EXTERIOR- The beach, deep into the wilds, far west of Triangle Valley. A short way north of the oceanic port where adventurous sailors drop their spoils, to be shipped to Saustis.

  The beach is poputed exclusively by muscur, tall, well-fed, well-sculpted and well-armed men and women, wearing either barely-not-indecent-exposure-type swimsuits or full sets of glistening armor, and nothing between those two things. Save for maybe a small handful wearing robes or something.

  In the middle of it all stands a tall, tanned figure (who refers to himself only as a "Beach Wizard"), in tan robes with a tan wizard's hat, standing atop a pilr of sand. His facial hair is also tan. The beach-goers stare up at him with a mixture of shock and fear. And delight, because he looks pretty silly.

  FINALLY PRESENT - THE GIRL (Wearing a gray, less waterlogged sweater, and her also less wet maroon ball cap. No armor. YES shorts, because beach. Her shorts are also less wet. The sand kind of dries everything out pretty good.)

  Currently, the girl is being gripped by a giant hand made out of sand.

  ALSO FINALLY HERE- THE BOY (Shirtless and very wet, with flip-flops and incredibly short trunks that the girl had ying around, for whatever reason. They're also wet. Because he is doing something akin to swimming in them.) He's finally back to shore. It took him quite some time to float back.

  TIME - Well into the afternoon, nearing early evening. The sun is starting to set upon the beach-goers, and especially the so-called "Beach Wizard"

  "AHK! DAMN YOU!" Shouted the ol- No, sorry, force of habit-

  ((What? Why would you put that-))

  The GIRL said it, this time. The old man just kind of shivered and scrunched his face a bit, clearly disoriented. An incredibly soft, fluffy square of something had suddenly smmed against his chest. It move him, and it didn't hurt at all, it wasn't nearly as impactful as the sound effect implied, but the old man had been bracing himself for great pain and hardship. Getting struck by something soft and fluffy so suddenly shocked him just enough to disorient him for a moment.

  Despite her anger, she only hesitated for a moment before seizing the moment, springing back into action.

  At once, with the briefest of wrist-flicks and quiet incantation, a five-foot cube's worth of sand was torn away from the fist that had grabbed here, and was jettisoned far away, and back to the beach far below.

  The girl went into freefall as the hand fell away- Fortunately, she had the foresight to angle herself upward before hand, giving her the perfect opportunity to nd on her feet, ready to spring herself right back into action.

  "E-Eh..? What even?" The old man's raspy voice rang out confusedly, his disorientation still very much apparent. He tilted his head down, trying to make sense of the white square at his feet, the thing that had struck him. "Is that... What even-"

  "AGAIN!" The girl shouted as she fell, bracing herself to leap the second she made contact with a surface.

  Moments ter, the old man had been struck again- This time at his back. This time, his eyes widened in realization.

  "A pillow?!" The old man excimed confusedly. "Who- WHOSE THROWING PILLOWS AT ME!? WHY WOULD YOU EVEN BRING THESE ON A BEACH TRIP!? THESE ARE NOT OUTDOOR PILLOWS!!!!"

  -------(Several Minutes Ago - At Sea, the boy and the girl swimming back to shore after getting bsted away by the initial explosion)

  "...MOTHERFLECKING STUPID PIECE OF CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!" The girl concluded her incredibly vulgar and wildly inappropriate ranting

  "this is remarkably unpleasant." Said the pretty-much-barely-not-drowning boy.

  "RRRRRRGG!" The girl growled like a cat, not even taking taking time to enjoy the sight of the boy struggling at sea. "WE WERE DONE SWIMMING! WE FINISHED! RRRRAAAAGH, I'M GONNA KILL THAT GUY, I'M GONNA TEAR HIM LIMB FROM LIMB AND PUT HIS FINGERS IN A STEW!"

  "i believe you."

  "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP BUG! FORTUNATELY WE'RE SWIMMING, SO MY FAR-SEEING SPELL'S WORKING FINE." The girl does not care to expin how those two things are reted. "I'VE GOT VISUAL ON THE GUY THAT DID THE THING- 70/30 ODDS HE'S A JUST WACKY GIMMICK BUTTWIPE WHO DIES IN ONE HIT!"

  "what of the other possibilities?" The boy tried his best to tilt his head.

  "ONLY ONE!" She decres, a deeply serious-looking darkness befalling the top half of her face, while she grits her teeth. "HE'S GENUINELY KINDA STRONG, ENOUGH TO SURVIVE ONE OF MY TOP-5 SPECIAL MOVES!"

  "are you going to use the strongest of the special moves, just to be safe?"

  "NO!" The girl snarled. "I DO NOT WANT TO! SO- HERE'S WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN: I'M GONNA STAB HIM, IT'S NOT GONNA WORK, I'M GONNA ACT SURPRISED, HE'S GONNA GRAB ME. IT'LL SEEM LIKE EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OVER... BUT THEN!" The girl throws her arm back, pointing dramatically at the boy, struggling to keep his head above water.

  "wha"

  "GIVEN THE WAY HE CARRIES HIMSELF, I'M GUESSING HE'S THE TYPE OF MORON WHO TOOK THE DEAL AND A BUNCH OF STUPID, CONTRIVED CONDITIONS THAT GIVE HIM A MASSIVE BOOST IN POWER- TOWER'S PROBABLY PART OF ONE! I'M GONNA MAKE HIM DITCH HIS TOWER SO I CAN BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM, BUT TO DO THAT, I NEED A DISTRACTION! SOMETHING TO DISORIENT HIM- OR BETTER YET, BLIND HIM!"

  "that is doable." The boy managed to say, not swallowing that much sea water. "and i know just what to do..."

  "WHAAAAT?"

  "i will throw sand in his eyes." The boy stated with utmost confidence.

  "..? What?" Her voice lowered, and she looked at with utter confusion. "You're gonna throw sand? How- What do you think that's going to accomplish?"

  "well, it will get in his eye-"

  "Okay, maybe if you were, like, point bnk, pretty much rubbing distance, but you'll be at the bottom of a pilr. Like, if you just pick up a heap of sand, it's just gonna scatter back into particles and fall the second you let go of it. Unless you, like, packed it up REAL tight and threw it right into his eye, it's just not gonna do anything. Best case scenario, you just hit him in the chest with a sandbag-minus-bag. That's ridiculous, that's a total waste of time. That's dumb, and you should feel bad."

  "o-oh."

  "Just, like, what was that thing you made the one time? A pillow, or something?"

  "yea"

  "Throw that."

  "But it won't."

  "It's fine, I'll manage."

  "oh."

  . . .

  ''kay." The boy was a little discouraged. And a little drowning.