Pléaráca Beach, Tearmann Island Resort.
Amy Ramallae of the Tribe of Monaghan.
I smiled slightly.
I was a student of veterinary medicine at the University of Launceston and model for Bicíní Industries, a major clothes producer in the Free Lands. We were famous for our swimwear, like I wore right now, a backless, dark one-piece casual swimsuit, which nicely complimented my silver, long hair, my red eyes sparkling as I watched Cealg play in the surf.
Cealg was a Lapa, one with a grave disability: The small, blue animals, also known as Sea Foxes, had poison glands, which allowed it to secrete poison through its skin, which was both a defensive mechanism and a hunting mechanism. Cealg, however, didn't have these glands.
When I found him, in 2015, he was close to dying and I decided to use my studies in order to find out, what was wrong with him. In the time it took me to realize that, I had... not really 'domesticated' him, but he was used to human presence and human petting. Since 2017, we began selective breeding with his genetic material, beginning the long and arduous process of domestication of the Lapa.
In any case, he was back home: Leuda was way colder, way wetter and simply less tropical then the Archipelago and so it was important for him to go back. He was lively here, playing in the surf of Pléaráca Beach.
It was no problem to bring him back with me, both from the traveling standpoint and from BI's point of view. In fact, Auntie Eithne had invited him as well - and so it came, that my room in the Pléaráca Hotel, I had spent the last two weeks with a Lapa snuggled up to me, and three other young women, who were also models.
The last two weeks, we had done the Archipelago Shooting, the large shooting of photographs for the catalogue of next year, specifically for the swimsuits and summer clothes, as well as going-out clothes. Elin and Branwen had been allowed to release some images on Piffle, of them in the clothes, but they had only showed a small glimpse.
We had, this Archipelago Shooting alone, been fifty models and about the same amount of staff - especially of the latter, much had already departed for Launceston and home, a city at the Icy Shore, close to the Arctic Circle, which was so much unsuited for swimwear as it could be.
So... we still had finished work and our boss, Mister Finnegan Drisiúr of the Tribe of Cork, invited us all to an aftershow party, not only celebrating the successful conclusion of the Shooting, but also Cailleach's Feast, the feast of one of the Weather Goddesses of our faith, to which one gathered the family for one, huge feast. Over the last few years, we had often been joined by others vacationing on the Tearmann Island Resort, informally, but this year, we had made it official, with posters and formal invitations and everything. We expected around a hundred to two hundred additional people. And there was enough food and alcohol and non-alcohol to go around for all of them.
It would be fun!
I smiled as an arm wrapped around my waist, tanned and belonging to a tanned blonde with beautiful eyes, who was wearing a bikini, a simple shirt over it, but no pants. Filicia Eitpheil of the Tribe of Cavan, we called her Filly, studied fisheries science and was specialized on these waters, which made her a bit of my colleague.
"He's cute.", she said and watched Cealg. I hummed in agreement. "May I pet him later?"
I turned to her with a smile. Filly had already given Cealg a petting of a lifetime, together with her sister, another Amy. She shrugged and I nodded. "Sure, why not?", I told her. "So... how are the preparations coming along?"
"We are still awaiting the last cart, but once that's here, we can get the ball rolling!", Filly said with a grin.
Indeed, we had three carts, horse-drawn, two-axle carts, to move all the material back and forth between Pléaráca Hotel and the beach around a kilometer away from it, two of which had already arrived and were unloaded.
The beach itself was eight kilometers long, the cove itself roughly five kilometers across. In the north, it was bordered by the Fiántas Cliff and the old watchtower ruin up there, the large flag on it saying to those in the know, that it was currently held by the Younger Militia of Dumhach (a small token of gratitude and respect towards the City's Mayor, who was already present and an old friends of ours), to the south by Sruthán Creek, which separated it from Céad Beach. A few campfires were already being set up and the large bonfire, which would be used to grill the bull boar, was ready to be lit as well.
Around a hundred meters inland, the jungle began, a road cutting through it to the hotel. Although most dangerous critters had already been relocated, 'most' did not mean 'all', so we would have to have a few eyes on the kids.
There were dozens of people already present, dressed in swimwear like I was, some with light jackets or rash guards over the shoulder, some wore other light clothes, I even saw some summer dresses - it was to be a warm night, the forecast had said, so it was only natural to dress lightly, even if some still dressed formally, like that Lutetiian businessman with the long dark hair, who wore long sleeves and gloves, while his apprentice/secretary (at least that was her job to my understanding) showed her well-rounded form in a combination of a white bikini and denim shorts. Had to ask her, where she got the bikini later, it looked cute...
Anyway, kids were running around, too, they would be sent to bed at ten, then the taps would open. We had already a group of more or less responsible adults at the ready, who would either get them to bed immediately or who would play a few games with them before bedtime, depending on how the mood was.
We would have music, our newlyweds would take care of that, we would have games, food, drinks, conversation and generally a merry time - it would be a lively night, that was for sure, this Feast on a Beach!
