Closed Fish Out of Water

(Alements) A reunion.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

Fish Out of Water

Postby Pisces on December 14th, 2014, 9:17 pm

3rd of Winter, 514 AV - Mid-Morning

The fish had awoken earlier that morning than he expected, faced with Syna's rays and standing inches shorter than he had before he had drifted into sleep. The first morning away from the Ukalas in over five hundred years brought its own confusion, and perhaps it was a coping mechanism that after getting dressed in his clothing borrowed from the other 'Ethaefal' Caelum, he eyed his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Confusion was the most prominent emotion. Pisces had seen his reflection briefly the night before, though he now studied his entirely new one with the sense of curiosity one would have when inspecting an insect or wound. His beauty faltered even more during the day, as compared to the night or even when he had made his home in the Ukalas. He could not name the face in the mirror, despite vague memories rolling around in his head as waves.

He poked and prodded the unfamiliar skin, running his hands over the imperfections and through the shoulder-length hair. The fish almost thought about getting it cut, though doing so seemed an affront to the gods in its own way. This was the body he was meant to have, and he would keep it. This day-time body was not without its own beauty, but it was found in the form of the windmarks stretching across his left side, swirling and contorting in a way that he found almost soothing and definitely aesthetically pleasing.

The ethaefal ran his fingers over the black ink, his shirt partially lifted to investigate the tattoo. Something inside him knew that the tattoo was important to whatever he was before, and he just knew that they symbolized something. What it was, however, was a mystery which he was not sure he wanted to discover. The shirt fell back down, and the fish pushed open the door to the bathroom and found himself wandering down the stairs. Events of the night before flashed in his mind, but he did not dwell on the interesting cast of characters - except for Caelum. Caelum owned the building and let Pisces stay there, but there was something about the man that night that was familiar. It was a familiarity that he could taste on his tongue and hear in his mind, but could not quite place.

With any luck, the Ethaefal of Syna would be able to provide some semblance of an answer to his plethora of questions.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Caelum on December 14th, 2014, 10:17 pm

"Who are you?" Lillian inquired.


The little girl was standing at the foot of the steps, fully dressed in a pair of slacks that were tucked into fur-lined boots and a bright blue sweater that buttoned up the front and tied at the collar with an ivory satin ribbon. Everything she wore was quality, and it was perhaps becoming clear where the proprietor of Alements spent his money -- on his place, and his family.


Lillian clutched a ceramic mug in her hands. It steamed merrily and smelled strongly of honey and apples. Pale blond hair was intricately braided into a crown about her head and she wore a braided, horsehair bracelet about one skinny wrist and a thin, golden chair with a sun pendant about her throat. She was tiny and spoiled and gazing up at Pisces with a completely dubious expression.


"Are you a patient? Daddy's patients aren't 'spose to go upstairs unless he invites them. Did he invite you? Are you sick? I haven't been sick since I lived in Endrykas and I got a fever and Daddy and Aunt Kavala came and got me. They brought Rak'keli with them."


The child raised her eyebrows a little, quite as though she expected him to be impressed.


"You look like you're from Endrykas."


"Lils! Get in here!" Caelum's voice carried in from the kitchen, but Lillian continued to stare up at Pisces, expectantly.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Pisces on December 14th, 2014, 10:37 pm

The fish did not know what he was expecting when he had gone down the stairs. It seemed the young girl, Lillian, had decided to be the first person he saw two days in a row now. Pisces was at first taken aback by her question, until he remembered the difference in appearance. He kneeled down the expensively dressed girl, eyeing the well-made outfit and gaining increasing notice to the fact that his own gifted clothing felt at least decently priced. Where her outfit was adorable and even included jewelry and braided hair, his was simple and his hair was down. The steaming mug in her hands only served to make the ethaefal hungry.

"I'm Pisces, remember? You found me yesterday." He was still most comfortable in Pavi, though it seemed to serve him well now as the girl and her father both spoke the language quite well. He stood up, walking towards kitchen after hearing Caelum's call.

"They brought Rak'keli with them? Very nice." He did not answer her earlier questions, hoping his name would refresh her memory of the night before. The building called Alements was beautiful, and his eyes lingered momentarily on the windows before turning his attention again towards the little girl. The mention of Endrykas dropped to the pit of his stomach, though he could not fathom why. The fish swallowed the feeling, walking into the kitchen with Lillian tagging along behind him, but not responding to her mention of the city.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Caelum on December 14th, 2014, 11:58 pm

Very nice.


Lillian's eyeroll was practicallly audible. Daughter by blood or daughter of the heart, she had at least inherited one thing from her mysterious, celestial father. A giant slurp was taken from her mug of apple cider, almost empty now, and she scampered after Pisces and into the kitchen.


It was lit with morning light. It gleamed off of pale stone walls and the heavy, squat oven along with the wide array of pots and cooking utensils hangings from a ceiling rack. There was a large pot bubbling on the stove and a fire in the wide hearth to assure none of the winter chill got too much ground in here.


Instead of a display of flapjacks or a pan of eggs, Caelum was busy prying the cork out of a wine bottle. He perched on the corner of the table that dominated the center of the kitchen, piled high with papers, a basket of late season apples, and half a dozen wine glasses and mugs of varying sizes and shapes. It was obviously used as much as a desk and a kitchen table as it was a kitchen island. The ethaefal was dressed the same as he had been a night before, the same riding leathers, tunic and sweater as the windmarked Drykas had been wearing when he had helped scrape a fresh fallen ethaefal of Leth off of his dock. It was just that the man inside of the clothes was completely different. Pine forest green hornes swept back from a tumble of pale brown hair, half obscuring his face as he grimaced at the cork.


The clothes also managed to fit him now.


"The cork's stuck," he muttered, hearing them come in.


"Daddy," Lillian announced, pouncing to a stop directly beside Pisces. She reached up a hand and slipped it right into the Leth-born's. When Caelum failed to look at her fast enough, she repeated, "Daddy! Look, it's Uncle Fish."


Caelum blinked up from the wine bottle, citrine and daylight caught in his own as he blinked at his daughter and the Drykas. Recognition crawled into his expression and ushered out a lot of the color until he stared, visibly shaken, all the words dried up on his tongue.


"Shyke, you are a seer," Caelum manaaged at last.


Lillian, blessed by Avalis, dimpled. Uncle Fish, indeed.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Pisces on December 15th, 2014, 12:27 am

The warmth of the room entered his bones, his hand held tightly by Lillian and his eyes taking in the kitchen. Caelum was most certainly well off, if the way he lived and worked had anything to say about it. The Ethaefal himself simply stood in the doorway, letting the little girl call to her father. He, like the fish had the night before, had horns, dark green and pulling back from his temples. The celestial beauty was obvious with him, but he knew this was Caelum because of the clothing and the fact that the night before, he had been told that both he and Yra were Ethaefal of Syna. If there were beings of Leth, it only made sense for there to be beings of Syna.

Pisces opened his mouth to speak, closing it abruptly as he noticed the colors of the sun drain from his face, turning the man pale.

The ethaefal stepped away from Lillian, dropping her hand and moving towards the Syna-born. More confusion was apparent on his face, and the fish did not know what Caelum meant by his exclamation.

"Are you all right, Caelum?" He had not even known him for a day, but something felt wrong about the entire situation. It was with more careful examination that he realized the expression on the man's face was similar to how the Leth-born had felt the night before. Recognition. But where Pisces could not place it, this man certainly could.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Caelum on December 19th, 2014, 9:50 pm

"Vyash." The name was an old one, as old as the one Aoren Skycrown had given back to him a lifetime ago in the walled city of Syliras. "You're.. You're Vyash Moondown."


Shock was collecting in Caelum's joints and scorching his nerve endings. Without warning, the wine bottle slipped from his fingers to thud heavily onto the floor. It rolled right toward the door and for all the world the ethaefal looked as though he would pass out. It was entirely out of character.


"Daddy?" Lillian sounded confused. She still stood in the doorway and she dropped into a crouch to catch the rolling wine bottle with her little hands. Blue eyes blinked widely at them.


"Give me a tick, Lils." Lips moved and he felt the words more than produced them, eyes unwavering from Vyash's face. His brow knit not with confusion so much as it was shock and revelation.

"One Valterrian, two Valterrian, three Valterrian..." Lillian chanted under her breath. "Daddy, that's three whole ticks."


"How in Hai did you end up on my door? What luck have you, what joke is this?" Caelum, at least, recovered his tongue and it with sharp alacrity. He lifted a hand and reached out to grasp Pisces' chin and turn his face toward the morning light. "You have no idea what I'm talking about. Not a clue. I bet the gods think this is hilarious."


"Eight Valterrian, nine Valterrian..." Lillian kept glumly on.


"Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just.. Petch." Caelum relinquished his grip so that he could rub his hands over his own face. "Alright, Lils." He said, muffled. "What is it?"


"The cork's not stuck anymore."


Caelum spread his fingers and leaned sideways to peer down at his daughter from around Pisces. A puddle of wine had collected on the floor at her feet.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Pisces on February 22nd, 2015, 11:29 pm

The name struck an old bell, awkwardly hidden and surrounded by cobwebs and centuries old dust. He knew the name, but he couldn't place it. That bothered him. From Caelum's reaction, it seemed that he was the one Vyash Moondown. The name felt more familiar than 'Pisces', yet it was all too different and very, very old. The Ethaefal could not tell if he liked it or not, but with the name came echoed, vague memories and a hint of remorse. Something saddened the newborn, and he simply followed the fallen wine bottle with his eyes.

Until, that is, Caelum grabbed his face and held it into the sunlight. Pisces let him do this, perhaps as a repayment for the kindness the older Ethaefal had shown him, though how it would help the situation he didn't understand. Caelum was obviously upset, but Pisces could not understand why recognition would cause someone to act this way. How in Hai, indeed, and the newborn had the same question. How in Hai did he end up at the door of someone whom he could nearly, almost place, and how was he someone whom Caelum could almost certainly recognize?

"Vyash...Who is that? I know who that is. Is that me?" Confusion was the emotion of the season, it seemed, as it edged onto Pisces' face and into his limbs. He crossed his arms as Caelum let go, taking a step back. The sight of the spilled wine had Pisces kneel down, looking up at the doctor. "Can I help clean this up? It's my fault." The newborn had no intention of surprising Caelum to this point, though at least the cork wasn't stuck any longer.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Caelum on March 25th, 2015, 8:51 pm

"Yes, you're Vyash. Or rather you were Vyash." Caelum continued to stare at the newborn ethaefal with a embattled mixture of joy and trepidation. A glance was cast over his shoulder as if he could not but help look behind him in this hour and in turning back he snatched a bar towel off the counter and handed it down to Pisces when he knelt.


"Who's Vyash?" Lillian was hopeful to learn, which prompted her father to give her a look that clearly conveyed exactly how much she was not helping. Undeterred, the toddler blinked calmly at him. "Uncle Fish is Uncle Vyash?" She looked at Pisces who knelt in front of her cleaning up the spilled wine. The moment Lillian realized that this man was the same man who had appeared last night in Plunge Pool Bay was evident by the widening of big blue eyes.


It was going to be terribly difficult from this moment on to convince Lillian that every ethaefal she met was not a member of her family.


Caelum gave her shoulder a pat and ducked down to pick up the wine bottle, twisting it in his hand as he elevated it so that no more of the wine would escape. Setting the bottle on the counter, he went to the sink basin to dampen a fresh bar rag and rub a bit of soap on it to finish Pieces’ clean up job. Wiping wine off of stone was never the end of it as Caelum had learned since he had become a bar owner. Wine left a very sticky residue behind that was not only unsanitary but also could attract bugs even in winter.


“Vyath Moondown was my wife’s brother,” he explained, his voice low and very, very, very calm. “We were very close in our lives as Drykas men, Pisces. I know you can’t recall it, but I do and that’s why this is somewhat of a shock.” He paused. “A large shock.”
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Pisces on March 26th, 2015, 7:42 pm

He stood up slowly, letting the weight of the news fall upon his shoulders like snow in a blizzard. It took him a moment, but he shook off the metaphorical snow and watched as Caelum cleaned up the spilled wine further. Pisces wondered if it was expensive at all, though he did not have any money to spend on himself let alone repay Caelum — though money itself even felt like a bit of a foreign concept in his head. He couldn't recall ever actually using money before, and though his memories were vague and foggy like looking through smoked glass, he thought he would at least remember using it before.

As his mind blundered on, Pisces stood and stared at the somewhat damp stone floor, looking dazed. He blinked once, twice, and then snapped to attention. Vyash Moondown. The name felt right somehow, and the mention of his past life's wife brought back with it unclear memories of a woman he once knew, but they were fleeting and did not bring much comfort. He looked at Caelum, discomfort evident in his posture.

"I was your brother?" The question was spoken quietly with subtle curiosity at the fringes, Pisces contemplating what the fact meant. It did not mean much to him, as he did not remember anything clear enough to make a difference in his opinion of Caelum, but it clearly meant something to the Ethaefal standing across from him. The realization finally dawned on him, and discomfort melted like ice in the sun. A small chuckle escaped his lips.

"The gods must be playing a trick on you, to have me fall here. Some sort of...cosmic joke." At least his curiosity had mostly been sated, his questions as to why Caelum was so recognizable at night answered. The only thing left was the why, and possibly the how — there was no reason for this to happen except for Syna or Leth or Lhex to be pranking them, with the intentions of the prank unclear as to whether they were malicious or not. If they had gotten along in their lives, it was very likely that it was a benevolent trick, a way to bring the brothers-in-law back together after centuries gone from Mizahar.
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Fish Out of Water

Postby Kiva on February 1st, 2016, 2:35 pm

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Such a Beautiful Thread . . .

Another incomplete thread that was a pain to grade, only because I wanted an ending. Seriously though, I breezed through this one, so if I missed anything, forgive me. I got enraptured by the discovery of Pices' tie to Caelum. Just message me if there was something I may have overlooked.

 
Pices
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  • Observation | 5
  • Socialization | 3
  • Investigation | 1
  • Logic | 1
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  • Caelum: Brother-In-Law
  • Pices: A Drykas Named Vyash Moondown
  • Lillian: Niece
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    Only one major detail was really revealed in the thread and it was rather short so I didn't award many lores. Otherwise, I thought Pices/Vyash handled the news of his old identity very well!


 
Caelum
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  • Socialization | 2
  • Observation | 2
  • Childcare | 1
  • Cleaning | 1
  • Logic | 1
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  • Pices: Vyash Moondown
  • Lillian: Seer, after all
  • Vyash Moondown: Brother-in-Law
Miscellaneous
    You guys gotta stop dropping huge bombshells on me like this. Every thread I grade, some surprising new factoid about Caelum or his past life pop up and it gets me every time. I'm too invested at this point. Send help.


. . . I brought it a Treat.
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