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 Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 5:01 pm
 "Oh come on!" Pippin shouted in frustration as she felt a fish slip just between her fingers. She was so tired of eating kelp! Pip narrowed her eyes and kicked her red fins as hard as she could to try and catch up, but the fish had its small size to its advantage and moved a lot quicker than she did. Pip sighed and let herself flop over into the sand bed of the lake. The young naiad's stomach gurgled at her attempt of catching food. She was going to give this one more shot, if she failed again... than back to bland ol' kelp. "This time the girl swam into a seaweed bush, trying to stalk a fish from within. While her hair blended in almost perfectly, her bright red skin stood out from a mile away, but she didn't know that. Pippin lunged out at another fish... and... gone... "Ugh!" The girl grumbled incomprehensibly for a few moments before letting her head drop.
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:51 pm
 Hjortur stretched out his sore arms as he casually made his return from the little festival he had attended. He already had a bad habit of staying out too long for these things, but the fact that his seashell cup had gone missing made it all the worse. Just where could it have gone to this past Valentine's? Oh... Valentine's... Just the very thought of it made him grin and filled his stomach with a warm, bubbly feeling. To think that his beautiful companion so many seasons ago had been a Goddess and that she had invited him for the night! That was such a wonderfully pleasant memory. He had yet to see her again, but there was hope that one day she would return to him, or he to her, to enjoy their time together once more.
It was in this reminiscence that he noticed something red out ahead: a little tot apparently trying to catch herself a fish or two. Alu Spring was still a good distance away, and there didn't look to be any other naiads around. Had she left home for some reason? Perhaps a fight with her parents? As a child, he had done so a few times, but each time had left him to some sort of performance or food than here in the lake.
Nodding internally to himself, he swam closer to the little girl. As he neared, he slowed his speed so as not to frighten her and stopped whenever her reaction dictated that he was close enough. "Excuse me little miss, but what are you doing out here? Where are your parents? The Queen has said we should be wary of leaving Alu, as the waters are becoming dangerous." Not that he was there right now in any sense.
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 9:47 am
Pippin looked up at the intruder with her large, round eyes. She wasn't afraid. As of yet, she hadn't found anything to be afraid of in the lake. Pip was merely curious as he approached her with his questions. Pippin wasn't at all shy as she answered his questions. "I was trying to catch a fish, but noooooooo it didn't want to get caught." She said matter-of-factly. "So I guess its icky seaweed for me." The little girl crinkled her nose in distaste. "Uhm, I don't have any parents. At least, I don't think I do." The rest of the things the male said to her didn't make sense. A queen? Alu? All Pippin knew was that she hadn't seen anything dangerous. He was a grown up though, so he knew what he was talking about and she was going to have to be careful from now on.
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:33 pm
Hjortur's face practically glowed with his disbelief. A child without parents living out here by herself and eating unprepared seaweed in such poverty? No... As the fine gentleman he was, there was no way he could let that happen. This situation must be rectified at once; he could just bring her back with him to Alu Spring and everything would be...
Wait. Would a kid really be so keen to go with some stranger they'd just met away from a place that they may have only ever known? It was possible, given how she didn't seem intimidated or frightened by him at all, but still... He had to make sure.
Thinking to himself, he came up with a game plan. A perfect plan, in fact. "How would you like it if you could eat something other than seaweed tonight? I could make it happen if you wish."
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 3:31 pm
Pippin's eyes widened to the size of apples at the mention of eating something other than kelp. "Oh... that would be the most amazing thing ever!" she enthused. "You could really do that?" Pippin wondered if he was really good at catching fish or something. Well... he was an adult, of course he was good at catching fish! The child's tummy gurgled again and she gave a hesitant laugh at it. Hopefully whatever the adult had in mind wouldn't take too long, but she was going to be thankful for anything that wasn't seaweed at this point.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:51 am
Smiling and nodding, Hjortur gave the kid a thumbs-up. "I most certainly could little miss." As he paused, he looked around at the fish near them. While he probably could go ahead and catch one of the little animals swimming around them, that in itself wouldn't solve the real problem before him: the fact that a little girl was living by herself in the middle of the lake. He couldn't just stand... float... by and let that happen.
"Well, we will have to swim for a while to the city, but once there I can promise you the most delicious of meals." Bowing his head down and holding out his hand, he asked. "Will you come with me and allow me to treat you to an evening for a young princess such as you?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 6:47 am
"Well..." The girl gave her first hesitant look since meeting the naiad. Pip had never been to the city before, in fact where she was swimming right now was probably the closest she had come to it. It wasn't as if she was avoiding it, but the size and grandeur of it certainly had its intimidation factor. However, the child was primarily being motivated by her stomach at the moment, so any feelings of unease she had were just going to have to wait. He had promised the most delicious meal. Although everything in the world was sounding more delicious than seaweed. And then he called her a princess, he didn't really need to say anything more after that. "Okay! I'm Pippin by the way, but you can call me Pip." As long as he didn't call her pipsqueak, then there would be issues.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 10:49 am
"Pippin?" He wondered who'd given her that name considering the lack of parents, but didn't really think too much into it. "It is a pleasure to have met you today, Miss Pippin. My name is Hjortur. Would you do the honors of accompanying me to the city and, once they, for dinner?" Okay, so he was embellishing his words noticeably more than usual, but how could he do anything but? There was a young girl before him who only knew of the lake and seaweed; making her feel special was the least of the things he could do for her.
Helping to change the situation was another.
Once she took his hand, he began to slowly swim towards the city. He increased his speed only as she did until the reached a pace she was comfortable with. He was mostly quiet so that she could speak about whatever she wished.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:56 pm
Her eyes went wide as the adult introduced himself, she wasn't sure she could repeat that name. "Jordy?" The girl winced. Pippin nodded her head dramatically, he didn't need to ask her twice, she was ready to go! The girl took his hand and began swimming. Being used to swimming alone, it wasn't long before she had to let go of Hjortur's hand in order to swim freely like she was used to. Even then it was interesting for her to swim next to a full length grown up, it felt like she had to kick her fins ten times for every one time he kicked his! "You live in the city?" she asked Hjortur.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:18 am
Hjortur laughed and gave the little naiad a shrug. "Sure, you can call me Jordy, or Jord, or Jor: whichever you like best." Thinking back on it, he supposed that he, too, had difficulty pronouncing his name correctly as a child. How had his parents even come up with such a strange-sounding thing to call him was a mystery, but they had pretty weird names themselves.
It wasn't a complete shock when she let go of his hand, but it did make it more difficult to make sure he wasn't outpacing her. How independent already so young! When he was her age, he'd had a bad habit of trying to follow his parents just about everywhere, never mind if he was supposed to or not. He hadn't his his rebellious years until he was older (surprise, surprise). Perhaps she was like this since it appeared that she'd been raising herself from the beginning. That was something he just couldn't imagine to understand. No support system? Having to fend for yourself?
It must have been difficult.
At least he could do something to make her life a bit easier. "Yes, I live in the city." The exact location tended to vary quite a bit though. "I used to live in the palace; my parents still live there to tend to and protect her majesty, Queen Tariel."
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:58 am
Pippin weighed the choices of name for her new friend, glad that he had something easier for her to call him. Pippin still liked Jordy the best. "Ok, Jordy." she grinned. "You lived in the palace? Does that make you a prince?" Pippin asked curiously, not understanding the politics of the city. It made sense to her that if you lived in a palace you were a prince or princess. The child kicked her fins harder, "Are we there yet?" she asked, unsure how much further they had to go. It wasn't often that she swam this far, she usually stayed in the same general area. "Are we going to go to the palace too?" The girl was filled with curious questions.
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:43 pm
"A prince...?" He laughed lightly, shaking his head. "Not quite. My mother is one of the queen's handmaidens , so I suppose that she is almost a princess?" He certainly had been raised in luxury, perhaps in the same conditions as a prince in any sense. "I do not live there anymore though; I just visit from time to time." Again, he didn't really live in any specific location, or at least he hadn't in a very long time. There were times he'd considered it, but the thought of being tied down to just one place seemed so stifling.
Terrible even.
It was the same reason he didn't have any completely stable relationships, though there was his goddess. When was the last time he'd seen her? Blinking, he returned his thoughts to the present and smiled at Pippin. "We are still perhaps 30 minutes out," maybe a bit longer at their pace "But if you ever grow tired, I can carry you along, OK?"
Nodding to her and looking forward, his smile softened. "Yes, we will arrive in due time at the palace."
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 1:35 pm
"Oh..." she sounded downtrodden by the revelation that Hjortur was not a prince, but this wasn't a feeling that lasted long. The fast-paced girl was quickly onto the next thing. "That's really cool." Pip wondered for a moment what it might be like to live in a palace. Perhaps she would know soon enough since they were going to be visiting it. "Thirty minutes?! Gee, that's like an eternity." Pippin didn't really know how long thirty minutes was, but it seemed like a really long time from the way he had said it. "Alright," she agreed, but the girl was determined to go the whole way on her own.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:10 pm
His smile never wavered for a second as her tone shifted. Of course she'd be disappointed, she was a young girl after all. And girls dreamed of being princesses and living in palaces and meeting princes and all of those sorts of things... right? That was his interpretation anyways. It wasn't as if he really had any sisters to compare it to, but the girls he'd grown up with seemed to be of that opinion.
Anyways...
"Do not fret, thirty minutes will pass before you even realize it." At that, he reached for his flute and lifted it to his lips, playing a few notes before stopping to look to her. "Do you like music. Miss Pippin?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:24 pm
"If you say so," Pippin agreed as she continued a long. She gave him a strange side glance when he began to play on his instrument. She had never seen an instrument before, and certainly didn't know what music was. It wasn't really that common of a thing on the island, especially underwater. She listened quietly to the sound of it until he stopped to ask her a question. "I don't know." She answered, her voice dripping with uncertainty. "Do it again?" Pippin stopped swimming too.
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