There Must Be Something in the Water [OPEN]

[Windra]

We should be running drills, Sh'ggy! Scrappith harumphed bitterly, trailing behind the footsteps his rider left in the sand. His long tail swept over them as he past, accidentally concealing them from view. And you want to go to the beach?! We have an important job to do -

"And, like, we'll get back to it just as soon as we soak up some sun!" Sh'ggy addressed the garnet flippantly. He switched his satchel from one shoulder to the next. It was loaded down with all sorts of perfectly pilfered goodies. A squawk sounded off from inside. "Don't your wings just ache to be in the water?"

It was chilly but sunny. Sh'ggy had no intention of getting into the sea - brrrr! no! - but Scoob and Scrappith might have other ideas. All he wanted to do was chill on the alabaster sands with some grubby in his tummy. And speaking of Scoob ... !

Sh'ggy shook the satchel. "Get outta there! Don't fill up on all the good stuff before we even get a chance to relax!" the blonde moaned. A small brown head emerged from the bag's opening, green eyes whirling. There was juice dripping along his mouth - clearly he was already going at whatever was in there.

Wark!

[FirebrandPhlox]

It was a warm day for early spring, and Costanza was loving it. By rare chance, Costanza had been excused from candidate duties on a day with perfect weather for a beach visit. It was still too cold to swim, of course, but he could at least enjoy stretching out on the sand and taking in some sun, as a nice respite from the cold winter.

He had packed himself a lunch and taken one of the weyr horses for the day. Even though his attempt at being a farmer had failed miserably, at least he had stuck around long enough to learn to ride a horse. He'd just trot down to the sands and take a day for himself, as surely no one else would be going to the beach this early in the season.

When he rounded the path and saw a garnet walking on the sand, Costanza was surprised, to say the least. He couldn't see the rider, but assumed they had to be nearby. Not wanting to be on the wrong side of a startled dragon, he called out, "hello! Nice day we're having, eh?"

[Windra]

"Yes!"

No!

The pair exchanged glances. Wait a second ... in fact, Sh'ggy couldn't see who was speaking. The hair on his neck stood up sharply. Scoob dipped back into the satchel, shaking. Was it a gh-gh-ghos -

Honestly, use your eyes! And the garnet stepped to the side, his bulky demeanor giving way to a balding man who looked far too out of place for this sunshine day.

Sh'ggy exhaled. He found a good little spot to set up and, once dropping everything to the ground (while carefully placing the satchel down - didn't wanna ruin the food!) glanced over. "You, like, picked a good day to come out amIright? It'd be even better if it was warmer!"

Ruh ruh! squeaked a happy little brown fire-lizard in the satchel. Sh'ggy dove his hand in and withdrew the creature by the scruff of its neck. Scoob had an entire loaf of bread in his paws. He grinned sheepishly at his bonded.

"Travesty, Scoob! Eating all that by yourself!" The flit shrunk sadly. "Like, you need condiments and fillings!"

This is - seriously - Scrappith wheeled around to face Costanza, eyes whirling frustrated oranges. You're a candidate, right? Tell him how important it is to get back and train!

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza watched as the garnet shuffled and a lanky man came into view. He smiled and responded, "it's a gorgeous day. Gorgeous! I'd love a swim, but guess we'll have to wait a bit longer for that, eh?" He dismounted, tied the horse in a nice shady spot, and started to approach the pair, figuring some company might not be a bad thing today after all.

He chuckled as the rider pulled a brown flit out of a bag, holding a loaf nearly as big as it was. Costanza could respect a little guy just trying to get a meal. Though he did agree, bread was better when it was made into a proper sandwich. He had a few he had made himself in his own bag.

When the garnet turned and addressed him, he stopped in his tracks, startled by the sudden movement from the beast. Technically, as a candidate he probably should be using the free time to brush up on some skills, but it was so rare he had a day off. He scrunched his face and shrugged. "Eh, yeah it's important, but it can't hurt to spend one nice day on the beach can it? It's not like the world is suddenly going to end because you took a few hours for a picnic on the beach."

[Windra]

Scrappith huffed, blowing hot air in Costanza's face as he did so. He might wind up spooking the poor horse. Slackers, the garnet grumbled, unenthusiastically turning tail towards the pathway to gaze upon the ocean. The lot of you.

His purplish hide slid past Sh'ggy, not flinching when his rider slapped a firm hand against his ribs. "Don't be like that ol' buddy ol' pal! Like, when'll we get the next chance to enjoy the sun before we get a hard threadfall?" He liked to think of that whole affair as a minor inconvenience. Getting caught up in the fear of potentially dying threw him into a nasty panic attack. "Take a swim! Gobble up some fish! Breath some fresh air! You know it's not gonna be easy to break away soon!"

Scoob shrieked affirmation. The brown flit tilted his head upwards and swallowed the loaf (now topped with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and veggies) down his gullet. It lingered in his throat for a moment longer than it should and then slid down his gullet. Had it been greased or something? Did Scoob even chew?

Clearly a learned trait, because Sh'ggy followed it up with the exact same action! He gulped hard.

Scrappith looked indignant and angry, but he doubled back with a resigned sigh. Fine. Fine! Maybe you're right. But we are doing extra drills when we get back!

Sh'ggy shrank as Scrappith passed into the cold surf. "Aww, Scrappith ... " Shrugging his shoulders, he leaned past Costanza to stroke the horse's fur. "You trying to get outta duties too, huh? They're so stiff back there. Everybody's losin' their minds waiting on that big gold to rise!"

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza could only stand and blink in response to the dragon, named Scrappith apparently, loomed over him and huffed in his face. What was with this guy, anyway? He'd never seen a dragon so uptight before.

As the brown flit swallowed the food, Costanza watched on in fascinated horror. How does that thing not suffer from constant stomachaches? He pondered. The rider followed with the same action, leaving Costanza further wondering how he managed to fly around or do any of his duties with whole pieces of unchewed food in his stomach.

At the mention of shirking duties Costanza chuckled. "Actually, well, I was excused from duties for the day. Seemed a shame to let such nice weather go to waste, so I figured I'm come enjoy it a bit. Get away from the hustle and bustle for an afternoon. Name's Costanza, by the way." He held out his hand to the rider in greeting.

[Windra]

"Sh'ggy!" He took the hand and gave it a shave, but it was a bit of a wet noodle. The wrist protruding from his gown was thin and bony, giving the definite impression of starvation. "Well, like, you definitely picked the right day!"

He hobbled over to the beach, kicking off his riding boots with gusto once they were past the gravel. The sand was cold between his toes but squishy. Sh'ggy went to work shaking a fur out. Scoob was upon it the moment it settled, rolling onto his back and massaging his little rounded brown belly with a happy sigh.

Beyond the shoreline, Scrappith's purple figure could be seen drifting along the current. He dipped in and out of view - some fish returning to his roots.

Meawhile, Sh'ggy unloaded his satchel of infinite holding. There seemed no end to the foodstuffs he unveiled and left many questions of how he got it all in there to be pondered. He started to sit when something snapped at his toes. Sh'ggy jerked back with a yelp!

"Getoff getoff man!" he hollered, kicking the crab off and into Costanza's direction.

[FirebrandPhlox]

How the man could eat as he did and remain so skeletally thin was a complete mystery to Costanza. It made him a little jealous, considering it seemed the older he got, the bigger his own belly got. "The right day, indeed!" Costanza agreed. "We're lucky it's like this so early in the season. Mind if I join you?"

He followed Sh'ggy's lead, leaving the horse tied to a tree along the edge of the beach and walking onto the sand. He too, took off his boots when he reached the sand, though did so carefully, leaving them by the gravel.

Once fully in the sun, he began unpacking his own beach gear, though he had nowhere near as much as Sh'ggy had managed to cram into a single bag. As he rolled out a blanket on the sand, he watched the seemingly endless array of food appear from Sh'ggy's bag. Costanza's sizable lunch of a sandwich, carrots, fruit, and a sweet scone seemed pitiful next to the spread Sh'ggy was laying out for himself.

Costanza yelped as the crab came flying towards him, jumping back. "Careful! Careful!" The crab skittered at his feet, snapping its claws in annoyance. "I don't need a pinched toe! I've got enough problems." He shooed the crab with his own foot, trying to direct it towards the water.

[Windra]

Sh'ggy dove out of the way as the crab sailed over his head. His motions kicked up sand, showering the food. The crustacean missed its mark to the sea by a good little distance. Instead it came to a rest just a few inches before Scoob's tail. The little brown fire-lizard was none the wiser.

One of its claws was bigger than the other. It used the obnoxious sized one to reach for the flit's twitching tail. Scoob went from happily dozing to screeching, RROOOOWWWWRRRCHH. He beat feet, pudgy belly dragging across the beach with an unwanted passenger tagging along for the ride!

"Scoob! Hold still!" Sh'ggy yelped, springing to his knees and crawling after him in a flurry.

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Oh no, not the food!" Costanza groaned as a shower of sand covered the lunch he had carefully unpacked. Costanza held his arms out in disbelief, staring at his wonderful food, ruined in an instant! This is what he got for trying to just have a nice relaxing day for once!

He watched the other man take off after the flit, screaming as he did so. Costanza's gaze went back and forth between the food, which could maybe be salvaged, and Sh'ggy chasing after Scoob. Did he follow the man, or ignore him and try to enjoy his lunch?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he went to getting the picnic space back in order. "You better not come over here until that crab is long gone!" He called after the pair.

[Windra]

Aha, nope!

Scoob wasn't paying attention to where he was running off and they were all going to suffer for it. The brown all but barreled into Costanza, launching onto his face and latching on like a cat threatened with a bath. He was squalling, tail thrashing wildly. Images of hands yanking the thing off of him flashed in their minds. Clearly he was implying how he wanted to be done with this thing!

"Like, hold on!" Sh'ggy was on the scene. He pulled at the crustacean but only succeeded in exacting the wrath of the other claw! "ZOINKS! That smarts!"

A pair of purple fins roused from the watery depths not far away. Da da da DAA! Garnet POWER! Scrappith was the dragon equivalent of a speedboat, dashing forth into the shallows and soon, would be upon them.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza yelped as the startled firelizard came barreling towards him, raising his arms to try and protect his face. He was too slow though, and Scoob clung to his face with the ferocity of a wher tearing into a steak.

"Get 'im off me! Get 'im off me!" Costanza wailed as he tried to pry the flit off his head, unsuccessfully. He was running in place now, kicking even more sand onto the spread of food.

Costanza could see through his peripheral vision that Sh'ggy was next to him and trying to do something, but not nearly fast enough. "Hurry up and get him off my face! My beautiful face!" He continued to shout, growing more panicked as the flit continued to cling for dear life.

Certainly, this couldn't get any worse for Costanza.

[Windra]

Yeah, no. Scrappith was coming in hot. Poor, desperate Sh'ggy waved his arms frantically in an effort to slow the beast, but you can't stop a train ...

"Scrappy, like, LOOK OUT!"

Scoob was screaming, Sh'ggy was screaming, Scrappith was screaming, Costanza was screaming, the seagulls were confused so many things sounded like them, the fish were bubbling -

- and Scrappith for all his size and intensity came to a screeching halt in front of them. His jaws snatched the crab off Scoob's tail and whipped it into the air. It landed down his gullet, crunched by teeth along the way.

As if I, a Garnet, would make the foolish error of crashing into my human and ... , he regarded Costanza with an air of haughty disregard, company.

"Welp buddy, safe to say our meal has been sandblasted," Sh'ggy groaned, scraping a trembling flit from Costanza's face. "Uh, I'll make it up to you."

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza let out another panicked yelp as he felt the garnet come screeching to a halt in front of him. He couldn't see the dragon around Scoob's trembling body, but he could smell the breath of the beast as he chomped the crab off the flit's tail. Costanza did his best to hold still during the ordeal, but could feel himself trembling instinctively being so close to a mouthful of razor sharp teeth that belonged to a seemingly not-so-nice dragon.

As Sh'ggy pulled Scoob off Costanza's face, he breathed a sigh of relief and could feel his body relax. Just for a moment though, as he was quickly overtaken with anger.

Make it up to me? You better make it up to me! This was my first day off in weeks! A chance to relax for once!" The pitch and pace of his words was steadily rising as he got himself more and more worked up, like a wind-up toy cranked beyond its limits.

"For weeks I've been slaving away in these candidate classes, doing all this needless work and chores. Today was my day! My day to relax and enjoy the weather, maybe a nice sandwich!" He was gesturing wildly now, face and body turning redder and redder, and not because of sunburn. "But now I'm covered in scratches, my food's covered in sand, and the day is ruined. Ruined!"