[closed] (loud screaming) BOAT PARTY

[pocketspa]

Who: Taako, Lup, Barry, Kravitz, Magnus, Lance, and Nate.
What: 7 assholes, two boats, heading into the ocean for the chance to look for some buckwild stuff.
Where: Out at sea!
When: The entirety of the voyage; August 13th-September 3rd.
Warnings: Idk PG-13 levels of shirtlessness, curse words, maybe somebody ends up overboard at some point. Should be cool.

This is a catch all for the boat party for this group! Make top-levels for threads within this time and go friggin' wild. For convenience, I've provided 3 toplevel headers as general timeline assistance; as far as events of the voyage go, it'll basically be:

Week One: (August 13th-19th) Leaving the city and traveling to the fragment!
Week Two: (August 20th-26th) Still traveling, picking up whatever they find somewhere in here, since it's about the middle.
Week Three: (August 27th- Sept 3rd) Traveling and arriving home!

Feel free not to use exact dates, I sure don't care, this is just to help figure out if things happened before other things, OTHERWISE GO WILD

Comments

[barold]

[The elf sprawls up against his back like a huge, lazy cat, or some kind of angular blanket, which doesn’t seem to faze Barry at all. Seems like a century of dealing with him and his sister has immunized him to this weird little habit of theirs. Being on this boat really is nostalgic.]

Tentacle god, tentacle god… hmm…

[Barry pretends to scrub through his notes, looking for references to Taako’s kinky little joke.] Sorry bud, no dice. I’d hook ya up if I could, but seems like I’m not cool enough t’get my brain prodded by tentacles from th’great beyond.

[Sounds like someone isn’t taking this Dangerous God Fragment very seriously.] So far’s just lookin’ like any old glowin’ crystal.

[pocketspa]

[Listen, Taako sure isn't either. Sure, Nate was scared, but he expected him to be. Nate may be a rugged explorer, but this is magic. He's out of his element. This is where they take over and do what they do best.

He snaps his fingers like an aw, darnit motion, sliding off to Barry's left to look at this thing more.]

Yeah, this is proooobably not the worst thing we've ever dealt with? Like, you guys took a knife to the Light and nothing blew up, so what's a tiny rock gonna do?

[He reaches out and flicks it with his finger, moving it a bit away from him.]

Obvs we know it can be segmented, since like. It's here. And the Door's back there.

[barold]

Right? That’s what I’m thinkin’.

[To both of those statements. Messing with the Light practically never got him and Lup in trouble - and they messed with it a lot - so this little thing posing much danger doesn’t seem very feasible. And yes, it can be broken into pieces without affecting what they believe to be the core function of the Door.

Barry picks up the fragment, turning it over in his hand.]

Feels fine. We won’t know much more until we get it back to th’lab, I don’t think, if more people bring their fragments in. They might interact with each other weird. But right now? Isolated? It’s not givin’ me much of anything.

[pocketspa]

[He snorts.]

Yeah, what were you expecting it to do, cut you?

[Taako is more wary than most, but not enough to actually to stop Barry from whatever the fuck this is.]

Nate did make it sound like this thing was gonna like, grow legs and tunnel into his eyeballs or something. Maybe because we're used to weird magic biz it's just sitting there? What are you gonna do to it when you get back?

[barold]

Could be. Could also be a question of exposure, y’know? He was holdin’ it for a while gettin’ it back to th’surface. I’m just gonna keep holdin’ it, you tell me if I start lookin’ weird. [he beats Taako to it. ] Weirder.

[It’s a hypothesis anyway. It could also be, as Taako suggests, the fact that Nate isn’t used to magic whereas they are. For now, the fragment feels alright. A little cold. Barry writes that down.

Taako’s question gets a little shrug.] Depends. This one is definitely goin’ to th’lab. Gonna have Alphys look over it with me, maybe a couple other ones if we can convince folks t’bring’em in. Probably gonna perform some basic stress tests on this one, try and determine energy patterns, if any…

[pocketspa]

[He did have his mouth open to make that exact joke, so he can't help but laugh when Barry beats him to the punch.]

Alright, you nerd. I'll make sure you don't gurgle on the floor.

[Usually, that'd be the end of it, but he does kind of want to keep an eye on this, so he sits down nearby, propping his head up with his elbows on the table.]

You think they'll just let you have 'em? 'Ss also possible this one can tell we're powerful wizards and doesn't wanna fuck with us. Nate was just, y'know, beefy bait. Like how the liches in Wonderland went after Mags instead of me or Merle.

[barold]

[He knows how you roll, Taako. Barry meets the laughter with a little grin.]

Thanks, bud.

[Taako’s suggestion gets a little shrug.] That could be it. We dunno how this thing works yet, if it detects magic at all. Part of why I’m doin’ this, so we’ll have some field notes goin’ into it. As far as I understand, Dr. Alphys is magic too? But in a different capacity from us.

[Barry scribbles a couple more notes. His thumb has started rubbing little circles over one of the intricate patterns carved into the fragment. When did he start doing that?] As for whether they’ll let us have’em, I mean… I’d like t’see’em barge in and take’em back from us. If they want’em so bad.

[pocketspa]

[It's a role they haven't fallen into in some time. Not that Taako thinks Barry is weak, or that Lup couldn't handle herself, but this was his designated task. The two of them would disappear for a week and then come barreling into his room at 3 am asking him to just look at this, okay, tell him they're not going completely nuts. Taako's always been privy to their weirdest shit, so here he is again. He looks casual, and he watches. Looks for tells. Looks for ideas.

Looks for weird finger movements.

But he snickers a little bit more when Barry speaks, craning an eyebrow.]

Take 'em from you? Jeez, Barry, ready to fight over these things already? You got that big of a hard on for a new glowing thing to study? You shoulda told me, I'd have worked on pulling some weird relic out of the ground a long time ago if you needed it to get your rocks off.

[Get it. Because it's a rock.]

I dunno if it's an issue about letting, I mean, if they wanted to make sure we didn't get them they'd have come themselves.

[barold]

[Taako probably just means it jokingly, poking fun at him for getting a little protective just now, but the elf's hard-on comment earns him an... unexpectedly harsh look from Barry. For a moment there's a flicker of something almost like genuine rage across his face, fingers tightening around the fragment in his hand.

And then it passes. His gaze returns to the notebook, a few words put to paper - but his shoulders are noticably more tense now, the line of his jaw hard and stern.]

Exactly. They would've. Until they decide we can't have'em anymore, we're stuck with'em. Might as well do what we can 'til then.

[pocketspa]

[Of course he does. When does Taako not zag on Barry? He's his brother in law. Possibly the closest person to him in the world that isn't Lup. So seeing that face on him makes him squint, the smile on his mouth staying put but only out of defense.

Hey, quick question, what the fuck.

He's tensing up himself, but Taako's reaction to that is always to get smooth and loose, ready to cut and run if he needs to. So he leans back on the table, pursing his lips as he watches.]

Uh huuuuh. Do what we can? So what's the plan, then, B-man? Got some intent there?

[The raise of an eyebrow. He considers trying to text Nate under the table, mind quickly filing through his spells and trying to think if he has fucking anything for sending a discreet message. Shoulda picked up that cantrip, huh.]

[barold]

Y'know, yer real fuckin' nosy for someone who doesn't do any work.

[Barry's grip on the fragment is getting dangerously tight, hand shaking with the force of grasping it so hard. It digs into the palm of his hand. Somehow, it doesn't seem to bother him.

He just scowls at the notebook, not even bothering to meet Taako's gaze. The line of concern between the elf's brows doesn't even register with him. He just looks... mad. Angry for a reason not immediately obvious.]

Since yer wonderin', all we can do without equipment is observe. Got it? Look at it, feel it, stick it up our fuckin' asses, anything t'figure out what it even does, if anything. For all we know, th'liches sent us out here t'get their fuckin' soup stones for'em. Lazy fucks.

[The wood of his pencil creaks and groans in his grip.]

[pocketspa]

[Hmm, well that sure looks like playtime's over around here. There's no reason for this kind of reaction, not when Taako's known this man long enough to know he'd say something if Taako's ribbing was too much. His eyes flick between Barry's hands to his face, letting one hand slide off the table to touch the Krebstar where it's tied on his hip.]

I know, right? What freeloaders.

[He leans over, putting an arm around Barry as he works his bag over with his feet.]

Here my man, maybe I can give you a hand with that. Got somethin' we can work with that I picked up from my time at the Bureau.

[Now that he'll know if Barry moves, he shifts, keeping his eyes up, to dig around in there and find a very specific wand he hasn't used in a while, carefully making sure Barry doesn't leave. Can't let him out of his sight until this is done.]