thespherelogs | August Mingle Log

Entry tags:

August Mingle Log

Who: Everyone
What: The open August log.
When: The month of August.
Where: All over.
Notes: Fireflies.

August Open Log

innnnnnnn summer

So, someone seems to have gotten the idea that summer has kicked into high gear. Or at least it would if there were seasons here other than the artificial ones. So the party this month definitely has a large summer bent to it! Instead of the main party being held in the merchant dome, which has another purpose right now, the party is being held in the Rec dome. More than that, it’s being held around the swimming area. The swimming area consists of three pools and smaller communal bathing areas. The large pool is Olympic sized, and is a sparkling blue. It’s fresh water, and probably clean enough to drink. I still wouldn’t drink it. The second pool is slightly smaller and more kidney shaped with a gradual sand mound at one end of it. This pool is salt water and looks a bit more like a beach than a pool.For those who are missing the actual sea, the pool is a wave one, the highest wave cresting at about four feet. The third pool is a kiddie pool, complete with a splash pad, that’s running. Buckets drop, it’s got one of those mushroom things, and sprinkler jets.

Set up between the pools is a brightly colored tent, and there’s massive grills going behind it. These are definitely the sort of grills that one uses to feed the sort of crowds that would be at old timey Church socials. Every sort of meat is being grilled or smoked on them that you can imagine, right down to an entire suckling pig on one end. Veggies and corn and potatoes in foil are at various stations, and locals are pleased to hand you some of whatever you want before directing you to the cold salads stations or to the long picnic tables covered in red and white checked tablecloths.

On a different long table is beverages of every sort: wine, beer, sangria, sweet tea, lemonade from ice-cold carafes. They’re being served in red solo cups, going along with the theme of this being a picnic. Strangely enough, there doesn’t seem to be any desserts anywhere. You’re gonna need to go elsewhere for that!

For those who didn’t bring a bathing suit or a towel (or a cover up if you’re feeling modest) they will be provided in the changing rooms along with flip-flops. The changing rooms also have volleyballs for the volleyball net, and an assortment of sand toys and beach balls for people to play with. There’s also various local bands playing music, and a temporary dance floor for people to jam on.

Additionally, the baths are still present! There’s a large bamboo building near it, and inside are various sets of hot and cool pools, sauna and steam pools, a masseuse and other spa treatments and the like. There are three options for these times. 1.Strictly bathing suits, 2, strictly mixed nudity/ bathing suits and 3. Strictly separated nudity. No one below the age of eighteen is getting naked in the baths, sorry kids.

ten million fireflies, i'm weird cause i hate goodbyes.

Someone, somewhere during the movie night said that they missed nature, so the Sphere has provided. As the “sun” in the rec dome starts to “set” people will notice something odd. Small, fluorescent bugs appear seemingly out of nowhere. It’s just one or two at first, but then they almost seem to fill the sky, creating an internal galaxy. The bugs are entirely harmless, and will land eagerly almost in cupped hands, and form crowns in people’s hair. They’re listless and practically tame, but will only be here for the night, so enjoy them before they disappear in the morning.

oh so the cake is not in fact a lie

Several weeks ago now, Carol and Alex got started talking about desserts and baking. Alex, being candian mentioned that the one thing other than coffee that she can cook is Nanaimo bars which are a no bake dessert. Carol ran with the idea and the two of them went to Max with the idea of having a no bake no sale. So, they opened it up and main street too is set with those red and white table cloths and picnic tables, and are strewn with lights and there are many many no bake desserts set out. Basically anything you can imagine is there, from Alex’s Nanaimo bars and Carol’s Chocolate drop cookies, to any varieties of cheesecake, mousse, tiramisu, pudding, rice krispy squares and so on. There’s also more beverages of every variety here in those red solo cups.

For those more health-conscious there’s also a variety of fruits and cheeses around. There’s also more music and a variety of card games. Of course betting is surely optional but no one’s really looking all that hard are they?

exploration: teeth and bones. (yes again)

After what had happened, there really is no putting back the seals on the doors to the places that were opened up, even though the council has tried with some of them. There are some doors that are deemed too dangerous to let anyone go inside of (lava and ghosts are not good things to let loose inside the Sphere, no matter how fun it would be at the time) but the door in the infirmary (in the morgue) needs to be open for practical purposes. Which may not be great for people who work in the infirmary, but there it is.

Once people drop through a hatched hole in the floor of the morgue, there’s tunnels extended out for several hundred yards, into the dark. If you have a flashlight, it’s clear to see that here and there the walls are etched with Latin, carved into the stone of the tunnels themselves in what looks more than a little bit like scratches rather than anything that resembles tool marks. The words are repeated at first, over and over: ”cave veniunt!" And "ossa et dentibus illius ruminandum!" Along with the repeated: “cave.”

The skeletons inside are supposed to have been all taken care of, but you can’t help the uneasy feeling that moves down your neck in the darkness, or the way that you can swear you can hear more than a little bit of a hiss of bone. There are things discarded here on the floor of the hallway, gathering more value with the deeper that you go, but is it worth being down here in the dark with the dead for that?

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If she does end up with things going weird, well, Tommy could help her. He smiles and moves easily ~~seemingly~~ through the water and is out of it quickly. And soon he's back, with an inflatable pool ball. And he smiles as he jumps back into the water, splashing in.

"So, you wanna stay in the shallows, okay?"

And then he's bouncing a ball toward Enis. Come on, enjoy the fun.

Enis watched him grab the inflatable pool ball before jumping back into the water. His motions were faster than hers and seemingly graceful. It was odd but it was really difficult to move through the water. Logically, she understood but its different than how she had imagined it.

"Okay."

She watched the ball and then hit it with the heel of her palm. Enis might not be great at water games but she had a wicked amazing aim and was able to factor in her movements and hit the ball exactly where she wanted it to go.

For the moment, that was directly back at Tommy.

Now the accuracy was definitely impressive to Tommy. Of course he can't exactly be caught off guard enough for it to hit him in the face, but he laughs and hits the ball back at her.

"Pretty good, Enis. You're doing great!"

"Don't sound so condescending." She replied back in a tone that suggested that she was only teasing him.

Enis hit the ball back and once again she did it with startling accuracy. She couldn't do many things very well but she'd always been skill at hitting her target. It was one of the reasons that she enjoyed using guns, though she hadn't had access to a gun since arriving in the this weird place.

"How long do we do this for?" Did the game have an end or were they locked in a battle of effort because that would last a long time before Enis inevitably lost.

Wow, he's even being genuine here. He's so hurt. How dare? But he's grinning.

"I mean, normally you have a number of points you go to, based on rules. But between my speed and your accuracy," he hits the ball back, grinning, "I think we'd be at a deadlock."

"Then how should end our game?" She wasn't sure if it could really be called a game but it had to have some kind of natural end to it.

"Or when we get bored of hitting this back and forth?" Enis was secretly having fun...

"I mean, if you get bored, you can just concede that I'm better."

When he next hits it back, he definitely aims wide, clearly intending to make her miss.

"We can also stop if you get hungry. Or thirsty. Or whatever. I'm flexible."

Enis didn't answer him right away because she was trying to move through the water to reach the ball. She wasn't going to make it and the moment she realized that she jumped, hit the ball with her palm and splashed face first into the water.

Her hit was fantastic but it was not at all graceful and when she came up she was coughing and would miss whatever he hit back towards her.

Nah, mad respect kept Tommy from hitting the ball back. That and concern. Hadn’t she said she couldn’t swim? Tommy immediately starts swimming toward her, reaching Enis just as she came back up.

“You okay?”

It took her a moment to speak and reorient her senses. There was something about water that made it difficult for even her computer systems to know what direction was up and which one was down.

She pushed the water out of her eyes and then finally spoke. "I'm fine." It'd been a jarring first experience under water but not entirely unpleasant... mostly surprising. "I didn't hold my breath in time." She coughed again and then pushed her hair back into a slick greaser look behind her head.

"Does this mean I lost?"

"Normally it means I won a point," Tommy corrects, but he is more focused on reaching out, hands on her shoulders, stabilizing. Poor thing, the whole inhaling water sucks. "You okay?"

Why did he do this? This was a bad idea, she could get hurt. Though... the swimsuit clings to her well.

Enis rolled her eyes as she finally finished clearing her throat of pool water. "You didn't hit the ball back." She countered in a logical manner. "And yeah, I'm okay. It's my understanding that things like this happen a lot?"

Who doesn't swallow pool water?

Her lips twitched into a small smirk when she saw him glance over her swimsuit. "Were you worried about me?" Enis sounds like she's about to tease him.

It does. It happens enough. Tommy relaxes to see her okay, and definitely to see the smirk.

"Yeah, I was. You were worried about the water. And you can't swim. I don't want you drowning on my watch. Imagine how bad it would be, being brought up in front of the Council because I didn't save you."

Enis shook her head, "I am not going to drown in three feet of water." That would be more than a little embarrassing and Enis had a feeling that the programing hidden deep within the chip wouldn't let her drown. Even so, it wasn't a theory that Enis was comfortable testing with so many innocent people around her. She liked to pretend that she was aloof but she cared and it sucked.

"I will write you a note just in case that happens. So you can't be blamed." Enis had said something similar to Ultron and she meant it. She really didn't care if she died be it an accident or something else.

"Yeah, well maybe I just don't want you leaving my august presence," Tommy counters. Because she's a friend. He's got few enough of those here. He's got family, and he's got two friends. Enis and Bev, they're what he has, and he's not losing half of that.

For a moment there might be a little bit of pout on his lips. Only a moment. It's gone just as fast as anything that isn't his forced smile.

Enis snorted and splashed him. She didn't actually expect the wave of water to hit him in the face but she was hopeful. He was close enough that Enis had a pretty good chance of getting him.

It was oddly uncomfortable talking about her plans to kill herself around people who might maybe care about her a little bit... Enis hadn't figured out why that was yet. She was still getting used to hanging around people.

"Let's do something else. I think I've almost drowned enough for one day."

Well that's something he's cool with. Tommy grins and heads for the edge of the pool to haul himself out.

"I'm thinking dancing. You ever do dancing before? Or if you're done with beach fun, best to get cleaned up, head to the baths and all."

"Dancing?" He really liked things that involved coordination. "I don't know how to dance. Unless you're talking about rubbing up against each other. I do know how to do that." Enis slowly wadded to the edge of the pool and then lifted herself up and out of the water.

Drops of water glided down her slender pale figure while smaller beads of water gathered in her eye lashes. She thought about drying off first but if they were going to be nearby she didn't see the point.

"You'll have to teach me anything else."

"Well, I'm very good at dancing so I'll treat you right," Tommy promises with a grin. "And no, you don't gotta bump and grind, you can just dance. I'll help you, because I'm good at that too.."

His eyes, though, are entirely focused on Enis's body. Especially that water. Beautiful on her skin. Skin that hasn't even burned a little. Yeah, he did a good job.

Edited 2019-08-28 00:29 (UTC)

She wondered what 'just dancing' entailed but thought it might be best to find out by actually going through with the activity.

Enis lingered for a moment, making sure that Tommy had a good look before stowing her bag of pool stuffs beneath the chair she'd first been sitting on. "I'm ready to start dancing. I take it we need to get closer to the music?"

She heard some people playing which meant their might be a dancing floor somewhere.

Well it wasn't like they were going to dance away from the music. He waits for her to finish packing then moves to her side and smiles before holding out his hand.

"Come with me, and I'll show you. I'm more than willing to open your eyes to a lot of things."

Enis took his hand and stepped towards him with a warm smile.

"Is that so?" Her voice was warm and she was relaxed. They'd spent a fair amount of time together and she found that Tommy disarmed her in a way that she wasn't used too. It was nice. "I am looking forward to it."

She stepped a little too close than was necessary, amusement dancing in her vibrant blue eyes. "So dancing?"

"Dancing," he agrees, pulling her into his arms and then in a blink they're over at the temporary dance floor, music all around and louder than over by the pools, and he's left smiling at her. "Can't dance without a little bit of beat to work to."

He does let her go, but he doesn't move very far away from her before he starts moving to the beat. A bit of a goof, but clearly the guy just genuinely enjoys the music and moving to it.

Enis inhaled and then exhaled, closing her eyes just as they flashed away. This wasn't the first time he'd carried her like this and it was easier this time. She smiled a little, feeling a jolt of pride at her control.

"I couldn't agree more." She knew nothing about dancing but Enis loved music. She tried to let the beat fill her, like when she was mixing her own songs but her movements were lighter than his. Her hips swayed in an alluring back and forth while her arms lifted subtle at her sides. Her wrists and fingers moved to the music but Enis didn't realize she was doing it until a few seconds after the gestures began.

The music was moving her and it at least wasn't super awkward.

She's definitely a better dancer than he is, and Tommy is pleased just to keep moving. Clearly he is the sort of guy who doesn't care about form, and just cares about the way his body gets to move. But when he sees her, he grins.

"You've got moves. Should take you dancing more."

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