Pop the Beachball (Shiva)

It didn't really matter how Shiva had gotten here, only that she was now here. Today was a glorious day, and she was at the beach, wearing a swimsuit and hugging Aegir. He was decidedly small today, in the shape of a large red plastic floatation device with a red- guess what, orca- blown up as part of the hollow ring around her waist. All set and ready to go, Shiva was prepared to have some fun. Possibly win a few competitions, if she was lucky, because she sure as hell wasn't really trying.

First on the agenda was food. Ooh, maybe last on the agenda should be food, that way once she was tired of doing everything she could go eat! Eat everything! Although, eating beforehand would be good as well since that way she could go back and eat afterwards. Eating double was for sure a better plan. Yeah, Shiva would do that. Trotting over to the feast, she wrinkled her nose at the seafood array. That was a big ew. Honestly, Shiva wasn't a vegetarian, because it simply wasn't her style. But she could appreciate that animals and other things had died in order to feed them, so she would feast. Grabbing literally everything in sight, Shiva took a bit off of every platter and plate. When she was done, she was holding a dish that was heaped high, and a nearby event coordinator eyed her dubiously. "You going to eat all of that?" The disapproving glint in her eye told Shiva that there might be negative consequences, if only her reputation, if she threw it away. Shrugging, Shiva didn't really care whether or not she got in trouble. But if it made any difference, she was certainly planning on eating everything. She was famished, after all. Scarfing it down, Shiva dropped her plate to the ground and left without another backwards glance. "Wait! Here, have a lei," the event coordinator who had been standing by the table called out from behind her. When she failed to give any pause, she rushed to catch up with Shiva and touched her shoulder. "Here, there you go," a flowery garland was slipped over her head. Giving the woman a strange look, Shiva turned away and continued to leave.

379 Words, +Tropical Feast Lei

Roll for Surfing Contest

The member 'Ran' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Shiva was now about to take part in the surfing contest. Admittedly, she was pretty darn good at surfing. After spending so much time on the seas and in the water, she had a knack for the sport. Or hobby, whatever it was. Anyway, Aegir transformed from a plastic floatie to a brightly red and white colored surfboard in what seemed to be a parlor trick. Knowing that they were in Fiore, Shiva guessed nobody really objected to displays of magic. As long as it was clear she wasn't cheating, they should be fine. Of course, if someone decided to accuse her later on, that would be a problem for future Shiva. She didn't honestly care too much.

Paddling out on her shortboard, she tested the way it held her weight. They had surfed together a lot in the past, meaning Shiva felt very experienced. Still, every time he shifted, it was like Aegir felt like making the endeavor slightly more challenging (probably his idea of fun) and interesting by changing the type of surfboard. This one happened to be a short, rather hard and vaguely heavy fiberglass board. Shiva wasn't necessarily too large of a human herself, and her weight was rather average, meaning it wouldn't be a problem. Her main priority was the length. The shortboard meant she could do far more fun tricks and dance around a bit on the waves. Props to Aegir for picking it, provided she could maneuver properly. Clutching the board, which was a couple inches over six feet, maybe just about almost half of the way to seven, she relaxed her stomach into the material as she continued to paddle forwards.

The water was pretty cold. Hopefully it would be, given that Shiva preferred things that way. Suntanning was all nice and cozy and warm and all, but when it came to surfing she needed the cold of the waves. Coolness would help her stay focused at this time. As soon as she reached the starting line of the race, Shiva glanced at the event coordinator. This time it was a man, standing on his own pseudo surfboard and waiting for all of the competitors to be ready. Shrugging, Shiva patted Aegir comfortingly while they all waited for the slower folks. As soon as the wave started to buckle and raise above them, she was off. Surfing in front of the wave, she turned her board around and flipped it as she pleased, laughing as she quickly became the victor even with a few moments wasted showing off. Shiva resisted the temptation to call forth an even bigger wave and wrap it around the beach for the fun of it. Instead, she wrung her hair out as the event coordinator dropped another lei over her head. He was so tall that it really was just dropping it over her head, similarly to a close range game of horse shoe throwing. Ooh, did they have that here?

494 Words, 873 Total, +Surfing Contest Lei

Shiva found a game of horseshoe throwing without much trouble. It was set up all along the beach, and there were pegs stuck in the sand. Situated in a way where they were strewn almost chaotically around the marked off area, she wasn't actually sure about the distances each were from the place where competitors stood. How on earth the event coordinators managed to judge the points was beyond her understanding. Shiva was glad that she absolutely did not care. If she won, then she won. Otherwise, if she thought she won and someone told her she lost then they were probably the ones in the wrong. Eyeballing the farthest away peg, she tossed a plastic horseshoe at it with a wince when the object totally flew past the target.

A voice suddenly called out from somewhere to her left, not too close but definitely in the area. "Hello! In the red suit over there! Those aren't for the horseshoes! There's only one peg for the horseshoe throwing contest." Shiva glanced in the direction of the speaker, then directly met their eyes by accident. She held their gaze without remorse while they blinked a couple times. The event coordinator then said, "Um, excuse me, if you look over here, this is the peg for the horseshoe throwing contest. You can retrieve the shoe you threw! It shouldn't count," obviously talking to Shiva. She replied nothing back at all in favor of instead stepping over the series of small posts and picking up her plastic horseshoe that she had thrown. Then, following his gesture towards a much more prominent post, she began throwing the horseshoes out rapidly almost like saucers. Whizzing around in circles, they knocked into other participants until Shiva was the only one near the horseshoe tossing game at the time.

Glancing around, she decided that was that. Since her horseshoes, no matter where they landed, were technically the closest, she had to be the victor. Glancing at the event coordinator, they shook their head. "Sorry m'am, but I know what you're thinking. The Horse Shoe Throwing contest is determined by fair methods. However, you still will receive one participation lei." They plopped it over her head and gave her a pat on the back before going over to another participant who was groaning as she lay on the ground, clutching her head. Well, that was a bit of a bust then. Shiva felt slightly disappointed, but she quickly moved on. What was the next fun thing here at this beach party which she could pursue?

427 Words, 1300 Total, +Horse Shoe Throwing Lei

Roll for Sand Castle Contest

The member 'Ran' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Ooh, over there were a bunch of people crowded around the beach. Actually, they weren't quite crowded. That wasn't the right word. Instead, perhaps evenly spotted on the sand was a better description. The amount of people perfectly spread out in a very specific area was definitely astonishing. Shiva floated over to the mass of them, too lazy to walk for now. Aegir was tucked under her arm. A ton of people were spread out on the sand, some with their hands cradling heaps of the stuff. Others were patting down mounds and some dribbling out towers. She didn't understand what was happening at first, but then it hit her. Sandcastles! Shiva had used to make a ton of these when she was a little kid. Not on the ocean or shore of the sea, but rather using mud and dirt and such. Even with a lot of technological advancements, they still had found time to play around outside and in nature. Everything there was considered a blessing.

With a large wave of magic, Shiva cleared out a space on the beach. Some people who had been working there had their castles destroyed, but she reconstructed them with another movement of her fingers in another area. She needed this one. Her light had to be perfect, otherwise there was no point. Besides, it wasn't like they lost any progress. Settling down in her neatly marked off square, which had a wet moat predug into it, Shiva thought about what she wanted to build. Her skills were not lacking at all in this department, as they were at least half the amount of her ego. And that was too enormous to take stock of. Nobody else was going to cross her moat. Although Shiva wanted to use her magic in order to absolutely create her vision and bring it to life, she decided to go mundane. Why not test herself and just experiment to have fun? She didn't really care about the fairness of things. After all, she was a mage. Some of the other people here probably were using magic as well. Furthermore, just because someone else didn't have her advantages didn't mean she should put herself at a disadvantage. But Shiva concluded that she would pass on using magic. Disregarding being disqualified or whatever consequences might come from using it, she also just made the decision on the fly based on what she wanted. As she always did.

The first most important thing was making sure she got a lot of sand. Some of it had been acquired from digging out the moat, but she didn't want her castle to be sunken into the ground. Even if it would still stick up from a lowered level, that wasn't her goal. No, Shiva wanted her castle to tower over others. So she needed a ton of sand for that. Running over to the sea, she began to scoop up sand further out. It was okay if it was a little wet for now, because it would dry out in the sun. And if it didn't, she had no problem going back on her decision not to use magic. Manipulating the moisture out of the sand would be no problem at all for her. She shoveled sand up into a pile in her area, using her hands as a scoop. Aegir helped a little bit by using his flippers and head bumps. But honestly, Shiva did most of the work. Finally to finish her giant mound of sand, she leveled it out so it was more of a square platform. That would add credibility to her design. Rather than seeming very spherical and smoothed out with palms, hers felt rigid and professional. To the degree of professionality that a sandcastle could obtain, of course.

Shiva began to build towering buildings on her platform. There had to be several smaller skyscrapers or turrets, but she wanted a main castle. It would be something like a miniature city when she was finished. And she did finish it. By the end, everything had turned out perfectly, just as she had imagined and designed it to be. Shiva felt a small swell of pride, but the rest of her consciousness quickly squashed it down when the sight took her back to some unwanted memories. Back in the city, she was the only one really left who could take care of things. All of the tunnels underneath the small nation and the labs, the temple, everything was designed by her. Facilitated by her. In a way, this sand castle contest was a demonstration of how she could be obsessive and meticulous when it suited her. Standing up, Shiva realized that it had been a while since she had begun working on her sand masterpiece. Several other beach goers were crowded around the edges of her moat, watching her intently. An event coordinator walked up to her, smiling at her. "Congratulations! By popular vote, you win the sand castle contest." She placed a lei over Shiva's head. Feeling mixed emotions, she left the beach party not much longer afterwards. It had been a fun distraction, but the festivities felt like no place for her to linger.

869 Words, 2169 Total, +Sand Castle Contest Lei