A cozy log cabin... [Game #12 Closed!]

[-pidge]

Crab Crisis!
Username: my.chai
Link to sign-up post: Forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=4123900&p=125986204&hilit=willow#p125986204
Prompt response:

After Caster resites the issue, Willow is a little surprised at the problem, she adored crabs, but now that it had been addressed, she had noticed the little critters were a bit all over the place lately. Finding a solution for this crisis wouldn’t be easy, but she needed to find a way that both Aukai and the crabs could both could be happy. “I’ll help you out!” She looked up at Caster, “I’ll figure something out!”
Willow heads over to Aukai cabin, thinking it’d be best to nail down the main issues. As she gets to the front door, she hears a scream. Alarmed, Willow burst through the door without hesitation. As the door flies into the opposing wall, Willow sees Aukai jumping up and down grasping hold of his nose. As he notices Willow his eyes widen and points to his t-shirt. Willow steps forward and inspects the sand-covered shirt, spotting a red pebble hiding underneath. Lifting up the shirt, it scuttles across to the corner of the room. “How’d a crab get in your t-shirt?” Willow questions stunned at the critter. Calming down a little with an ice-cube on his nose, Aukai replies
“Must have crawled in my bag while I was swimming.” He gestured at the bag next to the t-shirt. Willow rubbed her head, this was a bigger problem than she thought. After giving her consent of fixing the problem, she leaves the cabin and heads down to the tide pools.

As predicted, crabs covered the bear shore and surrounded a majority of the tide pools. Why we’re there so many? There’d never been this many before. This raised suspicion to Willow, they must be here for a reason. As she lost herself in her thoughts she felt a pinch at her toe. “Oh, hey there little guy!” Willow could never take crabs seriously, their little walk never failed to get a laugh out of her. Picking the crab, she sat him in her hand to inspect the little guy. Before long, she noticed a shiny object in his tiny claw. As she leans in to have a closer look and recognizes it instantly. “The gems!” She reveals to herself. “They’ve come looking for the gems Casters found for the sculptures! That's why they're so close up to shore!” Willow jumped. Hold on... what about the snorkeling gear? Why do they want that? She pondered. Her thoughts were interrupted as she took notice of a small trail of crabs, heading towards a bunch of palm trees. Intrigued, she followed after. Peering around, a red glow came from the corner of her eye. Turning to confront the image, she sees a range of nests made up of gems, rocks, seaweed, palm leaves, and bits of plastic, all with little crabs sitting in them. The older crabs were adding their objects to the collection of junk. Giggling, Willow knelt down to have a closer look, aren’t they remarkable?

[sentimental]

Crab Crisis!
username: sentimental_android
link to sign-up post: ♡
Prompt response: ♡

[SilhouetteStation]

Crab Crisis!
Username: SilhouetteStation
Link to sign-up post: here

Prompt response: (556w)

Living in the city, she'd dealt with some pesky pigeons before, but never a hoard of island dwelling crabs. This would take a different kind of thinking. Sometimes with the pigeons she'd resorted to throwing a few breadcrumbs out the window to distract them if she was desperate. Her neighbor once got one stuck in his apartment, and they'd had to trap it in a washing basket to get it back outside.

As she had a little chuckle to herself about the memory, an idea suddenly sparked in her mind. "Don't worry," she told Carter. "I've got a plan."

-----

"Aukai!"

He looked up at her call, and did a double take at the gear she was holding. "Um-"

"Carter told me you needed some help with the crabs in your gear," she explained. "So I'm here, ready to help."

"Okay…" he said slowly. "What's with the…um…" he gestured vaguely with his hands towards her. "All that?"

"Well," she began, "I explained the situation to the kitchen crew, and they were happy to help out once I told them my plan. I did have to be firm about not cooking them though," she laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"What exactly is the plan?" he asked, eyeing the equipment warily.

"So I'm taking inspiration from a pigeon incident my neighbor once had - feathers everywhere, don't ask, long story - but ultimately I've devised a sort of 'catch and release' idea. I've borrowed a crab cage from the kitchen, as well as these special Crab Collection Devices-"

"-those are tongs."

"-which we will use to safely pick up the crabs, and put them in the cage. Once all the crabs are collected we shall take them down to the ocean and release them back to the waters of which they came."

"What's with the oven mitts?"

She slipped them on her hands, wiggling them at him. "Safety comes first when you're dealing with pincers. Or, y'know, beaks in some pigeon related situations."

-----

When Carter dropped by later to see if she'd had any luck in helping Aukai, he was probably a bit surprised to see them running around with kitchen utensils. It was a rather amusing sight, Annie knew, but most importantly it seemed to be working. They had worked hard to find all the crabs, and the tongs made it easy to pick them up and plonk them in the cage. They probably didn't appreciate this part of the plan, but in the end it would work out for them.

Once all the shelled nuisances had been contained, Carter helped them to drag the cage down to the beach. They walked out onto the rocks, trying to get as far from the shoreline as possible, before finding a spot to release them into the water. The crabs tumbled down, quickly finding their feet and scuttling away.

"Bye, crabs!" Annie said, waving a mitted hand in the air. "Try and stay out there for awhile!"

"Don't come back soon!" Carter called cheerfully.

"Stop getting into our stuff!" Aukai added.

The three stood in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the gentle sounds of the ocean and the salty tang of the breeze.

"Think they'll come back?" Annie asked. "Oh yeah," Carter said, and Aukai nodded. "No doubt."

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan."

[Ethulai]

Crab Crisis!
Username: Ethulai
Link to sign-up post: Boop!
Prompt response:

"My man, why don't we just set up a few traps and have a feast tonight?" Radford suggested. "Then you can enjoy your rocks and Aukai doesn't have to worry about a crab infestation in his snorkeling gear."
"Oh, no! We couldn't do that! It's as much their home as it is ours," Carter responded, sounding horrified.
The big softy. Wait, was he serious? Radford thought he better make sure.
"So...you want me to try and fix your crab problem. Humanely. Or in this case I suppose crabmanely."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something! You've been quite the problem solver since you got here!"
Radford wasn't sure if he wanted to yell at the big doofus or sit down and cry hysterically. Sensibly, he did neither and excused himself politely.

Crabs stealing rocks?
Crabs stealing snorkeling gear?
Weren't Carter and Aukai even remotely curious about why crabs would be acting in such a highly suspicious manner? Radford decided a bit of private investigating was in order, Moonlighting style. He wandered around until he ran into a small group of the crustaceans supporting a diving mask between them. He followed at a discreet distance. They traveled in a northerly direction, towards the big cave that he had once taken shelter in for a bit of peace and quiet. He watched the crabs scuttle inside of the cave and cautiously followed. This time he wandered deeper into the cave than he had previously, stumbling around in the dark until he reached a large clearing where a hole in the ceiling allowed for sunlight to spill in and light up the interior.

There, in the middle of the grotto, sat the largest crab Radford had ever seen, on top of a mountain of various objects as if he were a dragon guarding his horde of gold and jewels. At this point in time Radford gave himself a big pinch, believing he had fallen asleep somewhere on the island and was now having a very bizarre dream. Sadly, the sharp sting of pain that followed confirmed that he was indeed wide awake. He stood in the grotto dumbly, not knowing what to do with this discovery. Every so often small crabs, either on their own or in a small group, would scuttle around his ankles and add more random objects to the pile.

What was going on here?
Some form of crab dictatorship?
He approached the giant crab, who clacked his claws at Radford menacingly.
"Look, dude" Radford began, "You can't just be forcing your little minions to go around stealing stuff from decent folk because you have a hoarding problem."
The giant crab clacked at Radford rapidly. It sounded offensive.
"Is this guy even paying you any form of compensation for doing his dirty work?" he asked the small crabs scattered around the grotto (was he seriously standing in the middle of a cave trying to reason with crabs?)
They bubbled at him in a manner that suggested that The Crabtator hadn't been sharing any of his 'bounty'.

"I think you better return this gear to who it rightfully belongs to." suggested Radford to the smaller crabs.
As they started moving towards the pile in an embarrassed manner, the giant crab raised his pincers aggressively.
The smaller crabs hesitated.
"You know, I suggested to the islanders that we should catch you all and have a good feed and you know what they told me? That they don't want to hurt you because it's your island too. They see you as equals. Yet this guy is being totally greedy and causing trouble when you've all lived in harmony for so long. Maybe I should tell them that he's here and we can have a feast after all."
Quicker than a blink the giant crab was suddenly scuttling away deeper into the cave. The smaller crabs clicked what Radford assumed were insults at his retreating carapace.

Later he ran into Carter again who said; "Do y' know, all my rocks are back? Did I just misplace them?" he scratched his head in confusion. "Aukai also tells me that crabs have been hanging around but they're just keeping out of his way. Did you do something?"
Radford told him he would save that particular tale for a night around the bonfire.

[716 words]

[sicknasty]

Crab Crisis
Username: sicknasty
Link to sign-up post: here
Prompt response:
levi was struck by this crabby conundrum. how to keep the crabs from bothering aukai, without hurting the cute little creatures. this would require all of their wisdom, cunning and ingenuity.
-
"a crab rave?" carter asked incredulously. "really?"
"it's a great idea," levi protested. "you've gotta give the crabs what they want. and what do crabs want? somewhere to let their hair down. in a metaphorical sense. what could possibly go wrong?"
with a stack of driftwood and helpfully washed-up coconut shells, levi had soon constructed a club that any crab would be hyped to throw down at. THE KOKONUT KLUB, proclaimed a wobbly handwritten sign outside. CRAB RAVE 2NITE.
to create crab-sized posters to advertise the raid, levi had requisitioned a small child's paintbox and spent most of the afternoon painting and placing them. by the evening, they were very pleased with their handiwork, and ready to take up their role as a dj. as the hour of the rave grew closer, they snuck a peek outside to see how the queue was forming. imagine their surprise to see, not a line of crabs, but a huge group of kalons dressed as crabs.
an excited aukai approached levi, googley crab eyes bouncing on a headband attached to his snorkel. "what a great idea, levi! a crab-themed rave to distract me from my crab problems!"
"but-" protested levi weakly, realising that the crowd was growing impatient for the rave to start. "i think something's gone wrong- i'd better-"
making their apologies to aukai, levi briskly turned tail and walked away from the klub. they certainly didn't want to be around when the would-be ravers discovered that the dance floor was, in fact, crab-sized.

[f1owercrown]

Crab Crisis!
Username: f1owercrown
Link to sign-up post: here!
Prompt response:

[2246]

Crab Crisis!
Username: Nikolina
Link to sign-up post: Here!
Prompt response:
Mac stood silently, holding his chin with one hand, thinking and thinking... “Everyone needs to help to make this work.” Mac said quietly. He started walking down the beach, trying to find a solution. A few crabs scuttled along the way. They were small, red, and adorable. Mac suddenly got an idea.

He started collecting paper through the city, pencils, markers, for a big banner, next he made a small stand from some boxes and planks. He put the banner up, and started sharing some posters around the city. Most people would look at him weirdly once he said his idea, others rushed to help him.
Tomorrow he went to present his plan to Carter.

“I solved it!..Or well not yet, but I am in the process of solving it.”
Carter looked relieved for a second, before asking what was Mac’s idea.
“Well, free crabs!”
Carter looked puzzled.
“There’s so many people on the cruise, and I’m sure some of them would like to keep them as pets? I sure would! With a crab, you get a small 5 page book that teaches you how to take care for them! I made some other things for people that adopt them, badges, shirts, -” Mac went on and on.
Carter shrugged and replied, happily “If that helps with solvin’ it, I guess.”
Mac spent the entire day catching them, and giving them out to others. He spent a lot of time teaching others how to take care for them (he learned that by watching many videos and reading many articles online, which isn’t perfect, but hey, if it works-).
At the end of the day, it seemed people were happier, both with their newfound pets, and the fact there were less and less crabs on the beach.

[296 words]

[Meduz]

❖Ｃｒａｂ Ｃｒｉｓｉｓ！！​
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▹ prompt : four
▹ username : Meduz
▹ kalon : Tris
▹ link to sign up : xxx
▹ team : squids
▹ response : art
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[Lepid]

Crab Crisis!
Username: Doubleinfiniti
Link to sign-up post: here
Prompt response:

Fawkes become alarmed when he saw the crabs had become an issue on the island. He never realized that there could be an actual infestation of them. Fawkes wondered if they suddenly appeared because the crab gods weren’t appeased with his shrine he made for them. He wondered if the crab gods were angry and this was his punishment, to have crabs take over the island.

He pondered ways to get rid of the crabs. Sure he could try to pick them all up one by one and put them into a bucket but that would be very inefficient on his end. It would take Fawkes too much time to collect every one and he also didn’t like the idea of getting pinched a lot. Suddenly, a crazy thought entered his head and he wondered if it would work. He quickly left and went door to door asking the locals for a leaf blower. Apparently nobody sees the point in owning one on a beach. Fawkes finally found an elderly couple who had moved to the island that had a leaf blower. They kindly lended it to him and he confidently made his way back over to the large crab infestation. He looked at the powerful leaf blower, pointed it at a large chunk of crabs, and flipped the switch.

The crabs flew into the ocean like leaves! This made Fawkes laugh quite a bit because it was surly a sight to see. He didn’t think a leaf blower would actually work but who knew! No crabs got injured and they all happily were returned back to the ocean.

(269)

[apprentice_]

Crab Crisis! / rainichi / octopus / sign up / ruka
chuck the crabs

crabs are awful creatures. untrustworthy. bound to break into your house, knife
you with weaponized claws, and then take your family. you might get back up,
but the crab will deny any involvement with you, so you’ll have to investigate
yourself, only to find yourself in the midst of the crab mafia, and it’s already too
late.

it’s. uncertain. what exactly crabs ever did to ruka to deserve this response out
of them when asked to get rid of a few crabs. or move them, anyway.
“exterminate” was not a word the local had liked much. so ruka shrugged, and
pulled out their phone, the device already near death even early in the day.
“well, i have enough time to either google how to relocate crabs, or, even better,
i can play crab rave and hope they follow the beat of the music.”

despite protests, their phone’s audio is blasting halfway down to the beach one
minute later. it does not work. their phone dies. they return, not particularly
shocked, but maybe disappointed.

“hey man, so, you got a tennis racket?”

cut to a haphazard scene of ruka screaming ( sounds suspiciously like a certain
hero of time ) and swinging a racket to the best of their reckless ability. they
aren’t hitting the crabs ( many of them ), but the scene is frightening regardless.
it’s been some number of hours, and the sun is just beginning to set, and still.
the local can see the distant silhouette of the madlad just. swinging. repeatedly.
and you’ve got to wonder if they’re okay. really. it’s worrying.

[ 262 ]