Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Down by the Waterfront (Crono)

Started by Anonymous, July 10, 2009, 06:18:49 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Anonymous

The waterfront in Cerenis. The docks, specifically, are what Varcan has come to look at this early morning before the day truly gets going and the place becomes to cluttered to properly 'survey'. Over head, the sun has just barely begun its climb up into the brilliant blue sky that reflects the sapphire perfection of the sea beneath it, dotted here and there with pillow-like tufts of cottony white clouds. The rolling waves some fifty feed beyond him bring in the salty smell of the sea, blowing gently through the town and filling it with the scent of the sea.

Varcan stands comfortably, even as he feels the heat of the sun begin to grow - it will be a sweaty day, he thinks mournfully -, in his usual attire. His usual attire consists of dark, billowing pants that expose far too much thigh to be decent, and a skin-tight white vest that bares his arms and shoulders entirely. A comfortable pair of white sandals adorn his feet, and protect him from the potential filth underfoot - though, he wouldn't be caught dead wandering anywhere near filth in the first place. Still, even at this early hour, he attracts a few looks from passing townfolk. However, he is currently not looking for work and pays them no mind. This is preparation for work, after all.

He lifts a hand up to his face to shield his delicate gray eyes from the sun's rays a moment as he feels the next wind flowing in before it even hits the town. As gentle as the rest, he revels in the freshness of the wind with a contented smile on his soft pink lips before he drops his hand from his eyes and pushes away from the cold stone wall. A walk will help him judge the area, to find the best spot to wait and watch from even though the idea of skulking about the docks at night for a mark gives him vague pause. He's not a dock-working kind of girl, but this town is damn near nothing but dock – sadly, unavoidable.

The ships that are moored here do catch his eye, however, and he finds himself staring at them and their various forms as well as those who move around on them at this hour as he himself slips along the dock. The sound of waves splashing against the stone breakers is the backdrop to this place, and it's a sound he doesn't particularly mind as he gazes longingly now and again out over the waves, at the vast expanse of blue where there is nothing but water and sky. Freedom, as free as anything could every possibly be, and infinite possibilities. On land, however, that sense of freedom is a hard thing to find. As he considers this, a soft sigh escapes his lips, and a hand reaches up to brush a creamy-coloured bang from his face, moving nearer the edge of the docks at the same time almost unknowingly. When he finds himself so near the water though, he cannot help but peer over the edge, to the foaming water below.

Anonymous

Sam loved the sea. It was her home. She had been born here and she would die here, hopefully. She had many memories from when she was a little girl, all those centuries ago. Alas, all those that she loved were lost to her, taken away by the steady grind of time. She sighed inwardly. No matter what happened, she would always know that whoever she met would eventually die.

Enough with these thoughts! Sam shook herself to clear her head. There was no reason for her to mourn nature's course. She committed herself to letting the currents flowing around her and through her take away all of the unpleasantries that were trying to pull her down.

Ahhh. Mother Ocean never let Sam down when it came to relaxation. Yet, she had a job to do. It had been over a century since Samantha had last been in Cerenis and she was here to find out what all had changed. Of course, her instincts were telling her that she should stay right where she was. The surface dwellers never changed much over the centuries and neither had their buildings.

Okay. That last one was a lie. Humans always changed their structures. It was like some kind of fetish to them. Either way, her gut said that, even if the structures had changed, the attitudes of the people hadn't. She gave her inner self a slap. That wasn't always true. Sam had witnessed the attitudes of a people almost flip in the space of a decade. As for a century? Who knew what would have happened!

Sam slowly floated to the surface. She figured that the only decent people up at this hour would have already cast off to fish for the day. It should be the perfect time to slip out of the ocean and into the town without anybody noticing. So, with that thought in her mind, her head broke the surface.

Where she found herself looking directly into the eyes of a very pretty...woman? Samantha had bigger problems at the moment than to debate the gender of the person leaning over the pier. "Um...Could you give me a hand here? I don't think I can get back up on my own." Of course it was a lie. She easily could have lifted herself up on a jet of water, but doing so might very well scare the person. Not yet at least. After all, who knew what this woman - it had to be! Few men were that pretty - would do after Sam was up on the docks.

((Yes! Sam has mistaken Varcan for a lady! 8D))

Anonymous

( Haha. It's a fair guess, he's very feminine-pretty. )

The smell of the sea breeze was an ever-present thing, and not something Varcan has smelt often in the last little while. The cities he has found himself in tend to be landlocked, and reak of what cities often tend to - few breezes find their way into those mazes of stone and wood. So, it is with a bit of a start that he processes someone's head has just erupted out of the water beneath the dock on which he stands. His stormy gray eyes widen a little and he takes a step back, half-disappearing from view so that only the upper portion of his head is visible from below, his eyes peering down at the girl in the water. He does not say it, but the expression on his face certainly does 'What the hell?'

The well-manicured eyebrow slowly slips back down as the woman in the water asks for his assistance in climbing out, his initial shock at someone erupting out of the waves in front of him having worn off by now. Still, he considers her for a few seconds longer before moving closer to the edge once again. "Did you fall down there from a ship?" He queries in his low, silvery voice as he moves back in, looking now at the edge of the dock to check and see just how clean it is before he dares set the clean knees of his pants against it.

The dock edge, having passed muster, finds itself the honoured recipient of Varcan's knees as he kneels down slowly upon the edge to reach for the woman in the water better. A long, slender arm is stretched out to her, reaching down as far as he can go without over-extending himself and ending up in the drink as well. Or, as far as he can go without straining himself; she's the one who fell in the water after all, she can put the effort into this rescue.

"Take my hand," he says as he reaches for her, blowing a quick breath from his lips at the creamy-white length of hair that has slipped down from behind his ear to hang in his face as he leans. He crinkles his face a little as the waves roll in and crash against the docks, spraying sea-water up at him where he kneels, beginning to - heaven forbid - dampen him. There will be a certain measure of annoyance on his part if he must start his day soaked in sea water while still clothed. Soggy clothing, terrible. "Before the sharks get you," he adds with one eye closed and the other fixed on her, a fox-like little grin splitting his lips as he speaks. It is simply to hurry her up, he hasn't the foggiest as to whether or not there are even mildly disgruntled sea bass in the water.

Anonymous

Well the reaction the lady gave wasn't much of a surprise. Sam would probably be a little shocked as well if somebody's head suddenly burst from the water below her. Sam was just relieved that the girl hadn't gone for help. That would probably attract the attention of the authorities and Sam didn't much want to explain herself to people that could check to see if she was lying.

Speaking of lying! "I guess you could say I fell off a ship." She said while the girl inspected the dock. Feh. She was one of those kinds of women. Always concerned with their appearance. Gods forbid that something untoward should happen to their appearance. This was definitely a person Sam not need be around. She was still thankful when the girl reached down to try and help her out. A nasty thought did cross her mind though, a nice dip in the water would probably take the girl down a peg or two. Sam thought playing nice was the better option though.

Sam smiled at the shark comment. She had already talked to all of the sea creatures that might want her for a little snack and had made quite sure that none would think of nibbling on her. It would be slightly hard to escape notice while walking around with a piece of leg missing. Or trying to walk around as the case may be.

Using the water as a propellant, along with the hand as leverage, Sam was easily able to make it onto dry land. A short "Thanks." was all she said. Now that she was on land, her suspicions about this person came full force. Why exactly was the woman out at this hour? Although, now that she was able to take a good look at the clothing that the lady was wearing, Sam was pretty sure that her helper was a prostitute. Now that she had a good look at the person, Sam wasn't quite sure if it was male or female. It looked female, though the other woman had no breasts to speak of, and Sam highly doubted any self-respecting man would put himself in that. Female it was then.

"Um...I really do appreciate your help, Miss, but I really do need to be on my way." She backed away from the woman a few feet before turning to leave. Sam was still on alert, should this lady try something. Land dwellers could rarely be trusted. Samantha was still dripping wet too. She'd have to do something about that when she was away from prying eyes.

Anonymous

"One of these?" He queries as the girl in the water finally reaches up for his hand from her damp little location, some free digits used to point at the boats nearest them. When she does take the offered hand, Varcan rises up to his feet as he pulls up on her arm though even to him this seems almost suspiciously easy. She certainly came out of that water with little effort, like a wine cork popping out of a bottle, in a way.

He does note the look she's staring at him with as he pulls her out of the water however, perhaps getting the general gist of what she's thinking when she looks at him and the way he handles himself about the filth of the dock. A small smile crosses his lips as the splash of water rises, fading away as the wave itself disperses into thousand of twinkling drops in the air around them before falling to the dock underfoot.

When the girl is properly standing on the dock, soaked as she may be, he takes a step back and places his hands against his hips. "You're welcome," he replies pleasantly, some beads of water running down the skin of his right hip from the water dripping off of his hand. The look on her face now though looks certainly confused, and he tilts his head to the side in silent reply to it, watching her curiously where she stands.

However, when she refers to him as 'miss', his own confusion is swept away. Ah, this again, he thinks to himself. The smile that had appeared on his lips and vanished just as quickly returns again, wider than before as a small little laugh escapes him. A hand comes up from his hip, waving it slightly, "Ah, no.." He begins, but pauses, his hand still in the air. What harm could it do to let her think that he was a girl? "That is, I can't just let you go like this. You're soaked to the bone, like you've spent who knows how long in that water. Please, come with me and I'll get you cleaned up."

His only reason for following this particular path is, of course, that the wet girl comes across as a rather naive one to him. And, naive people can be the absolute most entertaining type of person around when you can find the right situations to stick them in. Situations that Varcan was fairly certain he could provide here in this sea-side town; he was in need of a good day and chances are he would still get all his 'surveying' done even while leading this girl around.

Anonymous

Samantha stop as the other woman said she wanted Sam to go with her. She wasn't too keen on going along with this woman. The help out of the sea could be brushed off as just helping somebody out but what she was suggested didn't jive with Sam. But...Sam had just come out of the ocean and the other woman didn't know how far Sam had had to 'swim' after she had 'fallen out of the boat.' It could just be that the lady was trying to make sure that Sam would be alright. It would make sense. A normal person wouldn't like have another's death on their conscience. Besides, Samantha couldn't think of an excuse to deny her help.

"Ok. I'll go with you." The soaked woman said. She avoided the question about which boat she fell out of. Best to avoid that. "But only until I get dried off. I don't want to impose." Nor did she want to stay with this woman any longer than need be. Samantha wasn't one for easy trusting. "I'm Jane, by the way." Like she was going to give her real name to a stranger. Not that it matter, really, but why take the chance? "What's yours?"

She walked back to where the other woman was standing to show that she was going to go along. All Sam could do now was follow her wherever she wanted to go and keep an eye on her to make sure nothing fishy was up. Couldn't forget that.

Anonymous

Varcan pauses, considering the soggy girl he has just fished out of the waters for a moment. He remains quite silent as the seconds tick by, one of his hands clasped to his chin thoughtfully and the other supporting that same arm at the elbow, his gaze sinking downwards to the worn docks underfoot. During this brief span, he seems to drift away in all manners save for the fact that he remains physically in place. It is a moment of quiet pondering.

The tide slaps against the stonework beneath the docks, drawing Varcan's attention back into the world around him and out of his wandering thoughts. The sudden crash of the wave causes his eyes to snap up from the docks and to the soggy girl who has introduced herself as Jane, a fact he caught just as he came out of his thoughts. A smile paints itself into existence on his soft pink lips, "Actually, I've really got somewhere to be."

The hand on his chin drops to meet its mirror, clapping together once before his chest in the girl's direction. "I wish you all the lucky, soggy Jane." His hands fall apart from before his chest as he turns, walking away now in the direction he had come from when he had first wandered towards the dock's edge. He pauses, lifting a single finger up into the air as he looks back over his shoulder, "Ah, and I am a boy by the way." The hand returns to his side as he makes his way off down the street he had taken to get to the waterfront, easily disappearing from sight due to the angle of the road and the number of buildings in the way.

Anonymous

The still unknown woman didn't give her name, but that was fine. Since she mentioned that she needed to go somewhere, Sam was freed of thinking up an excuse to for getting away from the other woman, which the elemental was not looking forward to. She wasn't that good at pulling reasons for things out of nowhere. The farewell the woman gave brought the sensation of being wet to the forefront of her thoughts. That would be fixed as soon as the she was away from this...boy?

Well this was slightly awkward for her. Sam would have apologized had the now revealed boy not virtually run off without time for her to reply. While she did not much care for the company of others, Sam wasn't going to let another walk off without receiving an apology from her. She had mistaken his gender for goddess' sake! It would bug her for weeks if she didn't make things right. She inwardly cringed at what she would have to do to make things better and quiet her conscience.

Standing here was getting her nowhere closer to fixing things so off she ran, leaving smacking noises in her wake and water everywhere. Looks like she wouldn't be able to quick fix her way dry, another thing she didn't like. Sam ran for the last place she had seen the guy and had some searching to do before she spotted him again. "Hey!" She called out to him before dashing over to where he had been spotted last and immediately bent over to hold herself up with her hands on her knees. Samantha wasn't really used to so much exercise. "Hey. I wanted. To apologize." She got out between pants. Her side was killing her and she didn't even remember registering that she had seen him standing there. At this point, Sam didn't really care if she was actually talking to the guy or just an empty space. She was going to get her breath back first dammit!