[Public] Snacks, Sand and Swimwear

[Pyry Ward]

Now, Pyry was by no means a stranger to hand to hand combat, and he wasn't exactly shocked when the girl went on the attack. Or was is defense? Technically he did touch her first. Either way, he'd grabbed enough hands in his life to know that most girls don't take that kind of behavior laying down. So, he wasn't surprised when she yanked him into wrist lock. He briefly considered countering her, hell he was practically a master grappler, but if he wanted to find an in with whatever her and the group she was with were doing overpowering her wasn't the way to do it. So he just went limp and let it happen.

After she let him go he couldn't help but chuckle into the sand - this was already way more fun than it had any right right be. Rolling onto his back he smiled up at her as she told him touching was not permitted. "Ah, like a museum." Propping himself up on his elbows he winked at her. "Smoking is bad for you, so try not to think of it as a loss, but I'll get you a new one if it's so important."

Shrugging at Bartok as he expressed his worry he gave another crooked grin. "It's not the first time a lady has swept me off my feet.

So, Songbird, are you rare art, one of a kind, or just dangerous?" He asked accepting Bartok's hand up. On his way up he noted the pale faunus girl reaching for his head and he twisted just out of her reach. "Hey now, the body is up for grabs but the circlet stays on."

[Al Ciendra]

Al was happy to see that her little stunt at least got some positive responses, Bartok gave her a brief yet appreciated compliment, and she could see that even the stoic tigress was impressed, Al felt a bit of pride swell in her chest.

After Erin had run of, even though she did not know the guy, Al just watched the scene unfold.
Ax had just floored the newcomer, in a pretty impressive display of her skill, but even though she was clearly not interested he continued flirting, the word "songbird" even made her cringe a little.
She wished she could tune this out, but that was one of the downsides of having these ears that were now pressed to the top of her head.
She just watched Erin try to pry away the new guy's head...thing, oh a circlet, that's what it was called. Did Erin have a thing for circlets, or was it something else ?

Al did not pay much mind to it as she just turned away from this scene, she could follow the conversation without looking at it.
Her ears straightened again and Al went back to her bag, where she pulled out the shorts she had previously been wearing, but also a dark red hoodie.

Al put her shorts back on and also donned the hoodie, but she left the hood down and the zipper open, everyone here knew she was a faunus at this point, and she did enjoy the breeze.
Al grabbed herself another soda and straw and just began to sip on it as she settled down on one of the chairs Vlithra had placed close to the fire, from where she could still spectate what ever was happening, while she occupied herself by twisting the flames, making small cartoony images of everyone present.
A sourpuss looking Erin rolling her eyes, a super goofy Bartok making finger guns at her, Vlithra with her arms crossed in front of her chest and with a stern determined expression, Ax...Al instantly extinguished the first image that she created and instead just depicted the bird faunus smiling that sweet yet confident smile and the new guy with most of his upper body stuck in the sand and just his legs raised into the sky.
Al giggled to herself as she did this, yet in trying to just distract herself a little from social interaction, she also had stopped paying attention to her surroundings.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax tried not to seem too proud of herself for her execution on that takedown as she picked up her cigarette from the sand... which turned out to be pretty easy, because Ax was ultimately not impressed with the result. Sure, Vlithra seemed appreciative - that was a plus - but everyone else seemed nonplussed at best. Seriously though... this guy had just made her pretty damn uncomfortable, and Bartok was just going to pal up with the guy? Ax shot a glare over at Bartok as he moved to help up Pyry. While he might not have been able to see the ire written on her face, he could almost certainly feel it. She had a half mind to help Erin make off with the circlet.

She turned her expression coldly to Pyry, fixating on him with sharp, cool blue eyes. The man didn't seem daunted - he seemed smug. He clearly had no respect for the danger she presented to him, judging from his lackadaisical approach and his air-headed insistence on continuing to flirt with her despite clearly signaling that she had no interest. Seriously? Why did guys think it was charming to be fucking weird and forward like this?

She bit her tongue at his 'museum' comment and clenched her fingers into fists at his commentary on her smoking. She didn't remember asking him a goddamn thing about what he thought of her habits. No, no no no, it wasn't worth it. Not worth it! She turned away, crossing her arms defensively over her chest and rolling her eyes as Pyry addressed the bat, slowly exhaling a tense breath and attempting to recompose herself...

...and then he called her "Songbird". The air crackled with blue lightning around her fist, sparks dancing from her metal fingertips to her cybernetic elbow. She should've pulled his arm right out of his socket and poured voltage into him. Some uppity human thought he could just walk up and say that shit, huh? She'd wiped the floor with freshmen for doing less. All of Ax's thoughts were violent thoughts. She marched forward, clearly intending to knock every tooth out of his pretty mouth for that one.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok was absolutely torn. Here was this guy who was putting himself in real danger by throwing so many lines at Ax, but Bartok liked the lines he was saying. It was the same stuff that he would say, given he thought Ax was into his kind in the first place. But Bartok could feel Ax's ire and frustration building into real anger. Ax was his friend, and someone hitting on her was something to discourage, but wasn't worth killing the man over. She seemed to compose herself, turning away and trying to calm down.

And then Erin came over and he could hear her trying to get very close to him. Crap, he was wearing something shiny, wasn't he? Erin was always transfixed by shiny things, and it seemed he had a shiny circlet. He wanted to pull her back but Ax's anger was boiling over and she started to make her move forward! Bartok was caught in the middle of all of this and had to act fast or things would become violent. If this guy was another student, then he'd be able to fight back and it'd be a huge scene. It wouldn't be for sport either, Ax wanted to put him down. If he wasn't a student, then she would do that with even greater violence!

He was going to need to match Ax's hot fire to take control of the situation. With ears flattening to his head, Bartok activated his Semblance. Deep scarlet light poured around him as he drank in the emotions of those present, feeling them as if they were his own.

Erin's childlike need and fixation on something, which he turned towards settling this situation. Pyry's smugness, Bartok turned that into pride and authority to settle the situation. And Ax's lightning-sharp violent thoughts transformed into fuel for action. Bartok's Semblance mixed with Ax's meant he was almost drowned in that emotion of hers to beat and break someone, but Bartok had gotten used to dealing with both his own and Ax's. He kept himself from turning into a crazed violent fighting machine only barely.

"Circlet man!" He shouted into the man's face, sharp canines flashing. "Don't call her Songbird! I like the lines but shut it!" Bartok could only say that much before Ax was right there behind him, intent on teaching the words Bartok had said. He whirled on her and held out his arms to catch her movements, moving quickly into her so she couldn't duck out of the way of his arms. As soon as his body would make contact with her, knowing where she was and how she was oriented roughly, Bartok would try to grab her non metal arm and swing behind her, locking it with one bent arm and his other moving to wrap around the bicep of her metal arm and grab her stomach for purchase. His legs would be working to pull her backwards, his shoulders trying to lift her up off the ground so she couldn't find traction with the ground.

"Stop! No fighting! No!" Bartok growled intensly into her ears with the same fire behind his voice that Ax was feeling, those same emotions causing his muscles and joints to lock like machinery around her. "My party! He's just another idiot! Stop!"

[Pyry Ward]

((Discord is being weird for me so I am just trying to write like he's being influenced by her semblance, please tell Erin if something needs adjusted until I can get back on.))

Pyry wasn't overly concerned about retaliation, he came from an area where you needed to defend yourself and yours pretty much daily so it wasn't like he'd let himself be beaten without doing damage himself if it came down to it. He was no stranger to life and death fights with other people, but not usually over something so petty. Part of him felt bad for triggering this kind of retaliation, but a larger part regretted letting the girl get away with her previous counter; she clearly thought she had gotten the better of him and that he was outclassed, not taking care to notice that he hadn't fought back at all. Now, he knew he deserved it. Which is why he didn't fight back when she flipped him, but her little temper tantrum was something of it's own. How a bird faunus, who spent how many hours showing off musical skills in public, would get so steamed at a stupid nickname from a moron such as himself was beyond him, it would be like him being offended at being referred to as the toga guy.

The sparks started shooting and the bat sprung into action. It was here that he'd have to make a decision. Apologize and try to salvage the moment or give her the fight she so clearly wanted.

Pride. It came down to a matter of pride. Was he going to show weakness because some girl couldn't take a joke? He clenched his teeth. His feelings were off... he was... hostile? Why was he so mad? She was justified. He knew she was justified, but her actions pissed him off. He knew going up to people and breaking the ice with physical contact could lead to this. So why was he so pissed off? It wasn't her. He didn't know enough about her to care what she thought of him. He knew it was time to apologize, but he couldn't get in the mindset to do it. Something was off. He knew he should stop. The bat boy was telling him to stop, but he couldn't focus on that with the emotions taking over.

A dangerous grin spread across his face as his own semblance sprang to life in his palms. The power in his hands was so much stronger than usual, it was sending sparks of his own crawling over his arms. He didn't usually have actual sparks. Maybe the rage? He wondered in the back of his mind. It was torture trying to push the rage back enough to try and remember the last time he'd seen sparks or felt so much power from his own semblance. It was draining and his arms were already starting to go numb. Something was off. "I apologize. I wasn't trying to offend you and I'm not serious about flirting." He quickly shook his arms out but readied them for a fight. "Though I'm surprised that the sparks are flying so soon. Most girls wait until they get to know me a little more."

[Erin Cherrywood]

Disgust covered Erin's face when the newcomer used a line on her. It was like having a second Bartok, except this one had the audacity to make a pass at her without having ever talked to her before. At least Bartok waited several years before noticing she wasn't half bad.

Ax not only shared her sentiment- well technically Erin shared hers since she was hit on first - but amplified it with serious anger; her cold glare was one for the books, but it looked like it was over. She had turned away and was taking centering breaths, but then he just had to keep going.

Without much warning Ax was shooting sparks, definitely not in show, and storming towards the circlet guy. She was about to step aside and let what happen happen - she recognized the newcomer from campus now that she was close - but Bartok jumped in.

Her breathing hitched as she tried to come up with a plan that would get Bartok out of the way. He shouldn't be near Ax when she was so pissed, what if she turned on him to get free so she could go after her real target? She'd have to step in then. No. No no, no, stepping in would be stupid - but she needed to do something for Bartok. But what? Should she focus on calming Ax or doing about Mr. Lines over here?

Stepping between Ax and the new guy she aimed to be a tiny shield. Whatever pissed Ax off wasn't worth fighting over. It wasn't worth ruining Bartok's efforts at a nice day out with his friends.

She felt the familiar pull of Bartok's aura on hers along with the pressure of someone else's. She was angry enough on her own but the added aura seemed to fuel that. Her control was waning and she knew she'd need to act sooner rather than later if the party was going to be salvaged.

Behind her she felt more electricity filling the air. Seriously?! What the hell was with these damn people and firing off their semblances all willy nilly?

She half turned to tell him to cut the shit but he apologized before she could say anything. Sure, it sounded tense and angry but it was an apology. Couldn't they just accept it and move on?

Then came the sparks comment. Anger burned so hot that her vision went white as she spun around and grabbed him by the toga. Yanking him to eye level she clenched her teeth so hard that her jaw ached. Control was a dream of the past as her semblance flared to life. "WHY?! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SAY SUCH STUPID THINGS?!" She screamed into his face, tail standing on end. She could feel the sparks from his hands jumping to her chest and arms due to their close proximity but it only fed her rage. "ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AFTER THE APOLOGY!" She was staring to get dizzy from the force of her semblance and the shocks were beginning to hurt as they danced across her body. "WHY?!" Bartok's semblance flashed across her mind and she wanted to stop, to not feed negativity to him, but this was the last straw in a long day of keeping her mouth shut. She could feel her strength draining from the auras pushing onto her own and her own rapidly depleting store but damn if she wasn't going to stop this nonsense. "JUST SHUT UP! SHUT UP AND ACT LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" She tried to shake him but lost her grip and stumbled a few steps back. Shaking all over, she tried to regain control. Her body hurt from those stupid zaps but her semblance fizzled out. If nothing else she knew he would be in no position to say anything. Here was hoping he'd puke or fall on his ass and Ax would let it go.

[Ax L Rose]

"Circlet man!"

"Rrrr-rrgh..." Ax let out a seething growl with Bartok's words. She marched forth, shining sparks in her fingertips lighting up her cool blue eyes. Some part of her in the back of her mind was absently aware of how little her anger would accomplish. Nevertheless, Ax's emotions were in control - she could feel rage bubbling up in her blood, caustic and boiling. Strange feelings, however, started to get tangled up into it... a mindful corner of Ax's mind recognized the familiar sensation of foreign emotion. Her wires were getting all crossed up again. She could feel the thrum of power in bones - no, not her bones. In her right arm, all metal and dust. This was bad. This kind of anger was the bad anger. This kind of anger was the anger that'd really fuck things up for her, but she couldn't fight the way her emotions colored her thinking and overpowered all reason.

"Don't call me Songbird!"

"Don't call her Songbird!

She and Bartok spoke in strange, eerie unison. The strangeness of it immediately distracted Ax, causing her to pause and give Bartok a narrow-eyed, almost suspicious look as he shouted at Pyry.

"I like the lines but shut it!"

For a second there, she'd actually thought Bartok was on her side! Really? He liked the lines? The hell was up with that? She grit her teeth and turned her narrow-eyed gaze toward Pyry so she could glare at him, but before she could take another step, Bartok was interposing himself between them. She immediately began to thrash and resist, but the bat was slick and quick enough to take advantage of her intense hyperfocus on the man who she wanted to pummel into oblivion and get a grip on her.

Maybe some part of her was silently grateful that someone was holding her back right now, though... the anger in her body was so intense that she wanted to fucking kill something, and she sure as hell didn't want to throw her future away over something this petty. What was with her? She had heard this shit before. She'd dealt with crap like this since she was a kid. Why was this fucking with her this bad?

She struggled a little against Bartok's grip, but she seemed to have the sense to not turn her rage toward him... at least not immediately.

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

Ax seethed. Resonance. This anger, this rage... it was overlapping, building, feeding off itself, compounding like a feedback loop.

"Don't touch me! No!"

"No fighting! No!"

Ax's tone was low and vicious, matching the intensity of Bartok's. She matched him syllable for syllable. They were very oddly in sync, and while Ax was somehow aware of it, she couldn't think over the anger. She impulsively jerked her head back and tried to ram the back of her head against Bartok to get herself free, but he managed to shift and adjust as if he knew what she was going to do. She strained and slipped her arm free only to end up pulled back by her stomach.

"Let me go! He's just another idiot! Stop!"

"My party! He's just another idiot! Stop!"

Pyry started talking, but Ax might as well not have heard him. All she knew was that she couldn't stand the sound of his voice. Her eyes were locked on his eminently breakable-looking face and she bared her teeth in a vicious grimace, apparently so hyperfocused that she didn't notice Erin stepping in until...

"WHY?!

Ax had never seen Erin get this... expressive. While her anger continued to rage and broil inside of her, she at least seemed to take enough interest in whatever was happening to stop struggling for a moment, caught up in the fact that someone was taking out their anger at last. With every last syllable that left Erin's lips, something washed over Ax. Catharsis? Relief? The satisfaction of unleashing her rage. It wasn't what Ax really wanted - not even close - but Erin venting her steam seemed to be cooling her down from critical at least.

Whatever. Ax had anger to spare. But then Erin stumbled back toward her and Bartok, and Ax's resistance ceased - the bird apparently had enough sense to realize that she shouldn't bulldoze through two people trying to deescalate the situation just to teach someone a lesson.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Even feeling this rage boiling in him and steaming out his large ears, Bartok understood that there was some sort of feedback loop between his Sembalnce and Ax's. Them both getting more and more filled with anger told him that, along with them speaking at the same time with similar syllabals. Ontop of that, Ax's Semblance was making everyone angry. He needed the anger to fuel his strength, but... did he really? The anger told him that he needed it, and it was getting harder to control. But Bartok had been dealing with his Semblance for some time. He knew which voice was the emotion speaking and which was his brain.

Then Erin walked up, seemingly also affected by Ax's Semblance and anger, and Bartok knew when she was using her Semblance. He heard her stumble, and Ax ceased her struggles. Bartok wasn't sure if he'd ever witnessed Erin use her Semblance so much that it affected her that greatly, and a spike of worry for her shot through him.

Bartok, muscles steel cord, dropped Ax like a sack something he didn't care to name as he dropped his Semblance. The anger evaporated from him and he actovely tried to resist the anger coming from Ax, fearful it might drag him back somehow. He rushed to Erin's back, steadying her with hands on her shoulders and his chest as a wall to her back should she fall.

"Calm down, calm down!" He said, turning his head from Pyry to Ax and back. "Look, she's gay, alright? Doesn't like getting hit on. Everyone stop."

[Pyry Ward]

Pyry registered that the faunus who'd made a grab at his circlet had shifted between him and his would be attacker, and he couldn't help but feel a wave a smug satisfaction that she'd sided with him against the bird, but that quickly changed when she spun around and grabbed him. The rage was replaced by shock as she pulled him down to face level. Part of him wondered what she thought kissing him would do to solve the problem as her face moved closer and closer to his. Her eyes, those large golden eyes, were beautiful and hypnotic and... and -

He fought the urge to gag. His stomach was in knots and he felt like he'd just been stuck on the teacup ride for an hour. A splitting headache raged and blurred his vision. His legs began to give way and he was suddenly very conscious of her holding him up by his toga.

She was screaming at him. Something about being stupid and stopping the flirting but it took all he had to not empty his stomach on her pretty little face.

His eyes were unfocused and he wasn't sure if he was going to vomit, shit himself, fall back, or all of the above. He'd have done anything right about then to end whatever was going on.

She pushed away from him and he was on his back taking rapid shallow breaths. He rolled onto his side and curled into a ball, or at least he tried to, he was so dizzy and nauseous he wasn't sure of anything. It was all he could do to not throw up. He was pretty sure he was dying.

The emotional part subsided but he'd honestly rather take that than whatever was going on with his equilibrium right now.

"What a woman..." He was both horrified and absolutely enthralled with whatever she'd done to him with those eyes.

Somewhere in his conscious, swirled up and confused as it was, he heard the other guy say something about someone being gay.

The need to vomit was receding and the world spun a little slower so he started to unfurl. "Y-yeah... urg... let's not ride that ride again..."

He hesitantly propped himself up on an elbow. The three across from him looked more like nine but they danced a little more slowly. "Like I said, I'm just b-breaking the ice. Not, not, interested in her." He pointed at what he hoped was the real Songbird but who the hell knew. He started to say he was more interested in the other girl but his churning stomach warned him against it. Laying back down he closed his eyes and smiled at the sky. What a fun day.

"I am so happy I came over." He hummed in delight as the urge to vomit faded into the background. "You guys are awesome."

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin was still staring at the circlet guy when she felt hands on her shoulders. Her head snapped back and she was ready to swing but she stopped short when she saw Bartok.

Still feeling a tad unstable, she leaned back into his arms and turned her head back to the man curled up on the sand. She couldn't remember having ever used her semblance so strongly before but she also wasn't sure she'd ever had more than one person using an emotion altering semblance on her before. Either way she just wanted to be done with whatever this was.

"I think we are all good now, right Ax?" She asked while rubbing her temples.

Tilting her head up to look up at Bartok she put on her best begging face. "Can you grab the circlet for me?" She asked softly. "I think I deserve it."

[Al Ciendra]

And so a potential fight started with a down throw and ended with someone throwing up.
"What a scene."

Al was observing the scene from a few meters away, still just relaxing herself, which was a little hard to do considering the growing anxiety(and rage ?) she felt building up inside her at the sight of what was happening.
Though now things seemed to have finally calmed down and so did Al.
It was probably in her best interest to do some damage control so that they could finally get on with the fun part of the party.

She sighed and got up, grabbing another chair for the new guy and placing it near the fire.
Next, she paid another visit to the ice box, for how many drinks that had been taken out of here already it was still going strong.
Al shrugged and grabbed an orange soda for the new guy to wash away the foul taste in his mouth and another soda for Ax aswell as her own.
Holding the three sodas in one arm Al headded to the group and grabbed one of the chairs and went over to Erin and Bartok.
"Here, take a seat Erin."
Al said as she put the chair down right next to the pair.
Then she turned to the circlet wearing newcomer, who she openf the intense orange tasting soda for.
"Here new guy, soda to wash that mouth of yours.
She said and got up not paying attention to his response as she turned to her last "stop", Ax.

She was a bit nervous, as she wasn't sure wether Ax would want to talk to her right now.
Taking a deep breath Al walked up to her.
"Hey Ax, are you feeling a bit better ? I got you a soda, dunno if you like cherry, but yeah."
Al said holding the can towards the bird faunus, waiting patiently for her response with her ears pressed slightly to the top of her head.

[Ax L Rose]

Deep breaths. Ax slowly inhaled through her nose and drew her breath to her stomach... she counted out a few seconds in her mind before she slowly exhaled, activating every muscle in her belly with the motion. She tried to relax her shoulders, her head, her neck... and then she breathed in again. She could feel her heart rate diminishing a little, slowly but surely. She didn't need help calming down. She could do this. She'd handled worse bouts of hellish fury in her time. She let her eyes fall shut, turning her body a bit and facing away from the rest of the group while she tried to get her head back on straight.

She was an intense person. She knew it. She'd wanted to come to this whole event as a model of composure and coolness. She didn't really want everyone to see her anger like this... but it was what it was. In the end, she could still be cool. The only person here who would probably truly relate to the burden of managing her own emotions on top of the errant signals of every other feeling happening around her was Bartok, and he at least seemed to have an off switch - an off switch that provided immediate relief the moment Bartok's semblance disengaged.

So that was what was happening. He did the thing... he used his empathic abilities. She hadn't realized that was what was happening at the time, but it made perfect sense now. Her shoulders slacked a little bit. Her ears twitched back as she heard Bartok announce that she was gay. Her lips formed into a brief frown. It wasn't like she minded anyone knowing, but she hated that apparently that was the reason the stranger needed to lay off? Why wasn't the fact that it made her uncomfortable enough of a reason?

She exhaled another little breath through her nose at the stranger's claim that he wasn't actually interested. As much as Ax loved being seen as desirable, she quickly figured that in this case, it was probably for the best that she go ahead and let that topic be. This guy was slurring and struggling to speak like he was drunk, and seeing as Ax didn't know anything about Erin's semblance, what else was she supposed to figure?

Ax slowly turned back toward the others, her arms crossed below her chest, her body language suggesting a rather guarded posture. Before she worried about anyone else, she needed to get a grip on herself. Her emotions could be contagious. She didn't want to ruin this party for anyone else. She'd sooner leave before she let that happen. That thought aside... Ax was really not sure how to respond to Erin. She frowned a little in concern as she watched her lean back against Bartok. What even had just happened? Had that all been because of her and Bartok's semblances?

"I mean..." Ax trailed off. She wrinkled her nose a bit as she looked over at Pyry, disdain still clear in her features even if she wasn't as pissed as she'd been a few moments ago. Her eyes turned over to Al as she bustled about, curious at her behavior. She was... setting up chairs, passing out drinks. Trying to calm things down, she guessed. Ax still didn't like all the hospitality the excessively forward stranger was receiving...

She felt a weird, errant tinge of nervousness inside of her as the masked girl approached, but instantly pinpointed it as foreign. She felt... weirdly hypersensitive to what emotions were hers and which ones weren't at the moment. Maybe it was a side-effect of whatever bizarre semblance interaction had just unfolded. Her head tilted down toward Al's silvery chrome mask as the little wolf approached with a drink.

"...thanks, Al," Ax exhaled a little sigh, her lips curving into a small, subdued little half-smile. She reached out to accept the soda, more or less not caring what flavor it actually was. The gesture was what counted right now. Without thinking, she reached out to pat Al's head, her fingers curling into her hair and giving her a fond little rub behind the ears as thanks.

"...semblance shit. The vibe was pretty noisy. Could barely hear myself think," she admitted as she withdrew her hand and popped open the soda can, turning her head and looking out towards the rest of the beach. She raised the drink to her lips and took a little sip before she looked back to Al.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok thanks Al for bringing the chair and helped to set Erin in it. The other guy was probably worse off than Erin, but Erin was his childhood friend and also a woman, so she afforded such privileges like the chair to sit in. Al went over to Ax and he could hear the soda in her hands, along with the one she handed the new boy. Ax was going to be fine, it seemed. He had worried a little bit that Ax would fly at the man once he had released her, but he was glad that she hadn't and kept herself under control after all.

Erin asked him to get 'the circlet'. "The circlet?" He asked. "Oh, he's wearing it, isn't he?" He realized and remembered now, hearing him say something that was off limits when Erin orginally went up to him. That was his circlet. And of course, it would be dazzling and sparkling if he could see the thing. "As much as you deserve many things my dear, I don't think he'd be willing to let it go. What about the sparkles of the waves out at sea, eh? Rest your head." He gestured to the ocean before turning to the man who was now laying on the ground.

"Quite the way to break the ice, I gotta say. I like to start off with something like a song, a compliment, an introduction, a feat of skill, or other things. But handholding and forced proximity is another way to break the ice, I suppose." Bartok relented. He crouched down easily next to the guy's head, looking down at him. He chuckled and shook his head. "Well aren't you a good sport! The name's Bartok, the girl with the awesome eyes is Erin, and the others are..." He was going to continue but reasoned that his head was probably still spinning pretty good. "...are good friends." He finished. "What's your name?"

[Vlithra Qing Long]

After saying those things it didn‘t take long for Ax to reach the end of her patience. Wait screw patience, at this point she was about to murder the dude she was so furious. Understandably so even. The tigress could only imagine how pissed off she would be if someone first randomly touched her and then delivered a cheeky pickup line. That alone would earn any guy a knuckle sandwich on their costs. Apparently being knocked head first to the ground wasn‘t enough to deter the guy as he went on and started calling her names. Really? Songbird? Not the best name for a bird faunus. Vlithra thought Ax was more of a bird of prey anyway. With that the tigress had lost any interest that was left for the new guy, if there even was any, and stopped paying attention to him.

Until the entire thing almost got out of hand, so much so that Vlithra initially intended to speak up to get the attention of everyone to try to calm down. However instead she felt anger build up inside of her which quickly became rage, like a combusiton dust crystal that got ignited with a bit too much flame. Was it the guys appearance, his apparent need to stand out? The way he tried to score with Ax even after being dropped flat to the ground? Or just his attitude which reminded her all too well of Bartok and his antics? She didn‘t know and frantically didn‘t care. The rage rose quickly and consumed her remaining thought process. Such emotion became motion as Vlithra slowly stepped forward towards the hustle that was going on in front of her. Ax was trying to get at the circlet guy all the while being held back by Bartok. She was more than ready to pummel the guy down into the earth and make him part of the beach. However Ax wasn‘t the only one, far from it.

Next to her, Bartok was agitated and Erin also seemed like she‘d loose her cool any minute. Now Vlithra, she was more than just tense at this point. Her semblance had long since kicked in and did its work acting as an outlet for the ammassed emotion. The air around the tigress was static as her hair lifted and her stripes and eyes glowed. The raw kinetic energy that had ammassed danced around her body like a storm, pushing the sand at her feet and the air around her away in waves as she made her way forward. Overcome with such emotion Vlithra had only one objective, disperse them. Blasting a shockwave between all of them might have been the easiest way to do so, but it was by all means not the best option. Hell somebody could get badly hurt.

But before the tigress could get close enough, against all expectations, Erin of all people finally snaps. In a fit of something that couldn‘t be described by any other word than a rant, the racoon girl not only managed to knock everyone out of their anger stupor, Vlithra and Ax included, but somehow managed to make the guy responsible drop down onto his back with nothing but her angry glare. If anything, that was sort of terrifying. The anger that had built up faded almost instantly as realization hit and Vlithra‘s semblance stopped its build up of energy, allowing the already channeled energy to fade out in a gust of wind that was more similar to a cold breeze. Damn, what a day. With a clear head again Vlithra made her way back to the chairs to process what exactly had happened.

[Erin Cherrywood]

((I changed Erin's text color because there is a lot of red going on.))

Erin slowly lowered herself down onto the offered chair, carefully keeping a hand on Bartok's arm to make sure she didn't fall. Looking up at Al she offered a small, slightly woozy, smile. "Th-thank you. I appreciate it."

She frowned at Bartok when he said he wouldn't grab the circlet for her but, if she was being honest, she didn't really want it right now. Or, more accurately, she wanted something else more - the return of peace to the party. She'd get the circlet later.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back to finally stop the side effects of her semblance for good. Angling her head toward Ax without opening her eyes she cleared her throat. "I know it's annoying, and he had no right to touch you without permission, but he probably wasn't trying to upset or offend you. Guys like him try to use comedy and flattery to make a space for themselves in a foreign setting. He probably chose you because you are a familiar face on campus and seemed easy enough to talk to." She opened her eyes halfway and looked at Ax. "You were right to hit him when he touched you, but I feel you went overboard with the freakout over the nickname. We've all been called worse before after all." She closed her eyes again and frowned. "Feel free to ignore my opinion on that though, it's possible I don't know enough to understand the trigger after all." She paused a few moments to consider her next few words. "Hopefully I eased some of the frustration for you?"

Leaning her head back again she scanned for Vlithra. She had been so focused on the chaos that she'd missed her reaction to the events. She tried to catch her eye to silently ask her opinion on everything but who knew if she was paying attention to Erin.

[Pyry Ward]

He heard the girl with the golden eyes ask for his circlet and frowned, she probably could take it right now with the way he was feeling, but then the guy told her no. Cue the inward sigh of relief.

The guy was talking about ways to break the ice and he smiled while he listened. This, this was a man who got it. The way he said forced proximity made Pyry feel the need to defend himself though. "I'd like to think it's only semi-forced. If the target moves away I'll back up, or if I get tossed I won't touch again. I'm not a total monster." He opened his eyes a crack and gave a friendly smile.

The golden eyed one - Erin, according to Bartok - offered her insights on the situation and he nodded in agreement. "I get that not everyone wants touched or hit on, I wasn't wasn't really trying to piss off the bird there." He said with a nod at her before a slight look of bewilderment appeared. "And how was I to know that a bird faunus who literally spends her time making it known that she dabbles in music would turn so volatile at a name that addressed the obvious connection? That is just wild."

Propping himself up he accepted the drink from the girl so focused on making everyone feel comfortable. "Thanks. It's nice to know I didn't alienate everyone just yet." He joked with a grin.

Taking a big swig of the drink he swished it around some to get the taste of bile out of his mouth. As he lowered the can he eyed Erin. She was terrifying. He still didn't understand what she'd done but it was not something he wanted to do again.

Putting Erin on the back burner he turned his attention to the bird again. "Hey, I really am sorry. I wasn't trying to ruin your day. I guess I need to work a little harder on choosing the correct icebreakers."

[Al Ciendra]

Al was a bit weary about everything that was happening, everyone seemed a little tense, especially Ax, but most people seemed to be calming down, which did make her feel a little better.
Then suddenly her ears stood upwards rigid like antenna as Ax rubbed them and patted the top of her head.
Even though she was surprised, Al relaxed, even leaning her head into Ax hand for the short duration that she was touching her.
She did not realize it until Ax had let go, but she had dropped her unopened soda can into the sand and that she had just spaced out for a few seconds.
Al's face flared up red as she looked around for just a bit, staring up at Ax and then scrambled to pick up her soda, quickly doing, so before she was back to just looking at Ax.
She had not even heard what the bird faunus had said, and it made her feel even more embarrassed.
Al was now struggling to respond, just looking around, she didn't want to make Ax feel as if she had ignored her.
"Well, glad that's over, right ?"
She just hoped her response was at least somewhat fitting to what Ax had said, what she could hear though was what the others had to say.
It was good to see that the new guy, who ignored Bartok's question, was trying to apologize.
"Well, this could have certainly gone better, BUT! I think we can salvage this situation, Bartok, suggested a new game ? That should be nice and allow everyone to get to know each other a bit better, right ?"
She asked facing the bat and then turning to the group one after another, she really wanted to just have a good time at the beach, why did all of this have to happen ?
Al's ears sunk for a second as she sighed, slumping her shoulders for just a second before straightening up again and waiting for everyone's response.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok nodded as he listened to Pyry's words about Ax. He spoke a little quieter, perhaps low enough that only he and Pyry could hear. "Yeah, I get it. Ax shouldn't have tried to kill you like that, but that's what makes women so terrific sometimes. Gotta push only the right buttons at the right time. Otherwise, you get a penalty. Sometimes that's a slap, and other times it's a broken bone."

As Al handed him the soda, Bartok smiled. "That's Al. She's good people. You'd need to do something bad for her to shun you, I suspect." He stood up away from Pyry as the guy seemed to be able to handle his spinning head better. He apologized to Ax and Bartok left him with an encouraging pat on the shoulder before moving over to the circle of chairs.

"Yes Al, I did suggest a new game." Bartok said, turning his head as if to look at her before speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "A lot of us here has learned little droplets of each other. Semblances, general dispositions, moods, what buttons not to push... But let's learn a bit more about each other. A game I call Truth... or Slap!" Bartok snapped his fingers and held finger guns out to both sides. He began walking around the fire, dangerously close and hot on his legs, activating his Aura so it wouldn't burn him.

"It's like Truth or Dare, but I feel like the game falls apart when people don't answer questions or do what they are supposed to. The idea of Slap is that a player can refuse to answer a truth or do a dare, but if they do, someone else in the circle can answer the question or do the dare. If that happens, that person gets to slap the one who refused. What type of slap is up to the slapper, but we're all Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. You should be able to take a slap, none of us here are wimps." He waited for a moment for everything to settle in, then continued. "Slaps also happen if someone who answers a "truth" is caught by someone else, revealing that answer to be a lie. If you are the person who can prove it's a lie, you get to do the slap. As we are all relatively new to each other, I don't this will happen but it's good to point out."

Bartok stopped on the opposite side of the fire from everyone, wanting the light to illuminate him. "Worth playing for?"

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Throughout all this Vlithra became quite distant from everyone else. She was the only person here that wasn‘t in any way involved or helping to diffuse the situation. Al was handing drinks out, Bartok was calming everyone and she…? She felt more like a bystander witnessing a group momentarily being torn appart... it was giving her a headache… or was that just the sudden drop in her emotional state that she experienced just now? What was up with that anyway? Rubbing her temple with one hand she made sat herself down into one of the chairs.

Al in the end, brought up the game again that Bartok mentioned who was quick to elaborate on that. Truth or… Slap?! That... didn‘t sound right? The blind bat quickly explained what he meant. A player can refuse to answer a truth or to do a dare, but when they do someone else can answer and then slap them for refusing. The reasoning that they were all beacon students and could easily take a slap or two was… alright. Vlithra could surely take multiple slaps and as long as the slaps were only in her face there‘d be no repercussions.

Vlithra crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat as Bartok finished his explanation. Her finger scratched her chin as she was deep in thought. “Hmm, I guess it‘s fair enough...“ she then pointed towards Bartok and after that to Pyry. “...but we should not to get too touchy in terms of topics all too often, otherwise we‘ll be having a slap fest here instead of a game.“

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin gave up on making eye contact with Vlithra, she was in her own world and Erin wasn't about to make too much of an effort to work her way into a friendship with someone she wasn't sure she'd be interacting with very often.

Tilting her head she listened to Bartok describe his game of choice. Smirking she shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. She had no fear of being slapped since there were no dark secrets in her life.

Eyeing everyone else, she raised an eyebrow. She'd be willing to bet that at least half of her competitors would be taking a slap or two if people weren't careful with their questions.

"I'm willing to bet that lines over there is more careful now." She said with a pointed look at Pyry. "I'm sure he'd like to not end up on the receiving end of an ass kicking."

[Pyry Ward]

Pyry finally made it to his feet and swished some more soda around in his mouth while Bartok continued to offer names of the girls.

The bird faunus had taken a call before she ever acknowledged his sincere apology, but he decided to let it go. No point in pressing her more than he already had.

Everyone seemed nice enough, after all he was still invited to join in the festivities. Grabbing a chair he sat directly across from Erin, some guys liked to sit next to the girls they were interested in but he preferred to be in their direct line of sight.

While Bartok described the game he felt himself grow a bit hesitant. He had no issues hitting a girl in battle but outside of real problems it just didn't seem right. He was so big... He frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. If the girls didn't care he supposed it was okay, but where was he supposed to slap them? The face was obviously off limits, same with any areas a bathing suit wouldn't cover... The arm maybe? Hopefully he wouldn't need to find out.

While he was still working the details of the slap out in his mind the tigress - he wasn't sure he caught her name, if he did he certainly didn't remember it - called him and Bartok out on possibly choosing inappropriate topics. Before he could say anything Erin suggested he'd behave and he couldn't help but chuckle. Putting a hand over his chest in mock offense he bit his lower lip and turned his head to the side. "Why I am hurt that you'd think I - Pyry Ward - would be anything other than a gentleman!" Laughing he dropped the act and shook his head. "But on a serious note, an ass kicking is fine, it's whatever that horrible pukey thing you did to me is that's keeping me in line." He informed Erin with a dramatic full-body shiver. "On the real though? I'll behave. I would prefer to not be kicked out of this party that I just crashed."

[Al Ciendra]

Al sighed, of course what ever Bartok suggested could not be a normal game or truth or dare, it had to be something extra, but guess that was just Bartok being Bartok.
"Sure, I'm in."
Al said and looked to Ax, before she took a seat in the chair circle that had previously been put together, she realized she was a bit out of place being the only that was wearing a jacket, plus she wasn't cold anymore so Al decieded to atleast take of her hoodie again, hanging it over the back of her chair as she then finally opend her can of soda, which after falling down did get a bit volatile but before it could spray anywhere Al had quickly taken a big a swig of it and made sure it wasn't full enough to spray anywhere.
As she was waiting for everyone to settle Al turned her attention to the fire and with a snap of her fingers the flame got bigger and warmer again, as she fed it some of her aura to keep it going.
"Hope the fire is fine, I can't actually feel the heat."
Al said and just for demonstration she put her free hand right into the fire, which neither her nor her aura seemed to react to.

[Ax L Rose]

Al was cute with her girl-crushy antics. Oh how very amusing to watch Al lose her train of thought and deal with a clear rush of some kind of gay or at least half-gay panic! Ax enjoyed this too much to give the masked girl any grief or teasing about it. She managed to keep her expression mellow and calm despite wanting to chuckle at what she was seeing. Distraction could sometimes be the best way to defuse Ax's temper.

She felt her scroll going off in the pocket of her shorts as Erin made what was clearly a very sincere effort to connect with her about the messy situation that'd just unfolded, which was... pretty inconvenient, because Erin's recent expressiveness along with the compassionate, understanding tone she was approaching this topic with were endearing Ax to the girl rather quickly. The matter-of-fact way Erin summarized her take on the new guy seemed pretty on-the-dot, too. It was reassuring to hear someone else speak so candidly about the way Pyry was coming off, though Ax's pathological propensity for being easily distracted was muddying up her ability to fully absorb the words being spoken. Ax's jaw went rigid as she fished out her scroll and peeked at the ID on display. She'd have to call them back, like... right away. Honestly, probably not a bad time. Ax really needed a cigarette and a break from everyone else's emotions for a bit. She quickly looked back up at Erin, hoping peering at her phone hadn't seemed rude.

"It's... it's that particular nickname that gets me," Ax noted rather laconically, less than enthusiastic at the idea of elaborating on why. Erin had at least made a point to acknowledge she didn't understand why Songbird hit the way it did... though she still furrowed her brow in Pyry's direction as he went on to frame the whole situation as if it was 'just wild' that it set her off the way it did. Whatever, he could assume she was insane or made no sense if he wanted. She didn't owe him an explanation.

Pyry's apology clearly hadn't quite landed perfectly, judging from Ax's complete lack of verbal acknowledgment and the dubious, skeptical expression she gave him... but Ax was at least not picking his words or expressions apart further. Her goal right now was to disengage. He was officially not her problem anymore as long as he was keeping his hands to himself.

"I ah... you all should start without me," Ax began speaking, kind of to Erin, kind of to everyone else. "I need a minute. I'll be back shortly, 'kay?"

She hoped that this simple reassurance would be enough to get the point across that she did still want to be here, she liked Bartok's idea for a game, and she really appreciated that people were trying to assuage her concerns even if she couldn't really focus well enough to fully acknowledge everyone's efforts. She gave Al a final little scritch-scratch behind the ears and rose to her feet, stepping away from the others for a bit, heading inland a bit toward the road leading to the beach. The last thing anyone needed was to be on the receiving end of her slaps right now - they'd probably impact like they were dust-infused at this rate if she didn't get a smoke in real fast.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok, of course, heard everything everyone was saying including Ax needing a minute. Fair enough. Everyone else was pretty alright with this game. One more thing he did that these people liked, sweet!

"Alright then, I'll go first. Vlithra," He turned towards the tiger Faunus, reaching out his hands to the warm fire. "Truth or Slap. What did you think of me the first time you saw me on that airship? The first thing that came into your mind? Surely you wouldn't take a slap for answering that, would you?" He didn't honestly think that she was head over heels for him or anything, but he thought that she at least liked his antics. She came to the party, didn't she?

[Vlithra Qing Long]

As everything seemed to calm down now, Vlithras attention quickly shifted to Ax who apparently was getting a call from someone and had to step away for a moment. That meant she was out of the game for a while, a shame really. Would have been a good opportunity to get to know her a bit more.

“Alright then, I‘ll go first. Vlithra,“ Those words echoed in her head for a short while as she heard Bartok chime up for the first turn. And of course, he had to pick her of all people. The question he was asking, didn‘t make it any better. What did she think the first time she saw him? As much as she really didn‘t want to say it to his face, it was true that this question should be nothing to take a slap for.

“Of course you would direct your first question to me.“ She sighed in a bit of a protest. Vlithra had considered lying as an option, but she didn‘t know whether that would work on someone like Bartok who wasn‘t easy to deter anyway. Besides that she really didn‘t want to mention that she really liked his outfit. It would mean that the bat boy would never stop clinging to her then. It was quite the conundrum for the tigress, no matter what she would do, it would probably only make Bartok more clingy than before.

“First time I saw you… I liked your outfit.“ Defeated she admitted the painstaking truth about her taste in clothing. The rather sultry tigress crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat as she tried to look away from the bat boy. “Business Casual. That‘s just the kind of style I‘m into.“ Too bad that his flirty jokester attitude killed the deal for her. It was just this thing, looking serious while not being serious… it didn‘t mix well at all!

“Now this means it‘s my turn, right?“ With Bartoks question out of the way it was Vlithra‘s turn to dare. Maybe she should ask Erin how she could ever stand this guy and his antics. In hindsight, asking Erin something wasn‘t such a bad idea. The tigresses stern gaze fell onto the racoon girl. “Erin. Honest question to you. How were you ever able to bear having this guy around?“

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin shifted awkwardly under Pyry's gaze as he sat right in front of her. She wasn't sure what would be worse: him sitting across from her and landing square in his gaze or him sitting next to her and having to feel his presence. He was just as annoying as Bartok.

Speaking of Bartok, he was quick to get his game going and taking the first turn. He called on Vlithra and she gave an inward sigh of relief. She was definitely liking having other people in his line of sight rather taking the full force of him on her own anymore. It was an innocent enough question too, though he would definitely save the answer for future use.

She smiled at Vlithra's answer, Bartok was a fine dresser.

Her face fell a bit when she heard her name but she quickly recovered when she heard the question. "Well, proximity is probably the easiest answer. He is my next door neighbor and our moms took turns watching us, I spent a lot of time at his house when I was younger and mom's bar got too rowdy." She fidgeted a bit; it was true, but it wasn't the whole truth. Did she need to share more? She already knew the answer, if she had to ask herself that question she needed to give more. "Aside from that, he was kind to me when no one else was. I have a thing about shiny objects and when we were younger I was what can only be described as a pushover. Some little jerk chucked my bottlecap over the fence of the daycare one day and the teachers wouldn't get it or let me get it." She glared at the fire remembering the kid who first stole her stuff. "Being the four or five year old I was, I screamed and cried until they threatened to take away second recess - or something like that, I can't really remember - and set us down for naps." She fingered the coin on her neck and blushed a bit. "Bartok gave me the shiniest coin I'd ever seen and we were best friends ever since." She looked over at him with a gentle smile she knew he wouldn't see. "He didn't turn in to this hot mess until we were almost in Signal." She couldn't help but add her playful jab at him.

Eying everyone around the fire she picked out a target. "Uh... Al, was it?" She wasn't entirely sure she had the name right but she was pretty sure. "What is the strangest dream or nightmare you've ever had?" Erin wasn't much for social skills but her mom was so she'd picked up on a few fun questions that wouldn't put anyone on the spot.

[Al Ciendra]

The masked girl was just observing the happenings, she followed Ax path to see her walk away from the party, but turned her attention back to the game that was now starting, with Bartok taking the wheel, the ensuing question was rather easy to guess aaand yep, he was asking Vlithra.
Al had to agree, well partially, Bartok did have a pretty nice sense of fashion, though she wasn't sure why Vlithra had to keep picking on the guy, she already crushed a can in his face that seemed like enough retribution for once day.
But Erin's short story brought a smile to her face, no one could see it, but it was pretty easy to figure out as she was intently looking at Erin, with her chin in her palms and elbows propped on her lap, and a quiet "Awww, that's so sweet. Could be heard from her.

Though she soon left her relaxed posture as she flinched back sitting up straight as she stared a bit nervously at the Raccoon girl.
"Oh god what is she gonna ask me ?! Please don't ask about the face, no she wouldn't do that, about the scars ?! THE PYROMANCY ?! Oh wait it would actually be fun to talk about that..."
Her inner monologue was cut short as Erin asked her a pretty tame question, her strangest dream or nightmare ?
Oh...yeah, that one existed.
"Well, there's that one dream where everything except people is made out of spheres. Hunters can just kick around Grimm like volleyballs, people have to chase their house that's rolling away again, or can't find their work place since it rolled to the other side of the planet overnight. Of course, it sounds fun, but now imagine getting chased by a herd of rolling Ursa's downhill...or rather down sphere ? Either way, you get the point.
She shrugged, Al looked at the others, sure this wasn't awful, but it is a dream she could recall and would contribute much more to a better mood than her other nightmares.
She looked around the crowd, well she could either ask Bartok or Pyry something, those two had not been asked anything, but it would make more sense to ask the dude in gold.
Hmm...she knew him the least, so asking him a question was gonna be hard.
Then she grinned, this was truth or DARE after all.
"Pyry! I dare you to uhm...dump all the ice in the cooler over your head!"
It was a very, very silly dare, but Al enjoyed doing silly things, if someone was gonna call her immature she would deal with it, growing up was lame anyway.

[Pyry Ward]

Pyry took some time to eye Bartok up and down; he was indeed a sharp dresser. If Pyry hadn't been so attached to his current style he would likely have dressed similar - muscled men tended to look amazing in business casual. Plus he knew the ladies loved a sharp dressed man. Pyry however was more of a peacock, he stood out and he liked it.

When Erin answered her question he watched her with interest. He'd got the impression that she was anti-social but apparently he missed the mark. She seemed pretty genuine and kind - given her story about Bartok and the easy question she asked Al.

He covered his mouth after a snorted laugh bubbled out. A universe where everything was round sounded hilarious as an outsider but it could be scary in the moment when you truly believe you live in that setting.

His turn came and he arched an eyebrow. Standing up he peered into the ice chest. He wasn't adverse to dumping ice on himself but cans would hurt. Humming in thought he tried to scale the pain of being assaulted by cans as opposed to being slapped. The slap would likely hurt less physically but his pride would hurt more if he were the first one to pass.

Clapping his hands together a wide grin spread over his face. "Alright! Let's do this!" Without a second more of thought, he grabbed the ice chest, lifted it over his head, and dumped it's contents. The mix of ice, drinks, and whatever else was in the ice chest left him stunned for a moment. He wasn't sure if it hurt or was just cold. Shivering a bit, he realized it was both as the short burst of adrenaline wore off. Cans hitting the head hurt like nobody's business.

"Alright, that leaves you Bartok." Looking around at the scattered items from the chest he tried to piece together an interesting dare. "I dare you to drink a soda while doing a handstand."

[Bartok Evergreen]

Liked his outfit? That... wasn't what he was expecting, and the smile that grew on his face was of one recieving a compliment from someone he didn't think would ever give him one. Bartok knew deep down that she wasn't interested, it was just too much fun to take the hits she gave and bask in her reactions. Her question to Erin stung, especially right after getting a compliment like that. He put a hand to his chest dramatically. "Oh how you wound me, Vlithra!"

Then came Erin's honest answer. A story of them when they were younger. Much younger, in fact so young that Bartok hardly remembered the interaction. But as she told it, the memories started coming back. The sobs of Erin as a tiny girl, the laughter of the meaner kids, and the sharp glint of light that pierced his small goggles. He hadn't the slightest clue where it had come from, maybe it was part of his allowance. But it reflected light enough to pierce his goggles and make his eyes water in pain. That's when he learned what 'shiny' meant. When he had given it to Erin, there was a little bit of childish selfishness to the act. Wanting to get rid of the thing that gave him pain to look towards, something to stop her cries from hitting his ears... but ultimately it was because he didn't like her being sad. Maybe those sobs and tears were what started the slashing of his heart when he witnessed any girl cry to this day, and a belly-deep need to gift and coddle them and help make them feel better. Bartok didn't say anything, too busy self-reflecting when Al began telling about her dream.

A dream, or nightmare, where everything was round. If anything at all, it was interesting to think about. Ursa's rolling downhill? Was the hill itself another sphere, sitting atop of the mega-sphere that was the planet? Would a mountain be one giant sphere or a pile of smaller spheres? Bartok turned his head as he thought, his large ears flopping to one side as he pondered the geometry of such a world. It would be insane, for sure.

Then came the dare for dumping ice from the cooler onto Pyry's head. A pretty tame but chilly dare, just ice after all. Bartok only chuckled as Pyry went to it and prepared. "You're gonna take the cans out, right?" He asked. Pyry picked up the cooler. "You are gonna take the cans out... Right?" He repeated. Then Pyry dumped the entire cooler, ice and soda cans and all, over himself. Bartok physically cringed at the sounds of the impacts, bringing his knees up and elbows closer to his body. "Ooooh..."

Then came his own dare. They made a full round. Bartok thought about it for a moment. That... was possible, from a technical sense. Either he failed and looked like a blunder to be laughed at, bringing smiles to everyone, or he did it and looked super cool. Should be a fun time no matter the outcome. Pyry took the hits with the cans, he could do this. "No slapping my hand here, I'll do it!"

He rose from the log, putting ice back into the cooler along with the cans of soda, keeping one for himself. He stretched a little and pushed sand around to make a flat surface, patting it down with his foot as best he could. It didn't really work, but he felt that it was. He put the can of soda down next to it, bent over for his hands to touch the sand, and swung his legs over his head. Failing the first try, the second try he was able to hold his balance. He slowly lowered himself to press his head and hair into the sand, his ears being pressed hard to the sand and his head. The sounds he heard became all muffled and distorted, making him feel truly blind, and it didn't feel comfortable at all, a little painful even.

He remained like that for a moment or two before shifting his weight over his left arm, his right arm picked up the can of soda. "Crap...!" He realized that he hadn't opened the soda yet. Placing it close to him, directly next to his head, his fingernail began tick-tick-ticking at the metal tab. After a few attempts, his teeth gritting with the effort of holding himself up with only one arm, he had to switch arms and started to actually pull the tab with his left hand. His mouth opened in a wide triumphant smile as it bent, pushing against the can's opening. It made the classic and satisfyingly sharp 'Cha-shink!' sound that cans do. But Bartok hadn't accounted for what the can of soda had just gone through with Pyry's dare.

A quick fountain of sticky bubbles erupted from the can directly into Bartok's face, mouth, and nose. He coughed and sputtered and ultimately fell to the ground, knocking the can over to spill some of its foaming contents into the sand. Bartok scrambled to save the soda, keeping the majority inside of it while sputtering and laughing at himself and the situation. "No no no! Wait, I can still do this!" He said before laughing again and getting back into his position to make another handstand again. He had to calm his laughing, clearing his throat, before making another handstand. This time, as soon as he was able to steady himself, he took the can of soda and put it to his lips. It was at this time that, even though his hearing was severally limited, he could still tell the sound of footsteps coming from a direction different from everyone on the logs.

"Hey Ax, welcome back!" He said, voice strained. He hoped it was her, he only could tell someone was there. He focused his mind back to the task at hand. Hard thing was, he couldn't angle his head at all to help pour the soda into his mouth like he could imagine himself doing in a handstand. He took the can and tried to sip, but he couldn't gauge correctly how far he had to tip it, pouring some fizzy soda straight down his nose. A hard breath and cough repelled the soda back up, followed by a groan of frustration, laced with a chuckle behind it. His body swayed but he strained his body and returned to the upright position.

He was more careful this time around, placing the can lip against his top lip and slowly tipping it. Eventually, a trickle of the liquid came down the top of his mouth and he shuddered at the strange feeling but kept going. It was slow going and he had to stop to breathe or readjust at times, his arms, shoulders, and core visibly shaking and sweating as he kept up this dare. But as the last drips of that soda went down Bartok swallowed, coughed, roared in triumph as he fell flat onto his back, slapping the sand with his whole body in a dull thud. His ears stayed squished for a moment before returning to their form, springing sand away.

"Alright, Ax!" He was panting and still laying down, now able to identify her with his hearing. "I dare you..." He swallowed. His arms flopped wearily from the ground, like a dying fish's last movements. "To help me up... I'm tired... Help me sit down against something... or something." His right arm flopped again. "Please?"

[Ax L Rose]

Whatever call had pulled Ax away had apparently not taken long. The beach bunch could see her strolling back to their spot on the shore long before she arrived. She'd brought along a gray gym bag this time - apparently Ax had thought to bring towels, sunscreen, and other miscellanea for her visit to the beach today. Anyone paying attention would've probably realized she hadn't been gone nearly long enough to smoke an entire cigarette, but she'd addressed her need for nicotine well enough apparently.

"Hey everyone-" Ax paused for a beat before she could finish greeting everyone, her brow furrowing at the pile of ice and drink cans at Pyry's feet. Her eyes were full of questions before she seemed to remember they were playing Truth or Dare. She wondered whose idea it was to have the guy do that. All the sodas they had left would certainly be all fizzy and shaken up now, but hey... Ax still had her drink from earlier at least.

On the other hand, she'd come back just in time to catch Bartok mid-dare apparently. She exhaled a little breath of amusement at the sight of him struggling to open a can of soda whilst performing a handstand. It was a fairly impressive feat of balance and strength, soon cut short by a blast of fizz.

"Ooof," Ax winced. Her expression shifted back to a faint smile as he took failure with a chuckle.

"Hey yourself, don't let me mess you up now," Ax said, stepping carefully around the group, setting down her belongings in the sand nearby Al before she sat again. The mad lad seemed to finally pull off his stunt as she settled in with her drink again, her bare shoulder brushing up against Al's. She took a little sip of her soda and then sat it down to give Bartok a round of applause.

"Eeyyy, he did it!" Ax cheered, before turning to speak aside to Al. "Whose dare was that, even?"

Ax's attentions shifted back to Bartok as she heard her name. She gave him a faint, sympathetic smirk at his words. Splashed with soda and covered in sand as he was, he definitely looked a bit deflated. She rested her drink beside her and pushed back up to her feet.

"Poor thing. I can toss you into the sea while I'm at it, if you want. Rinse off all that sand n' sugar a bit," Ax offered jovially, making brief eye contact with Vlithra and giving her a playful wink. Despite Ax's words, when she lowered down to help the guy back up to his feat, there was no such roughhousing as she got his arm over her shoulder and let him rest his weight on her as they stood.

"There there, pal," she said. She helped him over to the nearest place where he could get his bearings and sit.

"...dunno if I should count that as your turn though, to be honest?" she looked over at everyone else, as if seeking their opinions. She even looked at Pyry. Apparently her brief departure had been enough for her to accept that for better or worse, he was a part of the group for now.