[PRP] Slippery When Wet (Dictys x Larque)

[kamileunaire]

larque x dictys

don't play on the rocks they're slippery  

[kamileunaire]

There was still a glow on the horizon when he'd set out from his hive that evening, leaving a vibrant sunset looming over the skyline of the broken city. Larque hardly acknowledged the breathtaking spectacle, however, because his nightly agenda was already promising to branch off from the usual routine of scuffling, or seeking out easy meals, or finding new loot to scrooge away. It wasn't that he or his lusus kept a tight schedule, not at all, but they did have their usual stomping grounds, and for whatever reason the little greenblood felt the urge to play it differently, to explore.

It had taken them less than an hour to trek out toward the coast. To their left, in the distance and highlighted against a still-darkening sky was the pier, perhaps the busiest section of the old city. They were too far away to hear or see any activity, but the lights shimmered in the dark, and Larque thought perhaps that they might visit later. The pier wasn't the focus of his attention though. Rather, it was the coast itself. Larque stopped on a bluff some distance off, watching the waves crash against the shore, enjoying the crisp, fresh air blowing in. His lusus clicked softly to herself, seeming hesitant, unsure. The beach wasn't just any old place, after all; it was the border between two worlds, not something to be trifled with. Unfathomable things lurked between the roiling waters, but apparently that wasn't enough to ward off Larque. It gave her some vague sense of pride, but she was not so eager to lose the little wretch to the waves just yet. Her antenna waved about as they descended the hill, she would be on high alert until they left.

Larque slid down the slope and took off at a labored sprint, his feet sinking into the sand, the terrain forcing him to work just a bit harder that usual. He was most interested in the rocky portion of beach to the right of them, where the slope quickly turned into a steep cliff and the rocks reached out to form pools before disappearing into the ocean. Larque scrambled up and was surprised to find what he did; the pools were filled with all manner of strange creatures, none of which he knew the names of. Most of them were small, and skittered away as he tromped through the water. Mantismom hovered closely behind, peering about curiously herself, as it was a new area for her as well.

Her attention was drawn from the pools to Larque as he shouted for her to come and see something. It turned out to be a large gillbeast stranded in one of the pools. Unfortunate for the beast, but a lovely find for the both of them. Mantismom wasted no time in spearing it on the end of one scythe, not even waiting for it to die before she began to tear into it. Larque watched with fascination, until curiosity pulled him away again and he hopped off across the rocks, taking advantage of his preoccupied lusus. He wanted to get a closer look at the sea itself, smirking as Mantismom failed to follow. He wandered all the way out to where the rocks met the sea, marveling at the way they lapped at the side of the drop off. It was then that he saw the little pinch beast, and decided to scramble after it, seeming to forget how slippery the rocks were at the edge...

The greenblood didn't even get the chance to cry out. He hit the water before he could make a sound, somehow managing not to bash his head against the rocks, which probably would have ended everything a lot faster. Instead, he splashed into the water, screaming soundlessly and immediately beginning to flail. At his young age, swimming was beyond his grasp, and he began to sink until his feet hit a rock. After several tries, he kicked hard enough to propel himself upwards, gasping as he broke the surface only to be smacked in the face by more water. His heart pounded as he saw how far he was from shore already, and he barely managed to scream before another wave rolled over him, forcing him under. Larque continued to struggle, letting anger override his fear. He couldn't really die this way, could he?  

[thyPOPE]

The great thing about living underwater was that ey had a little more leeway about when ey could get up and go to bed - the harsh burn of the sun didn't penetrate the salt-saturated waters so easily. Of course, ey tended to stay in the mesopelagic zones - if only because ey liked rising to the surface sometimes to moonbathe, and it was easier for eir small gills to catch the oxygen here than it would be deeper underwater - so that leeway was limited, but the light there generally hovered at a nice dark level.

Now, the light out here - the light out here would have been too bright to stomach if Dictys had been out here two hours ago, when ey'd first set out with Mommydaddy and home in tow. Ey was planning to schmooze it up with some landdwellers who wandered by the coast today: it was technically a training day, but so long as ey kept emself kicking there would be no interfering with that. But it was darker now, and darkening quickly, and on the surface the water would be cooling, although the sun's rays generally didn't seem to affect the perennial cool this far below the surface. To be honest, ey wasn't that close to the shore - ey was in that murky zone somewhere between "continental shelf" and, well, "beach" - but it was a better place for swimming.

Clearer water than by the shore, too; ey really hated to see that sand muddying up eir precious ocean. It was like - it was like how he imagined primitive alien cultures treated their skies; polluted them with disgusting fumes and gases that didn't belong there if you really wanted efficient flight. There were reasons Alternia's empire had been the greatest of all time under the previous Condescension, and technology (and simply a natural tendency to physical superiority) was just one of those.

To be honest, ey didn't expect landdwellers up so early: many of them were far more frightened of the sun than ey ever had been taught to be, and with reason. They couldn't simply dive underwater the moment the sun hinted at peeking over the horizon, and while their eyes were far less sensitive than a proper highblood's (or so Dictys presumed), they didn't know how to avoid the bright glare of the sun's rays off the surface waves or swim in the shallows of the waves, as though the ocean was a second lusus.

Mommydaddy blubbered beside em as ey kicked through the water: ey was nearing the shore now, and the sun could hardly be seen. Ah, there - rocks. Here was about where ey generally waited; it was a nice medium between sea and shore when ey wanted to stay wet, and attracted the braver (and thus more valuable, Dictys thought) of landdwellers.

Ey closed eir eyes and began paddling on eir back through the water. Right, how many times was ey supposed to -

What had that noise been? There it was again, but different: a scream, this time, not the delicious smack of skin against stone or the desperate gasp for oxygen of a creature without gills. Dictys changed course, flipping onto eir stomach again (ey was much better at breaststroke than backstroke, and it allowed em to see where ey was going) in the direction of the noise.

"Hey!" ey called, seeing a small body bogged down with fur. Didn't landdwellers know how to dress? Ugh. Ey shook eir head, and then propelled eir way over.

"Hey, look at - can't you swim?" To be honest, Dictys wasn't sure how well landdwellers could speak underwater, either. Nevertheless, ey grabbed for the land dweller and tried to drag its struggling body toward the rocks. This had better be worth the effort.  

[kamileunaire]

Larque was bracing himself for the terrible end that was about to befall him, and thinking a silent apology to his lusus, who he was sure had probably noticed his absence by then. Who knew if she would think to look to the chilly black froth of the ocean? He rather hoped that she had the sense not to come in after him, it was so deep where he was now that he was sure that even she would be swallowed up. Part of him hoped that some monster would come and finish the job, gagging on the salty water as he struggled to stay on the surface. The offensive liquid stung his eyes, and pounded in his ears, and he was all but helpless as he tried to get one last glimpse at the shore...

The initial tug of something at his clothing set him into a flailing snarl, and immediately he rescinded his previous wish. It was pure instinct driving him to fight now, he would give anything just to be able to reach the rocks near shore again. He screamed, and kicked, but his movements were sluggish and slowed by the temperature of the water. Larque expected the harsh stab of teeth, or to be abruptly yanked beneath the surface, but when no such thing happened he tried to figure out what was going on. Though he could barely see, it seemed as if he were being dragged toward the rocks...but how could that be? Of course, he hadn't heard Dictys, and he had no reply for the seadweller's question.

Larque reached out toward the rocks as his unseen savior dragged him closer, finally managing to cling onto the edge of one. With an opportunity to rest and breathe, he coughed harshly, a whimper leaving him as a small wave crashed against his back. He certainly couldn't stay here for long, so he scrambled up a ways, trying desperately to get further up from the water. It was a difficult task, even his sharp claws had trouble finding purchase on the slippery rocks.  

[thyPOPE]

Dictys was fortunately stronger than ey looked, but it wasn't a big thing, and it was still a struggle to get Larque to the rocks, and ey could feel eir gills flapping open and closed at a rather more harried pace than ordinary, in an attempt to process water faster. "Hey," Dictys said, quite a bit out of breath despite eir clearly superior biology. Ey pushed the other troll farther up on the rocks, and then, reconsidering, climbed up emself to pull Larque up better. And then ey slapped his back a couple times - something ey'd seen landdwellers do to each other when they were having breath issues. In some select space dramas, anyway. Although...Dictys supposed there was something ey was forgetting, but ey couldn't really remember much. Hey, at least ey'd gone through the trouble of pulling this troll through the water! If he was too stupid to breathe after that, well, there wasn't much Dictys could do.

"What were you thinking?" Dictys asked once it looked like the loud hacking sounds might begin to subside, more than a little cross. The sky was almost uncomfortably warm right now, and although it was certain to cool down soon (ey couldn't really see much more than some faint glowing) it was still an inconvenience. "You're fortunate I was out here." Or it might have been purposeful - Dictys swam out to these particular shallows quite often, although it was not well-publicized information that ey did it quite so early. But ey certainly didn't recognize this troll. Did he have business with em?

Dictys brushed out the loose hair from eir braid while ey waited for an answer: it wouldn't do to idle too much, after all, and ey'd always disliked the way coming abovewater tightened eir ribbons and made eir hair sag heavily when it was so free and lovely in the water. The nice thing about the sunset, Dictys reflected, was that it made eir baubles glint nicely. The dual moons (which were fairly high in the sky already) were lovely for them, the magenta one especially, but the strength of the sun's light, even weakened by being, well, over the horizon...well, it was pretty. Possibly it was the only thing abovewater, besides the stars, that was.  

[kamileunaire]

As he was pulled up from the water, Larque began to cough miserably, trying to banish the disgusting salt water from his lungs as fast as he could. The stuff continued to sting his throat and eyes, and he was half blinded for a moment, sitting in a sopping heap as his unseen rescuer tended to him. He whined as his hands flew up to rub his eyes; he didn't know who or what could have saved him, but he had a few sneaking suspicions. As his vision cleared, and the other troll spoke again, he looked up to see his suspicions confirmed. None other than a seadweller, the first one that Larque had ever laid eyes on, other than their illustrious queen. A little shiver of fear went down his spine, and he could only dream of how lucky he was. His lusus had always told him that they were a conniving bunch, and that the adults were especially dangerous. This one was just little though...he looked fairly close to Larque's age. That served to calm his nerves, and he coughed again, panting quietly.

"I saw a pinchbeast. A big one. I didn't see that the rocks were so slippery." He explained, in a tone that made it sound as if seeing such a thing would make his actions plausible. Pinchbeasts were delicious, afterall, but after a moment he felt rather foolish, and quickly stood up, a serious look coming across his face.

"I suppose I was. Thank you. For helping me." He doled out the gratitude in a quick, terse manner, and was about to speak further before a low clicking erupted from across the rocks. Larque's lusus was approaching, antennae waving about furtively as she spotted her charge, but her advance slowed as she caught sight of her son's new friend. Seeing the two of them seemed to intrigue her, and her advance slowed before coming to a halt completely, several yards away. With her serrated arms folded to her chest, she proceeded to watch the pair like a hawk, no longer interested in killing whatever had stolen her son away.

Larque glared at his hulking insectoid caretaker for a moment, before returning his attention back to Dictys, opting not to say anything about his lusus for the moment. "Never met a seadweller before. My name's Larque." He offered a similarly terse introduction as he tried to ring some of the water from his grubby clothing, unable to prevent himself from peering at Dictys' shiny ornaments. He didn't look nearly as scary as the stories (or the queen) did. The little ones weren't as nasty as the adults, Larque supposed, and was thankful for it.  

[thyPOPE]

"Did you?" ey began, curiosity piqued - ey did like the taste of pinchbeast, although ey had to admit that eir lusus - and eir chauffeur's lusus - did most of the hunting and food-gathering in Dictys' household. "I suppose it would be difficult to, er, see slipperiness," Dictys conceded. Ey emself slipped on rocks sometimes, and on sand, and on, well, lots of terrain - although in Dictys' case it was really more that ey was unaccustomed to walking rather than swimming, and less that ey didn't notice wetness on the ground.

And of course for Dictys slipping into the water was hardly a painful thing. That was the nice thing about breathing underwater, ey thought. It was a pity that landdwellers weren't better-evolved. "You're quite welcome," Dictys replied, facial features relaxing into what was quite a charming smile - for Dictys had to be charming, if ey wanted to captain a starship. Then the clicking started. Was that the pinchbeast? Dictys turned, interested, about to call Mommydaddy to head on over - only to see something that certainly was not a pinchbeast.

Ah. The greenblood's lusus, Dictys would presume. "I've met a few," ey said in reply, a rare attempt at a joke - for of course ey'd met them, underwater. "Dictys Glauci." Ey offered a hand to shake, even as Larque attempted to dry out his clothes. That was why Dictys wore wetsuits - they were lovely wet.

To be honest, ey hadn't met many landdwellers, either - eir first major venture out of water was the one to the earthquake relief station. "I can't say I've met another greenblood, though," ey appended, although of course ey'd seen plenty in passing. After a pause, ey ventured again, though - ey just had to know. "Is that your lusus?"  

[kamileunaire]

"It was a big one, too." Larque sulked momentarily over the fact, still deeply irritated to be wet. At Dictys' comment, he had his own to offer, his voice bitter. "Should have known better, anyway. Shouldn't have gone so close to the edge." He scolded himself in the way he knew his lusus would, later on, when they weren't in the presence of a highblood. She would never nag him that way in the company of someone of his status though, so he tried to perk up and put some effort into the conversation.

The seadweller's smile would gain him none in return, but Larque did offer a nod in careful acknowledgement, figuring that he deserved to feel pleased with himself. How often was it that one got to save the life of another troll? Larque was simply happy that he hadn't immediately demanded something in return, some sort of payment. He reached forward to take Dictys' hand as he offered it, a little chill going through him at the seadweller's cool skin. The joke, unfortunately, soared right over Larque's head.

"Dictys. I owe you for this." He blurted it out after repeating the other's name (so as not to forget it), feeling his lusus' eyes boring into him. It was what she would have wanted...the right thing to say, even though he hated to admit it. He had come out here to hunt for breakfast, afterall, not to become indebted to some bratty seadweller.

"Oh, yes. Mantismom." He introduced her in a quiet voice, and she drew closer, sliding gracefully over the rocks. She wasn't the easiest lusus to have around, her size restricting where all she could go, but when real danger presented itself there was no one better than her to go running back to. "Is your lusus...out there?" Larque asked, looking back out across the waves.