Appearing Normal

Human beings loved all their activities and having fun. It was almost hilarious to Dia whenever she saw them running about, oblivious to the fact that there was a possibility that a blazing meteor could fall from the heavens at any moment and obliterate all of Earthland. Or, one of the people milling around in one of the big, densely populated cities could be a walking magical nuclear disaster, set to go off at any moment and claim millions of lives. Of course, people would always tell her that while such things could happen, their probability was very low. She had once heard that the chances of being struck by lightning was one in five hundred thousand. "Very low odds," the man who said so had laughed. She had smiled indulgently at him, but had made no effort to correct him, whether by words or actions. If only he knew the amount of sentient malice existing in the universe, he would realize that the chances of some random bizarre event happening out of the blue was a lot higher than the statistics showed. She knew of dark mages that would waste no time proving their point to him by using him as an example, but she was not one of those mages. She hoped she was not.

Perhaps this was an excuse to prove to herself that she could still act like any normal person, barring the dark reality that her entire life, up to this point, had been everything else that was not normal. That being the case, she had decided to see what this beach party on Crescent Island was all about, before her job contractors came calling once again. The beach. An excuse for people to flaunt their shapely bodies, and others to ogle said shapely bodies. Or grope them, perhaps? Dia didn't mind a lot of attention, but she could not stand the touching, the pawing... Someone had once accused her of being hypocritical for dressing in such a "brazen" manner (yes, that was the word she used), but Dia likened the situation to a baker putting up a delicious pie in the showroom, and then being accused of hypocrisy when someone who wasn't ready to buy was fended off when they tried to eat the pie. Naturally, she knew what that counter would yield: "So, is your body for sale?" Good question. The truth was, everyone was for sale; the only  differences were in the price and the bidder.

Today, a very hot day, Dia stepped out onto the sands dressed in a tiny black bikini, and a translucent sarong wrapped around her waist. She "innocently" made her way around, ignoring the many stares she got, and looked for something fun with which she could distract herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him: sandy haired, chiseled abs and a self-confident smirk. She almost rolled her eyes. She knew what he was after.

"Hey, babe..."

Dia ignored him, her eyes scanning the different booths for anything worth engaging in. She could feel the youth's eyes on her, and then he tried again.

"Hey..."

She whipped round and stepped away, just as he was about to touch her, emerald eyes flashing with a sudden animosity. "Don't. It's very rude."

To his credit, he backed away slightly, holding up his hands. He was still smiling, although it was apologetic. "Sorry. Didn't mean no offense." She allowed her eyes to roam across his body before returning to his face. Something in her expression must have encouraged him, because his smile evolved to somethin closer to a grin. Yes, his body was impressive, but such things didn't fling her head over heels. She wasn't feeling vengeful, anyway, so she could let him off the hook. But if he tried it again... "None taken. Just be careful how you go touching people. It might be the death of you, one day." His expression was incredulous. "I think that's a little exaggeration on..." he began with a laugh, but Dia just stared at him, those eyes boring into him. The laugh faltered. "Okay." She graced him with the hint of a smile, and walked away. He probably considered following her, but changed his mind, which was good for him. Dia was in a forgiving mood, but she was not feeling too chatty.

She finally got to something that looked a little fun. People were throwing horseshoes. Plastic horseshoes. She wondered whether the throwing of horseshoes had anything to do with luck. Horseshoes were a good luck charm, from what she had heard... well, the metal ones. These were plastic, and cheerfully colored. She drew closer, watched people try their luck. They could only throw five horseshoes. And if luck was involved, the horseshoes were doing very little to better the chances of the throwers.

"You want to try it?" a well tanned woman asked her, offering her a set of horseshoes. Dia shrugged and accepted them. The whole thing didn't look too difficult. She made a show of aiming, then missed the first deliberately. The second horseshoe ringed the peg accurately, and she allowed herself to miss the third. The fourth hit home, and the fifth flew wide. Dia had already noticed that despite some people having the aim of an inebriated dodo, they still got a garland after participating, so she figured that she would get one, too, whether she pegged all horseshoes or missed all.

A few moments, she wandered away, searching for another stall, her interest in throwing things having dissipated. At least, she had one of those colorful leis.

Rolling for fishing for fishies, and the sand castle contest.
To kill two birds with one stone, the first roll is for the fishing fishies, and the second is for the sand castle...

The member 'Dia Izuna' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

The sun was doing its best to outshine itself, and Dia couldn't help but feel a little jealous of those beachgoers with very tanned skins. Unlike them, her skin easily suffered sunburn, and aside the fact that her skin felt itchy, raw and painful, the condition got her looking like a boiled lobster. And that was a good thing she had applied sunblock all over her skin. The sun had no power over her now... until she started sweating. She decided that sticking to shade and only emerging for any activity that looked really interesting was the way to go. She had given up on sunbathing a long time ago. Sure, she didn't mind having a healthy tan, but her skin seemed very averse to tanning, and preferred to cook properly, rather than get that darker color that exposure to the sun yielded. Someone had once called her a "freckled vampire" on account of her skin tone. And while she found the name amusing, she had not been very tolerant that day.

Pushing ideas of vampires and petty vengeances out of her mind, she searched for the next attraction. And she found it, and beneath some good shade, too. She drew closer to the group of people gathered. It was some sort of fishing competition. There was a large natural pool right there on the beach, in the shade of coconut trees, and from the looks of the event, the objective was straightforward: catch a fish. Obviously, the bigger the fish caught, the more likely one was to win the prize. Here, there was shade. She could while away the time, catching fishes.

Obtaining a line, rod, lure and some other little device at the end of the line (which she learned was for catching the fish without providing the trauma that hooks violently did), Dia positioned herself close to the far end of the pool, and listened to the rules of the fishing contest. First, there was no limit to the number of fish one caught. The biggest fish to be caught would be the winner. Second, under no circumstance was anyone supposed to put their hands in the pool. Thirdly, the fishing contest lasted for fifteen minutes. At the end of the time, the fishes would be gathered and observed for the largest. Fourthly, the dear little fishies were not to be killed. They could be placed in large basins, one of which was assigned to each competitor, or could be thrown back into the pool, to make the competition more interesting. Getting the smaller fishes out of the pool would make it easier to catch the big ones, after all.

At the signal from the host, the competition began. Dia threw the fish catcher (that was the name she had come up with the little device, because it was not a hook) into the pool, and waited patiently. She smiled slightly as she saw a really large fish approach her lure. That was a good sign. then the fish stopped. "Bite, you silly fish..." she ordered it mentally, but no amount of inward coercion could move the fish to proceed further. She shook the rod a little, so that the lure bobbed in the water, but the fish just sat there, or whatever position it was fishes took in water, and engaged the lure in a staring contest to the death. Dia jerked the line about a little more forcefully. The fish followed the lure, but stayed shy of biting. With a disappointed sigh, she pulled the line up, and as if freed from some mesmerizing spell, the large fish swam away. What a waste.

She threw the lure in again, and nothing still came to bite, so she retrieved it, and threw it further out. This time, she didn't have to wait long before she felt the line go taut. She smiled to herself and began reeling it in. The fish, however, was not intent on going down without a fight. Dia knew that if it pulled too hard, and she pulled back, the line could snap, and the fish would be lost. She knew this called for patience. So, whenever the fish pulled strongly, she just held the line and didn't reel. Once the fish slowed down, she started reeling as fast as she could, all the while careful not to let the tension in the line reach breaking point. At long last, she pulled the fish out of the water, though it took a bit of a struggle to do so, and at some point, she was almost pitched into the pool.

It was a beautiful specimen. From its "whiskers", she would say it was some kind of catfish. It was silver, its scales glinting in the light, and it was about the length of her outstretched arm. Its fins were a little darker than its body, and its belly was a little lighter than its dorsal side. Its tail looked powerful, suggesting to Dia that it was a strong swimmer. Good for it. Not one to enjoy extending the sufferings of others unnecessarily, she put it in the large container that stood behind her, and returned to the pool for another attempt. She knew she had caught a large one, but there was still that really large one out there. She replaced the line, threw out the lure, and this time, the exact fish she was after bit.

This one was a lot more troublesome to reel in. At first, she thought she was making progress, but then with a sudden, powerful tug, the fish snapped her line and swam away with the lure. The sudden loss of opposite pull caused Dia to stagger, but she managed to keep her feet beneath her and not fall to her backside. She reached for another line, then decided against it. The time was already almost up. She would just wait for the whole contest to be over.

There was an awed gasp from the little crowd, as a fish was lifted out of the water. It was about as long as she was tall, bronze colored master of the pool. Its catcher, a black haired teenager, gave a demure smile, then cast it back into the pool. There was no need keeping it out. Everyone knew it was the biggest fish in the pool, and even if another person snagged it, the time was already far gone. It would all be over before they could manage to pull it out of the pool.

Dia's fish was the third in the contest. That wasn't bad; third out of fifteen. If it had been something more serious, she would have liked to be first, but all this was meaningless fun, anyway, so it didn't matter much. She received her lei and stepped out from under the cool shade.

The sun was less harsh now, and Dia felt she could risk fooling around  beneath it before it made its regular attempt on her skin, despite the sunblock. She watched the sandcastle contest for a while, then wordlessly stepped up, picking a trowel and bucket, and went to work. The next few minutes were spent wrestling with sand that was very not amenable to molding, and Dia knew, without a doubt, that she had just wasted the last half hour of her life, when she stepped back to view her work. She tilted her head to the side, considering the fiasco she had designed, then she dumped the bucket on the top and stabbed the trowel into a side. Come to think of it, the sand heap almost looked better with the frustrated introductions. She almost laughed. Perhaps pottery or similar arts were not her stuff.

Having earned her third lei, she headed off towards one of the food stands. her sunblock was slowly beginning to run due to her perspiring skin, and she figured she had had enough fun for one day. Getting some free food on her way out was not a bad idea, and it seemed they were also giving out the flowery stuff for simply sampling the foods. She picked a plate and modestly piled it with food, though she was more partial with the barbeque. Armed with a toothpick, she started her meal, accepting the fourth lei and draping it round her arm. She had had a little bit of fun, but she was sure that just standing around would attract unwanted company, so she found her way off the beach and to the hotel room she had booked for this little holiday.

Nothing like a little time to unwind, before getting back into the thick of things.