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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:11 pm
A figure, a man of average height and light build, waded out of the water and underneathe a dock. To his advantage he came here under the cover of darkness and during the low tide. He turned back towards the sea, and looked on expectantly. Another figure broke the surface near where he had emerged. She was hunched, and gasped and coughed as she gained her footing in more shallow water. Straightening up, she grew no taller, and where the water came to just above the man's ankles, for the woman it came to just below her knees. Neither of the pair were clothed it seemed, and the fact made the woman blush, but the man seemed not to notice. Instead, he stared out towards the water once more and seemed to concentrate on some distant object.
"They'll be here soon," he said suddenly, addressing the small young woman.
She remained silent, and the young man looked down at her and noticed her attempt to cover herself she seemed more and more inclined to give up on as she readjusted her arms again and again.
"Ah, yes, well... It's nothing to us, though I understand the awkwardness," the young man reassured her, referring to her lack of clothing.
She let her arms fall to her side, and you could better make out her petite and feminine figure in the dark. The man himself was very lean and sinewy. She had avoided looked at his naked figure, but at his reassurance she could not help but gaze at his new form. Her eyes traveled up his body, but when they came to rest on his head and face, she gave a quick gasp that came out as a "hic." Hearing this, the man looked down at her by his side again, spilling moonlight that crept through the cracks in the dock above onto the face she continued to stare wide eyed at. The man's head was wide and mishapened, his nose hooked, and the brown eyes looking back at her seemed to be attempting to catch a glimpse of either ear. He was terribly walleyed.
"Yes, I was quite unfortunate when I first shifted. It was quite a change, as you know."
The attention was stolen from him as the water where he had been looking was broken by fins propelling in the direction of their submerged feet. The water was very shallow where they were through, and the fins became a dark mass that grew skyward. What approached them now was another woman, just a few inches shorter than the man but quite a few taller than the young woman beside him. She popped her jaw as plain black tatoo that encircled her wrist rose from her skin to become an elastic hair tie. She pulled it off and tied her long brunette hair back into a pony tail. When she was near she looked down at the young woman and smiled, revealing horrible pointed teeth that made the smaller girl's heart pound furiously within her chest. Seeming to hear the sound, the new woman on the scene winced, as if fighting back an urge. Her eyes were small, and though hazel, had some cold, animalistic quality to them.
"So it's true," she said with a fearsome looking grin, "Where's Cold-Deep then?"
"Jokull will be joining us in just a couple more steps," the young man said, and sure enough the clunk of a heavy man walking was heard above them before he dropped down with a splash beside the party.
He landed in a crouch, and as he stood it was clear to see he towered over all three of them, and actually had to duck to fit under the dock he had dropped from. This man was an Inuit and rather handsome compared to the mishapened young man and the woman with pointy teeth and beady eyes. What was odd though was the parka he wore as it was summer, and as he came nearer it was easy to see that one of his eyes was cloudy and white.
"This is Lluvy," the young man told the Inuit he had called Jokull, nodding towards the petite young woman beside him.
Lluvy looked up at him expectantly.
"Young one, is it true your mother is human?" he asked in a deep, kind voice.
Lluvy nodded.
"And is it true you turned into a catshark this evening?"
Lluvy hesitated this time, but then said, "I-I think so."
Jokull crouched down and tilted his head so he could inspect her with his good eye. She looked back at him with striking blue eyes, a very unique feature for a hispanic woman. He rose and turned to the young man who stood watching them with the woman.
"I have never heard of a Rokea any type of catshark, and have encountered nearly no Homid Rokea in my time," he looked at the woman, "Ragged-Teeth, you must take her to speak with Sea," he said, and looked down at Lluvy, "Young one, what you will hear is for no one's ears but your own. Whatever it may be, I feel you will be of great importance to all of our kind," looking at the young man once more he said, "Protect her, Strange-Seas. You know the closed mindedness and ignorance of most Kunspawn."
With that he ended their meeting, stomping out from under the dock and up onto shore where he disappeared.
Ragged-Teeth grinned again, and said, "Let's get going," while she took the tie from her hair to replace it on her wrist.
She turned towards the water and immediately started wading out to where it was deeper. Lluvy followed slowly behind, nearly fully submerged as she reached where Ragged-Teeth had paused to wait for her.
"Don't worry, kid. Instinct should kick in before you drown."
Strange-Seas followed, calling after, "I shall follow, then escort Lluvy home when she is through."
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:12 pm
'I got your pack, Seas,' came a sending from a familiar Kunspawn.
'Hurry up with it then,' Strange-Seas replied.
"Is it telepathy that we have?" Lluvy asked after sitting and hugging her knees, nude on a tiny hidden beach.
"You heard that?" Seas asked, trudging out of the water towards her.
"Yes."
Seas sat beside her and faced her, though it was unclear where exactly he was looking.
"Rokean language is called the Sending. It is silent to all but us, and can normally only be used in one of our... fishier forms. It appears though, that you share the special ability with me to hear and use it in all forms."
Lluvy nodded and watched her toes as she dug them into the sand. Again attention was stolen as fins broke the surface of the water ahead. You could see in the light of dawn that they were almost bronze and outlined in black, and this time you could see the shape of a shark's head rise out of the water and rows and rows of teeth like daggers. From beneathe its pectoral fins came forearms that carried the fins with them as the rest of the arms sprouted from the sides of the shark. The beast rose up on legs, and the figure took the shape of a woman's as it grew a neck that allowed the head and beady eyes to point in the direction of the pair seated on the beach.
Lluvy was tense and had her hands against the sand, ready to spring. She looked at Strange-Seas, who did not seem the least bit concerned at this fearsome apparition. The sharkwoman continued coming towards them, her black lined tail cutting smoothly through the water behind her. The light of a rising sun reflected off of the bronze spots on her golden brown back. Her chest was milky, and gills flapped just above her shoulders. Her height would've made even the huge Jokull appear closer to Lluvy's size. Strange-Seas rose to meet her, having to arch his neck to see her jutting teeth and the rest of her face.
"Delivery," growled that famliar voice, a gutteral version of Ragged-Teeth's human voice.
Seas turned away, and soon Lluvy saw why. Ragged-Teeth's upper body lurched foreward, her mouth gaping open and exposing gums. Her throat swelled to match the width of her wide open mouth. She regurgitated a large canvas bag, and then looked as if nothing had just happened. Lluvy's face contorted with disgust, and Strange-Seas turned back. The bag was perfectly dry and clean, which perplexed the tiny Lluvy.
"Magic," Ragged-Teeth said in a growl with a queer wink, noticing her puzzled expression.
She turned around and went back into the water.
Over her shoulder she called, "See you in a couple days," then disappeared beneathe surface.
Strange-Seas opened the bag and began digging through it. He pulled out jeans and a shirt that he put on as he dug them out.
"Here," he said to Lluvy, handing her a spare tee shirt.
She put in on, relieved to feel the famliar cotton brush against her familiar skin. Because of her size, the shirt could've passed as a dress, though an ugly one at that. Her long, wavy black hair nearly reached the end of it.
"Ai yi yi..." she muttered to herself.
Strange-Seas put on a hooded jacket, keeping the hood up over his mishapen head and shading his face from general view, then closed the pack he then slung over his shoulder.
"Just until we get home," he told her. "On land, I'm Matthew Docker."
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