Twist and shout? Try the 'Squirm and Wriggle'

[Anonymous]

A nice clear ocean, warm waters, and the sun, the glorious sun beating down its light. What more could a person really ask for? A rhetorical question, because everything that was ever wanted was right here. Food, sun, peace and quiet? All right here, just sitting in the ocean. Humans liked to think otherwise though...they seemed to want land..while all others were very content with what was there. Pointy eared humanoids liked the forests, dark skinned pointy eared humanoids liked caves and underground, even creatures that liked the water! But...not the normal, non-pointy eared, non gilled humanoids. They just...demolished everything and built cities, great cities, tamed the animals, bled the land dry, all these strange things.

They were just never happy.

But...that didn't matter. Not right anyway. She wasn't there to think about philosophy and all that. Well, she wasn't actually there to uh...do anything. She was here by mistake. How was she supposed to know that she would leave her layer of subspace and end up on this one? It was just a wormhole! But...here she was then. Here...in this...strange world. Where the air wasn't as fluid filled as her own. Even their space looked...empty and devoid of fluid. It was a pretty bleak though...the only place she could feel at home was in the water, in the ocean. That was okay though, her body could process the liquid and she could receive oxygen from it.

And she could just....oh she could just do as she wanted in the ocean.

This person, this strange person, was currently gliding through the water so naturally. She was an odd sight, with dull grey skin, angular chin, and...tentacles. Instead of hair, she had ten small tentacles that draped down her back...coming from her waist...long tentacles that propelled her through the water. Sure, she had legs, but they were for the land only. Her large eyes were in the shape of almonds, and were black as the ocean depths, with perhaps a small tint of brown near the middle. Right now her gills were showing as she swam through the water, twisting and turning as if she were a trained flyer. There were very few creatures that could catch her in the water, her speed was incredible, as it should be...her world, even the space between planets, with a fluid of some kind. If you wanted to visit another planet, you could simply...swim to it.

She dove deep before twisting sharply, heading upwards, straight for the surface. She broke it easily, flying upward into the air, shooting upward at least twenty feet. For her, this was golden...to fly again...but she had to obey the laws of physics so she fell back toward the briny solution. She braced herself, going face her with her arms out to break the water so it wouldn't hurt as bad. She slipped back into the water with little splashing, as if she had never left.

Oh how she loved to swim. Slowly she floated to the top, her front facing upward as she floated in the sunlight, enjoying the warmth of the loving sun. She had done so much studying as of late...so now she could just...relax in the ocean. After spending so much time on the land, it was great to be back in the water. She could sun herself now...though her skin would barely change colour. She ran a hand over her somewhat slippery skin. She didn't have the real feminine curves that the humans did...not that she was jealous. She didn't have anything to be ashamed or embarrassed of...it wasn't as if she had female anatomy showing...her people didn't get those little things on their chest until they were ready for them. Just as well, they would produce some drag wouldn't they?

And she could go without wearing any silly garments like the humans did.

Yeah, it was a pretty good like being her.

[Anonymous]

Kelna pushed open the door of the little wooden shack and blinked slowly in the bright light, the strange pupils of her eyes flattening and turning down at the ends. It had been two weeks since she'd buried her father in the forest, and she'd spent most of that sat quietly in the dark in the home they used to share. The last four days had been more of the same, until the itching was bad enough for her to notice it again.

Mindlessly picking a few flakes of skin from her neck, she shuffled down the beach to the water's edge, her tentacles churning up the grit and stones in a trail behind her. She sighed in contentment as the saltwater washed over her, soothing her dry, burning skin. She let herself sink completely under the water and hung there for a while, almost motionless. It would be so easy to never move again...

Her eyes snapped back into focus when she saw something moving further out to sea. She didn't know what it was, couldn't see from here, but she knew she didn't want it near her, in her water. Why couldn't everything just leave her alone? She just wanted to be alone, forever. There was nothing else she could do. She'd keep the rest of the world away, and then she could have some peace.

Her tentacles propelled her through the water towards where she'd seen the unknown figure. Where it had gone she wasn't sure, but she surfaced anyway. She hadn't spoken for almost a month now, and her voice was weak with disuse. "Go... Go away!" she shouted to whatever could hear. A sudden movement made her turn her head, and the creature sailed over her before returning silently to the sea.

It looked... Well, a lot like her. And that just made her want to get rid of it even more.

She looked around, trying to see where it had gone. Ah, there. She swam closer to it, pale face contorted in rage. Two long, thin tentacles snaked out of the water, the large pads on the end held high and flushed a deep red as a warning. "You! Thing!" she snarled. "Get out of here!"

[Anonymous]

She had no idea that someone else was there, certainly she had checked but things had looked empty. There had been a wooden shack some distance away, but she didn't think she would be close enough to disturb it. She just wanted a little time to enjoy the water before she had to spend more time on land. Then again she had thought about swimming up a river to a city somewhere, if just to spend more time in the water. She really didn't think anyone would mind...since well...there was no one around her.

She had been so focused on swimming she didn't see the strange woman that...really was almost just like her.

For that time, she stared at it, even as it spoke to her, telling her to go away. She was an odd creature...with large pads on the end that went red as ever. She was studying this new creature. Aggressive, yet capable of speech, which meant intelligence, but at the same time still used primitive warning tactics, such as colour changing body parts. She just stared at the woman still as she floated there, bobbing up and down. She wasn't scared, but was the exact opposite. There was slight happiness, and at the same time...curiosity, an intense curiosity at that.

"I...I'm sorry if I have trespassed, but I have not heard of anyone owning the oceans. I just...assumed that anyone could be here...it's just really warm here. I can...swim out further away from here if that is okay." She didn't didn't want to tempt fate here, and she got her ink sac ready just in case this creature wanted to attack. "I...like your warning tentacles though. If your skin was grey you could almost pass for one of my people." Defuse the situation, defuse the anger, maybe this woman was just...irritable. Being polite would hopefully help.

[Anonymous]

Kelna faltered for a moment, the defiant red fading to confused, mottled brown. The creature was being nice, and she never knew how to deal with nice. If it was angry at her, that would be easy; she'd just be angry right back, but nice was always puzzling. Was it making fun of her? She couldn't make out any sarcasm, in fact it seemed completely sincere, but it was always best to assume the worst. Running her gaze derisively over its body, she spat, "I certainly hope not! Swim wherever you like, so long as I don't have to look at you."

The shifting pattern of brown started to spread over her whole body, leaving large patches of white where her skin had become dry and flaky. She crossed her arms, tentacles still waving, and glared at the creature. The thing was just... Ugh. It was like somebody had taken all the most freakish parts off of her and made them worse. Frankly, this was the last thing she needed to see. She was already depressed and lonely enough, and she really didn't need reminding how disgusting she was.

[Anonymous]

Never be angry at something that was already angry, or else you know...it might get angrier. If it just stayed in the level of angry, it would be fine, she could easily escape from it. Shoot some ink in its eyes and then swim like an arrow away from it. It looked like it could be fast, but she was betting that she was probably faster. She had to be fast, her people were speedy things. If it chased her, she'd just go deep, hide by a reef or something like that. Blend in as it were.

"So...I can..." She reached a hand to her forehead and scratched it in confusion. She could swim where she wanted, but the woman didn't want to look at her. So she wasn't allowed to swim just anywhere. "This...this might sound odd in your language and customs...but can I still look at you?" She sounded shy, but curious as she spoke this. In her travels, she had never encountered anything remotely like her, and now here she was in front of what could be a distance ancestor of hers!

Of course, that would be impossible but still!

"I just haven't seen anything like me before...and now you are here...are you native to these waters?" Despite having been told to go away, she couldn't! She had to know! She was a [strike:2p25c99o]scientist[/strike:2p25c99o] archaeologist damn it! She kept forgetting that this place didn't understand what a scientist was, at least not in the regards of what she was. The only thing about her is she was studying current cultures instead of ones long gone.

[Anonymous]

More politeness, more bizarre inquiries... Kelna was utterly clueless as to what this creature was thinking. It showed no fear and no aggression towards her. It just seemed to genuinely want to know things. This was so confusing! The brown pattern on her skin shifted more rapidly and her hairless eyebrows bunched together as she pondered the situation. She really couldn't make any sense of it, unless...

They weren't very common, and she'd only ever met one or two on her occasional trips into civilisation, but there were people who acted in a similar manner towards her. Somehow, they were worse than the outright haters.

It all made sense - the attempts at flattery, the questions, the overbearing niceness in the face of abuse. "Ohhhh, I get it! I know what this is." Her gills flared, and her lip curled in disgust. "If you're some pervert, lookin' for freaky fish sex, you'll have to do a lot better than that. And I'll tell ya now, there's no-one else even remotely like me round here and I'd like to keep it that way. So try some other beach!"

[Anonymous]

It wasn't the best thing to say.

Quiel'ebbos was still getting used to saying things to people who just...didn't understand. There was very little confusion with her people, they understood what a person meant quite easily. There was very little confusion or innuendo with her people. She sort of forgot that with people here, there was a lot more to words. Quiel thought it would be okay to just keep her pose relaxed, friendly, warm, trying not to stir up anything and look like she was a threat.

Suddenly there was anger again, and Quiel's face was completely filled with confusion.

"W-what? N-no! That wouldn't be f-feasible!" How could the woman suggest something like that?! Sex? Quiel'ebbos had found herself propositioned before by humans and others in the city, though mostly in taverns and seedy places of town...she of course...would decline and quickly run from them. It was a rather...strange thought. The humans seemed to not care they weren't the same species so...she didn't want to think about that.

"I j-just want to swim though...if you don't want to talk t-that's fine...but the oceans remind me of home...and this one is really warm and nice..."

[Anonymous]

Kelna was completely taken aback by this person, and their apparent actual niceness. They weren't sarcastic and from this response they weren't on the prowl for a partner, they were genuinely being nice. To her. This was... Well, not new but definitely unusual. She raised her chin and cast a critical eye over the stranger, and her skin returned to its usual cream shade. "... Are you sure? You just wanna swim, and... Talk? Nothing else at all?"

She'd only wanted to be left alone, but maybe some companionship might not be a bad thing. This creature was possibly even stranger than she was, so there wasn't the same danger as with the usual races of Le'raana. "Well, you're gross and probably slimy," she said, being about as tactful as she could, "but you might be OK, sooo..." She shrugged her shoulders and all her tentacles at once. "Do what you want."

[Anonymous]

This woman was acting as if....being nice to her was a completely new and foreign concept to her. It was a little confusing, but she figured there must be a good reason for it. Why she believed that she would have any ulterior motives were beyond her. The fact that she thought she wanted to...participate in sexual discretions was entirely confusing, and made her skin darken at the thought of it. They didn't know each other, and they weren't of the same species! And they looked to be the same gender for that matter! While she heard of...same sex relationships, the actual...practise of it was quite foreign. "Yes, that is all I would like to do. I...I am sure that your people find you worthy of pseudo-sexual relations, but I am afraid that my interest is not focused there." There she went again, talking like a scientist.

She cursed herself quietly and tried to just...move on, by moving back to float on her back. The sun felt so nice today, and it made her have a healthy sheen to her soft skin. "Slimy? I don't believe that I am particularly slimy...my body doesn't produce a mucous, but when my skin is wet it is harder to grip onto,  but I have never had any complaints that I left a slime..." She said up and looked at her skin, running a hand over one of her tentacles to try and see if there was slime. Nope. No slime there.

"Ah! I apologize for my rudeness. My people call me Quiel'ebbos." She bowed her head, as she had seen many do in this world. It was a sign of respect and courtesy, and she did not want to seem rude and arrogant. She was far from that! At least she hoped she was.

[Anonymous]

Another statement Kelna wasn't entirely sure how to take. It could have been an insult to her looks, but it didn't sound like it was? Or maybe the complicated wording was a subtle dig at her intelligence. There was the possibility that it was neither of these things, but it seemed slim. She attempted a comeback, but since she didn't understand what she was coming back to it wasn't very good.

"Oh yeah? Focus this!" And then she held up her middle finger. It... It was not her proudest moment.

Finally, the creature actually took offence to something... And reacted by logically disproving it. That was just not normal. Well, of course it wasn't going to be normal, just look at it, but this was the strangest reaction she'd ever had. It didn't bother objecting to being called gross, either. Was it because that was more of a subjective judgement? Whatever, it was baffling.

And apparently it had a name, a surprisingly simple one. She was expecting something more like her own, stupidly long and with syllables that were unpronounceable with a mere humanoid mouth. There it went again with the politeness, too. A late introduction didn't even register on Kelna's rudeness scale, not compared to what she usually got. Especially compared to what she gave. "Quiel'ebbos, huh?" She cocked her head to the side. "And what does everyone else call you?"

[Anonymous]

Quiel'ebbos could only do one thing...and that was stare at the woman in confusion. Focusing on the finger. She had never been given the middle finger before, and she had never actually seen someone give the middle finger to another. It was...all very strange and she just...stared. She didn't know what else to do. It just wasn't part of her nature, and so...she was very confused by it. All she could do was just stare, until she broke off into her segment about not being slimy.

Again, just like a scientist.

"Everyone...else calls me Quiel'ebbos." The young squid-like woman did not understand what was going on at all. "Though, some people in the city call me 'You' or 'Squid' but that's until I introduce myself." Some had been incredibly...off-putting by saying they didn't care what her name was. There was no real need for rudeness in her world, but some people just couldn't be helped really. They just didn't have the manners that were necessary for proper interaction.

"What are you called?" It was appropriate in social situations to exchange names, thought his woman hadn't really...followed through with all the normal interactions. It was a very odd social situation. This woman had a bluntness and a rudeness to her, but it still didn't turn Quiel'ebbos off of wanting to study her and figure out just what she was. She felt a certain kinship with the strange woman, who had such strange colour changing skin and tentacles just like her.

[Anonymous]

Kelna didn't know why she hadn't expected Quiel'ebbos to react like that, since everything so far had added up to make it incredibly obvious, but it was still sort of amusing. She moved her hand from side to side, up and down, watching the other creature watch her finger. It put a smile on her face, at least. Maybe it would do her good to spend some time with somebody apparently even less socially adept than she was. It would definitely be fun, anyway, and that was as valid a reason as any.

She let out a short burst of laughter at Quiel'ebbos' explanation. "Hahaha! Gods, I get that all the time too. Tch, idiots can't even get my species right to insult it." She didn't even bother to comment back when they did that. Anyone too stupid to work out the difference between a squid and a cuttlefish, she felt, couldn't properly appreciate one of her finely-crafted retorts.

Her name, huh? Well, the other one had introduced itself so it was only fair for her to do the same. She paused for a second before replying to decide whether she should be annoying, or to give the creature a break. Pah, why was she even considering this? Of course she'd do the pain-in-the-ass thing! She took a deep breath and started rattling off her full name. It had taken her forever to memorise the thing, she should get to use it sometimes. "Klnrgvlhaivand," she started, slapping her tentacles together at certain points in the word, before taking another breath to do it all again. "Aijhrvaklijvkrijdu. You want that again, or did you get it all?"

The creature had been overly polite until now, so she was sure it would struggle valiantly with calling her that for a while. Inwardly, she started timing it. How long until it asks for a nickname? Oh, what fun they would have together!

[Anonymous]

At least someone was amused. Quiel'ebbos was slightly frustrated with this confusing woman. She didn't make sense, and Quiel hated when things didn't make a lot of sense. Like the damned middle finger. What did it even mean?

"They never get my species right, but that is because they just don't know that I am not a genetic off-shoot or creation of two species." At least they had something in common! People didn't get their species right. Of course, Quiel'ebbos' species hadn't evolved on this planet, so they could only compare it to what they knew, and if they said Squid she supposed they'd be mostly right. They did bare striking similarities after all.

Quiel'ebbos tilted her head as the woman began to say what she assumed was her name. Lucky for both of them, Quiel'ebbos had a rather nice memory. She was able to recall things with good clarity. You had to when your people's civilization was in a somewhat fluidic state and you couldn't just carry a pen or pencil around. She nodded and smiled as best she could, despite not having lips, though her lipless mouth seemed to form a slight U shape. "Klnrgvlhaivand," Quiel mimicked the tentacle slapping, just in case they were part of the actual name. "Aijhrvaklijvkrijdu." She finished with a nod. "Unless it is...without the gestures then it is Klnrgvlhaivandaijhrvaklijvkrijdu, correct?" It was a rather complex name, but she was able to pronounce it. It would be pretty heavy to pronounce each time though...but she didn't want to seem rude!

[Anonymous]

Quiel'ebbos wasn't the only one that was confused! Kelna stared blankly at the creature for a moment, trying to work out what it was the thing had even said. She knew some of those words... But what was a jenay, why was it ticked off and what did it have to do with shooting anything, and what did that have to do with not being a squid? "I agree," she managed eventually, not wanting to seem stupid.

Maybe it was a squid thing.

"Nonononono. No! You need the -" She slapped her tentacles together again indignantly. "They're very important, without them you could be calling me, I dunno, the whale-licking daughter of a starfish or something. I don't take well to being insulted!" She knew it was mean to make stuff up and she didn't even truly know if the gestures were required, but Quiel'ebbos was so earnest about this that she couldn't help herself. It was so much fun!

[Anonymous]

It was just a squid thing.

Well, her people thing. They had an advanced knowledge of things, their technology wasn't completely up to snuff as some cultures and races, but her people knew enough about the natural world. However, these people didn't seem to have that level. Her words would be completely misunderstood, and she wasn't even too aware of it. After all, she had lived a while, and said these things before with others understanding her completely. It was hard to get used to people not understanding what she was saying. She also supposed that since the woman looked like one of her people...she might understand. Though she agreed...she knew that the woman probably didn't.

"O-oh!" Quiel'ebbos said in surprise as she looked downward, somewhat ashamed. "Please forgive me, Klnrgvlhaivandaijhrvaklijvkrijdu." She said, this time with the slapping. It was a mighty strange name, that involved gestures, which made Quiel'ebbos just want to study her even more. Because it was fascinating and different and new. "I did not mean to insult you. I was unsure of the meaning of the gestures, but from now on I will include them." Adaptation was how you survived in most world, and if this woman's name included slapping tentacles together, then she'd make sure to adapt to it.

[Anonymous]

"Well," sniffed Kelna, "You do that." This was hilarious. A slight amused smile played on the corners of her lips and her skin colour warmed a little, becoming more of a pale yellow. She wondered how long she could keep this up. There was the possibility that she'd get tired of hearing her full name before Quiel'ebbos got tired of saying it, which would be a first. Usually people got fed up after saying it two or three times, but this one seemed like she could do it all day. Odd.

As she floated there, strangely enjoying the creature's company, her stomach reminded her of just what she'd been doing the last few days. Namely, nothing. In her grief, she hadn't even been able to bring herself to eat, and her body loudly reminded her that she sort of needed to do that. She fought to keep her expression the same, but she couldn't stop her cheeks flushing green with embarrassment. "I'll... Be right back." And with that she ducked under the waves.

It was time to go fishing.

[Anonymous]

"I w-will." She had no idea that Kelna was actually just messing with her. She didn't know too much of deception, especially people being deceptive like that. It wouldn't make any sense to her if someone was to act deceptive about this. Why would Kelna have any reason to after all? They had just met! No, it didn't make sense, she didn't know that people could be cruel like this. Poor Quiel'ebbos, so out of touch with things...but she was trying to learn. She had to be a social anthropologist after all! She had to study them, she had to study their ways and behaviours. If she didn't...then she'd never survive here.

Suddenly the woman was...her face was going green. Quiel'ebbos tilted her head slightly, quite confused. "W-wait!" Suddenly Kelna was gone, and Quiel dived under the water as well to follow her. Where was she going anyway? She couldn't communicate with Kelna underwater though...voice didn't translate very well through water. She would follow however. She wanted to know what was going.

She could see quite well under the water...but she still didn't know what Kelna was up to. She'd stick close though to see what was going on...because the woman really did fascinate her. She was just like her after all! They had so much in common didn't they? Well...almost...there were some things that were quite different...but they were both sea people!

[Anonymous]

The light was different under the water, but this wasn't a problem for Kelna. Her curious eyes picked out the slightest differences in colour, making it easy to spot what she was looking for. She'd been far enough down the coast to see the little, brightly-coloured fish that lived there but here most of them were drab grey or brown. That didn't mean they could hide from her, however.

She turned her head from side to side as she swam deeper, searching for her prey. Looking around, she glimpsed Quiel'ebbos following a little way behind and rolled her eyes. It could trail her all it wanted, but it certainly wasn't going to be getting any of her lunch!

Closing in on the ocean floor, she saw a little shoal of thin silver fish, and her eyes narrowed as she slipped silently through the water towards them. Her skin muted and darkened in colour until it was almost the same shade as her companion's. She swam nearer, picking up speed, and the fish noticed her and tried to dart away as a pair of whip-like tentacles slashed through the water and slammed together around a grey body.

She pulled the stunned animal into her hands and pirouetted back to face Quiel'ebbos, all in one swift movement. Her skin changed again, to a shade of orange almost as bright as her smile. How lucky she'd been! This was one of her favourites. She used to sit beside her father on the beach, eating together as the sun set over the water...

Looking down at the fish, she felt sad again. Suddenly she didn't feel so hungry any more. She swam slowly up to meet the other creature and as the fish began to twitch back into consciousness, she thrust it into Quiel'ebbos' hands. Kelna wasn't going to eat it now, so somebody might as well.

((I think I might have put too much in? If Quiel'ebbos would wanna do something during the hunting bit, let me know and I'll cut it ^^;))

[Anonymous]

((It's completely awesome, not to worry!))

Quiel'ebbos didn't have any trouble following after Kelna. She cut through the water perhaps a bit faster than Kelna did, but stayed behind, just in case. She didn't want to interrupt anything that might be happening. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing of course, but it could have been important and so she stayed far enough away, just watching the woman.

It suddenly started to make sense though. She was hunting. Quiel'ebbos gave a nod and made a mental note about it. Hunting, looking for food then. It made sense that a woman who looked like a cuttle fish would hunt fish. A rare opportunity, since she was sure that most people didn't get to see something like this, so she felt kind of honoured! It was really fascinating to watch her hunt. Quiel'ebbos stayed back but made sure to watch carefully, noticing how she changed skin colour and everything.

Oh she was definitely fascinated by this.

It almost looked like the fish was going to get away, but a quick tentacle slap and the fish was stunned. Skin changed, and she looked back at her, Quiel'ebbos stayed where she was floating, underwater and tilting her head to the side. She was happy then? The woman did seem to have a bright smile on her face that...oh, it was suddenly gone. Suddenly Kelna was there, giving her the fish. She wasn't particularly hungry, but she took the fish as it started to struggle back to life. It's okay Mr. Fish. I am not hungry, so you get to go now. She stroked the fish on the top of the head with a tentacle before letting go of it. The fish zipped away like silver lightning.

It didn't seem like a gift...the woman had caught the fish to eat herself but then stopped. Something was...fishy here.

[Anonymous]

Quiel'ebbos let it go? Kelna was generous enough to give away food, and the creature was so ungrateful as to let it go? She started to scowl, but instead just turned and swam back toward the surface. It didn't matter anyway. The fish got to live this time. Good for the fish.

She turned her head down so she didn't have to look at the light rippling through the water. She hated it. Why did the sun have to shine when everything was terrible? It wasn't right. Oh well, soon she would be back in the little hut on the shore, and then she could curl up in the darkness and sleep again until the itching, or the hunger, or the thirst, got too much.

The waves splashed around her as she broke the surface and bobbed slowly toward the shoreline. She couldn't even be bothered to swim properly. Her tentacles wriggled gently to steer her in the right direction, and then she lay back with her eyes closed to just let the tide do the work.