Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mano returning to the ocean, though it wasn't the same ocean, was a long time in coming and now that he was here he couldn't help but to stare over the vast surface of water. He watched as it came in, licking at the ground just before his feet, before retreating out again. It was as he remembered it, expansive and amazing, something that made him feel miniscule at best. How he wanted nothing more then to rush forward into it despite knowing that it was going to be cold. It had been ages since he'd been near the water and resisting it's call was difficult. It was a shame he had no equipment to go fishing with, but all of that sort of stuff was left behind a lot time ago. Still, to be able to fish again, that would be a rather enjoyable thing to do even though he feared he wouldn't be all that great at it anymore. Something he wouldn't know until he tried Mano supposed.

Shifting from foot to foot the decorations on his ankles jingled lightly before he finally took a step forward, far enough so that the water splashed against his feet this time. It was something that made the Water Tribesman give a bit of a smile, "Whew... it is cold." He murmured to himself, giving the water a little kick up into the air, watching the droplets fall back down into the incoming waves. Grinning a bit he started further into the water, he would refrain from swimming for now, he hadn't even starting a fire to warm himself or dry his clothing with after all. Best that he was careful, this thought coming to him as a wave started his way, one that drew a squeal from Mano before he turned on his heel and ran from the wave, just barely dodging it.

Turning around as he watched the wave retreat he set to laughing, "That was close." He couldn't help but to be amused though after a moment he was heaving back into the water again, deciding that testing his luck would be fun for the time being.

Mano continued to play in the water, bouncing back a couple steps away from the next wave, then watched it as it went out. He watched it closely, before he took a couple steps forward to chase after the water... then retreated again, this time running away from the water. As he ran he realized that he wasn't alone, spotting the man in the half mask that was standing there watching him. It was something that caused his emotions to swirl in a mixed manner, excitement as per always to get to meet someone new... but a little stress over the fact that the man was Oban.

"Ahh, hey there my handsome, masked friend, like what you see?" He asked in a flirty manner, wondering if this man was related to Mano's old master. Was he here to bring him back to the guy? He couldn't tell, he didn't recognize him, it had been some time since he'd left Oba and his master, the moment the war ended and he was allowed his freedom he'd all but run away from the man. Now, to see if this man was just a random Oban visitor to Tale, or someone sent to fetch him. Mano was really, really hoping it was the former since he was a handsome sort, the sort he'd much rather chat and flirt with then have to fight with.

Giving his best smile he continued, "Awfully far North for a member of the Fire Tribe, you must be as brave as you are handsome."

Mano gave a bit of a pout when the man with the half mask said that it was the ocean that he was enjoying the sight of. Turning to look toward it he gave a bit of a chuckle and said, "Not exactly what I meant but I agree at the same, I am enjoying the sight myself." He saw no reason why he shouldn't admit to such a thing given that he was so happy with finally getting back to the ocean again after long last. Even being in the presence of a possible threat wasn't enough to dampen his spirits at the moment, not when he felt so at peace standing here.

Turning to look at the man for a moment, then nodded, "I'd call it brave, wandering or not, there are a lot of people up North that aren't exaclty a fan of the Fire Tribesman of Oba. You just be brave to come here." He must know that there were people up here that wouldn't regard him too highly, didn't he? Or was he a naive sort? He gave a thoughtful sound, wondering which it might be. The idea of him being naive, it was cute, so Mano wanted to lean that way. Glancing toward the ocean again he watched it as the waves came in, splashing just in front of their feet before coming in a little further to cover their feet before retreating, "Never seen it before? I see, well, I hope that you come to love it the same way that I do." Even if it made him a little wistful and made him miss home a bit as he starred out across the expanse of water.

Glancing back toward the man he gave him his best smile, "Who am I? That should be my question, my masked friend? I don't mind sharing my name so long as it's in exchange for yours." He offered the name trade to him, giving a smile.

Mano gave a nod in agreement, "It would be nice to stay here a while, maybe go fishing, gathering up some shellfish to cook up, as well as various other things that I might be able to find." He said as he looked out over the water, seeing it as a source of food primarily due to his upbringing though he knew that he would need to do a lot of work before he was able to make good use of the ocean and its resources, the primary thing being to build himself a fire to cook food on. He gave a thoughtful sound before he turned to look over at the Oban, a little surprised to find him sitting down on the sandy beach now. He seemed to be a pretty relaxed fellow, didn't he? It made Mano relax further, seeing him as less and less of a threat as time went on. Sure, he might doing all this to throw Mano off guard, but the Matori man would rather thing the best of him instead.

Squatting down next to him he gave a smile, "Klaas, is it? It's nice to meet you then, Klaas, my name is Mano." He said, thinking over the name. It wasn't one that sound familiar to him so surely he couldn't be one of the Master's other students? At least he really hoped not, not when he found that he was kind of coming to like the guy.

Shifting himself so that he was sitting cross legged alongside the other man, watching him a moment, before he gave him a smile, "I like the mask, it makes you look handosme and mysterious, at least that is the way I see it." He explained, finding himself a little curious about it, but it wasn't exactly his place to ask was it? He'd leave well enough alone he decided after a moment.

Mano gave a smile, "There are all manner of other wonderful things to get out of the ocean that are quite delicious, everything from some of the plants, to most of the animals, even just some of the birds that visit the ocean." He explained to him, watching as his new friend found himself a shellfish in the water. They liked to partly bury themselves and just enjoy the ocean as Mano was doing, a good find if you asked the Matori man. He was abotu to say as much when Klaas started to explain about his mask, a lot more open about the mysteries of it then Mano would have expected, especially given what it was used for.

"Oh, I see." He murmured, so the mask was there to hide a scar then? A burn scar at that. Though was it to hide it or to protect it? He'd heard before that such scars were sensitive and vulnerable after all. He mused over that for a moment then said, "I thank you for sharing that with me, Klaas. I know that you didn't have to and could have told me to buzz off afterall."

Never a shy one he leaned in to press a kiss to the 'cheek' of the mask and said, "It doesn't take away from anything, I still think you're quite handsome, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." He told him, then with drew to look at the shellfish being offered to him. He took it, looked it over, then said, "The best to cook them is to either boil them or bake them on hot rocks. Since we don't have a cook pot we can do the latter if we get enough of them."

"Oh! And if you need some water to clean your mask I have some water skins with me. You can borrow the contents of one of them." He told Klaas as he set about looking for more shellfish to cook up for his new friend.

Mano gave a bit of a chuckle, "Make you ocean food?" He asked, then nodded, his grin widening when he heard the man's stomach rumbling. It was kind of cute, the way that his stomach was declaring it's desire for food so loudly, "I will see about what I can make for you. I just need to search around, see what I can't catch for you. Let's see... shellfish of various types will be the easiest to find, maybe if I can find a good stick we can spear some fish too?" He seemed to be listing off various ideas to himself and to his comapanion before getting up onto his feet, looking around in a thoughtful manner.

Turning slowly he looked over at Klaas, then nodded, "Yep! Once they pop you know that their good." He explained as he scooped up another of shellfish, looking it over then continued searching around the area, "Just keep in mind if you're cooking them and some of them don't pop open then you don't want to eat them. Those ones you throw out so that you don't get sick. Only eat the ones that have popped! It's an important lesson that my father made sure to teach me." He knelt down to scoop up another of the creatures.

Turning to look over at Klaas when the man mentioned that he only needed to rinse his mask out. He watched the manner in which he looked away, as though to hide his face from view. He tilted his head to one side then set the shellfish down in a pile, moving to fetch his water skin. Coming to kneel down on his unscarred side, so as not to make him uncomfortable, he said, "You don't have to me afraid of me, I promise I am not gonna say anything mean or react poorly." With that he held out the water skin and closed his eyes, "If you prefer though I will keep my eyes closed until you clean your mask and put it back on."

Mano opened up his eyes only when Klaas said 'so this is me' because it sounded like an invitation to do so. He tilted his head to one side, taking in the scars. He could see why he would hide it under a mask, there were a lot of people out there that would probably point, stare, maybe even be disgusted... but it wasn't as though it was Klaas's fault he looked that way he thought to himself. He watched as Klaas took the water, working on rinsing it clean of the salt and sand clinging to it.

"Hmmm, yep. See? It's just like I said, handsome. With and without the mask. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron." He told him before leaning in, brushing a light kiss against his Klaas's lips, before withdrawing, "Thank you for sharing with me, it's nice to see that you think me worth trusting." Even though Klaas was Oban and Mano was Matori, they could still chat like this, it was nice.

Tilting his head to one side he asked, "Are you alright? Is there anything else I can do to help?" His tone showed concern when he heard the hissing sound that Klaas made, worried about him even though they had just met.