They don't call it a Blue Hawaii for nothing~OPEN

[Jericho Gustal]

Alright, when Trish said their mission of awesomeness was going to be at the beach, he thought it was somewhere near the city, not a thousand miles away on one of the Hawaiian Islands?! Kauai if he wasn’t mistaken. Well, at least that’s what she had told him. Jeri of course had gotten sidetracked by the long plan ride above the big stretch of ocean to remember the brief run down on what’s going on much less the pin point location of their destination. All that got across his noggin while staring out the window was something about helping her and a secret base located underwater. So they had to find this location in order to do what? Infiltrate it? Blow it up? Steal info about a blonde mastermind that could have a sick cat fetish? Hmph….well he’ll never know until he asked….which no doubt would greatly annoy boss woman.

Shrugging the thought to the side about getting her peeved like how he normally did with his werewolf of an aunty, Jeri floated upward to the surface until he reached miss metal travel agent who was perched on a small platform of rocks that the coral hadn’t invaded yet just near the wall of a cliff. He had been looking around underwater for the last two hours for anything that screamed out unusual but hadn’t found a thing. And by swimming near the beach shore of Na Pali most of the time, he didn’t suspect he’ll find much. Letting his head resurface from the water in front of her little perch place just so he could catch his breath from staying underwater for so long. Pushing his snorkel head gear up onto his forehead, he brought his brownish yellow hue eyes to her only to see Trish’s focus was on her surroundings. He didn’t know if she had pulled her attention away from the high tech gadget to see that he resurface from the water or kept looking through those what appear to be ‘binoculars’.

And let’s talk about what they’re wearing at this time. Jeri of course had been probing around the sea floor wearing a wet suit that stopped to his knees and elbows. So for the tourist roaming around the Na Pali beach coast, they would have thought he was a surfer but of course wrongo! Scuba diving and snorkeling was his water hobby and nothing else. And as for Trish the love of his life that’s obvious to his feelings she was dress to impress and he doesn’t mean for her cop job. More for men, this had its pros and cons on this lovely island. Pros, being he got to see her wearing something entirely different instead of detective/police uniform and the ‘oh so irritating’ cons which were that every guy tourist that had been passing by the cove area seemed to oogle her almost instantly. This of course made him secretly jealous if not mad. Jeri was half tempted to talk her out of wearing something so eye catching. Moving yet again another unwanted thought away, he got back to his main reason for being here. Pushing his body towards the rocky edge while still in the water, he leaned on the edges of the platform she was occupying only to look up at her and smile toothy grin while still sporting wet long hair. “Aside from sea turtles and a variety of tasty looking fish for sushi….I didn’t find what you were looking for. Also, exactly why is it important to find the L A I R again?”

[Trisha Waldgrave]

Guh....how she would rather not be out here sparkling like a giant glitter stick...or in a God forsaken navy blue bikini and wearing a pair of shorts ripped at the edges. This was something she DID NOT want to wear...not by far! Those silver optics were narrowed into a glare as though the metal cop was going to kill, maim, and destroy...she also couldn't help but notice some of the men on the beach looking at her as though she was a piece of meat. Bastards....disgusting little bastards she was trying to protect even though every fiber of her being wanted to grasp onto their throats and rip them up into chum so they could lure sharks to the surface then attach lasers to their heads. Calm down calm down...caaaaalllllllm down....that's what she had to do or else hell on earth would break loose like snakes on a plane. Reaching into her bag to pull out a life line...also known as black coffee in a canteen....she began opening it up to chug it down like an alcoholic with their favorite booze in a parking lot. Pulling the edge of the metal canteen from her greyish pink lips, she heard a distant whistle and instead of listening to the very quiet common sense voice telling her to be quiet...her free hand lifted to the same level of her scarred up shoulder and wouldn't you know it her middle finger flipped on up as she spoke up in a rather blunt and annoyed tone, "It's just you and your hand tonight, dumbass..."

Clearly the guy didn't hear her but some couple did who seemed to be all "ohmigawd how vulgar!" which she didn't care about at all. Letting out a bit of a grunt, she couldn't help but wish Jeri would not only surface but find something that would lead them to Alvin Whisker....oh wait that was the guy from the video game she had to play since it was apparently a lead...the one they were commissioned to track down by a Ms. Bao Yu Chao was named Albert Wesker. That dolt left her so much to clean up and why the paranormal investigator didn't look into this was `classified` for God knows WHAT reason since despite having good ties with her it wasn't something the girl with a pet pig was willing to share. Probably some juicy thing but when she heard the voice of her weretiger comrade, she quickly looked toward the teen and actually looked a little less stoic than usual to allow her disappointment to shine through. Nothing aside from turtles and delictable fish? "Damnit...well get some of those fish and we'll take a break with a barbeque and coffee....maybe even toss some doughnuts on the grill before I lose it." Motioning for him to get out of the water, she hopped he figured out by now that being fused with metal wasn't exactly good for her to hop in the water or risk it since there were multiple times she could have gotten herself killed if it weren't for running under water.

Taking another swig of coffee, she let her external composure become stoic once more while getting up with that heavy backpack hanging off of her shoulders. Deep down, she was still so very pissed off about losing that stupid bet that was the reason she wore a bikini with short shorts. There were plenty of scars upon this woman's slightly glittering body, most of which looked like stab & bullet wounds of various shapes n' sizes. Giving one last glance at Jeri...it....almost seemed like he was looking her over....was the metal cop gonna have to choke a minion? Nah...she reassured herself the boy who could turn into a big bad kitty was having his hormones stuck on some girls at his high school or some crap like that. This day...it couldn't be done soon enough....it really couldn't....unless it ended right now but that was all hopefulness which would swoosh itself down some metaphorical toilet somewhere.

As she waited for her partner of the day, she couldn't help but wonder whatever became of that thug Jax and dear ol' Eddie...or...well...Deadlock. She knew she helped Jax get out but then poof he just kinda ditched her without so much as a thank you. To think she was going to give him food and shelter! Well he was gone, far out of her life as far as she was concerned and some rumor was going around he associated himself with some girl named Cordelia, they were swapping spit n' blah blah blah but what ever. The random pictures on her desk that one day could have been photoshopped for all she knew since the two looked so shoved together. BACK TO FOCUSING ON THE MISSION....food...and busting some bioterrorist? Yes...that was it.....!

Why she hadn't eaten in a while was beyond her but now was as good of a time as any for a lunch break...

[Jericho Gustal]

Catch fish? Ummmmm……that’s kind of hard. Not only was he armed with only a long pike to probe at the rocks on the seafloor but he wasn’t sure HOW exactly to catch fish. Pondering on what to really do with this new found problem, he let himself still stay afloat in front of the rocks. ‘I’m thinking….I’m thinking...while my eyes travel back to Trish……………..’ Two words echoed in his mind at this point. ‘WHY ME!’ Alright so for a tiger boy beast, it shouldn’t have been a problem to think with that brilliant mind of his. Ordered by Ms. Boss Woman to hunt down seafood in the name of fish should be frickin easy. Oh no, it was tough. He thought it was tough because with her looking very and I do mean very pretty, Jeri’s mind was going blank like the jocks at his school when asked to apparently answer a mathematical question. Jeez this felt humiliating on the inside…. Now all he needed was one of those white cone hats and a corner to sulk in. But couldn’t damn be helped! I mean even if her skin had the ‘Cullen effect’ it still made her lovely especially, how the metallic shine defined those battle scars of hers. The collar bone area mostly, he could just keep staring at that area in fascination for hou- GAH HE’S DOING IT AGAIN!!

Having a mild shake out of it Jeri fit, he quickly nodded his head to Trish, placed his snorkel mask back on, and dived back under before she had something to say about what he had been doing. Shit, he needed to keep himself in check. And it’s getting more difficult to do so with her wearing something so…..revealing. Gripping the pike tightly he forced himself to think about what he needed to do. Catch fish, some way or somehow… and it shouldn’t be hard since the human portrait wasn’t in front of his face anymore. All Jeri had to do was just use his instincts or what most people thought the caveman commonsense.

Scanning once again his surroundings for fish this time, there was of course many; even the poisonous ones. Finding the right kind shouldn’t be hard….sort of. It didn’t take him long to find a school of fish that were big enough to eat, it’s just the catching them without scaring the rest of them away. This was impossible if you think about it. Swimming semi close by, he decided to do old fashion way of getting a fish. Spear them straight through and hope you don’t miss. This would have been easier with a spear gun of course but he hadn’t thought he needed it….until now. Bringing the hand holding the pike up, Jeri cautiously swam near the group of fish so his throw would be fast and short. Moving his hands back, he moved it forward quickly once a fish or two in sight of his makeshift aim and release the pike so it could travel without his hold.

Hearing a small crack come before the squishing sound, he was happy to see he caught the two he set his sights on. Again, Jeri repeated this tactic only to either catch or miss and once he got around to his eighth fish, that’s when things started to get weird, because while throwing his pike at the last meal on fins, it had missed only to get wedged between rocks on the sea floor. Swimming towards his pike now sticking out oddly, he grabbed onto it and tried to pull it free since the rest of their food was lodged through it like a shish kabob. Yet, of course it seemed to have gotten completely stuck. ‘Oh hell no.’ Jeri implied to himself mentally before taking another go at it with the pike, this time pulling harder than before. This time it had loosen and finally come off only to have a small rock slacken too from the pressure of pulling the pike. Once the rock moved out from the cracks like his pike was doing, strong current followed after it. Alright, in most cases water currents aren’t too bad in tropics and it takes many things for one to start, this one of course didn’t have anything at all and just push Jeri backwards hard hitting his head against a sharp lava rock in the process.

Feeling a sharp pain on the top left of his head, he wasn’t given much time to wince like a baby. Reason being was because he dropped his sti-I mean pike and needed to go rescue it since the fish skewered on it was they’re lunch. Diving down deeper, he caught the pike in time before it got lost in the maze of rocks littering the ocean. Resurfacing thereafter, Jeri quickly made a beeline towards shore while holding his head in pain. Avoiding a feel boats that were face his direction, he was stopped by one water transportation machine that carried something he didn’t like….tourist. One of the ladies on that rich tourist boat ride gasped at the gash Jeri had developed. Covering the more painful side of his head in hopes they didn’t see what slowly but surely was going on aka the healing factor. He continued to swim on ward.

A minute later they started talking….about Jeri. “Hey, I think that guy’s injured! Maybe we should help him!” The lady who had gasp at him said. Jeez, were they stupid? Because he was very close to them, like maybe I don’t know…..two feet away. He was in earshot range (not like it matters) to noticed tourist lady sounded like she had an obnoxious voice. “I’m fine thanks. There’s no need to hel-“ “LARRY, PASS ME A FLOATY DEVICE SO WE CAN SAVE THE POOR KID!” What the heck, didn’t she just hear him?! Rolling his eyes he spoke once more. “I said I’m fi-ACK!” Suddenly something landed on his face like a slap, rubbing his face from the slap like feeling he received, he eyed the weapon at hand. It was in fact one of those noodles that were retard AND useless to swim with. Plus they made you do the weirdest positions while you were swimming, but getting back to what was happening. Jeri now again was trying to get the woman to stop throwing things at him which would put him in a more serious state. “WOULD YOU STOP THRO-Oooooof!” Bam. Floaty device number 2, the doughnut shaped life raft. Though it floats, it wasn’t made to be thrown at people’s heads…Weren’t they smart?

Seeing stars for a little bit before regaining ‘somewhat’ of consciousness, he decided for the safety of his god damn life to just swim it fast like those Olympic swimmers and raced to shore like there was no tomorrow. He made it there of course and headed over to where Trish was in a staggering like motion. Now of course, he didn’t quite make it over towards the rocks. Once he got sight of her, he all but said “I got the fish!.....Now I’ma go nappy!” Moving from side to side sluggishly, he collapsed onto the sand floor with dopiest grin on his face. Oh damn that idiot tourist and her stupid sense to save a kid who knows how to swim….. May the sharks come to greet her during the snorkeling segment of the boat ride.

[Trisha Waldgrave]

....what the hell's bells ringing to tell the world "THERE'S NO DOUGHNUT STAND ON THE BEACHES IN HAWAII"? Why did it seem like chipper ol' Jeri was hesitant to actually nod/silently say "YESS'M MA'M"? Quirking a brow in response and giving him a nod back to let him know quietly the whole `GOOD. YOU LISTEN TO DIRECTIONS.` confirmation. Welp...maybe that meant she should secure a spot for their happy lunch time BBQ on the beach? Yes...yes it did...er...well...or maybe she should just be lazy and set up on this rock ledge thing? Chances were Jeri was going to be a bit tired and need to rest for a bit and she had to keep that in mind like a good partner. Taking off her bag while keeping a nice, safe distance from the edge so nothing would easily fall into the water, she crouched down and began taking out the mini portable barbecue campers would bring to heat up their food on the go.

Though she looked quite stoic on the outside and maybe even bored, she was actually winding down to a better mood. Hell so good that it looked like she didn't give two craps about her surroundings! Plucking out a mere metal pole and log from the bag, the slightly glimmering metal fused and manipulating cop dropped that pretty ol' kiawe log on the ground yet held onto the pole. Now what in the world could she possibly do with a metal tube that looked like its only use on a beach was part of a flag? Glancing from left to right, she took a moment to see if anyone was looking and from what her quick check of a gaze could gather no one was looking. Maybe she missed some people or maybe she didn't, but no matter the what if's, Trisha was content with what she saw and pointed the tips of her scarred up fingers toward the pole. Right when she parted her fingers like a makeshift fan, the top portion of the pole turned into a hatchet blade.

Then wouldn't you know it? A snap of her fingers and then that blade went `SHNCK!` as the dull edge got sharp like a sword. Taking a moment to inspect her new little blade, seemed like it was good enough to start chopping wood for food time! Even though she didn't show it in an obvious fashion, her silver optics seemed to hint off a sense of glee while chopping away like a bored lumber jack used to this sort of thing. Once that was done and the pieces were small enough, she set down the pole hatchet creation of hers and crouched down to rummage through one of the smaller pockets trying to find one of the lighters she got special for happy roasty fun time. Where was it?! After a bit of sifting through stuff, she grasped onto the handle of the lighter that looked more like a gun than something that spewed up fire.

Something caught her eye though....a little translucent orange fabric bag that contained an all too familiar necklace with a little doughnut charm. Normally, she didn't get gifts since it wasn't as if her peers liked her...so whenever she got something it meant a great deal. Picking it up and taking a look at it to make sure it was unharmed, carefully, Officer Waldgrave opened up the bag and inspected it as though it was some fantastic treasure since to her it pretty much was. Letting out a sigh of relief, the risk of losing it kinda worried her since this was the first gift from someone completely unrelated to her by blood she'd gotten in years and put it on so now she had a doughnut necklace around her neck. Those little sprinkles almost seemed like either gemstones or crystals with the way they glimmered.

Ah...but it sounded like something was going on in the ocean...and...oh crap.... RIGHT, the weretiger was STILL fishing! Guh...go figure, something HAD TO go even more wrong! Turning around so she could see the mysterious watery abyss holding more than just the potential secret lair of Whisker...erm...Wesker....and...on reflex she closed her eyes while her palm metaphorically said WHY HELLO to Ms Metal Lady's face to complete a facepalm followed by a `FORTHELOVEOFPOLICEPUNS`filled sigh. No way could she go out there seeing how she'd drown or nearly sink a boat....what a load of crap this moment was! Watching the tragically humorous scene of a water noodle assault her partner of the trip made her feel not only powerless to do anything but incredibly amused at the same time. It was a little too far for her to see much of the details but the figures on the boat looked like that of tourists. Oh boy...there had to at least be ONE smart person on board, right?

Clearly not...or they were busy...well regardless she could hear a bit of the commotion and snorted out a slight snicker but felt the corner of her mouth and right eye twitch ever so slightly when her pal got smacked with a life saver. Not the candy either, that'd be deliciously painful rather than just ouchies ville! Had to give the kid credit though....he managed to swim back to shore and was walking back to her with the pike in hand. The closer he got to her, it was easier to see that he was bleeding from his head and that's what caused her to rush over and JUST get to him as he announced that it was as good of a time as ever to take a nap in his own way. "Jeri, what did your Aunty Allegra tell you about falling asleep face first in the sand while you're bleeding from the head before lunch?" Even though it was a horrible joke, she actually sounded like it may have been serious business not to flop over with a head injury. Juuust before she could do anything to help him, some older woman who looked like she popped out a couple of babies which were now in their teens rushed up to the metal cop who had quite the nice build...yet scars as though she may be a war veteran.

Getting a tap tap tap on her shoulder, the eager middle aged lady obnoxiously blurted out, "YOU! DO YOU KNOW THE CU-" AND SO TRISHA WALDGRAVE FLIPPED UP HER FIST AND LET HER KNUCKLES SAY HELLO TO THE LADY'S FACE. A lovely bone breaking crunch was heard and the lady stumbled back in a total daze. DON'T WORRY FOLKS anyone who wanted to check up on her would find that there was a broken nose and breathing patterns coming from it. The little outburst, of course, caused a couple beach goers to crowd around saying things like "CALL THE POLICE! LOOK AT WHAT SHE'S DOING TO BEACH GOERS!" How did the metal meta respond to this little out cry? Easy, she reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out her pretty, shiny badge easily explaining she was with the law and not to be f-4KIDS-cked with. "I am the police, you failed scholar you. I mean seriously, just look at my necklace...it's a doughnut. Dead give away that I'm a pastry loving, coffee guzzling pig of the N.Y.P.D. So get back to whatever the hell it is you were doing. The situation is under control."

Oddly enough, she said those words in a blunt and professional manner even though the content itself was quite questionable to say the very least. Letting people take one last look at her pretty pretty badge, she flipped it closed and slid it back in her pocket while returning her attention back to her comrade. Good thing she got them to go away since his healing factor was kicking in...that would be a real pain in the ass to explain since Hawaii didn't have too much metahumans or werewolves...that seemed to be more of a "mainland issue" as one of the locals would probably put it. Lightly placing her hand over his head wound, it's not like she had some crazy amazing healing powers, more like just hiding it from their fellow beach bums. "Jeri, any minute now for you to get up would be great. I'll give you two jelly filled doughnuts, maybe three and you know how I love to horde doughnuts being a pig of the law and all." Hushing those words, she could only hope he'd get his goofy butt back up sooner rather than not...

[cordy]

Pretty beaches. Gorgeous blue water. Fantastic weather.

Cordelia was just gonna keep repeating those three little perks over and over, because as of now it seemed to be the only effective way of keeping her irritation in check. Seriously, those freakin' Powers That Be had better hope she didn't die any time soon (...again...), because the second she got up there, she was kicking some angelic ass. Because she did not appreciate receiving their trippy little visions at friggin' one in the morning like some...flashy, supernatural e-card. They had already proved they had no problem with shooting 'em at her at the most random times - in the middle of New York City or, oh, on a date - and that was just fine and dandy! But when this whole vision thing started messing with her beauty sleep? And said visions entailed her traveling halfway around the world (sooo out of her jurisdiction that it wasn't even funny)? Well, then they had a problem.

She didn't even know what this stupid 'lair' place was supposed to be. Having the location of one of Albert Wesker's bases revealed to her through mystical means was great and all, but it'd be nice if The Powers could have thrown in some info about...oh, say, security for instance?! They were walking into this so blind that it wasn't even funny. She was just hoping that between her and Jax, some vague amount of competence could be pulled together here - enough not to get them killed instantly, at least.

Still, God forbid that Cordy ever pass up an opportunity to dress to kill - her dark red bikini was currently concealed beneath a casual white sundress, her slightly confused expression currently masked somewhat by the gleaming pair of designer shades she sported - and to top the outfit off, a white wide-brimmed sun hat because hell if she was gonna let her face burn. It'd be a shame to have to discard her accessories if they actually ended up having to jump in the water, but that was what the beach chair she'd rented was for. ...Err, I mean, the chair that she'd rented only for the sake of maintaining the facade of a vacationing couple...and just happened to be convenient for storing accessories too. But they could deal with that later, if need be. Right now, difficult as it was to believe, Cordy was pushing all thoughts of fashion aside...because, as she put it, she 'totally needed to concentrate.'

"Okay. I'm looking at...a lot of water. None of this is really ringing a bell. ...Well, that cloud looks kind of familiar...I guess.." She chattered to Jax, who she was assuming was somewhere behind her. "D'you think we'll get, like, a hint or som--"

But her words were quite abruptly cut off when her attention abruptly snapped to some sort of commotion that seemed to be happening a little further out in the water. Arching an eyebrow slightly, Cordelia slipped her sunglasses a little further down her nose to peer out at what was going on. Her gaze fell first upon what seemed to be a boatload of people who were currently performing a nice little show of a synchronized freak-out. Which included...throwing random flotation devices into the water. Um, okay. That'd make a whole lotta sense, if someone was actually -

"OMIGAWD, JAX! THERE'S A KID DROWNING IN THE WATER!" Cordy yelped, finally clueing in on what seemed to be going on. She wasn't quite sure what she expected him to do, but making some sort of heroic effort to pitch in might have been nice. But apparently Jax didn't think so. "...Jax?" She turned around, her eyes narrowed slightly as she scanned the beach for her almost-boyfriend (which was what she'd taken to calling him recently...though not out loud). She could've sworn he'd been right behind her a moment ago...

In the end it didn't really matter, because the 'drowning kid' turned out to be not so much drowning as making a desperate effort to get back to shore before he was knocked unconscious by one of the unidentified flying flotation devices. Cordelia released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as he reached the shore and was immediately approached by a woman with an almost silver-y sheen to her skin. She looked fairly capable of not making the situation worse unlike some people, Cordy decided, and was pretty much ready to mark the situation 'Crisis Averted!' ...that was, until she noticed the blood dripping from the boy's head. And the fact that he'd pretty much just collapsed on the spot. Crap.

It was practically instinctive for the half-demon to zip over there and offer her assistance, but her approach was made a bit more hesitant by the fact that about a million other beach-goers had chosen that moment to swarm the scene. With no real desire to get trampled by the crowd or make the situation even more chaotic, the brunette paused a moment - just in time for all hell to break loose.

Seemed the woman who'd been first to approach the 'drowning' boy had decided this was the opportune moment to deck the rather rotund older woman standing behind her. Cordelia's eyes widened slightly as the older woman stumbled backward, evidently smarting quite a bit from the attack. Half-frantically, the brunette sprung to her side. "Here, it's okay -- let me -- can -- WOULD YOU JUST --" Quickly growing impatient with the lady's frantic stumbling about, Cordy sharply grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her still long enough to get a decent look at the damage. Thankfully, the woman had mostly been left in one piece. There was quite a bit of blood that suggested her nose might be broken, but... "Nothing a little plastic surgery won't fix!" Cordy reassured her brightly with a light pat to the woman's shoulder, before allowing her to be fawned over by someone who actually looked like they knew her.

...Leaving the brunette to turn her attention to the woman who'd been responsible. She'd flashed a badge, proof of her position in law enforcement, that had convinced most of the bystanders to back off a little...but Cordelia wasn't about to let her get away with police brutality without a good lecture! Huffing slightly, she took a few steps closer and opened her mouth to give the cop a piece of her mind...and was abruptly stopped before she could get a word out. By the fact that the injured boy's head wound seemed to be healing...very, very quickly.

"Ohh-kay. Amazing Super-Healing Wonderboy. There's another spoonful of crazy I wasn't quite prepared for." She blinked blankly at the scene before her, taking another moment to let the fact that the boy wasn't exactly as normal as he looked sink in. Then again, Cordy couldn't really say much about anyone's lack of normalcy without coming off as a bit of a hypocrite, so she managed to refrain from blurting out the million and one questions now running through her mind. For now. Instead, she turned her attention to the cop who was currently trying to talk the boy back onto his feet, and cleared her throat lightly. "Uhm. So. I take it this means he's going to be okay. ...Right?" she asked her uncertainly.

[Jax]

As Cordelia easily outstripped Jax he reflected on the eyes that followed her, mostly men they watched her passage across the sands with interest and he couldn't blame them one bit. His eyes were glued to her as well. Granted he was drawing stares himself but for entirely different reasons. For one his green mohawk done up in spikes, his piercings shining in the summer sun, his tattoos all over his body from the word 'Defiance' printed on the back of his neck upon flames to his back a war between animals and machines, blood and oil spraying across a broken cityscape. Poems and gears, phrases in various languages, all kinds of things were upon his flesh and the tattoos stood out more then normal upon his too pale flesh. Not unhealty he was just more of a night person and it showed, as did the glisten of suntan lotion liberally slathered upon his body. His shorts were relatively normal though a bit customized, the hems frayed and torn, the waist pierced with links of chains. Oddly this matched his footwear, where others were wearing flip flops or sandals his feet were clad in steel toed boots as customized as his swim trunks. Chains and spikes shimmering in the light of the day star. He ignored their stares. He had enough problems.

Jax realized that relationships were not equal, just like men and women were not equal. A apple did not equal an orange. Didn't mean one was better then another but they sure weren't equal. Some things would probably always be the job of one side and another would have other jobs. Like in their work Cordelia was the brains, the face, the one who knew how to do the paperwork.... well actually Jax could handle that but his tenancy to doodle in the margins when thinking had disturbed her apparently so she had taken that over as well. Jax was able to supply things though, tools, street smarts, and strength as well as near endless capabilities to bring violence to a halt with farther violence. She called it symbiotic he called it each doing what they were good at. Like right now he was doing what he was good at. Being a pack mule it seemed was one of those things he was good at.

Clamped in his teeth was the handle of his boombox, the worn but still working thing pumping out his music of choice. The lyrics screaming angrily across the beach, his left arm had a massive beach umbrella rolled in towels resting on his shoulder like a lance of a knight of a very odd caste. In the crook of his elbow hung a bright purple backpack, Cord's. He didn't know what all it contained but even his well toned body was straining with it. Upon his back were two of his own bags. One a canvas covered golfbag filled with various metal instruments of pain and violence he had spent the night picking up, altering, and fixing up, and the other a black backpack filled mostly with magazines and books, all of it straining at the zippers from what it contained. His right shoulder held the beach chairs tied to it via bungee cords while his right hand held the massive cooler her was dragging filled to the brim with ice and drinks. A high land speed was out of the question it seemed.

As he was straining to catch up to his... his... he supposed the right word was girlfriend... yeah... he liked that. He grinned through the grip on his boombox. When Cord started yelling about a kid drowning way ahead of him he rolled his eyes and groaned what did she expect him to do? Drop all he was holding and wade to his rescue? The price of his powers seemed to be an inability to swim. He sank like a rock, fresh water, salt water, all of them he sank in without distinction. As he pushed through the crowd without comment he finally arrived on the scene and saw a familiar face in the midst of a commotion. He sighed loudly through his wide open mouth saliva running down the handle of the blaring boombox and shook his head. He started unloading his packs, dropping the umbrella and towels and unhooking the chairs and leaning them against the cooler with the bags. Finally he pulled the boombox out of his mouth and sat it atop the umbrella and kicked open the cooler and pulled out a beer. He tossed one to the metal scarred cop and pulling out two more he offered one to Cordelia while flicking open the one in his hand with his thumb and chugging it down as fast as he could before sighing again, happily this time. Finally he looked at the cop.

"Well how about @&*@ like that. I didn't think I would see ya again after Gotham, so how are ya Bacon Bits. I see ya pretty healthy."

He ran his eyes up and down her briefly appreciating the view before the same danger sense that had kept him alive in Gotham started tingling. He wasn't an idiot after all. He turned to regard Cordelia.

"Just appreciating God's creations. I only look at others but no interest in touching, I may not be the biggest fan of ta big boss man up there but he does good work I'll @& *@ing admit that freely. Haven't meet ya equal though Cord."

He grinned, to him it was the simple truth he spoke, uncomplicated and without restraint. Then he frowned as he realized his girl might be wondering a few things. He slapped his forehead with his non-beer holding hand.

"Oh right. Cord, This good looking sack of pork is Officer Trish. She got my dumb @$$ out of Gotham after ta kings got eaten. I saved her bacon butt she saved mine. That kind of thing. Trish this is Cordelia we are dating..."


There was a hush from all around for a moment and Jax snarled and growled at the passerby's gaping with their eyes popping out at the revelation.

"I swear if ya don't go away and stop gaping at me I am gonna havta put a cigarette out in someones EYE!"

People decided to move along quickly as Jax regarded Trish for a moment before turning back to Cordelia.

"Considered asking her out ta coffee but decided not ta. She's a officer of 'Law and Order'"

Jax said the last three words like some might describe a new interesting brand of hemorrhoids.

"While I am an agent of @^*!#ing chaos. We would have killed one another by ta third date."

Jax nodded sagely and looked down at the boy laying on the ground.

"Who is this and why is he bleeding at my feet?"

[Trisha Waldgrave]

Catching onto the can of beer as though it was nothing more than a light ping pong ball, she turned her attention to the brunette recalling her worry from before let alone her concern over a stupid woman who dared compare her to glittery vampires. Hey...wasn't she from that picture she could have sworn was photoshopped? "He'll be just fine. The kid's a tougher piece of upcoming bacon than he lets on if you catch my drift." Now it was time to pay attention to the gangster metal meta who thanked her by vanishing and teaming up with someone who wasn't even in any relation to her task force. Oh so he actually did care how she was doing, what a surprise! And he noticed she was looking healthy?

Well the bandages from last time came off since the wounds were healed and it'd just be strange walking around like a mummy in a bikini top and shorts ripped at the edge. In that moment of realization she damned the rookie once more for winning that bet! "Didn't think I'd see you again either, Jax. After all, the way you say thanks for the help is like a game of diner dash. Though I'm surprised you're not disappointed in seeing a pig like me still alive." Even though her emotions remained completely stoic on the outside like some cop who had lost the ability to feel any sort of emotion aside from following the law and upholding it, she was grinning and snickering on the inside. Popping open the can like a normal person to maintain the facade that all she had was a weird skin condition to their peers, she took notice of the mohawked pal of hers look her over. Eh, it was the first time she showed off her scars, as far as she was concerned he was surprised to see so many...so in a way she shrugged it off and left it at that. ...up until he told the sundress wearing girl that he was admiring God's creations and had yet to meet `Cord's` equal.

Instead of debating on whether or not she should feel insulted or complimented, she saved herself by not giving two craps about it and took a sip of beer. It was rare as hell to see the metal fused woman with booze of any kind but eh, she couldn't turn down a gift since they were more rare than a desert rose in her life. But when she heard `good looking sack of pork` when he continued to talk, she had to pause in her drinking before choking on it and for just a moment had a look that was like `wait...what? ...huh?!` before snapping back to her stoic composure. It was strange but she felt like repressing her emotions wouldn't allow people to walk all over her since deep down she actually had a big heart. Honestly, according to the law she should have let Jax pay for his crimes...but her big ol' heart was determined to save people from such a horrible death and give them a second chance. Unfortunately she couldn't get to the other gang members like he said and they were all mauled to death...it still struck a cord in her heart but she hid it all that she regret not having enough back up or support. The good ol' officer didn't have the heart to tell them she was the only cop in Gotham at the time who wanted to save those gangsters regardless of their crimes.

Pulling the beer from her lips, she let out a sigh that only hinted off her disappointment in not helping the others...only saving two people...what kinda hero was she...? There was even a small glimpse of sadness in her eyes for a second before she snapped back to concealing how she felt and turned her gaze to the both of them when he said they were dating. "Huh, so those pictures on my desk weren't photoshopped. What a surprise. I think I may have had a heart attack if I was old enough." Those words were rather blunt and not spoken too loudly but loud enough to be heard if anyone was actually listening. Once again on the inside she was cracking up at the sheer irony of it all and finding this whole thing amusing yet...a little odd. Why it was odd, she couldn't quite put her finger on it and quite frankly she didn't dwell.

Though soon after that he seemed to be a little pissed off about some of the beach goers and noticed him looking at her she she gave him a look that said `I get it`. "Really? You know I had a theory once that the eye was good for putting a cigarette out due to all the jelly. I wonder if anyone's gutsy enough to volunteer by pissing you off and making you snap? I could always say it was in the name of scientific research..." and with that little comment it urged MORE people to go back to what they were doing, clearly they thought she was a psycho with a badge. Really, she was just trying to get people to back off from her socially awkward and temperamental `pal` from unleashing a batch of beat down. Pleased with the response, she took another sip and used the can to hide her smile which only lasted for a moment and vanished when she pulled the can away from her lips. Pure satisfaction from instilling genuine fear into jerktastic peers...it had its rewards.

OH AND WHAT'S THIS?! Instead of taking her to coffee as thanks, he just up and ditched then found some girl to treat him like a muel?! OK. So on the inside she was a little irritated and quite pissed off...hell he even thought that they would try to kill each other? He didn't even bother try getting to know her otherwise he'd find out how many hoops she risked for people the law turned a blind eye to and the main reason she was even an officer to begin with was to weed out the corruption and discrimination toward metahumans! The gull of this guy...! Oh...he wanted to know who was bleeding at his feet..."You realize you can still take me to coffee later if you want, Jax. There's no law holding us back from sitting at a table and having coffee. Then again you seem busy."

Shrugging a little bit after saying those words like she was bored and dulled out even though it was a mask to disappointment that she was so easily ditched. Great friend great friend indeed. Blinking a couple of times while taking another sip of beer and starring down at her buddy who gave her the necklace dangling around her neck and had a look of `right, gotta introduce the side kick.` for a moment and lightly lifted her hand to look at his wound which was nearly all healed up. "This guy right here is my wayward side kick, Jeri. He's my usual partner's nephew, kid's got potential. Truth be told, we're here on an important mission and it'd be best if you two just enjoyed your beach day date together while the doughnut loving pig squad work to keep you guys safe n' happy. Of course, when he gets up I'm going to barbeque the fish he got and have lunch before it's back to business as usual. You're both welcome to join us for one hell of a meal unless your plans are exclusive for two, wouldn't want to roast that ol' chestnut."

With no sense of hostility in her voice, it actually sounded kind of caring...kinda anyway since to most people she'd sound like a bored, stoic shell.

{>u< You two go firsties, Jeri's still out XD !}

[cordy]

Despite the woman's reassurances that the boy would be okay, Cordelia couldn't help but glance down and give him one last uncertain look. He really did seemed to be healing up fine, so maybe this whole thing was no big d--

Um. Why was there suddenly a can of beer being dangled in her face? Raising her eyebrows slightly, she turned to look over at whoever had - oh, of course. Jax. It seemed the mohawked man had finally caught up with her, and with most of their little beach load intact...well, that was one less thing she didn't have to worry about! Now the only things left on the list were the heat, the still-very-much-secret lair that was supposedly located somewhere nearby, and the fact that evidently some of the people on this beach weren't as normal as they appeared to be. Herself included, to be fair...but yeah. Cordy wasn't really much of a drinker, but at the moment she was thinking she could definitely use a beer right now.

So, sighing her thanks to Jax she popped off the can's lid and raised it to her lips to take a drink...and ended up almost choking when her boyfriend greeted the cop before them with unmistakable familiarity. Wait, what?! He knew...but...um... She blinked, awkwardly trying to recover from her surprise. Inquisitively, she turned her gaze on Jax to try and prompt some kind of explanation from him, only to find that his own eyes were fixed not-so-subtly on the cop's bikini-clad form. Had she been able to process all of this a bit more quickly, Cordy might have responded with a very pointed throat-clearing...but before she could think to do so, Jax quickly averted his gaze. Oh, right. Because that was so smooth. She narrowed her eyes at him slightly as he made some grinning attempt to reassure her, and barely suppressed a sigh in response. Really, you would have thought she'd be entirely used to Jax's...well, Jax-ness by now...

"Your honesty is just...charming, Jax. Really." she remarked dryly, though with him grinning at her she couldn't quite find it in her to be angry. She shook her head and tried not to dwell on it as he introduced the woman in front of them as 'Officer Trish', who…well, being an empath, Cordelia could usually gauge a pretty accurate first impression from someone. But for whatever reason, she was finding the woman with the silver-y skin a bit more difficult to read than she would have anyone else. Almost as if her emotions were very carefully guarded by a layer of apparent nonchalance that gave nothing away. The result? Cordy wasn’t quite sure what to make of this woman yet - except that she wasn’t sure how much her own tolerance would hold out if Jax kept up with this whole ‘wandering eyes’ routine.

But for now, she’d at least try to make a good impression, and accordingly she gave the other woman an uncertain smile. “Nice to meet you. I guess I should thank you for saving his…’dumb ass‘.” she said in reference to Jax’s previous unfiltered comment, a hint of amusement edging her voice. Before she could say more, however, she was interrupted by a snarling outburst courtesy of the metal meta human beside her. It only took a glance at the gaping little crowd of passers by to figure out exactly what had evoked this reaction, to which Cordy had to roll her eyes. Seriously, did people really feel the need to gawk like they were animals in the zoo? God forbid they actually mind their own business…still, their rather terrified reaction to Jax’s words and Trisha’s statement to back him up drew another half-suppressed sigh from the brunette. “It‘s alright, guys, really - ” she tried half-heartedly to ease some of the tension, though perhaps Trisha’s warding off the rest of the crowd would do just that. Either way, that little common sense part of her mind demanded that her ‘VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER YOU GUYS!’ policy when it came to civilians be promoted. “As much as the world would benefit from people like that having one less eye to gawk with…I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that none of us need a law suit on our plates. ” ‘Cause that’d be fun.

Hopefully there wouldn’t be a problem, though, seeing as the group had been quick to hurry on their way. In hopes that any further shenanigans that might take place would be ignored, Cordy pointedly diverted her attention to Jax as he spoke again. She couldn’t say with complete honesty that hearing about his almost-date with Trisha exactly thrilled her, but for the sake of not coming off as one of those ‘crazy possessive bitch’ types she refrained from commenting and managed a mildly interested nod in response…until the cop’s reply, that was. By this point Cordy had gone uncomfortably tense, her jaw clenched a bit stiffly. What the heck was this?! She was…so not jealous! She was Cordelia Chase - she didn’t get jealous. Anyway, there was no reason to be…right? “Well, actually,” she said abruptly, speaking a little more sharply than she’d intended to. “He is usually very busy. He…helps me with my detective work. And…you know. Shopping. Very time-consuming.” Oh gawd, what was wrong with her? She sounded like Buffy pouting about whatever girl happened to be flirting with her latest vampire boyfriend! Cringing inwardly at the comparison, the brunette averted her gaze to glare sullenly at the sandy shoreline. She really needed to shake this…

Needless to say, she practically jumped at the opportunity to refocus her attention on something else. Or someone, rather. She was quick to shift her gaze to the boy who'd just been introduced as Jeri, who still seemed rather...out for the count at the moment. She was a bit envious that he got to skip out on all the awkwardness, actually...but before she could really think on this, the second part of Trisha's statement hit her. An important mission? Well, that was...an unusual coincidence. How many different missions could there possibly be on one sunny Hawaiian beach? Cordy arched an eyebrow slightly, but decided not to comment for now. If need be, they could talk business later - because right now she was far too preoccupied being all huffy and conflicted over the cop's last offer.

Lunch...well. Her first instinct was to refuse and drag Jax away, until she realized that would push the jealousy angle even further. No...there was no problem having lunch with a...friend of Jax's. She really needed to chill, and above all prove that all of this in no way bothered her. So before she could allow herself to think it over to far, she took a deep breath to ease herself into relaxing and allowed her smile to return. "Actually lunch sounds great, if you're sure you don't mind having us lurking around...Jax?" she glanced at him, waiting to hear his response.

[Jax]

Jax scratched his ear and shrugged at the offer.

"Why not probably be a better meal then the bag of jerky and jar of peanut butter I have in my backpack... What? It's got all kinds of protein in it don't it?"

Irked at the looks his comment got he set to work. He unwrapped the towels from the umbrella and set two of them down long ways next to each other, planted the umbrella at the head of them, sticking the rod deep in the sand and opening it revealing there was a metal hook inside the umbrella, the boombox was hung from this and the cooler was placed between the two towels. Opening it he put a beer right in front of the unconscious man figuring he might want a cold one when he woke up. Setting up his back pack next to one towel and Cord's next to the other he finally put the golf bag next to his side as well. Nodding at the set up he looked at Trish and rubbbed the back of his head uncomfortably. The offer of coffee had seemed to have slipped past him but something was bothering him.

"Crap... I have ta da the right thing and share feelings and junk don't I?"

He looked at Trish and sighed dramatically.

"I meant ta call ya after I peeled out. I just... needed to get away from anything that made me think of Gotham. I lost... alot there. But... I kind of wiped out and killed my cellphone with your number on it... and I wasn't about to go anywhere near Gotham after getting out... So..."

Jax frowned, stewed a bit. Opened his mouth and nothing came up. He paused... held up a retraining finger, tried again and...

"I'msorry. There I said it so I am moving on..."

Jax looked down at the kid at his feet and poked him with his boot.

"Are ya sure he ain't needing help?"

((Okay.... sorry for cruddy post muse doesn't want to work here at the moment but wanted to help keep going so here it is.)

[Jericho Gustal]

Being unconscious had its benefits, one being that if something bad was going down you weren’t aware of it. Sadly this wasn’t the case for supa tiger boy over here on the ground. Once Trish had forcefully handled the crowd of noisy bystanders he slowly started to regain consciousness. At first it was a few incoherent mumbles that sounded like gibberish to his overly trusted ears (weird right?) but after awhile of deciphering them while he rested his eyes….that’s when Jeri became a very unhappy werekitty. A werekitty that was sneaky to act unconscious as he listened to what else this smelly strange man had to say to his boss lady. Why he thought the man voice he'd been hearing for the last few minutes was smelly was due to the his guy sweat and the unneeded odor of beer. This reminded him of a situation…..something about his dad and other things he didn’t want to remember right now.

Listening in on what was going on as he blanked out for a couple of minutes prior to brain damage from the life raft of doom, Jeri realized he had been out cold on the sandy floor and in Trish’s arms no less. Jeri had been half hoping she’d give him the kiss of life for being supposedly out for this long but of course that was a long shoot that needed hell to freeze over and serve ice cream at the front entrance! Well…a boy could wish, couldn’t he? Focusing on the rest of the conversation which he hadn’t been enjoying since it had something to do with Trish and that guy. It was steadily beginning to irk his nerves because apparently this all but had to do with the both of them being interested in each while she was away in gotham, Jeri’s feeling of the moment was PEEVED. And then next apparently he was now dating someone else which made sense to why he heard another woman with an small hint of uneasiness in her voice, feeling at the moment now waaaaas….FREAKIN HAPPY! After that it switched back to peeved since hearing the man’s ‘apology’ was suppose to make things mellow. The way mysterious smelly dude said his words were for one….R E T A R D E D……and two S U I C I D A L. This man was surely asking for a death wish. If not from boss woman he was implying his humble apology to then to Jeri himself.

Sleeping beauty decided to voice out his opinion finally by saying “I refuse….” Opening his eyes till he found the rude prick that said those careless words to Trish, the expression on his face became straight out seriously pissed looking that you wouldn’t think matched his normal sneaky exterior. Standing up while still gripping the pike in one hand… which he was surprise for a second to still have with him, he thought of ramming the pointy metal piece into the guy’s mouth as a new type of piercing called ‘idiot with a pike’. Crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes only to one person in particular, he implied further “I refuse to have this shameless green iguana eat with us!” Something of course happened when he spoke those words which he would have caught on if he wasn’t so blinded by irritation and jealously. ‘Oooooh, I am sooo not jealous!’ Hell yeah you are, so shut up and listen to the rest of this, you sorry excuse for a guy. Like I was saying before SOMEONE interrupted me…. Since Jeri finally for a very longish time got upset, slowly but surely something very familiar began to form on his head and booty. As his damp locks began to rise slowly up like horns were suppose to form, something round in the shape of striped tiger ears popped up, same went for his newly striped furry tail that twitched like a felines did when it was greatly annoyed. Jericho…you found the worst possible time to become cosplayer boy when your trying to stand up for your unrequited love.

[Trisha Waldgrave]

{WARNING. THE POST YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ WAS WRITTEN BY A TIRED, LETHARGIC, LEXI WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE CAFFEINATED. LET TEH GAMES BEGIN. perfectcomboforaTrishapostIknow.}

WELL WELL WELL....giving her a simple nod and ABSOLUTELY LOVELY stoic look upon her face just to kinda be like `yeah you're welcome even though you didn't know him back then, MISS.` But hey, it sounded like Jax landed himself a better job offer than she could ever give to the metal head: being a pack mule! "Ah, alright. Shopping is very serious business. May the pastry chefs and coffee roasters of America forbid me from interrupting that." Yes, yes that was said with a straight face and tone that could make someone think she was being totally fo' cereal. IN HER MIND....something interesting was going on! VERY INTERESTING CAUSE IT INVOLVED SOCK PUPPETS!

More often than not when she was on edge, her brain turned everyone around her into a sock puppet and did the talky hand thing whenever the individual in question spoke. SO HERE IT WAS IN THE MIND OF MISS WALDGRAVE somewhere in another Hawaiian island, a girl had her coffee shang hai'd A STRAAANGE PUPPET SHOW. The `Cord` sock puppet had poorly drawn lipstick and perfect Barbie style hair with a pair of silver bejewels on its sides like earrings. SWOOSHING ABOUT when the girl it was based on talked BUT HEAVILY tilted to the side when actually considering the lunch thing. Now for the Jax sock puppet who had a hacked off green paint brush top for hair and lots of little paper clips n' safety pin `piercings`! This one just had a normal talky style...BUT THERE WAS A CATCH! Ninja'd honky noises would show up as censorship sound effects that would make the FCC proud!

...PLUS it had a habit of looking down and slightly to the side. Oh, and it had matching moving eyes to go with its girlfriend...save for the fact his kissy pal had excessively HUGE fake lashes, his didn't for obvious reason. LET'S NOT FORGET TRISHA! She too had a sock puppet rendition of herself in her head chillin' like a villain with the sock puppet show crowd! Hair made of tinsel from an old Christmas tree and a totally grey sock that had a face drawn on it. It used a very vanilla talky style cause it didn't like showing emotion...the viewers shouldn't judge it. BUT OK so here was the real kicker, it seemed like Jax was going to share his feelings AND JUNK so the Trisha puppet leaned in and had a `WHAT CHOO TALKIN' BOUT SOCK PUPPET PAL JAX?` head tilt.

Yeah, that imaginary sock puppet is f-4KIDS-cking magical like that. IN THE ACTUAL WORLD AND NOT THE SOCK PUPPET SHOW IN HER HEAD, she quirked a brow and just hinted off a bit of a `what?` kinda look. Seriously, what feelings did he have to share with the class today? `OH HEY YOU'RE A STUPID DOUGHNUT MUNCHER. LOL I DON'T NEED TO ASSOCIATE MYSELF WITH YOU!!!one` That much was obvious but hey, she heard him out for the lulz since it could actually be something along the lines of....important...and deep...perhaps even....dare her brain go there....A BIT EMOTIONAL! On cue, mental puppet pal Jax sighed dramatically with his normal human counter part, complete with lowering eyebrow attachments. AH HA. So he really didn't want anything to do with her after all `Thanks for saving my life, BUT I HAD TO SAY GOOD BYE ANYWAY` was what it translated to in the end.

Sure, alright, she could tell he was being sincere but it was still a tad bit difficult for her to deal considering she could have sworn she mentioned to mister green and sometimes mean she was usually stationed in New York. Trish the sock puppet pal bonked Jax the sock puppet pal for that one. This was normal, she was used a lot then discarded just like that...sometimes not even getting a helpful contact. Though she had a biiiit of a problem controlling her stoic shell and turned away frowning a bit while fanning her hand, at least the frown could be taken as somewhat normal. "It's fine, I get it...like you said, obviously moving on." A slight undertone of annoyance and sorrow was laced stealthily in that usual bland tone. Somewhere in the background, some old lady was choking on a hot dog right after the mohawk punk apologized.

DON'T WORRY BEACH GOERS SHE'S GONNA BE OK CAUSE THE HOT DOG CHUNK LAUNCHED INTO ANOTHER BEACH GOERS FACE. IT'S ALL GOOD NO ONE'S DEAD. Using one hand to crush her now empty can into a little aluminum marble to shove in her pocket, when she caught glimpse of GOOD OL' JAX poking her wayward werekitty sidekick, she snapped back to her stoic self. INTRODUCIIIIING....SOCK PUPPET PAL JERI IN TRISHA'S LITTLE IMAGINARY SHOW! He's got buttons for eyes and brown yarn hair! How adorable! ....and he was rising up like an angry zombie with an accessory stick loaded with paper fishies.

His puppet was getting all up in puppet pal Jax's business as if the dude crossed his territory...or something like that. THEN BAM! KITTY EARS AND A KITTY TAIL WERE TAPED ONTO THE SOCK PUPPET PAL EDITION JERI! ...wait...hold it....ONE SECOND EVEN SHE THOUGHT W.T.F! Even though Jeri was calling Jax an iguana...which he kinda resembled now that she thought about it...making her want to laugh, she so didn't laugh. Hell she didn't even crack a grin because he MAGICALLY sprouted tiger ears and a tiger tail to match! This meant he could be in danger from hunters or something like that! Quickly getting up to her full height, she put her hand over his head to cover up the ADORABLE FLUFFEH ears before forcing him into a hug along with her hand over his twitchy tail trying to make it look like a ridiculous bracelet.

Now folks, let's keep in mind that Jeri is shorter than good ol' Officer Trish...his face is totally planted in her big ol' bosom right now. Plenty of men and some women were envying Jeri on the beach at this time. Shuffling back toward their original spot, dragging Jeri along with her in that same embrace while speaking in a slightly strained out voice, "Ha...ha...ha...oh my god...Jeri you seem to be hallucinating and thinking that pierced up biker boy is a shameless green iguana. We need to go that way. Clearly he's not feeling well oh did you look at the ocean? I think swamp thing is hosting swimming lessons you should take a look it's pretty f" HOW ADORABLE! RANDOM DOGS ARE BARKING AND CHILDREN ARE LAUGHING! "cking funny. Mmmm hmmm. Need to have him rest more now. Bye."

RUSHING to shuffle away while hiding her werekitty pal's ears n' tail, she then scooped him up like a bride while continuing to make efforts in the `HIDE EVIDENCE OF WEREKITTEHNESS` then bolted like a track team runner back to the spot she started off at on the rock before anyone could try to grab her or something...oh and yes she was very careful to not get herself stabbed by the pike he was holding. TODAY WAS SO MAGICAL! "Jeri. Don't take this the wrong way but you NEED to calm down. I don't know if there's any hunting psychos who want your kind dead. Do you understand the gravity of the situation, tiger?!" Whispering out those words to him in a stern but concerned fashion, she DEFINITELY didn't need this kiddo getting chased by an angry mob with pitch forks and torches. IF they had marshmallows, she'd welcome that mob with open arms for free cause that would be a lot of roasted marshmallows! BUT NO THE MOB HER BRAIN WAS WORRIED ABOUT HAD NO MARSHMALLOWS!

DA DA DA DUN.

[cordy]

Wow. So Trisha had actually...elicited an apology from Jax. Talk about a miracle. Part of Cordelia wanted to beam with approval that her green-mohawked metahuman of a boyfriend has sucked it up and done the right thing where other guys might've acted like a total jerk. But at the same time, another part of her wasn't too comfortable with this touching little reconciliation scene that was presently playing out. Effectively torn in two, the brunette settled for a sort of in-between reaction - one that pretty much consisted of her...standing there and impatiently examining her nails as if she suddenly found them to be even more interesting than usual. Uneasy as she was, she could recognize the fact that these two had some sort of history. Fighting for your lives together created an inevitable connection between people; she knew this only too well after everything she'd been through with Angel. So in the end, Cordy figured she could at least give them a moment.

...A short moment, at least...

...And as it turned out, a...kind of awkward moment...

Completely oblivious (and perhaps this was for the best; if she'd been a mind reader instead of an empath she'd probably have been a bit freaked) to the hilarious little sock puppet show going on in Trisha's mind, all Cordy ended up getting out of the exchange was a slight hint of annoyance from the cop as she voiced her reply. Riiiight. Well. This had been a fun little reunion, but--

Oh! How convenient! The drowning kid from earlier seemed to be waking up, and just in time to diffuse some of the complete awkwardness of the situation! Cordy forced a bright smile as Jeri struggled to his feet, thankful for the abrupt distraction - until she registered his words. His...very hostile words directed at a certain green iguana. Initially she could only blink at him, slightly nonplussed. Alright, iguanas and lizards in general were sort of icky, but wasn't that the sort of wildlife you'd expect to find in Hawaii or something? She couldn't see the big de--OH. He was talking about Jax! Suddenly comprehending this, Cordy's immediate response was, naturally, to turn and see Jax's reaction to these words. To her credit, she really was trying hard not to allow her amusement to show, and she did manage to formulate something of a response,

"Well, uh - me and my iguana here don't want to rain on your parade or anything, so if it's going to be a problem we can just--" But as she returned her gaze to Jeri to reply, it was just in time to witness Trisha grab the boy in what was either an attempt to embrace him, or...smother him? Well, that was...random. And kind of suspicious. Cordelia arched an eyebrow slightly in response, her eyes narrowing slightly as Trisha spoke in what was hardly an inconspicuous effort to divert their attention from something. But what...wait, hold on. Was that a tail she'd just spotted?! The brunette gaped slightly, her first instinct being to blurt out some dubious question - but it died on her lips as Trisha quickly began pulling Jeri away from them.

......Well then. That was certainly interesting. When she'd dragged Jax all the way down here in search of a bio terrorist's secret base, she'd prepared herself for a lot of things...but this, she had to admit, hadn't been one of them. Of course self-healing boys with cat tails were far from the most bizarre creatures she'd ever encountered, but still. This was...a first. Uncertainly, Cordelia turned to Jax. Really, she was starting to get the feeling that his company wasn't exactly improving the normality factor of her life since they seemed to keep landing themselves in situations like this one. But then, when had her life ever been normal anyway? "So. Nice friends you've got there." she commented after a moment, wondering exactly how much he'd known about all of this. Or maybe he'd been completely oblivious. She wouldn't have found that too surprising, at least.

A glance down the beach was enough to tell her that Trisha was still making an attempt to conceal Jeri from public view, and seemed to be whispering something urgently to him at the moment. Did they need...some kind of help? Or did they have this under control? Cordy didn't exactly thing she was qualified to assess this sort of situation, but she shot Jax her next question all the same.

"Should we, like, do something...?"

[Jax]

Jax had been called many names by many people, many of them profane, many not. But in his entire life he had never been called an iguana, green or otherwise. He blinked at it for a moment trying to decide if had been insulted when he started to notice odd things about the kid. He shouldn't have healed that fast for starters, he should be more staggered by all that was happening and he was holding that pike in what to most would consider a threatening posture... not so much for Jax but he was beloved by metal and he could almost hear the hum of the vibrations of the metal in the kid's hand. Jax also noticed... changing occuring to the kid but before he could really get a good look at them Trish assaulting the kid and dragged him away. Jax blinked at all this and shrugged at Cord as she asked them what they should do now.

Jax looked at her and smiled a bit, his piercings shining in the bright sun. The insanity of the moment was getting to him just a bit and one eyebrow piercing was slightly twitching but he ignored it. He also ignored the pointing children and the adults whispering about him. He was fairly good at that.

"Do? Cord, we come ta da shores of this bright shiny hell because of ya vision, we just HAPPEN ta meet up with da one cop on the @&*!ing planet that doesn't make me wanna projectile VOMIT and was tough enough ta survive zombie infesting Gotham when she just HAPPENS ta be in the same place at da same time... I think it is clear what we dah now."

Jax slowly lowered himself into a beach chair and looked up at her while sipping from his beer, reaching into his back pack he took out a pack of cigarettes and looked at it. His smile failing as he looked at the crushed and slightly mangled cigarettes. Frowning he pulled open the package he had bought from the airport while shuddering, the flight so long... without a smoke break.. gah... and put the cigarette to his lips as it lightly leaked the tobacco from a small hole in the side. Pulling his lighter out he flicked it on. The five inch gout of orange flame flickering int he breeze he brought it to his lips. He took a slow almost sensual drag off of the cigarette and slowly the smile reformed just a bit.

"First puff of da day. Always look forward to it."

With that he turned back to Cord and looked at her as he settled in. He didn't get it. He didn't know why the powers that be blessed him with her. Didn't see what she saw in him. Didn't understand why she gave him the time of day... but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He had other plans.

"So I figure instead of running around like a chicken with it's &@*ing head cut off. I'm going to relax, sit her, see how da #@&(ing powers want us ta fix this and da what I came ta da beach ta da."

With that he leered at her just a bit in response to the inevitable question of why.

"Don't ya think it's a bit warm for dat dress?"

[Jericho Gustal]

I think this was a sign. A sign that he should man up more cause it just so happens that he ended up in the one place he never thought of in his wildest dreams. It was the Valleys of No Return and it felt…. AWESOME! Well, it would have been if he wasn’t in shock at the moment. Honestly, a nose bleed would be in order too, if it hadn’t been for the fact that his healing factor didn’t allow such normalcy on this young man. And so, while in the embrace of Trisha comforting chest as she was trying to save his secret from being exposed, he had slowly but surely started to turn a soft and vibrant color of red which indicated by many teenagers as blushing. That male ego crushing feature seemed to reach his cute round tiger ears too, making him all the more embarrassed he had unintentionally let out another strong emotion. Jeez, what was wrong with him today?! Jeri was generally in check with his feelings, so how come it was all bursting out like an over stuff jelly filled donut?... Had it been what she was wearing? Nah, it shouldn’t have, I mean really a ‘mature’ teenager like himself wouldn’t become flustered over such guyish desire. He he he..ha ha haaaaa…..HA! OF COURSE NOT, THAT’S RIDICULOUS!

......Ok, so maybe it was a little of that….just a little though…Oh god he was losing it. Maybe he should be sent home already for acting strange and not to mention the whole endangerment Jeri unknowingly put his own self in. Y-yeah, go back home and forget that all this emotional craziness ever happened. Perhaps give up already since his plans for confession weren’t going that great the more he stayed by her side. She didn’t need a side kick like him to slow her cute, caring, and not to mention bad ass butt down.

…….Listen to yourself, idiot. You’d be no better than that Green Iguana sitting down and guzzling his cheap beer and not giving two shits about her.

Now sometimes, having your werewolf of an aunt as fabrication of one’s good conscious tends to get quite annoying but today it wasn’t one of those days. For a change, the inner voice held a truth that Jeri for once understood. Feeling guilty and like a coward, he wanted to punch himself for just thinking that previous thought. How could he ever think about giving up and leaving Ms. Neutral Mask?! She was one of the few to understand Jeri when he came to visit his new appointed god mama. And that officer was probably the same person that got him into trusting others gradually. Hey, it seemed to work well when it came to Allegra. If Trish wasn’t there, he would have surely…well…died.

Though it was only a matter of a few minutes if had felt like an hour in her alluring embrace that Jeri was finally able to move his head around freely. Not to mention he had already left the comforting shelter of her boo-I-mean-chest. It’s odd how he hadn’t realized he was being carried off like some princess going into the sunset with their hero…..Waaaaaaait a second…..HE…WAS…BEING…CARRIED?! Looking at his mobile surroundings frantically for a moment, he realized that his knight in sexy swimsuit was headed back to their original spot, but how come? Freezing up suddenly, a very scary feeling crossed his mind. Why did his butt area feel something imaginary being tugged a bit sorely? Glancing down, he found his answer in the shape of a furry bracelet that was in fact his tiger tail being wrapped around Trisha’s arm. ’Uhhhhhh…..oooooooh.’ You got that right.

Snapping his eyes away from what he saw, he now was officially embarrassed. Being carried and protected by the one person he liked made whatever male pride left to deflate, well almost would if it hadn’t been for something small, round, and plastic hanging around Trish’s neck that convinced him otherwise. Blinking back a few times to see if this was some cruel dream, he found the dream to be none existent. The first reaction aside from his disbelieving blink stare was him pointing to himself and then her, and then to himself while talking with the mute on his voice and then pointing back to her shaking his head like a confused little man. And for all of you wondering what was going on in his head it went something like this: ’She wearing it right here, right now and in front of me. How is this even possible?! Wouldn’t this be a sign of liking someone? So she likes me, like that? No…But maybe…..No….BUT IT HAS SINCE IT SEE-….No.’

A small shimmer of hope seemed to have risen itself from his feelings for her even if he argued to himself back and forth in nonsense. When they finally stopped, his attention drifted back to his hero…or heroine for that matter. Hearing Trisha whisper sternly to him that he needed to keep reign on his emotions, Jeri had to agree. It was bad enough he drew attention to himself and her, plus hearing that ‘poachers’ might be here didn’t make him feel anymore happier that he had unleashing his troublesome beast side unintentionally. ”Yeah. I’ll get right on it...I hope.” On impulse his round tiger ears arched down at the thought of trying to fix this. He wasn’t too confident he could muster up another mind barrier to keep himself from having another Jeri episode, but for now he would try for Trisha’s sake.

Closing his eyes, he reached down deep inside himself. He pushed the feeling of anger when Trisha’s inconspicuous feelings were hurt, pushed the embarrassment of being held this way from her, and most of all he pushed the hope from his heart for having his feelings returned from her. Slowly but surely, the soft furry parts of him started to disappear and when they were no more, he snapped his eyes back open and suddenly hoped out of her arms and on to the rocky ground. Avoiding her gaze for once, Jeri plastered his trademark smile before saying ”Sorry about that. I didn’t think I’d flip out back there after the head injury. It must be all the sea water I accidentally swallowed. Goodness that she-wolf (literally) of an aunt isn’t here, she’d be pulling me to the side by the ear and giving me a lecture of how ‘careless’ I am.” His tone was back to being casual and so was his demeanor, in secret this his very own neutral mask.

Of course the neutral mask wasn’t fully working as he wanted it but anyway back to work, they needed to find someone’s hideout and needed to find it fast. Perhaps scoping out the place by mobile boat would be the best option, diving around didn’t work and so was searching through the binoculars on one side of the island. What Jeri thought they needed to do was circle around the island, especially in the more unreachable areas not meant on foot. Scanning the beach for a sign…any sign. He found the answer in the shape of a fishing boat that was not only large but durable enough to pass by the island. Having one side of his mouth quirk up to make his smile even more devious he looked back to Trish. ”You up for making our little picnic short? I think I’ve found an answer that’ll solve our problem in searching.” He said before finally pointing at the big fishing boat.

[Trisha Waldgrave]

Right now she was just GLAD neither the punk she helped save or his obviously jealous over nothing girlfriend didn't care enough to make sure things were ok. More so that they ignored her HORRIBLE attempt at covering her sidekick's slip up into looking like a magical cosplayer. That would have just been more trouble and crap to deal with than need be. As if she needed more wrenches in her plans...then part of her was glad that she didn't bother asking Jax for help with this mission that she wasn't going to outwardly admit could very well kill her from what she got out of the briefing. He wouldn't want to help someone like her anyway...she played her role in his life: save it from the scary horde and that was that...easy enough to discard. Made that a bit obvious when he didn't bother with her up until `coincidence` made it so. Always like that...nothing new.

Sure, he apologized, but it's not like he offered to make up for the GREATEST THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE EVER ANTIC by actually treating her more like a friend who gave two shits and less like an acquaintance. Giving her pal a slight nod to confirm she understood, it seemed like Jeri's sock puppet rendition also shifted...though the ears and tail flopped off like cheaply taped accessories. Then BOING! Hopped right on out of her arms with GREAT SUCCESS on hiding the evidence of his inhuman attributes. Letting a slight smile curve across her silvery lips and about to congratulate him in her usual fashion...but....what was wrong with him? He was smiling but he wasn't looking at her...completely avoiding eye contact even. Going back to her stoic look from a short-lived smile as though she had no feelings what-so-ever to share with the world as she felt that annoying burden squeeze away at her heart.

Did EVERYONE in the vicinity just secretly have some kinda deep seeded `I'm tolerating you and don't want to deal with you as a friend but only a partner. You're useful for being a hero and that's about all.`? ....then again she couldn't really blame them. Oh well....at least Jeri treated her like a friend more often than not and showed A LOT more appreciation for saving his life than cutting contact then not so much as act happy to see she was alive and well like someone she knew. Listening to his apology, she brought her hand up and slightly fanned it while speaking up in her usual blunt tone to match her composure, "Hey Jeri, don't worry about it. I just don't need to lose anyone to a bunch of idiots who probably can't use common sense. Between you and me, I probably should give you an ear full but you fixed the problem and didn't make me want to slap you upside the head by playing it off like it's nothing." Grasping onto her bag before hoisting it up and to her shoulders deciding to say screw it to lunch all together and just go on with the mission. Trisha had coffee...she could deal with it and mostly offered a BBQ as a gesture of kindness but since when was that taken positively? Yeeeah exactly.

Not like good ol' Jax wanted to spend time with anyone other than his girlfriend using him as a pack mule for shopping anyway, even to catch up a bit. WHATEVER HIS LOSS is what she figured, he could have all the time in the world he wanted with his girlfriend now. SHE HAD SERIOUS BUSINESS TO DO! Quirking a brow when she listened to him asking if she minded that they cut lunch short...HEY LOOKIT THAT ALL GOING ALONG WITH HER CURRENT TRAIN OF THOUGHT! Who was being a good boy? Jeri was! Yes he was yes he was!

"We'll just skip the whole damn thing all together. I'll be fine with just coffee and I know you can eat the stuff raw like it was free sushi on a train to your face. Lunch is to-go this time Jeri. I'll make you something later when all this is done. Let's go on a magical possible monster slaying adventure full of let's hope we don't die." Walking in the direction of where he was pointing and to a boat, she glanced forward to her new goal location. Little fact: Trisha dreaded the idea of going out on a boat considering she was sure if anything like an accident were to happen she'd be good as KER-PLUNK dead.

ALRIGHT so while she was walking along at a rather quick pace for someone lugging around a bunch of heavy metal stuff, she couldn't help but think on the necklace around her neck. It wasn't something glamorous, it was just a freaking doughnut necklace given to her by the weretiger, one of the very rare and few gifts she'd gotten in her life from someone other than her family. Not as though she'd go around going `BLAH DE BLAH` about how important gifts from the heart were to her, this did mean the world to her and she wanted to wear it to say in her own underhanded way `thanks for caring, it means something to me, see?`. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her incredibly short and impractical shorts that flashed off A LOT of her scars like the bikini top did, hell it even looked like she survived being stabbed through the heart somehow! "Jeri, got a favor to ask, pull out one of the coffee canteens in my bag, alright? You can have a sip if you'd like but I could REALLY use a cup of what's possibly one of the best things this world gave me." Though her tone seemed all serious without so much as a hint of emotion, on the inside she needed coffee and that helped make everything feel like it was going to be alright complete with rainbows, smiles and pink fluffy unicorns giving away the most delicious doughnuts ever or some crap like that.

All that mattered in this moment is she got a damn cup of coffee before her anxiety about a potential boat ride actually showed itself off even just a little. Hell, mental puppet pal Trisha bob-walking along was already flailing her arms being like `I'M GOING TO FALL OFF THE BOAT SOMEHOW AND DROP LIKE A FREAKING ANCHOR! I GOT THIS FEELING I'M GOING TO DIE OR SOMETHING AND THAT'S PROBABLY HOW! DROWNING. WITH. FISHES. IN. THE. WATER. OH. MY. COFFEE.` and the Jeri puppet pal being all `BOATRIDEBOATRIDEWE'REGONNAGOONABOATRIDEWHEEEEE` as if he was deviously crack happy. Uh...and for some reason the Jax and Cordy puppet pals were randomly making out in the background being all `MUAH MUAH YOU'RE ALL THAT MATTERS I LOVE YOU OR SOMETHING!` ....guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh! ......coffee would be great right now.....REALLY great....narrowing her eyes slightly...nooow she actually flashed off one emotion that most people got to see once in a while outside of her friend circle: a tad bit pissed off about who knows what.