Sink or Swim [Razkar&Uleru]

[Uleru]

He's drowning. Its quite obvious he is, too, with all his frothing about. And if anyone were to swim up to her and ask if she was going to help him, she would say 'yes' and 'eventually' and then politely ask them to go away. In truth she is too intrigued with his exoticness to let him out of her sight just yet, and she'd just go help him when it gets worse. But for now she watches with riveted fascination as he kicks and snarls for his life. His legs are dark and powerful, and covered in those decorations she has seen on land-dweller skin. 'Who is this? What could you possibly be?' And at this point she would have pushed him back onto the boat -no, really she would have- when a much more familiar set of long pale legs propel themselves to his rescue. Edreina!, she bubbles soundlessly. And with her little amusement-man saved and no playmates about, she cant possibly pass this opportunity for a game. Folding herself into her most recognizable shape she swims with all her might through the velvety blue; aiming for the fluttering loincloth of this strange land-dweller. If the cold water doesn't make him shrivel up, I sure as hell will, she tells herself with a grin. And when she does break the surface at a proximity too close to his manhood for comfort, she does so with as much pomp and dramatics as she can manage: clad in her most hideous shade of shocking green and grinning like a shark, erupting from the water in a stream of bubbles. The dark mans reaction, though not unexpected, is a bit more vigorous than she was expecting. "RUN, GIRL, MONSTER!" Shrieking in delight she tries to catch his furiously kicking feet even as he makes contact with nose, throat and shoulder. He's making for the netting that serves as the ships ladder with the sort of wide-eyed desperation that just serves to make him more endearing. Catching one ankle she pulls him back towards herself like a perverse tug-of-war, unwilling to let her catch get away from her so easily. "'Reina!" she shrieks delightedly, "Reina, can I keep him?"

[Edreina]

The explosion of noise and motion nearly had Edreina in a fit of laughter. As Razkar attempted to struggle against the little Otani, Uleru, she was unable to control herself, breaking from a simple smile to absolute laughter. Covering the last of the distance to the net, Edreina clings to it so that the body-racking-laughter does not hold the threat of drowning the young Svefra. "'Reina! Reina, can I keep him?" Uleru's joyful squeal had Edreina nearly gasping for air as she tried to answer, "You... you ca-... can certainly try!" With Razkar's continued struggles, Edreina found herself dissolving into laughter once more. Simply for the fear of him accidentally being drowned by the little Otani's rambunctious play, Edreina reached out and caught hold of one of the Myrian's hands, hauling him through the water to the net. "Razkar of the Shorn Skulls, this is Uleru, Otani and daughter of Laviku," she introduced during the continuing turmoil, grinning widely. Not mentioning Uleru's approach had, most certainly, been worth it.

[Razkar]

"Reina! Reina, can I keep him?"

Razkar only barely heard the words as his fingers were yanked from the netting and he was dragged back under the waves. All sureness and solid thought left him, primal memory overriding whatever higher functions he had left. His lung were as full of saltwater as they were air as he thrashed around wildly, trying to fight something that was as soft and unyielding as a sea sponge.

"What in the seven fucking hells is going on?!"

He wasn't even using Common anymore, so desperate was his shock, spitting out his own guttural tongue whenever his head bobbed above the water. Finally he freed himself from the laughing, evil little nymph, reaching out-

-finding Edreina's strong hand, the Svefra's strength magnified through the water as she hauled him over to the safety of the netting. He immediately hooked one arm through it, anchoring him, body tense and teeth bared as he drew back his other for a punch...

"Razkar of the Shorn Skulls, this is Uleru, Otani and daughter of Laviku."

The daughter of a god. A divine being. Now shimmering in front of him with shining eyes and teeth like needles and a laugh like bubbling water from a jungle brook, and so lovely in a-

Oh, to buggery with that!

"She try to petching eat me!" He said, somewhere between a snarl and a cry of anger, pointing at the scaly creature. "You... You know her? You let her do this to me?!"

[Uleru]

"Razkar of the Shorn Skulls, this is Uleru, Otani and daughter of Laviku." Razkar pauses only long enough to gather his wits before turning to Edreina with a snarl and a string of accusations. The Otani, with all politeness, makes a shallow sort of bow in the water once he is finished. "At your service, sweetheart", and she winks at him in a way that brings the term 'eat me' into some serious question. She makes another shrill laugh and dives down into a low arc only to break surface again, this time in a good likeness of Edreina. And when she opens her mouth to sing she is still holding a cocky grin on her lips: "When I was a lad in a fishing town    My old man said to me: "You can spend your life, your jolly life    Sailing on the sea. You can search the world for pretty girls    Til your eyes grow weak and dim, But don't go fishing for an Otani, son    If you don't know how to swim" The last note of the snippet of song passes and she giggles like a child. "What will you offer Laviku for passing over his back and swimming in his blood? Will you give me tribute? If you do, I'll go away and leave you too... whatever you were doing." She grips the netting and pulls herself up (between Edreina and he Myrian, for good measure) and looks to them both. Truthfully, she does not need tribute from them. But just watching the Myrian squirm is proving to be endlessly amusing. But what should she ask for? Something uncomfortable, something easy, something... "A kiss!" exclaims, delighted by her own genius. "A kiss and I shall leave you alone." She drops back into the water and holds a hand to both of them, "no tricks. I promise. One kiss and you can leave. If not", she pulls on the netting so that it jumps on the railing, "someone would not be happy!" That 'someone' is not Laviku, but it doesn't hurt to tell them that, and she is sure the Sevfra wouldn't give her joke away. And out of respect for her friend she drops her likeness for this prank in favour of her own patchwork shape.

[Edreina]

"She try to petching eat me! You... You know her? You let her do this to me?!" Instantly, the accusations hurt Edreina. Her smile faded and she resisted the urge to hide behind her hair as she had when younger. She had not meant to upset Razkar this greatly, only to let Uleru tease him. "She didn't try to eat you..." Was all that she could mumble, defending her friend quietly. Uleru's flippant behavior did replace a ghost of Edreina's prior smile. But, despite all of that, the worry that she had genuinely upset a friend kept Edreina from smiling fully again. "You've gotten better at that," Edreina said, motioning to her attempt at a pseudo-Edreina. "I remember last time you just turned your entire body the color of my hair." The memory caused her to smile a bit more brightly, like sunshine masked by great, hulking clouds. Scooting slightly to the side, Edreina allowed this transparent version of herself to climb up the net between she and the still-fuming Myrian. When Uleru asked Razkar for a kiss, it was so unexpected that Edreina snorted in a rather unladylike way, caught up in the mirth of the moment. Looking through the Otani, Edreina watched to see what was happening, curious despite herself.

[Razkar]

Razkar saw his words strike Edreina like a slap and her head bowed in shame, but he found that he didn't care. Did she not understand what he was? What she had done? Then again, he found himself musing, it doesn't look like you did much damage to this... Otani, or whatever it is, and she's more interested in toying with you than anything else.

Finally he pursed his lips until they were a flat white line and muttered, "You should have told me."

And then the thing started singing. It's voice was like rain on the ocean, full and flowing and endlessly lilting, changing, morphing. She hiked up onto the netting between them and Razkar instinctively shied away, fist still up (for all the good it would do). His jaw dropped a little as he realized he could see through her, as easily as one would see the sand below the shallows of a tropical beach. Edreina was behind her, form blurred but sadness still stark-

"What will you offer Laviku for passing over his back and swimming in his blood? Will you give me tribute? If you do, I'll go away and leave you too... whatever you were doing."

Insanely enough, despite his latent fear and surprise, Razkar felt himself stiffen with indignation.

"It was swimming lesson!" A single eyebrow quirked opposite him. "It was!"

"A kiss! A kiss and I shall leave you alone. No tricks. I promise. One kiss and you can leave. If not-"

The netting undulates sharply under them both and Razkar grips tighter, volley of Myrian curses escaping his lips that would turn his mother's hair white. Goddess, thank all those above and below that the Charoda are not like this! The thought crosses his mind at precisely the wrong time and the hate of a race flushed to his face as he snarled at her.

"Someone would not be happy!"

And a threat to go with it. Oh, so not the right tack to take...

"If you think for moment I do that to petching..."

He stopped. Edreina was so quiet. So silent. She seemed deflated... dejected. Razkar's eyes were drawn to her more than the shimmering quasi-mortal giggling in the surf in front of them, enjoying every moment of their discomfort. Razkar found himself hating her, truly hating her, that sadism reminding him of...

Calm, boy... calm... think...

The Myrian breathed deep and steady for half a chime. He did not want this to erode further. It would hurt Edreina and perhaps jeapordize his time on the Suvan. If she was telling the truth, that was. But oddly enough, it was Edreina's silence that spurred him.

He swung narrowed obsidian slits back to the grinning nymph.

"Kiss on cheek." She opened her mouth and his finger darted out fast even by her standards. "You not say on lips! You just say kiss! Not where! So, I give kiss on cheek! Only one I kiss on lips, and you are not her!" Razkar did his best to straighten up, then realized how ridiculous it looked. "What say you?"

He should have noticed the look on Edreina's face when he indirectly mentioned his beloved, far away but not forgotten in Zeltiva. Unfortunately, he did not.

[Uleru]

So unlike the Sevfra, this man is. His pride is typical of the sea-people but never before has she been snarled at. Unless you count the hundreds of sea otters she has pissed off. But then again he is not nearly that cute. But the novelty he presents pales anything she has ever had pass through these waters. To let that go would go against everything she is! Despite the murderous looks he is giving her, she is fond of her new playmate. Though she mentally notes that to meet him on land would be the most masochistic form of suicide. He grudgingly offers her a kiss on the cheek, then puts up a hand for silence when she opens her mouth to object. He goes on to say 'you are not her', and her mind immediately latches onto Edreina, for they seemed to get along well. But with a budding realization she sees that she is crossing into someone else's territory, and its not her friends. Never quite being one for ownership laws, however, this does not bother her in the slightest. And just like she promised, the cheek is offered with no tricks, though her smile is particularly impish. Razkar can see Edreina's face through her body, but Uleru is so absorbed in her play that she doesn't notice. Then Myrian hits her jaw with his so hard and roughly that the moulding nearly falls off the netting. To play the part she swoons and falls back to the water with a splash. "Much appreciated, Razkar. You saucy devil", she coos, oblivious to the tension cackling through the air. She finally turns to Edreina and the expression on her face stops her dead. What just happened? Why does she not laugh anymore? This puzzles her for a chime, and she borders on distress for her friend. But she has a promise to keep. Though her body shimmers into a muted blue just the same. "Reina, my darling, I will see you soon. And I will bring you a delightful new shell or calf to play with. Maybe a sailor if your lucky", she winks, pulling for a smile from the Sevfra. "Goodbye! And goodbye Razkar, I'll make sure the other Otani know what a wonderful kisser you are." And with a smile and a flash of her glistening back she disappears beneath the waves. Down, down, down through the water, humming a wordless tune and wondering if she just caused more damage for her Sevfra friend than can be properly repaired.

[Edreina]

It was worse than being punched in the stomach. When Razkar mentioned that the one he would kiss was not in his company, Edreina nearly lost hold of the net. Deep down, her stomach clenched and roiled. With an inaudible gasp, Edreina had to fight the sudden urge to leap beneath the waves. What's wrong with me? The feeling was completely and utterly foreign to Edreina, her brow furrowed at the alien intensity. It felt as if the ground had been yanked from beneath her feet. What were you thinking? That he cared for you as you do for him? Part of her mind questioned, tone sounding very I-told-you-so. Locked within the confines of her own mind, Edreina debated herself, having lost interest in seeing what would come of the interaction between Myrian and Otani. Care for him? He is just my fri- Don't play stupid now. You find this man to be interesting. But more than that, you care for him quite deeply. The realization rocked Edreina, almost visibly. I do... but I see no future with him... That doesn't mean that you haven't entertained the idea of spending some more... intimate time with him. Intimate... yes... Edreina's blush was mental as well as physical. But that is a- No it is not all. Don't try to fool yourself. You may not have loved this man, but finding out that you will never be able to discover the true depths of your feelings for you has hurt you. Don't deny it. It's true. But, even more than that, you thought he actually had feelings for you. Edreina's traitorous eyes snuck in a peek at the Myrian just as he was leaning in to kiss her Otani friend upon the cheek... more than she would ever get. Yes... Her admission is almost dismal. I thought that someone actually reciprocated my feelings for them... But I was wrong. Petch! ... Now, you have to detach yourself, see him as only your friend. It will be hard, but it is in your best interest. Returning to her body, her eyes see a worried expression flash across her friend's beautiful, moulding face. The sight of that is a blow to her. Are my emotions so transparent an Otani can take note of them? "That sounds wonderful, Uleru. I cannot wait." Despite her roiling innards, the Otani's endless joy rubbed off on Edreina and pried out a weak smile. Affixing the smile, Edreina turned to her friend. "I'm beat, what do you say we ditch the swimming and go see what stories will be drifting about tonight?" The sun was nearly setting, so the bonfires would be springing up at any moment, luring in Svefra and land-striders alike. Edreina could only help that the stories would draw her away from this twisted reality in which she knows not her own muddled emotions.

[Razkar]

The punch had no satisfaction to it, and that only angered Razkar further. There was no delicious crack of bones, no snap of the Otani's head, no blood, not even any visible pain. Her shimmering skim fluxed and then reformed and before the impact of it had even faded from his knuckles - Goddess, is didn't even hurt him like it was meant to! - she had dived backwards into the waves.

Laughing. At him.

"Much appreciated, Razkar. You saucy devil."

Razkar could do naught but snarl at her like the animal he felt like at that moment. He felt... sullied, but even in that state, he knew better than to anger the God of Seas through insult to his children. He cooled his blood the only way he knew how: imagining the laughing thing stranded on the dry land, gasping out her bubbles until she was nothing but a quick drink for beetles.

The image helped. Especially when he added himself smiling over her.

"Goodbye! And goodbye Razkar, I'll make sure the other Otani know what a wonderful kisser you are."

"Go to Dira, Sea Demon," Razkar growled in his own tongue, scowling after the ethereal figure as it swam so fast and fluid that within a moment she had vanished, "And should we cross paths again, I will happily see to the meeting."

There was a long and painful silence. With the Otani gone there's no-one to focus his ire on apart from...

His eyes soften when he sees the look on her face. So much confusion and conflict and sadness. He truly was too hard on her, he realized. Myrians are not completely alien to jokes and pranks, but they don't react well to surprises like the one she pulled. He had turned on her like a...

Savage. Damn.

"Edri, I am-"

She swung herself up so she could not see his face and Razkar cursed himself in two languages. Muttering under his breath he followed her up the netting, finding her facing away from him. Her wet red hair no longer waved gaily in the breeze, as if expressing her own soul. Now it hung lank and sad, still and almost in mourning.

Razkar opened his mouth... and that prior realization hit him hard. Puzzle pieces snapped together and the picture was not one he cared for. He knew she had an attraction towards him... perhaps some kind of crush. He'd been surprised but his own desires were more problematic.

She is perhaps not promised to another. She is free in a way you are not... was that the attraction, hmm? Barely a year away from Aya and already your cock cannot stand it's isolation?

He winced as if struck, feeling his guts churn. He recalled the words he had spat to the Otani, about the other far away from this place whom he had given his heart to. His loyalty. His word. What was he if he broke it? What would he be throwing away? He would never find another like Ayatah, who looked on him with such love and acceptance, who had stayed with him and tolerated him through the darkness the Djed Storm had left in his soul.

And yet... you wanted the barbarian. To feel every inch of her against you. Taste her and caress her-

Her back to him, Razkar reached out... and his hand stopped, suspended in the air between desire and duty. It did not tremble but his body warred with his mind... and with the merest cracking inside his soul, he let it drop.

Just in time for her to turn to him.

"I'm beat, what do you say we ditch the swimming and go see what stories will be drifting about tonight?"

Shadows were on her face, the sun beginning to sink away. Something was lost in her eyes, and Razkar could barely stand to see its absence. He felt the sad and pathetic urge to beg her to have it return. It was not love, he knew that, for he had felt that shattering, awful light on his soul before.

But he would never have had her hurt. Yet here they were...

"I am sorry, Edri." He said in a voice barely above a whisper. What a fool he must have looked, bedecked in his savage ink and a body marked with countless scars of battle. Oh, yes, a fine specimen of a warrior. "For everything..."

He did not even know what he was apologizing for: what had been, what was, or what could not be.

[Edreina]

"Dammit!" Edreina's curse flew from her lips before she could stop it, its ferocity surprising the dense cloud that was Edreina's mind. Once again, instinct seemed to be taking command while her mind was preoccupied "You have no reason to be sorry. I should not have..." Gotten your hopes up? Shaking her head fiercely, something began to return to Edreina. Having her friend apologize for something that was entirely not his fault bothered Edreina, she felt as if fire had been injected into her languishing veins. "It is not your fault that I got ahead of myself. I am innocent, like a child, but a savage... a barbarian in your eyes. I am so different from you... I'm not a fighter, I'm not terse and gruff and... I'm not strong." Looking away, her mouth twitched to the side for an instant, fighting the urge to snarl at her own words. She was getting ahead of herself. All the energy she had felt - or at least imagined feeling - coursing between the two of them seemed to redouble within her, stoking the flames that attempted to burn away all the pain and unsureness in her abdomen. Running a hand through her hair, she looked out to the sea, but was - for the first time in her life - not comforted by its vast, unrelenting stillness. "I hate this. I hate that I've upset you. I hate that I am so... transparent. Petch it all if I don't write my feelings on my skin." Her voice trembled slightly, relaying how much she truly felt horrible for upsetting him with her silly imaginings. Looking back, every smile, ever wink, every damned touch where she thought that she had felt an energy between them - primal and unsated - turned gray as she realized that it was a mistake, all of it, on her part. She saw only what she wanted to see, felt only what she wanted to feel. Looking back towards her friend, she saw only genuine concern radiating from him, not trusting herself to look any deeper, to figure out what other emotions might be cloaked by his dark eyes nor embedded in his tattooed limbs. "Damn it... I can't make it any worse..." Her voice was small, as if speaking to herself. Unexpected strength coursed into her limbs, propelling her forward. Within two long, graceful strides, she was before him, a breath apart. Before he could even object, she raised onto her toes and planted her lips upon his. Mind you, Edreina was not an experienced kisser; she knew little more than to tilt he head to the side to avoid a nose smashing. But this kiss was purely Edreina. It was all of her confusion, desperation, and unfathomable, unrequited attraction poured into one single, simple motion. But it did not last for more than an instant. Right after her lips met his, she fell back down onto her heels, blue eyes radiating a lack of sureness, and of fear of retribution for her unbridled action. "I'm sorry. I just had to do it before I petch things up worse than they already are." Looking down at her feet, Edreina chewed on her lip for a moment before continuing. "I simply could not fight the curiosity anymore. Now... now that I have sated it, I am sure I'll be more able to control my body." She took a step back, unable to look up to see what surely unpleasant emotions contorted her friend's face, now filled with shame as her instincts had faded and her mind once more in control. "I promise I won't do anything like that again... I just... I just had to do it. If you don't want to be my friend anymore... I understand." Her voice is dismal, but there is strength in her conviction - she would not push herself onto this poor man again, she would not tempt him to break some unknown vows. If he wanted her gone, she would not bother him with her presence.