Open Sun and Shells

[Uleru]

Floating serenely a couple of feet below the surface of the waves, Uleru struggles with a particularly stubborn clam. She is in her most recognizable shape today as a Human, Konti, monster hybrid, if only for the convenience of fingers as she tries to convince this fresh, baby-fingernail pink shell to give up the ghost.
 
Under one arm is tucked a handful of empty clam shells that came to a similar fate, and under the other is a heavy and complicated-looking brass instrument. Anyone would be able to recognize the thing as a compass, but only a more learned man or woman would be able to recognize that this thing is much older than it appears. Much older. Uleru had taken it out of her treasure trove to polish and clean the thing with fish hide and that shallow seagrass when she got distracted by the shellfish delicacies. 
 
And had this been any other time, Uleru would have admired his accuracy. But when a massive Akalak drops from above and whips off his pants, it was nothing but idiots luck that has his size 17 foot sailing towards the Otani's face. Maybe he'd been able to avoid such a collision if Uleru had been wearing a color, and thus be visible, or if she hadn't been so distracted by a fit young blue man ripping off his lower garments.
 
Non the less, wether it be from distraction or lack of color, when the foot connects, her head concaves neatly around the force and she is sent spinning in the other direction, scattering a handful of shells and the heavy brass compass.
 
Righting herself, the moulding lets loose a thin stream of surprised bubbles which, to the men, would look oddly out of place next to empty space. What are they doing? Are they... are they sucking air through a pair of pants? What an interesting development.
 
And looking closer, is that the sweet actor she met a few weeks ago, Jorin? The poor man she over zealously abused for most of the afternoon? Coasting back towards the pair, she swims underneath them and comes up behind Jorins legs. And the monster looks uncharacteristically concerned as she studies his legs for the signs of human damage. Then, showing utmost care, though no forward thinking, she runs a smooth, cold hand down his shin.
 

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Summer, Day 63, 513 AV

"Jorin, hold your breath."

Oh no. He wouldn't. He couldn't! Jorin felt sweat gather on his brow.

"Haha, that's very funny Duce!" he said, as he forced out a laugh. "You almost had me there, I thought you really were going to -"

"Now!"

"- blargle!" Jorin barely had time to put his mouth to the pants leg before the salty water could rush into his lungs. What the petch? What was Duce doing? In any case he seemed to be relatively safe, at the moment, as long as the air in the makeshift breathing apparatus held. For a few moments, everything seemed fine. He wondered what Malla must be thinking right now. All of a sudden, he felt something smooth and cold rub against his shin.

"Murble gurgle blargh!" Jorin kicked his feet wildly, his arms propellering in panic as he struggled to right himself. His eyes wide in panic, he managed after a few chimes to right himself, spitting out salt water and grits of sand from his mouth as he ran for shore.

"Malla! Run there's something in the -"

Jorin never got to finish his sentence as he tripped on his own feet and landed face-first into the water.

[Malla]

Malla's eyes widened slightly as she saw Jorin and Duce go under, one of which said that he couldn't swim. She really hoped the Akalak had a good hold on him and could swim himself. She chewed her lip, shifting around for a few brief moments, though they felt longer to her, before she groaned, "Why? Really, why?," she asked no one in particular aloud, before she went to move out further into the water and closer to the two, her thoughts a whirl of colorful curses that only became more colored when she was chest deep in the water. Once she dragged both of those two, who she was of the opinion should stay away from water, out of the water, she would flee. And make a note to get colored shirts, even if they usually weren't the cheapest. She would have to. How she would cover her markings as she did, she had no clue what so ever. She was just about to dive under when she saw Jorin pop up and start running. The Konti blinked at his words, "There's always things in water...like fish," she pointed out, but, since Jorin got himself up out of the water, she assumed Duce could to. Malla moved closer to Jorin, temporarily forgetting about her Windmark issue, to take one of his arms and help him up. "Are you alright?," she asked. Since white and water were two things that should never mix, unless a really thick material, black vine-like marks would be partially visible on her right side, though still a bit obscured by her top. The vines would twist about each other, covering her from the right half of her spine, around her side, and to the middle of her stomach, only a few stray ends going pass the middle. There was more to the design on her upper torso, but since she, thankfully, hadn't dived in the water, the vines would disappear under the dry part of her shirt. The scales on her spine and the bit peeking over her pants would be a bit visible as well by the texture added to the shirt were it clung to them.

[Duce Hazimari]

Duce expected alot of things from Jorin when he first seen his introduction on the beach. They ranged from Jorin suggesting they did a play to Malla and himself actually agreeing to do it. But nothing, nothing at all would cause Duce to expect Jorin to one leg go his half of the only thing keeping them from drowning, nor did he expect them human to blow underwater bubbles in his face and kicking him in his chest as he ran from something that wasn't there, he didn't even expect Jorin to kick him in the leg afterwards and injuring it so that he couldn't stand up enough to get above water. His only hope was if Malla swam out and saved him, which was not going to happen if Jorin told her it all was a joke. He held his breath hoping that he could hold it long enough for Malla to show up, or for him to find his pants which he was searching for frantically. It was no use. he had used up all his air and was draining the last bit he had left. It was final, he was dead. He would drown and float to the surface. Probably drift out to sea for ever lost. Everything started to get black. Cause of death...A humans foot. He didn't believe in the Gods of Mizahar, but if he were resurrected, Jorin was going to wish he died. [/flrame2]

[Uleru]

This time, when the smaller humans foot sails towards the Otani's face, she has enough time to let out a resigned sigh before his heel beams her right between the eyes. His smaller foot does nothing to counter this desperate strength though, and she is again hurtled head-over-heels through the water. The man has got some power in his legs, he seems to have also given his bulky blue partner quite the beating as well.

It was when she righted herself for the second time that she remembers her precious compass that was kicked out of her hand by the first chunky sod. And nothing is more precious to a collector than their useless junk, so she begins searching for it across the silt below her. And she finds it only a few moments later all safe and intact amid a pile of shattered clam shells. She sighs with relief, stroking the instruments crystal face before kicking off the floor to go check that she didn't scare Jorin and the beefy guy too horribly.

But when she turns, though Jorin is out of sight as he should be, the Akalak is still under; doing a one-step kicking motion with one leg and grappling at the surface. Then, as she watches, he goes eerily still.

She sings a few wordless notes to try and catch his attention, but the haughty tones dissipate in the water without so much as a twitch from the man. She floats closer and tries an unearthly screech to better shock him from whatever stupor he has himself in; nothing. She has never timed how long an Akalak can stay underwater, but she is guessing he is getting dangerously close to that time limit.

One hand clutching her possession to her breast, she swims fluidly to the floating man, now feeling halfway responsible for the mess she got the poor guy in. Suspended in front of him she tries a trick she has used before: her chest glows as a thin, gaseous res fills the cavity of her chest, then she clamps her lips over his, pinches his nose, and pushes the newly transmuted air into him until his chest starts to swell.

Now is the hard part.

Pushing the brass instrument into her chest, her fluid body holds it there like a surfaced, clockwork heart and thus gives her both her hands with which to wrap around his chest. Holding him against her in some strange parody of a hug with his head on her shoulder, the Otani makes the supreme effort and twisted, whispered exclamations needed to swim backwards and drag him back to shore. Stoping once more to fill his football sized lungs and detangle his feet from a particularly belligerent bit of seaweed. Until finally their heads break the surface and she dumps his heavy body into the shallows with a gasp.

Both hands on her hips and gills still gasping for breath she leans over the prone Akalak with a simple kind of curiosity. And really, she kind of happy she left his britches floating away in the sea. He looks better this way.

But before she can get too distracted (or think of a way to put the Akalak in a compromising position) she remembers how she got into this debacle in the first place.

"Jorin?" she calls, turning to the beach and spotting him being helped out of the surf by... "Malla?!"

The Konti she met only a few days ago, and the one that helped some unknown monster that was hacking away on the beach. But that was a different shape she had, she wouldn't be able to recognize her and just think this is a different Otani.

"Ah, Malla, its me. From the other night. Uleru", she smiles, and there is something incredibly soft in that smile that she rarely shows. But whatever that fleeting look was melts under a light kind of camaraderie when she faces the male. "And Jorin! Hello again. I didn't mean to scare you so bad, its just me, I promise." she laughs lightheartedly and the compass rattles on her chest. "You seem to have really kicked the stuffing out of the Akalak you were... mmm, sharing pants with? Do you know him?"

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Summer, Day 63, 513 AV

Jorin got up from tripping on his own feet, mainly smarting more from wounded pride than wounded body. He gave Malla a grateful smile as she helped him up.

"I'm fine ... mostly," Jorin assured her. He sighed heavily. "I'm never going to hear the end of this one, I'm sure," he sighed. He noticed, as she was helping him up, that she had some interesting markings on her right side. They looked like ... vines? He wondered why she worked so hard to obscure them. They rather reminded him of the markings he'd seen on some Drykas. So she had Windmarks? Why was that such a big deal? Mentally shrugging, Jorin decided if she wanted to keep it secret he wouldn't be the one to tell.

Suddenly, Jorin realized that Duce was not right behind him. Almost panicking, he dropped Malla's hand and turned, only to see Uleru rising out of the sea with a ... was that a compass in her chest? Jorin's eyebrow raised in interest. Why would she ... then he saw with relief that Duce was in her arms, and dumped him on the shallows. Poor Duce Jorin thought. I'm going to have to apologize later. I must have kicked him harder than I thought.

Still, Duce seemed mostly alive, so he turned to the Otani who was smiling and greeting them.

"Hello Uleru! I'm sorry, I must have kicked you too ... you just surprised me there," Jorin replied, remembering the slight resistance to his feet when he kicked. It didn't register in his mind when it was happening; he was too panicked; but now on shore, he realized considering his position relative to Duce he could only have kicked him with one foot, which meant the resistance the other foot felt must have been Uleru.

"And yes, in answer to your question, his name's Duce. We really only met today, he seems like a very interesting man! I really do have to apologize to him later; I didn't realize I kicked him that hard."

He turned and grinned at Malla. "So you know her too? That's great! Maybe between the two of you, I can learn to swim!" Jorin laughed. "Or at the very least not drown while trying," he added with a wink.

[Malla]

Malla smiled faintly at Jorin's reply then looked back tot he water, frowning. Now where was the other one... She waited a moment before taking a few steps further out, only to see someone carting Duce out of the water. She sighed slightly, and looked to Jorin, "Can neither of you swim?," she asked, just a bit dumbfounded. Why would the Akalak go so far out if neither of the two could swim? That was just hoping to drown in her opinion. She walked over to the two once the man was left in the shallow water. Since he seemed to be mostly alright, she looked to the woman, wondering how she knew her name. She looked her over a moment, chewing her lip, until the woman added her name. She smiled a bit, wrapping her arms tightly around her own middle, obscuring her Windmarks as much as possible. "Ah, right, Uleru. it's..nice to see you now that you aren't ill." That was when she noticed the compass in the Otani's chest. She tilted her head, eyeing it curiously, though looked up at her and Jorin's words. "Sharing...pants with?," she wonders, looking between Uleru, Jorin, and the probably passed out Duce a moment then smiled slightly to the human man, "Maybe...unless you keep kicking people..." She started to chew her lip again and shift about a bit. She could just stand here hugging herself and hope there wasn't too much notice to her marks, but, then again, fleeing seemed the best option. Of course her reasons probably made no sense to anyone but her, but they were reasons none the less. How could one claim a heritage they seemed to have disgraced the teachings of? But more might notice if she had to go through the city while her markings were still visible. Silently, she cursed absolutely everything she could think of. She kept her arms wrapped around herself, but stayed in the same spot as well. The Konti decided that the possibility of three noticing was better than random people she would pass possibly getting a look and recognizing her should they meet again. Though soon as she was int eh clear for her markings to not be noticed, she was going to have to go.

[Duce Hazimari]

Duce awoke on the beach choking up water his leg aching in pain. He quickly looked around to see where he was, and was relieved to find out that he didn't die...unless Jorin somehow killed Malla, himself, and who ever this new person was standing over him. Jorin! He remembered how the human kicked him and left him to drown, but..how did he get back on the beach? That didn't matter right now, all Duce knew was that Jorin was gonna feel a slight punch. "You're gonna pay!" Duce said falling face first into the sand while trying to stand up. "I'm going to kill you..then kill myself then kill you again!". Duce said finally getting up on one leg and hobbling toward the human. He couldn't do it. Not that he didn't want to, he really did. But his leg said otherwise making him plop back onto the sand to which he realized that he had on neither shirt nor pants and was sitting in front of two females. Now he had two reasons to punch Jorin. Duce slowly dragged himself back to the shallows of the water where he sat to hide his exposed body and to locate his pants.

[Uleru]

"Oh! A swim? Is that all this is? I can teach you to swim. No better teacher than a Konti and Otani. And I wont even make you use pants as a breathing apparatus" Uleru smiles brightly, hands knitted together and slowly turning a silvery colour as she anticipates the unusual fun that will be had if they try such an endeavour.

She turns her attention to Malla to confirm that she will come and help when she notices that there is something decidedly off about her companion. Funny, she wouldn't of noticed there was something wrong if the woman wasn't making obvious attempts to cover herself. She can just make out the trailing edges of what looks like an intricate tattoo under her breast. Its too big to be a slavers mark, and it doesn't strike her as a gnosis, so she is not sure what it could be besides a purely aesthetic tattoo. Such things as windmarks are far too inland for her to know much about, and the thought doesn't cross her mind.

"You're gonna pay!" A voice suddenly rises from behind them. Uleru almost forgot about the blue guy. "I'm going to kill you..then kill myself then kill you again!"

The Big Blue Guy, otherwise known as Duce, hobbles over with somewhat dubious murderous intent in his eyes. But upon noticing that he is in nothing but a loincloth, he shuffles back out to deeper water to sit and stare daggers at the offending human.

"Easy there", the Otani soothes, standing awkwardly to the side and patting the top of his head in what she hopes is a comforting way. "You don't want to kill Jorin. We like Jorin. And you look splendid in your undergarments," she trills lightly, and its hard to tell whether she is being dense or deliberately facetious. Maybe she should mould herself larger breasts and more seductive hips and make him even more uncomfortable. Maybe she should actively draw his attention to her not even wearing so much as the bit of fabric he has between his legs? She tucks these ideas for play away for later deployment and lets him go back to searching for his pants.

"Come on Jorin! And Duce," she adds graciously, holding out her arms for the two men to beckon them into deeper water. "We're going to teach you to swim. Properly."

Secret :

Sorry for the wait. And even so its not very good. I endeavour to do better next time!

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Summer, Day 63, 513 AV

Jorin backpedaled when Duce spoke up. He'd honestly thought the big Akalak half-dead, or perhaps passed out, so when he got up, Jorin's first reaction was to dart to the man, to see if he was alright.

"You're gonna pay! I'm going to kill you..then kill myself then kill you again!"

OK, maybe approaching the big angry Akalak wasn't such a good idea. Jorin just held his palms up in a gesture of surrender.

"Woah hey now big fella," he soothed. "I said I was sorry, didn't I? I swear i didn't mean to kick you like that ... can't we talk about this?"

Fortunately, Uleru stepped in front of Duce, and Jorin watched as she warded off the Akalak with aplomb. Jorin figured her confidence came from the fact that she was in her native element and was also very difficult to hurt, which meant that even if Duce decided he wanted a piece of Jorin he'd have to go through her. Wincing as he remembered his first day's experience with Uleru, as fun as it was, he hoped Duce wouldn't go down that route.

Turning to Malla instead, Jorin's forehead creased in a small frown. The Konti seemed uncomfortable the whole time, and she seemed to want to shrink into herself. Wading a little closer to her, he whispered, "Malla, please forgive my impertinence but, I couldn't help but notice the markings ... look I understand if you don't want to talk about it but, why are you so afraid of people seeing them? They're not ugly..."