Dragon Lagoon Beach

[Apollymi]

Dragon Lagoon Beach is a hotbed of activity as far as the locals are concerned. The area is full of mana and has beaches which flow with riptides and numerous water falls that lead down into the depths. The water levels seem to rise and fall of their own accord but no one seems to mind this very much. The waters here are said to have a mysterious healing property and there are several different legends surrounding mermaids and healing dragons around the area.

[Bloodedge]

Roughly one day of travel from the Filolial farm in the Grasslands, a group of four Adventurers relatively new to this world approached the beach called Dragon Lagoon. Kou led the way, while Karna made the interesting decision of walking to the side of Miki, who held the Filolial egg they intended to hatch here. In what could be considered more his normal fashion, he began speaking to the blonde. "So, Oujo-san~! What's it like finally being a mommy? Dad hasn't been talking much; maybe you didn't listen when he suggested the abortion!?" Again, this was Karna's approach when dealing with Miki and Kou. There was method to his madness, but in addition to that simple matter... he found this approach quite fun.

[Apollymi]

A day of travel later and Miki was walking along pillow at her back, still carrying the Filolial egg. She didn't really think much about this, and was content to do this regardless of everything else. That being said early as they walked she found Karna at her side and he was full of quips which quite frankly annoyed her to no end. She cut her eyes in the lad's direction and put on the biggest and most obvious fake smile of the century. "So great of you to ask. Totally the best thing that ever happened to me. Nothing to worry about, it was totally his idea and everything, I'm sure he's just quietly shocked!~" there was so much sarcasm in her statement that she could have choked on it, and just as easily as that fake smile had come to her face it fell away leaving her normal soured expression. 'Why is he so annoying? If he wanted to talk fine... but why about something he obviously doesn't care too much about?' the girl wondered to herself. Karna was a bit of a hard read for her, he truly came off as something of a troll and nothing she wanted to constantly deal with, though she had no problems with him directly. She sighed in this moment, knowing she was just in a bit of a mood, thought it wasn't necessarily unpleasant for her, she was just generally more annoyed than normal. "Whew, is there something I can help you with Karna?" she asked of the white haired lad, figuring he wouldn't simply waste his time to chat with her, just because he could.

[Bloodedge]

Miki's sarcastic smile was met by one of Karna's own. He continued wearing his long after Miki's faded away, and there was a certain air of mischief about his in the long-run. "Of course, of course! Who wouldn't be? You two haven't even gotten down to business yet, but now there's all this responsibility of parenthood on your plates! How is it alright to skip the fun part, right? Whatever, I'm sure you'll handle that soon!" he said. When Miki sighed and asked if there was something she could help him with, he was already prepared to respond while staring directly into the blonde's face. "Of course there isn't. You know me, just being a good friend, checking up on you... having a chat about something I care so much about~"

[Apollymi]

After her smile faded, it seemed that Karna's was still in full swing. She didn't know what about being annoying always put him in such a good humor, but she was beginning to wonder if such things were good for her own health considering. Moreover the words of the lad seemed to be aimed at the idea he had of the imagined extra relationship between herself and Kou. She cut her eyes at him again and sighed. "It's a chicken. Fun is relative. You're annoying." Her comeback of three concise sentences was far from witty and implied a tiredness which couldn't be faked. Regardless of this, more words from Karna who claimed to be chatting it up because he cared so much. She knew for a fact he didn't care very much about their excursion into Filolial breeding, he'd made that pretty obvious the day before, though he'd been quite chummy with Hikari since then so she figured he'd be less annoying. Apparently she was wrong in this thought, but maybe there would be some way to make up for it in time. She had nothing of substance to offer this shot at conversation, and she knew this lad probably actually thought himself a 'good friend' while being so annoying so she didn't bother trying to dissuade him from his actions, figuring nothing good would come from it. "Uh-huh, well if it makes you happy..." the girl shrugged her shoulders keeping a firm grip of her precious cargo of choice.

[Bloodedge]

"It's a baby. Fun is fun. You're a virgin mother," was Karna's retort. While he hadn't expected to hop any metaphorical fences with this approach, the responses he got from Miki were less than acceptable for the end goal. As such, he heaved a great sigh and skipped out ahead of the girl with the egg in tow. "Yare yare~ Oujo-san's so boooring! Hey Friend, don't you think--" Karna had been making his approach toward Kou, but the moment he began speaking with the lad, Kou turned around. His gaze met Karna, and while there was nothing inherently malicious about said gaze, Karna was taken aback the moment eye contact was made. Something about this look, or some applied power within it, had brought Karna to silence and stillness immediately. He was quite confused by this occurrence, while Kou moved on by ignoring Karna and continuing toward the shore... where he immediately began taking in the rather stunning view of an incredible arcing waterfall surrounding the largest lake-like clearing of water he'd ever seen. "Sugoi..." the lad muttered under his breath.

[Apollymi]

There was a mention of three important facts by Karna, about the current nature of Miki's existence. Whether she cared or not about them would go unknown because to be perfectly honest, she was done talking to the lad anyways. He went on to claim that given her previous responses she was boring and was apparently content to go and pester Kou. But... that didn't exactly turn into an actual bit of pestering. Instead Kou simply looked at the lad, and he backed off for some reason or another... maybe later Miki would have to ask how he managed that because she needed such a skill to survive the constant pestering of Karna. Soon enough though she caught up to the group as Kou had a look around the Dragon Lagoon Beach. Miki herself visited this place often in game, but there were quite a few reasons for that. "Sugoi! It's even better in person!~" Miki chimed. She'd visited this beach a lot and while she enjoyed the views in game, she found them even more breath-taking in person. She stood beside Kou with the giddiness of the moment returning to her person. "What do you think, will it make a good spot?" she asked as far as she was concerned she could live here, but for the purposes of raising their Egg and being a relaxing place for the group as a whole to hang out for a while, that was still up to them.

Hikari was making her way up to the pair wondering why both of them were still so stiff. Even so, she had to admit that this place was absolutely stunning. This had come up as a place offered by Miki for potential raising of the egg, but it actually looked like a nice romantic vacation spot to her. 'Hm, I wonder if this is one of those moments of open availability she presents. This is a nice beach, just raising a Filolial here seems like a bit of an understated use...' the girl thought to herself. She'd never made it out to this side of the country though and even her own mind started to wonder about the beaches and the potential fun to be had here.

[Bloodedge]

Kou had never been to this location in the video game version of this world, but even he had to agree that no game could do justice to such a place as this. Furthermore, as he looked out at the water and saw the various, seemingly randomly-generated riptides not very far from the shore, he gathered that it was just as amazing as the Filolial's birthplace. He even thought he would be made better by traversing the sands of the shore, the thickets of grass farther out, and the waters in front of them. "Yeah... There's no doubt, this is a great spot..." he said.

Karna was privy to the thoughts had by Hikari. Indeed, this place would be completely wasted as just a training grounds for some chicken pet. Whether Miki had ulterior motives with this suggestion or not, there was much use to be had. He moved a little closer to Hikari, if only to be sure the words he shared were received only by her. "Sounds to me like it's bikini season. But, that should probably be your idea~"

[Apollymi]

Miki waited on the verdict about her favorite in game spot as she took in the view, and soon enough, it was mentioned that it was a great spot by Kou himself. A large grin spread across the girl's face, and unlike her earlier sarcastic smile, it was quite genuine. "Hai!" she managed finally seeming pleased after the last day's awkwardness. In this place, she always felt pretty relaxed and as such she was more than ready to settle into some more relaxed things for the next couple of days.

Strangely, more words were being spoken between Karna and Hikari. He mentioned that it seemed like bikini season and that the idea should be hers. She thought about this for a second or two and smiled. "Hai, Dick-sensei. Taking one for the team and mentioning the need for swimwear because you've already annoyed them today and they won't take the advice from you. Got it!~" she mentioned in a hushed whisper. Soon after this she gave a small salute and bounded up beside the pair, taking it in stride and opening the conversation. "Oooh, Nii-san... you didn't say the beach would be so nice!~ Excellent spot, Miki-nee!~" the girl said with a gleeful smile and a delightful hint of deviousness. "Shame on you, Nii-san, I wanna go swimming and play while you two train your chicken. I don't have a swimsuit though, and won't you two need them too... for ya' know all of your training and stuff?" she asked, as if she wanted something while also making it sound like a good idea for the pair of them as well. Upon hearing this Miki nodded her head realizing she did need a bikini for the duration of her stay here maybe a few given her own personality.

[Bloodedge]

As Kou appreciated the view of this beach, Hikari approached and presented the notion of swimsuits. He looked at the girl curiously, considering her opening in this conversation, but nothing seemed too odd to him. Not only did she note wanting to go swimming, but she mentioned the usefulness of swimsuits for his and Miki's training of the Filolial. "Ah... yeah, that'd be pretty useful. We've got a lot of money, so I don't think there's any harm in it." With that, he looked away from the waters, viewing instead the path they'd taken to get here. "Actually, I think there were a few shops on the path, not too far from here. One of them was only a few minutes away."

[Apollymi]

Hikari's suggestion seemed to be taken with no malice by her brother and came with agreement from Miki. When he mentioned the shop which was pretty close to them only a few minutes back her eyes widened. "Hai, I love that shop. In-game the lady there made all kinds of custom clothing items... I spent way too much time picking through her supplies... totally worth it though," said Miki as she looked to Hikari. "You'll probably love it, she's totally into coming up with aesthetics for cute little girls!~ It'll be awesome!~" finished the lass as she turned about to head back towards the shop she'd taken notice of at the start but had avoided suggesting for reasons known only to her. Hikari's eyes widened, it appeared her soft suggestion was more than enough to get them on a new path. "Sugoi! You know all about this part huh? I can trust a girl's fashion opinion. You get to lead the way and help me pick something cute!" Hikari claimed with a bit of forcefulness in those eyes of hers. Miki looked at the lass and chuckled. "Hai hai, you help me pick out something pretty cute too, then it will be fair!~" she offered the young raccoon girl's eyes lit up in the moment as if she'd been given the world. "HAI!~" And with that she fell in step with Miki to walk along with her waving back to her brother. "Come on Nii-san, we're going shopping!~" she mentioned as she turned back around she gave the most discreet of winks to Karna and carried on in her merry little way.

A short trip later would lead to the pair entering a little shop off the road. Inside was a woman in a striped shirt with needles and pins sticking out of her hair which was long, straight and dark green in color. The light from the sun glinted off of large round frame glasses and her tiny face looked up at the entry of the new ones. "KAWAII!! A cute blonde with a great figure and.... a demi-human raccoon girl, just as cute as a button! It must be my lucky day!!" she exclaimed as she immediately approached the girl's with undo fascination, and a tape measure having both of their measurements as they walked around the shop. There were all kinds of things here. Swim trunks, capes, jackets, tops, blankets and bikinis, but for these girls she had something special in mind custom fit items for their beach trip. Everything here was for sale and surprisingly this was one of the few places which had the standard NPC in it... "Take it you two are planning to spend time at the beach?" she asked of them. "Yeah us and the other two..." she mentioned to draw attention to the males if they'd managed to catch up.

[Bloodedge]

A brief exchange took place between Miki and Hikari about the shop, which the group would apparently be going to for the sake of gaining swimwear. The pair of girls were quick to get a move on, with Hikari beckoning for Kou to come along as well. "H-hai..." he said, only slightly weirded out by the amount of excitement shared between these two girls about swimsuit shopping. However, he was always happy to see his sister enjoying herself, so he walked along behind them without any issues. Karna, on the other hand, turned away from the group and waved his hand around in the air. He apparently had nothing to gain from making the trip.

Only a few minutes later, Miki and Hikari were entering the shop, and interacting with an apparent seamstress who boasted a lot of... personality. Kou was several paces behind, though he walked in alone shortly after Miki gestured toward the entrance to draw attention his way. "Uhh... Other one. Karna stayed back," he mentioned, rubbing the back of his head.

[Apollymi]

By the time they reached the shop and were being measured, Kou showed up behind them to mention that they'd apparently lost a member of their party for this little shopping trip. Miki turned and noted that Karna wasn't there and shrugged it off, knowing the lad would turn up at the most inopportune moment to do something she'd find annoying. "Alright then, the other one... I guess~" said Miki without missing beat. The lass in the glasses looked Kou up and down, and though she didn't enjoy making clothes for men, she'd be the first to admit he was rather pretty. "This man is pretty as well!! I won't design you anything special, but feel free to take a 10 percent discount on any of the swimwear you require sir!~" mentioned the lady as she looked over both Miki and Hikari trying to decide how to dress them. "And you two what do you like to wear, I want to come up with looks for you both, something that screams 'You' at the beach..." she mentioned having some kind of note of the type of things this pair was already wearing and drawing ideas. "Isn't she great? I loved this place so much before!~" Miki mentioned to Kou and Hikari. Hikari nodded her agreement her little ears twitching. "Hm, I don't know what would look cute for me... but I have an idea!" she said about the kinds of things she liked or disliked and to Miki and the seamstress. "You can take your ideas for my swimsuit from her... and I'll give you my ideas about a swimsuit for her. And then you make them the way you want and we'll try them on... that sounds like the best right?!" she offered. Miki looked at the lass for a few seconds hanging on to the egg and keeping it close. "Hm, that doesn't really sound like a bad idea. I'll tell her what I want for you... and you tell her what you want for me. And then we can try them on and show each other. I only have one other thing I need. A cover for outside of the water... I don't want to sunburn or anything... and I'm pretty pale now. You can design that to match however you like..." she mentioned to the seamstress.

The seamstress looked wide eyed at the pair. This idea they had was so novel she could do nothing but agree. "I love this. Friends sharing responsibility for looking nice. And giving me a wide bit of freedom with design. Come on then, I'll take your opinions separately and then I'll get to work alright?" she said to both of them. Miki went first to give the lady some ideas for the kind of thing that the lass would likely look good in. Complete with instructions about proper coverage due to her age. In the meantime, Hikari took a moment to talk to her brother. "Ya' know Nii-san, I know the kind of things ya' like looking at, I got your back~" the girl teased her brother mercilessly. "Alternatively, you could go back to being an excited nerd and not giving your partner the cold shoulder. Just saying... you are not doing a good job of increasing my chances to have access to an awesome Nee-san...~" she whispered.

[Bloodedge]

Upon entering the shop, Kou was greeted by the seamstress appraising his appearance. In spite of her positive review, she offered no amount of personalization to whatever he bought, bringing up only a small discount to items of his choice. 'Well... that's a bummer,' he thought, though this was nothing new. "Eto... yeah, alright. Thanks," he spoke casually, deciding it was probably best that he simply have a look around the existing wares. In the meantime, Miki and Hikari continued conversing with the seamstress, until they reached a consensus that left Hikari behind in the aftermath, placing her next to Kou of her own volition. It seemed she had things to say, though her opening statement was odder than he would have preferred. "Ugh! Do you enjoy being this weird around other girls?" he asked. There was more to come from Hikari, involving Kou's apparent coldness toward Miki, and how it ruined her chances of having an 'awesome sister' as it were. Once again, Kou was in shock by the nerve Hikari had to say such a thing. "Eh!? I'm not giving anyone the cold anything, and you definitely can't just go around assigning people to my life like that!"

[Apollymi]

As time progressed Miki stayed talking to the seamstress, after the full conversation about her ideas about what Hikari would look nice in and the drawings offered made her smile, she looked at them and nodded. "Hai hai, just like that... and," Miki looked up and found the brother and sister pair in deep conversation for a second or two longer than she'd needed but to give them space for their conversation and do something she thought would be nice. "You said you wouldn't design anything special for him, but... if I gave most of the input for that would you make the pieces I think he'd like too?" she asked of the seamstress. The woman looked at the girl's face and then back at the boy and then back at her, egg in her arms and had a thought. A small smile came to her face as the glasses on the tip of her nose shined with light. "Well, I suppose I could do something like that... what kind of thing did you have in mind." she asked pulling out a male body sketch and beginning to draw a basic outfit for it, which Miki immediately went about making the kind of adjustments in color and design she thought the lad might enjoy.

In the meantime, Kou and Hikari were having a sibling related conversation which made the small raccoon girl chuckle at his response. "Eh? Other girls don't think I am weird. They think I am an adoring younger sister, doing her best for her idiot big brother. Very common knowledge..." she said her tone still as light-hearted as it always was but she looked at her brother with intensity. Moving right along, he claimed he hadn't been cold at all to anyone and that she couldn't just assign anyone to his life. As she walked around she looked at him with a raised brow. "Uh-huh, well that look you gave Karna-san earlier could have murdered someone... and you haven't said more than three sentences to your partner at a time since yesterday. After all that built up excitement you two had about your egg. So... cold. Lie to someone who can't see what you're doing..." she said with a firm nod of her child sized head. As she turned she looked him dead in the eye with those large pinkish irises of hers shining in the light. "Nii-san, this isn't about me at all, I told ya' I wanted to help take care of you too. You're sabotaging yourself and I don't know why..." she said and she held up a finger. "And before you say anything, yesterday at the farm you definitely could have just sat with her. She left ya enough space... and you both looked so out of sorts for like the whole day. I don't know her well enough to force the issue yet. But... I know you." she said with a sigh. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to... but I'm not a dumb kid anymore. I just want you to trust me with stuff a little." the raccoon girl said a bit forcefully.