{3rd of Summer, 513 AV
10th bell}
The Nuit sat at the end of a dock, skirt pulled back from her legs, jacket sleeves for once rolled up, feet bare. Her boots sat beside her, old dusty brown things just about ready to fall apart. She had a hand shoved into one of her vest pockets, scrabbling around for the pieces of stale bread and dried meat she knew were floating around in there, somewhere. An expectant white bird, sleek and pretty with a bright beak and black-tipped wings, hopped from foot to foot beside her, completely unconcerned for its own well-being and waiting impatiently for a snack.
Very impatiently. Apparently the Nuit wasn't moving fast enough for the bird's tastes. The gull waddled forward to nip at the Nuit's knuckles, beak flashing against pale skin, though not hard enough to leave a mark or puncture the fragile flesh. Despite the creature's rudeness, Isolde smiled faintly, batting a hand at him to keep him away. The bird jostled back a few steps, giving out an indignant caw. "Just hold on a minute," the Nuit muttered. There had to be at least some crumbs in here, if not something bigger... Aha. Finally her fingers closed around a chunk of old bread and the Nuit fished it out, tossing it into the water off the end of the dock. The pesky bird flapped its way hungrily down, gobbling up the tidbit whole before turning its ruddy gaze back up to her. "You have got to be kidding me," the Nuit mumbled, "You're fat enough already! Go on! Get!" But the bird simply stayed where it was, floating softly on the waves, and the Nuit was glad. He gave her something to look at, something to think about, other than the flat blue expanse in front of her.
If it wasn't for the birds, she wouldn't have stayed. She didn't like the ocean. Yes, it was beautiful, with the waves reaching up and the sky reaching down, clasping hands at the horizon. And all of it in the prettiest shade of blue, like Wynry's eyes when she was happy and smiling. But that didn't disguise the fact that all it was was a whole lot of water. And the Nuit didn't like the thought of a whole lot of water. Because the Nuit couldn't swim.
Really, it was stupid of her to be so close to the end of the dock. Really, if she was smart she wouldn't even be on the dock, but rather back a ways, perhaps even at home where it was definitely safe. But the birds kept her here, and the warmth of Syna's rays on her pale, dead flesh. Between those two things, the Nuit was simply bathing in good memories. Because Vaughn had loved birds to the point that Isolde had grown to love them, and because Vaughn had always, always been like fire to the Nuit. He flickered in and out of her mind as she crossed her ankles, knitting her fingers together, inhaling the salty, somehow sweet ocean air.
And then the seagull exploded from the water back onto the dock, long wings spraying the Nuit with large droplets of seawater, and she burst out with an oath, squabbling with the fearless, hungry bird as many of the docksmen looked on and shook their heads disapprovingly. Hadn't that strange woman known not to encourage the pest?
"Fine, fine, I give up!" The Nuit cried, jerking her arms away from the flapping, raving bird to shove them, once more, deep into her pockets... and then there was a sploosh like a rock being dropped into the water. The Nuit froze, the bird scrabbling around behind her back, nudging at her elbows. No. That noise. It couldn't have been. Dreading what she knew to be true, the Nuit turned slowly to look. One of her boots was gone. She snatched at the other one, griping it tightly to her chest, and leaned a bit to look over the side of the docks. A dark shape was slowly, delicately sinking down, blurring around the edges the further down it sank, until it was gone. "Shyke," she muttered, and the bird squawked behind her, still hoping for more food. "No, no, go away," she mumbled irritably to him, before whirling and giving him a hard look, one hand grasping the boot tightly, the other placed against her hip, elbow cocked out. The creature was completely unperturbed by her change in tone and posture. It nipped again at her fingers, begging for more scraps. "No, don't think you're getting anything more from me!" the Nuit said, rather loudly, earning more glances, "This is your fault! What am I supposed to do with only one boot? I can't-- go get-- it." The Nuit's face contorted into an expression that clearly read Why me? She turned, ignoring the gull once more, shifting to sit on her knees, the better to peer down at the water below.
How deep was the water right here, anyway? The Nuit shuddered at the thought of climbing down and trying to actually get the boot back, but she was hard pressed to figure out what else to do. Well. Besides abandon it. But it wasn't like she was swimming in Mizas. She needed to conserve them for her studies. So was abandoning the boot really an option?
OOCNot really brooding, but this is what I came up with. ^^' Sorry if it wasn't what you expected! And sorry if it seems a bit rusty! ^^'