Closed You Otter Behave Yourself (Aira)

[Aryanha Spitfire]

Time Stamp: Winter 6

Cold-cold-cold-cold-cold-cold-cold! Aryanha couldn’t hear her own muttered curses over the chattering of her teeth. Winter, she’d had to get it into her head to try to do this in the winter. She felt that she was finally good enough that she thought she could manage something more advanced than growing claws, hardening scales, or adjusting her eyes to see better in the dark. But growing gills was proving to be tougher than she’d thought and the process wasn’t helped along in the slightest by the biting cold.

This part of the beach was deserted. A lonely dock and far away ship on the horizon her only companions. Winter was apparently not a popular time for shipping or trips to the beach, which worked out very well for her. She stood naked in the shoulder high surf, hidden from view beneath the dock. Saltwater plastered her dark locks to her face and her jaw ached from clenching her teeth together in an effort to stop them from chattering. This had been a stupid idea.

And she wasn’t about to give up. For the fifth time, she turned her focus inward and brought her hands to the crevices behind her jawline. She felt her Djed answer her call, not the roaring rush that came when she conjured Res for fire, but something more subtle and no less alive for not being as loud. She pushed and pulled with her fingertips as she focused, thinking of the fish she’d studied and examined.

Slowly, her skin parted, opened. The cold hit her in a whole new way as it streaked across the inside flaps of her new gills and fed itself directly into her blood. Aryanha didn’t care. She grinned, dropped beneath the water and inhaled. Only to come up spluttering a moment later.

The gills worked, even as she choked up a mouthful of seawater she didn’t feel herself struggling to breathe. They’d done their job, but she’d inhaled exactly as if she were breathing air. Water had coursed through her gills and that which hadn’t had found its way straight into her lungs. She made a mental note to practice using the gills instead of her lungs and turned toward the shore where her pack had been nestled beneath the dock, partially hidden by a blanket of sand. It would take her forever to get her things clean, but for what she’d just figured out, it was well worth the price.

[Aira Lyedan]

Aira was scouring the coast for food, she was hungry and fresh caught fish was always better. The deserted coast her favorite as that meant she was the only one her. She couldn't see as far as Aryanha, though so she had to investigate the beach herself. She was searching for food when she was pretty sure she heard something. Scurrying across the sand Aira had known it was a mouse, she could smell it now. It was hiding quite well she sniffed and sniffed. It was always fun to track down her next meal and a mouse was as good as a fish to her mind. She found her self under a dock, that meant there might be more around her. She began digging when she discovered a bag, it was human, ahh it seems someone had left something here. Aira didn't know what to do exactly with the stuff but her instincts took over and she began sticking her head into the bag, she knew the mouse had worked its way in there. She pinned it with her paw and pulled it towards her taking it by its tail and swinging it into the air snapping it's neck. She began munching on it as she pondered what she had just found. The otter would be visible her tiny but visible butt sticking out of the dock. Aira looked around and didn't see anything in her near sighted eyes and began to sniff out if there was another around, hoping maybe she could get another. Before she sighed there wasn''t. Perhaps she would shift and look at what she found, but she was hungry too, she pondered now laying on the pack that she had previously rather forcefully slipped into to catch the mouse.

[Aryanha Spitfire]

There was a sea otter going through her belongings. Aryanha swore as she paused partway out of the water, the light ocean breeze reaching beneath the dock raising gooseflesh upon her skin. She paused to consider. A lot of noise might chase the critter away, but it might also attract attention. She didn’t mind being seen naked, but people would ask questions. And they tended to be funny about that sort of thing. She might be bestowed with the wrong type of reputation before she could earn a proper one. They might call her Aryanha Slattern instead of Aryanha Spitfire. But she wanted out of the water and she wanted out quick.

Enough so that she seriously considered attempting to scare the creature off with noise anyways. At least until she remembered a boy on Blackrock who had tried to play with river otters. They’d bitten him in the thigh next to the groin and ripped out a huge chunk of flesh. He’d bled out in moments. Otters out to be cute and cuddly, but the truth was they were evil, evil creatures hiding just how lethal and sinister they were behind masks made of pure adorable.

Another idea occurred to her as she watched the otter crunch on a mouse. Nothing appreciated suddenly finding itself next to a giant predator. Maybe if she was fast enough she could even eat it. It could be a nice dessert to that shark she’d eaten earlier. They had a kind of shark here that would lay upon the sand, like the crocodiles of Farynbar, simply resting or waiting for a meal to pass by. None of them expected an apex predator in the form of a forty foot snake. Nor, Aryanha suspected, did the otter.

She dipped below the surface, released her hold on the djed flowing through her so that her gills melded back into her flesh even as her body distorted and elongated beneath the shallow surf. Taking this form this close to town was a risk, but she wasn’t about to let that otter ruin her dresses or rip holes in her bag just because it wanted a mouse. And it did look tasty.

Her forked tongue, easily the length of a sailor’s forearm, flicked from her mouth to taste the air as her head silently surfaced, catching the airborne flavor of salt, sand, and fur. She uncoiled and moved noiseless through the water until her body found the sandy shore. Aryanha didn’t have more than a stride or two between the sea and her back, and so she found herself rising up over the otter beneath the dock, sea water dripping from gleaming orange and teal scales.

[Aira Lyedan]

Mice were tasty but quickly eaten. She was already looking for her next meal and paying attention to her surroundings. She hoped to get something to eat.Aira had been looking at the ocean luckily as she noticed a snake, not just any snake but the biggest thing she had ever seen. It was terrifying and she didn't have anything to back up this. Aira panicked, She was already shifting into her human form as the snake neared her as she screamed. She change instantly and suddenly. There was no in between, once there was an otter and then there was an naked human girl. It was terrifying she had never seen anything like the giant snake. Aira was trying to get up but she failed miserably and would surely have the snake on her naked form before she could do anything. She wanted to do something so she tried to scratch and hit the snake back. After all anything was better than becoming giant snake food. Her instincts running high as she was trying to get up and away from the snake. Aira's body switching into a mix of fight and flight not wanting to die here to some giant snake. "ahhh!" She shrieked as she fought to free her self from what she imagined was the encroaching snake. She couldn't believe how big it was the snake was intimidating and terrifying.

[Aryanha Spitfire]

The snake came up short as the otter-cum-girl screamed. In fact, it came up so abruptly that its head jerked back and crashed into the overhead dock, knocking loose a wooden board. Aryanha winced, as much from hitting her head as in embarrassment. A kelvic. If she’d had hands she would had smacked herself in the face.

She pulled back into the surf and began to change. Aryanha doubted anything would calm the girl—people tended to take nearly being eaten as a personal offense and life-changing incidence in her experience—but maybe seeing that she wasn’t in danger any more would help alleviate some of the terror in her crystalline blue eyes.

Unlike the girl, her change was not instantaneous, and upon the surface the displacement of several hundred gallons of water was blatantly evident, rushing in to splash Aryanha as she stood up in the surf after nearly half a minute. She was just as naked as the girl and just as dirty, hair plastered to her face and back. Her skin tightened as the wind cut across her again and she wrapped her arms around herself as she walked out of the water, still towering over the young lady, even in human form.

She had to duck after several strides free of the water to keep from hitting her head—again—on the overhead dock and sloughed saltwater free of her long arms and legs as she approached her pack. The kelvic’s lunch had left a bloodstain on the side. She walked around the girl, as if two people naked on the beach in the middle of winter after one had just tried to eat the other was a perfectly normal thing, and crouched by her pack, trying to get as little sand on herself as possible.

“What you doin’ with my bag?” she asked. “This look like a dinner plate to you, huh?”

She pulled free one of her llama wool dresses, her orange one, pulled it over her head, and tied the halter top behind her neck, stepping out from under the dock so that she could stand at her full height and stretch her limbs. The cold still bit into her, but the llama wool helped, even if it left her arms bare. She ducked back under the dock to grab her warm cloak to rectify the problem and glanced over at the girl. She was still naked.

“What’s the matter, don’t you got any clothes?” She reached into her bag, pulled out another one of her warm woolen dresses, this one purple, and tossed it in a bundle into the girl’s chest. “Put that on before you freeze. And I’m gonna want that back, that’s llama wool.”

[Aira Lyedan]

Aira had several stages of panic hear as she found herself on her butt and staring as the snake, no woman transformed before her. She was astounded, she didn't know that there were other humans who could take other forms. It was terfying still and the naked woman was huge, her own frame only being 5'3 and she was as scrawny as they come. It was terrifying still though as she wactched the woman change and she couldn't do anything but gape. Aira didn't know what to say and just watched as she changed before her, putting on the dress quickly and still pondering what to say. "I.. I do..." She stammered not sure what to do, this woman had just tried to eat her. Granted she would to normally if she was in her otter form, but still. " Your not going to hurt me are you..." She asked hesitantly as she tried to gather her wits about her. Aira gulped and got her wits about her. " Sorry, I didn't see you and there was a mouse..." She looked up feeling sorry. " I didn't mean to, it is just well I was hungry and my hunt for prey found me in your bag. I didn't think it belonged to anyone in particular, people don't normally bury their bags. " She said hoping the woman wasn't going to crush her or something. "My clothes are stowed away in my cottage, I didn't anticipate a giant snake trying to eat me and having to be in this form" Aira said glaring at her. Aira recovered her self her breath and heart normalizing. It was still scary to think this woman had been that giant snake. "ah.. you kelvic too?" She asked sheepishly as she didn't know what else to ask. She was rather startled still as it was all scary but her body was relaxing.

[Aryanha Spitfire]

Hurt her? Okay, she could maybe see that. Still, what a thing to ask. “Why, you want me to?” And what was with the staring. Aryanha didn’t mind people admiring her, she admired herself quite often in fact, and nudity wasn’t uncommon among shapeshifters, or at least not the ones she’d met, Kelvics least of all. Whatever, the diminutive kelvic girl could look all she wanted, Aryanha had nothing to be ashamed of.

Her ‘hunt for prey’? What a little scholar. She hadn’t met too many kelvics prone to academic and literary interests, especially so young as this one looked, but every race had all sorts she supposed. Just look at her. And then the stare turned into a glare. Now that she knew she wasn’t prey, the little thing had gone from “flight” to “fight.” Aryanha smirked and didn’t apologize. “Bet that mouse didn’t expect it either."

She twisted her hair and rung the saltwater from it. Or at least the water. She felt sticky after her time in the ocean, the salt still clinging to her. She’d need to have a proper rinse off somewhere or she was going to start to itch. And Dira take it if her hands weren’t still trying to shake with cold. She strolled over to the plank of wood she’d knocked loose from the dock and picked it up. Holding it a little away from her face, she summoned Res in her mouth and expelled it in a brief gout of flame that set the end of the plank ablaze. Instant torch for next to no effort, that was one of the many reasons she loved magic. It made things so much easier.

She walked back under the dock, sat down next to her pack and drove her flaming plank into the ground. The fire crackled merrily and she gestured with a hand for the girl to join her. She raised an eyebrow at the last question. “You ever see a kelvic make a change like that?” She flung her hand at the water where she’d transformed.

A nearby cottage…so she was a local, not a traveler or sailor passing through. Meant she probably knew the area pretty well, or at least the coast. Inspiration struck. “Hey! You spend lots of time off the coast here, right? Where’s the best place to find sharks?” Nobody complained when the shark population drop, and she’d really rather not have to eat her horse if she couldn’t work out living arrangements quickly.

[Aira Lyedan]

Aira clung to the warmth of the dress and the fire. "No... but I didn't know others could be an animal." She said looking at her with a smile now that it was clear they were safe. " I know a few places but I stay away from them, I don't want to be eaten. " Aira smiled and felt strangely safe with the woman that had just tried to eat her and was almost a foot taller than her. "What are you magic?" She asked not knowing much about magic other than it could do strange things. "I am sorry for staining your bag, I will work to make it better... I have some soap... or maybe you can have my bag.. I have one in my cottage. " It was interesting being among another person who could be an animal, did she have the same urges is that why she was out here? Did she enjoy roaming the wilds too. Aira had slowly gotten closer to the woman and was now going to attempt to hug her to get warm. She didn't see a problem with it, her animal instincts telling her that two bodies near each other was warmer. " Warmth!" She giggled and clung to Aryanha now, ignoring normal rules of personal space. "I could show you where sharks live... or do you like other fish? they are easier to find, and of course there is always a rabbit or something you can catch off guard. Surely you know it is easier to hunt when not like this." Aira smiled and looked at her friend, she wondered if this might be the one and shook her head. Nothing told her that, but she was warm. it was odd being here with another like this but it wasn't weird to her nope. She was a kelvic personal space didn't bother her as much as it seemed to others. " I am sorry for going in your bag... I know it is wrong... Will you forgive me?" She asked looking up at the woman's face, it would surely be hard to not forgive the cute face looking at her at that very moment, it was clear Aira meant it and felt truly bad about it. She forgot that there were things she wasn't spos to do at times and that she had broke one of those rules that her mother had given her.