[Close to Riverfall]A tough little bastard, aint ya? (Sam)

[Umen'thia]

And there was her target – a silly little mud crab. Now if she could only… and as if to answer her plea, six long tentacles sprung from her newly reforming land-dwelling husk. Smiling content as she plotted the creature’s demise, she humped forward a bit, ready to charge. Just a moment more… and there it was. Ready! Aim! Chaaa… brhgharhepffft! Using her tentacles to stand up, she could feel her mouth filling up with sand that didn’t take long to turn mud in her watery insides. Damn right disgusting is what it felt like, so she gave up on the idea of sucking down some flesh from that silly little shell. Stupid crabs… no wonder crabs were such stupid creatures. Seriously, what was up with so many legs? Probably the only thing she disliked more than creatures with too many legs were creatures with too many hairy legs. Like spiders.. yes… spiders were quite terrifying. Unless you were willing to eat them, because then they would pretty much just taste like seagull shyke. Hopefully father wasn’t paying attention to her little slip up – happens to everyone right? Still didn’t mean she wanted everyone important to know about it! Turning around, she wouldn’t let that crab off easy without getting some payback! Lifting her hands and feet in the air, Umen’thia would use her tentacles to walk from that point on. She wouldn’t be beat in a leg game… even if it was by a leg creature. Creeping around the spider slowly, she would wait a good time to strike at it. The crab was more attentive now. And more agile it would seem as he began running under some rocks. Trying to follow, the girl would slip again and swallow a handful of sand once more. It was too late to catch the little creature by this point. Something else managed to catch the girl’s eye… or rather a tentacle. It was incredibly fun to walk this way and soon she would find herself skipping up and down the beach, attempting to keep balance while her improvised legs trembled unused to working in unison with so many. To the Otani it was fun. To anyone else it would’ve probably seemed either monstrous or downright maddening.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

36th Summer, 512 A.V. He had only spent a few days in Endrykas before he found an excuse to return to Riverfall on Watch business, but mostly to visit the spot where he and Denen had left Issima's body in the Drykas manner. The Sea of Grass was hungry, and her bones had been stripped clean, bleached by the summer sun. At least the scavengers were gone, and eventually, perhaps, even the bones and scraps of fabric would be gone, too, returned to the cycle of energy that was Cyphrus. Though he could understand why some people buried their dead, or burned them, in the end, the earth took what it needed. If her flesh had already passed through other animals, then her death had granted them life. It was important to remember the bright side when times were troubled. But the empty sockets of her eyes stared at him accusingly, and so he turned his head away, peering down at the beach from the top of the cliff. Perhaps he would talk to her remains in an attempt to speak to her spirit, but all that was arrested by what he saw down below. It shone and sparkled in the sun, some living thing. His eyes were keen, and he had Syna's sight, too, and it seemed like some creature of water. It took him a few minutes to get down the cliff to the beach by way of a stepped ravine, but soon enough he was standing behind a boulder, curious and watchful.

[Umen'thia]

“Come ‘ere crabby!” she growled quickly as she saw the silly animal emerge from its hideout again. “NO! Don’t! Don’t run!” and then it was gone again. Stupid animal! Couldn’t it just stop and roll around until it got eaten or something serving like that. Laviku, she was hungry! And a hungry Otani was always a grumpy one. Going with that, she’d soon start using her hands to try and dig under the rock where the crab had gone in hiding. She didn’t seem to be in luck, so she quit soon after. There were alternatives however. Spotting a bird of some sort, the girl would quickly use her makeshift walk to trample to the water and was away all those needless appendages. Hitting the water felt cool and refreshing, but before she could even transform fully, the bird was gone to… “Aaaargh!” her voice got mutated to the point she didn’t even sound sentient anymore “How do these petchin’ leg people ever eat anything?!” and then an afterthought mumbled under her breath “I hate leg-hunting!” She would never spot Sama’el – she was much too occupied for that. Well, maybe food wasn’t going her way just yet, but she could always try building a sand castle! Yeah – those were always fun… until the greedy tide came to take them over. She supposed it was better that way. So, starting to pile up sand where she knew it’d be washed away soon enough, she’d consider this another tribute to Laviku. Yeah, father should like it, right?

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Fascinated, he watched. Eventually, he stepped out from behind the boulder, drew closer. He kept a safe distance, though, not wanting to upset the playful creature. Finally, he decided to make himself known, as the creature didn't seem inclined to notice him otherwise. Quietly, he murmured a prayer to Laviku in Pavi: "Lord of the Deep, grant me your power." As he raised his hand to hail her, he called Water from within. The res coalesced around his hand like blue fire, much faster than ever before. But as it slowly began to transmute into true Water, it retained its flame-like behavior. "Ho, Water Lady!" he called in Common.

[Umen'thia]

She wasn’t really certain what was it she heard, but her head still turned towards the racket. And there was one of those pesky land dwellers. Couldn’t they just leave her al… was that water in his hands? No, it was around them. But it was water! Shouldn’t their kind be banned from wielding the element of her father? Not minding this particular fact, she’d raise up her own hand, grayish djed soon turning res at her fingertips. It didn’t take her long to form a couple of drop sized balls that then proceeded to wrap around her own arm. Finally they’d be cast off towards the man, fully turning water. If it could reach him, she would’ve loved to see his reaction to it. “What are you doing here, land-dweller?” she’d press a finger to her lips and add “And where did you get that water?” then she’d proceed towards him. She wasn’t afraid, but hoped he was. They were always more fun when they were initially frightened.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He was so surprised by her watery greeting that he didn't even move to dodge the water, and so was soaked, especially when he lost control of his own Water and it sluiced down his arm. Then he stood there, looking a little bit like a drowned rat, blinking at her and oscillating somewhere between rage and hilarity. "Wh-why did you do that?" he asked. "I was visiting my wife's... grave." It wasn't really a grave, per se, but there was no other real word for it. "I saw you from the cliff and came down to see what you were. Um, doing. What you were doing. But also what you are... Do you belong to Lord Laviku?"

[Umen'thia]

oocSorry about this, but my head was so wrapped up in stuff I completely forgot to post absence for both my characters. At the mention of a wife’s grave, the Otani would squirm a bit. Somehow her presence had become smaller, less imposing. So he was… she never meant to… WAIT just a second, he came down to her. Interrupted her… what was she doing anyway? In any case, he was still interrupting something! She’d remember it eventually. Even with all spite she felt against land-dwellers, Umen’thia still felt a bit sorry for the man. “Because it was fun?” she’d give off a faint smile and add initiative “Well she isn’t going to rise up simply because you mourn… anyway, come over here and help me get…” ah yes the sand castle, and maybe he could catch her a crab or two as well. Land dwellers were good with that stuff “this off the ground” with that she’d point towards the still deformed pile of sand and finish up “And I’ll tell you stuff about father… whatever you want to know!” it was only obvious that Laviku was the all father, wasn’t it?

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

OOCNo worries. I was AWOL moving, too.

He nodded. Wishing certainly wouldn't bring Issima back. There would have to be some unknowable confluence of divine favors to do so: from Oriana, from Dira, from Kihala... He shook his head. The picked over skeleton would one day be dust underfoot and under hoof, or mixed into the watery sea depending on which way the wind blew. But he didn't mind being wet, and this creature was certainly fascinating. Sama'el followed, curious. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, searching for clarification. It wouldn't do to misinterpret things; there was no telling what a child of Laviku would do when upset.

[Cascade]

Adventurer's Loot Sama'el's Loot : Skill XP Reward Reimancy +1 Stealth +1 Lore: Meeting an Otani Visiting a Grave Sad that this thread was cut short, especially since the premise was promising. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!