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As Natsu started to explain the rules of swimming, as well as the many ways that the ocean might try to kill him, he found himself glaring out toward the depths of it. It wouldn't be the first thing in the world that had tried to murder him but it didn't mean that he had to like it he thought to himself. Giving a bit of a huffing sound he turned his attention back to the blond, listening to him closely. Alright, so if he was to stay by the short, not swim during storms, not go in while tired, drunk, or injured. A lot of rules he thought to himself, "Are you sure that there is a point to swimming if it seems most everything can go wrong while you are doing it?" He asked of the Wind Tribesman, curious if there was a reason why he should learn to swim when he could just avoid the water all together and save himself a whole lot of trouble it would seem.

Bah, he was here anyway so maybe he should just try to learn, right? No reason to completely skip a lesson that might save him later, not that he saw himself rushing headlong into the water anytime soon even if he did figure out the ins and outs of swimming. After a moment and a sigh he said, "Alright, so how do we start?" Better that he show he still had interest given he'd just asked about the point of it all. He didn't want to chase the guy off after all, he just didn't quite understand the reasoning behind wanting to swim if the water and everything in it was out to get you. If wanted to deal with that he'd of stayed home...

Swimming was meant to be fun? Oulixes wasn't sure if he quite believed that, not when it sounded as though it were a rather horrible sort of hobby given all the inherent dangers but he had already agreed, right? He was going to figure this out because if he ran off now he would look like a coward, not to mention that he was already running from something else, he wouldn't add water to the list of things that he was running from, "Not sure about fun but... I do want to figure this out." He said as he started into the water, giving a little hiss as he did so. The water was chilly, it was moving against him in waves, and it was unlike anything he had dealt with to this point, "Eesh..." He felt his skin crawl a little, teeth gritting, but he continued to follow after Natsu. If the smiley guy could do this so could he, at least that was what he was telling himself.

Once he got to the point where it was up to his chest he gave pause, watching as Natsu explained to him what it was that he would need to do, taking in the way that he moved through the water. It looked easy enough though he still wasn't sure. Might as well try, right? He did just that, pushing forward, attempting to do as Natsu did... and instantly went under, sinking like a rather ungraceful rock. He flailed for a moment, braced his feet against the ground, and pushed himself upright and broke the surface, coughing as he did so.

"Bah... damn water... stupid swimming..." He muttered, giving a dark look before he turned to look over toward Natsu again. He seemed as though he was able to do it easily enough though he couldn't give up, could he? He had to try harder, get a feel for the water, and maybe he would be able to figure it out? Grumbling to himself he made another attempt at it, then another, and another, seeming to be getting a little better each time though the attempts all ended the same way. This was just not his thing, that he knew, but now he felt quite determined to try to figure the skill out even if it was annoying him greatly.

The tap to his shoulder caused a jolt to go through Oulixes, something that caused him to go under again, but at least time around he didn't come up sputtering. He was starting to get the hang of it, how he had to take in a deep breath and breath out his nose to keep the water from getting in. It was making more and more sense with each attempt but maybe Natsu was right? He didn't want to tire himself out or he risked getting caught in the ocean's trap. Not something that he was about to do he thought to himself, giving the ocean a dubious look before turning his attention back to Natsu.

"Yeah, you are probably right." He said, standing up and set to squeezing out his hair, "Do we want to take a break then? Collect those shells that you were talking about?" Not something he cared about, shells, but it would be a way to repay him for the swimming lessons and the company. He wasn't the sort that cared for being in debt to people that he actually found himself liking after all so best that they get the shells that the blond was wanting.

"You are so weird..." Oulixes muttered under his breath to Natsu as the guy ran off to collect shells, looking like a Youngling that had been offered something wonderful. Strange... but he wouldn't complain. If anything he would just enjoy the simpleness and friendliness of the guy, it wasn't really what he was used to after all. Following along after Natsu at a much more sedate pace he shrugged out of his shirt, squeezing it out, revealing that many more scars as he did so. Once he had his shirt hanging up to dry on one of the many rocks he started to bend down to scoop up the occasional shell. He was looking for ones that stood out from the rest. There were a lot of them that looked fairly similar but if Natsu was making to make stuff out of them he was sure people would prefer the things that looked different as opposed to common place.

As he scooped up a shell he found himself for a moment trying to imagine what it might look like as a necklace, but failed when he realized that it looked a bit drab when laid against his scarred up hide. Better to leave such imaginings to those that were better to look at like Natsu or Lusala. A thought that gave him pause, making him wonder for a moment if he had a thing for Wind Tribesman, a thought he instantly shoved aside in a rather fast, harsh manner. No reason to consider that thought for more then a split second. He knew what he looked like, what he acted like, nobody would ever consider him in that manner and instead look at him with pity instead.

"Here these ones are alright." He said, handing the more rare looking and stranger colored shells to the one who would probably appreciate them more then Oulixes could.

When Natsu commented on how the shells were all so beautiful he merely gave a shrug of his shoulders, not quite seeing it but figured it was on him since Natsu seemed to see it, "I just got the ones that didn't look like all of the others." He confessed, not wanting him to think that he was aware of shell beauty or something because he really wasn't. When Natsu told him that they would look nice on him he starred at him for a long moment, trying to figure out if the guy was teasing him, before shaking his head, "Naw, pretty things for pretty people. You can make it into something for that flower sculpture of yours. I am sure it would suit someone like that." He knew damn well that he was far from pretty and didn't deserve jewelery.

"I am sure a pretty present would be a good way to impress that person." Not that he had any idea how to impress people, he just knew that people like getting presents. With that he was back to looking for more strange looking shells to bring back to Natsu, the more that he brought him the better he felt, as though he would be able to pay off the swimming lessons quickly. Once he'd gathered enough, and his shirt was dry, he should probably be on his way. Due to his father's intense dislike of the Wind Tribe were he to find Oulixes with one of them he was certain that he wouldn't be the only one to feet the bite of the man's anger. He didn't want Natsu harmed so it was best if he were to move on sooner then later.

Turning to glance over at the blond he asked, "How many of these shells do you need?" Best to get an idea of how many he was after so he knew how many to seek out.

The cry that came from Natsu seemed to rip through Oulixes, causing him to whirl around to face him, eyes wide, and he felt a moment of terror at the sight of the blood. What... what had happened? What did he do? Was it bad?! There was a moment where he was frozen in place, starring at the flowing blood... then he shook his head to free himself, walking forward toward the guy who was crying over broken shells instead of worrying about the wound that he'd given himself, "It's not important, I don't need it." He said in a harsh tone, grabbing hold of Natsu's wrist, dragging him a couple steps closer so that he could get a better look at the wound. After a moment he nodded, "It's not so bad." He told him, then moved over to where his shirt was, grabbing it before he went to fetch his water skin as well which was still sitting where he was resting when he first saw Natsu.

"If nothing else I am good at dealing with wounds." He said, he had enough of them in his time that he was fairly good at stitching them up and making them better. To a point at least, there were some of his that were a bit on the ugly side after all, "Here, stay still and I will take care of it." He told him, digging into his pack to get out his water skin and used it to rinse off the wound before he tore off a piece of his shirt, using it to tie tightly around the wound to ease the bleeding, "Do you have someone nearby that can look it over, give stitches if you need them? A friend or something?" Oulixes didn't always have the option of stitches so he figured he'd ask if Natsu could get something like that.

Oulixes gave a nod of his head, dragging on his shirt, minus the piece he'd torn off, then motioned to him, "Lead the way." He told him, motioning to him with one hand. They should get him to someone that could stitch him together and if that someone was Natsu's brother then so be it. He would drop him off there, make sure that he was going to be alright, then he might see about heading out. He didn't want to stick around too long after all. It was just, given the situation, he couldn't leave yet. It was strange to worry about someone else like this but he found himself doing just that, worried about his hand. He was a craftsman after all, he needed that hand, right? Best that they saw it was taken care of so that he didn't risk losing mobility or motion in that hand.

It wasn't often that he had to worry about the wounds of others, in fact he was pretty sure this was the first time, but at least he knew how to deal with wounds, it made it easier for him to tend to Natsu. He gave the slightest of smiles before he said, "This is the first time that I am glad I understand a bit about dealing with wounds." He'd never had a reason to be happy about it before but now he was, glad he could help someone else with such knowledge.

Oulixes took a couple shuffling steps backwards when the youngling was suddenly assaulting Natsu, then took toward him, teeth gritted, about to yell at him for attacking someone with a wound... when Natsu seemed to instead smile and laugh it off, commenting on how the one that had assaulted him was his nephew. The anger that the halfbreed was feeling flickered out and he gave a little grunt, "I see." He murmured, so he knew the kid... alright... but he still shouldn't be attacking injured people he thought to himself. He was about to say as much when the kid turned his attention to him instead, something that made him go tense.

When he was pointed at and called 'strange' though he showed no real outward changes. Him being pointed at and called names was far closer to normal then someone like Natsu who was nice to him and tried to give him things. When the kid mentioned keeping him his eyes narrowed and he was about to yell at him that he wasn't a pet to be kept... until he was yet again calmed by Natsu who said he was to go along with it. Giving a soft sigh he nodded his head, "Alright, we will go with it. Until then we need to go and find your brother so he can stitch you up." He looked down at the youngling then asked, "Do you know where this person is?"