"Not many, of course. Though there seemed to be more in the two-hundreth century than now. I wonder why that is", she intones casually. She supposes they are dying off, for she has no reason to suspect otherwise.
Some dim sense of propriety tells her that it would be rude to mention that all she knows of the Symenestra (which is very little indeed) she has learned from the other races. And the other races don't have many flattering things to say on the subject. The description as 'monsters' tend to make a reappearance at least once every conversation. Yet this man has proved that he has a conscience, as he risks himself to save a creature he knows nothing about.
"Ah, I'm the monster, yet seen as merely a pest. And here is a breathing, sentient man and he is the monster? Ooo how deliciously ironic", she coos with delight. Then, hand over her breast, she sings gaily a snippet of song about a creature just as evil and misunderstood as the young Symenestra:
"--She struggled and flounced in the water,
And signaled in vain for her bar,
And she'd surely been drowned
if she hadn't been found
By a chivalrous man-eating shark
And this shows that the prince of the ocean,
To ladies forbearing and mild,
Though his record be dark
Is the man-eating shark,
Who will eat neither woman nor child!"
Its a backwards situation and darkly humorous analogy, given present company, and present company's mission in Nyka (for the family, hm?) but one she sees as most befitting her strange saviour.
The Otani laughs like a child and goes back to doing slow circles and acrobatics in the calm water. Despite this unusual company, and the debt she owes him, she is quickly becoming bored with the stagnation of the visit. She does have many questions to ask and stories to pry from the dour mans lips, but she cant seem to hold her attention long enough to ask.
The water acrobatics move her closer to the dock, until the moulding is staring up at the mans ankles that hang just above the water. She can see some of the underside of his drawing resting on his knee, but the paper is too thick for her to glean a look of the marks he is putting on it.
Overcome with a simple impulse, the Otani pulls dijed into the cavity of her chest and compresses the dijed into a dense, pearly ball. She opens her throat in a way a human never could, and her mouth takes on a perfect wide 'o'. Then Uleru aims for the drawing with a small popping noise and an impossible rush of air as the pressurized dijed is quickly converted to air.
There is a strong flutter before the paper is shucked out of his hands. Uleru swims out to meet it, keeping it cushioned with light breaths of air before the paper glides into her hands. She keeps care to hold it by the very edges, but even so the water on her hands makes the charcoal in the corners weep.
Its not a very good drawing, she is disappointed to see. But there is definite pleasure in beholding her own likeness. Its not often she is able to see her own reflection, and especially not in the water since she is just as semi-transparent. She notices the writing at the top but dismisses it quickly since she cant read. And having never seen her name in print, she doesn't recognize it.
"Arn't I just lovely" she sighs dramatically, holding the page up to her light. "Outsiders would shrink away from you less is you did this more, wouldn't they? If you became an artist or a scholar or whatever it is you do. I wonder, I wonder", she intones carefully, putting emphasis on each syllable in turn just to see what it sounds like. Creating a simple sort of echo and an endlessly repeating question: I wonder I wonder I wonder.
Some dim sense of propriety tells her that it would be rude to mention that all she knows of the Symenestra (which is very little indeed) she has learned from the other races. And the other races don't have many flattering things to say on the subject. The description as 'monsters' tend to make a reappearance at least once every conversation. Yet this man has proved that he has a conscience, as he risks himself to save a creature he knows nothing about.
"Ah, I'm the monster, yet seen as merely a pest. And here is a breathing, sentient man and he is the monster? Ooo how deliciously ironic", she coos with delight. Then, hand over her breast, she sings gaily a snippet of song about a creature just as evil and misunderstood as the young Symenestra:
"--She struggled and flounced in the water,
And signaled in vain for her bar,
And she'd surely been drowned
if she hadn't been found
By a chivalrous man-eating shark
And this shows that the prince of the ocean,
To ladies forbearing and mild,
Though his record be dark
Is the man-eating shark,
Who will eat neither woman nor child!"
Its a backwards situation and darkly humorous analogy, given present company, and present company's mission in Nyka (for the family, hm?) but one she sees as most befitting her strange saviour.
The Otani laughs like a child and goes back to doing slow circles and acrobatics in the calm water. Despite this unusual company, and the debt she owes him, she is quickly becoming bored with the stagnation of the visit. She does have many questions to ask and stories to pry from the dour mans lips, but she cant seem to hold her attention long enough to ask.
The water acrobatics move her closer to the dock, until the moulding is staring up at the mans ankles that hang just above the water. She can see some of the underside of his drawing resting on his knee, but the paper is too thick for her to glean a look of the marks he is putting on it.
Overcome with a simple impulse, the Otani pulls dijed into the cavity of her chest and compresses the dijed into a dense, pearly ball. She opens her throat in a way a human never could, and her mouth takes on a perfect wide 'o'. Then Uleru aims for the drawing with a small popping noise and an impossible rush of air as the pressurized dijed is quickly converted to air.
There is a strong flutter before the paper is shucked out of his hands. Uleru swims out to meet it, keeping it cushioned with light breaths of air before the paper glides into her hands. She keeps care to hold it by the very edges, but even so the water on her hands makes the charcoal in the corners weep.
Its not a very good drawing, she is disappointed to see. But there is definite pleasure in beholding her own likeness. Its not often she is able to see her own reflection, and especially not in the water since she is just as semi-transparent. She notices the writing at the top but dismisses it quickly since she cant read. And having never seen her name in print, she doesn't recognize it.
"Arn't I just lovely" she sighs dramatically, holding the page up to her light. "Outsiders would shrink away from you less is you did this more, wouldn't they? If you became an artist or a scholar or whatever it is you do. I wonder, I wonder", she intones carefully, putting emphasis on each syllable in turn just to see what it sounds like. Creating a simple sort of echo and an endlessly repeating question: I wonder I wonder I wonder.
A touch rushed, but otherwise lovely. 
Keep it up!
