Closed The Setting Sun [Tobias]

[Lacerta]

Fall 18th, 509 AV

It was nice to have company... though who knew for how long. Ever since Lacerta had picked up Tobias in Summer, he'd been tagging along as a sort of 'crew member'. She was glad she was the one directing their journey, and the man's story seemed sensible enough... though she couldn't help but think back to Apus. She'd managed to be able to trust people after that, mostly because of Rosa's help... though the woman's own tale was a sad one at that. She sighed quietly at the memory, lips twitching in a small smile. At the moment, she was leaning heavily on the ship's wheel, staring out at the ocean ahead of them. Considering it had only recently truly turned Fall, her hair was auburn, though with the tiniest tinge of gold from her Summer coloring. Her horns were also mostly the reddish-yellow color, though the tips faded into a pure white. However... she was used to the changing of colors, and mostly forgot about them until someone mentioned it otherwise.

She still found her passenger a strange one, but he seemed to know what he was doing... most of the time. The connection of music was always a good one, but again... memories of carrying Apus on Starry Sea kept coming back. Those had actually been happy times, until she learnt the true meaning of his 'friendship'... but she'd dealt with that, and wormed herself out of the hole he'd dug for her. And in all honesty... it had been incredibly satisfying. However, those times were over, nearly twenty years past and unimportant. She had a new friend, a new passenger... and she wasn't going to insult him by comparing him to Apus... in all honestly, Tobias was actually quite nice, and the company of his lute and voice was very welcome.

"So..." she began, glancing over at the man with a small smile. "Any interesting stories you'd like to throw my way? Or would you like to try the helm?" She held the entrance open for the taking, standing back slightly to allow the singer to come up if he wanted to. Though silence was nice, talking was nice too... on occasion. Though she didn't really like talkative people... but Tobias wasn't one of those, making things a little easier on her side of the story... a lot easier. He was a little... odd, but what could you say about a person who was shipwrecked nearly half a season ago? That probably left emotional scars, though there hadn't been too many signs of physical ones.

[Tobias]

“Hey,” Tobias responded, with the slow familiarity of one who had a season or two to become acquainted with his shipmate. He returned the small smile.

Tobias had awoken that morning to the sound of crashing waves and a seagull’s laugh. It was a nice change. For the majority of his life Tobias had awoken to the sounds of the Pavilion several streets over, what with the peddlers peddling in a dozen different tongues or the harsh Arumenic of jackals prosecuting sneak thieves. A lot had changed, in fact, from the smells to the sights to the memories. There was sadness there, sure – definite sadness, knowing what had inspired such change – but there was happiness here as well.

The morning fast was broken on bread and fish, as it was most days. After that he had helped Lacerta with some of her daily chores, though to be honest Tobias was hopeless with rigging and even worse with sailing. Laviku clearly did not look upon the bard with favor.

Around lunchtime, he had managed to get a bit of playing in as well. As he was packing up his lute, he happened to catch sight of his captain again; it was only then that he noticed her hair was auburn and her horns had frosted with white. For some reason, that did not surprise him.

Now, however, as the sun began to dive beneath the waves, Lacerta was at the helm and Tobias leaned against the starboard railing, a slight oceanic wind brushing the black hair away from his eyes.

“Stories? Well…perhaps later.” Tobias smiled apologetically. “I would love to try the helm however.” He stood up, brushed off his tunic, and, abruptly, laughed.

“You’ll probably have to keep a close eye, however,” he said wryly, “Elsewise I’ll probably end up steering us straight into some rocks. Either that or tip the damn thing over completely.”

[Lacerta]

Lacerta smiled at Tobias' comment. In all honesty, he was much better company than Apus had ever been. And since he had nowhere to go... there was probably no 'pirate slaver' plot thing. He had the music skills too, something greatly appreciated especially on the open water. When he mentioned flipping them, and running into rocks, she glanced around the boat.

"I don't know... I don't see any rocks. But you'll probably find some anyways." She wasn't one for teasing usually, but she couldn't help it every once in a while... anyways, she was used to Tobias. She stepped back from the wheel to give him space, taking a seat nearby where she could keep a hand on the ropes, and an eye on the new captain and his destination. Which, at the moment, was approximately nowhere. Without land in sight, she wasn't sure where they were headed, but was sure she'd find herself at a shore eventually. That was her usual mood at sea... go where the tide took her.

"It's pretty simple to steer... just turn the wheel and keep as much wind in the sails as possible. If they start flapping, head a little in the other direction" she instructed, giving a basic explanation of how to steer. It was simple once you got the hand of it, really. The Eth glanced up at the sky, lips curling into a content smile as Syna's rays shone on her face. It was a nice day... Calm and quiet. They probably weren't going to get too far over the next few bells, but that wasn't incredibly important. At least it would be relaxing.

[Gossamer]

XP AWARD!
Thanks for threading in Riverfall.

Character: Lacerta
Experience: Observation +1, Socialization +1, Teaching +1
Lore: None

Character: Tobias
Experience: Socialization +1
Lore: None


Additional Note: I bet this would have been a lovely thread had it been actually given half a chance. I enjoy reading your writing Lacerta.