Beach

Dewey barely sidesteps out of Morgan's way in time to avoid getting barreled over.

Morgan wants a beach party? Levi's not dressed for this. Wait, beach parties mean swimsuits. This is the end. Levi can feel life slipping away...

"I'm gonna...go...do...something...?" Levi runs away from Tom and quickly heads home. Good thing it's not too far. Levi can just run and...fuck, he's already out of breath. Curse you exercise!

He'll keep running home anyway. He needs to change if a beach party is forced on him.

Morgan

You tackle the Somnis.  She's fine with it, but you freak Tia out a bit.


Tai

"What."  Mattea doesn't even seem like she doesn't believe you, she's too stunned.  She looks around at the gathered people like she's trying to tell if they'd all come together to play an elaborate prank on her and whether Alice's accident is- it's clearly more than she wants to think about, and she sort of shorts out.  "Right, well.  Yeah.  I promised to stay until a bit after midnight.  And I'm going to honor it, since Alice's flying monkey is here."  She glances at Tom.


Arcadia

"Aw, I don't want to spoil the surprise."


Levi

Soon after you make it back, Somnis starts gathering everyone together.


Everyone

"Hey everyone!" Somnis calls.  "Alright, so...  Jeez, where to even begin?  I'm guessing most of you know about the otherworld already.  Some of you... probably don't, but people I trust wanted to bring you in to help."


Leia

She glances at you and Mattea.

...The otherworld?  They don't know you know...


Everyone

"And some of you got invited because someone didn't get the memo about not using this as a way to pick up chicks."


Arcadia

Whoever this black-haired skank is, she's glaring at you and Kiran.  Oh, honey.  If she's playing with you, she's making a big boo-boo.


Everyone

"So, uh...  Everyone who doesn't know about or believe in the otherworld, sorry.  But we've got a lot of stuff to talk about so you're just going to have to hold the disbelief until the portals open up at midnight, K?"  Somnis cheerfully bounces on the balls of her feet.  "Alright.  Let's... start with Saturday.  Katie and Fox wandered into a dangerous situation, and I got turned to stone trying to save them.  A lot of you worked together to save us, so... thanks.  Alice, Levi, Morgan, Tom, Dewey, Tai, Natsumi, Buttons... and two others we haven't met.  You all saved us three, and the Soul Guardian, as well.  Um, right.  Guardians are, like... the big strong monsters that oversee each zone in the otherworld.  And they all have these really strong things called Guardian Souls.  Someone's after them, so... we sorta took the Soul Guardian, disguised her as a human, and, well... hid her.  In our world."  Somnis gestures to the head buried at her side.

"Hi!" Tia calls out cheerfully.  "Normally I'd be a giant snake, but I can't really maintain my true form outside the Soul Labyrinth."

"Yes, you would.  Unfortunately, someone who was supposed to be watching her blew her disguise because he thought it was an OK thing to talk about in the middle of a FUCKING ICE CREAM SHOP!"  Somnis glares towards Kiran and Arcadia.  Everyone immediately knows which one she's looking at.

"...Sorry," Kiran says to no one in particular.

"Well...  Let's talk about Alice."

"Ugh..." Tom groans.

"Alice was leading one of the teams that helped save us.  She's been secretly investigating the otherworld with Tom.  She saved me.  She helped me hide Tia - Lamia - by enrolling her in school.  It's, uh... why she skipped the speech Monday..."  Somnis looks guilty.  "Maybe that's what gave her away..."  She sighs.  "You all know that she's in the hospital.  She, uh...  Someone grabbed her and tossed her into the otherworld without a Soul Key.  Which...  Yeah.  She's going to be OK, but she was really hurt.  I don't think we can rely on her being around to help with this current problem.  I should... point out that this happened to Natsumi, as well, back before school started."

"Yeah...  I would've died if Buttons hadn't found my notes and tracked me down..." Natsumi admits.

Buttons...  No one can read his expression under his hood, but he looks away.

"OK, so!"  Somnis claps and bounces again.  In contrast with her cheerful demeanor, she isn't smiling.  At all.  "Current disaster!  One of the Guardians is trying to gather all of the souls because she thinks she needs them to ward off some disaster that she foresaw in the starts.  That lady is named Mercia.  And she looks like an angel.  And she already has several souls.  If you see her, whatever you do, do not try to fight her.  She can't collect more souls herself thanks to the otherworld Beasts, but... that's not important right now.  What is important is that she's kidnapped Laura, the Wrestling team captain.  And is going to kill her in two weeks' time if we don't trade her the Fire Soul.  But he lives in the Magma Scar.  For those who don't know, that portal's in the Fire Station.  But Fox, Katie, Dewey and I already tried to investigate it.  There's a lot of lava and fire and we can't safely explore that area, much less figure out whether to talk to the Fire Guardian or fight him or try to rescue Laura who's being held there or..."

Kiran pats Somnis on the shoulder.  She gasps and calms down.  She was... starting to freak out.  "Ah... right.  So...  We're here to collect some items that will let us make fire-resistant armor.  You should all split up into smaller groups for this.  It's more manageable.  So, uh...  Groups of 5, please!"

A portal blinks into existence beside her.

"...Before we begin, are there any questions?" Somnis asks.


Arcadia

Most people seem to be staring at a patch of open beach near Somnis.  For some reason.  Mattea looks confused.


Leia

Natsumi and Buttons partner up.  She gives you a look like she wants you to join her group.


Everyone

Somnis and Tia look like they're going to be leading one of the groups.  Natsumi and Buttons look like they plan to lead another.  Fox and Katie are standing together and don't look like they want to break up.  Tom looks to his side and then to the ground.  Sadly.

Tai sighs.

Well fuck.

He turns to Mattea. "Hey, you wanna grab Alice's Monkey and joing Natty and Buttons? Or we could be cool kids and start our own group. I don't doubt you can handle yourself, but, ah shit, I don't know. Whatever, so?" Tai gives her a half-hearted smirk. Not that he didn't love the adventure and all, but seriously fuck his life.

Dewey will go with Fox and Katie.

Currently:
Somnis, Tia, Morgan, _____, _____
Fox, Katie, Dewey, Kiran, _____
Natsumi, Buttons, Mattea, Tai, _____

Undecided:
Tom (requested for Somnis/Natty)
Levi (requested for Somnis)
Leia (requested for Natty)
Acadia (unceremoniously tossed aside)

PCs get first pick, obviously.