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Stranded, for a time [ sweetharpy ]

Started by SanctifiedSavage, March 13, 2019, 01:02:39 AM

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SanctifiedSavage

The Red Jewel might have been around for ages, but that didn't mean the ship was as immortal as its captain. It was as susceptible to ocean storms as any other ship, even if the crew might've been more aged and experienced than most.

Nature still took its pound of flesh now and then.

With the worst of it behind the Red Jewel, and flotsam leading to the ship as it was near beached on the island, it was the best decision for her. Not that anyone was happy about it. Once the wind died down and the rain stopped pouring in sideways, they could actually scour the island for wood to repair the damage, then be on their way.

The storm actually had to pass.

For now, most of the crew brooded inside the canted ship that rest in the shallow, angry waves that rushed up the beach with white caps. Vailea, however, had discarded anything of value that would be ruined in the rain – and her boots – and was now standing out in the storm. The lich decided she might as well enjoy the damn storm if it was going to beach her ship. Her short black hair was mostly plastered to her honey-brown skin, soaked through already. Her halter top and breeches had become like a second skin. All of it was cold, and would've been uncomfortable to someone that was living. For the lich, it was just refreshing and brilliantly active.

Nothing was as powerfully destructive as nature when it wanted to be. So she enjoyed the sight of the waves rearing up in the distance, glad they were no longer so far out, and plopped down in the dark, wet sand to wait it out.

sweetharpy

Khhrrk had come up, feeling the ocean waves roiling high above. How fun! When they rose this high- A rare occurrence, for sure- He could actually come to the surface and ride on them, as he had seen some of the "surf"-ing people do before, though they usually stuck to waves that... Well... Weren't deep ocean swells. His size, however, required it.

Thirty feet of laughing half-mer sailed through the waves, doing his best to hold his long body still and straight so the waves would carry him eighty, ninety feet above the usual sea level. When he inevitably tumbled down, and the waves crashed down around him and swallowed him like he was nothing, he would laugh and shake the dizziness and bubbles from his head and rush for the next try.

One time, though, as he crashed down, a strange shape rushed to his view to meet him- And CONK! His face slammed right down into a floating something that had definitely not been there a little bit ago. Probably.

Genuinely stunned by the blow, red blood flowed from his nose, and he had to wait for stars to settle from his eyes before he could swim straight, and look for whatever that had been. A bit of swimming, and he found it bobbing in the trench of waves. He tugged it down to get a look at it without being smacked again, and was confused to see a... Hunk of wood? A really flat chunk, almost like a board, but... Broken.

It took him a bit to realize it was much like the wood row-boats or holding-crates he had seen here and there from sunken ships, and with the fact it wasn't yet waterlogged enough to have sunk- This was fresh. Had the storm given the ocean another toy? He should probably find it! There were always interesting things on those sunken ships!

He took a moment to scan the water for any more broken bits, and while he didn't find any here, he knew the ocean loved to scatter wreckage, and in a storm like this, it could be from very far away. So, after noting the current and the most likely direction it came from, the half-Mer headed off, clicking here and there to "see" in the storm-dark waters.

A mile off, he found a larger plank of wood. Probably the right direction! Half a mile, most of the rest of a box, with what seemed to be food (now soggy) in it. He'd drag it along with him, in case there were survivors.

As the ocean floor grew shallower, rising to meet the sky, he followed it, imagining a ship full of land-walkers would probably try to find safety on land. A massive gash in the reef sprayed ship-gut across the water, and the waves battered and splintered the contents on rocks and sharp coral. That was NOT something he wanted to get rushed against, for sure, and he'd have to leave the humanfood behind. Twisting so his belly lay against the sand before the reef, he watched the brightening and dimming of the waves above, counted their movement, and waited. And waited. When finally a large enough swell rushed its way over the reef, he took his chance, shooting through the jagged hole caused by what seemed to be a truly massive ship. He scraped his belly on the coral, but not enough to do more than bleed him, and once through, the reef took the brunt of the crashing waves.

Now, he could lift his head safely above the waves once more, and the slightly-stinging rain pittered off him when he did. There! Hoh wow, that was a REALLY big ship alright. He'd never seen one like it in his life! Excitement made his spots glow all the brighter as he headed towards it, ducking up and below the waves like a dolphin. Perhaps five-hundred feet away, he was able to spot a figure sitting by it. A survivor! Probably. He'd yet to see a dead person sit, at least. Hopefully they wouldn't be afraid of him, even if he was big. The Yoreiqi people around here knew he was friendly, if rare, but this person seemed to be from somewhere else, one of those Single Big Lands the topside Mer whispered about. Well... No way to know if he didn't approach. Four, three, two, one hundred feet away. The water here was shallow enough that a tall human would be able to breathe if they stood on tiptoe, and was starting to get difficult to swim easily in. He bobbed along the surface and waved at the person on the shore.

SanctifiedSavage

Storms would last as long as they would last. No use wanting to rush it and certainly no point in hoping to speed it along. This was the sort of storm not even a weather-caster would be able to coax along. It was a volatile pile of natural energy. Vailea had managed to get her ship and crew ashore – and those that had toppled over didn't need air, and would eventually make their way back.

So, time. Time was something most of the crew had in abundance.

Leaning back on one hand, she was thoroughly soaked through and likely cold to the touch but that didn't bother the lich. She was basking in the storm like one might the sun. Barely paying any attention, so she didn't notice the odd glowing shape at first.

When she did, Vailea sat up and frowned a little. Were her eyes playing tricks? Or was that something that might be dangerous? The lich had a skewed idea of what might be dangerous to her though, so she stood and walked until the waves crashed at her ankles so she might get a better idea as to what was out there. The wind and rain didn't make it any easier. 

sweetharpy

Khhrrk was encouraged by the figure getting up and waking closer to him, so he wiggled himself along until the front of his belly scraped the sandy bottom, then raising his humanoid fore-half partly out of the water with a close-lipped smile. "AELLOH!" He shouted over the storm, one of the new words he had heard people using in the area to greet each other, giving another wave to her. Here, the water went up to perhaps three feet, though the waves that washed over him could still rise fairly high. He'd not be able to walk up on land without shifting himself, but he could probably scoot more up on the land if the was willing to toss himself back with help of his tail later. Waves rushed up over him, scattering the pinpoint glowing under burbling froth, and pulled back again to show the massive tail carried behind him was the source of it.

Another wave hit him in the back and he bobbed forwards, before wiggling fore-paddles to scoot back to where he was. To his eyes, the shipwrecked lady was definitely a human, and she surely had to be cold with all the wind and rain and sitting out there. Didn't she know she should try to warm up? Not that a fire would be really possible right now, but getting out of the cold rain would help. What language did she speak? And she looked a bit strange- Where was she from? And her ship? Maybe she didn't know.

Mimicking an exaggerated shiver, shaking and rubbing his arms, he pointed at her and tilted his head, trying his best to not seem scary despite his size. A gentle whine with a toned-up end echoed the confusion he tried to show- Hopefully she'd understand the point he was trying to make as he echoed, in his best Yoreiqin, "Aren't you cold?". He couldn't do much if she was, really, unless things that would make her warm were somehow submerged in the ship and she couldn't swim. Hopefully that wasn't the case. It'd be silly of her to be on the ocean and not be able to swim!

SanctifiedSavage

The wind carried the aeeellooohh but it was rather faint. Vailea could make it out, no mistake, and she smiled a little. At least it could talk. It? He? Rather than try to out-shout a storm, Vailea simply waved in return. Letting him know that the message had been received.

It wasn't until one of the waves receded that Vailea made note that his awkward posture wasn't due to the water, or the storm, but because he wasn't entirely human. Rather, the lower half of him seemed... fishy? There was a tail, at least. Certainly an odd creature she'd found then, and anything odd immediately had Vailea's interest. She quirked a brow and smiled, not that he'd be able to see, and actually laughed when he mimicked... shivering?

Well, she supposed the rain was cold.

Was there a way to get him closer? So, Vailea mimicked an exaggerated shrug. Mostly to indicate she didn't know what he was saying – even if she could guess – in the hoped he'd try to get closer. What had washed up, along with the storm?

sweetharpy

Ahh, it seemed like she either couldn't hear him or couldn't understand what he was saying. That was okay! He could figure something out, if she didn't speak his tongue.

The long creature waited for the waves to pull him back out to the lagoon, and when the waves crashed forwards again he used their momentum to crash forwards onto the beach. Now, he was perhaps half out of the water, and with a hiss, he started up the slow process of shifting his way out of the purely aquatic form previous. Shimmers of glamour, perhaps, or of strange watery magics melted away at the long tail, and as it shrunk under the waves, legs formed out from under it, unfolding and cracking into place with a bit of a disconcerting crunch-grind. By three minutes of effort, he could walk, though the long tail left over dragged and his legs were small and weak; By five, he was mostly formed, and tried his best to scoot his way out of the waves; By seven, he had unfurled the human-comfort loincloth from his travelling belt and had re-cinched it around his new waist. Based on the wrinkled nose and furrowed brows of his change, this was... Rather unpleasant, overall- But he didn't really mind it anymore, he was used to swapping in and out of it as needed for various helps.

It took him a bit to get his land-legs working, at least reasonably- The initial walking he took towards Vailea was stumbling, unsure, though by the time he had made it to her, he was mostly steady once more. Behind him waved slowly the remainder of his tail, smaller now, though just as brightly coloured.

Now nearer to her, he raised his voice to be heard over the wind and lashing rain, neck-gills flaring to help shape his sounds as he spoke, once more in the Yoreiqi language: "Aren't you cold? You should get out of the rain." And again, miming to her- A shiver, once more exaggerated, and pointing at her with a trill-up curious sound. He wasn't cold- Being down deep was rather chilly itself, and that he was used to. But most humans didn't seem to enjoy being out and about in sideways rains and howling winds.

SanctifiedSavage

Vailea had been alive... or some mimicry of it... for a long time, and the world never ceased to amaze and surprise her. She watched, a faint smile splashed across her wet face, as the odd creature proceeded to beach itself... and then, well, it was hard to say. The waves and storm made telling what exactly happened hard to tell, but what once was a large-tailed half-sea creature was now a much smaller, more humanoid version.

Walking at her.

If there was one thing Vailea liked, it was an oddity.

She tilted her head a little, still amused and watching, as he approached and asked once more. The accent was heavy but the tongue was familiar enough. Never mind that she could guess what he was saying with the exaggerated motions.

Vailea shook her head, hair sticking to her like inky tendrils.  Rather, she gestured in his direction. Most would consider it rude, but Vailea asked, "What are you?" Great way to start a conversation.

sweetharpy

Ah! She understood! What luck for him, really. He smiled as she replied in the same language, clearly glad she wouldn't much need his pantomiming, and cocked his head to the side as he considered how to answer it.

"Halfmer," he finally offered, "Sea Fae and human. I live underwater, mostly, but can walk on land if I want. I found wreckage and wanted to see if people needed help. Do you? Have you lost anyone who might not be drowned? Is that your ship?" He pointed at it, looking over briefly to see if there was anyone else moving around there. He didn't see much movement that couldn't easily be attributed to the winds and waves, but he was not used to seeing exclusively with his eyes like this- He could easily be missing things, all things considered.

His long tail swished slightly behind him as a gust blew the large fluke around, briefly costing him some balance, and he huffed with some small annoyance out of his neck-gills and crammed the lobes back against the sand. Stay! Storms were much less fun on the land, no wonder humans didn't come out to play when the skies were so cloudy. The blue glows on his tail dimmed a little as he pressured the thing with some of his weight to keep it there, looking a bit as though he was leaning against it, a whole extra limb and then some descending from his mid-back to the ground.

SanctifiedSavage

The world really was full of interesting creatures, and Vailea was willing to bet she'd yet to see half of them. She filed the 'halfmer' away. There were all manner of sea creatures that could take on humanoid-ish forms and used such things to be friendly and predatory. This particular one, it seemed, was trying to be helpful.

All the better!

Vailea glanced at her ship when he gestured at it, considering a moment, before she offered him a friendly smile. It'd make her request seem a little less odd, she hoped. "We did lose a couple overboard during the storm, reaching the island. If you could bring me their bodies, should you find them..." She hadn't specified alive, because that didn't matter to the lich... But he didn't necessarily need to know that either. However, if she could get as many extra hands as possible working on the repairs, they'd be beached and stuck for lesser time. "Ah, yeah. I'm the captain." Maybe that'd make the request sound reasonable. Right? Captains would want their crew returned regardless.

Win, win.

Vailea couldn't swim for shit. Well, she could swim, but the lich wanted nothing to do with the large waves and angry wind that was presently rocking the ocean. Some sea god was apparently throwing a tizzy and they'd been caught up in it.

sweetharpy

It was an odd request for bodies, but surely it was something to do with a burial ritual or the like, some kind of send-off for the crew that wasn't just an unknown. Well, he'd do his best, for sure.

"How many? About how far away were you? Can they swim?" He could already be seen with the beginnings of changes slipping over him again as he prepared to return to the water, knowing her responses would not take the minutes needed to change. The whispers of water melding into his skin, causing the already-heavy tail to grow inch by inch, slow shape-changing and smoothing of his face into something a little more hydrodynamic, creeping web growing between his six fingers and slow bleeding of violet out into his sclera... Slower than the last time, for packing on mass was a much harder process than losing it, when it came to his magic.

He wasn't entirely sure how he'd carry the crewfolk back over the reef, either. He'd have a tough time keeping them above the waves, especially if they were already exhausted from goodness knows how long out there- And they probably would not be too pleased to have to share space with a drowndead corpse. Of course, that's assuming there were any still alive.

Even then, too, things liked to eat corpses. He preferred not to eat human or Mer bodies, since there were diseases and problems like that he could get, but most Mer had no issue with human bodies, and if it was all he could get, well, survival takes precedence. Other things had no such qualms- Great serpents, the deep-ocean squids, massive sharks or even smaller swarms of stripbones- Who knew. He might find them, might not. It was worth some effort, though.

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