a grin. "It's only a compact disc, so it is, like my mammy has. Return to Zack Island: Pop Punk Playlist." He reads out, before turning it over to check the track list.

The noise that comes out of the lads's lips next can only be described as sheer delight. "The first track is Walking Barefoot by Ash. Zack's played a blinder."

He gives an encouraging look to Chevy, followed by a light nudge. "Come on then. Let's see what loot you can land us."

[CHEVY]
Controversy? Chevy laughs back at Tanwen, hoping she can finagle her into granting XP of some sort. "Oh, well, Henry jostled up the meerkats, you chased 'em down, Hawksley got the snake scared of fire and I chilled him to the bone. It's too bad the meerkats won't get ex-pee -- they're en-pee-sees, right?"

Her cheeks darken slightly, at the realization to how strange that might sound out of context. But she is, at least in -some- measure, starting to sync with the way Tanwen seems to be overlaying a roleplaying game over the foursome's real-life escapades.

The freckled farm girl puts on her best smile. Hawksley's up for sparring -- and so is she! But... all in its own time. "But yeah. We don't have to -fight- to get experience. But it's probably the best way to make sure we're ready for our next round, ain't it?"

She holds her coin in her hand, though she's happy to let the others try the vending machine out first. "It seems weird that they just lump all these things into just one machine. Like, back home, they just got Coke machines and they got snack machines, you cain't just get one from the other. Ain't they gotta keep 'em separate?"

She blinks, as Tanwen receives her gift. A triple Christmas?

"Oh, that there's the one guy, he..." She frowns, eyes crossing for a moment as she tries to remember the guy's name. "He used to be real big in fightin'. I mean, he's real big anyway! But.." She rests a comforting hand on Tanwen's shoulder. "Haha, let's just see what the rest of us get, then we can see about white elephantin' or somethin'..."

She grins as Henry gets a can of questionably-packaged baked beans. It's... Just a funny label, though, right? "Well, -that's- food..." she notes, echoing Henry's earlier statement with a cheeky grin. "Does it have one of those pop tops? We might have to scrounge the cabins for a can opener otherwise..."

And then she turns her attention to Hawksley as he tries his luck. "Oh, that's not food," she comments. Though she does widen her eyes as Hawksley finds his favorite band among the featured artists. "... Wow, he's got good taste! Aside from lumping all this stuff inta one machine, I mean..."

She snickers lightly, as Hawksley gives her a nudge. "Okay, okay, gimme a sec. You got the luck of the Irish, I just got good ol' southern grit." She claps her hands together once, rubbing her coin gingerly between her palms.

"This is gonna be food, I know it. Moon pies or hot dogs, here we come!"

She drops the coin in.
Ka-chunk!
The spools turn. And something very not-foodlike whumps into the pickup area.
Chevy reaches in, and pulls out...

"Oh cool, a hat!" A paper ring both identifies the item and keeps it coiled into a tight bundle. One slice of a thumbnail later, she's unfurling the item and starting to plant it upon her head.

"Oh, it's a nice one too! Just like the Hatteras one I brought here...". Though that one is a different color, and back with the remainder of her things.

Her eyes twinkle for a moment -- and then, impulsively, she plucks off the hat and places it atop Tanwen's head.

"Hey! It looks pretty sweet on you, too!" She grins. "Floppy hats are great to wear while you're fishin' -- they ain't too tight so they're good an' comfy! If you ain't so happy with the ball cap I can trade ya."

She blinks for a moment. And adds with a grin. "Well, it warn't food either. But I think we made a decent haul!"

[TANWEN]
Tanwen looks a little dismayed as Henry's reaction to her hat confirms her own sentiments about it. It's not that she doesn't like pirates, but she likes shiny coins more. "Maybe if I wear it, Winn will finally let me try rum, so I can find out what being a real pirate is like. We've already got to plunder some booty today, too!"

She looks slightly interested when Henry's cans come out of the machine. It seems that a pull tab has been provided for convenient snacking. "Ooh! Now we just need some toast to put them on. I think we'll need more cans, though, like."

Tanwen gasps as Hawksley recites his ode to beans. "Hawksley Moore!" she says, sounding shocked. A beat passes before she finishes her thought: "I didn't know you were a poet. Maybe you can help me with writing some Welsh poetry, so they'll accept my application to join the bards."

She tilts her head when the machine spits out a CD. "Oh! That's nice. Can you make it play music?"

She turns to Chevy as her mentor starts to explain who the person on her cap actually is, then smiles as the hat is placed on her head. It goes lopsided almost immediately. "Cheers, Chevy! Oh, yes, you can have mine, then!"

She stands up on her tip-toes to place her Sagat ballcap backwards on Chevy's head.

"And they're both blue, for Atlantis!" Well, indigo is sort of like blue, anyway. Chevy's recommendation leads naturally to Tanwen's next question: "Are we going fishing, then? Max was going to show me how to fish, I think."

[HENRY]
"You're not putting my beans on toast." Henry says, suddenly clutching the can a little bit closer to himself. "I don't care if it's a thing on your island, it's a weird thing. The proper way to eat beans is from the can, heated over a campfire. Maybe with a hot dog in it."

Sure, he's had full English brekkies before, he still thinks beans on toast is weird, and "Also not a breakfast food." And it's probably amusing to some karmic deity out there that the rich kid is protectively cluching a can of beans. One that he hasn't bothered checking the expiration date on.

"So.." He's looking around at their collected treasures.

"As for supplies, two hats, a CD, and a single can of beans doesn't seem like it's going to help out very much." He says sullenly, looking a little disappointed in the haul.

"I mean maybe if we were on vacation, but weren't we supposed to be getting survival stuff together?" He taps the top of his can with a finger, considering. "Maybe the other groups had some better luck getting food stuffs together?"

"Or.." He continues on. "We can try bashing the vending machine and seeing if something falls out?" HE adds in a tone that he hopes sounds helpful, but really just comes across as a little to eager to start beating up an innocent vending machine.

"Also.. who even uses CD players anymore." This said in a low, barely audible mumble.

[HAWKSLEY]
"Practice makes perfect." Is Hawksley's response regarding sparring to prepare for the next round. Not that he sees himself as anywhere near perfect and nor would he want to be. "Don't be worrying too much about the mechanics of the machine." He advises Chevy. "Some things are better when we don't know how they work." The Irishman is briefly interested in the identity of the fighter on the cap, but he's soon concerning himself more with the present again.

He peers over at the pull top can and nods with approval. "Those are one of the best inventions since sliced bread." He notes, which brings them to the subject of beans on toast. Tanwen may be a fan of the popular British meal but he can take it or leave it, truth be told. Right now though, he'd definitely take it. "I'll share your beans however they come, fella." He says happily to Henry, his sculpted stomach rumbling in agreement. "I mean, if we're talking real fantasy food, then I enjoy beans most in a nice casserole with a big chunk of soda bread and salted butter." The dark-haired lad practically drools as he lets his mind wander free.

On Chevy's go, she gets herself another bucket hat. "You're all set to go to a nineties rave now, so you are." He laughs. "If I remember rightly, you were wearing one of those on the boat too. Proper retro."

Soon it's time for her to take part in swapsies with Tanwen though, who given her age may be likely to remember the fashion the first time around.

Talking of Tawwen, it takes Hawksley a moment to realise she's being serious about his poetry skills. "Nah, cailin. You're barking up the wrong tree, so you are. That's just a stupid rhyme so it is." The Cork fella clears his throat. "Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests; snug as a gun. That's real poetry. Seamus Heaney. I studied him at school."

He looks down at the compact disc in his hand again, and Zack's smiling face, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by lurid green hair stares back at him. "He looks as though he liked himself a good time. I wonder how he even heard of Ash." To Tanwen, he shakes his head. "Not on its own like. We will need a cee dee player, but like Henry says, they aren't too popular these days. My mammy still has hers like, but it'd be a bit of a treck back to Cork City, even if we did have a way off this island."

[CHEVY]
Chevy shakes her head, her smile fading for a moment. Even the ever-smiling hayseed can have a moment of desperation when hunger comes around. "... I ain't even worried about how the dang thing works. I just wanna machine with proper buttons, so I can mash B1 if I want moon pies or B2 if I want some nabs." She pauses for a moment, then takes another look at the machine -- poking her finger towards the peanut butter crackers. "They're like, -right there-, an' all," she notes with a wry grin.

She is, however, heartened by the discussion of what to do with the beans. "I kinda second Henry on that. Beans is beans. Toast is toast. You wanna mash stuff together, it best be biscuits and gravy."

Her tummy rumbles, on that note, earning a swat from the hayseed. "Hush, you."

The idea of Hawksley as a poet, though -- that brings a smile back to the freckled farm-girl's facade. "... Aw, heck, was that what you meant, Tan? I thought everyone knew that rhyme. My paw taught me a diff'rent one though: 'Beans, beans / The magical fruit / The more you eat / The more you toot!' It's just one of those silly things we pick up from our folks, haha."

She grins as Tanwen places the ball cap on her head. She normally only wears caps backwards when she's working on cars and the brim would get in the way. But she's happy to leave it be for now, as she's still not sure if she was correct in clocking the Emperor of Muay Thai.

She lights up a bit at the question of where a CD player might be found. "Oh, we can probably find one in that radio station, where whats-his-face tells us what time it is. I think I'd heard the place was still locked up tight though..."

Still...while she is quiet for Henry's lament about the machine's slim pickings, she does speak up a little afterwards. "Well, you got the sword for it, I don't think I got a way of hittin' it hard enough to cough up anythin'."

She reaches up to adjust her hat so it doesn't pull her hair quite as much. "We could go fishin' though, yeah! I saw somethin' of a general store on the way in, maybe we could scare up some fishin' rods and bait. Or if that don't pan out, maybe just make our own poles out of some switches an' vines..."

[TANWEN]
Tanwen looks perplexed at Henry's insistence that she is not going to put his beans on toast, because "What else would you do with beans though, like?" However, Henry soon provides the answer to her question. He knows enough about Middle-Earth that she'll trust his judgment on what to do with the beans for now. It's not like it's even her favourite thing to have on toast, anyway.

"Maybe we can find some cheese and make some rarebit instead," she suggests. "After we find the toast, that is."

She looks back and forth between Hawksley and Chevy with a skeptical expression. "No, Chevy, you don't mash the beans and the toast," she corrects her mentor indignantly. "Then it would be beany toast, not beans on toast. Or maybe it would be toasty beans."

She tilts her head a little to the side, as she often does, when Chevy presents her take on the poem. "Beans aren't a fruit, though, are they? Or are they? I thought there wasn't anymore fruit after Junko started setting things on fire. I guess she missed the beans."

She smiles at the idea of going fishing. "Oh! I thought me and Max were going to go cat-fishing. Like if she was a cat-fish, and I was a dragon-fish? But fishing rods might be nice too."

She takes her hat off, eyeing up the machine. Chevy seems to be providing her tacit approval for trying to bash the machine, but isn't equipped to do so. "Oh, I have a way to smash it so nobody has to get hurt or break their sword!" she exclaims, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Everybody, make way!"

She steps several paces back from the machine in a straight line, her eyes narrowing as her red tail starts to slither back out from the back of her lifeguard shirt, her dark ruddy-brown horns sprouting and curling outward from the sides of her head.

"Ahhhh -!!!"

Tanwen charges straight across the sand, her tail giving her added balance to allow her to run at top speed as she lowers her head and charges like an enraged sheep - something she is familiar with - straight at Zack's smiling face.

Of course, the positioning of her horns doesn't actually make them especially functional in preventing herself harm, though fortunately her thick skull makes up for it - but as she crashes headlong into the machine, there are suddenly visible sparks of blue electricity dancing across her body.

"- aaaAAAOOWW!!"

Tanwen collapses backward on the boardwalk, twitching and flailing her limbs as wisps of smoke rise off of her.

<< Hey, baby! Feeling aggressive? Why not take all that pent-up energy to the volleyball court? >>

The ghost of Zack speaks up from within the machine to discourage vandalism. The machine, it seems, is unharmed.

[HENRY]
Henry's gaze goes a bit distant as Chevy keeps talking about food, his stomach making a little whale song in protest of its lack of anything substantial. "Oh man, my parents' cook makes the best biscuits and gravy." He shakes his head. "Might as well wish for steaks to fall from the sky." He mutters, tapping the can of beans with a finger. Finally he slings off his backpack, tucking the can in side. Too bad he didn't pack anything useful, only expecting a beach trip. The sword was just because he didn't trust the NFG folks /not/ to spring something on them. Paranoia works to your advantage sometimes.

"Hey, once this thing is over, maybe I can invite a bunch of you to the beach house. Have an actual enjoyable time on a beach." He mutters, slinging his backpack into place.

As the machine chastises Tanwen for her violence, he shakes his head. "It'd probably just blunt the edge, and we might need something sharp if we're going to be doing arts and crafts with palm leaves."

[HAWKSLEY]
"What are moon pies then?" Hawksley wonders of Chevy. He's never had the pleasure of this mysterious snack.

He starts snorting with laughter at the alternative American version of his crude rhyme. "Tooting sounds so fecking cute. Like something old ladies would do in traffic."

Hawksley seems heartened at the idea of the radio station. "Oh yeah, there's one of those. We need to get Champagne Supernova on the decks if we can in there. It'd be grand for all our spirits, so it would."

The Irish lad has only been fishing a couple of times and he wasn't much of a fan. Probably because his older brother, Shane put a maggot down his t-shirt on one of the trips and the other time he just seemed to sit on the riverbank with his da not doing much. The hyperactive kid version of Hawsksley had been bored silly. He's all up for picking up a pole though, if it means they might get more food in their bellies, so he nods enthusiastically at Chevy's suggestion.

As Tanwen mentions Welsh Rarebit, he points at her in approval. "Now you're talking. Gawd, I'd kill for a nice big lump of Irish cheddar. I tell you what would be good. Cheesy beans on toast. That'd go down a treat."

The dragonette decides to take on the might of the vending machine and curious to see what will happen, the Cork fella steps aside to let her go to work. As she charges towards it, he starts to chant her name but he abruptly stops when she comes a cropper.

"Jesus. Are you alright there, cailin?" He checks, rushing over to bend down beside her on the ground.

Scratching at the back of his neck, he looks between the Welsh woman and the Zack in the Box in disbelief. "Does anyone else find the fact it talks creepy?"

He's still contemplating this, when Henry chimes in with his offer of a trip to his beach house in California. "I'll be there with fecking bells on." He responds rapidly. "We'll need a holiday when all this is over. Whenever the hell that may be."

[CHEVY]
It's been suggested that Chevy shouldn't mash the beans and toast together. She agrees with a toothy grin. "That's right -- I *won't!*" She snickers lightly for a moment. And after her song, when she's asked whether beans are fruits or vegetables, the hayseed looks thoughtful for a moment. "... Dang, I ain't ever thought about that. My Paw done told me it was a rhyme since he was a wee kid."

She glances over at Henry, smile fading just a smidge as his rumbly stomach enters the conversation. "... Your family has a cook?" she blurts out. "... Oh. I mean, yeah, of course..." She laughs weakly, though she's soon distracted by Hawksley's question about moon pies. "... Oh! They're like... Graham crackers with marshmallow in the middle, all wrapped up in a milk chocolate coating. It's like s'mores, if you just went easy on the chocolate..."

Her cheery smile returns as Tanwen brings up the possibility of teaming up with Max for the fishing duties. "Haha, whatever works! Y'all and Buck can go swim in the sea, I'm sure it'll be refreshing! The rest of us stuck in human form are just gonna have to make due with fishin' rods..."

As she wonders how Buck is handling the little Gear and her keeper, Chevy idly brushes her thumb against the deer antler necklace he'd given her. His survival skills have been helpful before on Mount Shasta -- and she's sure they'll come into play before long as the food starts to dry up.

The momentary reverie of Tanwen's mentor is broken by a call to make way. Chevy's eyes widen, as she realizes what Tanwen's about to do -- and she calls out, "Be careful...! It might--"

It's over in a flash, though! And as Tanwen crackles with electricity, Miss Beaumont is already dropping to a low crouch beside her, misting the air just so slightly to dissipate some of the excess electrical charge.

"Easy, easy..." she starts, only to be interrupted by the voice of Zack. "... I dunno about y'all, but I'm startin' to get tired of this guy."

After the crackling subsides, Chevy cradles Tanwen's shoulders carefully, brushing the draconic girl's locks around to get a better look. With an incredulous smile, she asks, "Is hitting things with your head just... somethin' y'all -do-, or what? Probably should take a breather for a minute or two, at least..."

She glances over to Henry with a smile. "Oh, yeah, that'd be great! Biscuits an' gravy for everyone!" But then she starts thinking...

"... Hmm. Come to think of it. How are y'all with seafood, anyway? There's a good chance we can rig up some crab pots with the vines I seen layin' around. It ain't steak, and there ain't any Old Bay or flour around, but we ought to be able to get a good boil started up..."

[TANWEN]
Tanwen lets out a little wheeze as she stares at the sky. As she does, a small puff of black smoke rises from her mouth. Whether this is as a result of getting fried by the machine's electrical anti-tampering systems or just the way that the dragon-girl always coughs is uncertain.

"I'm okay," she says in a quavering voice, sitting up between Hawksley and Chevy and rubbing her head as she visibly battles the urge to tear up like an injured child. "Hitting things with your head is what horns are for. I didn't know that the chest was trapped though, like. Maybe we needed a rogue instead of a fighter."

It looks like her head might bruise a bit, but considering the intensity with which Tanwen headbutted the steel object, it doesn't look too bad. She sniffles, still fighting off the emotional pain that comes with physical pain, before suddenly lighting up. "Craaabs?" she asks, practically drooling at the mention. "And lobster?"

Nobody mentioned lobster, but the two haute-cuisine crustaceans are intertwined in the dragonette's mind after a ditty Winn made up about crab and lobster titled 'Crab and Lobster' to which the lyrics are:

Crab and lobster o/~
Crab and lobster o/~

"Well, I don't think we'll be bashing the box open. It gets chopsy. Let's go get some crabs instead!"

The fiery ring around the island might discourage crabfishing, but there are some inlets passing under the inferno that may allow such fishing to occur - though who knows how long the waters would be able to sustain the NFG crew...

[HENRY]
%Henry quite pointedly does not join the fussing over Tanwen, sure, he's regarding her for a moment to make sure she's okay, but the stunt teen seems to be of the opinion that NFG fighters should be able to take a shock like that. Especially with Kenzo still around. He just sighs softly as the drgonessette perks up and shakes his head.

Chevy's momentary surprise at his family having a cook makes him look askance for a moment. "Well, my parents are usually pretty busy so yeah, they hired a cook. Though I've been fending for myself while in Japan. Tamago kake gohan is about my level of cooking skill." He rubs the back of his neck. Deciding not to mention the rest of the staff his parents keep around. He's missing it about now, though.

"I love seafood, but catching it or cooking it?" He shakes his head. "No clue. I hav heard if you throw a pot in the ocean chances are an octopus will crawl in it, and I know we can eat those. The, uh, non-poisonous ones anyway."

[HAWKSLEY]
"I've never had myself a s'more but I know what they are, like. Maybe I'll get to try a moon pie before we make it out of this place." Hawksley ponders

"Oh yeah, Buck will be grand with all that outdoorsy swimming and shite." The man from Eire agrees. "It'll help burn the energy off for Max and Tanwen too."

He looks at Chevy with concern, as she crouches down on the other side of her mentoree. "It'll be the horns, so it will, like she says. It probably gives someone a hankering for headbutting. I mean, more so than usual." Of course he himself has done plenty of that in his time.

"Seafood is one of my favourites." Hawksley tells Chevy. "I'd happily take some crab off your hands and help trap it, if you think I'm capable."

The cloud of smoke catches the Cork cruiserweight's dark-eyed gaze. When he thinks Tanwen is gonna start crying, he reaches out to clasp her hand in his. "You took one for the team, Tan." He praises her. "You taught us all not to mess with one of those things as well. At least not unless we can get our hands on a sledgehammer or something. That might do the trick."

Gesturing to his back, the brawler offers it to the bronze-haired girl. "I can carry you if you like. If you're feeling a bit dizzy, so. Then maybe we can go and see about finding some of that seafood."

[CHEVY]
Chevy bristles at the idea of horns making it any -easier- to hit things. Though, her only frame of reference is the one time she put on a Carolina Rams mascot helmet and tried to hit someone with the horns there. They didn't help much at all, then.

"Well, yeah, but..." She starts to protest, but once she sees Hawksley's dark, compassionate eyes, she comes to agree that it might be good to have -less- discussion about Tanwen's pain.

Besides. There's seafood to talk about, and the Carolina girl seems to be an expert. She doesn't rule out lobster, but she aims to keep stoking that particular flame.

"Well, to be fair, crabs is like a step three. We cain't jump right into crabs until we get two things: crab pots, and bait. The more of us that help, the faster we can chow down." Her moods lift considerably once she realizes how many -others- might be similar to Henry in wanting something to -do-. "We oughta try and rope in Buck and Max and some of the others, too!"

She grins back at Henry. "Oh, it's easy once you learn how! I'm happy to teach you! Was a time it was just me and Momma together, so we had to learn how to make crab pots all ourselves for spendin' cash." The hayseed smiles -- and offers a light shrug, realizing how much like 'work' she's making it sound to the pampered Hollywood native with his personal chefs and what-not. "Oh... but yeah... there'll be plenty to keep you busy, if you want it!"

It seems, though, that the sun is finally getting to her. She reaches up and flips her hat around, using the brim to keep the sun out of her eyes like it was originally intended. Once her eyes acclimate to the shade, she gestures to Hawksley and Tanwen and continues.

"Then, once we have the traps ready, we gotta bait 'em. And the best bait... is fish! So while some of us are collectin' vines, others can go fishin'. Any big fish we catch we can skewer 'em up for the grill. Small-fries get tossed into our crab pots as bait. Once we can get a few goin', all we gotta do is pull 'em out of the water every so often and collect!"

She grins back as Henry mentions octopi. "Yeah, that's right! Sometimes you get lucky! I mean, I ain't much for octopus but I'm sure someone in our group might take it off our hands."

"Oh hey. Did y'all see any knives or silverware in any of them cottages? Or in the hotel rooms? I just got the one pocket knife, and it'll probably go dull by the time we're done... Should be plenty to get us some rods goin' though!"

Chevy might be a -bit- excited. She may not be as full of Trouble in Paradise trivia like Coco -- but a little bit of talk about seafood can get her fired up!

[TANWEN]
Apparently, catching crabs takes more steps than Tanwen had anticipated. Normally, she'd be very enthusiastic about using an elaborate plan to obtain such a treasure - it is very in keeping with the sort of thing that adventurers do, after all - but with the pain of the head-bashing and body-zapping starting to fade slightly, the rumbling report of the young dragon's unsatisfied metabolism is becoming more pronounced.

"I might be a bit hungry and headachey for arts and crafts right now. You can carry me, Hawksley Moore," she concedes, putting her arms around his shoulders and leaning her head against him. "That's nice."

Of course, she could make things easier on him by turning into her dragon form, but that would take energy, too.

"I think I saw a meerkat with a knife, I did. There's probably all sorts in those we could borrow."

Indeed, there are blankets, towels and dishes available in the cottages - even some basic hygiene supplies, such as those little bottles of shampoo - though unfortunately, no more food.

[HENRY]
Fortunately for Chevy, and even more so for his mentor Hawksley, Henry seems to be an eager student, nodding along as Chevy lays out what it takes to catch and cook a crab. Pampered in someways he may be, but he's not a kid that's afraid of putting in effort.

"I like octopus." He says simply, with a shrug. "Dunno how to cook it, either, but it can't be too hard to figure out." Yes it can, Henry, yes it can.

He looks at Tanwen complaining about being hungry and makes a face. "I shouldn't have eaten that granola bar during the jeep ride." Not that it would have helped much, but this is the point he'd feel guilty about it of course.

"Maybe I should get you to teach me how to headbut things." Henry states with a look towards his mentor as he flicks himself in the forehead with his thumb. "I know how to make it look like I did it for a camera but, actually doing it." He shakes his head. "Not that I'm sure it'll help my style at all, but might be a good skill to have."

Henry pats the hilt of his sword peeking over his shoulder. "It may not be the most easy thing to cut with, but as long as I can find the right type of stone I can keep it sharp."

[HAWKSLEY]
"Well the sooner we learn then the sooner we eat." Hawksley nods towards Chevy. "Let's grab whatever we can from the cottages and then go and catch up with Bucky Boy and Maximum Chaos and see if they fancy a project."

He spares a glance to Henry, wondering what it would be like to live the kind of lifestyle he's been brought up with, but he's not envious at all. He's already seen from Coco's family that wealth doesn't always equal a happy home life.

Chevy's mention of getting lucky has Hawksley raising his thick eyebrows and pointing to himself. "I've only got the two hands rather than eight though." He's never tried octopus himself but he'd give it a go if someone served it up for him.

As Tanwen accepts his offer and climbs on board, the Cork fella turns his head to give her a grin. "Hold on nice and tight now." He advises, although she's already wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his back, so it's probably safe to say she's settled. "It's good to know I'm being nice instead of not very nice for once." He jests jovially.

Henry asks Hawksley about headbutting and he's more than happy to help there! "Ah, course I can. The key is to not worry too much about fecking your face up. I sometimes end up bleeding as much as other fella, so I do."

Log created on 15:53:24 05/22/2024 by Chevy, and last modified on 17:39:34 06/14/2024.