Inari in July! Log times!

[bufubulous]

Who; Yusuke and whoever is around!
What; Beeeeach tiiiiiimes
Where; See above
When; All through July!
Warnings; None, but I will update if it comes up!



Prawndering New Shores - OTA

Yusuke wasn’t particularly fond of the heat, it had to be said. Nor was he fond of the idea of sun-damage, so summer was always particularly challenging for him as seasons went. Whether that had any bearing on the element of his persona was uncertain, but hard to not consider once in a while. On the one hand, a sweltering sunny day was better than being caught in a massive downpour of rain you didn’t see coming (it happened), on the other… He had the complicated task of staying cool while also avoiding sunburn. The teen did not tan, after all. He only burned, and while he was fond of lobsters, he had no interest in having his complexion match their colours.

Since he did not arrive with his favourite summer-weight hooded sweater, this meant that the only wait to beat the heat while enjoying the sandy shores of this lovely new beach was to get creative. Yusuke had managed to beg a (ridiculously) oversized, wide-brimmed summer hat from one of the people who worked at the orphanage, and managed to find a light cotton shirt to wear open with a pair of shorts. Regardless of how it might look, it worked rather well, if he did say so himself. The brim shaded not only his face, but even his shoulders as it flopped down over them at a careful angle.

As he wandered the shores with the curious eyes of someone looking for something, but not knowing what… It wasn’t long before Yusuke happened upon a large, delightfully lively tide pool. The teen could be found, chin resting on his knees that were drawn up to his chest, staring in awe at the varied life in the shallow, sheltered waters. Lobsters, of course, were a particular treat. Smaller juvenile ones scuttling around the floor amidst little fish that had gotten trapped when the tide went out. So many little creatures in such an unexpected space, enduring the low tide until the waves came crashing back in. “Magnificent, never have I seen such beautiful beings before!” He murmured, fingers itching for his sketch pad.

The pad was present, of course. Settled in the coloured bag that he received when he arrived, preferring to leave his leather satchel home rather than drag it to the beach... But the teen was truly captivated as usual, by the many little creatures going about their day in their own unexpected ‘home away from home.’

So if anyone happened upon what appeared to be an oversized beach hat with its back turned to the public while observing things… They are welcome to distract him!

If they didn’t find the massive hat that was Yusuke there, they might also find him later on, sitting on the shore while he resumed watching the shoreline for interesting sights while attempting to build a particularly impressive looking sand castle that appeared to have been decorated with shell and the odd sand-sculpted lobster. Humming to himself and occasionally stopping, to make his fingers into a frame to observe the progress thus far… “Yes…! Perfection.” He commented before a pleased chuckle escaped him, and he resumed working.

(Find him while he’s wandering the shores, while he’s hanging out at the tide pool, or while he’s building a sand castle!)

A Kriller Storm - OTA

Sometimes one had to muse that things were going too perfectly. A day spent enjoying one’s self to the fullest, plenty of good food and fun to be had… Not a cloud in the sky… Until there was. Creeping in over the horizon and spreading more quickly than one might notice as they were focused on something in front of them instead of what was above them.

This was the case for Yusuke that day, as per usual, settled on the shoreline as he worked on some sketches that would be drafted for paintings at a later date. At least they would be once he had a chance to finish getting the rough outlines down. Instead? Instead, he was frowning lightly as he felt something lightly beginning to hit his oversized hat. The tap-tap-tapping only increased in frequency as what could only be described as a flash rain storm began coming down quite hard. He let out a displeased, undignified groan as he hurried to close his notepad and hugged it to his chest, angling his hat down to shield him better as he scrambled to put everything in his bag and get up to leave.

Looking more and more like a drowned rat than a person as his hat was weighed down by the water and the wind blew the rain more at an angle, which meant less protection. He could almost hear Ryuji’s eloquent eff this! in his head that would be voiced in these moments if he were here. Instead, he could only frown severely and let out dramatic huffs and sighs as he hurried away from the shoreline to look for nearby buildings for shelter.

It didn’t help when the over-sized brim of his hat got caught up in a gust of wind and blew off, making him have to change course again to try to catch it. Considering it was borrowed, he wasn’t about to lose the darn thing! He wouldn’t even know how to begin to replace it!

Why did this always seem to happen at the worst possible moments?

Shellebration of Friendship - Closed for Ren, Haru and Yusuke!

Sometimes the universe had rather funny timing, if one stopped to consider it. Yusuke himself had just come to this place a short span of time after a beach party with his friends, and somehow, despite it being the end of summer then…? He found himself experiencing the season all over again. Only this time, it was in an entirely different world and the group was oddly smaller (but no less cherished).

It wasn’t long before he discovered that however far ahead the other two were; they had not arrived at another summer yet and one among them had not gotten to experience a beach party as the rest of them had. This came up easily enough in conversation as they discussed the fact that this world seemed to have changed again to somehow grow an entire stretch of beach with inviting scenery and businesses.

… And rumors. Rumors that, if one were prone to belief, indicated that this beach came with a creature none of them had yet to see. A sand shark. What did they look like? Did they truly move through the sands? How large were they??? All these questions sprung to mind, and more as the trio decided (with quite a bit of excitement on some parts) that a phantom thieves investigation (and party) was in order to both look into the rumors and to see to it that they all had gotten to enjoy a fun afternoon at the beach that they had sadly missed out on before.

Because, really, it would be a terrible shame to not. No one wanted to imagine the sadness that might grip their friend to miss another chance at a fun day in the sun looking for sand sharks!

The weather was beautifully warm and clear that day, not a cloud above to suggest any unfortunate downpours that might dampen the occasion. The sandy shores stretch out before them were lightly dotted with people who seemed to have had the same idea, and the sound of the waves gently brushing against the shore could be heard as they approached.

Yusuke turned eagerly to his fellow Phantom Thieves, adjusting the (absurdly) large summer hat he was using to shade himself in the absence of his hooded sweater. “Do we have everything?? I have my sketchbook-” You know… In case he wanted to sketch the sand sharks. Inspiration could be found anywhere! “And some of the snacks in my bag.” Also arguably important, what was a trip to the beach without beach snacks!

Comments

[cetrary]

"That's the worst part," she pouted. "You fall down once and suddenly it's inside everything! I feel like we'll need two showers to get it all off." She sadly wasn't too far off about that. How had it spread so quickly? That was the real mystery here and it kinda made her wonder if it wasn't actually evil and out to get them. That was probably a tiny bit (very tiny bit) overdramatic of her.

"Ah, see, that's where he went wrong. If you have a pirate attitude you need the pirate attire. You have to dedicate yourself to the theme!" Clearly his approach had failed due to his lack of dedicated to the theme. Of course, Aerith didn't actually believe that, but she sounded completely serious about her theory. More than likely he'd just said the wrong thing in the wrong way. "How about you?" she tilted her head towards him curiously. "Did you try your hand at it?" Surely it'd gone better for him if he had, right?

"I'm sure they appreciated having a tank rather than a bucket." Wait, he'd snuck them into his dorm? How...had he even managed that? They were lobsters! "How did nobody notice that?" Did his dorm just not have rules or caretakers that watched these things? How were lobsters just casually snuck in? These were the real questions.

[bufubulous]

“It is truly a nightmare for the senses! It feels as though we may never be rid of it!” So many showers were in order, and laundry to ensure that the horrid stuff had been properly expelled! Really, Aerith was in good company, at least where over-dramatics were concerned.

“Hmmm… You are probably right. Given how desperate he seems at the time to attract such attentions, I shall have to remember to share this advice with him in the future should I have the opportunity.” He responded, taking Aerith entirely seriously. Ryuji sure was going to appreciate that if it ever came to pass… Especially considering Yusuke’s sometimes clumsy delivery.

The question gets a small tilt of his head as he reached up and tried to brush a little more sand off his neck. “Oh, I did attempt to offer my assistance to the endeavor as it seemed important to take part in the challenge, but it would seem that honesty is not a quality that is held in as high esteem as one would think?” He responded with a confused wrinkle on his brow. He wasn’t terribly disappointed, so much as confused and embarrassed, since his attentions were more often on his art than on the thoughts of romantic pursuits.

He found all people beautiful in some way, but had never considered much more than that. Often times was more focused on aesthetics than on the things his teammates were. The magnificence of the pyramids? Stunning. He could look at them all day. His beautiful female teammates combating the sweltering sun? Hardly got a glance. Perhaps one day the teen would figure himself out, but he was hardly as focused on it as the others seemed to be. “It was shortly after that which I spotted the lobsters and found myself quite enamoured, so I become quite distracted after that.”

Yusuke smiled, feeling quite clever. “Timing is everything when you’re attempting a more sneaky endeavor. I’ve had some experience with hiding things that are frowned upon, and practice since then.” He used to hide manga on a particular bookshelf to sneak away to read where Madarame wouldn’t find them, since the man hadn’t had a high opinion of such forms of art. Then… Well, with the phantom thieves, sneaking was imperative to success, so he had plenty of practice sneaky goods past unsuspecting adults in charge. So going from books to live creatures hadn’t been quite as difficult as it could have been! “So Leonardo Da Pinchy and Clawed Monet are as comfortable as I can make them for the moment, though I do hope to improve upon that one day.”

[cetrary]

"We should file a complaint," she said with a lopsided smile followed by a heavy sigh as she tried again to brush some off her arm. The little she did manage to scrape off came off in a clump and unceremoniously fell back down to it's sandy cousins.

"Ohhhh the desperation may have been it," she put a finger up and gave him a wink. Though the wink turned into rabid blinks to keep sand from falling into her eye. She wasn't going to make the same mistake again and try to wipe it off. Learning was happening this time! A light laugh escaped her lips and she tried to play it off by stretching her hands up as if she were trying to keep the rain off her head that way. It was probably a bit mean to laugh at his confession that honesty wasn't held in high esteem, but she couldn't help it. What's done was done.

"So no success for you either? Shame," she looked at him with a grin. "I'm surprised you didn't have more success. You seem like you'd be a fun date." Her tone was completely and utterly serious as she let out a relieved sigh as they finally made it off the sand and under some cover. "Think we can wait here for it to stop? Or should we make a break back to our places?" Maybe...it'd stop. Then again they were already soaking, sandy, and clumpy. So, would more water really do anything?

"Sounds like I'll have to keep you in mind if I ever need some espionage work done." It was kind of impressive to think he'd managed to get lobsters in with stealth. Though--wait. What had he just called them? Okay, now that gets a burst of actual laughter. "Those are some...uh...interesting names!"

[bufubulous]

“A well-worded complaint might be just what is needed to make a point! Though one must wonder where such a complaint might be directed in this place.” He added with a tilt of his head, hard to tell if he was actually joking or being serious. It was probably a little of both, but one never knew with Yusuke. He did tend towards a particular seriousness and sincerity outside the sillier puns and such.

“Is that so…? Hm, I’m not so sure that people saw it that way. That was kind of you to say, nonetheless, Aerith.” Perhaps it took the right person to see that potential, or perhaps he needed to work on his own delivery a little more. Either way, his concerns weren’t particularly strong in that way aside from the odd moment of passing loneliness and absent daydreaming about what it might be to have someone that constant in his life in such a way to go on dates with. At least no one had caught his attentions enough for him to examine the idea or think about it more deeply as of yet. He had his painting, and the endeavors of the thieves to think about right now, anyway.

His eyes lit up as they left the cursed beach behind and found an awning to take shelter under. At least… Until he took stock of their condition and noted that… Well, it still felt more or less the same aside from the absence of water pouring onto their heads. “You know, I rather expected this to feel like a vast improvement compared to being out in the elements, but it’s quite underwhelming.” He commented, reaching up to brush a soaked strand of hair away from his eye. At least, he supposed, they couldn’t end up with more sand on them here.

“Should you ever need a little bit more stealth involved in an endeavor, I am sure I would be happy to assist you further.” He responded with a smile, though he was quite serious. One never knew when something might come up and the need for secrecy was necessary! But he tilted his head slightly, a pleased grin crossing his face at her laughter. Even if she didn’t quite get the names, at least the obvious puns had amused her instead of getting a groan! “Thank you. They seemed quite fitting when I was attempting to decide what to call them.”

[cetrary]

"The Aspects, maybe? If we could even find them." It'd been a while since she could remember hearing from either of them. Which just made her wonder what had happened to them or what they'd been up to. "Maybe I'll start drafting something up and go to see them." To file a formal complaint about the state of the sand rebellion. "Clearly they should be aware of what the sand and rain are doing together." Clearly it was a conspiracy between the two against everyone.

"Well, I see it that way and I like to think that means something at least. I think we'd have fun!" Hypothetically speaking of course. Dates could be fun in a casual way, but real romance? That was something different story. Everything with Zack had been pretty amazing, until it wasn't. His disappearance had been one of the most painful things she'd experienced and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go down a road like that again. Plus there were the things she knew that she shouldn't know about things to come. That definitely made everything feel more complicated than it should be.

"I could try a wind spell if you want," she said with a halfhearted laugh. Obviously that wouldn't really do much good to dry them off, but maybe it'd lighten the mood. "It is pretty depressing, isn't it? It...almost feels worse." Which just made her concerned about how itchy it would get the more they dried off.

"You'll be the first I call." She tilted her head a little curiously. "Are they named after specific people?" If he considered them 'fitting' names it'd make sense that they were references to something.

[bufubulous]

“Yes, they don’t appear to be particularly accessible for the public to get in touch with beyond certain circumstances or channels.” He mused thoughtfully, since it almost seemed as though they existed in some other place beyond the city… While also being able to simply be there when they desired or needed to be. “I wonder if they even get mail? They must, I would think, otherwise they would miss a great deal.” So a strongly worded letter had to go somewhere, right? The concerns of those they brought here should be held to some degree of importance! Especially when the sand and weather seemed intent on banding together against those just trying to enjoy a fun day at the beach.

Yusuke tilted his head with a curious expression. Was that so? “That is kind of you to say, even as we’re coated in sand and drenched to the bone. I would rather worry that this is all an unfortunate glimpse of what an outing with me has the potential for.” He added with a small chuckle. Still, he wouldn’t mind attempting a day out with a friend again at some point. He did need to take breaks from his art once in a while. After all, how else was he to find new inspirations?

The teen made a slightly concerned face at that, eyes nearly comical at the idea that they also be windblown next. “I’m not sure if that would help or worsen the state we find ourselves in, though I cannot deny the idea of blowing the sand away is rather desirable.” Frowning a little, he bowed his head in dramatic fashion. “I’m afraid it is rather disheartening to find that we’re no better than we were upon the shore aside from removing the chance of falling on the sand again… it’s a rather unpleasant sensation as it dries and still sticks…?” He could feel clumps of it in his hair. He couldn’t imagine how unpleasant that would be for someone with as much hair as Aerith. For once he was rather glad he hadn’t grown his out, as he sometimes considered.

The question gets a pleased chuckle. “They are! They’re both named for artists in my world. Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet, though I thought it seemed fitting to give them slight variations based on the fact that they were lobsters.” Yes, he sounds like he thinks he’s quite clever to have come up with the puns.

[cetrary]

“They were at one time. I'm not sure what happened since then though." Maybe they got tired of being blamed for things? She could kinda understand that in a way, even if it did seem like a lot of the bad things that had happened were in fact their fault. "I be they do! And supposedly there's a building that they use here somewhere. I think. Or maybe I misheard." So, if they could find that building she could mail her letter. Her very angry letter of protest against the sand. She was certain they'd ...probably not care at all. But that wouldn't stop her from trying!

"Aw, don't say that. We already determined this probably wasn't your fault, right?" She said with a little smile. Probably wasn't. "This is just an unfortunate coincidence! I bet a different time would go a lot less ...crunchy." At least she'd like to hope it would be.

"I'd say I could give it a try but...I don't want to make things worse." Which it undoubtedly would now that she had given it a bit more consideration. Good thing she actually thought about it. "Hey, I think not falling again is a plus. Although..." she reached up to her hair and squished it, causing it to make a loud crunching sound. She winced. "I don't think we could even get more sandy even if we fell again. This sucks." She was with him. It was unpleasant and basically the absolute worst.

"Ohhhh I get it," she said with a laugh. "That's creative!"

[bufubulous]

“So they used to be in touch with everyone more often? How curious…” Perhaps the expectations and demands were too much with a considering how many of them there were and the things that seemed to happen here outside their control. They did seem to get blamed for a lot of things, based on what Yusuke had heard… Though he wasn’t entirely sure they weren’t blamed without reason, either. Having not been here to see such thing’s first hand? It was hard to say, not without more proof one way or the other. It was hard to give people in power the benefit of the doubt, considering his and the phantom thieves’ experiences with adults who got away with far too much and were never questioned or held accountable.

Yusuke offered a small, awkward smile at the ‘probably.’ It was probably not his fault, but that tiny percent chance that it was? It was hard to ignore that entirely. Still, he chuckled a little at the description. “I certainly hope a different time will go ‘less crunchy,’ given how unpleasant it is… Perhaps once the memory of this has faded some we’ll have to visit again.” Just to test the theory, it might help drop the probability of this being his fault to nearly zero!

“You are probably right. The most we can hope for is to rid ourselves of it once we return to our residences and see if we can’t wash it down the drain.” If that were possible, there was so much sand. “Though you are correct, the more stable ground to walk on is rather nice by comparison right now, regardless of how much more sand we may be capable of carrying.”

Grinning, more than a little pleased by her recognition of how creative it was, he chuckled. “Thank you! I thought it was quite clever.”

[cetrary]

"At least a bit more," she said with a nod. "I hope they're okay." Not that she was really overly worried about that. "Or at least I hope they're not trying to help." Her face scrunches up and she gives a sheepish shrug. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate their attempts, it was more that they always seemed to go wrong. They were probably doing their best and couldn't help that their best might suck. "From what I understand, they're kinda new." To ...everything. Including existing. It was all pretty weird.

"How long does a memory like this take to fade away?" She really hoped it was a short lived memory. The quicker she could move on from the crunchy embarrassment of the fall the better.

"I just hope I don't get sand everywhere in my apartment." She might not have minded things like paint or artistic supplies as a mess, but sand? Nope. That was a completely different story. And not just because she was a tiny bit miffed and didn't want to see the evil sand again. Maybe a bit because of that.

[bufubulous]

“Those who have spoken of them seem to indicate that most of their attempts at ‘help’ don’t tend to go well, so I believe I share that hope that they’re not.” Though one could hope they’d figure things out and get stuff right eventually, right? Surely with practice they would improve… Or so one would think. That said, what they were in charge of was more than a trivial thing. The complications and rules were probably just as unclear to them as it was to the rest of them, if what he’d been told were anything to go by. “Though, by that perhaps a stern letter about sand might do more harm than good if they attempt to do something about it.”

Could they make it worse? Probably not, but it was hard to not imagine it.

Yusuke offered a wry smile at that. “I believe that depends on how deeply we’ve been influenced by this particular disaster.” But he sure did hope it wasn’t long. This was not the kind of experience he would call useful for potential inspiration in the future. He’d rather move on from it as quickly as possible.

Wincing lightly, he realized Aerith made a good point. “Perhaps… Perhaps if we’re very careful as we move through our respective living spaces, we might minimize how much sand we track or drop along the way?” Not that people at the House of Solace weren’t already somewhat used to the fact that having Yusuke around usually meant some kind of mess. At least with artistic endeavors. Perhaps not sand…

No one could anticipate sand.

[cetrary]

"Yeah...that does seem to be how it goes. I think they have good intentions. Just...less than good execution." Inexperience will do that she supposed. It was hard to be mad at them, they seemed just as confused as everyone else. Her eyes widened and then she gave a nod. "True. On second though nix the letter!" Better safe than sorry. Sending something might just wind up with everything getting worse again.

"Very deeply. I dunno if I'll ever be able to fully get the sand out. Of both my memory and me." That was just a tiny exaggeration, she'd probably forget about the Sand Incident pretty quickly. The second part might not be an exaggeration though. It really did feel like it'd sunk it's coarseness into everything.

"I'm not sure we can be careful enough for too much of that. They really should have something set up outside to deal with sand if they're going to have a place like this appear!" Like ...showers around for before you leave the beach. That wasn't too much to ask for! "Hmm, Cloud snuck out once. I'll just have to channel that." Ignore that she knew and beat him to his location. She'd just channel the sneaky energy he must have had.

[bufubulous]

That was at least something to consider in their favor. They didn’t mean to make the messes they did. They seemed like they really were trying to do their job to the best of their ability, even if they needed that ability to improve. “I suppose we could hope that practice might help them improve, but…” He shook his head lightly. “I’m a little afraid of what that means until they do improve.” So, yes, he decided… “We’ll have to save the letter writing for when they’re a little better at fixing things, and deal with the sand ourselves for now.”

Dramatic or not, Yusuke couldn’t really find it in him to disagree as he tried to brush off his shirt. “I sincerely hope that’s not the case, otherwise we may simply need to make peace with the idea that it’s a part of our lives now. Sand always present, never far or forgotten.” He responded, a touch dramatic himself. He might have been joking, but he might have also been serious.

“That’s the spirit!” He responded as Aerith came to her conclusion about sneaking like Cloud. “If we creep very carefully once inside, we may not disturb too much of it and lose it in places that it should not be left.”

[cetrary]

"Yeah...I guess you're right." She seemed a bit disappointed by this conclusion, but better to save it for later rather than risking making everything worse. Besides, it was just sand. If anything it was kinda their own faults for falling. Though Aerith would insist she couldn't be blamed. It wasn't as though she'd ever been to a beach before! She couldn't be blamed for not really knowing how to walk on the sand. Plus, luckily for her, nobody but Cloud knew about her unfortunate near slip while on the rooftops. So, clearly, her sand problems were not her fault. She was very graceful.

"You make it sound like we'll be living in a tragic poem. I don't think I like that." They both needed to cool it on the dramatics at this point. Now she was just sulking because really it was starting to feel like they were in a tragedy. Mixed with just a tiny bit of comedy at their expense. She wasn't liking that at all.

"I guess...we'll just have to try and hope for the best." Hopefully their sneak skills would stay up there.

[bufubulous]

“If I could think of a different way to describe it, I would? But it seems fitting at this point.” He responded with a small shake of his head. They were stuck under an overhang after all, looking like wrecks while the rain poured down. It was most unsightly, though might make an interesting tragic (comedic) painting. He finally let out a small sigh, though. “I believe we might be encouraged to consider how it might be worse, though.” Yusuke did not just say that, did he? Of course he did… But at least it seemed that the universe wasn’t going to see that as a tempted fate, as the rain actually started to lighten finally.

“I suppose there’s not much more to be done about it than hope.” He mused, glancing up at the sky again as it seemed like it might be finally be running out of rain. “Hm… Is it just me or has this lightened somewhat?”

[cetrary]

"Boo!" She stuck her tongue out at him and then narrowed her eyes. "Do you want to list how it could be worse in poem form?" Wait, now that she'd spoken to the young man a few times she'd gotten to know him at least a bit. Which mean she was pretty sure he might actually just do that. "Don't! It'll just be asking the overhang to fall down on us or something." Which was the absolute last thing.

She leaned her head a bit to try to glance up at the sky. "Oh! I think it has! Maybe it's time for us to make a break for it?"

[bufubulous]

Yusuke opened his mouth with an expression of curiosity. So Aerith was right. It was best to stop him before he started in this instance, lest they invite more bad luck on their heads. Awkwardly closing his mouth again, he finally nodded in agreement. “You’re right, of course… Probably would be best to not tempt the fates further this day.”

At her agreement, he smiled slightly. “I believe if we’re going to try, it might be the best opportunity to!” The best opportunity to escape their sandy fates and perhaps put the whole mess behind them.

/end?

[cetrary]

"If I fall during the run, I'm blaming you for cursing it." She said with a little wink that made it uncertain whether she meant it or not.

"Well, here we go then! Good luck!" With that she started to sprint towards the buildings, giving him a little wave as a light trickle of rain continued to hit down on them.

Sure!

[bufubulous]

Yusuke looked a little startled at the suggestion. “If my bad luck has cursed you to fall again, I shall take the blame. Still, I hope that it doesn’t get you again!” he responded with a nod, before offering a small wave as he began to hurry on his way as well. “Good luck to you as well, Aerith!”

To freedom from sand!!!!

(End!)