Under Where? (Citrine Maelstrom)

[Theo Coaststrider]

30th of Winter, 512

The incredible beauty of the South Suvan never failed to impress Theo Coaststrider. Here he was, in the middle of winter, pushing his Casinor at breakneck speeds under a beaming sun. Managing his vessel came as a second nature to the young Svefra, he hopped and skipped and leapt across the deck with a reckless abandon making minute adjustments to the angles of his sails to make sure he was catching every ounce of power the wind would give him. On the long voyages that had come to define his young adulthood Theo had become a fussy sailor. He would carefully adjust his sails, fool with the weight distribution on his vessel and carefully monitor the waves to squeeze every fraction of a knot out of "The Defiance." On any other day his interest would have been purely academic, but today was different.

Skipping along the water beside was the the ship of one of his childhood friends, "The Spitfire." It had been a long time since Theo and Citrine had an opportunity to go cause mischief along the coast together, and they had never had the opportunity to do it as captains of their own ships. The pair hadn't agreed to a race, but he couldn't help but feel that the challenge was implied. Theo took a ferocious pride in the honour of his little Casinor and he wasn't about to be shown up by a jeweller. Bounding along the starboard side, he grabs hold of a thick rope and leans out over the water to shout at his companion. "I didn't know the Maelstrom's had taken to manning leaky tubs! When you asked me to go for a sail I assumed you would be brining a proper casinor, not the family wash bucket."

With a loud guffaw he climbed his way to the back of the ship to grab hold of the vessel's steering wheel. If he remembered the route correctly, it was a clear shot to the cave system they had chose to scout out from where they were now. Unless the wind made a sudden change, unlikely on such a beautiful day, he was free to relax for the moment. As he casually steered the vessel he considered what other insults he could hurl at his friend. The pair had agreed to go diving in a cave system up the coast from where their pods had met for an elaborate celebration. If memory served, Citrine was a much better swimmer than Theo and he had to get his licks in while he could.

As he loosened a thick knot to give himself a bit more sail he considered his uneasy stomach. After the Djed storm many Svefra pods were shattered and lost, that made any chance reunion between the remaining pods an even greater event than they were before. As overjoyed as he was to find his old friend alive and well, he wasn't sure his stomach could handle many more joyous reunions.

"How much farther to these caves again, Little Sunfish? I had hoped to make decent time but those filthy doilies you call sails are holding us back and eating up my precious daylight." He punctuated his light-hearted teasing with an elaborate flourish of a hand motion. He had been shouting in Fratava, the emphasis on gestures made it easier to communicate between ships. To be fair, they had made surprisingly good time, she was a far better sailor than Theo remembered and her well kept ship was more than keeping the pace.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

Looking across the span of crystalline blue at Theo kept a bright smile curling Citrine's lips. The face of her friend had changed some in the interim of their seeing one another, a little longer, perhaps a deeper set to his eyes, and vastly more facial hair, but it was her friend, and she had been nothing short of overjoyed to see him. It was a good face. 'Had' was the operative word, that is, before he starting harping like an old woman, and trying to show her up. Little Sunfish. It was good to be called Sunfish again, it had been a long time. There were select few in her life to call her that, and each voice that did held a special place. A lyrical laugh sounded as she ducked gracefully to let the boom pass overhead, she felt the lower edge skim over the wild coils of her blonde hair. The wind caught the sail and sent the Spitfire jutting like a sharp knife through the waves toward the Defiance, seeking to cut off her path with a bold statement. The smooth wood of the wheel slipped beneath Citrine's palms as she watched the look on Theo's face, the Spitfire darting playfully into his line. "When did you start sailing like an old woman?" Closing the eyelashes of one pale blue eye, she winked at her friend as she passed him, Casinor's gliding within an arm's length of each other. She rounded her body over the wheel to offer the least resistance to the wind and closed her eyes to enjoy the mist on her face. The complexion of pure joy and freedom that passed through Citrine's features would be enough to inspire anyone to give chase, but it warmed her to know that it was her friend beside her. A glance over her shoulder found the Defiance sliding along her port side, readying to take the lead, a flash of mischief glinted through pale blue. She loved this dance, it sent a flip through her stomach that had been missing for too long. Oh no you don't! She did not speak aloud, She unwound the line from a cleat to get a little more wind into the sails, keeping pace, but not passing her challenger. Theo was a better sailor than she, and she mumbled under her breath knowing that fact. They were fast approaching the caves that were their destination, so the beating given her by Theo would not hold quite the same sting as it might have if the trip had been longer and he'd been allowed to open a gap. Doilies...how rude. "You might be fast, but I can reach our destination without asking direction." She turned Spitfire to match the winding, taking the push out of her sails and allowing her to slow. "You'd best slow down, or I will finish the rum before you can even curl your fingers around the bottle." She bent to slip her hands through a coil of rope and hoisted the anchor, tossing it over the starboard side, into the breeze. The anchor took hold and stayed the movement of her Casinor with a slight jerk. Citrine walked to the port side of her boat and shrugged off her shift into a pool at her feet. She quirked a brow at Theo, standing there in her skivvies, then stepped onto the edge of the hull and dove without a word into the cool water.

[Theo Coaststrider]

Nudity, and particularly near nudity, was not taboo amongst the Svefra and Theo quickly disrobed while he set his anchor. As soon as he felt the satisfying crunch of the metal coming to rest on the floor of the shallow inlet, he dove into the water after Citrine. It would be an exaggeration to say that he was dreading trying to keep up with his friend in the water, but he certainly wasn't keen on being shown up.

He had always been better suited to the above water aspects of Svefra life, and while he would be a powerful swimmer in the eyes of another race, his skill sets were relatively poor amongst his own race. As soon as his large frame cut into the sea he made a few powerful strides to help get his muscles accustomed to the water and then made his way toward Citrine. "So, you're going to have to fill me in on the area, Little Sunfish. We have officially drifted into alien territory."

He let out a gentle chuckle as he floated in the little inlet they had moored in. It always took Theo a few moments to become completely comfortable in the water. While the sea was his home, the Gnosis of Laviku allowed him to extend his senses for a full mile in all directions and took him a few moments to fully immerse himself in his seventh sense. The inlet was quiet, and he could feel a few schools of little tropical fish flitting about near the mouth of rocky outcropping. For fun, he reached out through the water and took control of the pod, spinning the school around in a large and looping circle before letting them loose. This was all an exercise for him, in the same way that his first powerful kicks in the water had been. After flexing his mental muscle he turned his mind to more important matters. "If I didn't mishear you, you mentioned rum? Will I have to wait until I've finished with your miserable aquatic spelunking mission before I can partake?"

There was no real hope in his inquiry, rum before an extended dive wasn't a particularly wise idea. Particularly for a diver of his ability. Regardless, the booze could wait. This was a rare, chance encounter among old friends and he didn't really need the rum liven things up--though it had never hurt before. In truth, the young Svefra almost couldn't believe his luck. It had been years since he had last seen Citrine, and she had grown up considerably in the interim. It was strange to think of her as an adult, off turning heads amongst the other pods. Though, to think of it, Theo had aged a bit himself. The years had brought on more than extra tattoos, a few more inches of hair and a beard.

"Do you remember the New Years Celebration on the Anchorage? The one where those Tideskipper boys got drunk sneaking sips of rum from the adults used cups and gave you that ridiculous nickname? Dumbfish, was it?" Now that he thought about it, wasn't it him that had started calling her Dumbfish when they were children? Yikes...hopefully she didn't remember that. The Tideskippers *had* called her dumbfish though. He lost his last three baby teeth in the ensuing brawl.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

The moment her body hit the water, Citrine was at home. The sensation of the water filtering through the light cotton of her skivvies was glorious and made the hair on the back of her neck tingle. Her slender, muscled arms followed the contour of her ribs and hips to remove any resistance she had when cutting through the cool blue. Long and lean her body slid through the water with the movement of a wave, rising and dipping to propel herself. The echo of Theo's body breaking into the sea brought her to the surface, the water kept a light hold of her curls, straightening them into a slick that floated around her face. With her lips meeting the plane of the water, Citrine listened as Theo spoke, the mere mention of her past 'nickname' and it's origins made her eyebrow quirk. "Hmmm...let us consider." She blew a soft breath over past her lips, causing a gentle ripple on the water. "First the rum. You heard right. I have a bottle of the sweetest, most delicious rum." She licked her lips, then slipped out of sight, sinking into the water just as the anchor had, blowing all the reserve of air from her lungs. Scanning through the clear water she located Theo and cut through the water toward him before he would even have time to react to her disappearance. She emerged next to her friend without a sound and rested her chin on his shoulder. "But I have a question. Do you really think that the creator of the name...'Dumbfish' deserves to taste of my delicious rum? Tideskippers...pfft!" She laced her hands together and curled them over the top of his head, plunging him under like the stopper in a bottle. "Dumbfish!" She broke into laughter and pushed away, floating lazily on her back. "Trying to blame the Tideskipper boys." Her arms moved over her head and spread to her sides in a smooth arc, pushing her across the top of the water. "It took an age to get rid of that name. If I remember correctly, the onyl way I could stop one of them from saying it was to kiss him and shut his mouth entirely." A warm giggle emerged from her throat. "Definitely no rum for you." Citrine flipped over and dove. With the ease of a fish and reached the sandy bottom in no time, looking back to see if Theo was behind her. A thin stream of bubbles seeped from pursed lips as she sat cross legged, hovering on the bottom, threading long fingered hands from hip to shoulder to hold herself in place. There she sat like a weightless shaman, surrounded by her peace, in perfect harmony. She looked toward the surface and caught Theo's gaze. With a crooked finger she beckoned him to her, ready to begin their adventure.

[Theo Coaststrider]

Theo let a out a rolling laugh as he surfaced from his unplanned submersion. In Theo's opinion, Citrine had come up the worse of the pair in both instances. Not only had she been forced to wear the nickname for years, but she had to kiss a Tideskipper. "You know, I heard from my uncle that the Tideskipper's sleep around within their own pod. I'm surprised they had enough intelligence after all the inbreeding and bad rum to parrot my genius."

Right or wrong, Theo clearly felt that a few baby teeth were a fair price to pay to avoid that particular indignity. His jabs taken, Theo took a deep breathe and dove down into the crystal clear water behind his companion. The Suvan was gorgeous today, and Theo could see a considerable distance under the calm sea. With a few strong strokes he took a position beside Citrine and then kicked towards a nearby cave system. It was a struggle for him to keep up with the young woman, try as he might he couldn't get his body to mimic the way she glided through the water as if it were nothing at all. As he kicked his way towards his way toward the cave system he cast the woman an expectant look and began to sign. Theo knew of some of his folk, the divers in particular, who could adapt the animated language of Fratava almost perfectly for use under water, he would have to keep things a touch simpler.

"Here?" He gestured sharply before pointing towards a gaping crack in the base of a nearby cliff face. He had been on a number of these dives with Citrine in the past and it looked like the sort of system they had found success in. He wasn't sure how she managed to read the environment, but it never seemed to take her long to find paydirt. Theo was good at many things, but he had decided a long time ago to leave the natural sciences to others.

With no inconsiderable reluctance he slipped his way into the cave system and began to explore. The view itself was spectacular. Given the exceptional clarity of the water, the sunlight was able to bathe the mouth of the cave system in a soft light. He was able to see a wide assortment of colourful creatures skitter and dart between large garish columns of coral, and through is "sea sense" he could feel instinctual rush of a thousand tiny souls reacting in unison. It was all terribly distracting.

Speaking of terribly distracting, Theo cast a glance back at his companion and smiled. She hadn't demanded quite so much attention when they were children, but adulthood agreed with her. He suspected that no small number of his own kin would be keen to go on a private diving expedition with Citrine, and he was glad he didn't have to scrap with any of them to get this one. He had to be much more careful with his teeth now that he didn't have a new set growing in.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

Citrine urged Theo to lead the way, hoping to gauge his skill, to plan out their course. He was a better swimmer than she remembered. Though, truth be told, to be better than he was, was not a great feat. She grinned, lifting her chin to confirm his choice of route. Her friend slipped into the mouth of the cave and she behind him, his rhythm in his swimming was not so smooth as most Svefra men, but there was a quirky pleasant motion that brought a smile to her face. As they dashed the serenity of a small school of fish she grinned, wide eyed watching as creatures of blue, green, gold and orange darted through the water around them. A glance away from the fish and toward Theo, caught him in a lingering gaze, and the focus of his attention was Citrine. A smirk curled her lips and three powerful kicks put them side by side in the water. With a smooth spin of her arms at her sides, she rolled onto her back and slipped beneath Theo, swimming parallel to him for several moments. When she was close enough to look him in the eye, her motions became smaller, more subtle to hold her path true. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, and she made a display of looking him up and down, mocking him just a little. She blew a stream of bubbles into his face and swished away with a series of quick kicks. They swam between sandstone pillars that seemed to mark their way. To match her speed to his, she would circumnavigate each pillar they passed, swimming around them like she was adding a flourish to an otherwise ordinary swim. Though she had called him out for a little bit of lechery, Citrine was not above taking a good look at the changes in her friend, though she would never make the mistake of being caught in the act. The underwater corridor split in two and Citrine instinctively chose the left hand fork. Her lungs were starting to burn just a bit, so she could only imagine what Theo was feeling. With a flick of her hand she signaled an offshot ahead that would end in an open cavern, raised above the water line and filled with breathable air. She increased her speed, and signaled Theo to follow suit as she kept a watchful eye on him. They broke the surface at the same time, and the full draw of breath echoed in the wide open space. Within the cave there was a series of outlets that reached the surface; Too small for passage they allowed the darkness of the cave to be illuminated by precise shafts of light. Citrine climbed out of the water and walked toward one such light, then stood there allowing it to shine upon the crown of her head. It caused a glowing halo to surround her, reflecting off the golden blonde hair and the shimmering water that still covered her sun tanned skin. With a wry smile she looked at Theo... "Did you get en eyefull back there?" She knew damn well, she'd made herself a shining beacon of Svefra allure and dared him to take another look, but before he would have the opportunity, she ducked back into the darkness of the cave. "We can start here." Moving toward the wall, she released a lyrical roll of laughter. "Men are so easy."

[Theo Coaststrider]

Theo's lungs were, figuratively, on fire. He had nearly drowned as a child and, ever sense, he had very strong opinions on the dangers of oxygen deprivation. He wasn't sure how to sign "quit flirting and get me to oxygen" but he figured the unsettling bluish tinge and the notes of discomfort in his eyes would be just as good as some aqua-fratavan gesticulating. If he was being honest, the bubble blowing wasn't necessarily what he was looking for, but the way she had glided in the water beside him had been a neat enough trick that he could forgive her the flourish.

He also was less than pleased with her flitting and darting around the cave's many columns. In less uncomfortable--and drown-y--circumstances he might have found the sight of his friend darting and spinning and flipping amusing or even impressive, but right now he just wanted to find an air pocket. It was with no small delight that he noticed Citrine pick up the pace and Theo made a few aggressive kicks to catch up with her. He broke the surface of the water with a crash, took a hearty gulp of the muggy air. The heavy heaving of his thickly tattooed chest,and soaking bird's nest of curly blonde hair probably made for an odd sight.

After a few deep breathes of the salty sea air he cast an eye towards Citrine. The section of the caves they were in was really quite spectacular. Ambient light was poor, so from his perspective in the diving pool it looked like a thousand needles of light piercing a blanket of darkness. She had situated herself--strategically, no doubt--under one of the largest of these little pillars of illumination. "For someone who doesn't want to be looked at, you put a lot of effort into the presentation. It's a shame I know enough about you to know that no god would be marking you with their divine favour as a reward for your incredible devotion and spiritual purity."

Theo let out a wicked cackle as he pulled himself out of the water. He didn't believe the rebuttal made up for the near drowning, but it was a good start. "I'm not sure if you're master plan was to drag me out into the middle of nowhere and drown me, but you'll have to do better than that. I might swim like an Akalak, but I still seem to have Laviku's favour."

With a few quick strides he past his companion and pulled out in front of her to get a better look at the cave system. He didn't like going anywhere blind, but the cave system seemed quiet enough. He also found the soft slap of his throwing axe against his leg, and the jaunty jingle of the bags of crushed glass he carried everywhere, slung from his belt comforting. The bit of extra gear could be slightly awkward while swimming, but the tools were light and could be very effective in a pinch.

Using his fingers to guide him through a particularly dark portion of the cave system he let out a gentle gasp as he rounded a corner into what appeared to be a larger "chamber" in the rock face. Though there was only a single, small shaft of light entering the chamber through a scraggly hole in the roof, the room was spectacularly lit by a kaleidoscope of bioluminescent moss. Streaking across the walls of the large, spherical dome the moss was an amazing mish mash of thin trails of green and orange and blue. The strands grow out in wide spokes from several thick, nebulous blobs in the ceiling. Dotted across the floor of the room were tiny pods filled with skittering blue lights, luminous breeds of shrimp, if Theo had to guess.

'Oh, Wow! Would you Look at That!"

Theo reached down to touch a patch of the green moss which seemed to wiggle and recoil away from his touch. It was a strange little room, and he took a moment to take in the gorgeous environment. The dim light seemed to highlight the thick pink scars that criss-crossed his back and shoulders and his large, blue gnosis of Laviku, a crashing wave, seemed to glow with a deep, dark, blue light.

"This is amazing! I don't know why you bother yourself with little gemstones, none of them can do anything nearly spectacular as this."

He called back to his companion and spun on his heel to give her a wicked grin.