[PRP Matori] Visitation (Theriar & Trelenwy)

[bobaTJ]

For all of Theriar's tracking skills, it might have been a bit difficult to find Trelenwy's little cove based solely upon direction. She lived in a little shack set back on the beach and beneath some trees for shade's sake. She had to escape high tide, after all. Her home was not in a cluster or a main traffic area, however, instead existing on the outskirts to allow for farming. As promised, however, there were a few large wooden poles sticking out of the water in rows. Oysters clung here for careful farming and were assured to have a good quality of life as the water girl tended to them, taking their pearls and leaving their lives. Oysters, after all gave better pearls as they got older. Her farm was still small, though, and took careful gathering and monetary planning to keep up.

As for the moment, Trelenwy was waist-deep in the water, harvesting and growing her pearls for the day. She was entirely intent on this task and didn't notice the sound from the town or the passers-by. She was placing pearls in one submerged bag and taking small bits of debris out of another to insert.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

He had some difficulty finding her house after all, but being a smart man he started to comb the shoreline until he found a place matching the description, with the large poles sticking out of the water. He spotted them from a distance and when he approached further he saw the water girl from earlier in the water.

He paused for a while to watch what she was doing, a slow methodical dance through the water that was at once beautiful and peaceful. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, imagining the feel of the water around his waist, the smooth, tantalizing texture of the pearls and the rough shells that encased them.

Slowly and in her line of sight so he wouldn't startle her, he waded into the water, it wasn't as bad really as he had initially thought. It wasn't out to suck him under anyway so he trusted it until he got out to his small security blanket. Surely she would save him from drowning if it came to that.

"Good day Trelenwy." He peered curiously at one of the poles. "So this is how you do it then? That is so cool." He brushed a hand meditatively along the wood until he hit the waterline and the oysters below. Sometimes touch was the best way to learn about something. The bivalves seemed unimpressed with his presence. Perhaps they knew that he was not their mistress.

"Distrustful arn't they?" He smiled.

grasshopper pie

 

[bobaTJ]

Trelenwy gave that same startled look she had given to Theriar upon their first meeting. He was still too new to remember his voice, and so as far as she knew there was just some random man coming into the water. Luckily, he was pretty hard to mistake for anyone else. She smiled.

"Hello!" she chimed. He was very near her posts, but she didn't imagine him trying to destroy them. One could never be too careful, though, so she kept an eye on him. When he commented on their personalities, she laughed slightly. "They're not pets. Just critters." Of course they demanded the same respect as any living creature regardless.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

"Are you sure they are not pets? They don't wander off...have you named any of them?" He asked suspiciously. "What about this big green one, does he have a name?"

Theriar swirled a finger in the water playfully. "So what are you doing here? Can you show me?" He was genuinely curious. He wanted to learn about all the things in the ocean. In fact he felt like he would never have to leave here.

He sidled closer to get a good look. He was very relaxed around her now, trusting that she was not out to hurt him and he was very surprised at how good it felt to let down the walls a little, he felt like he had finally found a friend.  

[bobaTJ]

She smiled and shook her head. Of course they weren't pets!

"No. You can." If Theriar wanted to, he could gladly name the big green one. In fact, Trelenwy was pretty sure what oyster the hybrid was talking about. It was rather large, and though she knew better, she hoped that the pearls it produced would be comparatively large.

She motioned for Theriar to join her then and sank down a bit. She lifted an oyster from the water and used a flat blade to prop the shell open slightly. From her pack she pulled a little fragment of shell in a rounded shape and pushed it inside the oyster. She let it close, and put it back.

"That's it." Pearl cultivation wasn't all that interesting to others, but at least the pearls were! "Not ready yet." She gestured to the whole area. She'd just recently harvested, and now she had to wait for a new batch of pearls to form.

From this close, it would become obvious that Trelenwy was only wearing a crop top that ended above the water and a pair of legless bottoms. It wouldn't do to ruin her good clothes, after all!

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

"Hmm," he eyed the oyster, "Irridium is its name, now its a pet, we can't eat it." He smiled an bent down to gather some sand and shells from the bottom. He selected a similiarly rounded shell fragment and held it out to her. "Something like this one?"

He felt like this was very peaceful work. "Is there, something I could do to help you? Maybe I could help you here or I could find some food for us? Are there edible things on land I could hunt for you?"  

[bobaTJ]

Irridium? That was a complex name for a pretty non-complex creature. Whatever Theriar wanted to call him, though!

"Don't have to," she assured the man. You didn't necessarily have to kill a creature that had stopped bearing pearls. You could just as easily let it go to live out the end of its days in peace, or even keep it around. Trelenwy wasn't sure what she was going to do with them all yet, but Irridium could be allowed to live.

The work was rather peaceful, and where some might find it tedious, Trelenwy found it interesting.

She turned once toward the shore, shook her head, and reached under the water. Once more she produced a shell, but this time she offered a small round stone to Theriar. At least, it looked like a stone. In reality it was a bit of crushed shell. Sand could usually be spat out, but biological things couldn't. She wasn't sure why.

She offered the tiny piece to Theriar, and then propped open the shell slightly with her tool. She was rather deft with it, all things considered. Clearly she had had practice.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Apparently the thing he had grabbed wasn't shell at all, this was more complex then he though but he risked his long blue finger and slowly inserted it deep into the oysters..mouth? Yes mouth. He watched avidly as the shell closed around the piece of shell.

"I like it." He tilted his head. He hadn't found anything like this before, he felt like he could happily spend days out here with her doing this.  

[bobaTJ]

She smiled as the bead was placed and then returned the oyster to its usual spot. She also felt a little bubble of joy and passion forming in her chest, but it only emerged as a smile until--

"Most people don't," Trelenwy said, "They think it's boring. I think it's beautiful."

Sentence fragments were not the young woman's only form of verbiage. She could speak perfectly well. She had simply come from a place that did not suggest it, and thus lived in a place now where it wasn't necessary. A lot of people judged her for it, or called her 'simple.' Theriar had not.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

He blinked. "It is beautiful," he rumbled stroking the green shell of their 'pet'. He peered again at the wooden poles and smiled as an idea occured to him. He wouldn't tell her now though, he would just do it later.

He realized that his skin could indeed handle being in water for this long despite him not being a waterling. How interesting. Then he saw a small shadow flit in the water. "What else is in here Trel?"

He tried to catch the shape of the shadow with his eye but the darn thing moved far too fast. "Its not going to hurt the oysters is it?"  

[bobaTJ]

Trelenwy beamed at him. It was nice to have someone who agreed!

Her companion's gaze was suddenly drawn away, though. For a moment she feared it might be a predator, but she followed his glance and it was only a little fish. Some of them were as beautiful as rare menk, and some? Some were just fish. This one was too fast to see.

"Fish," she said, "Fish, yaotls, pipla, sirenns... lots of things." Also large predatory creatures, but they generally didn't come too near to shore and she certainly didn't want her new friend to run away scared and never come back into the water.

She shook her head then. "No. Eat littler fish, maybe. Or teeny-tinies."

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Luckily for the big ice hybrid, the fish was far too small for him to be scared of it, he was sure she would glare at him if he managed to climb one of her oyster poles to get away from a fish.

"Lots of things then," he really wasn't used to talking this much but it was worth the effort when he managed to wriggle a whole sentence out of her. He was sure she had important and wonderful things to say at some point and he wanted to be around for it.

He suspected she talked to her oysters when no one was around but maybe that would only be something he would do?

He wriggled his toes in the sand, feeling the ocean push and pull him. No it did not come natural to him but it was coming slowly.  

[bobaTJ]

"Come on!" Once more, Trelenwy grabbed her large friend by the forearm and began to tug. The poles were far enough away from each other that even he wouldn't crash into them on their way through. She could finish her work later. For now she wanted to show Theriar things.

It was to a little stony outcropping that she led him to; a cluster of tide pools atop the rocks. Creatures wiggled and danced through the miniature oceans. Some stuck firmly to the sides of the rocks, waiting for high tide to come back in. Trelenwy giggled and crouched, dipping her fingers into the pool. She was drenched from the waist down and her hair was wet in places, but it didn't matter. There were many worse things to be than cold.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar watched her, watched the water, watched her watch the water..what a fascinating place! He came to sit with her and watched while her hand explored the water before daring to risk his own digits. His hand bumped hers occasionally as he followed her lead, but he felt nothing awkward or ungainly about it which was a nice change. His heart and soul seemed to trust her.

"What is that bright thing, it looks like a star...." Except stars were for nighttime not paddle pools. What weird creatures the ocean bred. He leaned in closer to get a better look, clinging to the rock with his feet. "It doesn't exactly move all that fast does it? Is any of this edible?"  

[bobaTJ]

Trelenwy didn't mind the little bumps here and there. She was far too content to watch Theriar enjoy himself. She beamed up at him.

When he questioned her on the contents of the pool, she reached out and stroked the not-a-star gently. It lifted a foot to try and pry her off, but by then she was already gone. "Sea star." She giggled. Boy, she wished she had a better answer than that!

"Mmm... some. Technically." Just because it was edible didn't mean you wanted to eat it.

Duke Edward Drake