⇨ SHINIES

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone who wants to pick on Tamatoa.
When: Day 45 onward.
Where: In and around Tamatoa's lair.
What: People getting up into Tamatoa's grill for some reason or another. Anybody is welcome to participate, but please communicate with the mods first so that we can discuss how to set up the thread and what your characters are attempting. Tamatoa may attack people outside of his lair, too, but you'll need some kind of narrative hook to prevent him from just eating you if you want to engage him that way.
Warnings: Crab related violence.

TAMATOA'S LAIR↴ Tamatoa lives in a giant clam shell, inside of a mysterious cave that lies about a half hour's swim away from the city. This is also where he keeps most of his loot - either stashed somewhere in the lair or (mostly) sitting on the back of his shell. He hangs out in this cave most of the time he isn't stomping around looking for sunken ships. Tamatoa is gigantic. In fact, he's even a bit more gigantic than he appeared in the movie Moana - and those combating him will find that he also seems to be somewhat resistant to magical affects. A human is the relative size of a pen cap in his claws, and he could crush a normal person will trivial effort. He could also pretty easily toss them into his giant mouth - which he usually will, given the opportunity. Facing Tamatoa could come with great reward, but with equally high risk.

Comments

[semi-closed]

[fragileandsoft]

"Whoa-oh, it's me and you down in the blue
Where the coral and the kelp all grow and sway
Sun's kept at bay above the waves
But the tides'll guide us to a brighter day"

Having a car isn't wholly practical in the ocean, what with there being no roads and the option to swim anywhere without gravity tying you to the ocean floor. But things don't have to be practical to be fun. Driving along the sand could lead to seeing a lot of neat things you might miss swimming up above.

Mostly though, Greg just wants to enjoy a nice drive with his friends, and he doesn't need much more excuse than that. He glances away from the road (well, lack thereof) ahead, and shoots a grin at his passengers.

"Sing along if you want, guys!" By which he means make something up, because he sure is.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst turns herself into a guitar. The hole is her mouth, which probably affects the sound in some capacity, but whatever!! Who wants to jam one out, guys

[starseedling]

"Whoa-oh," Steven chimes right in, mimicking Greg's tune and going along with Amethyst's notes.

"It's you and me down in the sea!
Where fishes swim and mermaids play
Wait - do you see those ocean caves?
Do you think we should go that-a-way?"

The last part is sort of half sung, as Steven has become distracted with the side of some cavern-esque structures off in the near distance. He pops up to the windshield, his many lion fish fins unfortunately getting in the way of anyone in the back who may be trying to look.

The van being full of water just kind of means you can float all over, since using the seat belts is sort of weird.

[mirrortide]

Lapis is, unlike the rest of them, smart about where she is. She can't lay on her back on the roof of the van, but she can sit over the side of it and hang on? Either way, she's not getting involved with the whole singing thing. She'll enjoy it and the currents, but she's not adding her voice to the mix.

Sorry nerds, it's not Lapis' song episode yet.

Besides, it's... surprisingly nice to enjoy being underwater without being chained down in a fusion. Who would have thought?

[periphrasing]

Peridot will pick up that beat.

Or... Well. She's not going to sing this time, but she will contribute by wrapping her new chainmail bikini top -- a priceless treasure which she found while she was out scavenging wrecks a few days back -- around her hand, and start to rattle it in time with that song.

[fragileandsoft]

They've got a full musical entourage!

"Why not, sure! Our band's on tour
Let's take our riff all through the reef
And find out what's in store!"

The van's headlights flicker on as Greg drives over towards the caverns Steven pointed out. Small fish flit curiously around the car, drawn by the light and noise.

[npcarnival]

When they are about half way to the ridge of ocean caves, an enormous, shimmering figure will lumber into sight. It's a giant crab, in the process of scuttling up onto the top of the hill - only to spot the van driving in the distance with an exaggerated movement of surprise. It's two stalk eyes narrow.

Only a few moments later, it's clamoring in the van's direction, small bits of gold falling off of its shell in its hurry. It isn't hard to put together. Based on all the descriptions from the merfolk...

Yep. This is definitely Tamatoa.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Whoah," says Amethyst, abruptly ceasing to be a guitar and filling this space of the van with a sudden profusion of tentacles and hair. She leans forward past the passenger seat to try to get a better look.

"Is that... the crab guy?" She squints. "What the heck's he want? Isn't he s'posed to be into, like, shiny stuff? No offence, Greg, but your van is kinda..."

[starseedling]

Steven immediately pulls back from the windshield, looking startled. He casts a side eye to his dad with a clear expression of 'oh no, do not want.'

"Uhh..." he starts, uncertainly, his voice quavering a little. "Maybe we should turn around..."

AND DRIVE REALLY FAST.

[mirrortide]

Why does this always happen whenever Lapis is starting to finally relax--

She looks between the giant enemy crab and the van. "I definitely think he's coming this way and that we should get out of here." Also Lapis can't actually tell if she wants to get into the van with everyone else or stay outside of it in case a quick retreat needs to be made.

[periphrasing]

"EW!" is Peridot's only contribution. She sounds genuinely offended? She's staring out the window at the rapidly approaching crab and just. Wincing. SHE DOESN'T LIKE IT.

[fragileandsoft]

"OooouhhhhhiiiiI'll take it as a compliment!" Greg's voice hits an awkward pitch as he cranks hard on the wheel--hoping Lapis is holding on--and hits the gas. He heard plenty enough about Tamatoa at Triton's castle, and he has no interest in tempting fate there.

[npcarnival]

Unfortunately, their lack of momentum in the opposite direction has Tamatoa catching up extremely quickly. Have I mentioned that he is extremely massive? As he gets close to the van that fact becomes more and more obvious, until his striding legs are pretty much right over to of the van, caging it in for fear of one of his legs accidentally stabbing it through the middle when hitting the ground.

Meanwhile, Tamatoa is trying to reach beneath himself with his claws to crab the van like someone trying to gather papers that are blowing in the wind.

"And what's this?!" he coos to himself, apparently not considering that the van is already filled with people, quite yet. He didn't really get a close look at Lapis yet, because he's frankly quite distracted. "Some kind of metallic contraption - ? Hey, you stop that. Stop spinning around this instant."

A claw plunges into the sand in front of the van.

[starseedling]

Steven screams, and abruptly envelopes the entire van in a large pink bubble. He doesn't even think about it really, sometimes bubbles just need to happen.

"AAHHHHHH-"

[mirrortide]

Greg cranks the wheel and floors it, and Lapis grips the roof as hard as she can to keep from falling off. Which is a near miss, by the way. This is why you keep your arms and body inside the ride at all times.

Also, Stevens' bubble is pretty great at making sure that Lapis is just as trapped underneath the giant crab as the rest of them.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Holy crud!" Amethyst yells as the claw pounds down in front of them, tinted rosy pink by Steven's bubble. "I didn't think he was gonna be that big!" Her impulse is to reach for her whip, but... not much that's going to do inside a van inside a bubble. "Steven, did you get everyone--?"

[starseedling]

Steven quickly rolls down the window and pokes his head out, searching for Lapis.

"Lapis, are you okay?!" he yells, frantically leaning halfway out.

[mirrortide]

Lapis has, more or less smooshed herself flat against the top of the van on her stomach. She looks over the side at Steven, and while she definitely seems a little panicked, she's fine.

"I'm fine! Are you okay, Steven?"

[fragileandsoft]

It's not super clear if the brakes would have stopped them before the claw or not, but the bubble sets them rolling back a bit either way. Greg's heart is in his throat, ears ringing, mouth dry. Ohhh man this isn't supposed to happen, this isn't how today was going to go, oh jeez oh man.

"Everyone--is everyone--?" He looked back around the van to check on his passengers, heard Lapis' assurance from above, and forced himself to breathe. That's... that's one tally in the "Pro" column.

But there's one big, big tally on the "Con" side. Greg leans forward over his wheel to peer up, and up and up. This is just a misunderstanding. They don't have any valuables or anything! They can make it out of here, and laugh about it.

"H-hey there! Sorry, we're just passing through, we--we didn't expect to see anyone, um, but..."

[npcarnival]

"What??" Tamatoa says, either not comprehending what Greg said or not listening. He pulls back, looking at the round pink bauble that has appeared in the place of the van he'd been chasing. "What... Where did this come from?"

He experimentally lifts one of his claws and hits the bubble with it. Not as hard as he could, but hard enough that it plows it part way into the sand. When that doesn't do anything, the crab leans down closer to the ground, prodding at the outside of the orb experimentally.

"Hello?" he calls. "Are those voices I hear?"

[periphrasing]

By this point, Peridot has basically flattened herself to the floor and wedged herself in a corner. There is ink floating in the water inside the van now.

"What are you doing don't talk to it!!!" she hisses at Greg, frantic.

[starseedling]

The violence of Tamatoa's strike knocks Steven fully out of the window, allowing him to flop against the exterior wall of his own bubble, his head ringing from the exertion of keeping up the bubble together under that king of pressure.

He swoons for a moment, dazed, putting everything into holding up his shield instead of doing things like thinking and talking.

[fragileandsoft]

"Steven!"

Greg scrambles to check on his son, but he can't quite reach him from the window. "Steven, are you--"

He grits his teeth as a claw keeps poking at the bubble. "S-stop! Please!" Where his voice was fairly small and anxious before, desperation's made sure Tamatoa will hear his yells now. "We're in here, please, take it easy!"

[drrdrrdrr]

Sorry Peridot, Amethyst is already yelling. "Yeah it's voices, ya big crusty moron! Get outta here, we don't have any treasure or whatever you want!"

[mirrortide]

Poor Peridot. Literally no one is listening to her. After Lapis swims down towards Steven to make sure he's alright, Lapis will shout right back up at him. "Yeah! Go away! We don't have anything you want!"