Laughing maniacally Hyperion barreled down the beach with a big fish clutched in his teeth. If asked he would swear up and down bitterly that it was a shark, but really, it was just a large shallow water fish who’d had the misfortune of looking vaguely shark-like. It was for Cissy. Why? Well...why not? He thought it was pretty cool and she was kind of brainy so maybe she’d like it.

He’d come back to the beach party with the sole purpose of making more connections but as time wore on his priorities had gotten a bit muddied. That may or may have had something to do with the bottle he’d found. It tasted terrible but made him so warm and fuzzy he couldn’t leave it alone.

As he ran Hyperion kept having to close his eyes because the “shark” kept smacking him with its tail. This weaving through wolves with his eyes sometimes closed sometimes not became a game. So far he was doing it flawlessly. Only one person had kicked sand at him and-

Out of nowhere he was sent rolling as he collided with something. Sand and legs went everywhere. Somehow the “shark” disappeared. When it was all said and done Hyperion was on his head with his tail in his face and his legs tangled together. Dazed, he unaccordion’d himself and looked around first in confusion and then alarm as he realized his prize was gone. There! He spied it flopping frantically towards the water and had just enough time to lurch to his paws before it disappeared into the waves. “No! Awwww!”

Instantly he took issue with whoever had tripped him up. Clearly it was not his fault, he’d been doing great. He spun to face his tripper. “You should watch where you’re going, bud-“ Oh hey it was a woman and she was kinda pretty. His tune changed. “I mean, I am sssuper really sorry. My bad, I should be more careful.” Looking concerned, he asked, “Are you okay?”

Caelia had been wondering initially why she was here, wildly uncertain about her brilliant idea to come here at all, but after some drinking it became increasingly harder to think about much at all. Instead she felt like she was kind of just.. floating? Her paws carried her across the beach in a direction she felt she hadn't even chosen, wandering aimlessly across the black sand. She vaguely remembered a conversation with Domari and encouraging him to tell Justice about his feelings for her, but everything beyond that was pleasantly hazy.

And then suddenly she was jerked back to reality by a sudden collision, which all but knocked the wind out of her. From the corner of her eye she saw a fish flopping toward the water. But her attention was captured by the blindly bright male who'd collided with her and fallen. Somehow she had remained upright, but she didn't feel terribly steady on her paws regardless. The world was spinning fast and she was just trying to stay from toppling over, her hazy gaze focusing on Hyperion as best as she could.

"I.. don't know where I'm going," Caelia started, not with uncertainty but with the awkwardness of someone who was having trouble controlling her tongue. Sober Caelia would've been quite annoyed at his misdirected blame and quickly corrected him, but drunk Caelia seemed much calmer. Or more confused. Or maybe a bit of both? "Were you fishing?" She asked after a moment, tilting her head back to the water. His fish was nowhere to be found. "I'm fine. I think," she added, twisting her head around sharply as if trying to examine herself for injuries. No, she was definitely fine. Probably. Hard to tell.

As far as things he'd tripped over went, the woman was by far the cutest. Granted, most of the things he'd tripped over tonight were inanimate objects and/or his feet, but, you know, details. She was small and supple with bright green eyes and- oh she was talking so he should probably stop staring at her, shouldn't he? Hyperion averted his gaze for half a second, but it quickly found its way back. This time he managed to blink and not look seconds away from drooling dumbly. "I mean," he said glibly, "Do any of us really know where we're going?"

"I'm glad you're okay; that was a hard hit." What, fishing? Oh, yeah, his shark. In the seconds between being mad and oh hey, that's a woman, he'd forgotten about the shark. Damn, he'd been so happy to catch that guy. Now he was sad all over again. His one and only shark. It was unlikely he would catch another one. He was cool and all, but nobody was cool enough to catch two sharks in one night. It was hopeless.

"Yeah," he said sadly while listing drunkenly to the side. "I was fishing. Caught me a little tiny baby shark." He kicked at the sand dejectedly. "His name was Herbert, he was great." The name was about ten seconds old but the moment he'd thought it he knew it was perfect for his pal the shark. Rest in peace, Herbie. Damn he'd been cool.

He was pretty. So, so pretty. It took her a long while to get her eyes to focus on him properly, but when she finally zeroed in on him she wasn't sure she'd be able to ever look away. She certainly didn't notice he was staring - or if she did, it didn't properly registered in her jumbled up brain. "I... guess not," Caelia responded weakly to him. The truth was that she wasn't sure where she was going now, or tomorrow, or ever. Both in the more metaphorical sense as well as the much, much more literal sense. She nodded at his words. Yes, she was fine. Kind of. Possibly. But that was all unrelated to their little collision, and had much more to do with the alcohol she'd drank. Part of her regretted it, but another part of her didn't have the sense to, and that drunken part of her mind was much, much louder right now.

"Herbert?" Caelia replied. Finally she managed to drag her attention away from Hyperion and toward the water. "Do you think we can find him? I can swim," she suggested quickly. She swiveled around toward the water on unsteady paws and tried to squint at the water, looking for any sign of Herbert. Each wave that lapped against the shore resembled a shark's fin in her mind and her gaze followed it, making her feel even more dizzy with each rise and fall.

"Herbert?" He nodded confirmation. Herbert. A good, solid shark name in his opinion. She asked if he thought they could find the shark and in response Hyperion's eyes rolled heavenward in thought. "Mmm," he hummed noncommittally before shrugging. "Maybe. I mean I did share like all my drinks with him so he can't be swimming straight right now." 'Shared' was perhaps an exaggeration. He wasn't sure if sharks drank through their mouths or the flappy holes on their sides so he'd just sort of poured the alcohol over Herbert and paid just a little more attention to his mouth since that part made the most sense. Herbert, in Hyperion's opinion, had seemed very grateful. Every time something was poured over him he got a lot more wiggly for a bit.

Hyperion took a step towards the water. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll be around. I bet nobody every shared drinks with him before." In other words he was lucky to have a friend like Hyperion. He tipped his head to the side and considered a new line of reasoning. Maybe Herbert knew his limits and had had the sense to turn in for the night. It made sense for a small shark to have a small limit. Oh, but sharks swam in the ocean 24/7 so wouldn't that mean his limit for drinks was higher since he...lived in a...drink? Hyperion frowned. This was too much thinking for him. The best thing about drinking was not thinking and here he was trying to do it anyway. He shook his head to clear it. "A little bit of looking wouldn't hurt."

Still eying the waves he tipped his head to the other side before glancing over at Caelia with a sober expression. "But if he's not right here I guess we should respect his wishes and leave him alone. Maybe he had enough fun, you know?" Herbert was a little shark, after all. Little shark, little tolerance, little fun. It made sense to him.

Poor Herbert. If he'd had drinks there was probably no saving him now. Caelia realized suddenly that she probably couldn't swim very well right now, though offering to help find Herbert only sounded fair. If she was lucky he'd deny her request. if she started swimming Caelia wasn't sure she'd ever make it back to shore safely. Weren't there islands out there? Bleary-eyed she squinted at the water and tried to search the horizon all at once, wondering just how far she could swim sober. Certainly much farther than she could swim in her current condition. Caelia let out a dramatic sigh as they neared the waves and she paused to inspect them as thoroughly as she could. "You're right. He probably had too much to drink. And he just went home. Or somewhere." For some weird reason, the thought of him never finding his way back home... did fish even have homes? ... didn't sit well with her. That was one thing Caelia had always had: a home.

"What about you?" She asked after a minute, slurring her words still, maybe even a bit more heavily than before. "Did you have enough fun? To be done at the party? Tonight, I mean?" Caelia wondered if she should be heading back soon, but.. how? Walking felt difficult. The realization hit her suddenly and she flopped down on the ground, eyeing Hyperion as the water lapped at her paws. She wasn't even sure she'd make it back to Valhalla tonight. Sleeping it off sounded like a much safer option.

""Have enough fun? He parroted, confused. It took further explaining on her part for him to understand. When he did Hyperion was mystified at the notion. There was no such thing! He was of the opinion you didn't just have enough fun and go home at a party like this. No, you hung on until daybreak. Then and only then when you were absolutely destroyed did you crawl off somewhere to sleep it off or die, whichever you'd earned. "Me?" He laughed perhaps a little too hard at this. "Nah, I don't give up so easily."

Seeing Caelia lay down Hyperion decided that was a good idea for him too. No sooner had he thought it than he found himself on the ground beside her with no recollection of the essential movements that had gotten him there. He'd fallen into the position like a puppet with cut strings. The speed surprised him and he blinked hard, but after a moment's thought decided not to waste anymore time on it. That was part of the price of all this, no? He knew he was drunk. That had been the idea.

"What about you?" He smile cheekily at her. "Don't tell me you're the quitting type. The night's still...well not young, I guess, but it ain't over yet." Hyperion fell into rambling. "Who knows what could happen next, you know? I wouldn't wanna miss it. These don't happen as often as they should so who knows when I'll get to have another night like this. All these pretty, silly wolves doing pretty silly things." Having forgotten where he was going with all of that, Hyperion was quiet for a second before muttering, "I don't like missing out."

Caelia was stunned into confused silence at his words. He seemed positively confounded at the implication that there might be some limit to the amount of fun they could possibly have. But wasn't there? Always limits to everything? His confusion only amplified hers, though it was definitely the alcohol that made everything more difficult to comprehend. "Oh," she breathed simply. Caelia wasn't the giving up type herself, but likewise she wasn't the 'getting drunk with strangers' type either... or was she?

She had no clue. She let out a huff as she flopped down, and not long after Hyperion collapsed beside her. His proximity was oddly comforting - a strange thing for a wolf completely unused to physical affection - and, far more uninhibited than usual, she let her muzzle press against his shoulder. His question seemed baffling to her and she mulled over it for a long moment. "I don't really care about missing out. There's like, a whole world I miss out on all the time," she explained, slurring her words. She was in Valhalla, she didn't leave very often, so she missed a lot all over. This party was no exception.

So.. maybe she should be leaving? Giving him a small, completely uncharacteristic little nuzzle, she struggled to pull herself upright and twisted away. "I should go find my... pack... friends. Bye! Oh, I'm Caelia," she explained as she swiveled around and nearing lost her footing. Had she introduced herself? She wasn't sure. Maybe she'd get his in name back, though she'd be lucky to remember it tomorrow.

-exit Caelia-