Lapis lazuli and Indigo

[Haze]

As suddenly as the rain had started, it stopped again. Reevahn seemed to be able to gather her wits back to her, and with a deep steadying breath, she forced the cloud to dissipate, giving way to the cerulean sky that reigned above. It was true that she was unperturbed by the water on her skin - she didn't even shiver. The rain caught in her hair, sending it into water-laden, silky curls.

She pouted for a moment, before nodding. "I'm.. I'm sorry. I guess I just get ... a little carried away. The ocean's very special to me, and I hate it when people treat it with disrespect, simply because it is not their home." She stopped before she started on another tirade, and took the opportunity to take in his sopping appearance.

It started as a snort, which quickly snowballed into raucous giggling. "You look ... like ... a drowned... rat!" She was shaking so hard with the laughter that she had to readjust her hold on him. It seemed that Ganon had no idea where it had come from, and for that she was pleased. It would take some explaining. Calming herself down, yet again, and this time from another entirely exuberant and wholly genuine rush of emotion, Reevahn quieted for the short while it took for them to get to the trees.

She wriggled in his arms then. "You can put me down now. " Patting his cheek lightly she added, "you've been very kind to carry me this far. And all without a name, too. Who are you, Mister Ruby-eyes? You know, they're quite a pretty colour. I don't think I've ever seen eyes that colour before."

[Juno]

He wanted to say something about the ocean not being much of a home unless there was a ship in it, but he didn't want to invite any more conversation on the ocean or its fish or whatever else she might get riled up over right now. Taking notice of her looking at him, though, he just quirked a brow with a slightly smug smile before turning to look ahead once more. Bet she likes what she sees. And here I thought this would be hard with how she got all...protective over some animals. Pah. Worthless things, most of 'em. W-wait... a rat? A RAT?! Oh, come ON!

Her laughter should have been something he craved, as a sign of some sense of comfort around him, but it was all he could do to keep holding her up and just walk along without making some snide comment. "Funny, eh? Darn rain..." A slightly pained look in his eyes accompanied this as he sighed and carried along toward their destination without looking at her at all. As they slowed and then stopped, though, he finally chanced a look down just as she spoke again.

"Down?" He didn't really want to put her down. It was a good show of his strength and he thought it might get him bonus points that he wanted to help and she was unsteady on her feet at best right now, or had seemed to be. The contact on his cheek caused him to tense a bit before relaxing again at her thanks and compliments. 'Ruby-eyes', eh? She likes them. And that means she likes the nice man for helping her. Oh, pretty? Pretty eyes? Yes, she likes. Finally easing her down, though not entirely without reluctance, he flashed a pleased, toothy grin. "I try to be a gentleman when I can..., but... You think so? I've never had a lady tell me that before," he lied.

"I guess it's rare... My name is Ganon, and, if you need any more help I'd be glad to stick around, you know. Help you into town, maybe... Or get you to your family... Wait, do you have family from around here, perhaps? Do you live around here?" He sorely hoped not, he did enjoy being able to show a girl around, get her comfortable, perhaps share a meal or two or three or four or however many he could milk out of the short-lived pairing. "Oh, and," he gestured behind him to the black mare that still seemed quite curious of the girl but was far less enchanted now that the music had stopped, "this is Delphine."

[Haze]

The ground still tore at her tender feet, but the Siren was determined now that she had got this far from shore, to make the most of every moment. She couldn't help the whimper that escaped her, except to bite down on her lip lightly. "Yes, I really think so." The flattery could continue, she knew, for as long as it was needed. He seemed to enjoy it, and what was more, he was helping her without the need of her music to draw him in. Things were, despite her little outburst, going rather well.

Home? Where you found me, bubble-head. But aren't you kind. I guess I play the little orphan role now. Don't need to answer those questions directly.

"Delphine? What a precious name," she simpered, drawing close to the animal, reaching up with a dainty hand to pet along her nose. "I'm Reevahn." She stayed standing for as long as she could bear, until she felt her stomach growing queasy with the effort it was taking to bite back the pain. This is going to take some getting used to. I wonder, if he takes me with him, if he'll let me ride the horse.

Setting herself down against a tree, she sat with her long legs outstretched. "That would be wonderful, Ganon, if you'd stay with me a while. I'm afraid I don't really know where I am. As for family," she let out a mournful sigh, and turned sad eyes towards him. "I... I lost them... to the sea." Clever girl! "They were aboard the ship with me. I don't think any of them made it. They're probably all... at the bottom of the ocean." Her mouth turned down in a pitiful attempt to smile. "I would really appreciate the company. I don't feel like I could make it on my own, just yet."

[Juno]

He didn't miss the little noise from her, but it didn't seem to persist so it didn't hold his attention enough to want to know the cause. Watching her move closer to the mare and pet her, though, he couldn't help but see how delighted the animal seemed to have her so near. Delphine certainly wasn't some terrible, ferocious beast, just a normal horse, beautiful as she was, but her returned affections were slightly surprising to him. "I think she likes you," he offered, then smiled, "but Reevahn... that's a very nice name, I don't believe I know any other."

As she sat herself down, Ganon remained standing by the horse, adjusting the tack as he listened to her. It was all almost too good to be true for him, though. A girl who needed help, didn't know where she was, probably was entirely alone in the world and was practically asking him to stay? This is-- I better be careful. I might be able to keep her around for a while if I'm not too...greedy. She seems really hardy, too, surviving a shipwreck... Maybe she'll actually last without dying on me.

For now, he kept his face sympathetic to what she could tell him, and when she was done, stepped around Delphine to crouch beside her. "Of course, and... I'm sorry for your loss," he said simply, wanting to put on the mask of a good guy for her now. "You're in good company, though, I could take you wherever you'd like with the horse. Umm... where are you from? I could at least get you to your hometown, any distant relatives, anything you like, really." He glanced down to her wet clothes before tugging at his own sopping shirt uncomfortably. "Or more immediately... try and get some dry clothes soon, eh? I don't have anything a woman might want to wear." Not getting anything of mine. Nuh-uh. Find her own damn clothes... Rescuing her's the whole reason I got wet in the first place...

[Haze]

She shied away, naturally, as he came closer, her preservation instincts kicking in now that they were a fair distance from the sea. Reevahn was beginning to realise that she hadn't thought this through very well at all. But, Ganon was being quite the gentleman, and besides from the initial few moments when he had hefted her ungracefully over the horse's back, had been relatively concerned for her. Or so she thought.

Except that she couldn't answer his questions. Sweet mother of pearl, how do I answer this? I can't tell him I'm from the ocean... oh! I know! I... hit my head. I don't remember. it was a long shot, but it was worth it, she figured. Her expression turned doe-eyed, and she looked quite innocent in that state. "I don't ... I don't remember where I'm from," she said, lifting her hand to her head. Frowning, she tried to feign rememberance. "And I ... I don't think I have any more family. No... I remember... I remember... oh, I don't remember much at all, I'm afraid!" Another little pitiful sigh, before she perked up at the idea of new clothes.

"Clothes? Oh, I'm fine in these. I... I guess they will dry out soon enough," she plucked at the thin, gauzy material coating her new legs. Sure enough, they were already starting to grow less damp beneath her fingers. The shirt on the other hand, clung to her. She was a little surprised that he hadn't mentioned her bare midriff, or the jewel set where her belly button should have been. "Where are we though?" She asked finally, draping her arms across her stomach, to try and make sure that he didn't notice the oddity about her form. Just one of the few. "Are you from around here? Wherever here is? Could I stay with you? You seem safe enough!"

[Juno]

The shrinking away was a bit surprising. He figured it was just because she didn't much trust him, which he couldn't fault her in, so he stayed where he was to give her her space. He gave her a look for her answer, though, not entirely believing that she was fine and almost pitying her for her seeming lack of memory, but he wasn't going to press the issue right now. "Alright, if you insist," he agreed, not wanting to make the situation awkward over such an odd subject. She kept going on, though.

Her appearance was kind of hard to miss, but he'd chosen not to fixate on it or ask questions just yet. He thought it strange enough to find some shipwrecked girl that his horse just could not bear to be away from. "Where? We're just up the coast from Cerenis and staying with me..." he trailed off, looking over his shoulder to Delphine as if she might be able to tell him some answer or take him through the proper wording of it.

"I do live around here -and you can stay for a little while if you want, Reevahn- but..." She doesn't need to know that you should talk to the landlady first. Oh, to hell with her, it doesn't matter if I have a guest for a couple of nights. Not like I haven't before. She'll just get all interested in who I've got with me, anyway, the old, lovely nag. "You can stay," he began again, this time with a much brighter, kind smile of a man concerned with her safety after finding her washed up, or so he hoped. It would only be a matter of time before that facade would crumble in the face of the hunger food could not satiate.

"Would you like to go soon or take a rest for a while here? The town's still a ways down the road," he said, entirely aware that he was avoiding her other questions right now.

[Haze]

Reevahn looked absolutely delighted that he agreed to let her stay with him. She beamed up at him, a bright spark filling her eyes. She had forgotten to be wary now. That was one of her downfalls. Once a kindness was extended to her, Reevahn seemed to throw caution to the wind, and tether herself to the person who had treated her with any sort of compassion. She had already set her mind to sticking with Ganon, for as long as he would let her. It was just her way.

 "My feet are really very sore. I should probably just ... hey..." She stopped for a moment, and focussed all her attention on the man's face. "Your eyes... I've never seen any quite that colour before. I know I mentioned them earlier but... they really are such an incredible colour.

"I saw a colour like that once. A ship caught fire. The heat and flames turned the sky dark and red, and from beneath -" She stopped abruptly, and ducked her head. Stupid. Stupid. Stop saying stupid things. A hand lifted to toy with the braid in her hair, fingers dancing over the shells woven into the strands. "Taking a rest sounds good," she cast her eyes down to her feet, and grimaced slightly. Some cover.

[Juno]

Again with the eyes. Ganon was a bit surprised by her fascination with it. Then again, most people did seem to notice, but she was quite bold in voicing her observations. It wasn't something he was complaining about, though, having already decided that he was going to let this woman into his house, if only for a little while, with the hopes of charming her enough: A proper meal, a proper feeding, and, hopefully, a willing participant.

That she seemed to like it was good, but her story caught his attention. Red. A fire. A ship. Was it his? He had no way of knowing, but his attention was now divided as thoughts of a grand vessel circled in. Beneath... Beneath what? The ship? Quiet until she stopped talking, he settled himself down to sit now instead as his mind worked to piece together the fictitious picture for him yet again. "What... why were you beneath?" he finally asked.

"Were you on it? Did you fall? Into the water... My, how did you get away? Swim to shore? Someone pick you up? ...you have an awful lot of ship-related problems, Reevahn."

[Haze]

"Beneath? Did I say beneath? Oh no, I meant -" she grimaced, and searched her mind for something that sound even slightly plausible. She remembered her sisters talking about pirates, and how they sailed the seas taking what they would from each other, and there were plenty wrecks at the ocean's floor boasting more riches than one person alone could imagine, that there must be some truth to the story. And so it became hers.

"Well, yes. I fell. See, I was a Pirate Captain's daughter, I remember now. Black .... Black Boris, they called him. The ship was so fine, the biggest thing on the ocean." Her eyes grew wide with her story telling, and she turned her face to Ganon so he could catch all her little expressions and emphasis. Not that she wasn't talking with her hands already - they were waving about in explanation, nearly whacking him several times in the process.

"We were set upon by another ship, and sadly," she pouted her, with big puppy dog eyes, "the ship was lost. Father tossed me overboard before it could go down, so that I might have a chance at life." Her hands came to her chest, "Oh, father!" Perhaps she was relishing this story a little too much. "I was washed ashore, but I soon found my way back to the ocean. I could never be far from the ocean for long. It's my life's blood." Well, at least there was a little truth to her story.

"Have you ever been on a pirate ship, Ganon? They are the most glorious things." She gave a blissful little sigh, and tugged on her shell-entwined braid. "You really should sometime, you know."

[Juno]

The story she presented definitely drew in his attention. He couldn't say he'd ever heard of the man she named as her father, but the idea of her being a daughter of a pirate certainly caught his interest: Had he ever been beaten to a haul by this fellow captain? Or worse yet, had he been the one to seize his ship? If that was true the ship was already lost, but it got him wondering what sort of things Reevahn might know.

While Ganon was not a man known for being particularly informed, the nature of his existence had molded him into needing a certain level of common sense and that common sense was telling him her stories weren't matching up. Before, she was telling him that she'd been aboard a ship that was lost to a storm and now she was saying she knew the fate of at least her father and that she'd found her way back to the sea somehow. Yet, she'd said before that going overboard was the last thing she remembered happening before she'd been washed ashore. He figured there were either gigantic holes in her story or one was a complete lie but either way it didn't seem that she was aware of the inconsistencies she was presenting now.

For now, he was going to keep these thoughts to himself, tucked away for future use should he have any way of exploiting this; he was sure he would find some way of achieving that one way or another. Now, though she was asking about him.

"I have, but not in a very long time. I'm sorry about your father, but that's a funny coincidence, you know. See, I'm a captain, too. Of a ship, of course. Problem is, I don't quite remember what happened to it or my crew. We had such nice gig running and now...well, there's nothing right now." He gave a brief smile here, though, one that showed no signs of frustration with this fact, enduring and ironic as it had been. "Did you grow up on the ship? At sea?"

[Haze]

Reevahn was happily unaware of the inconsistencies in her stories, listened quite intently to Ganon's. Seemed he was without memory, and that suited her just fine. Perhaps it would extended to him forgetting little bits and pieces she'd told him. She lifted her hands and raked her hair over one shoulder, before beginning to braid it absently.

"Perhaps your ship was set upon by another, and you knocked your head and fell, just like me," she offered by way of empathizing with his plight, before trying to come up with a plausible story to give in answer to his question. She decided to be honest. Of sorts.

"Oh, at sea, yes. The first things I remember is the waves, being surrounded by ocean. In fact, I hardly every came on land. The sea was always bountiful, and provided all we ever needed." She undid the braid in her hair and flicked her hair over to the other shoulder, and began again, watching with a wistful remembrance as the strands of turquoise blended into the pale white blonde of the rest of her hair.

"I remember being lulled to sleep by the rocking of the currents, and being sung to by whales as if I was one of their own. It was always so peaceful, and quiet and calm - even in the storms. Beneath the sea was always so still..." She trailed off, with her eyes taking on a far away look, and her mind was in another place for a moment.

[Juno]

"Maybe so," was all he responded with at first, the mere idea setting his mind to cast back to the very beginning of what memories he did possess. The movements of her fingers as she proceeded to braid her hair quite easily distracted him, though. Those maroon eyes watched her carefully as she continued speaking and, finally, he was taking in the oddities with her hair. What he saw didn't so much bother as intrigue him, having never seen someone with colors like that. The fascination with the possibility of it all being natural got him thinking, wondering what sort of lineage she actually bore.

How Reevahn spoke also caught his attention; her words seemed so fond and reminded him of things he'd heard sailors recount. But singing whales? Beneath the sea again? "You must really like to swim, huh?" he commented with a short laugh as he dug the toe of his boot into the ground. "I can't say I've ever heard a whale, what do they sound like when they sing? ...How far down did you have to go to hear them? Or can you hear them anywhere?"

[Haze]

Inwardly she cringed again. How long was she going to keep on getting distracted and not pay attention to her words. But she figured, as she watched him dig his toe into the soil, that so far he hadn't seemed to see through her lies, or the semi-truth she'd spoke in just now, so what was the harm in continuing.

"I love to swim," she answered, "I was always swimming... and you don't have to go very far at all. Sometimes even from the surface you can hear them, if they're very close." She smiled and stretched her new legs out in front of her. "The trick for most humans is to be able to hold their breath long enough if they're diving to listen. I could take you with me sometime?"

She didn't think he would take her up on the offer, which was precisely why she made it. Slapping her hands on her thighs then, she looked up at Delphine, and then back at Ganon with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "You know, I think I'm all dried up now... what about you? That was some freak little shower, huh? Just came out of nowhere!"