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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 30, 2016 17:18:51 GMT -5
The wind whipped around the ship, drowning out all sound. Two of the crew members were below deck, comforting the children. Another two were wrestling with the sails and the ropes, anchoring the masts as well as they could. That left Kian and another man rushing from the bow to the stern, first below deck where they closed windows and made sure that everything was secure and then above deck where they pulled ropes back up and kept an eye on the sky.
It was as he was doing this that a limp figure, floating in the water, caught Kian's eye. He paused, to take it in and then he saw it. A tail. He stared for a moment more, his face painted with concern. No, that was definitely Anya. What had happened? How did he help her without risking someone finding out about her. No, that was the least of her worries. She was unconscious in a storm, if she made it out of this it shouldn't matter.
"There's someone out there," he called loudly over the sky. "I'm going out in a life boat, make sure I make it back, alright!" After a few asserting sounds, he lowered the boat down onto the choppy waves and climbed down. One of the men threw down a lifebuoy to him and then he started rowing, fighting against the wind and the sea to get to the siren that had saved his life less than a month ago. The tables have turned, he thought for a moment.
It took too long to reach her. He only grew more anxious the longer it took, and when he finally got there he was shaking from exertion and worry. Still, he managed to get close enough to lean over the edge and grab her hand. He couldn't pull her into the boat, not without tipping the boat and then they'd both be in trouble. So he struggled for a moment before hooping the lifebuoy around her and awkwardly rowed back using only one hand, the other holding onto the hoops that connected them. Getting back took three times as long as getting out had taken, and by the time he made he couldn't keep his hand level.
He clenched it into a fist and then dove off the boat. He'd thought he'd been cold before, but this was something else entirely. Teeth chattering, he struggled to lift Anya into the lifeboat. He tried, and then he tried again, then again. Finally, he managed to unceremoniously dump her into it, and by now he was sure that the cold would cost him more than a finger. "Pull her up," he called, voice hoarse from the wind. Then, and only then, did he climb up the ladder that had been lowered for him.
( this was so bad and i apologise! i'm more tired than i thought i guess. )
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Post by stormsong on Jul 30, 2016 17:35:53 GMT -5
It was dark. Anya felt herself swimming through the darkness, it clawed and pulled at her hair, her tail. It was as if she were swimming through tar, frantically trying to pulse her way to the surface---of what? Her own conscious mind was rolling in on itself, so disconnected from her own body at that point Anya wasn't even sure if she still had one. The sudden touch of human flesh drew her back within, the aches of the stings radiating through her bones. Hands gripped her body, digging into her skin. Was it the darkness? Anya didn't know, she didn't care to know.
Another set of hands, and another, grasped her arms. And suddenly she was lifted from the water, her home, and dropped away. Her eyelids felt too heavy to lift, and she struggled to lift her head. Voices swarmed around her like the wind--maybe it was the wind?--, their tones nothing short of terrified. The Siren's eyes fluttered open, and that was when she got a good look at her body. Raw lashes of stings wrapped around her limbs, blistered and even bleeding in some parts. "Oh, my." She muttered in her own language, when the feet (wherever they had come from) multiplied and swirled.
Anya's head knocked back on the wood, her jaw tipping up in a cough, as another body stumbled over the side of the boat. The last thing Anya had seen before she passed out, was an oddly familiar face, seen only a month ago. She murmured one word, and then the darkness overlapped once more. "Kian?"
[That wasn't even bad! Don't worry. And your little bird is too cute!!]
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 30, 2016 17:48:39 GMT -5
( just my perfectionism, then, haha. thank you! i have decided to call him ari. )
Kian tumbled over the side, falling into a heap on the deck. He wasn't unconscious, and he wasn't going to fall into it, either, but he was fading. Everything around him was muted, grey in tone and far away. Anya spoke his name, and he was reminded of their meeting all those days ago. Unable to hide his small smile at knowing that she was well, he replied with a simple "mmhmm."
The rest of the crew were kind enough to help where he could no longer offer any. Two of them picked him up and carried him into the cabin where they all slept, and the others took Anya. They were laid down into a bed each, and then covered in blankets. Three of the four returned up onto the deck, leaving just one to make sure that they would be alright. All of this passed in a blur, almost like watching a movie, but Kian's vision never darkened, and once he started to heat up again, it brightened.
Of course, once he was able to talk, his colleague and friend wanted to know how the two knew each other. He gave a vague explanation of how they'd been at school together, and it seemed to apease her, because she didn't ask anything else as she flitted between them.
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Post by stormsong on Jul 30, 2016 20:28:56 GMT -5
Anya's blue eyes blinked open, focusing on the world around her. The room was unfamiliar, her memories were still scrabbling to collect. With a sudden jolt, she sat up, her eyes flying around the room. It was a massive mistake, sitting up that quickly. Her body ached, her head pounded, everything hurt really. The room rocked, but she wasn't sure if it was from her own delirium or the boat on the water. With a groan, Anya fell back against the pillows. Her body seemed to sigh in relief at her immobility, clearly not ready to be up and at 'em. Her head rolled to the side, and suddenly Anya was aware of the other body in the room. Her eyes focused on his familiar face, though he was clearly in no better state than she was.
Anya opened her mouth to speak, "W--" Only a whoosh of pitiful air blew from her mouth. Her hands flew up to her throat, eyes wide. It appeared that the Siren's vocal chords were shot, at least temporarily until the angry mark of a tentacle faded. Pitiful. She threw the blankets away from her body, fully taking in the damage. Oh, my. An unfamiliar woman was in the room with the two, fussing over what looked like Kian's bedding. Rain still pounded against the windows of the boat, and it was clear the storm wasn't finished with it's reign of terror.
A Siren who couldn't speak. What an ironic predicament to be left in, but to Anya's own hopes, she was only a human girl without a voice to the others on this ship. "Are," Anya whispered across the room, the only sense of voice she could muster, "-you alright?" Strangely enough, the tables had turned between the two. Suddenly Anya was the one on an island of Kian's own.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 31, 2016 15:15:02 GMT -5
Kian turned his head away from the woman who was making light, careful conversation. He smiled slightly, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine. Cold, but what can you do?" Her inability to speak properly hadn't escaped him, and so, paired with his smile, he had a frown of concern on his face. It made for an unusual expression, certainly. On top of this strange way his face looked, he was bundled in blankets, simultaneously red-cheeked and blue-lipped; the whole thing looked rather ridiculous.
"Are you?" he asked after a few moments. "How come you were out at sea in a storm?" Obviously, he knew why she was at sea, but asking why she'd gone this far out would imply the truth, that she was always out in the ocean. "And what happened to you? You were knocked out cold and you're covered in red blotches? Where did those come from? Jelly-fish stings?" He knew what those looked like, having been stung several times himself, but he'd always been stung once and it looked like she'd been stung plenty more.
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Post by stormsong on Jul 31, 2016 18:34:12 GMT -5
Anya sat up once more, much, much slowly than the first attempt. She bundled up her blankets, tossing one around her own shoulders before sliding out of bed. With small, tentative steps, she made her way to Kian's side of the room (which wasn't very far) and tossed her blankets across him. "You need these more than I." She whispered. At his own questions, Anya crawled across Kian's body on the bed, twisting so her legs lay just across his knees with her back against the wall. He was the only familiar thing to her now, and quite frankly Siren's were not one's to honor personal space. Her whisper was quieter now, it was much less of a strain to try to speak across the room in such a hushed tone, being this close to him.
It appeared that the woman who was here--or at least someone--had dressed Anya in a light, thin dress. Anya had always found it strange that the humans found naked bodies so intimate, and seeing how her own human form was stark clear of clothes, it was probably more accepted to be clothed than not as a human. Only one sting had nicked her cheek, but that was all. "I was-" she took a deep, rattling breath, "-trying to catch a jellyfish for one of my injured sisters. They only appear from the depths during weather such as this," She gestured towards the window. "I believe I was caught in a current, it must've swept me into the heart of the jellyfish. However, it's still...coming back to me."
Her head was tipped up and leaning against the wall behind her, and her eyes fell back to Kian. "Thank you, Kian." Straight, simple, Anya wasn't one for heart-felt speeches, but her own heart had a tickle of warmth at the kindness he had shown.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 31, 2016 19:29:22 GMT -5
Kian smiled softly, accepting the extra blankets without complaint. "Thanks," he said, shimmying into a half seated position as well as he could while buried under layers of fabric. It was strange, somehow, meeting Anya like this. Not only had he given up all thoughts of coming face to face with her again, but he'd been so certain that it would be on her terms. When they were like this, sitting together on a bed on his boat, she seemed so much more human than she had before. It was easy to forget that she wasn't, at least not any more.
She retold the events that had led to this, and he nodded as he listened. "You're welcome," he said once she was done, nodding once. He understood that this was as much as he would get, but that was no bad thing. Simple signs of gratitude always seemed more sincere than gushing, anyway. "I'm just glad you're relatively fine." He attempted a shrug, then a smile.
By this point the unnatural colours that spoke of his recent reckless adventure were fading, and he was becoming brighter and more animated by the minute. He'd not come nearly as close to death as the last time they'd met, in fact, he'd never even seen it coming. Not that he was complaining. He was quite happy with surviving, and if the possibility that he wouldn't never came up, well, then, he wouldn't be the one to voice it.
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Post by stormsong on Jul 31, 2016 19:50:37 GMT -5
"What were you doing out on the water? I would think you had seen this storm coming, yes?" Her strange, delicate accent managed to peek through her whispers. The more he spoke, Anya noticed his visible changes, gradually perking up as the night went on. He looked much more alive than he did just minutes ago, and definitely more refreshed than the last time she had seen him. A small memory flickered at the edge of Anya's costume, Kian's face blossoming in the middle of it. His body was clothed in an outfit that seemed to be strangely outdated, as if he were an ancient sailor. Strange. Perhaps Anya had inhaled too much of the salt water, though she wasn't exactly the type of creature to be affected by it. Maybe the stings were finally reaching her head. "Is this your own boat?"
More questions bloomed on her lips, but it wasn't questions about mankind. Siren's were naturally curious creatures, bidding their downtime to exploring and observing the life around them. But Anya was less interested in observing Kian than she was in simply knowing him. "Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have a mother or father? I do not understand human reproduction. Do you have brothers or sister like I or are you alone? Why were your lips blue? And why is nudity such a strange expedition for humans?" The questions were nearly spilling from the Siren.There was the question of her own pride, of course, of how she might repay--no. No more 'transactions'. A small voice scolded her in the back of own mind.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 31, 2016 20:08:01 GMT -5
Kian couldn't help but laugh. Every time he thought she might be done talking she blurted out yet another question and he was forced to close his mouth again to wait for her to finish. It would have been one thing if it happened only once, but he counted four. Finally, she fell into a silence that was long enough for him to butt in, and though he wasn't sure that he interrupted her, he was glad that in any case, she'd stopped talking, because it was getting overwhelming. "Are we done with the questions?" he joked, shaking his head in amusement.
"This is supposed to be a party for a bunch of kids," he explained. "We came out onto the sea yesterday, and by the time we noticed the storm coming in it was too late to do anything. I and a few of my friends own it together and run a cruise type thing on it." He paused, running through her questions again so that he might answer them. "I'm from the city you took me from, lived there my whole life. I'm 25, I have one brother, though he's a fair bit older than me and we only share a father. My lips were blue because I was cold and that happens to us then. As for the nudity thing, it's just a culture I suppose." He went through his answers as quickly as he could, not wanting her to ask any follow up questions. He could only hope he hadn't missed anything, and, more importantly, that she wouldn't notice.
"How about we try one question at a time?" he suggested. "That's how we talk, usually."
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Post by stormsong on Jul 31, 2016 20:28:20 GMT -5
Anya raised her eyebrows, trying to smother a smiled. In any case, she failed. "The questions are not even close to being over." As he rattled off answers through the questions, Anya gave a quick nod of satisfaction to each. He was straight and to the point with each one, just as she liked. Sugar coated fluff that overcomplicated simple answers drove Anya to the brink of insanity. A waste of time and a waste of breath, Anya had learned over the years that words were a resource that were strangely abused and stretched further than their purpose.
"One question at a time? What, was six in a row too much for you?" Anya broke into laughter at his expression, which, given her current state, was a sad wheeze of air. "Okay. First question. Where is your brother? Your words make it seem as if the two of you are far from each other, whether it be physically or emotionally." The thought of a life without her sisters, or at least some form of companionship, made Anya shutter. The hunt for revenge was a lonely one, but it ate at your heart a little less when you had someone to share it with. She opened her mouth when another question occurred, but quickly snapped it shut when remembering the earlier promise.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 31, 2016 21:20:52 GMT -5
"I think two in a row would be too much for me," Kian responded, and though he sounded as if he was joking, he was absolutely sincere. Still, he shook his head again, chuckling to himself. Anya certainly had a lot of questions, and he wondered, yet again, whether this was a siren thing or just an Anya thing. He'd probably never know, but whatever the case, it was endearing.
"He lives a short drive away, it takes like half an hour to visit him so it's not that we don't see each other. It's just that my dad had him almost twenty years before he had me, so I don't even remember growing up with him. He'd moved out by the time I started school, and even before then he spent a lot of his time at his mother's house. We just weren't close growing up, he's more like an uncle than a brother to be honest." It didn't bother him much. It made little difference, after all, he had no idea what it would be like to have a closer relationship with Nathan. It was like being an only child but without the title. "My first actual memory of him was seeing him on his wedding day, if that puts things into perspective. He did teach me to sail, though, so at least now we have something to talk about."
( i changed it again, because the maths seemed wrong and for Kian to be twenty-five (which i'm rather adamant on) his dad would have to be 56 at the time of his birth. still quite possible, but things needed to be moved around slightly. )
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Post by stormsong on Jul 31, 2016 21:35:50 GMT -5
[No worries, do whatever you gotta do!]
Anya carefully listened, as if Kian was giving her the secrets of life rather than his brotherly relationship story. "You were never given the chance to be close, no? Not with that time stretched between you." In a human perspective, it appeared his own brother could've been old enough to be Kian's father. It seemed to be a difficult task to play big brother when feeling more like a father. She and her own sister, Maya, had been tighter wound than the smallest thread. There was never one without the other, it seemed, despite their own night and day differences. The two just worked even when it didn't make sense for them to. Must've been a sibling thing.
"That leads me to my next question about marriage. Why? I can understand the sacred rituals of binding two together, but must there be an entire ceremony with a stamped certificate and changed name or is one person's word to another not enough?" The modernity of marriage was foreign to Anya, at least what she had heard of it. Apparently each couple required a license of some sort or a certificate claiming that the two were bound, rather than the simplicity of giving one to another.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Jul 31, 2016 21:48:02 GMT -5
( thanks ^^ i feel like this won't be the last time this happens, honestly, because i do these calculations way too late for them to end up right. )
Kian shrugged. "Not when we were young, at least. Back when I was a kid I was closer with his twins than him." He laughed, shaking his head. In that relationship, he'd been the one who was much older, although by comparison the age difference really wasn't that big. During family dinners he'd been the odd one out, the others of his generation much older and those of the next one too young to relate to. When you're fourteen, talking to seven-year-olds really doesn't seem that thrilling. So while he'd spent more time with his niece and nephew than his brother and cousins, they'd not talked much either. It led to maturing into the 'adult' conversations earlier and a closer relationship with his parents, instead.
He snapped out of his thoughts, blinking at Anya to clear them. "Well, there's the romance of it. People want to go through with it because it's considered the ultimate act of love. And it has legal benefits, too, I guess. I don't know much about the legal side of things, but I've gathered that you basically share more that you couldn't before? And inheritances work differently and stuff. It's not like you need to do it, anyway. Way back it was considered wrong to have children if you weren't married, for example, but that's changed now. The tradition just never left."
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Post by stormsong on Jul 31, 2016 22:49:38 GMT -5
[lol that right there is the story of my life in calculus class]
Anya shook her head as if trying to make sense of what Kian just explained to her. "I suppose that makes some sense to me." Odd how the present times seemed to add to the magic of marriage while simultaneously decreasing it with financial talk. Money was one more thing that meant little to nothing to Sirens, something Anya believed to be a bit of a blessing. A quick wave of pain rocked through the stings, fragmenting off into splinters of sharp frequencies. Anya clenched her jaw, fixating on a single point. Small dots danced across her vision, but a few quick blinks sent them reeling away. "Kian, I am very tired." Just like that, a million miles an hour one second, down to nothing the next.
"Do all of my questions bother you?" It was another oddly innocent question. The boat creaked as another clap of thunder sounded overhead, but the rain had seemed to let up from pounding bullets to gentle drops. Anya decided she like this boat, or maybe just this part of it. The room was cozy and warm despite the terror outside, and it had the faint smell of sandalwood occasionally breeze through. It almost smelled like the island, and a small ache of homesickness plucked at her heart.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Aug 1, 2016 9:52:43 GMT -5
( story of my life, period, haha. )
Kian nodded. "Then you should rest," he responded, scooting over to make room for her to lie down if she so wished. He didn't mention it, though. He doubted that she'd feel awkward about it, it was clear that her area of personal space was rather small at best. However, he was certain that if he offered the newly vacated space to her with anything more than a short nod, he would feel awkward. So, instead of saying anything about it, he reached underneath the blankets, bunching them together in his fist and pulling them back over him.
"No," he said with a shake of his head, looking back at her. "Not at all. Ask away, I'll let you know if you cross some kind of line." He wasn't sure if that would happen, though. He'd never been a particularly private person, he had few secrets. Besides, Anya's questions were so innocent. Most of them didn't even revolve around him, and so they were pretty easy to answer without wondering if he was revealing something about himself he'd rather not.
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Post by stormsong on Aug 2, 2016 8:38:56 GMT -5
Anya quirked an eyebrow as he gave a short nod, clearly attempting to hide whatever awkward aura he was giving off. As she settled down beside him, she flashed a small smile. Sure, was she partially laying on the poor, exhausted man that she nearly ate a month ago, but Anya liked to consider the two comfortable acquaintances. And she was small enough for the two to lay comfortably. Was this a slight violation of basic human social rules? Probably, but Anya figured no one had drawn those up with a siren laying in another's bed in mind. The only social rules she cared to follow were those of Kian's boundaries, and clearly this was not a violation to him.
Cross some kind of line? Another human figure of speech, probably, since Anya felt secure in the thought that she would not be moving for quite awhile. "Are you afraid of death?" Innocent to deep in a matter of seconds, Anya's own curiosity clearly kept 'em guessing. It was a question she had always wondered about man, especially after working so closely to it while drowning men. The fear never showed, however. The trance of song was too powerful for the men to truly realize what was happening. She had seen men jump from cliffs for fun and ride massive waves, attempt to place a hand on angry sharks and fight one another in the swinging of limbs. Death surrounded them, yet it appeared none that Anya encountered ever truly feared it.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Aug 2, 2016 11:47:50 GMT -5
Kian was silent for a long moment, questioning his decision to offer. Was this going to end up even more awkward than it already was? Probably. They were hardly friends. Then again, once you'd saved each other's life, maybe the usual measurements didn't apply. After all, not even the closest friends could say that every one of their meetings had started with someone being in immediate danger. This wasn't a normal friendship by any means, after all.
He closed his eyes, sighing heavily as he contemplated the question. It seemed to him that she wasn't asking just about him, but of his kind. Her previous questions had gone in that direction, after all. "I'm not afraid of dying, no." He opened his eyes only to squint, as if trying to make out an answer where he couldn't see one. "I think I'm afraid of what comes after though. I think most of us are like that." He paused, reflecting on his thoughts again. "Are you?" he added curiously. He figured it was his turn to ask a question.
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Post by stormsong on Aug 2, 2016 12:22:48 GMT -5
Anya tilted her head slightly at the question. Death was a strange event to withstand. She could hardly remember what it was like to die, it felt like a dream. "Once upon a time, I was afraid. Perhaps my after-death experience was different than what yours will be. But to me, death was a sigh of relief, the feeling of a tired body resting. The weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders, it was a warm fire after a long time of being cold." She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "It was oddly peaceful. And when the magic began bringing me back, the pain came back. I believe it was from the formation of my Siren qualities." From what she could remember, there were strange flashes, muted sounds that surrounded her in that time. Anya never seemed to leave the water in that time, it had embraced her like an old friend and healed the physical scarring left by her sailor.
"I am afraid of death by insanity. I do not want to lose myself in the madness, I like as I am, I don't wish to find hatred in the things that I love and lose my logic." Anya had not revealed these to anyone. Perhaps it was easier to admit this to Kian simply because she hardly knew him. But siren's didn't typically chat it up about their fears of death, and it was as if Anya was finally admitting something she didn't know she was repressing.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Aug 4, 2016 17:31:41 GMT -5
( sorry for the poof! also, starting on tuesday i'll be away for two weeks with limited access to wifi, so i'm not sure how much i'll be on for that time. )
Kian nodded as she talked. It was interesting, talking to someone who'd already been through death. He knew that it wasn't an opportunity everyone had - in fact, most people never would - and so he fully intended to make the most of this. Assuming of course that she was up for discussing it; he could easily understand if she didn't want to explain the circumstances of her death.
Finally, after some deliberation, he asked the question he'd always been dying to find out the answer to. "What did it feel like? Dying, I mean? Not the death part but what came between that and life?" He hoped that he was making sense, because he wasn't sure he knew what he meant himself. It was a strange question he'd always wanted to ask, but since he'd never thought he'd be able to do so, he'd never formulated it before.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Aug 15, 2016 14:24:57 GMT -5
( storm? still interested in this? )
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