PM to join Wounds on the Water

[Yuri Lehrer]

89 Winter 513 A.V.
Yuri had made up his mind to visit the beach near Zeltiva at least once this season and he was going to follow through on that promise. Leaving his armour with in Theophanes' saddle bags, Yuri rode down to the beach and got a good look at the ocean, thinking to himself This is quite serene, perhaps I will be able to train here. Thinking this, Yuri dismounted Theophanes, walked down to the sand and began a physical fitness routine he had devised for these conditions. It began with a few chimes of running, followed by Twenty Push-ups, Then an acrobatic flip session which was made difficult due to the shifting of the sand on his landings, this lasted about two chimes before Yuri decided it was enough.

Talking aloud to himself Yuri said "Hmm... perhaps I should try what I have been attempting to do, but have failed so many times?" And with that, Yuri did a handstand, balenced himself, and attempted to do an inverted push-up, "I will do this, if not for my training, then for myself." Sweating almost profusely from his previous exercise, Yuri's arms felt as though they were on fire due to the regular pushups and other training , but he perservered and managed to complete the push-up, before collapsing on the sand. I finally did it, after all of this training, it has paid off. was Yuri's only thought.

After resting for a brief period, Yuri got up and looked out at the sea and had an almost impulsive thought Considering that I am at the beach, would it not make sense for me to go for a swim? Though he was still a little tired from his training, Yuri took off his shirt and put it in the saddle bag with his armour, but kept his sword on his person then walked into the cold water, which woke Yuri up just that little bit more, before diving into it.

The immidiate shock to his system caused Yuri to stiffen up and sink a bit, but he got over and began to get into a rhythm; left arm, right arm, left arm, raise head, repeat. Until, after what felt like a short period of time, Yuri felt a sharp pain in his side It doesn't feel like it's that bad, so I'll continue for now. was Yuri's dismissive thought until, shortly after thinking it, his mind began to feel as though it was trudging or rather, swimming though ever deeper water. Realising that he had been injured, Yuri quickly turned himself up so his face was out of the water before watching as the darkness that was unconsciousness swallowed his vision.

[Ariann]

Blood.

Ariann had been resting down deep beneath the ocean waves, laying down with her lungs devoid of air so that she sunk instead of floated. She breathed in through her gills that only flayed marginally enough to allow the water through them. Her bulbous eyes were closed at first, but flickered open when the subtle smell of blood waived down to her. It was a small, red cloud-like stream that connected her nostril-slits to the reality of the man floating above her. He wasn't moving when she opened her eyes, staring up at the silhouette that bobbed on the water's surface, face-down.

Ariann tilted her head a little, the drowsy look on her face waxing and waning slowly into a look of confusion and then surprise. The man was unconscious, drifting along the water's surface. He would be unable to breath the water. She could see no gills on his neck. He was... human. Her eyes widened and she quickly got to her feet in the water, her webbed hands spreading and pushing her upwards while her powerful legs kicked and sent her skyward as well.

With a gasp, she breached the water's surface, floating there for a moment to look over the man. His neck was alright, his back was fine, his chest unharmed... but his side had a rather large bite taken out of it from what looked to be an eel. Her head tilted slightly when she saw the wound, confusion abounding as to why he was swimming near eels in the first place.

She sighed lightly, muttering to herself, "Why must humans be so foolish?" She asked, placing her hand over the bite wound. It wasn't much, but her Rik'keli mark glowed lightly and the divine power of the gnosis began to seal the wound, but not entirely. It was too deep to heal all the way through. The wound would cauterize, though, scabbing over for long enough for her to drag him to the shore. Well, by drag, she simply pushed him back towards the shore and then used her reimancy to travel him the last bit with a small push from a wave.

Her eyes flickered a bit as the djed release weakened her a bit, before invigorating her. She swam up beside him and began to drag his body up the shore, grunting and heaving. Once he was settled in the sand safely, she began to look over the man, frowning in worry. She didn't know how to resuscitate a human who'd taken water into his lungs.

She leaned over and, ever so lightly, pressed her lips to his as she had seen many others do. She waited for a moment, her cheeks burning bright blue in embarrassment now that she didn't know what to do. She pulled away slowly and blinked, frowning. Maybe she was supposed to hit him in the chest like she'd seen happen before. She nodded, raising her hand into a curled ball and then bringing it down lightly onto his stomach. The jolt alone would be enough to awake him.

[Yuri Lehrer]

Yuri was dreaming about the first time he had tried to wield the broadsword he had been given, he didn't know most of the techniques he did now, but he had been given some instruction, thanks to his father. He had been taught the basics, from the opening stance he used, to the most basic of strikes and blocks.

"Come on Son, you can do better than that, give it all you have and block THIS!" As his father said it, he attacked with his wooden practice sword, swinging it in from the right. A younger Yuri raised his practice sword a fraction of a second too late, and was hit with a full on blow to the stomach... The force of the blow caused Yuri to cough up some water and wake up from his dream, spluttering and coughing up the remaining water, Yuri turned to his side to see a Charoda frowning. Finished coughing up water, Yuri looked straight to his waist to see if his sword was there, it was and Yuri relaxed a bit... until he noticed the wound in his side.

Yuri's breathing rate increased slightly and his eyes widened, but other than that, Yuri felt as though he was missing something The pain... it's not really there. As the realisation dawned on him that the Charoda had likely saved his life, Yuri sat up, in a kneeling position and bowed to the Charoda saying "I don't know who you are, but thank you for saving my life." The pain in his side beginning to blossom anew.

[Ariann]

"Don't sit up--!" She cried quickly when he suddenly sprang to life, but before she could get the whole sentance out, he was on his knees and bowing to her. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed blue again. "Mister..." She began in her sweet-as-honey voice, "You are hurt. Please, do not move too much." She stated with a heavily worried tone.

She moved closer, quite intruiged at how well the strike to the stomach worked to get him awake. She inched ever closer until her face was mere inches from his own. She watched his pupils to make sure they were not dialating incorrectly, and to make sure the whites were really white and not red. Then her eyes trailed down his chest to the wound and her hand lifted to place over it again, her mark from Rik'keli glowing on the back of her hand. The wound would simmer for a bit as it was cauterized and disinfected, but still very much open beneath the scab. "You need to wait to let your body recover. You were bitten by an eel, maybe even poisoned, but I do not know." She said softly, letting her head hang ever so slighly as she spoke.

He would have a better view of her now, her pale blue shoulders easily visible to him. Her head was covered in a set of seven strangely-shaped fins, two mimicking bangs, two mimicking hair on the sides of her head and a set of three that folded over the top of her head down the back to form the rest of her 'hair'. Her eyes, despite the light blue glaze-like lid that covered them, where a startling green color and twinkled in the light when she lifted her head. Her arms where long, with two fins jutting out of her wrists for swimming aides. A pair of likewise but smaller fins jutted out of her ankles as well. Her hands and feet were webbed with a thin blue membrane. But the most important feature was that she wore no clothes, her two bumps on her chest visible to all, but she did not seem to notice or care.

"Why were you swimming out here? It is dangerous to swim near the reef. I thought humans knew this..." She said softly, looking up to him for a moment before blushing profusely and looking away again, "D-don't stare... it makes me uncomfortable." She murmured.

[Yuri Lehrer]

When Yuri bowed to her, the Charoda said "Mister... You are hurt. Please, do not move much." in a very worried tone. Raising himself out of his bow into a sitting position, Yuri felt the pain increasing to the limits of his pain threshold, he was surprised that she was moving closer to him, stopping so close that their faces were just inches apart, she seemed to be watching him to make sure that he wasn't injured beyond his side. As though she was thinking about it at that specific moment, the Charoda looked down at his injury and put her hand over it. Yuri thought to himself What could she be doing... when a mark on the back of her hand began glowing and hsi wound began to simmer a little OK, she must be a healer, thank Dira for this good fortune. Tears began to form in Yuri's eyes as this new pain took hold, but he forced them back down as best he could.

Closing his eyes to try to lessen the pain, Yuri heard the Charoda speak once more "You need to wait to let your body recover. You were bitten by an eel, maybe even poisoned, but I do not know." at the mention of the word poisoned, Yuri's mind felt as though ice had been poured in and froze, this was noticable on the outside as his muscles tensed. Relaxing slightly as he couldn't be to sure if he had been poisoned, Yuri opened his eyes to get a better look at the Charoda who had saved his life. Her pale blue shoulders easily visible to him. Her head was covered in a set of seven strangely-shaped fins, two mimicking bangs, two mimicking hair on the sides of her head and a set of three that folded over the top of her head down the back to form the rest of her 'hair'. Her eyes, despite the light blue glaze-like lid that covered them, where a startling green color and twinkled in the light when she lifted her head. Her arms where long, with two fins jutting out of her wrists for swimming aides. A pair of likewise but smaller fins jutted out of her ankles as well. Her hands and feet were webbed with a thin blue membrane. But as he looked at her he thought something was wrong Why can I see all of this... something is defninitely wrong here... then a realisation hit home Oh she's not wearing any clothes...

While this thought passed through his head, Yuri blushed a little as heard the Charoda speak again, softly "Why were you swimming out here? It is dangerous to swim near the reef. I thought humans knew this..." She then proceeded to look up at him and blush, rather profusely and in a slightly panicked tone murmer "D-don't stare... it makes me uncomfortable." Yuri averted his gaze the moment he heard her say this, speaking in an apologetic tone "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, but to answer your question I didn't know I was near the reef, and this is my first time at the Zeltivan beach, I was here to train, but after I had finished I decided to go for a swim to clean myself off." The pain in his side was getting worse, slowly but surely.

Closing his eyes to try to surpress the pain, Yuri continued talking in a pained tone "I have a request, if you go up to the edge of the sand you'll see a horse with two saddlebags. Open the saddlebag on the left and there should be a couple of bags with some herbs in them, please grab them and bring them here, in the saddlebag on the right there should be a shirt, bring that here as well, please." After finishing this request, Yuri began to breath slowly and deeply to try to manage the pain.

[Ricky Maze]

Did the day have a sense of humor or did Lhex finally decide to deem the timing just fit for Ricky. Somehow on the day he goes on a nice walk with his son, both dressed warmly for the winter mind you, Ricky finds himself once again just about to cross paths with the young Charoda by accident rather than intention this time. Ricky was dressed in his long-sleeved shirt with his short-sleeved shirt over it, both the color of grayish white, and his usual blue cotton trousers to hold in the body heat he produced while his boy Martin was dressed in a mini version of Ricky’s outfit with a blue blanket filled with a pattern to resemble waves. The baby definitely looked the spitting image of his father save for the resemblance of his mothers eyes, which watched the water curiously as the waves lapped onto the shore Ricky trekked on.

From what Ricky could see Ariann had likely saved a man from drowning or probably worse considering she’d treated him like a child in time out. Now that would be fun to think about, putting Martin in time outs when he’s older. Then again Ricky really didn’t ever want to find himself in need of doing so, considering the child was too damn cute to even think of punishing. To return to the point though Ricky could easily see that Ariann helped this foolish man, whoever he was he likely made a stupid decision to go for a swim at a time like this since winter was only so close to ending. Sure the water felt great to be within but Ricky honestly felt it best to wait until it was warmer, which meant when springtime lulled around there would be plenty of swimming to have if one truly wanted to. Ricky actually couldn’t wait until it was finally warmer before he’d be able to place Martin within the water, just to see how his boy would react to the feel of the ocean being around him.

This explained his reason for being here today since he didn’t work until much later around the evening bells, whenever he found it possible Ricky would take his son out somewhere or just spend every waking chime with him just to promote the child’s growth even further. "See dat woman up a’ead Martin? She’s a special one she is, ‘er kind’s called a Charoda." He spoke to the baby as they were well within range to be noticed now, already aware that Martin was learning much with names and faces by now. The boy could already see when his mommy and daddy were around and his face would always light up in excitement too, but when he always saw something new something he’d never seen before. That’s when the wide curious eyes that belonged to his mother would show and the child would watch with interest, and with such great moments to experiences small wonders in the world with Martin the fisherman couldn’t waste any chances in seeing that same amazed look on the boy’s face.

"Ahoy dere Ariann!" He called out to her as he approached in a calm humble demeanor, eyes still mostly on his son as he watched the child look around his surroundings. "Pickin’ up stragglers now Oi see? ‘ope he ain’t one t’ cause ya any trouble now." It was a simple and humble approach he held with a friendly smile, seeing as how he’d approached a close friend even in the presence of a stranger.

[Ariann]

Ariann listened to him carefully, committing the directions to memory. Her lips pulled down into a frown as she got up and quickly sped off to the horse. She was only gone for a moment before she returned with the herbs and the shirt. "You still have yet to tell me why you were swimming out here, ser." She mumbled as she handed him the shirt. She was an avid herbalist herself, so she knew exactly what to do with the herbs, slipping them into her mouth and grinding them into a near pulp with her dagger-sharp teeth before spitting them out into her hand and applying them like a bandage over the wound. The green-black mixture of saliva and herbs would sting a bit upon contact, but would also send a rush of cold through the wound after a bit, numbing the pain.

It was shortly after she had finished applying the herbs when Ricky suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a very curious-looking child. She didn't notice him approaching from behind her as she busied herself with cleaning up her hands after applying the herbs. She nearly leaped out of her skin when Ricky's strong voice split the air behind her. She spun around quickly and bared her teeth in a very scary, yet very protective way, before her eyes widened as she came to the realization of who it was. Her lips parted into a smile and she donned a look of glee. "Ricky!" She cried, rushing to her feet and dashing over before leaping into him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "You have gotten fatter." She observed with a confused blink of her eyes as she poked his chest, smiling softly. The smile was short-lived, though, when she realized that she was still clinging to him rather avidly for someone who was supposed to be 'just friends'. She took a step back as her cheeks flushed blue, her eyes looking about for something to change the subject. She spotted it when she saw Martin.

She smiled, making an adorable little wave to the child in his father's arms. "You brought your tadpole!" She shrieked happily, clapping her hands eagerly before her and giggling, "It's so cute and pink! Awweh!" She cooed, wiggling a little finger before the child's face with a happy smile.

"Oh, Ricky, I almost forgot..." She turned, looking back to where Yuri was still crouching. "I dunno his name, but he was swimming out here and he got bit by an eel, I think." She frowned, worriedly, as she grabbed Ricky's free hand and began to pull him over to Yuri. "I think I have dressed his wounds well enough, but it troubles me. He was staring at me earlier, and it might be because of the wound..." She murmurs, looking out to the shore, "If only I had some Darter Jelly juice and seaweed..." She mumbled, squatting down beside Yuri and placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "Are you alright, mister?"

[Yuri Lehrer]

Yuri listened to the Charodas' footfalls as she quickly moved to get what he had requested from Theophanes' saddlebags, before long she returned and mumbled to Yuri while handing him his shirt "You still have yet to tell me why you were swimming out here, ser." Opening his eyes once more to attempt to face the Charoda to answer her question, Yuri was slightly surprised the she put the herbs in her mouth to begin making a poultice, while observing this Yuri thought to himself Well, I suppose that was to be expected, after all she is a healer. When she was done she applied the poultice to Yuri's wound, it stung for a few moments, but after the initial stinging it began to have a cooling and numbing effect, for which Yuri was grateful.

After letting the poultice sit for a couple of moments, Yuri put his shirt back on, gently, trying not to dislodge the poultice or cause himself more pain, in this he was mostly successful, only causing himself a minor stab of pain. Then out of nowhere someone else arrived on the scene and because he wasn't too focussed on the pain, which was now a minor throbbing in his side, Yuri got a good look at him, he appeared to Yuri as what he believed a sailor looked like, and perhaps Yuri had possibly even seen him in the docks at some time or another but that didn't matter now as The Sailor called out in what Yuri thought of as a 'sailor's voice' "Ahoy dere Ariann! Pickin’ up stragglers now Oi see? ‘ope he ain’t one t’ cause ya any trouble now." to which The Charoda... Ariann smiled and donned a look of what Yuri could only describe as glee, she also called out back to The Sailor "Ricky!" To which Yuri thought Ricky and Ariann? They seem to know each other, and are good friends. While he thought this, Ariann and Ricky had struck up a conversation which Yuri wasn't really tracking until Ariann turned to face him again and began speaking to Ricky once more "Oh, Ricky, I almost forgot... I dunno his name, but he was swimming out here and he got bit by an eel, I think." After saying this Ariann frowned and dragged Ricky over by his hand as she continued to talk about Yuri's condition whilst looking out at the sea "I think I have dressed his wounds well enough, but it troubles me. He was staring at me earlier, and it might be because of the wound..." Ariann then continued to mumble something about some ingredients and wishing she had them before asking Yuri if he was alright.

Yuri looked down at his die once more, the returned his gaze to Ariann and Ricky and spoke "I think I'm alright, and my name is Yuri, and I'm pleased to have made your acquaintance Ariann, and you as well Ricky. And Ariann to answer your question as to why I was out here in the first place, I was on the beach practicing my skills, then decided to take a swim to cool off, unfortunately I didn't know I was so close to the Reef." With that, Yuri began to get up and dust himself off so he could at least appear somewhat presentable to resume any discussion and answer questions he as asked.

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky knew all too well what to expect when he would usually find Ariann, she would always be overly excited to see him out and about unless a different sort of situation occurred. Thus when she’d ran up to him to gleefully cozy up to him with a hug, he made sure Martin wasn’t caught between them as to avoid the child being squished by her body. Not that she was tall enough to have actually done so, but still it was rather paternal nature to act as though the act would occur. "Good t’ see ya lassie!" He cheered with a hearty chuckle in reaction to her approach, he then of course laughed after she mentioned his increase in weight. "Yea Oi canny seem t’ lose it dese days, maybe wit’ a lil’ bit o’ workin’ out next season dat’ll change." He quirked with an amused grin as she tickled him with her pokes, then of course she suddenly retreated with the bluish hues in her pigment which of course suggested a blush in regards to her affectionate approach.

He merely chuckled at the act of course, already aware of their clearing things up from before, he felt sure that she’d only did it with good intention. She did after all love having him as a friend and his feelings were mutual in turn, thus they both held a ground where they just about understood everything between them. Her reaction to seeing his “tadpole”, which in her terms had to mean child, made Ricky laugh and all the more brighten up as he watched her interact with the baby. Rather surprised with the new face, which by far looked different from the normal faces the he usually saw, Martin’s eyes grew wide for a moment as he seemed rather shy with meeting the Charoda. Of course her playful means of a finger wiggle before him led him to smile as he tried to grasp it, and pull it towards his mouth to try and get a taste. If Ariann pulled away of course then Martin would’ve returned to curiously watching her with but few occasional looks to his father, of course if she didn’t pull it away she would soon find her fingertip covered in slobber after Martin released it.

"Oi t’ink ‘e likes ya Ari, bit curious ‘bout ya since ‘e ain’t ever met a Charoda t’ough." He mused with another laugh to follow, rather interested to see how Ariann and Martin would get along in due time. Her mind however returned to that of the person she’d aided just moments ago, and she shared with Ricky the details of the encounter in turn. Swimmin? Out in dis cold? What de petch is dat vagik t’inkin? He wondered with an eyebrow quickly raised when his attention shifted from her to the man that laid on the sandy shore, and then the stranger seemed work his way into a lean that way he could look up to his visitors. Momentarily afterwards he’d answered with an introduction and explanation as to why he was in the water, which in turn brought Ricky to choke down almost an automatic scoff as he still thought the idea of swimming in winter stupid. "Apart from dat mate swimmin’ out in dis cold ain’t de best idea, Oi’m surprised ye’d even attempt such a notion in dis freezin’ weat’er." He didn’t intend to come off as assertive when he spoke but he couldn’t help but show his disapproval of the idea well enough, it was common sense that freezing cold water was water NOT to be swimming in.

"Still Oi’d be glad Ari ‘ere was ‘round when ya did, she by all means ‘elped ya an’ dat’s what counts." He pointed out with a nod to confirm this fact, she did after all help him out of the water and healed him in turn. Or at least that’s what Ricky assumed anyway, he didn’t have the whole story but the general gist served him good enough. "So Y'ri," He repeated the name as it stuck well with the face, "Ya know Arianne an’ me now, seein’ as she’d spoken me name aloud. Dis ‘ere is me son Martin t’ough." He looked back down to the child he repeatedly bounced in his arms, a broad smile across his face as he started to hear Martin hiccup a few times. Something rather common when babies grew really, though not easy to get rid of half the time when the child cried about it. To help his boy with this Ricky made sure to rub Martin’s belly with a few light and gentle pats, deep blue eyes solely focused on his child while he listened closely to the conversation that folded between the three of them. Ariann would no doubt know that Ricky was excellent at both listening and conversing, being a bit of a socialite he could purely focus on one thing and somehow multitask with another when regarding social graces. Plus it helped to keep his eyes from directly making contact with anybody, although when it came to Ariann he could naturally look into them with a pure spirit.

[Ariann]

Ariann had not seen a child of such a young age as Martin before, and was almost as equally curious about Martin as Martin seemed to be curious of her. She smiled and made a waving motion to Martin again before looking to Yuri, her smile fading a little into a look of worry. What was she meant to do about Yuri now that he had quite literally sunk into her life so abruptly. She had an honest, pure-hearted interest in the man. He was quite good-looking, as was Ricky. Ricky would recognize the blued hue that reached her cheekbones whenever she looked over to Yuri. She let her head bow a little, nibbling on her lips a bit in though.

When the man said his name, a new flush of heat reached Ariann's cheeks. She now had a name to place to her interest. Yuri. It was a cute name. Not quite as cute as Martin's though, but it would do. Ariann could not help but show a shy, attracted smile on her lips as her eyes lifted up Yuri's chest to rest on his eyes for a while. "Yuri..." She said quietly, smiling a bit at that. "I... uhm... do you come here often?" She asks.

"I-I mean..." She looked to Ricky for a mere instant before looking back to Yuri, "I'm not interested in you at all, so don't... get any ideas." She blinks, sighing, "Pooey, forget it... Do you wanna go out to dinner sometime?" She asked, then blinked and flared blue in embarrassment at her boldness. It was rather unlike her to ask someone out to dinner so suddenly, but the last time she had waited, she ended up missing out on the chance of dating Ricky. She had an almost hopeful look as she waited for Yuri's reply.

OOCWell, there's Yuri's dare down. Curse you, Yuri >///> was not fair.