It had taken some doing, including a run to the mainland, but mission accomplished. Kaidan closed down the C.I.C. early - most people had stayed indoors and avoided the heat during the day anyway - and hired a rickshaw to help tote things down to the beach.

Once there, he unloaded a couple large coolers, some paper shopping bags full of stuff, a pile of fabric - towels and beach blankets, mostly - a folding chair and a portable grill. He tipped the driver well and arranged for pickup later that night.

A large, colorful blanket was spread out and pinned at the corners with rocks to hold it down. The folding chair was opened, towels draped over the arms and beach blankets folded over the back. Grill unfolded, Kaidan staked the legs down so it wouldn't blow over, and circled the legs with rocks as added ballast.

Off to one side, he set the coolers. One was filled with ice, drinks, containers full of chilled fruit, some packages of ready-cooked brats. An assortment of other snacks was unceremoniously dumped from the paper bags onto a blanket next to the cooler. A disturbingly large container of glowstick necklaces was chucked onto the blanket as well.

The other cooler contained water-filled balloons...that were sitting on large, rectangular blocks of ice.

[Open! OCD is up. Come play.]