OPEN space ghost coast to coast

[KNOX.]

The second task post-destruction was much more immediately satisfying than the occasional planting of seeds throughout the island. That was necessary, of course, but doing so unassisted by any nature abilities led to a long waiting period for them to sprout and re-fill desolated patches. Knox was not an impatient creature, though, it merely saw the appeal in instant gratification. More importantly, it thought, this was going to be an act for the balance of their island and their deities. There was also the part where it was essentially a clean up of gross eyesores along their otherwise beautiful beaches. In other words, she found this to be a very important task for multiple reasons and was quite happy to be given it.

She started along the main beach, where the Departed would spend most their time being so close to their caves. There were a couple nets splayed across the sand, and the lioness took a moment to survey the trash she would have to gather. Anything hollow was easy for her to simply bat into the center one of the nets, though there were the odd smaller and flimsier pieces she had to pluck up with her mouth. It was tedious at points, but something primitive within Knox certainly found some...amusement in the bopping sound of the jugs being knocked across the sand.

There wasn't time to be entranced by childish games, though, and she quickly filled up two nets with the garbage. It was difficult to judge how much she would be able to comfortably carry, but for a first try it was a pretty decent guess. She folded them over and grabbed a stick to twist the ends together, making for a much easier gripping point to drag the two nets full of garbage back toward the lava pit. Well, this was certainly going to take a while. 

[XANTI]

the hardest thing to me is facing the fear i live

no one can help me now, it’s under my heart!

Whenever Knox returned from the trip down to the sacrificial lava pools, it’d find the lazy cheetah sunbathing on the beach. From a distance, xe looked like xe was meditating—or taking a nap—amongst the garbage. Lying on its side, the cheetah’s rear paws and scorpion tail rested on the shore where the waves occasionally brushed its toes.

However, on closer inspection, while Xanti did have its eyes closed, xe wasn’t napping or meditating.

Next to xem was a steadily growing pile of wet garbage. Every two minutes, a teleportation pop! and broken plastic dropped into the pile. The waves off the ocean were serene, unchanged, and there wasn’t any indication where on the reefs Xanti was plucking this garbage from. But, clearly, xe had found an efficient way to get at an unreachable source of disgustingness.

Pop! A crushed-up bottle of dishwasher detergent. 

Xanti opened xyr eyes and blinked. A paw lifted off the sand to shade xyr face and take off the glare.

“Hey, Knox.” Xanti managed to say her name completely before a yawn overcame xem. Golden eyes squinted shut, maw stretched wide. Then xyr jaw snapped shut and xe blinked to look up at the maned lioness. “Heard you got beach cleanup duty. Figured I might as well help ya out. Don’t think I’ve had a chance to talk to the fellow it/its pronouns queer on the Big Island.”

“Don’t mind me. I can focus regardless of my surroundings. Focusing through conversation is good practice.” Xe flashed a grin.

template by orion

[DEAD EYE]

Dead Eye did not have the luxury that Xanti had. If he was a true old prude, he'd say that these youngsters had it easier, but he knew that was not true. They all still had to clean up the mistakes of the older generation, just as his generation had. The difference was that some of them, like the cheetah, took the route with less effort... and xe was smarter for that. Why put in the physical effort when you could command your brain to do the work? Cleanup would only go faster. 

Unfortunately for the canine, he did not have that luxury. He had to do everything by hand. Sure, he had the accompaniment of Vayu's finest, but they could not interfere with the mortal world. Their chatter was the only thing driving him to clean anyways, given they brought a whole new level of social pressure to his reality. That said, he paraded up to Knox and held out a paw. He nodded down at one of her two nets. "Give me one," Dead Eye demanded. "I'll clean up Xanti's mess."

He looked over at the feline and their pile of garbage that was accumulating. While he did not know the limits of the other's powers, couldn't they just teleport the garbage to the lava pits? There had to be an easier way for xyr to do this. "Can you summon another net to lay down underneath your garbage next time?" he chided.

[KNOX.]

Upon coming back to start piling up garbage for a second trip, Knox didn't pay much attention to Xanti. A lazy cheetah was easy to work around, and she wasn't exactly expecting any help anyway. As it carried along, batting trash into the nets and gathering as much of the small thin packages, any scent of what they would've carried washed away by the water, its ears flipped back in a momentary surprise at the sound of trash teleporting. She looked over at Xanti, head tilted just a moment as she watched trash from seemingly no where pop right into the pile beside xem. 

On a closer inspection, it seemed like wet trash. Xe were pulling it right from the ocean, huh? Well, that wasn't certainly a much bigger help than just grabbing stuff off the beach. She wasn't keen on diving into the water herself for it, as much as cooling off would be nice, she just simply would not be as efficient. It huffed to itself, a little amused even. A pleasant surprise that it hadn't expected help, but there it was from the most unlikely candidate. "Xanti, I appreciate it. We are lucky to have such unique abilities among us to aid in clean-up." 

She turned to continue cleaning up, inclining her head just slightly at the comment. "Guess that is me, didn't really think much of that fact."

Knox looked up back when Dead Eye entered the scene, marching up to demand a net from her. She didn't care much for making others ask for things nicely, gods knew she could be rather blunt herself. It simply grabbed one of the nets it brought back up and dropped it over his extended paw. "I was going to make Xanti figure that out itself, but another paw in the matter doesn't hurt either. Maybe we should gather up a few more nets for this anyway. At least, I'll make note for another day as I don't believe this will be anywhere near done today."

[XANTI]

XANTI

“No problem.” Xanti flashed another smirk at Knox, then closed xyr eyes to concentrate on conjuring the trash while holding a conversation. “Most of the time, increased effort is useless. You burn four times the energy for double the impact. By slowing down, you make less mistakes and use less energy.”

A pop! A crushed up six pack entangled in the connecting plastic.

Still with xyr eyes closed, Xanti shrugged.

“However, I am motivated to not starve. In the case of cleaning up the beaches and reefs, the faster this is accomplished, the better the outcome.”

A triplet: plip-plop-plat! A sharp fishhook. A toothbrush. A capless bottle of asprin.

“So I’m glad my abilities are useful.” Xanti smirked to xemself. Xe rested the back of a paw over xyr closed eyes. “And, hey, I’m glad you didn’t think much of it—haha, that fact—means the Descendants is a good home for both of us.” A slight frown. “I’ve had to travel the mainland for supplies many times, and the people there… well, I’m always glad to return home.”

Then, directly after Dead Eye appeared and spoke about cleaning up xyr mess, Xanti laughed. “Thanks, old man.” Why bother running xemself ragged trying to do everything xe possibly could… when people like Dead Eye got their joy in life from making himself useful?

A plap! A crushed-up car tire appeared on the top of the pile.

“Eh, I could summon another net, but taking people’s things without asking is rude.”