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Fish Out Of Water (Leddi!)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, October 06, 2017, 10:11:00 AM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel


"But Taza! It's like, soooo nice outside!"

Randal Barlow pouted at his caretaker. The two drug dealers had come to Jadenshine on business- something about a winery that had been ripping off Taza's shop somehow. They were maybe a week away from their destination when they had stopped at The Riverside Inn for some rest. "Can I please please please go outside?" Randal whined. "I want to play in the water!"

Taza rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Randal, no. I don't know what lives out here, you could get hurt!"

Randal crossed his arms, sulking. "You tell me that every time I want to play outside, though! It's not fair!"

"Randal, no means no."

"Come on! Please? Youl let me run errands, why can't I play too?" Randal gave Taza the best puppy dog eyes he could manage. "Don't... don't you love me?"

Exasperated, Taza threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! You can go outside." She glared at her protege. "But I want you back at the hotel before it gets dark." Randal quickly hugged his guardian and ran out the hotel door. "And be sure to stay where people can see you!" she called after him.

The inn was, as the name implied, built right next to the Ora river. There was a well managed beach on the property, but Randal walked right past it. No, what he really wanted was to explore the muddy, reed infested water just off of the hotel's land. "I bet there are tons of frogs and turtles in there!" Randal thought as he took off his shoes and rolled up his pant legs. Brimming with excitement, the boy waded into the water...

Leddi


Gentle currents lapped at Orabel's body, lazily drifting her along the thin creeks that ran throughout the Riverlands. She'd long stopped panicking, now that it had been what, two hours? Three? There had been no use to crying out when nobody could hear you. Floating in silence, she could only wonder how worried her parents would be when they couldn't find her. That was what most concerned the girl.

Where was this place? It looked like the ponds and lakes she was used to, but it was not the same. The details were different. Buzzing insects and the croaks of frogs were everywhere. And not the usual frogs! Orabel had spent hours naming each toad and frog in the family pond and this was not any of them. She felt mud under her briefly, the stability of being on land. She was washing up along the banks finally. But nowhere near the house. Well, Orabel thought, how was she supposed to go home now?

And then she heard the splashes. Orabel couldn't see the source, but there was no doubt somebody had decided to join her here. Orabel's inner body squirmed, trying to rotate around so she could get a better look. Unfortunately the mud was pretty deep, greedily sticking her in the earth like some kind of ground wart. She felt winded just from the attempt, and so instead she tried to speak to the creature. Hopefully it was a human. Now was not the time to find Serendipity's alligator population.

Her inner body gave a muffled whine, "Help! Are you friendly? I think I'm stuck!"[/i

Eckhart_Von_Musel

The mud squelched underneath Randal's feet as he walked, oozing up in between his toes. He had seen quite a few frogs, but so far his efforts to catch one had all failed- they were just too slippery for the boy to get a firm grip on. His luck with the turtles was even worse, as they turned out to be surprisingly quick when they were in the water. "This isn't as fun as I thought it'd be..." the boy thought dejectedly.

A muffled cry for help broke the boy out of his slump. "Huh?" he said, looking around wildly. The boy slowly began to walk in the direction he thought he had heard the voice. "Is somebody there- AHH!"

Having accidentally stepped on something slimy, Randal fell into the muddy water. Quickly sitting back up, he looked around to see what had slipped him up. Seeing what appear to be a glob of swamp goo lying by his feet, Randal leaned over to take a closer look...

And saw a strange face looking back up at him.

"Um... hello?"

Leddi


The steps came closer. Orabel only now began to consider that the stranger may be a threat. A predator she had just foolishly called upon for help. However, she could hear his voice, responding to her call for help with a curious, not outright malicious tone. He must be friendly!

Orabel croaked as she felt her outer body smacked into by an unwary foot. The inner body shuddered in response, her nerve centers flaring up in alarm instinctually, shouting DANGER into her mind loud and clear. She had to wrestle with herself to not immediately try to attack the offending limb. This was supposed to be a potential helping friend afterall. Her mother would be very cross with her if she tried to kill somebody again.

Instead, she focused her large eyes on the boy.

"Hello!" She greeted in her cutest, childish voice possible, whilst her jaws flapped open and closed as if lip syncing the mentally projected vocals, "Are you friendly? I'm in trouble deep and need to get home... And you have legs."

Evidently, after being kicked in the side by one.

"Can you help me? Sorry to trouble you!"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Randal watched awestruck as the strange creature greeted him. It looked almost like a giant fish egg, except whatever was inside was clearly not a fish. Despite it's appearance, it had the voice of someone who was his age- or perhaps younger. "Whoa..." he thought. "That is so gross!" A large grin appeared on his face. "Awesome!"

"You can talk?" Randal asked excitedly, mouth running on autopilot. "Why are you in the mud? Are you a frog? Do you eat bugs? Oh my god you are so cool looking! Do you wanna be my friend?" Slowing down, he processed what the odd thing had actually asked him. "Wait, trouble?"

Randal slowly dislodged the slimy animal from the mud and placed it on the shore. "Is that better?" he asked, a concerned look on his face. "Or... you're not trapped in there, right?"

Leddi

So many questions! Orabel couldn't keep up with them all. But she heard friend. She bobbed her head again, "Thank you! Yes. I'll be friend!" She tried to talk over for a moment. Anything to convince this boy to let her up. And thankfully,  that was what happened. The human picked her up from the ground, leaving a round hole behind that was already filling up with water. Being out of the mud felt great. She could see better now being held aloft as she was. She could also better see the human.

"I'm not trapped in this no, just the mud. This part is another piece of me." She answered readily, "I don't eat bugs, not anymore at least." Her parents had kept her from trying to catch the insects that would get trapped on her outer surface. "I'm not a frog either. It would be neat to be a frog."

"Thank you for letting me out!" She remembered to add that important bit. Her parents would be cross if she forgot manners.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Randal beamed. "You're welcome! Happy to help!" He quickly got out of the water and sat on the shore next to the odd... Girl? It was difficult to tell, although Randal didn't care too much. He didn't really have any friends back home. The few kids he did know either lived out of town- or, in Luna's case, were too dangerous to spend time with on a regular basis. It got lonely without people his age to talk to, so even meeting something that only sounded like another kid got his hopes up.

"You're like a talking booger! That's so cool!" Randal said excitedly. "I've met ghosts and monsters and stuff, but never anything like you!" He gently poked at the creature, giggling. "My name is Randal! What's yours?"

Leddi

Ghosts and monsters? Orabel didn't think of herself as a monster. Or a talking booger. She knew she didn't look like her mother or father, but that was only because she wasn't a grown up yet. When she was a grown up, then she'd look more like this new 'friend' she'd made! He seemed a lot younger than her parents. Maybe that meant she wasn't far behind.

"It shouldn't be too strange. I'm a human you know. A human named Orabel!" Orabel stated simply, "I know I am a human because my father says so." She clarified, giggling as if the boy had told a really silly joke.

"But that's okay. I know a lot of people sometimes get confused about what I look like."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

A human? Randal opened his mouth to say something, but faltered as Taza's voice rang in his head. "Always be polite, Randal. Civility is it's own reward." Unsure of how to frame "what drugs are your father on" politely, the boy merely shrugged. "Sorry! You were so muddy, I didn't even notice that you were a person!"

"Datura. It's gotta be datura he's taking, no way he's that delusional on his own."

Curious, Randal looked around. "Where is your dad? Is he nearby, or are you out here by yourself?"

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