Surf's Up, Security's Down

[Wyvern]

Wyvern sets up a rickety wooden shack next to a large jagged rock, which rests a considerable distance from the beach tides. The overgrown lizard tacks a dirty sign to the front of the makeshift booth, causing one of the boards to tilt loose in the process.

 

"Almost Dragonic Brand Xtreem Srrf Serfing

Rent a Serf Bord - 5 geld cheap!

Impres your friendz w/ stunts and trix.

Take a ryde on the fooli dangrous side!"

 

Satisfied by the look of the booth, Wyvern proceeds to hammer up an arrow sign that points in the direction of a rather hazardous-looking area labeled "Lobsterpit Reef." Rubbing his scaly claws together, the reptilian Elder kicks back in his seat behind the booth and takes out a pair of Almost Dragonic Brand Shades/Binoculars™, along with a little black book labeled "Bikini Spottings." He then proceeds to carefully examine the beach "scenery" until a troglyodyte in a bathing suite approaches his stand.

 

"Surfing?"

 

Wyvern jumps up at the voice, setting down his binoculars.

 

"Yes indeed, ssssstep right up! Rent yourself one of my (in)famous Almost Dragonic Brand Surf Boards™ and prepare yourself for the ride of your life. Brave the dangers of Lobsterpit Reef as no trogylodyte has ever done before."

 

"Ummm." The troglyodyte examines the booth curiously. "A little question: where are the boards?"

 

"Oh." Wyvern lets out a little cackle. "Well, it's first come first serve."

 

Wyvern pats his rickety booth, causing it to creak.

 

"Take any piece of it that you want. Only 5 geld!"

 

"Hmmmm."

 

The troglyodyte stands in silence for a long moment, then perks up as he hears a sound echo from Lobsterpit Reef:

 

"Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggghhh!"

 

"Sorry." The trogylodyte turns pale and takes a step back from the booth. He then quickly buries himself in the sand. "IthinkI'llpass."

 

"Wait!" Wyvern lets out a dismal sigh as the trogylodyte disappears from view. He turns his head in the direction of Lobsterpit Reef, and cringes as the echo continues.

 

"Arrrrrggggggh, somebody get this seaweed off my leg! It's kinda Gross."

 

;-p

 

OOC: 5 earned geld for participating in any way, and an additional 5 earned geld if you manage to pull of some sort of stunt with one of Wyvern's boards at Lobsterpit Reef. ;-)

[Katzaniel]

Horace had managed to get through the portal for the carnival, thinking it might be a path to the underworld. Upon seeing the beach, she sighed, realizing it was yet another false trail, but decided to take a look around first. She'd been all over the world before finding the Pen, looked everywhere she could think to look, and despite herself she liked it here. She may as well participate a bit if she was going to stay.

 

The demoness found her way to Wyvern's booth. "This looks interesting," she murmured, forgetting about vague warnings of a red wyvern that should be avoided. On the almost-dragon's instructions, she pried a board off the side of the booth and set it up on the sand.

 

Horace had an odd way of manipulating reality by accident. She wasn't very intelligent, and sometimes when she didn't realize something wasn't possible, it happened for her. She stood on the rotting wood and waited for the waves to come in. The demoness had no clue how to surf, just the idea that when the water came in, she could move around on it, like a skateboard on the sea. So, that's exactly what happened. As soon as the wave touched her board, Horace kicked off.

 

"Wheeeee!" she shouted as she vaulted herself over "wave-ramps" and wobbled around the bumpy surface of the water. "This is really fun!" She saw a large wave coming and skated toward it, kicking off the water for greater speed, then soared over, wheeled around and came back.

 

Wyvern by this time was watching with ever-larger eyes. He saw a magic trick that could earn him vast amounts of geld, and he rushed over.

 

"How do you do that?" The words tumbled over one another. "Show me how, or at least promise to perform for me! Teach me that, please!!" He was waist-deep, now, wading toward the young woman on the wooden board in the sea. She came to meet him. "Do what now?"

 

"Do that!" Wyvern cried excitedly. "How do you stand on the water like that?"

 

Horace looked at herself. She looked at Wyvern. Her brow furrowed.

 

"It shouldn't be possible," Wyvern was saying. "A person shouldn't be able to just stand there like that. Or kick off the water without, you know, doing it right. She's treating water like it's solid! This has gotta be worth something."

 

Horace was looking even more confused. "Am I doing something unusual?" she asked, trying to figure out what the almost-dragon in front of her was going on about. As she began to realize that water wasn't solid, Horace began to sink down into it, without really noticing, until finally she was waist-deep as well. "I must have just figured out the trick to it," she said, half to herself. "I don't know what I did, surely no different from the way anyone else surfs." Then she wandered off, leaving Wyvern standing in the water, not hearing his protests.

Edited July 10, 2005 by Katzaniel

[Sweetcherrie]

Sweet’s head is tilted as she watches Horace and Wyvern, and wonders how long it will take before the lizard realizes where his greediness has taken him. She takes a piece of wood from his boot, causing the booth to almost fall apart, and wades into the water. Lying on her belly on the piece of wood she paddles towards the lizard and greets the demoness while passing by.

 

“Hello mister almost dragon,” She says happily as she paddles in circles around him. At this point Wyvern realises that he’s actually standing in the water and starts screaming that he wants out. As the lizard tries to run back to the shore, hindered by the water, Sweet slowly follows him.

 

“You know mister almost dragon, swimming is good for you.” She says wisely and paddles around him. At that exact moment the sea decides to throw another wave over them. Sweet, having the piece of wood, stays above water, but the lizard gets swept of his feet, and goes under.

 

Moments later the wave is gone and Sweet looks around if she can see Wyvern anywhere. When she looks behind her she finds his tail sticking out above water, in a deeper part of the sea. Quickly she paddles over, and pulls him onto her improvised board.

 

“Maybe you’ll better hold on to this mister almost dragon, and then I’ll hold on to you.”

 

Wyvern greedily grabs the whole piece of wood, and while she holds on to the lizard’s back Sweet tries to paddle both back to the shore, when another wave hits them. Without hesitation the girls decides to use the lizard as her board, and while he holds on to the piece of wood, she climbs on to his back.

 

“Don’t worry mister almost dragon, we’ll get back to the shore,” She screams down, and surfs the wave on the back of the almost dragon. The wave picks them up, and Sweet balances on Wyvern’s back as if she’s a professional surfer. Below her the almost dragon moans that he hates water, but since the only way to get out is to hold on to the piece of wood, he tightly holds on and rides the wave with her.

 

With a last push from the wave they float back on the beach. The girl jumps off Wyvern’s back, and sees that the lizard has started kissing the ground, before realizing that it’s not such a good idea to kiss a sandy beach. Sweet huggles the almost lizard, thanks him for the good ride, and leaves him hugging the ground as she bounces away to the next booth.

Edited July 11, 2005 by Sweetcherrie

[Tanuchan]

Thomas looked at the beach with some air of uncertainty, looking around for something familiar. He had heard about Lobsterpit Reef, and had had a sudden craving for some roasted lobster. Considering that the Campsite Portal had a nice campfire ready for roasting anything, and that his new friend Tom seemed unable to even think of roasted vegetables, Thomas had decided to try and catch lobsters. Maybe Tom would like something new, and Sweetcherrie would possibly appreciate some different food.

 

In the distance Thomas saw Wyvern's booth, and with a spring on his steps he proceeded to talk to Wyvern. Leaving his precious lute in a protected spot, he examined the boards.

 

"So... just pick one of these and go? And do you think I may be able to catch some lobsters?"

 

"Lobstersss?" Wyvern blinked, and Thomas showed him a trap he had made before coming to the beach.

 

"Yes. I learned once how to catch some with this kind of trap, and I was hoping that your boards could take me to where they live."

 

While talking, Thomas patted on some of the boards, causing them to creak and lean dangerously. He hastily secured some of them with his foot, but unfortunately the last of the row chose that moment to get loose. Instinctively protecting his hands, he let go of the boards, which fell noisily to the ground.

 

By the wish of Terpsichore, the boards fell one after the other sounding quite musically to the minstrel's ears, and he immediately sat down to sound each board carefully, knocking each one on different spots. After a few minutes, Thomas smiled happily and patted one of them, standing up.

 

"This one. It's the most musical. It's a shame that it doesn't have strings, but I think it will be perfect for me."

 

Beaming, Thomas left towards the water, carrying a rather large board that still had two or three nails stuck onto it - and from which some lengths of rope trailed.

 

With more skill than anyone would have credited him, Thomas managed to wade into the water slipping just twice, and just once hitting his own head with the board while trying to get onto it. Kneeling on it at first, he used his hands to paddle towards a place he felt good enough to harbor some fat lobsters.

 

Thomas never saw the wave coming towards him while he lowered the trap. As he tried to peek down, leaning dangerously, the board heaved and almost sent Thomas sprawling into water - if it weren't for the ropes stuck in the nails.

 

Thomas grabbed the ropes and slid just to the opposite end of the board, somehow finding himself standing as he struggled to find some purchase to not fall on water. He looked around frantically as the wave got taller and started to crest, pulling the ropes while doing so. As a result, the board spinned around twice, ending with Thomas facing the beach. He looked back worriedly, and then to left and right, holding his breath while unconsciously pulling the ropes.

 

From the beach, Wyvern stared in disbelief as he saw Thomas standing on the board, using ropes as reins on a horse to direct the board in some incredible maneuvers: turning left and right, and spinning neatly to make Thomas face the beach, then sliding sideways and spinning slowly so the surfer rode backwards, and once even jumping onto a lower crest coming after the one he was riding.

 

In some minutes, Thomas landed on the beach, panting, still holding the ropes tight in his hands. Blinking, he let the ropes go and immediately the board turned over, dumping him into the water.

 

Wyvern ran to him, and skidded to a halt when Thomas surfaced with a yell of triumph, his trap in one hand - holding a beautiful, big fat lobster.

 

"I hope Tom and Sweetcherrie appreciated this! Thanks for the board rental, Mr. Wyvern!"

 

Not giving Wyvern any time for questions, Thomas left in a hurry, trap plus lobster in one hand and his lute on the other, already thinking if he could make a song of his experience.

[Wyvern]

Wyvern drags his way back towards his booth, his scales still dripping wet, a lobster still attached to his tail by means of a spiny pincher. The lizard's beady eyes go wide for a moment as he watches Thomas carry his lobster catch from the reef, and he growls curses under his breath as the spiny lobster continues to cling to his tail unnoticed.

 

"Dang, wish I could catch a lobster..."

 

Wyvern arrives back at his booth and grabs the Almost Dragonic Brand Rag-Towel (Beach Edition)™ that he had started to use after the "Unbranded Almost Dragonic Surf Board" incident. The "towel" amounted to little more than a tissue-sized rag of non-absorbant cloth, and the "Beach Edition" simply referred to a beachball picture that was doodled onto the "fabric." Wyvern sighs glumly and reaches for his little black book, dribbling Ocean water left and right.

 

"They had to choose the beach... why couldn't it have been at some nice location, like an amateur bank or a red light district?"

 

Wyvern opens his little black book to a page he had been doodling in earlier. His current sketch amounted to little more than two horns, a business suite, and water below two feet. The words "Seek out at Bachelorette" was scrawled underneath the image, accentuated by two thick underlines. Wyvern taps his claw on the page.

 

Think Wyvern, think. Did she have a suitcase...? Wait... think? Is this some sort of trick question?

 

Wyvern's thoughts are interrupted as a sand crab from his beach-kissing finally makes its way down his snout and into his left nostril. The lizard sniffles for a moment, then grabs his little black book and freezes.

 

*ACCCHHHHHEEEEEOOOOOOOOOO!*

 

Where there was once a surf booth now stands a bonfire. Wyvern sniffles again, curses to himself, then scrawls something over the previous sign.

 

"Almost Dragonic Brand Xtreem Srrf Serfing

Rent a Serf Bord - 5 geld cheap!

Impres your friendz w/ stunts and trix.

Take a ryde on the fooli dangrous side!

 

Almost Dragonic Brand Bonfire

Now entrring competishun with Rydia's hibachy stannd!

Garanteed fastur cook time.

Bring yer fishies! 5 geld to cook."

 

Having finished with this adjustment, Wyvern moves closer to the bonfire, finally drying off a bit.