Multiple Maelstroms and A Singular Funeral

[Topaz Maelstrom]

Timestamp: 1st of Summer, 511 AV
Location: Somewhere in the Southern Suvan
Purpose: A Funeral
STatus: Open to Maelstroms

Topaz hated funerals. It wasn't that they were unnecessary or pompous or that folks made particularly long speeches. No, it was more likely because so many people came from all over once the birds were sent off, and all of the ate so much food. It fell to the Maelstrom children to gather said feasting fare and get it ready for the guest to arrive. There were barbeque pits to be dug, fruit to chop, milk to gather from coconuts. Things needed to be presented, seasoned, and nothing could be wrinkled or worn.

The Lia's twin sister Malachite was dead.

She was Topaz's great aunt who was gone, though her sister Turquoise remained, her grandmother. Topaz couldn't stomach the thought of loosing Moonstone first, wishing for the tenth time she died first to spare herself the pain of being sisterless. If she was a better person she'd have wished Moons' death first to spare her the sorrow Turquoise was feeling. But she wasn't. Nor was the family. The event wouldn't remain sad long - just until the funeral pyre was lit out at sea and everyone cam ashore for the drinking and dancing. That's when the real fun would start. Fun was a loose term. One never knew what was going to happen or now fast it was going down.

For herself, she was going to play during the ceremony. Her mandolin song was all composed and ready for the dead matriarch. Topaz would play 'until the seas dried up' and several other traditional dirges and then would return to her own casinor and beach it with the rest for the party.

But it was early still. Ships were still arriving from all over, docking up against one of the larger Maelstrom ships, people milling around, the body being prepared. The burning would come later when the boys floated out the pyre and the fallen grandmother placed upon it. Speeches would be made, songs sung, and a feast held. All in all, it would be along day.

Topaz, for her part, was tuning her mandolin, generally avoiding having anything to do with the dead body, and glancing dubiously over at the gathering relatives, friends, and the mildly curious outsiders who just stopped when they spotted a flotilla. She didn't feel like saying much and had already taken a turn at fruit gathering to add to the collective pile on the beach that some of the older women of the pod were turning into a feast. She'd play, and that's it, maybe not even eat much. Truth was she was close to Malachite who was a singer of some renown. Onyx had her voice, in fact, though deeper and more pronounced. Topaz wondered if he'd sing... indeed as she wondered if Moon would go help wit the feast. None of them were required to do anything. What they did they did to honor their grandmother only. The fruit was for that. Her songs later, too, would be for her great aunt's honor.

Until then she sat quietly at her ship, legs dangling in the water, a pale dolphin nudging her ankle and clicking quietly up at her. She reached down and absently scratched her bottle-shaped nose before going back to her plucking. It had to be a nice song if she expected to do her great aunt justice and please her departing spirit.

[Chevis Maelstrom]

Chevis was following a light southerly breeze to the flotilla. He both hated and loved funerals. There would be many somber faces but his would not be among them. After all, Malachite wouldn't want the man formally known as the frowning boy to fall back into his old ways. He adjusted the ropes on his sails a bit to slow his speed as he got closer. He recalled many things about Mama Malack, a name only he used because when they first met that fateful day, he couldn't pronounce her name. After his days at sea in the barrel, he could feel it jostling about, though it didn't feel like it did when the waves tossed him. He heard shouting and felt the barrel lifted from the water. He tried to scream, but after many days of no water, he couldn't make so much as a peep. The barrel was set down hard on what sounded to his young ears like wood. "Let's see what treasure those two poor souls were guarding." said a rough man's voice. "Stop!" A stern woman's voice rang out. Little four year old Chevis heard footsteps as he suspected the woman walked closer. He was scared, what would they do with him? He had already cried for two days after his parents locked him in here. What happened to them? "There's only one treasure they would put in there, and you will not be desecrating it!" He heard the shick of a blade sliding from its sheath, then watched as the tip was slid between the lid and the outer boards of his barrel. He then saw it tilt upward as the lid was cracked open, then pulled away, the sun flooding in, blinding him. He held his arms up defensively both from the rays and possible attackers. "He's alive! Get some water now!" the woman called out. Chevis heard feet take off as he looked up at the owner of such authority. What he saw were blue eyes deeper than the ocean that almost took him. They showed genuine concern and kindness. And she was smiling at him. "It's okay young one, you are safe now." She reached in, and he let her pull him up and out into her arms. He clung to her out of fear and comfort. "Oh ho, you have a strong grip. Are you thirsty?" Chevis nodded and was answered with a full waterskin. He choked a lot of water down, occasionally sputtering. She set him down, then knelt down to his level. "My name is Malachite, what's yours?" He snapped back to the present as his Casinor, the Bongodier, pulled in next to the boat belonging to Topaz. As always, despite the memory, he had a brilliant smile on his face. He through his anchor over, grabbed his fan and bongo, and leapt over from his ship to Topaz's. He saw her twiddling with her mandolin. "You're not going to be making a racket at the send off with that are ya?" He struck his hand into the top of his bongo loosing a dull thump across her ship. He walked toward her with open arms and playful eyes. "Don't keep me waiting Tops. After all, I'm getting old these days."

[Moonstone Maelstrom]

It was a quiet morning for reflection for Moonstone. Losing their Great-Aunt weighed heavily on her - like Topaz, her own thoughts were grim about losing her sister. The death of one should lead to the death of the other, preferably shortly after, as far as Moon was concerned - not because of some dislike of Grandmother Turquoise. Moon loved the old woman. But it was the idea of being without Topaz that was abhorrent. The two of them were scarcely apart for more than a day at a time - even when they were sailing their separate ships, one boarded the other's boat often to spend time with the other before bed, even if it was just for her to play with wood, or Topaz to tell a story or play an instrument. She was convinced that the two of them made up a whole - and without one half, neither of them could ever be whole again. It was a sobering thought.

She shook herself to clear those thoughts, turning over the piece of wood in her hands. She had started carving the driftwood when Great-Aunt Malachite had passed away. It would burn with her funeral pyre - one last gift. She turned the figurine over in her hands - it had been part of a chunk that she had obtained from the Myrian trader in Black Rock the last time the Maelstroms had been down that way. One did not land on the Falyndar coastline if you could help it. As inviting as all of the different types of woods may be, the Myrians did not like visitors. Inasmuch as she liked to stir the pot, cause trouble, and create general mayhem, it didn't extend to having an arrow put through her. So Moon satisfied herself with pieces that she had to barter and buy. Her casinor rocked, far more than normal, and Moon almost dropped the little project and her kit with all of her chisels and carving blades as she hit the deck, curling in on herself to protect the carving, lest it break from hitting the wood along with her. Scrambling up, though, she gathered everything and hurried over to the side of the ship, eyeballing the the cause of the disturbance.

Hunapo. She should have known.

Because of the whale's size, Moon generally sailed near the outside of the flotilla, and anchored it fairly deep when she did. The orca whistled at her. "I need to finish this," she told him as she sat and made herself comfortable there, and waved at Topaz before opening her toolkit and selecting one of the chisels. Unlike her sister, she wasn't musically inclined. Oh, she liked to dance to her sister's music and her brother's singing, but she couldn't play worth a damn herself, and she preferred to let others sing. She worked the straight-edged carving tool carefully along the shallow gouges of the angelfish's dorsal fin. She had been finishing them last night, but she had fallen asleep before finishing the second side of the dorsal fin of the carving. Some carvers were confident enough to just go deep the first time, but Moon, not so much. Even if this offering would be burned... it had to be perfect. Anything less was an insult.

Painstakingly, as Hunapo bobbed in the water in front of her, little curled tendrils of shaved wood fell into Moon's lap, caught in the tent of her short cotton skirt. It was summer, it was hot out down here in the south, and as much as Moon had no problems running around buck-naked, the skirt helped when she was carving in the event she dropped something. Chisels dropped on bare skin always seemed to land pointy-part down, and, well, they hurt. But she carefully grooved in the lines accentuating the dorsal fin, her eyes flicking to the orca as he dipped above and below the water, and she could feel the clicking sounds he made. "Almost done. I want to run this over to Topaz and see what she thinks, then I have to go ashore for a bit," she told him, holding the angelfish up for him to see. He opened his jaws at her, inviting her to give it, his pink tongue lifting upwards. "Oh no. No, no, no," she told the bull. "It's not for eating."

She finished with the angelfish, then, putting her tools away and securing them in her berth before coming back over to Hunapo's side of the ship and climbing overboard, still wearing naught but the little short skirt that was little more than a scrap of bright blue cloth. There wasn't anyone around but family anyway, and Moon's sense of modesty was nonexistent. Who cared what anyone wore, really, between family? "Go on, you can give me a ride," she told him as she felt for the whale, carving in one hand, a grip on his dorsal fin with the other as she stood carefully on his enormous, slippery back and sank down to her knees as the whale drifted forward. He didn't have far to go, but Moon happily promised a long night of swimming once the party was over.

She climbed over the side of Topaz's Sunseeker. Chevis had beat her there, and she cheerfully hipchecked him once she had crossed the deck to crouch beside her sister, offering her the wooden carving that stood as tall as the length of their hands, asking her silently what she thought about it and if she felt anything further needed correction, some gouge she had missed, anything. They didn't always need words - twins just knew. "You want a racket? I'll sing," Moon threatened their adopted older brother, grinning. "And then you will be begging Topaz to play just to shut me up."

[Iolite Maelstrom]

"Where is he going?" Though the Orca couldn't answer back, both girl and whale turned in a stationary circle, watching the huge bull of a whale flash past. Iolite was perched on the back of her Tavan, Penelope, just out of reach of the lapping waves as the Killer Whale coasted along the surface of the water. Both curious and now intrigued, Penelope bobbed her head in warning. Wordlessly, Iolite sank onto her stomach and took hold of the orca's dorsal fin. She only managed a deep breath before the whale dove under the surface and surged along after the other whale. Iolite recognized it as Moon's Tavan almost immediately, and he looked to be on a mission. With her eyes screwed tight, the girl simply hung on until she felt her head break the surface once more. Shaking her hair out of her face and wiping water from her eyes Iolite peered around. Penelope had taken her to the side of Moon's boat, where Hunapo bobbed, harassing his friend. The casinor rocked gently, as if in the aftermath of a huge wave. Underwater, Iolite had missed the shove Hunapo had given the boat, and she thought it curious that Moon should be laying curled on her deck. " I thought something interesting was going to happen. Why are you laying like that? You look silly, Moon. It's so boring with everyone sulking about." Her voice was light, dreamy and seemed to float lazily along the wind until it reached ones ears. By the time Moonstone would have heard her, Iolites attention would be focused on something entirely different. She was sprawled back along Penelopes back again as the whale swam slow, lazy circles around the girls sister's boat "You know Moon, Gran's dead and won't appreciate that fish much. It is pretty though. Will you make me one?" Iolite meant no offense, though her words could certainly be taken that way. The young girl was just either blissfully oblivious or unaware that words can actually hurt. But her sisters understood this more than pretty much anyone else, and they were the last people that would take offense to her words. "Almost done. I want to run this over to Topaz and see what she thinks, then I have to go ashore for a bit," Moon said, though Iolite wasn't exactly sure if it was directed at her or her sisters Tavan. Either way, Penelope seemed to know what the girl wanted without any need for word. Both lazed over to where Topaz was playing. "I'm going to dance with you. Gran liked when I danced. I'm sure she liked when you played, too, Top." When she reached the other twins boat, Iolite climbed from her whales back and shimmied up aboard Topaz's boat. "It'll add some life. Everyone is so dead around here lately." The pun was not intended. Iolite loved her family dearly, and even though Malachite was now dead, she couldn't understand why people seemed to be so upset. Death wasn't a bad thing, nor was sitting around being upset about those who passed completely necessary. Iolite had little patience for funerals, and her sisters and brothers would be hard pressed to have her attend. "Hi Chavis. I would like a hug." A soft smile passed across her face as she said this, and she held her arms up in a fashion similar to how the man was walking towards her older sister. "Moon, your voice isn't that bad. It's not that awesome either. I think we should ask Onxy to sing. But where is he? Hopefully not off chasing a girl again. I don't like half of the girls that he brings back. They're not pretty." Truth be told, anyone at all that encountered the Maelstroms was in for some competition. The joke was that they were the best looking family afloat, and they weren't lying. Whether she was hugged or denied by Chavis, Iolite settled against the railing of Topaz's boat, staring dreamily into the water and every once and a while sending Penelope down to the seafloor to retrieve a stone or a shell for her collection.

[Onyx Maelstrom]

Onyx felt the cool sea salt breeze wash over his nearly naked form. He had been out fishing for days when he had got the sea gull message to return to the pod. It still hadn’t quite felt real, like he was expecting to see Moonstone or Topaz sail down on him and jokingly say surprise. Yet, instead he saw the preparations of a funeral being made on the beach as he crested a wave and saw the coastal patch that the pod called temporary home. The wind blew once again filling his sails and letting the ropes stretch taut. Yard arms had been stowed with care down in the salt hold, along with fishing netting and catch. The only thing on deck of The Lucky Lass, was the rigging and untrimmed sails as Onyx made haste to his pod. Quietly, Onyx felt the wind adjust three knots to the starboard side as the sea spray hit his bare legs and soaked his loincloth. He began to loosen four slipknots on his sail, slowly the arm began to tack catching the wind square. For a brief moment the Lucky Lass listed to her starboard side, causing a bit of a roll on the deck, until the sail tacked into its final position. Onyx sighed slightly, the listing was due to a hole he had created in the bow of the ship. He had created the hole, sealing it with two barrels to provide Flotsam with living quarters. The eel that had become Tavan to Onyx, slept during the day preferring to hunt at night. Barnacles decorated the opening, making it look like a small coral reef that usually Flotsam could be found in. Most days, Onyx spent tracking schools of fish and doing small repairs about his ship, Yet every time, he pulled out the rail swing and dagger to pull off the barnacles, he couldn’t quite find the will to destroy the little piece of happiness Flotsam had. With quick efficiency, Onyx threw a hoop knot over the rudder and began scrambling across the deck to the fore sail in the bow. The tacking had been completed and now Onyx began to pull the wooden pegs that kept the fore sail taut. Whoosh, the rope lines began to slide across the metal rings, as the sail began to fall. Onyx, dashed over the spinning lines on counterweights as he began to wrap the incoming sail around the arm. The last thing he need was a cross wind to capsize the fully loaded boat over. The Lucky Lass was three board deep into sea. For the three hundred pounds of gutted fish and chum sitting in her salt hold had the ship full belly deep on the waves, which only made her listing right worst. Onyx looked out over the sea and saw that the Lucky Lass had straighten her list and was not pulling at a fast past across the waves. Just as he was getting the middle knot on the fore sail tied, the ship hit a rough crest and went down into the surf. White foam splashed across Onyx’s body, and small bubbles clung to him as he clung to the arm rope. Swiping the water off his face, he continued securing the fore sail. Onyx knew that he had hit the reef around the coast, and that in a little bit he could lose the main sail and secure it as well. But for now, his tan body felt the sun on its shoulders and the wind whip about him. Onyx took a few moments after tieing the last line to look over the rail at his figure head. The model for it had been a particularly buxom wench he had met in Syliras. She had full lips and golden hair, but what he had like most about her was her wide hips giving to almost heart shape lower figure. At the time, Onyx had traded four hundred pounds of fish for the carver to cut the piece, but the look on Lia Turquoise’s face had been worth the week and a half worth of fishing to do so. In fact, he had just enough metal coin to spare a night or two in the wench’s bed. Yet his younger sisters, Topaz and Moonstone had fallen into trouble once again, and he had used the last of his metal to help them out. They hadn’t visited Syliras in the past couple of years, but it was on the rotation soon, so Onyx would get another chance at the wench. “All right, you sexy girl, I will cut the sails and you can stop working. Just be glad you’re a ship and not a woman! I would keep you up all day and night working for me!” Onyx went back to the main deck and began pulling down the sail and taking it in. With calm reassurance Onyx’s hands flew over the rigging and cloth. Rope was almost a natural extension of himself and he worked with it well. The sails had been cleared and now as the waves began to move the small ship into the pod, Onyx spent his time coiling rope and replacing the wooden pegs back into their spots. The natural list of the ship had pulled itself slightly off target and Onyx went ahead pulling the rudder another three pegs port to compensate. His final destination would be to drift in on Topaz stern, in which he had about half a candle mark to do so. Onyx took his time drifting into the pod, shortly he would be enter a time of somber reflection and then Lia Turquoise would make some wood rot comment and he would get filled to the gills with her piss and shit. Malachite should have been Lia, she had always been the wise one, always been the one that Onyx loved and actually liked. If it hadn’t been for a few moments difference Malachite would have been Lia and the bitch Turquoise would be burning this evening. Onyx almost spat blood as his anger rose at the thought and cruelty of the Gods and Goddesses. Sometimes life wasn’t fair, but did it always have to storm on Onyx. Slowly over the course of drifting time, Onyx’s mask of rebellious youth and anger began working its way to his features. So by the time he lazily drifted to Topaz’s stern and tossed achor, he was thoroughly ready to cause trouble. Onyx jumped off the rail into the sea and began to swim the hundred yards to Topaz’s, water and sand began to flow up around Onyx’s body and loincloth as he swam the rest of the way. The cool sea gave him time to work out some of his anger at the injustice of the whole thing. So as he reached Topaz’s anchor rope he began to get ready for the climb. His rough callused hands pulled himself upward on the rope as his feet panted themselves against the hull of her ship. His hand reached over the railing and he brought his soaking body over the rail. For a moment as he swung over the rail he felt a cool breeze pass under his loincloth, but then again he didn’t care about modesty for he was with family. For a brief moment he stood on his sisters deck pulling his hair back in a slick knot, his body and the sun burning off the water. Then a wicked grin came to his mouth as he looked at Moonstone, Topaz, Chevis, and Iolite. “So who wants to get pissed drunk, and toss the old crone in the bilge?”

[Kywan Maelstrom]

Kywan breathed deeply as the sea breeze tugged at his golden hair, pulling on the rigging of his casinor and turning her sharply into land. It was a fine day for sailing, the sun on his face and the salty sea spraying across his body. God, how he loved the ocean. However that was not his true intentions for the day, and if it were up to him Kywan would not come in to dock. The Great Aunt Malachite had died and today it was her funeral. A time of remembrance and some mourning - but mostly hard work and food eating. A time for celebration in a sense. Leaping to the rudder, Kywan turned her again, pulling in alongside the rest of the flotilla along the beach and coming to rest against the sandy shore with a soft bump. Tying off the rigging and lowering the sail, he dropping the anchor. Jumping across the deck Kywan jogged to the stern. Leaning over, he grinned down at the white shape in the water.

"Look out Naiuk! Incoming!" Tugging off the loose white shirt he wore over leather breeches, Kywan dove into the water with scarcely a splash. Surfacing with a laugh a white beluga whale swam around him making squeals of delight. Stroking the creatures head, the young man kissed the whale fondly on her short beak and swam the short distance for shore. As he left the water, Naiuk splashed around a bit and watched him before swimming to deeper waters. Walking along the sandy beach, Kywan spotted Topaz's casinor and his cousin perched on the side. Of course, there were pits to be dug and food to be prepared but he just couldn't walk past without saying hello. There were heaps of kids around to help with the preparations. Taking a running jump onto the anchor line, Kywan climbed up and swung himself over the side into the boat, cheeky grin on his face. Obviously his older cousin had much of the same idea for an entrance. Walking up to Onyx, the young blonde slapped him on the shoulder and grinned.

"Getting pissed sounds like a fine idea, as long as you can keep up with me old man!" Slipping past the man with a laugh, Kywan leaned down to kiss his cousin on her cheek.

"Ahh Topez, any more people on the Sunseeker and she'll sink cuz!" He said with a chuckle, moving to plonk down beside her. Leaning over, he tipped two fingers in greeting at Moonstone, Chevis and Iolite. Listening to the woman flicking the strings of her mandolin, Kywan could sense the heaviness between the twins. It was hard on them, loosing Malachite. The two women would be thinking of their own kinship, and what it meant to loose your lifelong partner and friend. Chewing his lip for a moment, the blonde youth kicked water, wanting to make them feel better. Make them laugh. But it all seemed inappropriate. Instead, he simply sat, waiting for someone to speak.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

Before the sun had even broken the line of the horizon to warm the cool seas with golden light, Citrine and threaded Spitfire into the cradle of the pod's Palivars, dropping anchor there, nestled like a baby in its mother's arms. As much as the fair-haired Maelstrom thrived in the love and companionship of her family, she was quite selfish with the time she had when it was just she and Cyrus. Upon hearing of the funeral she decided the only way she could abide the somber beginnings of this day would be to swim along side her most trusted companion for a few hours. As soon as the anchor found its hold on the sandy floor of the sea, Citrine was over the side, slicing into the water as though she were born there. The cool rush pulled the hair away from her face, washing it along her back until she could feel it tickle her shoulder blades. The sensation of the water on her skin sent Citrine to a place of such peace that after her initial thrust into the shadowy blue, her whole body relaxed and she began sinking like fine sediment towards the bottom, her toes were just ready to sink into the velvety silt when a nudge in the small of her back began driving her back from where she came. From her mouth came a small stream of bubbles as she neared the surface, the air in her lungs expanding to force the breath from her lips. When the top of her sun-kissed head broke the surface, she twisted in the water to face the whiskered nose of her companion, and she leaned in to plant a kiss on his moistened nose. "Just once, I would like to reach the bottom." A bright grin lightened her face and she curled her arms around the Sea lion. After a few moments, her arms slipped free as though carried by the slight movement of the sea and she drew in a full breath. With a glance into the dark eyes of Cyrus, she dove back under the water, the tips of her toes just breaking the surface as she disappeared. Together the two of them spent the next few hours navigating their way through the flotilla of boats, skimming along their undersides like Remora along the skin of a shark. When she began hearing the echo of movement and the splashing of her siblings in the water near the Sunseeker, she decided to join her family. Having arrived later in the evolution of the Maelstrom history, she'd received less notice and attention from her Grandmother, Turquoise, as well as from her Great-Aunt, Malachite, the focus of the funeral. She knew them as those women that scolded her, their sour faces constricted into scowls the moment they laid eyes on her. Without intention, but simply because patience had grown thin for the rigors of youth, the older women seemed to treat her as an annoyance - or so was Citrine's intepretation. She came to think of them as a looming threat, the very real boogeymen that happened to be the face and history of her family. For the most part, she'd submersed herself in the rest of the family and avoided thought of, and interaction with the Lia as much as was possible. But today there was no avoiding it. She felt much sympathy for her grandmother, witnessing how much a part of each other Topaz and Moonstone were. She had always felt some separation from Turquoise, but today she would just have to grin and bear her own mourning of a virtual stranger until Chevis and Onyx turned the funeral into a party. Without a sound, her blonde hair emerged from the water, floating around her head like a sunburst as she stealthily swam around to the side of the Casinor. Topaz's boat was nearly full to capacity, so instead of climbing aboard, she remained in the water, moving her arms and legs in a fluid motion to keep her hovering in place. Before speaking, she looked around the boat, taking pause to watch the face of each of her siblings for a moment. Looking at Topaz and Moonstone, she could see the unspoken stress on their beautiful features as they contemplated their own fates, she did not envy them that. Onyx was next, her big brother, she had many of his traits, and was thankful that along with Chevis, the pall cast on this day would not linger. Chevis, a special place was reserved for him and she grinned, watching him, she could hear his voice in her head saying something like 'It's about damn time you showed up, Sunfish." Yes, that's what he would say. Iolite sat as she often did, gazing into the water. The look on her face warmed Citrine in spite of the cool water that hugged her body. Iolite had a kindness about her that she wore like a cape and just seeing her brought a light to the youngest Maelstrom. Finally Kywan, her ever fair counterpart, he was his usual quiet self, but she could see the wash of pain that colored his face, more so for his family than for himself.. It was time. Through pursed lips, she blew out a long breath sending a gentle ripple across the water before latching onto the side of the Sunseeker. "Is there even room for one more?" Ribbons of gold clung to her face as she peered at her family from her position as barnacle, looking for a slice of space she might fit into and trying to brighten things just a little with her wide smile

[Topaz Maelstrom]

She didn't like the thoughts funerals brought and the sense of mortality that came crashing down like waves upon fragile rocks. All those thoughts did, much like the waves, was break up the rock solid confidence most of the Maelstroms had. They didn't loose their own. They just didn't. But not even all the pods in the Suvan could counteract time. Tanroa moved time onward, no matter how hard the children of the sea raged against it.

Chevis was a nice surprise. He wasn't usually the first on the scene when something happened, but he always came. Topaz set her mandolin aside in a _safe_ place as her adopted kin dropped his anchor and jumped the distance between the two ships that were currently nudging each other gently. Topaz moved across the Sunseekers bow, dropped a bladder bag down between the two boats so they wouldn't knock wood to wood and then allowed Chevis to sweep her up in a hug. She kissed his cheeks then thumped him gently on top of the head. "I don't know why you drag those bongo's everywhere. Isn't your melon up here hollow enough to give us a decent beat?" Sure she had to stand on her toes to do it, but she didn't mind. It was worth it messing up Chevis' hair.

A breaching killer whale signaled the appearance of her nearly naked sister and caused Topaz to release Chevis and swivel to reach down a hand to catch her twin's, helping her and whomever else grabbed a hold of her to haul her to the small deck. "Gods, don't sing. Last time you did all the seals in the pod thought you were in heat and nearly capsized the Wandering Moon." Topaz said, laughing as she did a fairly accurate rendition of a seal barking out its frustration almost in tune. She kissed her sister and grinned at Chevis. "Looks like everyone is coming in for the funeral. I wonder if Onyx is going to show up, get drunk, and try to sleep with Citrine again. We'll need to keep an eye on him. I brought him some really good rum to ply him with just to see if he will. You guys need to get him drunk fast." Topaz said, scanning the nearby seas, and then her eyes falling back on Chevis. That was who she meant by 'you guys' for sure. The two men were close, as close as brothers though the blood was not the same.

Yes, indeed other casinor's were coming in. But she hadn't gotten the booze for Onyx so he'd chase her little sister. Instead, she'd gotten it to help him survive Malichite's funeral. He'd be hit hardest. Everyone knew that Mal was his only buffer between Turquoise's wrath and Onyx's incendiary actions. It should be interesting, that much was for sure. But Topaz didn't want to see the Lia throw Onyx out again. He'd only been recently and grudgingly welcomed back, probably due to Malachite's failing health.

Topaz grinned at Io and helped haul her aboard as well. The deck was definitely feeling more crowded. She had to laugh when Io asked for the carved fish. She grinned at her twin and commented idly "You might as well give it to her. Great Aunt would have anyhow, about two seconds after you gave it to her. Spoiled thing that she is..." Topaz said, nudging Io's hip and then grinning at Moon. "Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it." Wisely she remained quiet while Io greeted the rest, commented about Onyx (whom everyone usually had a comment about) and made the rounds spreading greetings.

Speak of the eel. As soon as the anchor hit the water, alll the Maelstrom heads turned and Onyx was climbing aboard, nearly as naked as Moon. Topaz was ready for him and reached down and grabbed the bottle of rum she had stowed beneath the shadow of the rigging. Giving him long enough to do some back slapping of his own, get mauled by Kywen, and in turn get her own kiss from the blond, Topaz grinned. "Can't do that, can we, until you boys go ashore and help build her pyre. Here, I brought you fortification." The bottle of rum was thrust into his hands just as her other hand connected with Onyx's chest and pushed him overboard. She knew her brother well enough to know the rum wouldn't be dropped even as he hit the drink. "Like Kywen said, your sinking the Sunseeker with all your fat asses over here." She laughed, hoping likewise her sisters would shove the other boys off as well.

Turning, she grinned at Citrine who was clinging to her tavan's back. "Now there is." Topaz blew her a kiss, still laughing.

[Chevis Maelstrom]

Chevis broke into a huge grin as she knocked him on the head and joked at his expense. "Well we wouldn't want me dancing around like a flea ridden Jamoura as I pound on my head." He then proceeded into a very brief, very inaccurate rendition of a Jamoura. He 'played' the top of his head as he crouched down making monkey noises. When he saw Moonie arriving, from the corner of his eye, he straightened up. He bumped her hip back as she moved past him to her other half. "With a siren's voice like yours? I would gladly wreck my ship into the rocks," he said teasingly to Moonie. He smiled at the two twins. The two had become quite the women. They filled out quite nicely and weren't shy about providing Chevis' hungry eyes with what he wanted. But he was always discrete with his eyes and open with his mouth. "Bout time you showed up Moonie, can't have one beauty without the stunning half present." When Io showed up, Chevis averted his rather flighty attention to her. "A hug you say?" He quickly closed the gap between them, slipped an arm behind her lower back, his other hand supporting her head, and he tilted her back swiftly, bringer close to the deck, leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead, then pulled her quickly back up into a hug that lifted her off of her feet. As he finished embracing her he set he down gently. "Welcome to the party." As Onyx swung himself up and onto the deck, Chevis was yet again given an eyeful of what he didn't wish to see. He really wished Onyx would wear pants. At least, when around the pod. Chevis walked over and grabbed the bottle of rum from Onyx's hands, then wrapped his brother up in a tight hug. While not like twins, the two had always been closer than most. After all, they were often getting into trouble together. So many fond memories. "Never thought I'd show up before you, you're getting slow O. We will share this on the beach." Then Topaz struck Onyx sending him into the waters. He chuckled lightly. He nodded at the young Kywan in return. He heard the lovely chime that was Citrine's voice. He spotted the blonde mess of hair and winked at here. He quickly scaled the rigging of Topaz's Casinor. When he positioned himself toward her, he tossed the rum bottle out into the air. Then he pushed off and leapt. His body straight and rigid, his arms sticking straight out he seemingly flew from the ship. As he descended toward the water, the arc of his path met that of the bottle, and he attempted to grab it before he hit the surface. However he missed wholly as his arms swung past each other comically. His face was the first thing that struck the hard water followed with a poor landing of his body. His face stung like exposure on the seas. As he was under water, he saw the bottle making it's way back to the surface. He successfully grabbed it and appeared behind Citrine, his body pressing close to hers. He kissed her on the back of the neck and whispered in her ear, "Hey there Sunfish. Care to dance with me tonight?" On that note he swam to where ever Onyx ended up. "Let's get to working so we can get to drinkin." He then began swimming toward the shallows, his smile briefly, and hidden from his family, fading into that frown, as he thought of the task of saying goodbye to Malachite.

[Moonstone Maelstrom]

She’d make Iolite one, certainly, even if that bit of work was just going to burn. Even if their Great-Aunt would have just given it to their younger, raven-haired sister a few chimes later... Maybe she would just give Iolite that one, after adding something to the bottom of it, for who it was for, for their Great-Aunt, in memoriam. But maybe Io would have appreciated having something carved just for her instead. She'd think on it. “He knows better than to bring those girlies back,” Moonstone drawled at Iolite, “which is why he sires bastards in every pod that he can charm and every port town he hits. I heard he knocked up the Charodaean trader in Black Rock.” Never mind that it wasn’t possible for the fish-people to have children with anything but a Charoda – Moon was only teasing and talking smack about her older brother just because she could. If it had come from anyone outside of the family, she might well have thrown them underwater and did Very Mean Things that might or might not involve a lack of air. But truth be told, moon and Topaz had made it a mission to keep women that they didn’t approve of as far away from their brothers as they could – the last time Onyx had brought another woman around, they had mysteriously gotten food poisoning. Oh, nothing fatal, of course… of course.

Moonstone shook her head at Chevis as he called her Moonie. It had been a name he’d given her as a kid, and it had stuck. “Suits me, Chewie,” her eyes twinkled as she returned the favour, one hand on her jutting hip. She waved at Kywan as he started to board, but returned Topaz’s kiss, hugging her sister tightly with one arm, hanging onto her, her arm around her twin's side and squeezing her. She wasn't entirely willing to let go. Just hugging her, had a way of making Moon feel better and in some ways, more secure right then. The gesture simply reassured her that her sister was right there, and for now, she wasn't going anywhere. They'd get through it together. "I love you too," she grinned at Topaz, and sang two lines, full-throttle, not quite off-key but close to it. "A rovin', a rovin', since rovin's been my ru-i-in..." There was a barking in the distance of frenzied eagerness, and Moon grinned. She broke off at that, laughing, and tossed her hair with the strings of beads that dangled there. She didn't need to entice them any further! "You'll play, Onyx can sing, assuming he can manage that without slurring, because by the time we get to singing he'll like as not be completely sloshed, and we'll dance to the firelight and send her off that way," she winked at Iolite as she eventually released Topaz when their older brother came on board, and squished him between the two of them with a hug.

“Go soak your head,” Moonstone shoved at Onyx when he suggested throwing the crone in the bilge, and waved at Kywan, but there wasn’t too much of a bite in her words. She loved her big brother, and she also well understood how much he loved Malachite. Turquoise wasn’t the easiest to get along with, at all – Moon did, perhaps better than most of them. Oh, they had their run-ins – Moon was a Maelstrom, and a twin to boot, and she and Topaz meant double-trouble, and when they were growing up, more often than some of their shenanigans were entirely inappropriate. But still, Turquoise was the Lia, and even if they didn't like her, they respected her. But Moon did love their grandmother. If you sat and listened... really listened... she was like the whales. Hard to interpret, but she had a song if you cared to listen to it. Of course, most of them couldn't sit through it without yawning, and that's when they got their heads chewed off, and that was where Moon tended to come in. Rescue a sibling, and take the time to listen to the Lia. And then if Hunapo capsized the ship in protest, he capsized the ship and got them all out of it. No feelings were hurt and everyone won. She waved at Citrine, smiling at their little sister, blonde-haired as she was, in the water.

As soon as Topaz shoved Onyx overboard, Moon quickly looked to give Chevis a good shove as well, hoping to send him overboard with Onyx… but he beat her to it when he jumped, and she shook her head at his dive, and actually started laughing at the way he missed the bottle and his disgraceful landing in the water. They, at least, had the right idea. She eyed their cousin, eyes twinkling and looking very much like she was going to throw him over the side, too, if he didn't beat her to it. She supposed she had probably better get over there herself - there was work to be done, but by the time the sisters got there, the worst of it would be underway. Oh, Moon wasn't afraid of hard work, but if they had the boys on hand to do the grunt work, why not? "We'll let them get a head start," Moon declared magnanimously as she offered Citrine a hand up onto the Sunseeker.