Flashback A sailing trip [Luhrak]

[Lacerta]

Lacerta had watched Ortal's actions with some humor, since he obviously was sick. She smirked slightly at this, though wasn't really sure what to think. For someone so excited to go sailing, he sure wasn't taking it well. She didn't really understand his reason for almost poking her, though it had been slightly awkward. She also ignored his excuse of 'not sick', since it was obviously untrue. His face was pale... he was staggering around the boat... it was almost a disgrace. "My name is Lacerta... in both this form and my... 'horny' form, as you put it" she explained, taking his circular motions to mean her horns. They could represent insanity, but she tried to ignore that. It was more likely that he was the insane one, rather than herself. She was sure she'd already explained that... but she couldn't put it past him. His next question gave her even more reason to think so. He was having memory problems... again. She decided to answer with a straightforward response, rather than possibly confusing him even more. "You were sprinting off a dock. And flying, apparently. Or do you mean the time before" She'd thought he was talking about this time, but from his wording... maybe he wasn't having memory problems. That was a relief... "When we met, you were attempting to do a handstand. Again, you fell into the water." she wondered if this would help him remember that time. How often did the guy do handstands on the dock anyways? If he 'practiced' daily, the description would be basically... pointless. Once again, she adjusted their course with a slight twitch of her wheel, before deciding to do something else. She grabbed her flute and book, and flipped to one of the first pages. It was an easy song this time, one she'd practiced many times. It also fitted the mood, with the small waves, and moon, and chilly night air. The Eth sat before the wheel and began playing, not really caring what Ortal thought. Her eyes were glued to the page, carefully keeping track of the notes, determined not to make a mistake. It was a short piece of music, and within a chime, she was done. Lacerta looked up to Ortal with a raised eyebrow, wondering if this would also remind him. He'd commented on her being a sailor and a musician on their last meeting, and he'd seen her play for a few moments. "So... how do you like sailing?" she asked, slightly sarcastically. He was probably still sick, and how much could you enjoy something while close to vomiting? Though maybe... considering what she knew of Ortal, it was a possibility... Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

Ortal just stood and stared at the woman, trying to imagine her in the form he met her in first. There were some similarities. Now that he thought about it, her face was similar and she was indeed almost just as tall. He let his eyes wander over her body, trying to find more similarities while being completely oblivious to the staring he was doing. In his mind, he overlapped the image he saw with what he remembered from their first meeting. More and more details fell into place. "You do look like Lacerta. A little bit. How's the boat?" Ortal questioned, letting his thoughts turn into words before thinking about them. When he realized that the boat was under his feet he looked down and tilted his head. "Obviously good. Made any good music lately?" He grinned at her as he remembered his attempted handstand. "The falling in the water part was planned." "I do enjoy the water." He mused, more to himself than to her and watched her grab her flute and book, from which she had torn a page earlier. Curious about the song she was about to play, Ortal sat himself down on one of the crates on the deck of the ship and watched her play. The song made him feel more at ease, the slower tunes helping him to forget about the moving of the boat and the rocking of the waves. He watched her as she watched her notes. Somehow he could relate to her focus and understood that she would probably not react to anything he did or said right now. As she looked up, Ortal blushed and quickly averted his eyes, not wanting to be caught staring at a woman so lost in focus. "You play very nicely." With the last note played, Ortal's body decided once more that it was important for him to remember that he wasn't taking the boat ride very well. He leaned to the side, relying heavily on the railing of the boat to keep him upright as he slumped down against it. One arm was hanging over the side. "I hate sailing." He said with a burst of vigor that lasted no longer than his words. "I like water... Stop the boat." He suddenly burst out at her, demanding, as an idea formed in his mind. With half strenght he managed to turn himself over and hang both arms over the railing, his chin resting on the wooden construction. The tips of his fingers touching the waves as they moved up and down. Weakly he pushed himself up in an attempt to stand up.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta smiled as Ortal finally figured it out, and was actually talking like a sensible person. It was amazing! Well... not really. He'd reached normality, finally. Though being 'normal' was an iffy thing. She had six arms at night, horns in the day, and was possibly one of the tallest people around. That was not 'normal', for human standards. But at least she was mostly normal mentally... compared to the man before her. She ignored his excuses for his flight, once again not believing them. She was also too busy getting ready to play to actually answer his question about music, and what she was doing made it obvious anyways. After her music finished, she nodded at the compliment, but knew she wasn't much compared to most musicians. But quickly after that... he started contradicting himself again. And looking sick. So... playing made him feel better? Huh. She raised an eyebrow at his dislike of sailing, and groaned at the comment after that. "Ortal... the ship's going to rock just as much if I stop it" she told him irritably, before dashing over to him, to stop the man from crashing into the ocean. The idiot! She grabbed his feet sticking out and dragged back, glowering at the man. "Don't try to get into the water... were a few miles from shore, you wouldn't make it back" she informed him firmly, whilst brainstorming ways to stop him doing stuff. Playing music, yes, did work, but she was too grumpy to do that. Well... when she was playing, he was occupied, so maybe she could do that? This was annoying. The Eth brainstormed several ways to solve this, and came up with one good one. Math. Mental math. She'd heard from some sailors that it helped clear the mind and sometimes solved sea sickness. She might as well try... "Ortal. I'm giving you some math" she quickly brainstormed up a pair of numbers, before giving him "Eight times twenty." She wasn't sure how good he would be at it, though she knew that it might take her a chime or two to solve that. Not waiting for him to think it out, she headed over to the wheel, and correct their course. Eight times twenty... Two twenties was forty, three was sixty, four eighty... she worked her way up to 160. There should have been an easier way to do that, but she didn't know it. Looking up at Ortal expectantly, she waited for an answer, to see if he got the same answer as her. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

With his arms flailing over the side of the ship, his fingertips brushing the waves, Ortal had almost slipped in the water. He knew he wouldn't feel sick while swimming, he had never been sick while swimming. But Lacerta's many hands held onto his legs and feet, keeping him from getting into the water. Arms flailing like a child who didn't get what it wanted, Ortal tried to move off the ship and into the water. The captain's words went in one ear and out the other. He suddenly stopped, dead in his tracks. One arm was raised above his head, the other reaching for the sea underneath him. Although his stomach was still upset with the rocking of the boat, Ortal turned around to face the captain, his two arms still over the railing, trying to touch the water, while he leaned against the side of the boat. Lacerta had her hands all over his legs and feet as he looked at her in silence. The moment kept lasting as he slowly tilted his head. "What's math?" He muttered to himself, barely discernable over the crashing over the waves, as she released him and took hold of the wheel once again. As he asked the question, he already knew that the answer wasn't going to be as interesting as he hoped and he slowly stood up, one hand constantly holding onto something as he made his way to the wheel as well. Near the end of the boat, Ortal sat himself down on the same crate he had occupied before and stared at his fingers. He knew what twenty was, ten-ten was twenty, and he knew what eight was. He pointed with the index finger of one hand to the fingers of the other hand. "Twenty. Twenty..." He stopped at the thumb, holding five twenties up in front of him. With the thumb of his hand he counted three more twenties off of his other hand, holding up eight fingers. As he practiced the result, his lips moved without a sound, obviously counting the fingers he was holding up. "TwentyTwentyTwentyTwentyTwentyTwentyTwentyTwenty" For every twenty he gave a short nod to a different finger. From Lacerta's point of view, Ortal's head would be bobbing up and down constantly as he spoke. With a broad smile he looked expectantly at the captain. It was obvious from his face that he thought himself a genius right about now. His eight raised fingers were held up towards Lacerta as well, to provide her with the oh-so-obvious answer to her question.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta raised an eyebrow at his 'math' query, but refused to answer it. Really... a student of the University not knowing math? How sad. She watched him calculate the number in amazement, surprised at how little he understood the question. His head bobbed up and down as he counted twenties on his fingers. Ortal's answer, however, was possibly the funniest. On a rare occasion, the Eth burst into laughter, not quite believing his attempt. "And what's all those twenties added together?" she asked, taking deep breaths, and giggling on occasion. True, he'd technically answered the question. Eight twenties could be counted as 'twentytwentytwentytwentytwentytwentytwentytwenty', but she'd wanted to total of the equation. Whilst waiting for an answer, she decided they'd sailed far enough away from the shore. She grabbed one of the ropes, yanked on it, and returned to her place at the wheel. There, she turned it sharply to the left, making the ship carve a wide turn out of the water. "No whales for you" she muttered quietly, as she squinted to regain sight of Zelvita. She could barely see the port, and some of the masts of the largest ships. OOCApologies for the short post Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

It frustrated him. Everything he had set his mind to, Ortal had managed to work out. No matter how difficult or easy something was. He had surpassed so called 'skilled' people practically overnight. But he had absolutely no answer for Lacerta's question. What do twenties add to together? It was the weirdest question to him. What do words add to together? Ortal's shoulder slumped down as he couldn't fathom the answer. Yes there was one to ten, on his fingers. And if he took all his fingers and toes together he had twenty. And that was it, the limit. Twenty. What more was there? He could seperate parts of his spirit from his body and work with things several arm lengths away from his physical self, he could physically surpass others by instinct when necessary, he could sense and draw on pools of power wherever he was but Ortal had no idea what Lacerta's question even meant. He barely noticed the turning of the ship or the whale comment. His mind was empty. He suddenly got up from his crate near the back of the boat and, with his hands on the railing, slowly made his way to the most frontal point of the boat, where he sat himself down. Without a word he continued to stare at his fingers, his mind going over things. Most of his thoughts were of things he had learned, things he had managed to do, either through training from someone else or by simple instinct. But the answer to Lacerta's question never came. He suddenly jumped up from he seated position, flailing his arms. "RAAHHH!!!" He shouted out, throwing his frustration at the sky and the ocean. He had completely forgotten about Lacerta. His arms were flailing, hitting imaginary things. He kicked his feet at the air, all the while screaming and shouting. If not for the sudden nature of the outburst and the dangerous position he was in, it would have been amusing to see a young adult like Ortal throwing a tantrum like that. But at the moment all it was was potentially dangerous to himself, balancing on one leg on a moving ship so close to the railing as he tried to kick at claw and punch at things that weren't there. "AAARGGHHH!!" By the time he crashed back down to the deck he was lying in a pathetic heap of human, panting heavily, his body shivering with his sobbing.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta watched in surprise as Ortal grew frustrated, and moved to the bow of her ship. What in the world was he doing? He seemed to be completely and utterly annoyed that he couldn't figure out the answer. "Um... I can tell you the answer if you want" she muttered quietly, but he didn't seem to hear. The man seemed to be stuck inside his own little bubble, completely ignoring her. She sighed slightly, and focused more on the growing city before her, waiting for him to come out of his stupor. That didn't seem to come, and he jumped up, screaming and flailing. The Ethaefal started, and jumped back a few steps, slightly scared by his reaction. She watched him with a worried expression, glad that he was on the other side of her boat. She wanted to stop him from doing... whatever he was doing, but she was slightly frightened, and didn't want to intervene. Instead, she let the man kick and yell out his anger, hoping it would be a calming remedy. Her math had really backfired... When he crashed to the floor, she wandered over to him, a worried look in her eyes. She approached cautiously, and looked over him, all six arms resting on her hips. "It's 160" she told him bluntly, hoping it would help. How could she explain it... suddenly, one thing came to her. "If you're multiplying two numbers, and one has a zero... you can take out the zero, then add it to the number again later. So eight times twenty. You could do eight times two. That's sixteen. You add the zero back to the end and it's 160" She waited for a reaction, wondering how he would answer to the solution. He didn't seem to like not being able to figure it out... Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

Ortal didn't move from his little spot on the deck near the front as Lacerta came over. Like a stubborn child he huffed and rolled away from her, trying to ignore her. When she started to explain, he did get attentive though, and slowly but surely he unrolled from his shell and sat up to listen to her. But the words meant nothing to him. Multi-something and zero and zero and sixteen and his head started to hurt from all the words he didn't understand. "Speeak common." He snapped at her, more aggressively than planned. He immediately felt sorry for it. "I... don't understand." He hated admitting it but it was the only way to properly learn it. He couldn't go by twenties for the rest of his life. He wondered where Lacerta had learned to do this... math thing. He realized that 'math' was apparently something everyone could do, learned somehow in the early parts of their lives. But he had never had anyone teach him anything. Except for his projection and medicine skills, which he was taught by the local crone, Ortal had always learned the things he wanted to learn. If he knew better, he would say someone or something had been guiding him on his path, helping him to come across the skills he had learned so far. Skills he had a knack, if not a natural instinct, for. But this 'math' thing, he had no clue. He couldn't fathom how all those twenties made... what had she called it? hunnersiktie or something. What did that even mean? Ortal let out a sigh as he focused back on Lacerta. "Explain." Although all those thoughts had passed through his mind, only a short moment had passed between him and Lacerta. He was hoping she could explain it to him, perhaps teach him. Nobody had ever taught him something without wanting something in return. He wondered what would have happened if things had been different for him. No hate, no disgust. A proper family with people that actually liked him and didn't beat him for breathing. That would have been nice. Ortal got comfortable on the deck and leaned back against the side of the boat as he took in Lacerta's every word.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta continued to keep her eyebrow raised as Ortal spoke, watching with slight curiosity. Her eyebrow was getting tired... too much skepticism. Though she wasn't good at math herself, she was vaguely familiar with the concepts, as reading and writing music required slight mathematical skills as well. Ortal, on the other hand, didn't seem to have much grasp on mental concepts. He seemed more like a physical man. At his request to explain, she crouched down with a sigh, and began to think up a way to explain. What exactly did he want her to explain? "Well... I'll just start with the basics. Do you know how to add?" she asked, sincerely hoping that he did. "Well... when you add stuff, say three, and four, you can use things as examples. Like your fingers. So adding, is putting stuff together. So three fingers, plus four fingers..." She held up the said appendages on each hand, then held them together as an example. "When you count them, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven fingers." She wiggled all the fingers in turn, counting them out loud. "So that's an easy way to do it. But what if the numbers get higher? What if they get higher than ten, or twenty, and you run out of fingers and toes? Well... they still go on. Think about it, there's 91 days in a season, right? There has to be more numbers than 20." She hoped she was going in the right direction here, and was beginning to get on a roll. "Well, you can still add more numbers. You can add bigger numbers, like... 20 and 20. So, remember the trick I told you earlier? There's zeros at the end of 20, because it's written '2', and '0'. When adding stuff with zeros, you can ignore them for the time being. So getting rid of the zeros in 20... you're left with two, and two. Two plus two is four. You add the zeros back in... and it's 40!" She paused for a deep breath, and gave the man a critical look."Does that make sense to you" she asked cautiously, not wanting to continue without him understanding. Teaching him was getting... interesting. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

Ortal looked up at the six armed lady as she did her best to explain things. Yes he knew how to add. Some things. If you added water and tea leaves you got tea. That was adding. As he listened to her explenation about using fingers something dawned on him, as it usually did in the presence of one as Lacerta. "You have more than twenty." He looked intently at her fingers, an amount for which he didn't even have a word. As usual his remark had just been blurted out in the middle of her explanation. How much fingers did she have anyway. In combination with her toes, she had twentytwenty. But without her toes she had what? Tentwenty? As Ortal wiped at his eyes, to try and get rid of any evidence that he had lost it and had been sobbing, he watched Lacerta and listened to her explenation. He understood the part up to seven, where she counted her fingers. That he knew. But when she started talking about days in a season he got lost. He voiced that with a half sigh, half moan. "Urgh... I don't get it." Even though he tried his best. The more she talked, the more lost Ortal felt and the less intelligent he felt. All those twos and zeros and four and adding. It hurt Ortal's head. At her final question he shook his head. "It doesn't make sense." He admitted. And immediately after he added another thought. "But that's fine. I'm sure I'll live." Ortal nodded his head. At least his seasickness was forgotten by all the numbers and everything else. Although it had been replaced by a starting headache, though. Not wanting to press on the subject of his unknowing, Ortal tried to change it. "So, no whales then? Do you think I could have kept one if we had seen them?" He asked with the same boyish smile and attitude that he had been showing for everything of interest so far. He enjoyed sitting with Lacerta, the boat just floating around with the wind, without a captain at the wheel. It was indeed quite... "Oh! Oh. Oh...Ooooh! Can I sail the boat? Can I? Please?" There was nobody at the wheel. The realization struck him like a revelation. Nobody at the wheel meant there was room for him at the wheel.