The Otani and the Sailor

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

The afternoon of the 63rd of Summer 512 Middle Suvan Sea Even on the long and quiet days of summer the Gut could be unpredictable, even treacherous, as it was on this day. The sky was cloudless, the air was warm, the sea was angry. It was the wind, really. The warm wind. It came rushing across the plains of Cyphrus until it reached the canyon-like gash of the Middle Suvan where it dropped hard and fast on to the surface of the sea below, generating gale force winds and twelve-foot waves crested with wild foam. The Black Lady plowed through this maelstrom with aplomb. She was on a starboard close reach heeled over twenty degrees to port with the gunnels in the water, which was as it should be. She climbed the front side of a towering swell, broke through the peak and plunged down the back side, and then did it again. And again. And again. As she had been doing since daybreak. Daske sat in the stern on the low side, his head inches from the roiling water, hand resting easily on the tiller, eyes studying each wave as the the Lady climbed and plunged, making minor adjustments to the tiller to keep her at the proper angle to the waves, lest she find herself broadside to a monster wave that could knock her over, an experience they had gone through together once before and which Daske had no desire to do again. “Damn but I love this,” he said to no one in particular. OOC : Description of The Black Lady.

[Umen'thia]

She had been there – beside the boat – for some time now. And the more she swam with it, the more certain she was that this man wasn’t as ordinary as she’d picked him out to be. There was a certain sense of unawareness about him that denoted he wasn’t quite native to these waters, yet there was also the fact she couldn’t sense father’s touch upon his flesh. From what little she could discern he appeared a Svefra. But could anyone not being marked by Him even be called that? And the man was ugly even by her standards, and that meant he was beautiful by the leg norm? He was alone – she could tell. And he seemed lonely – or she would think so because she was. Either way, she’d emerge from the water soon after, leaning her newly formed arms on the tilted side of the stern. With only arms and her head sticking out of the water, she was indeed too close for him not to notice. Trying to mimic his scarred face wasn’t a problem, but the feeling that came with it disheartened her a bit. Transforming into him even felt ugly – was it because he thought so of himself? Not letting her thoughts stop her curiosity, she’d keep switching between his and the face she’d claimed as her land-dwelling one a long time ago. She wouldn’t do anything he could react to. Not anymore anyway. He had eyes like the sea, but not even Laviku would touch him – perhaps that was how he had gotten the scar. Umen’thia had no problem imagining a Svefra pod discarding this man for not having his rightful mark. Perhaps he wasn’t even one of her father’s people? That would’ve been a depressing thought.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

“Whoa!” Daske yelled when the woman's face appeared not a foot from his face. She was hanging on to the side of the boat – a remarkable feat given the Lady's motion. Then her face changed and became a man's face. An ugly, scarred face. Daske's face. Then back into a woman's face. Then Daske's face again. “Damn!” He said. He scrambled to his knees, inadvertently pushing the tiller hard to starboard. This had the unfortunate effect of turning the Lady to port, which in turn put her broadside to the wind and waves. A twelve-foot swell exploded over the starboard side, throwing its massive weight into the mains'l. The Lady flipped on to her side so fast that Daske didn't have time to react. He was thrown out of the boat. He fought his way back to the surface and came up spitting and coughing cold, salty water. He was in a trough between swells. He couldn't see his boat. A wave passed under him, carrying him up out of the trough where he could see the Black Lady about twenty meters away. She was trying to bring herself back upright. Then he was rushing down into another trough. He swam toward the boat, which he had lost sight of again. When he was carried out of the trough on the next wave, he realized that the distance between himself and the Black Lady had increased. A heavy, sinking feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. If he couldn't catch her, he was a dead man.

[Umen'thia]

Silly, silly human! Why did he fret so much? It even made him drop into the water. Not that she minded – it was her playground after all, therefore some more playmates were always welcome. Yet she also knew that swimmer or not the legman wouldn’t last long this far away from his ship. She could help him and she certainly would, but not straight away, that would’ve been boring! Sliding from the ship slowly, she wondered again just how was it that he fell off. It was so easy for her to grab on – shouldn’t it have been even easier for him? Submerging herself fully, she’d reform her figure into that of glassy shark. And she would let that fin of hers split the waters while she came for this man. She’d see him panic! And they would get something to eat! And if he behaved, she just might tell him a story or sing him a song. A story was more likely… it was hard to sing without instruments, but people rarely had any out here on the waves. At least that was correct for the people she kept meeting. Perhaps it had just been rotten luck? It would be interesting to see how the man reacted. Intimidation wasn’t really her forte, but everybody knew what a shark was and just how bad it bit. And the scarred one would probably feel fear too… as soon as he manages to spot her glassy form!

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Svefra are good swimmers. This is because they grow up on the water. Your typical Svefra child is almost as comfortable in the water as on the water. Daske, on the other hand, did not grow up on the water. He grew up on the sweeping plains of Cyphrus. A year ago he had never even seen a substantial body of water. “Damn!” he said. He was paddling in the general direction of the Black Lady as fast as he could but each time he reached to top of a swell where he could see the Lady again, he could also see that he was losing ground … or water. She had righted herself and had headed up into the wind, which should have slowed her down. Already his arms ached and his legs were heavy. His breath was coming in short, desperate gasps. It seemed like he was inhaling more water than air. He was scared. But he was not panicked. He redoubled his effort, splashing wildly, kicking fast. He thought maybe he was gaining on the Lady now, so she must have finally lost her forward progress. A sense of relief swept through him. He was going to make it after all. Then he saw the shark. It was between him and the boat and was coming directly toward him, top fin cutting gracefully through the water. Okay, he thought. That's not good.

[Umen'thia]

Umen’thia was usually entertained when she saw Svefra swimming. Their proud race would always brag about being born and raised on the high seas, but she was from within those same seas so she couldn’t really find their stories particularly amazing. Sure they had decent leg swimmers, but not even the greatest leg swimmer could compare to an Otani. With that in mind, she’d quickly emerge from the water and spread her fake jaw at the sailor. Just as quickly as it was there, it was gone and in its place waved that girl from before who caused him to fall in the first place. Smiling ear to ear, she’d ask in common, too playful to think about the fact he might be Svefra. “Hey” she’d start, but then just keep going like it was the single most normal introduction in the world “I’m Tia, your scar is huge. Is that normal for your part of land dwellers? Silly, silly, silly leg people – you all look so funny!” then a small laugh and she’d challenge the human “Your leg swimming versus mine and we’ll see who’s the better leg…type…thing. How about it?” she wasn’t going to wait for long and anything other than a straight decline of her proposal she’d take as a start signal. Then she’d just swim forward really fast and the man would be left to cope on his own.

[Lucy]

OOCUmen'thia, Daske said I could jump in, hope you don't mind. Btw it's Nai'shee, we got to thread after all.^^ Daske, I'll go as everything was normal, we can do more threads for time between last and this to explain what the hell is she still doing with him. Lucy was just returning from a long flight. It was windy, but she sensed no storm, so she decided she'll do better with bad weather in the air than on a boat. She probably won't change her mind about that, even when she's used to sailing. However, this time she felt she should be going back, although she had no idea what was happening. She turned back and lowered height she was flying on, noticing that waves were bigger by now. Maybe Daske needed some help around The Black Lady. Normally, she shouldn't have fount the casinor, but flying just a bit higher and inspecting surroundings with her sharp eye allowed her to see it completely changed it's course. She couldn't see Daske, but she decided to take care of that later. He was either inside The Black Lady or in trouble and trouble that involved water wasn't bird's problem. She landed directly in the part of the boat she was sleeping in, morphing in process. She quickly got on some clothes and went on the board, which was swinging crazily. In one moment, she was able to see Daske in the water. Kelvic, now a young woman, hurried to the tiller, trying to recall what Daske said about it. She was confused, unable to process it in the moment, but turning the tiller around she quickly picked up with effects of her efforts. She was soon able to turn the ship towards the Svefra, unsure if he'll manage to jump on. She didn't even notice Otani in water, which was shapeshifting, since she was busy trying to control movements of the ship.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Like a boa constrictor pressing the life out of him, a tight fist of pressure rose from his stomach into his chest and then to his throat where it proceeded to strangle him. His vision narrowed down to a tight tunnel focused solely on the fast-approaching shark. The roar of the sea receded into the background along with the ache in his arms and legs. The monster's jaws unhinged. It's nightmarish maw opened, larger than a man. It ploughed through the dark water fast and was on him before he had time to react. Someone was screaming somewhere in the distance. Daske realized it was him. The shark abruptly vanished. In its place was a woman. Or at least her head and shoulders. It was the same woman Daske had seen on the boat. She smiled a big smile and began a somewhat disjointed conversation with him as though they were sitting around a camp fire on a warm summer's eve. Daske couldn't track what she was saying but it didn't matter because the bow of the Black Lady suddenly reared up in front of them and plowed right through her, barely missing Daske as it flew by. He grabbed the gunnel on the low side and held on for dear life as he was dragged through the cold water. He heaved himself up over the gunnel and rolled into the cockpit, still gasping and coughing. Lucy was at the helm with a grim look on her face. She had just saved his life. OOC : Don't you just LOVE unscripted, unpredictable stories like this?

[Umen'thia]

oocWe did thread already, just not with these characters. The ugly leg person was about to take her challenge damn it! Didn’t his leg-friends know that driving a boat through a girl wasn’t nice? Wait – friends? He was supposed to be alone. Damn land-dwellers, always up to something. Well she’d get one up on them. She’d climb back on board and scare them shitless. After all, how often does their kind survive being trampled? Ungrateful human bastards… and all she wanted… Aaargh! Well she’d still play with them sure, but whether or not they’d like the game hardly mattered to her though. They lost that game when they tried to kill her. They couldn’t possibly have known she’d endure the boat easily. None of them bore father’s touch. She couldn’t sense them just as they couldn’t sense her. They probably didn’t know what she was either. How rude! Just because you don’t know someone, that doesn’t you go to their house/cave/ship/some other crappy land dwelling shelter or even worse their waters and try to bloody murder them. How rude was that?! Oh look… a fish! No, not right no… but it did look tasty… NO! Propelling herself through the water as soon as her body reassembled fully, she’d start growing her land-dwelling tentacles again. They might’ve dared do something else to her if she had fewer limbs than them, but like this… they would see. Quickly gaining on the ship, she would jump out of the water, two of the four tentacles newly formed on her back would pull her onto the ship and she’d yell at… just two of them? How disappointing. “That was not very nice!” her voice might’ve been angry, but she was still playful and looking to play as well as eat.

[Lucy]

Umen'thiaHow long am I gonna wonder who is it now?XD
DaskeI know, right?

"Are you alright?", Lucy yelled from the helm, looking at coughing man. She would try to help him, but if she left the tiller they would probably both end up in water. It is very likely that they'll end up in water with her controlling the ship too, because it was swinging like never before and she was barely able to keep her balance. Several times she tried to fly up, remembering that she doesn't have wings in this state. "I think we'll be seeing a storm...", she said looking at rain clouds rapidly approaching in front of them. From the worst possible direction. "Hurry up and take over!", it was a bit cold from her side, since he still gasped for air, but she was starting to get afraid. Everything was telling her to run away. She didn't like storms, even in air, let alone on water. And now she started wondering what happened to Daske. How did he fell?