Beach Party

[Heroic Bilby]

By the time Kris had paddled his way back to shore more people had started to arrive, filling up the beach with party-goers of all ages talking and having fun here and there. As he deposited his surf board by a wooden rack and turned towards the people the pirate's first thoughts went something along the lines of 'I hope there's some babes here', quickly followed by thoughts of getting his contact lens so that his right eye wouldn't get the way of viewing said potential babes. Yes, Connolly was nothing if not prepared for all circumstances. He just hadn't been sure if he could wear contacts, or a contact, in the water or not since they weren't exactly something available on his home world.

After shedding his wet suit down to a pair of blue trunks and putting in his corrective lens Isaac took up his sports bag and walked through the crowd, saying hi to most people, especially the ladies, and trying to get an overall good feeling going around. Not hard with his big smiles and outgoing personality. The merchant was probably letting too much of his hidden pirate side out, but for the sake of fun all must make sacrifices.

"Who's up for some beach volleyball?" the brunet suddenly declared loudly after dropping his bag by the side of a court set up for the party and tossing the provided ball up in the air a few times. "Two teams of two! Who's with me?"

Some girls nearby laughed which caught Kristoph's ear and immediately drew his attention. This unfortunately caused him to pay less attention to the volleyball he was tossing and it bounced off his hand towards another group of people, rolling to a stop near a beach chair. Not fazed but also not noticing until his eyes came off the nearby females in swimsuits the would-be sportsman sought out the location of the errant game piece an gave a whistle to the people in it's direction.

"A little help here?" he asked rhetorically, holding up both hands in front of himself in a catching preparation.

[darkfire]

A black rift opened just above the water, about fifteen feet out into deep water. From this rift, a single foot, or what seemed like one, appeared, feeling that there was nothing below it. Didn't matter, it tipped over and fell into the water anyway, a thin black form splashing wildly around for some way to escape a horrible fate of drowning. Its thin arms had no standing in a world where buoyancy was everything, and its surprising heaviness didn't help either. Slowly, but surely, it would sink, and it would die a horrible, waterlogged death.

Then it remembered that it doesn't even breathe.

Slowly sinking, the clearly Heartless being cocked its head to one side, opening the its wide slit of a mouth. Through its sharp teeth, it uttered a single word that, its source not being air, sounded clearly even underwater, "Oh..." The voice was deep and surprisingly human, but it seemed as though there were steam in his throat. It came out in a hazy clarity, as though speaking through the other side of an object.

Once it hit the bottom, about twenty-five feet down, something very sudden happened. Its left leg bulged large for just a split second, recompressing into its original size, but extending longer by just a few inches. Still, when such potential energy went kinetic into the ground, the smaller object was bound to move. The lanky Heartless shot up from the water, flying toward the sand of the beach. With a loud "pft!" of a sandy impact, the thing of darkness had landed in a kneeling position, a tiny basin of sand around it from where it had separated.

It rose slowly, like with most of its motions, revealing its tall stature and relative strangeness when it came to the shape of most Heartless. This one was thin and elongated, with straight Shadow tendrils from its head going all the way to mid-back. It didn't twitch its fingers much or bob up and down. It still, though, had the quirk of cocking its head, which was still present from before it left the water.

When it had fully arisen, it -- quite strangely, given most Shadow-esque Heartless -- opened its mouth. There were many sharp, nearly black teeth, all triangular in shape. From its non-existent lips, it made one simple request, "I want...punch..."

[plot2]

Before Mickey could even hope to think the entire situation through, about seventeen more people decided to come up next to him and converse in conversation. Now, one would think that the conversations would be amongst everyone in the area, but that wasn't the case for this royal mouse. No, instead, every single person who was standing near the somewhat crowded punch table decided to talk to King Mickey, making him feel more claustrophobic than he had in his old steamboat days in that cramped engine room. His ebony eyes began to widen slowly at the sudden onset of all the people. Clasping his punch glass somewhat tighter, the mouse started to feel as if everyone was towering over him, ready to give him the biggest headache of his life.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! While it's great that you all want to talk to me, I'm only one mouse!"

Moving swiftly underneath the table with the punch bowl on it, Mickey quickly slid across the sand and out of the other side. It probably wasn't the most graceful or royal move for a king, but it was the only exit Mickey could see from the large group of people. Besides, he didn't have to kneel down or anything to get under the table. His...natural physical advantages gave him the amazing ability to move underneath tables. Peeking his head over the table once more, Mickey moved around to the outside of the enormous group of people standing around him. Giving them all a look that pretty much said 'Calm down' without any words, Mickey crossed his arms and simply stared at all of them. He couldn't have all of them speaking at once...

...so he'd just have to calm them.

"While I appreciate all of you coming over here to talk to me, I'm afraid I can't handle all of it at once! Now, I'll be more than glad to answer all of your questions, but one at a time! Now, let me start from the beginning. It's a pleasure to make your aquaintance as well, Abelard! The exact same goes to you, Déjà! George, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you with the problems in your relationship. You'll just have to work them out in a calm manner with your wife. You are quite welcome! Always a pleasure to help out! Now, if there aren't any more questions, I believe there's a bit of business I have to attend to. If you'll all excuse me, I have to take my leave of this group for a moment."

Giving the entire group a large smile, Mickey turned his back to the group, giving them little more than a wag of his tail. He hoped they wouldn't be too mad about his sudden leave, but he did have an announcement to make to the entire party. It was probably the entire reason he had come to the beach party in the first place...although, he had to admit that the whole get-together was more fun than he originally thought it would be. Moving closer to the small make-shift stage that had been set up, Mickey quickly stepped on it and moved to the podium. As he stood behind the podium, he merely cleared his throat. Soon after, the strange blond man brought a large stool behind the podium. Micky, stepping up to the top of the podium, looked out at the crowd that was gathering in front of him.

"Ahem, thank you. Hello everyone, it's a beautiful day, isn't it? Well, I bet you're all wondering why I've come here to address all of you. In all honesty, I thought it was about time for a large gathering between all the people and even races of the worlds. It has been a while since Sora saved the universe from the terror of Xemnas, and we have been given a time of peace and unity. Well, it would be wrong of us to take this peace for granted, so I figured, 'why not have a party!'. Well, this is the result! I've never been so thrilled to have such a large group of people together at one time. I don't want to take long with this announcement, but I do want to say this: Let's all have a great party!"

As Mickey said this last line, there was a sudden flash of light in his hands. A golden handle soon appeared in Mickey's hands, which slowly was surrounded by a silver guard and a golden keychain. From the edge of the keychain and up the handle, a golden blade slowly began to form, with a strange arrangement of teeth coming out from the tip. It was Mickey's famous Keyblade...the Keyblade of Darkness. Jumping on top of the podium, Mickey struck a pose with the Keyblade pointing behind him. Flicking the blade in the air, the powerful weapon reflected sunlight in every direction, giving it an amazing spiralling effect. Then, raising his hand in the air, the Keyblade erupted into a large display of exploading light.

He figured everyone would love seeing that.

The Keyblade, giving off a display that was rival to none, soon ceased it's amazing display of fireworks and landed back in the hand of King Mickey. Jumping down from the podium, the Keyblade disappeared from the King's grasp once again. It was somewhat dangerous to show his Keyblade, especially in such a large group of people...but, no one would dare to draw a sword in response here. There were too many people around, and nearly all of them were probably highly skilled fighters. He was fairly certain no one would be dumb enough to try and start a fight in such a public place, especially with King Mickey himself. Still, turning to the strange blond man who followed him, he quickly whispered a message in his ear.
"Make sure no one tries anything. This party is meant to be peaceful. The last thing we want is a fight breaking out."

The blond man merely nodded in response and kept smiling. Mickey, giving him a smile in return, turned away from the strange man and walked over toward the ocean. Noticing a single volleyball near a beach chair, Mickey quickly picked it up and threw it over to the strange looking man who called for it. The man received a smile, and then Mickey continued on his way toward the edge of the beach. It was thinking time. He had successfully gotten the party off of its feet, but now he had other things to think about. He could never get away from his work, even when he finished the majority of it. And recently...things have been a lot crazier at Disney Castle. He had more work, more trips to make, and...

...well...more chores from Minnie.

So the mouse was devoted to his wife, that was never a bad thing. Stopping at the edge of the beach with the tide rolling gently over his bare black feet. Putting his hands in his bathing suit pockets, Mickey simply stared out at the rolling ocean currents. It was always nice to get away from the noise of the party and clear his mind. Things had been so hectic recently...and he couldn't help but think about everything that had happened with Sora. Xemnas and Organization XIII were gone...but he hadn't seen Sora in a long time. Was the young hero doing alright? He was really worried about the young Keyblade master...but perhaps he'd see him at this party! Still, until that happened, Mickey could do nothing but wonder what was going on...

...and if he ever started dating that cute Kairi girl.

[Renewed Gemini]

Gemini sat on the sand, looking out at the water. Suddenly, a black portal had opened and it was followed by something falling out. Gemini jumped up, worried that whatever had fallen out was ok or not. He looked into the water. It seemed as if it was drowning, but suddenly, it shot out of the water and onto the beach. Gemini jumped back in surprise and prepared himself for any type of attack. When the creature, that looked shockingly like a Heartless, slowly rose and uttered three strange words....

"I want...punch..."

Gemini stared at him for a second. Another Heartless...yet this one seemed different than Abel. His red eyes surveyed the creature for a second and then pointed over to the punch table. "Er...it's over there," he said in a strange, confused tone. That's when suddenly, Mickey jumped up onto the stage. It caught his attention, so Gemini turned around slowly, his arms crossed, and listened to the speech. As Mickey continued to talk, Gemini half expected the voices to return, seeing how they seemed to hate Mickey so much. But they never came, and Gemini was grateful. He didn't want to cause a scene.

Gemini noticed the man with yellow hair. He seemed...suspicious was the word for it. Gemini stared at him, his eyes became slits. He was trying to read him, but this man was a closed book. All he could see was the cover. "Who are you....?" Gemini asked. He actually asked it to himself considering the man was way too far for Gemini to actually be heard. He sighed a little, and then decided to approach him. Gemini began fighting his way through the crowd. Pushing people aside gently. "Sir! Sir!" he yelled out.

[kempff]

As finding the blonde man to be no conversation whatsoever, Dmitri was quite satisfied. He smiled as the man smiled back, as if through some telepathic communcation they had just spent hours together recanting the very exchanges of their days. Dmitri snickered and found a likewise expression he believed in the man, of course that wasn't the case....there was something else here (at least as far as Dmitri was concerned). He could feel the lie in the air that was slowly but surely making it stink. First the punch, and now this man, and of course the very feeling of the island.

Before he knew what happened next the man was walking away and King Mickey was appearently calming the now rather large crowd. "Right guv! See yu lata, tra not ta make it too sudden for a poor chaps here, eh? You know what I mean..." He said to the blonde as he walked away, a sarcastic but serious voice as if Dmitri was a part of some master plan he'd made up, in which he couldn't have been.

He was quite bemused as he noticed the King speak to the man, and then the party goers go back to their business. How much he hated being left in such crowds. Dmitri breathed out slowly, cleared his throat with a grunt and then relaxed his shoulder. The King was indicating he would be alone. The Book Anasazi was indicating he should go now.

Rioght....yea yea....I cun her ya..... Thought Dmitri. It might've seemed that he followe the tome endlessly, as if he were a mindless sheep; but Dmitri loved and hated the tome more than anything else in all of existance. Of course he could do nothing about fate he knew. So he settled on hating fate.

With a kick of his left leg backwards some sand flew into the air, then his right, and left again. The next thing that happened was Dmitri tunneling into the sand, completely gone in a moment, and then re-emerging a ways off to the right of Mickey. This was how he made his way from world to world, tunneling and emerging in some shape or form; The Book Anasazi would not have it any other way.

As he came up from the sand he gasped for air and cussed under his breath in his usual bitter and mind numbingly raw voice; he did not stand up however, slowly he edged over to the King.

"Sorre bout earlier m'lord." He said as he sat down by him, a hand up in greeting and then down to the sand. "And a, sorre if'n I'm interrupting eh.....see I gotte me a lille something to discussing with you m'lord. It'z odd tough....and well you see.....eh, best if'n none interupt....Nyways, sides you, meself and ole blonde that came with ya, I dun't think the lots over there awares of the odd lille sensation in the air. Eh? You got me m'lord? Seeing...yu know, well, can't yu feel et, eh? Somethin's bound ta happen? If yu not followin well..try concentrating senses and see, eh? My request m'lord, sorrie it'z a tad odd, odd isn me mothers name fer me." Dmitri ended, a smile came across his lips in his best attempt to be respectful. It was certainly odd for the Demon Martyr; he hated but greatly respected the mouse king in front of him. He could not be sure within himself if it was the tome or simply himself, and yet somehow he felt better around the king, as if he could actually get to know him.

[dethkruzer]

Multiple blue balls of light came down from the sky, going in a spiraling motion, sinking into the warm sand.
Quickly out of the sand emerged a block of ice that began to melt at an unnaturally fast rate.
The ice took the form of a young female human and began to get some color, which of much was with pale white.
finally turning into a human she noticed that her normal clothes had been replaced with black bikinis, she didn´t care too much and took a deep breath, the air was so clean and the sand under her feet pleasently warm.
The female looked up at the sky,spreading her arms, her pale skin glowed in the warm sunlight, she took another deep breath.
"Aah, now this is living."
She said by herself while strechting of a bit.
As she looked around she noticed a group of people, and including a mouse nearby.
she walked up to them. "Is this the place where the beach party was gonna be held?"
She asked giving them an innocent smile.
She put her hands behind her back and moved her sight along the beach, noticing the water toys, chairs and all other fun stuff that there was.
She quickly went to get me some punch, and walked back up to the group, sipping the delicious drink.
She had never tasted anything so wonderful in my short life.
She just had to get the recipe, although it most likely was a secret.
"Does anyone wanna come play some volleyball?"
She asked the group and pointed towards the volleyball net that was by the beach.
She had once earlier played volleyball and had thought that it was great fun.
She sipped some of the punch she had in her glass and felt that she was starting to get a lot more enegetic, probably becuse of the sun or maybe it was the punch. "

[xxx]

The mouse seemed overwhelmed. Déjà could feel as he did, the pressure that all these people were putting on him. The thoughts that rolled within his mind gave her a perception of his wisdom; he was far wiser than many humans she knew! Instead of awe, however, Déjà merely became confused. Was this mouse an illusion? How on Thrae was it possible for-- Ah, yes. This world is not Thrae. This world is...different, Déjà recalled, remembering that she wasn't on her own world anymore, and many things could be possible...

She merely stood there as the mouse escaped his torment by sliding underneath the table and making an announcement. Even his English was proper! Déjà stood, wide-eyed, at the so-called King and found it exceedingly difficult to resist the urge of reading its, or 'his', thoughts and emotions. Was he improvising, up on that stage, with the confidence of a leader? Déjà could see now why he was addressed with such a title of royalty. It appeared that he possessed not only human characteristics, but the qualities of leadership!

And as soon as Déjà started to accept the fact that he was real, he was alive, her perplexed attempts of reasoning were replaced with acceptance, as her confusion was replaced with bewilderment. I must speak to this mouse! thought she. I must examine him...oh heavens, I must! the young lady thought, smiling at the mouse as she clutched her gloved hands. Once he was done with his announcement, a glow appeared in his hand, and... Déjà could not believe her eyes. Out of all the elegance required of her to possess, this was when she rubbed her eyes like a child, repeatedly, as the mouse summoned a glorious weapon and unleashed a display of fireworks without the actual rockets! Déjà felt a physical tingle in her eyes, almost as if they refrained from believing what they had just seen, but Déjà knew that it was real.

He started to walk away. How could such a... mouse expect to become inconspicuous after having given a warm-hearted welcoming followed by a spectacular performance? Déjà was now desperately longing to ask this mouse questions of his existence, but she would have to remain polite at the same time, so as not to make him upset. It seemed impossible. Perhaps I should just remain sly and find out through telepathy? pondered she, even though she could hear the voice of her conscience.

Déjà strolled slowly down the beach toward the mouse, her eyes on the ocean. A few spheres of radiance appeared out of nowhere and landed in the sand, and soon after a block of ice emerged from the same spot of sand and melted, a girl stepping from the mess. Oh how strange and amazing this party was! Déjà looked at the mouse, smiling a little, when a man from the party beat her to him. She lingered close-by, stepping closer to the two every now and then, but trying her best to remain inconspicuous and indulged in the ocean.

She struggled a little, then was able to hear some thoughts, such as the mouse's involvement with the affairs and chores of his world, and...his wife! Startled, Déjà immediately halted, deciding just to listen to the conversation as best as she could rather than listen to their thoughts.

[Heroic Bilby]

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" Isaac yelled, waving the newly-returned volleyball over his head. he'd distinctly heard someone ask about playing volleyball. Obviously they were new or else they'd already know he was trying to start a game going. Apparently that nice mouse with the light show earlier didn't feel like playing.... but at least he'd returned the ball. "We need two more people to play doubles though!"

The brunet tucked the beach toy under his right arm and looked around the crowd. What's with these people? They come to a beach party and all they wanna do is talk to the host? It's a PARTY! A place to play games! At least most of the guests were enjoying themselves with chatter and punch, but they needed to get more active. maybe there were some surfers in the crowd too.... but that later! Volleyball now!

"Let's play some one-on-one to get people interested!" he yelled again, waving his arm at the girl who had inquired about the sport. He then took the ball in both hands behind his head and flung it her way towards the drinks table. With any luck she'd catch it and not make a complete mess. And if so.... he could always run for it. "You serve!"

Connolly quickly took his placer on one side of the net, hoping that the girl would follow suit and agree to play. Or if she refused he could always give up and start trying to get more acquainted with the female half of the party-goers. He hadn't really had much time for socializing since becoming a merchant and pirate in the Sea of Stars. Maybe being rich could be used to impress some ladies?

'Oops! Gotta keep my head in the game!

[xeon]

Hephaestus couldn’t help but admit that the mouse-king’s amount of self-control was rather impressive. After he ducked under the table, he responded calmly to everybody that spoke to him in a methodical fashion. Though he still quite definitely hated the king-just for being what he was-he also held a certain grudging respect for the experienced warrior. The purpose of introducing himself to the king had been served however, so he didn’t feel the need to stick around the area. It seemed that even King Mickey couldn’t detect a heartless of Abel’s class based on proximity alone, and he couldn’t help but smile at that thought.

Hearing a crash interrupt what he felt was a personal victory, he turned to the source-mildly irritated-and saw something interesting. It seemed he wasn’t the only heartless at the party; though this one was different. He seemed to be at a level right below himself, but above that of most other heartless. He could talk in a mostly human voice…but it seemed he didn’t look quite like a man should. Hephaestus decided that he was better off not approaching his brother of the heartless race; mostly because he figured that the other heartless lacked intelligence. That wouldn’t be problematic unless, for example, the other heartless sensed what Abel was and somehow let other people know about it inadvertently.

More people were popping in-one after another-and it wasn’t long before it seemed like the party was up to a full swing. It was then that the heartless noticed that the king had disappeared from where he was a moment before, and was now standing on a stage. After making yet another vomit-inducing speech, he drew the keyblade, and immediately the heartless formerly known as Abel fell backwards into the sand having jerked in surprise. Mickey created several explosions of light before letting the keyblade vanish, and thus allowing Hephaestus to drop out of “Combat Alert” mode. It seemed that the keyblade- wielder wasn’t about to attack anyone in the middle of the party…and after all, the man-shaped denizen of darkness still hadn’t seen any reason to believe that the king had realized that he even was a heartless.

Pulling himself off of the ground, he stood still, looking around and listening to other people’s conversations for awhile. It seemed that there was a volleyball game about to start up, and he decided that he would play. Not because he particularly cared for the game…but because no one would ever expect a heartless to engage in such a frivolous activity. To join, however, he would require a partner. A ways off-toward the direction the king had gone-he noticed an attractive brunette woman standing by herself…still a bit of a distance away from the strange one and the king. She didn’t seem to have anything better to do.

Walking smoothly over the beach, he stopped several feet away from her, remembering her from the crowd around the king. “Excuse me…Déjà was it?...I was wondering if you would like to be my partner for a game of volleyball?”

[dethkruzer]

She catched the volleyball just barely and sipped down the rest of her punch as someone was enthusiastic to play some volleyball had passed it to her, she walked to the table and took a bit of water into her glass, there wasn´t any ice in it so she just focused some energy into her fingertips, forming a small ice cube and dropping it into the glass.
she lifted the glass to her lips and emptied all the cold water down her throat in one go, she shuddered as it was colder than she had thought.
She turned towards the man who had passed the ball to me.
"Sure, lets play."
She yelled so he would hear me from this distance, hoping to stir up a conversation.
"so nice of you to play a game with me"
She said as she walked up to the other side of the volleyball net and turned towards the man.
"Whats you´re name?"
She said and moved my gaze across the males body.
"I never knew i would find someone as handsome as you here."
She said and giggled.
She didn´t notice herself blushing.
"Wanna go take a swim? It´s so hot out here and i ain´t really used to it."
She said and dropped the volleyball, raising her hand to wipe off some sweat from her forehead.
She turned towards the water and walked into it until her ankle´s were wet.
"Come on, it´s nice and warm."
She said over her shoulder and walked a bit further, there were some fish in the water that swam around me, sometimes touching her thighs.
She laughed out loud as it really tickled.

[plot2]

The waves were so peaceful that day...Mickey couldn't remember the last time he had seen a sight that had filled him with such a vast feeling of serenity. Looking out over the turquoise horizon, he could see where the two shades of blue met with each other. The sea and the sky...two completely opposite natural beings living together in harmony. How many times had he wished two see such a natural balance actually existing in the universe? Heartless and Nobody...Good and Evil...Light and Darkness...each one of them were exact opposites, and neither wished to live in harmony with the other...except for Mickey. When he took on the Keyblade of Darkness, he finally made one of the elements have a certain balance.

Hopefully he'd set an example...

With a sigh, the royal mouse brought his gaze down to look at the waves washing over his feet. With each new tide that came upon the golden sands, he could feel the almost hot water trying to pull him back into the beach. It was somewhat strange...feeling as if the beach waters were trying to pull him down to the dark depths. Maybe that was what he got for trying to hold the balance between light and darkness by holding on to the Keyblade of Darkness? Taking his right hand out of his pocket, he simply stared at it. It was almost as if he could feel the Keyblade of Darkness calling to him...wishing he would draw it out right there on the beach. But Mickey was stronger than that.

He wouldn't draw his Keyblade again...

Besides, there were a copule of Heartless on the beach that would love for Mickey to draw his Keyblade again. Yes, he had noticed they were Heartless from the second he was approached by them, but he wouldn't let that ruin this party. Letting his hand drop back to his side, Mickey started thinking about how the Heartless would react at the party. For a moment, a large smile formed across his face. He was having a very hard time imagining Heartless playing volleyball or Blitzball at a party with a bunch of humans, but trying to think about it brought his mind upon happier thoughts. Heck, they were getting along perfectly fine right now! Maybe attaining a peaceful balance between light and dark wasn't so hard after all?

"Sorre bout earlier m'lord."

Turning around at the sudden voice upon the beach air, Mickey was somewhat surprised to see the man who originally approached him approaching him again. As he turned his head, his ebony eyes also caught sight of the girl who went by the name of Déjà casually nearing them. The sight of the somewhat shy girl coming closer did Mickey's heart good. He loved seeing people who still held that small amount of innocence in them, despite what might've happened earlier in their life. However, the girl didn't come any closer, having been approached by one of the people Mickey suspected was a Heartless. He wasn't worried for a moment about what would happen to the girl. He knew the man wasn't going to do anything.

He had faith in both of them.

But, listening to the man speak his piece, Mickey had to say that he somewhat agreed. He had felt as if there was something on the wind that was rubbing him the wrong way. Maybe it was the fact that he was standing on the beach while Heartless were playing volleyball, or maybe it was that he was concerned about what had happened to Sora. Still, Mickey knew that no one would try to pull anything while he was around. Maybe that was a bit egotistical for him to say, but everyone knew the reputation the King had. He took out a group of Heartless that were about to kill Sora without so much as breaking a sweat. There was no one else anyone could contact that held that kind of power within their bodies.
"I know what you mean. Still, I know nothing will happen at this party. Everyone's having such a great time, and even those who aren't necessarily good are having fun! Besides, if anyone does try to pull something, I'll make sure no one gets hurt!"

Smiling at the man whose name he didn't quite get yet, Mickey felt as if the man was truly concerned about the well-being of most of the people at the party. While his tone didn't quite show Mickey he was concerned for the well-being of everybody, he could tell the man had a decent heart, and that was what truly mattered. However, when he brought up the blond man Mickey had come to the beach with, the King almost burst out in a loud laugh. However, Mickey had more manners than that, and only gave out a small chuckle. Looking over at the blond man, he could see that he was simply holding a glass of punch, smiling at the people playing volleyball in a way that was almost...stalkerish. It was actually somewhat funny.
"Funny you should mention my companion. I don't think he much realizes anything out of the ordinary is going on. He's a mute fellow who Minnie told me to take with when I came here. More of an aide in Disney Castle. But still, I'm sure this sensation in the air will soon come to pass...um...I don't believe I've gotten your name yet!"

[bailee]

And almost there...

Bailee sighed as the reached the end of her passage way of light and opened up the portal entrance on the other side and hopped out carefully, her feet hitting worn wooden planks as she steadied herself using her glaive (a long wooden pole with a simple blade on the end) as a walking stick. She had taken too many a dive out of rips between worlds to not watch her step. Always in her hands if she could help it, Bailee had no magical way to store the weapon. Luckily, she also wasn't adept at using it.

The portal snapped shut quickly behind her. Bailee had learned how to control portals quite well during her world hopping travels, and looked around with some pride to know that she had managed to set herself down where she had intended to go. The pleased feeling was soon dashed, as Bailee found that she had landed herself on a stage. Taking in a small quick breath her dull green eyes darted around nervously to the crowds of people milling about, and relaxed as she realized that they weren't all looking her way. It wasn't Bailee's way to make grand entrances. In fact, what her way was was to make the most discreet entrance possible. Meekly drawing in on herself Bailee skittered offstage and away from the crowd towards the back of the beach. Really, she didn't like crowds or the claustrophobic feeling they gave her.

She had kept her clothes upon entering the world. Whatever mechanism determined such things had chosen well, for Bailee would have been mortified to find herself in a bathing suit in front of so many people. Dressed in the only clothes she owned, her green t-shirt and brown cargo pants, Bailee felt the heat of the sun on her head of shoulder length ragged brown hair and regretted wearing her grey hoodie around her waist. Not having anywhere else to put it Bailee grudgingly left it where it was, heating up her midriff.

Finally paying attention to the party, Bailee looked around and took in her setting in a less panicked fashion. She had heard about the party after recovering from that terribly painful arm injury in Twilight Town and had sought it out as a sure fire safe way to jump back into her journey. While she hated journeying (or adventuring of any kind, really, who would like that sort of danger?) she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere staying put on one world. So after days of procrastination she had left, using the party as an excuse. The event seemed to be all she had heard of: sand, water, people, punch. There was even a...giant mouse? That caught Bailee's attention and second glance. After a few seconds of absorbing the new information though, she had accepted it and moved on.

Really, a giant mouse wasn't the strangest thing she had seen...in fact that heartless making it's way towards the punch bowl far surpassed it. Luckily, she was quite far away from it. Many people stood between her and the large black thing, so Bailee didn't immediately bolt. She watched it carefully, though no one else seemed to be bothered by it. It also didn't seem to be bothered by any of the people either. Far more disturbing than a giant mouse (which looked to be engaged in conversation with someone...), it made Bailee very uncomfortable. Keeping her spot at the edge of the crowd, she vowed to stay away from the heartless that made her stomach crawl and away from the crowd that made her skin creep.

As an apparent late comer to the party, Bailee cast her gaze around looking for a potential person to speak to. Once shy to the point where initiating conversation was an impossibility, she now felt much more confident with things like eye contact and people she didn't know. Everything was baby steps for Bailee. Not seeing anyone in particular not already otherwise engaged Bailee looked for a place to rest (walking through portals took some time afterall). With the mouse to her left and the heartless to the right, Bailee decided a perch on one of the beach chairs was the best decision. To be fair, it was a nice day with the exception of the heartless, so as long as the little thing didn't make it's way over to her Bailee had decided to herself that she was going to enjoy the view and sit comfortably. It also gave her a chance go people watch. There was much to watch, for there were many strange people about. Though the large talking mouse kinda took the cake in the strange department.

Settling herself carefully into a chair, all the while clutching her glaive as if it were a safety blanket, Bailee quietly gazed around the party making sure to keep an eye on the non-hostile looking heartless wandering about, with frequent glances at the talking mouse.

((Yes, I remember no fighting. Yes, you just read all of this to realize I interacted with no one directly.))

[Heroic Bilby]

"... Huh."

Well that was weird. The girl asks if anyone wants to play volleyball, he gives her the ball... then she leaves and asks anyone if they want to play in the water. What happens after someone joins in there, does she decide she wants to be buried in the sand instead? Perhaps he was being cruel in his assumptions there, but Kristoph was a little perturbed that the first person who had also wanted to play up and quit immediately.

Now, it wasn't lost on him that a lady had just called him handsome and asked him to join her in the water. If the lass had a few more years on her then Connolly didn't doubt he'd forget about a silly ball game, but even he had his limits. She certainly wasn't out of her mid-teens yet by his best guess. The pirate wasn't so desperate that he would attempt to court a child. Perhaps she thought he was young himself though... Kris had to admit that he was terribly short for his age. Now that was the real obstacle in romance, first convincing women your age that you were indeed their age. Perhaps he was making a similar assumption here, but Isaac didn't really care much. He had just gotten out of the water and he wanted to play some volleyball.

"Maybe another time lassie," the brunet told the strange girl before walking towards the net. He ducked under it and walked slowly to where the ball had been left and picked it up, spinning the spheroid a few times between his palms before raising his gaze to search out the nearby party-goers. He needed a new player, and fast.

"Hey girl!" the older man suddenly called out loudly, aiming his attention at a very inappropriately dressed newcomer to the scene, sitting alone on a bench. "I need a new partner! Care to play?"

[toysword]

It could pass for a wetsuit. ... Somehow... Couldn't it? Elm stood among the crowd that had gathered there, observing in the name of his higher lord. Of course, he decided to change attire such as the others. But the young man simply refused to take off his protective suit, so remained in the spandex-like suit that could, somehow, be mistaken for a wetsuit. Maybe.

Of course, whether or not Elm was wearing a suit appropriate for the beach is not important at all! Oh no! Surrounded by tons of people, a talking mouse who was a King (MED had already observed King Mickey ages ago), some Heartless that seemed entirely unhostile and a bunch of people that seemed like altogether a very odd gathering. And among that gathering were a bunch of Machine Entities, all drawn to the same place. MED had made its displeasement with so many ME's in one place very clear, although Elm believed his kin to disobey MED as much as he did.

He had debated with MED for an entire minute, which to his kind was a lot. But he had debated with MED, arguing why his presence in this location was absolutely acceptable, stating that he deserved some fun, too. In the end, MED had settled down, deciding that all MEs were to observe and provide different insights and input. At least this way, MED reasoned, he could see more of the party and had more details to observe.

So here he was, observing in the name of his master. This meant he was playing volleyball with a bunch of others. Hey, duty or no, even a mechanic entity deserved some personal enjoyment, eh? EH?

Besides, the others were far more diligent in their task. Elm could manage, a-yep...

[bailee]

Intent on watching everything at once, Bailee almost missed the invitation. She certainly missed noticing the young man holding the medium sized ball next to the net until he spoke. Unlike some of the more outlandishly dressed people parading around the island, he blended in well. He wore beach apparel and looked like he had even been in the water at some point, if his damp hair sticking to one side of his face was any indicator. Not the most observant person when it came to other people, Bailee judged the man as being the same hight as her and perhaps a bit older.

Doing a look around to the vacant spaces surrounding her, Bailee confirmed that he was indeed talking to her. Lacking swiftness in making sudden decisions, the only thing for her to do was to let out a long puzzled "uhhhhhh." Looking from the ball in the man's hand to the net, to the heartless thing (for a lack of any reason to refuse) Bailee eventually changed her answer to "...alright, I guess."

Awkwardly shuffling through the sand in her sneakers towards the man with her glaive in tow, backwards glances being thrown all the way towards the heartless, she eventually stopped a few feet away from him and the net. It then struck her that in order to play, she might have to set down her weapon...while a heartless strode around after punch nearby. With a long look back at it, as it moved calmly towards the crowd near the punch, Bailee managed to convince herself that it wasn't about to whirl around and spring at her back. If it did attack, it would certainly go for someone closer anyways. Besides, it's not as though it would know she was there unless it looked directly at her. Setting her hot cumbersome grey hoodie and glaive out of the way and to the side of the net (with any luck nobody would step on it), where hopefully she could reach it in an emergency, she turned her attention to the brown haired young man.

"Ah, thanks for inviting me to play as your partner..." Play what, she had no idea. Still, being invited was nice of him. "I'm Bailee." She looked somewhat obviously between the net and the ball. "So...what are we playing?"