2025-03-11 - We're going on a Shadowmander Hunt!

[TXT to Roman] August: OMG did you hear about SHADOWMANDERS?

[TXT to August] Roman: Has emo music made a comeback?

[TXT to August] Roman: Is that a new band?

[TXT to Roman] August: They are magical underwater creatures! Some people at a beach party the other day saw them! Wanna come look for some?

[TXT to August] Roman: Yeah! See you there!

It's late afternoon, and not long after the text exchange between Auggie and Roman, Auggie turns up at the beach accompanied by Moose, his brown bear familiar. It's a quiet day and apart from a couple of joggers, the beach is empty as far as the eye can see - just them, the sound of the waves and the occasional cries of gulls wheeling overhead. As far as Auggie is concerned, the search for the Shadowmanders is on and he's wandering in the surf at the edge of the water, the small waves lapping around his bare ankles as he scans for...tracks...or something!

For Shadowmander hunting, Auggie is wearing a pair of faded, coral-pink board shorts with a tropical pattern of palm fronds and hibiscus flowers, and a loose, sleeveless tank top in soft seafoam green. His hair’s windswept from the lake breeze, and he’s got a selection of woven hemp and cord bracelets and silly bands worn around his right wrist.

“Moose, don’t scare them,” he whispered over his shoulder, glancing back at his familiar. For his part, Moose does not seem terribly interested in Shadowmanders, but dutifully plods along after his charge. He's currently paused to snuffle around a driftwood log that's washed up on the shore a few feet away, though he looks up in response to the whispering to give Auggie an indulgent, if somewhat long suffering look of affection.

Roughly about ten to fifteen minutes later Roman is coming down the beach, backpack slung over a shoulder and skateboard in hand. he rode it as far as he could, but that thing doesn't work on sand. One would think he is wearing shorts because the weather is starting to get warmer, but that's not it. The weather still isn't shorts weather, and he wears them most of the time. It's a contrast to the hoodie he wears with it.

Moose is easy to spot, and where the bear is, Auggie isn't far. Roman hopes at least. And yes, there he is getting a head start on searching for the magical underwater creatures. "Hey!" he calls out, giving a double wave as he picks up the pace. "You spot any yet?" he drops his things unceremoniously on the sand, before pulling the hoodie over his head to toss it with his other stuff, and then off goes the sneakers. "How ya doin' Moose." he doesn't forget to greet the bear as he heads toward the water.

Auggie glances up from his somewhat intense study of the shoreline when he hears Roman calling out to him, his face lighting up with a broad, toothy smile. "Roman! Dude!" he chirps happily, heading up the beach towards where Roman is busily piling up his stuff. "Nothing yet, but I only just got her like ten minutes ago..." Auggie explains, glancing back over his shoulder at the shore, and then back to Roman, to whom Auggie offers a high-five and then a squishy hug whenever he gets close enough. Moose also seems to recognise themerman, and gives him a low rumble of greeting, the log given a final sniff, before he flops down on the sand. It's not super warm yet, but the beach is a sunny spot, and Moose clearly feels like he's not on babysitting duty any more now Roman has arrived.

"Auggie!" Roman is all bright smiles as he greets the captain with a high-five and a hug. His arm will linger, draped casually around Auggie's shoulder as long as he is alright with it and isn't pulling away, though he does turn to look at the water "Where is the rest of the furry and feathered crew?" Roman asks curiously, not seeing either the energetic Bubbles, or the mysterious Echo. "I figured Bubbles would be at the front of the line to find these..." there is a beat "Shadowmanders? Where did that name come from?" He looks from the water to Auggie at the question.

"So do we have a plan? A strategy to find these creatures?" the questions continue. "And why hasn't the employee forum been blowing up about them?"

Far from pulling away, Auggie seems more than alright with the arm around his shoulder and even ends up leaning into it a little as the pair of them turn to look out across the beach and the water. "Hmm?" Auggie asks when Roman asks about where Bubbles and Echo are, only for the penny to drop a moment later as Auggie explains. "Oh! Well, the guy who told me about the shadowmanders said they're like two feet long with sharp teeth. So, I figured Moose'd be okay, but I didn't wanna bring Bubbles or Echo until we've made friends with them, right?" Auggie chatters away.

When Roman mentions that he'd expected Bubbles to be at the front of the queue, Auggie laughs. "He would have been! But I didn't want him to get too excited and then get bitten on the nose or something..." Auggie frowns a little at this. "I guess the people at the party called them Shadowmanders. They're like...new! Nobody ever saw them before!"Auggie gestures wide with one arm along the lake, his golden toned skin glittering slightly in the afternoon sun. As for a plan? "I bought a can of Tuna...so I figured if we kept a close eye out then we could like...lure one in and make it our best friend?" Auggie suggests hopefully. Roman may prove to be more the planner of this dynamic duo.

Roman grins at Auggie when he doesn't seem at all inclined to pull away from the contact. "I see. That makes a lot of sense." He gives a sage style nod. "Smart. Do want to risk Bubbles becoming a wereshadowmander." He knows that isn't the real reason or an actual threat, but he always likes to bring in the levity.

"It's good that he and Echo aren't here then." Roman adds a bit more seriously. "There is plenty of time for slower introductions." He doesn't want the animals to get hurt either.

"Oh so we wait on the beach and hope they smell the tuna and come around to check it out?" He sounds both dubious and curious at the same time. "Or more like our best friend as long as the tuna lasts." He gives a laugh at that. "Or...we leave the open can under the watchful eyes of Moose in case a seagull or other bird tries to eat it, and take a dive to the bottom to see what we see." He looks from Auggie to the water. "Should be shallow enough here for that." He's fine with either really.

Auggie laughs happily, punctuated with a "Dude!" when Roman speculates upon the risks of Bubbles becoming a wereshadowmander. Though honestly, on these islands, is that so far out of the question? He leans in to give Roman a friendly bump with his shoulder, and then nods his head in agreement. "Once we're best friends with them, then we can bring Bubbles and Echo down and meet them. I just wanted to keep things chill for a first meeting, right?" Auggie declares, in the certain knowledge that between them, Auggie and Roman can absolutely make friends with any sort of aquatic creatures they want!

To be fair, Auggie had not developed a detailed plan for how this befriending was to occur, and Roman's rather dubious sounding description of it has Auggie's cheeks flushing slightly pink as he lifts his free arm to scratch somewhat helplessly at the top of his head. "I dunno...I never tracked down underwater magical creatures before..." he admits with an easy laugh, clearly enjoying himself even if he hasn't made the best and most thorough of preparations. He's puzzling over the idea, which is when Roman mentions a dive to the bottom! "See! I knew you'd have all the smart ideas!" Auggie beams, glancing over at the water once more. "Let's do that!" he affirms with a nod, though to be fair, suggesting auggie get in the water is bound to be a winner at any time.

"Right! Right!" Roman is all agreement on the making friends with animals things. They are both tenacious enough that they won't give up until it happens. And it is bound to happen eventually. In his head that eventually is short term, not long.

"This is a first for me too..." there is a slight pause, "unless you count abalone, which aren't magical, and they don't move all that fast. So probably don't count those." And the shadowmanders are both. He gives a laugh brushing some of his wind blown hair from his face.

"Diving it is!" Roman all but crows as he drops his arm from around Auggie's shoulders. "I'll grab my phone, if you want to set out the tuna." he goes for his backpack to grab his phone, securing it into a water proof phone pouch and secures the strap around his wrist. "I'd be sick if we could film then underwater while we are at it." He will wait for Auggie to do what he needs to do, if anything, before heading to the water.

Auggie crows right along with Roman when the decision to go diving for shadowmanders is arrived at after a (very small) amount of consideration. Auggie pumps his fist and hos in the air as Roman's hand slips away from his shoulders and he hurries off in the direction of Moose, still sprawled out in a sunny spot, calling out to the oversized bear as he gets near. "Hey, Moose!" he yells happily, reaching down to scratch the big old bear behind the ears as he explains. "Me and Roman are going to go diving and try and find some shadowmanders. Can you watch our stuff?" he chatters away, tugging his tank top off over his head and depositing it on the sand beside Moose, who grumbles, but still places a protective paw over the item all the same. In recompense, Auggie opens the can of Tuna and deposits the contents on a big flat rock nearby, explaining to Moose. "You can have some, but leave some for the shadowmanders, 'kay?" with a waggle of his finger, even though he knows full well the Tuna will be gone within seconds of him and Roman being out of sight.

As they both do the minimal prep work for diving in the cold waters of Lake Michigan, Roman glances occasionally at Auggie as he interacted with Moose. Laughter is stifled at the offer of tuna to the bear. He suddenly isn't as hopeful that there will be any left as Auggie seems, even though it was his idea.

"Is that like leaving the wolf to babysit the lamb?" Roman asks as he looks between Moose and Auggie. "If we have to we can always order food to be delivered Nora's." Or from one of the other restaurants on Crescent.

It's off into the water then, water splashes upward as Roman runs into the waves, the frigid temperature not bothering him in the slightest. Once he gets out far enough he dives into the water disappearing under the surface. He isn't under long though popping up a few feet away to give a look around for Auggie.

Auggie laughs happily when Roman catches on that the Tuna is almost definitely a goner, glancing back over his shoulder and flashing him a toothy smile. Turning his back on Moose, Auggie looks to Roman and lifts a finger to his lips, shoving his free hand into the pocket of his shorts as he does. A little rummaging around, and Auggie is drawing out a handful of the little dried sprats he feeds to Bubbles as a treat, waggling his eyebrows playfully.

With that he's dashing off towards the water. Not quite so fast as Roman (who admittedly has very long legs) he's only a second or two behind as they go crashing into the low waves coming in off the lake until the water goes past his knees, and eventually past his waist before he plunges beneath the surface. He ends up resurfacing only a handful of feet from Roman and, after taking a moment to push his hair out of his eyes, the smile returns as he paddles a little closer. "Ready?" he asks, coming to a pause just within arm's length.

“Well aren’t you just a swimming bit of shadowmander bait.” Roman laughs with the comment to Auggie as they are briefly treading water. “Let’s hope they let you take those little fish out of your pocket, else you may have some issues.” He won’t elaborate further, sure that Auggie’s own imagination can fill in the rest.

“Oh yeah.” He holds up his wrist that has the phone dangling. “And if we need to communicate we can type it out.” He mostly brought it for video, but it will work for talking too. “Let’s go!” He lifts a hand for a high five before diving under the water again, to dolphin kick his way toward the bottom.

Auggie hadn't really considered the possibility of having a pocket full of fish until Roman mentioned it, and then he glances down, suddenly a little concerned. His brow furrows for just a moment, and then he laughs, reaching over to give Roman a playful shove as he exclaims, "Dude! Stop freaking me out!" with a flash of pearly white teeth. He doesn't seem too worried (maybe he ought to be!), but then Roman is holding up his phone and explaining it, which provides a suitable level of distraction. "Sweeeet!" Auggie agrees, bobbing his head enthusiastically. He hadn't thought that far ahead about his phone, which is safely back with Moose on the shore, so they'll have to share. Then it comes time to dive, and Auggie returns the high five before diving alongside Roman. He's a great swimmer for someone who isn't a part-time merperson, but he doesn't have that dolphin kick going, so maybe not quite as fast.

And so comes the crux of Roman's problem with shadowmander hunting, besides them being about two feet long with sharp teeth, he has no idea what the things look like. He doubts that most of the unfamiliar creatures he sees under the water is going to be one. Thankfully the list of unfamiliar lake creatures is a short one. Looking back he slows, letting Auggie catchup to him, before going deeper into the water.

The light filtering through the water, glints off of schools of small fish, as well as the aqua/teal scales that run down Roman's sides, and no doubt off of anything or anyone else who is prone to being shiny. He points downward indicating going deeper and then off to where there are kelp beds and other aquatic plant life that would make good concealment for any kind of water creature. This is followed by a head tilt and questioning expression.

Two feet long magical creatures with sharp teeth! What more do you need?! Surely you would notice one of those swimming at you! So goes Auggie's thinking anyway. And even if they don't find any Sahdowmanders, an excuse to play around in the lake with Roman is quite an excuse enough as far as Auggie is concerned! Auggie isn't quite as underwater adapted as Roman, so although he can hold his breath down here, he's not as quick or agile (yet, anyway!) so when Roman stops to wait for him, Auggie pounds his legs and catches up pretty quickly, grinning broadly as he draws near and catches sight of the various shoals of silvery fish! Even Auggie glitters gold beneath the sunlight down here. He nods in emphatic agreement with the suggestion of the kelp bed and follows Rom towards and then between the thick fronds. It's a perfect place for a reclusive, mysterious creature to lurk. In fact, so good is it that Auggie soon loses sight of Roman, following along after a promising looking shadow that turns out to be nothing!

As the pair continue to cut through the water, Roman keeps to Auggies' speed, instead of leaving him behind. Of course that is pointless when they get to the bed of kelp, it's tall fronds growing up toward the light

It's like a veritable forest that they are swimming through, the shadows growing thicker the deeper they go. To keep from stirring up the plants Roman lets himself drift on the current, making slight adjustments with a gentle motion of arm or leg to keep from getting either tangled up or drifting out of the kelp forest.

He has lost sight of Auggie, but Roman isn't worried about it just yet, but to make himself easier to find, the flashlight on his phone is turned on, beaming light in varied directions as his movements and the current jostle it around. Who knows maybe the light will light up a shadow to reveal something interesting.

Auggie ends up wandering off from Roman as they explore the kelp beds in search of the elusive Shadowmanders! Weaving this way and that between the fronds of kelp, Auggie kicks his feet behind him. He's not quite as graceful a swimmer as Roman, so he does end up kicking up a bill of a silty cloud behind him at one point, but since he can breathe underwater, there's no concern! Overall, Auggie is having a great time, peering here and there among the rocks and the kelp fronds in search of their quarry. Only when he's wandered relatively far does he realise Roman isn't along for the ride anymore. He glances about, somewhat casually at first, then a little more urgently. There aren't any sharks or alligators in the lake, but it is still quite dark and deep, and not a place Auggie wants to hang out all on his lonesome for long. Luckily, it doesn't take long for him to spot the rays of Roman's torch through the gloom, and a kick of his legs has him pushing on through the kelp in the direction of his buddy.

It's easy to be graceful in the water when you aren't wearing a nearly 40 pound (or 18 kg) mermaid tail. Those things aren't light. Something Roman does on the daily, so this is easy, and he is letting the water do a lot of the work at the moment. He dives deeper, weaving through the fronds that grow up toward the light, letting the beam of light from his phone shine where it will, mostly on more kelp, though the does startle a turtle that is as big as his head, and it rapidly paddles away.

The light reflects on shimmering gold as Auggie heads in his direction, and Roman banks to swim toward him. See anything he signs, using a finger moving back and forth indicating eyes or see, and the around to well, indicate the area. As he his doing his charades a long, shadowy form swims quickly past the pair, brushing against legs and feet. One would think with all the underwater diving he has done, Roman would be unfazed, he is not, he is fazed, but in a startled way, bubbles escape from his mouth as he gahs, and looks wide eyed at Auggie for a moment before looking around the see which way it went.

Auggie has never seen Roman doing his mermaid show, but he's pretty impressed with his buddy's underwater mobility as he finally catches up to him, a bright grin spreading over his face as he emerges from amid the kelp fronds, blowing a steady stream of bubbles behind him as he goes. Auggie notices the way his own skin shimmers gold under the light of the phone, and when he gets close enough, he reaches out to take it (if Roman is in a sharing mood!). Once he does, Auggie turns the light from the phone on Roman, pointing out the way his scales shimmer under the light with a pleased smile. When Roman asks whether Auggie saw anything, he blinks just a little brainlessly and then indicates the phone. Yes he saw the light from the phone. Not helpful, Auggie. Just then, though, a mysterious dark shape flits between them, and the chase is afoot! Auggie draws closer to Roman and shines the light about, keeping a close eye out for darting Shadowmanders!

That is what he brought his phone for, and Roman holds the arm out so Auggie can take the phone, and he moves the arm however is necessary to light up what the captain wants to show him. Of course that requires a certain amount of closeness, since the strap isn't all that long. The fact that its the golden shimmer of skin makes Roman look at said shimmering skin as the light plays across it. He then looks back up into Auggie's smiling face. There is a saucy smirk in return to Auggie's pleased one. It's not helpful, but Roman isn't bothered by that, not when they get strafed by something big and shadowy.

With the light attached to his wrist, Roman doesn't have much choice but to get even closer, no complaints on that. He leaves his arm relaxed, so it can be moved freely with the phone light as he looks around excitedly following the light where it shines. After a moment he uses his free hand to pat the pocket where Auggie has the little fishes he brought to tempt out the shadowmanders. Now may be a good time to bring out the bait.

Auggie isn't so much scared (Auggie is far too optimistic to be scared!) as surprised when the dark shape shoots past their ankles. He does still draw a little closer to Roman, so they end up brushing up against each other just a little - no complaints from Auggie, either! - as Auggie uses the light from the phone (still attached to Roman's wrist) to try and figure out where the fleeting glimpse of...whatever it was, has gotten off to!

Luckily, just a little shining of the light around, picks out a flurry of motion around the base of a nearby rock formation, poking up out of the kelp fronds. Auggie follows it with the light, but it's not quite strong enough to get a really clear view. Suddenly becoming aware of Roman's hand tapping at his pocket, Auggie smiles brilliantly, releasing his grip on Roman's phone and reaching into his pocket to pull out the (at least now slightly rehydrated) sprats. Turning his face towards Roman, Auggie catches his attention, and then points enthusiastically down at the rocks!

Where the light goes, Roman's gaze follows, searching the shadows that the beam of light creates as it pierces through the murky water. And there are a lot of shadows thanks to the kelp that sways in the water's current. Of course there are movements in those shadows, but all small and fleeting. Not what they are searching for.

It is pretty easy for Auggie to get Roman's attention, so he looks over at Auggie and then down to where the pointing action is indicating. While he doesn't see anything, he trusts that the other man must have, so nods with an excited smile giving a thumbs up. Not wanting to get separated again, he points to the hand that Auggie does not have the fish in and taps his own shoulder. Once the message is clear and Auggie is holding on (should he decide to do that), Roman will start swimming down toward the rock formation, at a perfectly normal pace, for now.

Auggie catches on easily enough and seems happy to set his one hand on Roman's shoulder so they can't lose sight of one another as they follow the whatever-it-was down to the rock formation he'd spotted a little below them. Suggie is a really great swimmer. He's spent a lifetime in the water, and thanks to magic, he can even breathe underwater! He just isn't quite as supernaturally fast and agile under the water as Roman. Still, Roman very kindly sets a pace Auggie can keep up with as they dive down toward the rocks, Auggie kicking his feet behind him and keeping a sharp eye out for any more signs of movement. The formation is pretty intricate, with lots of cracks and crevices to make ideal hidey-holes for skittish (or playful) underwater critters. Auggie leaves the torch to Roman as they get nearer, searching about for any sign of the elusive Shadowmanders!

No doubt that Roman wouldn’t have much problem with pulling Auggie through the water at near his top speed, and that would be fun, but now is not the time for that. And where they are going isn’t far enough away to make it a worthwhile venture.

As Auggie searches the hidey-holes that the rocks provide, it’s Roman’s turn to follow the leader, shining light as needed to illuminate where he is going, though not shining the beam directly into the spaces unless directed too. Seeing a flash of gold off to his left, which he knows isn’t Auggie, since he is on his other side, he sees a large, dark shape shimmy between to large rocks. is it playing hide and seek. He taps Auggie’s arm and points to where he saw it, and with a few gestures, indicates he saw something and that Auggie should go one way around, and he will go the other to see if they can catch whatever it is between them.

That would be fun! But, it would also rather defeat the object of the noble Shadowmander hunt! So, Auggie is happy when Roman just swims along in the direction of the rock formation and, rather than making Roman drag him along, Auggie obligingly kicks his legs to keep pace. Coming up on the rocks, Auggie carefully keeps one hand on Roman as he peers into all of the little nooks and niches, following the torchlight in their search for the elusive underwater creatures. They don't seem to be having a huge amount of luck at first, as every likely hidey hole they come across turns out to be empty, or filled with some other kind of (admittedly interesting) underwater critter, but not the ones they're questing after! Eventually though, there is a flash of movement, and the barest sight of a dark shape disappearing away on the other side of the rocks, and Auggie points frantically after it, gesturing wildly!

Did they both catch sight of the same creature or different creatures? Does it matter? Not really, at least not in Roman's head. They will do this better as a team than individually so he acknowledges the wild gesticulating, and goes with Auggie, swimming toward the rocks. His gaze searches the area around the formation, looking for any other signs of movements.

Roman goes around one side of the formation, hoping he can flush whatever it was back toward Auggie, and the other can tempt it closer with a pocketful of fish.

Auggie and Roman split up, with Auggie dashing around one side of the rock formation while Roman takes the other, attempting to cut whatever it is they've found off at the pass! As he goes, Auggie rummages around in his pocket until he can pull out the handful of sprats he'd stowed there. They're definitely not totally dehydrated any more, but neither are they back to full fishy plumpness, remaining in a somewhat mushy, yet dessicated state. Luckily, they're also pretty ily, which means they have a good fishy smell, and as Auggie tugs them out of his pocket, you can see the little oil slick they make in the water around them. Coming around the rock, there's another flurry of movement, though it halts slightly at the sight, and scent, of the proffered fishies! Holding them out in front of him, Auggie gives them an encouraging wiggle and slowly, slowly, out of the shadow of the rocks, slips a pretty large-looking black Shadowmander!

As Roman comes around the other side he holds back to let Auggie tempt the creature out with the small fishies. He just lets himself float there in the water, swishing arms gently as needed to keep from moving around in the current, and possibly spooking the creatures.

As for the shadowmander, once it gets a whiff of the fish that Auggie is wiggling, it rapidly wriggles its way, opening its pointy teethed maw to snatch the fish and gobble them up. The fish lasts seconds before they are gone, and then the creature is wriggling circles around Auggie, its tale swishing back and forth as it moves through the water. It's obviously looking for more of the food.

Taking this as a good sign, Roman comes closer, a triumphant smile in his face. Thinking maybe this new person may have fish too, the shadowmander goes to circling him a few times, herding him closer, so that the shadowmander is swimming circles around them both. Grabbing the dangling phone, Roman gets some pics of the shadowy creature before indicating to Auggie that a selfie should be taken. If Auggie is willing, Roman puts an arm around his shoulder, leaning in close, though doesn't take the pic until the shadowmander is in the picture, which doesn't take long.

Having accomplished what they set out to do, Roman gestures upward, and will start to ascend once Auggie is ready.

Auggie is about as delighted as one might expect to have suddenly met and befriended his very first underwater magical creature! He's practically vibrating with excitement as he quickly feeds the little guy the pocketful of fishies he brought with him, beaming widely as the little guy chomps them up so happily. When their new buddy swims over to say hi to Roman, Auggie even reaches out a (careful!) hand and gives the shadowmander a long stroke along its back, which he seems to enjoy! The selfie is duly taken, with Roman and Auggie both beaming like idiots with their newest buddy before he finally, eventually swims off in the direction of other delicious smelling underwater snack foods. Mission accomplished, the boys kick their way back towards the surface, where no doubt much jubilation and recounting of their exploits will ensue!