Open Offshore Curiosity

[Kame]

The woman Kame had approached instantly seemed kind. She expressed worry for both Kame's wounds as well as the rest of teh settlement. It was easy to understand that a woman covered in blood might have news of some sort of danger. The girl was relieved at her attitude, perhaps she could be of some help then.

The man also seemed kind enough though it was obvious he was standing his ground more than the woman. Before even addressing Kame he exited the water and whispered to the woman. His face was not very friendly but it did not seem hostile, the huntress was unsure what to think of him. She did not blame the bald man for being suspicious. For all they knew Kame could have walked out of the jungle, here to slaughters. They have never seen her before, and she them, and in her current state she probably seemed just as wild and unknown as anything else here. They would not know she was part of the settlement.

Kame wondered what the man whispered to the woman, but there was no way for her to find out. Although she did appreciate his compliment on her kill. She was rather proud of herself. As he continued to speak she relaxed a little at his offer to look at her wounds. They were not severe and though they hurt it was nothing Kame could not handle herself. No matter how kind these settlers were there was no way she trusted them enough to care for any wound she had.

She began her responses. She widened her smile just a little and tried to act embarrassed, struggling to find the correct words in Common. "Sorry! No danger, just a turtle. Big one yes! But it is dead now. Never seen one so big!" She exclaimed, gesturing behind her to the animal bloody and lying in the sand.

Realizing humans may be a little off-put by her appearance of blood she wandered over to the edge of the water and knelt down. Her bone knife was still in her hand and now in the way and so she grabbed her hair again, instantly noticing the lack of, but shrugging it off in her mind and tying her hair back up, carefully putting the knife back in to hold it.

Here the man continued his talking, asking for her name. She heasitated, splashing at the water before she answered, her back to them. "I am Kame, new here, just arrived a couple of day ago. You are also settlers, yes?" Then she grabbed at the salty water, rubbing it on her hands, arms and face. She carefully avoided the bite mark on her arm. The salt water which she had become familiar with her first day here stung as it hit the wound. She now understood that salt is not good for open wounds and so she avoided contact as much as possible. Her forehead was just a small scratch and would probably turn into a worse bruise than a slice and so she ignored the tiny amount of pain it registered with the water. Looking out into the water she noticed something bobbing just out of reach. It interested her but she had more pressing things at stake and so she ignored it, turning back to the situation at hand.

Her head had definitely stopped bleeding but her arm had not so no matter what blood would continue to slowly drip out of it. But as she washed most of the blood off she figured that would be enough to calm them. Standing once again she took a couple steps away from the water. Swimming was not something the Myrian knew how to do and so she did not want to be in a position where it might be required for survival if things went south. She certainly wasn't expecting them to, but Kame was a very careful person. As it was the norm with her people.

As the man offered his help, she waved her hands in front of her. "No no, small wounds, heal easily. I am just fine, thank you." She assured the human. "I was just questioning to you, the turtle is very heavy. I do not know how to get it back to my bungalow. Would it mind you to help perhaps, please?" Her Common was somewhat broken but she thought she did a rather good job. Her tone was simple and humble as she tried to make it sound. Although she did not really enjoy humans, she had no overall problem with them and so she really, simple, did just want their help.

The bald man had many questions, but this seemed to be the last one for now. The more he talked to more suspicious she got of him. Kame tried to shrug it off as her being overly cautious, which was true, but she still decided she liked the woman, so far, better than the man. Again this was true in most cases as Kame as well as her people were mildly sexist. "I was exploring this beach and ocean. I do not know about Syka much. Trying to understand places."

[Izuyanai]

“Ah, so that’s a turtle. Or rather, it was,” Izuyanai murmured, looking back at the deceased creature on the beach and chuckling at her own dark humour. The woman’s appearance improved greatly as she washed off in the waves. The angry red blood seeped away into the seawater with each new splash and by the time she stepped away from the wave’s edge, it was mostly seawater that ran down her arms in rivulets. The stranger who called herself Kame still had a wild look about her, but without the blood, she cut a much less alarming figure. On the other hand, Shimoje still seemed to be highly suspicious of this newcomer even though Izuyanai couldn’t bring herself to be so hostile. There wasn’t any immediate threat, and the woman seemed to be asking for help. As others requiring assistance was always quite entertaining, Izuyanai tilted her head and considered Kame’s request. As the other spoke, it became obvious that she had some trouble with Common. Remembering her own experiences with language barriers, Izuyanai spoke accordingly, trying to watch her vocabulary and speed. “Well, it’s good that it wasn’t an emergency,” she began, nodding at the newcomer. “Welcome to Syka, Kame. And you’re right, we’re settlers as well. I am Izuyanai, and this is…” she hesitated, as she turned toward Shimoje, eyes expectant. The sailor might not be overjoyed to see this woman, for whatever reason, but as far as the raven was concerned, a needless conflict between them would be such a bother. “Where are you coming in from? I couldn’t help but notice Common is not your strongest language. In any case, I was looking around the area as well, you see, and I wouldn’t mind helping to carry back that shelled creature. It’s a little ways off to the bungalows, after all. But before that, we have a little problem out there,” Izuyanai mentioned, flicking her eyes out toward where the object was still caught in the lazy swirl of the sea. Nudging Shimoje slightly, she tried to reason in the face of his stormy expression. “We can help Kame on the way back, and she may be able to help us retrieve our target from the water.” Splashing out a little ways into the water, the Kelvic cupped her chin in her hand and mused, “I was thinking I’d like to get that to shore, but not being able to swim has been a little bit of a problem so far. We’ve managed to put together something that might help us,” she continued, lifting up the hand with the makeshift floatation device in it. “If you’d stay around, we can carry back that thing out at sea along with your turtle.” Wading in deeper, Izuyanai swiped the cloth through the air and clapped it down firmly onto the water’s surface. Pulling the whole thing halfway underwater, she felt the air clamour against the inside of the cloth as it fought for escape. The force of it kept pulling upwards against the strength of her hands. If this held up, it would be an invaluable assistant in staying above the water. Delicate, silvery bubbles escaped from the flotation device, but luckily, the material of her trousers seemed to be able to trap the air more securely than the sailor's. Occasional pearl like orbs fizzed up from between the weaves and burst apart on the water's surface, but for the most part, the device stayed inflated. Finished with her demonstration, Izuyanai tilted her head at Kame and Shimoje and straightened up from the water. “What do you think? Will it get us far enough?”

[Shimoje]

Title and Date

The bald headed Zeltivian was exposed. He stood in-front of these two strange woman who he both had his suspicions about. The only difference between them both was that Izuyanai had saved his life, and he owed her a favor for it. As the man was rejected from his plans to help out the unknown myrian he stepped back and reasserted himself next to Izuyanai again. It also seemed that he forgot about every facet of his manners. When she went to introduce the two and paused at the moment she was to introduce him he had to think of something quick. Taking a quick and proper Zeltivian bow “I am Siv, pleased to meet you.”

Of course, that wasn’t his real name… and it would probably invoke a strange response from Izuyanai, but Shimoje knew that names held power. Even more so in a city comprised of such a small population. The man he plucked the name from was a mate of the Tipsy Wench. Siv Muirenn, he was mostly a drunk but a hard worker with lots of knowledge. Using his name only made him remember some interesting events that occurred upon the ship.

As Shimoje recovered from the bow and told her of their conflict he was nudged. With an off smile he responded “We could help you with the turtle, but first we need to go out there to retrieve that. Would you be able to make it out there? Know how to swim?”

He didn’t expect the strange lady to know how to swim at all. It looked like she hasn’t seen an ounce of travel at all in her life. He was almost flabbergasted that the woman wasn’t some native who hadn’t seen the ocean at all, and half expected her to bow to it in some strange ritual praising the sight. The thought was silly, but water was just that… water. Either-way Shimoje was smiling from thoughts he had.

Looking at the myrian Shimoje studied what she wore. It all seemed so archaic. Even he enjoyed his leather and carried around a white wolf pelt. “You might not be able to use your dress like us, but.… well it might work.” Shimoje went on to the science of explaining the situation to them both. “Air rises and so does heat. These two things will work in favor as we make our way out there. When you capture the air inside the pressure of the water captures the air. Water is a way higher density and a liquid. When air is surrounded by cold water then the heat rises. That is the main reason why flotation works. The colder something is the denser it is, but so long as there is a temperature difference… it will work. So as long as you don’t die out there you shouldn’t sink.”

Shimoje enjoyed science and he didn’t expect the two to understand what he was talking about. Physics was of a special project of study. “The possibilities are limitless, why I could even make shoes that might be able to walk on water using such a concept. Wouldn’t need to learn how to swim after that, huh!?”

Shimoje laughed almost out of place. “Take your dress off and tie off all but one opening if you desire and we could make it out there. What do you have to lose?” Shimoje headed out into the water and was quick to get into the deeper parts. Finally, he had to use his tippy toes just to stand and his head bobbed in and out of the water. A wave caught and he was fully emerged. When doing such Shimoje filled up his pants with air once more and released control of his legs and floated up. His entire back and legs up on the surface now. He had to figure out a way to propel himself now. Ships used sails he knew that much, but he couldn’t rely on the north wind to carry his body to where he needed.

Shimoje found out that if he kicked his legs and feet slightly it helped propel himself upward as well as using his remaining arm pushing downward into the water repeatedly. It almost came as a natural instinct. He turned his body like so towards the shore and propelled himself back to the shore where Izuyanai and the myrian was. Coming up, despite not having any hair he shook his head and body around much like a dog trying to get the water out of his ears. “You asked why two people out there was better than one? Using the swimming technique, I just demonstrated we can each have a flotation device, hold hands, and propel our way out using our feet. It will create more drag force against the water, but it will also create more buoyancy and should someone get tired there is still someone that might be able to propel forward. That way we will constantly work against the waves and not be pushed back to shore as much. What say you?”

Shimoje held out his hand and offered it to the two women before him.

[Kame]

Izuyani and Siv. Strange names, especially the woman's, very long. Kame was not sure if she would be able to replicate it. She tried saying it over in her head a few times. Normally she would not bother to remember a humans name. But here there were so few of them there was a very good chance Kame would run into the woman and bald man again. Whether they were coming to her for help, or if she was again coming to them, like she was now. She hoped that wasn't the case though. Kame is a very 'do it yourself' kind of person.

She ignored the black haired woman's question of her origin. It was none of the human's business and she did not have to share. Instead she skipped over and responded to the dilemma the pair had at the moment. Siv mentioned it at well. It was this bobbing thing out in the ocean Kame had noticed on her arrival to this group. It seemed the two were interested in it as well. Yes, Kame would like to know what it was out there. But it also could easily be just a piece of driftwood, or a dead fish. Was the work worth the risk of ending up with nothing?

Well, she reasoned. Kame was asking for help with her kill and these two were asking for help retrieving this mystery thing. It worked the same back in Taloba. A favor for a favor. And although Kame did not particularly want to help the humans, she understood the fairness of what they were asking her. The turtle wasn't going anywhere as far as she was aware.

Kame nodded as the woman continued to explain the situation. While she headed into the water to demonstrate the man began to talk about the complexities of their plan. The fact that what he was saying was in Common as well as it had a clear indication of facts that Kame knew nothing about, it was nearly impossible to understand what he was explaining. At one point he seemed to have stopped talking about water and started talking about shoes... Kame was confused, naturally.

Instead she paid more attention the Izuyani out in the water. Seeing was easier to understand the decoding. The girl used her clothing as an air bubble in the water. Were they trying to breathe underwater? That would not work. Cloth does not hold hair well. Too many holes. They would need something thicker.

Just as she was thinking, Siv mentioned her dress. That was leather, would hold air better. He instructed her to take it off and tie it, but leave an opening for the air. Then he went into the water, demonstrating for himself. As she watched him she realized they were not trying to breathe from it, but float on the top of the water for long enough to get out far into the ocean, grab the item and come back. Hm. Perhaps that could work. Though Kame was no expert in any of this.

However her dress would work better than cloth for holding air. Leather was naturally made to be water resistant. One of the reasons all of her clothing was made form animal skin. She quickly obliged, taking her dress off, up over her head. This would make her completely naked, as she was not wearing even her shoes today. Nakedness did not bother Kame much, nor did it bother the people she was used to being around. It did not occur to her that it might make humans uncomfortable.

She tied it, as best she could, like Siv had told her. Though she was not sure if she did it right. She held it out to him as he offered his hand, meaning for him to check her work. She thought about what he had said while in the water. Swimming. It was not something Kame knew how to do. Water did not scare her though, little did. But ti did not mean she was not worried about drowning if something went wrong. Where she lived in Falyndar was not very close to deep water. The farthest shes gone were small rivers, streams and creeks in the jungle. Up to her knees, lower thighs at most. What Siv had said was more discernible that when he explain the pairs plan before, but it was still rather confusing. She waited by the waters edge while he checked her knot and then awaited more direction.