Charred Cephalopodic Calamari - RPLOG
Participants
Date
22/8/476
Log
Evening on the beach. While the sands are largely clear as the sun begins to set, it seems that the cause of such emptiness is unique indeed - long walks on the beach are a bit hard when there's a huge, rotting carcass in the way. About as long and wide as a large hovel, a giant squid has been washed up by the tide - there can't be any other way something this enormous could have gotten here, could it? - dead eyes pecked at by seagulls, tentacles lying limply in the surf.
Having lain all day in the afternoon sun, the giant squid's carcass is putrefying quite rapidly and exuding a unique one-of-a-kind fragrance simply unmatched anywhere. It keeps away most of the onlookers at a healthy distance, but a number of beings have donned cloth masks and are busy hacking away at the gargantuan carcass, tossing bits of rubbery flesh and cartilage back into the ocean.
Certainly an awful stench, and Dio wasn't the cause of it! While this may come as a shock to some, the ornate coat wearing lion slowly made his way to the beach with his nose clamped shut with large leonine fingers. "Oh lads, I 'aven't smelled somethin' this bad in years," he shouts out in a voice made comedic by his nose clenching action as he walks to a rather distant proximity of the large carcass. "What 'appened 'ere exactly," he questions, attempting to flag one of the cleaner crew for answers. "Giant monster fight?"
Emmett comes about dressed more for labor than for fine social appearances considering he's in scuffed pants, a very basic sleeveless top, and is wearing work gloves. The goat walks down the beach with a hand on his nose, wincing. "That's... that's fascinating," he remarks out loud. He cracks his knuckles and approaches a certain well-dressed lion who seems to be keeping his distance. "Heh. You here to work or watch?" the goat fellow asks with a teasing sort of smirk.
Zuika wandered down the beach, having been enjoying the scenery of the area, when she had caught wind of a horrific smell, and scrunched her nose. Her ears fold at the top of her head, and her several tails twitch a bit behind her, draping still " Erk, what is that?.." she follows the beach to where it was coming from, holding her nose firmly " It's.. Huge..." she blinks in confusion at the dead beast
Walking in in her dark black armor and looking more like she is ready to kill something then investigate, Ashley doesn't even flinch when she sees the massive squid creature, nor when she smells it either. She looks it over a few times, then looks over to Dio, Emmett, and Zuika. Wordlessly she approches the creature, looking it over many many times before finally saying, "Water math will be needed to drain it out, then fire to burn the dry husk after." Backing away again she seems to hardly have a care for this thing, except, "Are things like these common?"
Wow, what died out here? ....Oh wait... Angus waved his hat in front of his face as he smells the giant squid. "...So, who ordered the sushi?" Sheesh that smells, how did it even get here? The fox stops in his tracks, staring at the dead thing as he puts his new hat back on. Now with a blue feather!
Sveta says, "No idea," a heavy-set otter mutters to Dio as he hacks off another chunk of rubbery flesh with a long-handled knife. This close up, it's easy to see that the cloth mask has been stuffed with fragrant herbs in a bid to mask some of the smell. "Must've been dead for some time already when it washed up, for it to stink this bad. I know most folks are going to want to stand a little way back, but if you're going to help us get this thing off the sand, be my guest. I think someone has some spare masks...at the rate this is going, though, might take a couple of days even if we have crews working through the night by lamplight. %r %r "We've orders not to damage the beach, though, which is why we're doing this the traditional way with saws and blades - the whole point is so that people can use the waterfront again, after all. But if you've got any ideas, we're willing to listen. Everyone would rather be home...""
"No idea," a heavy-set otter mutters to Dio as he hacks off another chunk of rubbery flesh with a long-handled knife. This close up, it's easy to see that the cloth mask has been stuffed with fragrant herbs in a bid to mask some of the smell. "Must've been dead for some time already when it washed up, for it to stink this bad. I know most folks are going to want to stand a little way back, but if you're going to help us get this thing off the sand, be my guest. I think someone has some spare masks...at the rate this is going, though, might take a couple of days even if we have crews working through the night by lamplight.
"We've orders not to damage the beach, though, which is why we're doing this the traditional way with saws and blades - the whole point is so that people can use the waterfront again, after all. But if you've got any ideas, we're willing to listen. Everyone would rather be home..."
"Certainly an interestin' creature lad," Dio returns as the goat approaches his position. "An' I'd certainly love to help get this beast off o' this beach. Smells somethin' awful. Woulda been tasty though had it not decayed I'm sure..." As the new arrivals come about, he gives them his typical friendly wave and turns back towards the large dead squid. "Would burnin' it like the skunk lass be a good way to go about it? I'm not too sure."
"Ah, so we can't get rid of it in any fun ways? Since that might damage the beach?" Angus teases the Otter as he inspects the dead squid. "Well, we could use earth magic to raise a part of the beach to try and roll it in. Return it back to it's original level after?" Turning his head a little he start poking it in the side, and makes a face. "Ewwwww, it's still squishy!" Sheesh, talk about Childish!
Emmett strokes his chin with those gloves of his, contemplating the sitation. The goat's heard two different possible solutions for disposing of this little problem. "Hmm. If I had more supplies readily available, I'd have suggested setting down a nice big cloth tarp and shifting the carcass onto it. I'm all willing to get my hands a little dirty, and I'll help with the chopping as long as we need. I can't personally comment on the maths ideas, though... Whether you use earth, or your water-and-fire. I know none of that."
Zuika's tails sway behind her lightly. The three tails behind her spread out in a slight fan, each was a different color. One red, one golden, and the center one being silvery like her fur " How do you imagine this thing even got here? Or how it had died? Tis rancid.. So much for exploring a beach I've not visited in a long time.. Does it happen often?"
Ashley looks again at everyone, eyeing Angus mostly this time. "This one has made her suggestion..." she continues to look at Angus like his mind had left him, and gives a nod over to Dio and Emmett, "It is the best she can think of for this situation, rolling it back into the water would only delay it coming up again. The smell will be worse while it burned, but after, it would be done." With that said she walks over to Angus, "While this one might not know everything that is and is not acceptable to you beings, she is sure that that was not." she says, "If you are to try and be a voice you must act... better."
The otter looks at the rest of his work crew, then shrugs. "If you Gifted have an idea for getting this thing where it belongs without ruining the beach, I'm all ears. Creators, we'll even get out of your way. At the very least, you're doing more than -" he points at the onlookers some distance away- "They are. Seems like you bunch have some split minds, though. Reckon you might want to talk amongst yourselves, discuss a course of action before trying it out and finding everyone's pulling in a different direction. Me and everyone else here, we know what we want, to be able to go home. The waste pipes are better than this."
"Probably just one of those unfortunate beachin's that happen every once in awhile I'm guessin'," Dio says as he turns towards Zuika, a new face on his list of known people. "But I'm sure this is one o' the biggest this place has ever seen." As he looks upon the carcass and listens to everyone's suggestions, Dio beings tapping his foot to think of something himself, wondering just how to remove such a monstrosity before he concludes with Ashley. "The skunk lass is probably correct. Drain an' burn should work quite well." Snapping his claws together, he creates a tiny little spark and looks back towards the others. "I'm handy with fire, but not so much water or earth."
Angus raises an eyebrow as he looks to Ashley. "Ah I see, well then my apologizes." He shrugs his shoulders as his tails flick, not wishing to start and argument as he folds his arms across his chest and takes a step back. "Only magic I know is air sadly."
Emmett scratches his head a little, not entirely sure how to proceed with these mathemagical things, himself. He remarks to Zuika, "I'm not sure if it does or not, myself. I've only lived in Firmament for a short time." Ashley seems to make him nervous, though, with the way she talks. "I, er... well, alright. Direct me then. What do you need me to do to help you do your job?" He smirks and glances at Angus wordlessly...
Zuika nods to Dio lightly before looking to Emmett " I see. So it's no telling for certain why or what caused this at all.. It's quite displeasing a smell. Rather quite rancid. The size would make it rather difficult to deal with as well.. How might I help to remove this thing?"
Ashley shakes her head and says, "You beings are helpless, this one will just have to do the hard work then.." she says and walks over to the squid. She has hardly a clue where to start, but, draws out some math symbols in the side of the corps with her pike, then presses her hand in the center of them, chanting softly "Pi... R2, Sigma 523 over E raised to 12." then the creature starts to empty of its water and other fluids, "Humm.. if this used some shadow skills in it too that might help.." she says.
Relieved that the stinking carcass is now someone else's problem, the wolf hails his fellows and with a few exaggarated gestures, tells them to clear out, which they promptly do. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. Ashley's efforts appear to be working somewhat - the carcass begins to ooze perhaps a little more vigorously than it already had been...
...Followed by a faint bubbling from deep underneath the slimy hide. Seems like the water magic hasn't interacted too well with the squid's cephalopodic carcass - the success was a rousing one, but not quite in the way expected. The squid carcass explodes in a shower of viscous gunk as it's turned into crudely-made calamari, a perfect crysanthemum of slime about the corpse, with one trail leading back into the sea. Bits of cartilage rain down on everyone - Angus and Dio are lucky enough to evade the blast, but everyone else gets splatered with a generous coat of the stuff, a mixture of fetid blood, squid ink, and other unmentionables. It appears to be harmless, but is positively quite foul. At least the burst carcass looks a little drier now, if still moist and glistening in parts.
Dio watches the bubbling and oozing and leans in just a little bit. Seems like the water magic was doing a rather good job. Or perhaps too good... Spotting the bubbling, the lion takes a giant leap back and covers his face and body as if it would help him escape from the splatter explosion. But perhaps that hop put him in just the right angle to avoid the majority of the disgusting slime, only making his feet the hardest hit location. "Oh my," he murmurs, taking his hands off his head and looking towards the others. "N-nice job I suppose. Drained enough." Was Dio perhaps one of the least stinky people here? With a shrug, he begins working on some calculations and soon attempts to burn the large and mostly drained carcass with some fire magic.
Angus had already been standing rather far back, but when he sees it start to bubble he knows something if off. When the thing bursts he is out of range, his feet still getting covered in it and making him frown as they will now smell just lovely.... "Well, seems you over did it a little there Ashley.....and you know what, I can help with the fire magic...partially." Stepping up he draws his Rapier, pure white flames coming to life as he looks between Dio and Ashley. "...Anyway I can use this to help?"
Emmett looks entirely perturbed with recent events. He pulls off his shirt, turns it inside out, and wipes his face with it, gagging in the process. "I think we need to have a talk," the goat mutters to Ashley. "Creators grant me strength..." The goat very carefully takes a deep breath, but slowly so as to not upset his stomach, and he just peers around at people starting to show off their various magic tricks. "I just... What can I even do around people like this?"
Zuika's ears twitch at the sounds coming from the carcass and she turns to it with a blink " That... Supposed to happen?" and she cringes when it explodes, trying to cover her face as the goop and slimey mess fly at her, but it does no good as she becomes drenched in the mess, shaking her head, and trying to brush it off her muzzle and face, while it drips from her " I.. Don't think that.. Was supposed to happen... Ngh.. Now I smell like that thing..."
Ashley closes her eyes as the squid explodes and just sighs after, "This... will take a while to clean up." she says as she backs away, "No, it was not ment to happen." she says backing away a bit more to let Dio and Angus continue, "If you needs more assistance, just speak up..." she says, obvious not expecting that result.
Thank goodness the wind is blowing towards the sea, so there's no one else downwind of the carcass, or at least, what remains of it, a somewhat more dessicated mess sitting in a puddle of fluid that's already wither started to seep into the sand of flow towards the sea. Hopefully, the high tide will wash it away, but that leaves the problem of the carcass proper. What's everyone to do now?
"After we burn it," he turns to Emmett, "We're gonna have to help clean up the remains an' such I'm sure. Plenty o' work to do after a good burnin'." Finally, he gets ready to burn the carcass with a bit of fire magic and turns towards the others. "If any of ya want to pitch in with a little magic, be it fire 'r air, I'd appreciate it." With a nods towards Angus, he lets loose some flame upon the poor dead creature!
Angus shrugs and steps up to it, out of the range of Dio's flames at least. "Alright then...I'll see what I can do." Taking a deep breath he steps up to it and strikes. He went for the tentacles, wanting to get them out of the way as the burning blade came down in an Arc towards them.
Emmett reaches down into a pocket and pulls out his only spare rag, and he steps over to Zuika, offering it to her. "You look like you need this," he says with a little sigh and a smile. So then he responds to Dio, "I'll be here to help clean up, that's for sure. But for now I think I have little choice but to stay out of the fire until all of the math is complete."
Zuika nods a bit to Emmett as she takes the rag from him and begins wiping away at her muzzle and face, removing as much as she can of the slimey mass of mess that now coated her from head to footpaws with a grunt " Not supposed to happen.. Then why did it?.. Ngh.. Thank you, uhm.. Mister?" she tilts her head to Emmett questioningly a moment before looking the carcass over a bit, her tri-tails shaking out behind her, throwing off what she can of the slimey mess that clung to them
Slowly, bit by bit, the carcass begins to smoulder and burn. For a while there it seems like the flames aren't going to take, but then the wolf and the rest of the cleanup crew pad up with buckets of flammable oil and hurl them on the carcass as well, bolstering Dio's effortss, as well as leaving a number of them about for anyone who'd like to help. Bit by bit, the squid's rubbery carcass begins to collapse in upon itself with a variety of disgusting, squishy noises, bubbling turning to hissing as what fluid's left in there comes into contact with the fires.
"Ah! Good. That should help out a good bit." Watching the flammable substances come along, Dio gives the friendly workers a solid nod and continues his attention upon the carcass. "If ya lads could get a bit more on there, I'll cut the flames." With a lower intensity, the lion continues to keep up his firey assault with various calculations bouncing in his mind. "I bet an awful smell is comin' soon... Perhaps even worse than before. Maybe if someone could blow it away a little?"
Gah, it can smell worse? Angus turns his attention back to Dio then to the Squid, and he starts to call up a few calculations to create a breeze to blow the scent away from the party. "Well...at least it isn't you that's smelling up the place this time." He teases the Lion, a look going to both Zuika and Emmett. "Mind grabbing a bucket or two to throw on the creature?"
Emmett offers a smile to Zuika. "It's Emmett," the goat says to her before turning, jogging over to grab a bucket and assist the work crew at feeding Dio's fire. "On it," he calls to Angus. Despite having the soul pendant of a Gifted, he almost seems happier helping with simpler labor. With the emergence of a breeze, he grins at Angus and calls over, "Hey, nice."
Zuika nods softly as she turns back to Emmett " Names Zuika." she says, her tails swaying bhind her in a soft wave, she looks to the others and nods again as she heads over to grab a spare bucket, moving to the carcass and throwing half the contents against it, as well as around the base of the carcass, drenching the ground where the smelly slimey gunk had ended up
More spluttering, more bubbling, and then the rest of the carcass begins to deflate like a giant puncutred balloon accompanied with a number of wet noises. What's left is a large pile of charred gunk solidified into one black, gelatinous mass - perhaps that'll get swept out to sea with the tide, or if the group would like to so something about it as well...
Satisfied with the smoldering carcass and assistance, Dio cuts off his fire magic flames. "Good job, lads," he shouts towards the group. "Though even with all the burnin', we got a lot of cleanin' to do afterwards..." With a slight grimace, he takes a look at his shoes and kicks them off. Why did he wear them to the beach anyways? "What do ya mean, fox-kit? I didn't smell that bad, did I?" It's almost like it was destiny though... While he didn't smell as bad as before his bath, he was slowly returning to his previous state with help of some squid upon his feet.
Angus shrugs at Dio, just giving him a smirk in response. With the thing smoldering there really wasn't any more need for his Rapier, go back in its scabbard it goes as he walks up to whats left of the squid and kicks it. "so....anyone up for some Sea food after?" Obviously...hopefully he was joking....
Emmett shudders at Angus's suggestion, gazing at the goopy mess of... well, suppose it was once a sea creature. "Not really my style," he tells the fox fellow. He offers Zuika a nod and smile again and says, "Nice to meet you by the way, Zuika. Shame it's in such circumstances." He laughs a little, and he lifts up his arm, rubbing his forehead against it. "I guess this thing's still too solid to just scoop into a bucket. Oh well. "Guess maybe it could be... moved more?" he wonders, checking to see if the mass can be either shifted toward the water or scooped at all into his bucket.
Zuika nods softly as she frowns a bit at the male fox, her tails spreading out lightly " Well, that is a rather interesting choice of food.. I rather lost any appetite I may have had, I think.. I still smell the thing on my fur, and it's rather nauseating.." she groans slightly rubbing her stomach sickly " I do hope your merely jesting, sir.."
