🚤Completely normal beach episode – Chapter 2

Magus, having overslept her train to Waterfall, finds herself in Borderbeach instead. What antics will ensue?

Characters: Magus, Dove

Warnings: N/A

Wordcount: 1,195

Vibe: magus goes ahhh eto blehh (part 2)

THIS WAS WAY LONGER THAN I INTENDED ON IT BEING OOPS….. I JUST GOT TOO INTO IT…………….. YOU KNOW HOW IT IS

magus charisma stat is MAXED out

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“So…” Magus started, kicking her legs.

“Where are the, uh… critters that we’re meant to look for, anyways?”

It’d been ten minutes since the boat left the docks, maybe fifteen.

“They’ll show up,” Dove sighed.

“Eventually.”

She was sort of regretting her decision to let Magus tag along. She loved the energy and bravado that Magus had, yes… but it was slowly sinking in that Magus definitely wasn’t fit for what Dove was here to do.

A bluster of wind came by, and nearly blew Magus’s hat away for about the fifth time, so far. Still, Magus caught it, with reflexes rivaled by nothing else Dove knew of.

It was cute.

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to stash that inside the cabin?” Dove asked, stretching out her arms a bit as she focused her attention more actively on Magus than on the water’s horizon.

“I mean, I guess, probably… yeah, you’re right.” Magus replied with a chuckle.

She took her hat off, and ruffled her hair a bit – though it was already being blown through by the seemingly increasing levels of wind.

Gently, Dove gestured to grab the hat.

“Here, I can put it somewhere safe. Maybe you can use the chance to see if you spot anything, now that you’re not trying to wrangle your hat?”

“Oh, sure thing!”

Really, Dove didn’t want Magus to spot anything… especially knowing what she was out here looking for.

The winds were growing harsher, and the clouds above more dense. Surely, it meant they were close; but the fact that Magus was none the wiser left Dove on edge.

The captain of the boat lived in the ship, so while it was tidy, storage space was a bit hard to come by. Dove found herself shuffling around for longer than she’d like, and when she’d finally managed to squeeze the hat in an empty pocket…

“It’s kinda hard to see anything when the water is this dark… is it like, normally like this?”

Uh oh.

Dove rushed out of the cramped cabin as fast she she could, practically stumbling over herself – just in time to see the… figure rising up from the inky-black depths behind the boat.

It lacked form, seeming to be an almost amorphous entity – but it managed to have two clearly defined, glowing eyes that seemed to stare into the very soul.

Supergiant-class anomaly, Umibozu.

The winds became a howl, with the pattering of rain making itself more and more apparent.

Things were getting serious, and now Dove had to worry about Magus’s safety, alongside finishing her business here cleanly.

But…

Magus didn’t seem scared at all. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Are you SEEING this, Dove?! Geez, who knew this kind of crazy stuff lurked out here! I really gotta leave the house more often!”

Dove… was frozen in place. She didn’t quite want to… rain on the parade Magus was having, so to speak, but she also didn’t want her to get hurt. And right now, Magus was making herself a very enticing target for this sea monster.

But Dove’s train of thought was too slow to catch up to Magus.

The terrifying entity seemed to extend some kind of… arm towards Magus, and though it seemed like a clearly aggressive action, Magus was none the wiser.

“Oh man, do you think there’s like… laws here about feeding wildlife? The thing looks like it’s eyeing my saltwater taffy…”

It was at this point that Dove felt she was losing her composure.

“MAGUS!! That thing is dangerous, please, let me handle this! It’s for your safety!”

Despite both voices yelling in attempt to overpower the sound of howling wind and crashing waves, it seemed neither got through.

Dove watched, knowing she’d be unable to power through the strong wind and rain fast enough to tackle Magus down… she was helpless as the wannabe magician outstretched her arm, and opened her palm to reveal a few assorted pieces of saltwater taffy.

Of course, because the wind and rain were so harsh, the small candies quickly flew out of Magus’s hand.

But… the sea monster caught them.

Using the arm-like appendage it’d made for itself, Umibozu secured the candies and transferred them to its main blobby form – and the candies dissolved.

There was a pause, but…

It almost seemed that the raging storm the duo had found themselves in… became lighter.

As the winds and waves were no longer perilous, Magus found herself more able to step closer to the edge of the boat safely.

Digging into the bag of taffy she had been clutching, Magus grabbed some more to offer up.

“They’re pretty good, aren’t they? There’s plenty to share, don’t worry!”

This time, the monster was able to directly ‘grab’ the taffy out of Magus’s hand… and it did so in a gentle and cautious manner.

Magus’s smile widened, and she turned to Dove with the grin – while Dove looked completely and utterly flabbergasted.

The storm’s gale was almost nonexistent now, and while the water that made up the monster’s body was still entirely black, its gaze no longer felt oppressing. If anything, it was… fond now.

So, Dove watched on in complete shock – as Magus sat up on the edge rail of the ship, kicking her legs as she shared a snack with the monster. She seemed to be talking to it in a one-sided manner, but the situation had inadvertently caused Dove’s connection to reality to falter, so Magus’s words were muddled.

Suddenly, a glint brought Dove back down from space.

Its reflection shining brightly from the sunlight above, Umibozu handed it to Magus carefully, and seemed to wave goodbye… before receding into the depths below once more.

She was soaking wet from the rain, as was Dove, but Magus seemed quite pleased with herself as she presented the mirror.

“Check this out, Dove! It’s a pretty nifty gift compared to a bunch of taffy, huh?” Magus chuckled.

“I guess that guy’s got a lot of weird junk down there though, and it wouldn’t be as easy for ‘em to get taffy… things have different value for different people, I guess!”

“You… the…” Dove mumbled, failing to put both her shock and awe into words.

“I guess even if I don’t get out much… I was always taught that kindness despite it all is sometimes best.” Magus nodded.

“Well, I can only assume you were looking for this, yeah?”

Magus handed the mirror off to Dove, and upon examination, she was able to confirm that it was indeed the mirror she had been looking for.

“Magus, I… thank you.”

“Hey, it’s no problem! I had a feeling that we weren’t really going to be looking for sea life, knowing you, haha!”

…Oh.

“Well, the cat would’ve been out of the bag at some point anyways… I’m just amazed you managed to resolve this even cleaner than I had planned on doing so myself.” Dove said with a sigh.

“You should take me along for your weird supernatural stuff more often! I think we make an OK team, after all.”

“I’ll… think about it.” Dove nodded in reply.

“Let’s go home for now.”

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