|
|
Post by moralhazard on Feb 14, 2019 2:43:57 GMT
The Rattlin’ Bog – Citrine was right, Thea didn’t know the song. Anchor Days were an unfamiliar custom as well, but they sounded much like the first few days in a new port. Well – not the first day, that was usually spent working, unloading whatever the ship had brought there. Thea was fairly sure things got raucous the first night, but Vivian had always kept Thea aboard for a special dinner for the two of them, a custom everywhere they had made port. The next days though? Thea’s idea of a week of being merry wasn’t quite the same as the sailor’s, but she’d made merry none-the-less, usually trying to explore every inch of the new city, on her own if she was allowed, with her mother or another crewmember otherwise. A few times, she’d had to stay cooped up in the ship, but even then there had always been lessons, some other diversion – in hindsight, Thea realized, to keep her from slipping overboard and trying to make landfall.
“Oh…” Thea whispered, eyes wide. She had seen Citrine’s other tattoos – she wasn’t, you know, literally blind. There had been quite a lot else to focus on when they’d first gotten into the cave, even once Citrine wasn’t covered head-to-toe in ice, but – she had noticed them, particularly the mandala designs. She hadn’t spent much time studying Citrine’s back, although it was obvious there was something there as well.
“Wow,” Thea couldn’t resist, scooting closer to Citrine once more. “… Can I…” she reached gloved fingers towards Citrine, bending closer to look at the tattoo; she was nearly lying on her stomach, to get her face even with it. Once Citrine gave permission, Thea would reach forward, only to think better of it and pull her hand back, removing her glove. After another, almost shy glance, she reached forward again, ever so gently sliding her fingers over the tattooed skin. She found the raised scar, and traced it just a bit, before politely pulling back.
“It’s beautiful,” Thea sighed, happily, pulling back, only to realize Citrine was still in the midst of her story. She giggled, looking back at the Phoenix woman – for once up at her, and quieted down to listen. She felt like she’d missed something – who was Master Zuzu? Who was Mani? But in all honestly, it didn’t matter much; Thea was happy to listen.
|
|
Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328 
|
Post by Citrine on Feb 14, 2019 3:08:27 GMT
When questioned she trilled an affirmative, still keeping a flamingo like pose - bent knee moving here and there to make it seem like the tattoo was moving. She couldn't help herself, truly. "Thank ye! Aye'm considerin' keepin' et around as one Aye keep getting' when Aye need tae 'ave 'em redone. When Aye reincarnate, ye see, teh skin es fresh - me tattoos need tae be re-inked. Ah lot Aye just let be part o' me old skin, but some? Aye keep getting' re-done each time. Blackwarn 'ere might be me newest repeat."
Her skin would feel warm to the touch, but nothing too out of the ordinary. "Nae, back tae teh story." Citrine was looking down at Thea while Thea was looking up. It made for quite the scene. "Zuzu was tryin' tae chase me around teh flet, but his Luv, his wife Syl, she's ah master at manipulatin' shadows an' such,... an also was me closest confidant back then. She kept openin' portals fer me tae nip through - leavin' Zuzu tae 'ave tae climb an' dive off o' teh anchored ships tae try tae wrestle teh bow an' fiddle from me. He realized, later than sooner, he he'd 'ave an easier time seein' who'd nae finished their drink first!"
A huge grin of much nicer memories was spread on her face. "An' there he be - Commander Mani Decard Luffy - teh Fleet commander o' our lil' group o' ships, standin' on teh deck of teh Neverending Story laughing his huge hat off, an ah full pint sitting there on ah barrel next to him. Mani was ah Samsaran - a race o' humaniods who are blue an' have ah circular lifetime, he keeps reincarnatin' when he dies, ne'er remembering what he o' she did before unless en dreams. Steadfast folks, patient as ah mountain, and unforgivin like one tae. Sae… tae see ol' Blue standing there, actually pullin' an' getting ah joke over on his Master Gunner? He was quite teh troublemaker, Zuzu was. Couldn't stand fer Mani tae get one o'er on him. An?... Well… Zuzu wasn't one tae go down without swingin.' Sae he did his best tae try an pin down his own Commander tae force 'em tae drink his pint."
|
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on Feb 14, 2019 3:51:51 GMT
Thea hadn’t thought of it, that Citrine would – well – shed her skin, molt like a bird. She glanced down at her bare hand, wondering how she’d feel to lose the burns dotted the back of it, two small ones on her right, the calluses on her palm and fingers, the little scars from where she’d occasionally nicked herself with glassblowing tools or daggers. How she’d feel to lose the lightning branch that spanned her back – not a tattoo, although privately she thought it might be mistaken for one, but rather a mark from the lightning bolt that had struck her, the day her mother’s ship went down.
Some good, some bad, Thea decided. The idea of choosing what to keep was – well – appealing for the young Air Genasi. She could always get her calluses back, although, in truth, her hands ached at the thought. She pulled her glove back on, sitting back to enjoy the storm.
Thea felt like she could picture it – light blue sky, she decided, and a bright blue sea beneath. Ships – she didn’t know what the fleet had looked like, but in her mind she filled in galleons like the ones from her family’s fleet, then, after a moment, added a few mental pirate-ship details, changing the flags, adding some more color, maybe a few dramatic figureheads. With that done, she felt she could picture the scene, Citrine almost dancing nimbly across the deck, playing the violin as she ducked between the ships, a man – humanoid, Thea decided – diving and swimming between the ships, climbing up the rope just In time to see Citrine dance away again.
Thea giggled at the description of Zuzu trying to pin Mani down and pour the beer down his throat. She’d settled back down onto the ground, legs bent and feet flat, butt snug into the rocks, and her hands back behind her, resting on the ground so she could lean back. She was smiling, her gaze drifting from admiring the tattoo on Citrine’s side to the songbird’s face. She felt warm now, definitively, even if a discordant note in the back of her mind warned that the storm wasn’t gone – just held at bay. All the same, with such a powerful storm, even that felt like a victory, one Thea was happy to credit to Citrine.
|
|
Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
|
Post by Citrine on Feb 14, 2019 4:26:33 GMT
Please that her audience, even an audience of one, was enjoying her story, Citrine continued - adding a few embellishments here and there to draw it out, but overall wrapping up with saying. "Zuzu never did figure out who'd not finished their drink tha' night - Aye kept singin' an' playin' well enta teh mornin's first peak over teh horizon, though eventually did change me song."
When Thea settled back down against the wall and her story finishing, Citrine re-matched the two sides and began the process of re-lacing the length of her leg. There were times she missed having real humanoid feet, and being able to easily slip on or off a pair of pants really sounded like a marvelous fantasy at times. But it made her keep up her skills in sewing and mending, so, it wasn't like she was out for nothing.
A comfortable silence settled then. The crackling of the flame masking the fact the storm outside was quieting. Citrine wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed, not until she'd be able to take a peak at the sun's position. "Ah storm this big prolly 'as several hours left still en et. An… ef ye dane mind? Aye may be an early bird, but et dan't mean Aye stay up teh whole time. Ef Aye shut me eyes ah bit, an take ah bit o' ah catnap, ye be fine with tha? Just… throw ah rock o' shove me when teh fire stars tae go out out, savvy? Oh, ef ye feel like dozen off tae, me wings make grand blankets - always warm - feel free tae crawl under at any time."
From all the talking and the emotional burst of anger that hadn't tasted the heat of her skin in a few years, Citrine felt exhausted though she hid it well. With the offer of a chance for Thea to nod off if she felt like it, or to just shove her awake if need be, the phoenix trilled her appreciation at the genasi's answer and settled down herself. Becoming a stomach sleeper had been a pain at one point in time, but now she was used to it, settling like a dog with her arms crossed in front of her paired with a single wing bending up to act as a pillow, Citrine couldn't help the yawn turned trill.
It would take some time before she actually fell asleep. Meditating for a good while to re-sort out the white hot molting anger she'd experienced earlier, as well as the tense-ness of opening up a bit about her most recent 100 years. It really was too bad, her skill and enthusiasm for storytelling. It made it impossible for her feel like she could really talk about what she'd been through. As her talk the other week with Malakbel had proven, it was lonely living so long. People did think she was crazy. And the only ones who knew the whole thing to begin with? Not even anywhere close on this plane of existence. She was trapped here. Alone. With just her stories. And her smiles. And her memories.
|
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on Feb 14, 2019 4:52:18 GMT
Thea watched Citrine lace the boots up through half-lidded eyes, the sleepiness that had been pushed away by the sudden onslaught of adrenaline at Citrine’s transformation slowly resurging. They were both quiet, now, and Thea dropped her gaze to the fire, lulled by the slow dance of the flames, the steady slushing of the snow outside, the faint whooshing of the wind, the distant lapping of the waves against the cliff. Thea would have been shocked to hear Citrine say that the sounds weren’t audible over the crackle of the fire; she could hear them well, with little idea that they were more in her mind than her ears.
Thea looked back up at Citrine when she spoke again, blinking herself back half-awake; she hadn’t realized until that moment that she’d been nearly asleep.
“Yeah, of course, I – ” Thea yawned so widely her jaw cracked, shifting a little. “I – um – I think I’ll nap too,” she smiled at Citrine. She hesitated a little, but Citrine lay down, one wing beneath her head as a pillow, and the other arched high, and Thea didn’t hesitate again to lay down on the ground next to Citrine, curling up on her side facing Citrine.
It wasn’t more than half a breath before Thea was fast asleep, the hard, rocky ground as comfortable as a soft bed, Citrine’s wing soft and warm over her, with the distant sounds of the storm swirling in her mind. Mercifully, she didn’t dream, or, if she did, she didn’t remember them.
Thea woke up to the feeling of rock against her cheek. She was half-curled around Citrine, one arm flung over her, and Citrine was spooning back against her, her wing still draped over Thea. Her mouth was dry, and her face felt dry too, as though the cold and rocks had left her raw. The other thing Thea noticed was the bright light spilling in through the entrance of the cave.
Carefully, carefully Thea pulled away from Citrine, wriggling out from under her wing. Citrine shifted, but didn’t wake. Thea stood, shakily, glancing down at the remains of the fire the phoenix-woman had lit. Her legs ached, stiff from being curled up for so long, and the arm she’d been sleeping on ached as well, one hand tingling faintly. Thea took a few steps away from Citrine, as quietly as she could manage in her boots, rubbing her sore shoulder with her good hand as she made her way to the entrance of the cave.
Snow slushed beneath her boots towards the end of it, and Thea emerged, blinking, into a world utterly blanketed in white. The sky overhead was a bright, brilliant blue, the sun almost directly overhead, with faint, patchy white and gray clouds the only sign of the storm that had just passed. Thea took one, two steps outside of the cave, climbing up the little mound of snow at the entrance; the rocks beneath were well-buried. The long promontory out to the sea was covered with a new blanket, what looked like icicles dangling off the side.
The sea below was still gray and choppy, as if the emotions stirred up by the storm weren’t quite yet gone, but the waves were small, crashing against the rock with no more than their usual enthusiasm. The air was still crisp and cold, but Thea couldn’t taste the storm on it anymore; it had moved on.
Thea turned, making her way back into the cave to crouch down next to Citrine. After a moment of hesitation, she set her hand on the phoenix-woman’s shoulder, giving her a gentle push. “Rain?” She used Citrine’s nickname for the first time, tasting it – and their new friendship – on her tongue. She smiled when Citrine’s eyes opened. “The storm’s over,” Thea rose, taking a half-step back, and offering Citrine a hand to help her stand, when she was ready. “Let’s go home.”
|
|
Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
|
Post by Citrine on Feb 14, 2019 5:02:34 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Othent on Apr 1, 2022 9:04:06 GMT
how to write an essay about the service industry significant people <a href="https://researchpapershelponline.net/">thesis statement help</a> community service award how to write essay
|
|
|
|
Post by Othent on Apr 1, 2022 9:04:47 GMT
how to write an essay about the service industry significant people <a href="https://researchpapershelponline.net/">thesis statement help</a> community service award how to write essay
|
|
|
|
Post by Othent on Apr 2, 2022 12:46:39 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Othent on Apr 2, 2022 12:47:33 GMT
|
|
