[Open Log]

[bearshermark]

Who: Elliott and OPEN to ALL Different!
What: Beach Partyyy!
When: May 31st, all night
Where: Rockaway Beach
Rating/Warnings: Will update if needed



It's a good spot.

Two diagonal picnic tables are parked a within roasting fork distance of the fire pit. It starts as a small, flickering fire, but once everyone's gathered, Elliott takes the opportunity to kick the night off and turn up the heat with the aid of a few magical fireballs.

There's hotdogs and an overlaying grill to cook up Yotsuyu's mix of meat and veggie kebabs. A cooler filled with soda and water bottles sits further away to avoid premature melting. Cookies and marshmallows or s'mores feature as dessert- or dinner, if that's anyone's preference.

For entertainment, Roselia makes a live, musical debut with Lisa as its sole performer. Meanwhile, Elliott does his best to encourage socialization and facilitate any necessary introductions. There's even a volleyball net and ball, and at least one attempt is made to form teams and get a game going.

But for the quieter sorts, dark, ocean waves lap at the shore outside the firelight. The weather is perfectly clear, and the location affords a rare opportunity to enjoy the stars. There might even be a cat playing in the sand somewhere nearby.

Some accouterments (like cutlery or extra chairs) might have been accidentally overlooked.

...He tried okay.

Comments

[howkickassiam]

"Yeah, it's a good idea. The support group meeting is good, but...you just get this feeling they're listening, you know?"

[aggressive_negotiations]

If she looks vaguely surprised, it's only because he is the first person who has had the nerve to ask. She respects that.

"It's not very detailed. I'm in a field full of flowers, on a picnic. I look up at the sun, and see the blue sky and the outline of the flowers. I feel completely at peace." She closes her eyes, trying to remember more -- but she's been at this a hundred times, and there never is.

"I think someone is with me. I hear their voice off in the distance, but I couldn't tell you who they are or what they are saying."

She opens her eyes, and shrugs.

"Mine seems like one of the less specific memories. But considering what some people here are remembering, that may be a good thing."

[traceofeffort]

Lisa isn't entirely sure what to think from that reaction, but clearly it's something the other woman wants to see. "I'll be sure to share anything I get. I know it exists, I've seen it, I just don't have any and I want to." She pauses, then laughs at herself. "Or, y'know, I could just take it down again myself if I've seen it."

[hardtoignore]

"Wei Wu... Wuxian." He struggles at first, but once he's said the name fully it comes a lot easier to mind. Honestly, he knows a lot of East Asian American kids, but so many of them have Western names so he hasn't had a chance to try out speaking something so different from English. Still, the name has good impact; once he speaks it, he knows he'll never forget it.

He smiles at his new acquaintance. "Cool. Yeah, it's kind of nice to have a sense of community, even if it's not over the best circumstances. I think that's what El was going for when he set this up."

He glances over to watch Elliott running around, speaking to everyone, being a generally good host. What a nice guy. Returning to the conversation, Clarence grimaces. "Hmm, it's... complicated. Like, I guess I've had several, but you can kind of group them together a bit. Like... like, I got that first short memory, then I got a series of memories about a cat. Recently though, I've had a lot of dreams about using magic, just kinda playing around with it."

He chuckles, flushing a bit. "I know, sounds so crazy stupid. Magic isn't real."

[hardtoignore]

Seeing Elliott light up at seeing him causes Clarence to blush a bit, but he can probably play it off as just being a little sun-touched. It's a hot day after all.

Elliott could say he wasn't a Golden Retriever, but...

"Uh, me? Play a sport? That's, uh, not exactly my forte." He scratches at the nape of his neck, glancing to the side. "Who are we playing against? If it's a team of five year-olds, I may manage to make a point. Maybe."

[chenqing_player]

"Magic? So you used magic in your previous life? Ahh..everybody has such interesting memories."

His is only doom and gloom. But he has also only had one so he hopes they get better in the future. He doesn't know if he has any powers or anything yet but he figures that will take some time. Not that he particularly wants to have any more memories but he figures that isn't really under his control.

"What kind of magic? It's not silly at all! Depending on the power it might be fun."

[hardtoignore]

“Eh, it’s not all that great,” Clarence murmured, taking a slow bite of his injera. The delicious flavor of the doro wat perked him up a bit, so his next words weren’t so negative. “Really, the cat memories were the best. She was really pretty and orange, but not like Cheddar.”

He motioned to the cat frolicking in the sand nearby. He seemed to be stalking something now; Clarence hoped he didn’t end up getting caught by a crab.

He hummed, considering how he was wanted to describe it. “It’s complicated. Like, I can mostly just...”

He held out a hand and the palm began to glow red, flickering like flames. He waved it away after a second, looking away. “I think I can do more but I’m still trying to figure it out, you know? And I’m kinda worried if I don’t it might get dangerous.”

He shrugs. He can be blasé about it now, but it’s only a matter of time before anxiety creeps back over him.

[hardtoignore]

“Yotsuyu! Hi!” He perks up at the sight of her smile. It hasn’t been too long ago but she was busy as most adults were; he couldn’t blame her for doing her job. It wasn’t like he was the best at making an effort to see others.

“I’ve been... okay,” he says with a small smile. It’s about as truthful as he can be while not being a total downer. “I hope you’ve been okay too. As for the doro wat it’s... well, pretty spicy. Phil even lowered the spiciness to what I can handle just in case, and I can still only have a little. You can try the injera though! That’s just like a flatbread that’s kinda spongy.”

[consortofalderaan]

That was nothing like Bail's memory.

"Mine was quite specific."

He laughed a little, almost like he was afraid to admit it. But that was silly among the other Different. "It had aliens. A lot of aliens actually. Apparently that's not uncommon, though."

[consortofalderaan]

Bail hastily went to the trunk and pulled out the extra folding table. Then he followed Yotsuyu to where she wanted it set up.

"I'm newer," he explained. "I started getting memories at the start of May. I've been to a few meetings, but I don't recall seeing you at any of the ones I attended. I must of missed you."

[ashenscipher]

"The finger symbols then?" Bitterblue joked. "You can sing and dance while playing those."

[ashenscipher]

"You could try writing it down from memory," Bitterblue suggested. "And then, when you get it, compare. It would be a good way to see how well these memories stick in our brains." Well, that's what Bitterblue would do, it gives her ideas.

[chenqing_player]

He laughed and gave a nod of his head. "Maybe I can work those into my next show. I'm sure I will really impress everyone with my skills."

[bearshermark]

Elliott drops down onto the sand beside him, all smiles.

"York, and whoever his partner is." He waves a hand, unconcerned. "Anyway, it's not about winning. We're just here to get to know everyone better and have fun. I don't think you're having enough fun yet over here by yourself."

[hardtoignore]

Clarence dropped his hand into the sand, grasping into it and releasing the sand slowly.

He glanced over, and oh. Well. He definitely wasn’t going to be scoring any points then.

“Well... okay, I guess,” Clarence said, ducking his head. “But if you thought my dancing was bad...”

[chenqing_player]

Wei Wuxian watches with interest, eyes widening slightly as the flame appears.

"So you have fire power! That is pretty cool but I can see why it might make you nervous. If you ever need help practicing, I don't have a power but I can hold a water hose to make sure you don't burn anything down."

He's teasing but the offer is legit. He's always willing to help someone out and especially if he gets to see something interesting in the process.

[hardtoignore]

Clarence chuckled, nervous. “No, see, that’s the thing. It looks like fire but it’s not. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t burn stuff. Or I haven’t seen it do that yet.”

He waves a hand before taking a bite of his rolled meal. “A hose? Try a, well, I’ve seen it affect someone before in a memory but it could have just surprised them. I think it would need more monitoring than that....”

But now that he thinks about it, having someone around to help him practice would be a good idea. Maybe help document stuff in writing, and suggest ideas when Clarence is at a loss. Hmmm. He gave Wei Wuxian another quick glance. “... are you serious about the practicing thing though?”

[chenqing_player]

"fire that isn't fire.." That is an interesting thought as well. It makes him even more curious about what he has seen in his dreams about what it could do. But he doesn't want to pressure him too much about it.

"Of course! I don't mind at all. Anything you need help with, just let me know."

Wei Wuxian is perfectly capable of assisting with any kind of project someone throws at him. Helping someone practice magic seems like a perfectly exciting way to spend a day.

[darkenedmoon]

"It's good that she's doing well--you should tell her to slow down a fraction, so she does not do it again, if she hates it so much. But I completely understand."

Well, maybe not so much, as she doesn't have anything to do with her family nowadays, but Yotsuyu does know how she herself would feel if she had an accident of that sort.

"I believe if I had to sit still for a few weeks, I'd go mad." She wastes no time once things are somewhat stable to help in all the set-up, flashing York a smile as she does. "I'm very grateful for you stepping in, I do appreciate it!"

[howkickassiam]

"No problem at all," he says. "And yeah, my granny needs to accept that she's not 21 anymore." He chuckles. "I'm going to go make the rounds, but I hope to catch you later?"

[hardtoignore]

Clarence is quiet for a moment, considering. He didn't know this guy at all but maybe that was a good thing. He didn't want someone who would worry, like Elliott or his mom, to watch as he potentially set stuff on fire while flailing around, trying to figure out what his abilities would do. And this guy, despite being a bit older than him (he thinks) seemed to take everything in a pretty blase way; he wasn't skeptical but also wasn't throwing a fit about what he saw either.

It was almost too perfect. Still... Grabbing out his cell phone, Clarence turned back to Wei Wuxian fully. "Can I have your number? If I think I need to start practicing, I would really appreciate having someone there to... you know. Call an ambulance for me if something went wrong. Maybe help me take notes or, um, throw out suggestions if I can't figure out what to do."

[traceofeffort]

"Oh, hey, that might be fun," Lisa said with a bit of awe in her tone. She'd never have thought of that. "Write it back out and see how it comes out. It'd probably be easier to arrange then, too." She makes a face for a second. "That's a lot of music for each song, though, since there were four instruments. Not impossible, just annoying."

[chenqing_player]

Wei Wuxian takes the phone and takes his number into it. He has given his number to other members of the group, not at all ashamed to give it out. "Not a problem! I work at night most of the time so we can coordinate what would be the most convenient."

He hands the phone back once he has added himself to the contacts, "I don't have any experience with powers but I do know how to call for help when needed. And maybe not having any powers is exactly what it takes to know how to help."

[hardtoignore]

"Ah, okay, noted." So, practice would take place during the day sometime. Well, probably for the best. Phil and Kris wouldn't want him coming home too late, after all.

"That's the hope. You could probably keep a cool head if I somehow, I dunno, lose myself in the chaos of it all." He chuckles, hardly expecting his abilities would be all that effective. At least, not now.

[chenqing_player]

He grins as he helps himself to more of the spicy joy that Clarence brought to the party.

"You can count on me! I look forward to it. I haven't really gotten to see anyone else powers at work yet. I'm sure you will be fine though. I I believe in you!"