Open [Sunset Falls] Sentient Things (Zadok)

[Uleru]

Spring 50th, 513 Sunset Falls 18th Bell This is a problem. Uleru swims fluidly back and forth across the narrow mouth of the Avitar river with the grim, disproportionate hope that there might be a way around this beautiful monster. But she is only fooling herself, the falls might as well be Syliras impenetrable stone wall for all its manoeuvrability. The Otani pulls herself ashore on the left and right banks, searching for a run-off stream or a pool that would signal an underground river running under the mountains. Only to be left gnashing her pointed teeth in futile frustration. This is a huge problem. She drifts back to the middle of the river, webbed hands and temporary tail churning to keep pace with the current. The water doesn't flow very fast here at all, she guesses that the sheer cliff interrupts the rivers flow quite dramatically, but it doesn't take long for the water to pick up speed again as it flows downriver. And she has been fighting that current all day to reach this spot. She has come all this way, braving unfamiliar waters and currents and the strange fresh water creatures, and she will not be stopped on her journey inland by a giant rock. She hisses at the beautiful arc of water like an angry cat before turning tail and swimming ashore. The dense mist of spray is appreciated as she sits on the bank; it keeps her comfortable while she thinks of a way around her conundrum. And really, If the mist extends far enough she could possibly travel a bit farther from the bank to look for runoff or a nice damp cavern to follow. But there is something so magical about this place that (for all her frustration) she would be sad to leave it behind. The water fractures the light in a unique way, so it sparkles like she is floating inside a glass of champagne. Sweet whispers can be heard around her, though she can't quite locate where they come from. And underneath it all there are strange creatures that shine like jewels on the river bed. Maybe this place is worth a look after all...

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok stumbles through the woods exhausted from his trip from syliras he walk up to the bank of the avitar river to rest. zadok starts to cup the water in his hand to drink the water and clean off the dirt from his face. He notices something else near the mist of the falls. Though he is unable to make out the figure in the distance and start yelling "hello"

[Uleru]

"Hello!" Uleru startles out of her daydream state and slips back into the water as a reactionary response. Be it the heavy mist or the cliff or the roar of the waterfall, she doesn't have a clue where the voice came from. And while she would be quick to discount it as the strange whispering she can hear from the water, it was so masculine and incredibly close that that little excuse gets neatly crushed by the reality. "Hello?", she responds with the vocal version of a gentle probing of the mist, or a game of marco-polo played with children. The moulding's tail neatly splits into the semblance of human legs, and she allows herself to drift downstream. Why downstream? Because she refuses to believe that anyone could slip by her unnoticed. But in reality it is a lucky guess that makes a dark shape materialize out of the brightly lit mist. The spray ends abruptly at a hundred paces or so, and the Otani is faced with the man that belongs to the disembodied voice. He is human, thank Laviku, for she feels she is quite well adapted to dealing with humans. She stops her backward drift by taking hold of a tough patch of bladed grass on the bank, and looks up at the man (or rather, the boy) with a characteristic smile. "Oooo, you are far from Sylira, stranger. What could have brought you here at such an hour?" she coos, head tilted as she studies the stranger with a vivid interest. "Perhaps the Laviku sent you to help me scale the impassible mountain, eh?"

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok stares at the beautiful Otani with great interest. He has never interacted with many of them in his travels. But after what he has recently experienced in sylira he tries to keep caution. He finds himself surprised that his in a state lost for words. "No...I umm..I needed to make peace with something. Long story, killed someone I shouldnt have. Anyways is there anything I can do to help." Zadok says nervously. He doesn't understand why, but he finds himself almost in a trance. He sits down to get more confertable. In his head he is thinking "come on zadok this could be a trap. Anyone can be dangerous don't you remember." Still against his better judgement he lets his guard down. He finds his eye trace from her face down her beautiful blue scaled body. He rubs his eyes to keep the mist out of his eyes. To mask his interest zadok stare up to the beautiful waterfall and the blue sky above. "Ooh, you want to go up the waterfall" He keeps a small distance from the water believing if the otani get him to submerge himself into the water he would have no chance against her in a fight.

[Uleru]

The Otani's face keeps up the same interested attention throughout his greeting, not so much as raising an eyebrow when he admits openly that he's killed someone. Its strange, sure, coming from a Syliran. But thats why he must be out here so late, he's a runaway. Not even the wholesome kind of runaway that just wants to marry the girl or join the circus, but the kind thats running from the law or their guilt. Normally this would make someone shuffle away, make their excuses and leave. But the Otani are nothing if not curious, and can survive a javelin to the face from said murderer, so she makes no move to leave quite yet. "I do want to go up the waterfall", she nods, "but unless you can fly, or balance a jar of water in you're hands while you rock climb, you cant get me there." She sighs mightily and stares back at the falls, upset that her great journey had to be cut so short. Not that she wont make use of the lemons she is dealt. She beckons him back towards the water (for he is sitting out of arms reach) with her hands open. "But you will stay wont you? These waters are beautiful and there are creatures here I've never seen before. Look", she bubbles excitedly, disapearing under the water with a rolling flash of her sparkling back only to reappear a few chimes later clutching a turtle. A mostly unremarkable turtle, as turtles go. Except this one has a shell that looks like it has been embedded with flat, glass-like jewels. The creature tucks its leathery head and legs inside its shell in a rather lazy form of shock, and Uleru holds it to her chest under water to try and sweet talk it out. Sadly the creature is not inclined to play along, so she holds it just out of the strangers reach instead, attempting to lure him with the promise of strange discoveries if he will stay and play with her a little longer.

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok stare at the otani with great interest. The way her beautiful blue skin glistens in the sunlight. He feels his face blushing "uhh..well maybe if there was a trail up to the cliff I could carry you in a jar" zadok drops his long sword next to him and steps into the water "look I'm not a bad person. I killed them when I was younger I was more in raged. I just needed to make peace and pay my respect" he goes deeper into the cool refreshing water. In his mind he is at war with himself. He knows that he is letting his guard down but there is something about her he can't comprehend. He stare at her now in the water up to his shoulders his trench coat, satchel and sword by the river bank.

[Uleru]

Holding the turtle teasingly out of reach, she manages to persuade him into the water. Only that is a big lie, for she is sure he is not the least bit interested in the strange reptile. Though it pleases her to think she can charm people into swimming with monsters without using gimmicky playthings. "Look, I'm not a bad person. I killed them when I was younger and I was more enraged. I just needed to make peace and pay my respect." "Ah, a late night morning?" she giggles at the wording. "Don't morn the dead, stranger, they are dead and don't care what we do", she explains with callous words but a surprisingly gentle voice. Which is rather rich coming from an Otani. They are driven to drown the people that offend their god, and as such Uleru holds a weighty track record for pulling people off of ships and docks. But she has never morned the passing of a blasphemer and doesn't keep score. So her view of humans killing their fellow man is a bit skewed. The man is level with her by now, with river water coiling around his shoulders and mist catching in his hair. And she suddenly gets a niggling feeling as to why he followed her despite being unimpressed with her offering. He finds her attractive, or compelling, physically or otherwise. His face is lightly blushing across the bridge of his nose, and he appears to be taking in her face with an amount of fascination. The moulding nearly coos with the implied compliment. She wears no clothing, and is therefor always naked. But she is only naked in the same way that an animal is naked. Uleru usually comes across as so alien that she has to manually draw attention to her human figure before anybody will notice. And with her inherent jealousy of land-dweller bodies, to be wanted in the same way makes her happy. She studies him for a moment, saying not a word until the silence gets awkward. "Can I have a kiss?", she finally asks, letting the poor turtle go. "For tribute", she explains merrily, head tilting upwards to offer him her mouth. "Then we can search for more treasures."

[Zadok Shadows]

"Don't mourn the dead, stranger, they don't care what we do"

Zadok looks her in the eyes "the name is Zadok Shadows and you don't understand this wasn't some random people." He sighs "they were my parents. They kept me locked away from the world. Never talking to anyone they made me train in my reminancy powers all my life until I turned 16. They were tortuous people. I had enough one night I snuck into their room....I made it quick i didn't want them to feel a lot of pain" tears started to form in zadoks eyes "I was scared so I ran away never looking back...until now"

Zadok steps closer to the otani with little caution left in his mind. he feels the current pushing against his body. Yet being in the cold water he still feels his skin getting warmer. He feels his heart beat faster in his chest.

"Can I have a kiss... For tribute"

Zadoks mind goes blank at that moment. Zadok was asked for many things for tribute before money, food, his own life. To him this seem to be an odd request. He feels this may be a trap of some sort.But what little judgement he had left was fading. He stares at her beautiful face as he slowly moves his head closer. He takes a quick breath and lightly touches his lips to hers. Suddenly any form of doubt and judgement left his mind. He felt his thoughts melt away. He moved more into the kiss. He didn't care anymore if the otani would kill him anymore. He felt that he was floating in sea of ecstasy.

[Uleru]

No matter how surprised he is at the request, he bows his head towards hers in the gentlest of kisses. Uleru purrs with delight that can be felt as a vibration through her entire body. Its been so long since she has had a kiss! The boy's first tentative step of a simple brushing of lips suddenly becomes deeper and more intimate and she happily reciprocates, snaking her arms around his neck and crushing herself against him and his sturdy warmth. Its a heavenly experience, but some part of her mind is telling her to ruin it. Its the soap bubble you cant help but pop, or the sand castle you can't help but jump on; some primal instinct is telling her to mess with him. Which is a cruel thing right now, as his mind is far from jovial and his body is occupied with other things. No, unfortunately there are games to be played and the Otani are not the kind to ignore the call. While their lips are busy and eyes closed, she starts moulding herself. Bit by bit her body reshapes itself, pushing in, growing out, until finally her lips shrivel in his mouth and she pulls back. It's like she just fell apart in his hands, looking like a diseased, leprous version of herself. Her cheeks have sunken to skeletal proportions, her eyes sunken and sickly. Her lips nothing more than a horizontal slash in front of small, shark like teeth and hair patchy and thin. She gives him a smile that might have been endearing, had she been wearing a proper face. "A kiss for your lover?", she sings, unable to help the push of laughter on her chest at the look on his face.

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok feels something is wrong. He felt the ontani lips change. He breaks and opens his eyes. She looks so sickly and weak. Zadok stared in horror "are you ok do you need help" zadok hugs her in care. Almost cradling her. Zadok keeps thinking that its his falt. He cries a little. Though his emotions soon change. He sees that the otani is smiling and laughing. He begins to realize he was tricked.

"How about a kiss for your lover"

He felt something break inside him. He should of known it was a trick. "why would anyone love me" he said out loud. He kisses her one the cheek and turns around to walk towards dry land. Once he's on dry land he puts his gear on and wipes the tears from his face. He then shows her his true power. Zadok points his outstretch hand at a bush and sets it ablaze. He stares into the flames then looks at her. "I could boil the river now. See if a water body of an otani could boil to steam but I still believe that your a good creature. But I am nobody's play thing." He slowly turns around waiting for a response.