First Contact (Open)

[Elijah Tidalwave]

Timestamp : 511 AV, 16th of Summer Location : Southern Suvan Sea, Vanti Islands Type/Status: Open RP Title: “ First Contact " First Contact The sheer beauty of Elijah's surroundings would make any man, woman and child stop dead in their tracks and just stare while breathing in the freshest and cleanest air there was in the world. Loaded with a salty scent from the Suvan Sea but purer than a saint's soul. "Unfortunately" for Elijah, he was accustomed to his breathtaking environment and as such he spent little time being amazed by natue's beauty. With his halfspear held tightly by the tail with one hand and softly holding the shaft in his other hand he stood there. Waistdeep in the water with his rusted spear halfway in the water, a feet above the evermoving soil. The spear had tiny, slender vines attached to the spearhead with unlucky worms attached to it, hanging loosely over the sand. It was a primitive and probably ridiculous method to fish, but it was pretty much the only method he knew and if he even saw one more mango, coconut, banana or any other goddamned tropical fruit for that matter, he would cry, cry and lose his mind. Luckily the current was very calm and the waves were gentle, making it relatively easy to stand in the water without moving around too much. Standing as still as a clumsy living statue he stood there, staring in the transparent blue water as his target, a juicy and lively fish was swimming in an horizontal 8 pattern around the worms, clearly in an attempt to drive Elijah to insanity. Eyes twitching, sweatbeads forming on his forehead and muscles aching, he waited. Waited, waited and waited some more until finally, finally the fish bit down on the worm and faster than it could realize its mistake, it had been pierced through with the spear. Sinking the spear deep into the sand to make sure the fish couldn't fall off and possibly swim away wounded, he lifted the spear triuphamntly in the air and make loud, bolsterous noises. Like a madman he stomped through the water as fast as he could, eyes never leaving the fish, who was still flopping around, flapping its tail around and wiggling its head. " You're not going anywhere, fishie! You're mine, alllll mineeee! " He kept talking to the fish like it could understand him, if anyone was there they would probably make sure to keep a safe distance between them and this apparent lunatic. But to be fair, he had been living off fruit, plants, weeds for too long, far too long. He was merely extatic about his succesful "hunt". Whistling he gripped the fish tightly and retracted the spear from its side and held it by its tail as he laid the poor animal on a flat rock. Raising his other hand high, he waited for a split second, then slammed the rock in his clenched fist hard down on the fish's head. The body was jerking around slightly still but he knew it was dead. Elijah whiped the entrails and blood off on his pantlegs and started to gut the fish, happy as a child who had just been given the sweetest candy in the world.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

The swarthy blonde had not escaped the notice of the youngest Maelstrom, but the fact that he seemed only interested in whatever poor beast lay off the tip of his spear did not seem to categorize him as a threat in her mind. So she remained as she had been, legs splayed around a large wooden bowl filled with sand as she carefully used it's grit to polish away the rough edges of a piece of abalone. The gentle curve of the bowl's bottom was the perfect grade along which to ride the edge of the shell and a thin layer of sand. The bowl was well worn from this use, and it wouldn't be long before she'd need to temper another to this perfect state. With a glance to the fisherman, she ran her thumb along the shell's edge. Not yet. She jiggled the bowl to settle the sand to the bottom, and carefully pressed the shell to the bowl, gliding it along the surface, grinding the roughness away. When the raucous yelling began, she tossed the shell in a start, bobbling it like a ball until she finally caught it. You're not going anywhere, fishie! You're mine, alllll mineeee! A sun-bleached brow lifted slowly as the man began to appear a trifle more 'noteworthy'. He still had not seen her, perhaps she ought to make her way to her moored Casinor and leave him be. She could hear Chev's voice telling her to 'get the hell out of there, Sunfish', but she was curious about this one. So she watched, and waited until he bashed the fish on a rock. She watched as the boyish look of joy lifted his carriage and planted a bright smile on his face. If there was a good time for her approach, this was it. Citrine pushed off the sand, slinging the wooden bowl across her back with the leather strap she'd attached to the underside. She tucked the smoothed piece of abalone into the folded belt that held the flowing layers of fabric to her hips. She brushed a few grains of sand from her bare stomach and the back of her skirt and took a deep breath. "That was a fine catch." Her voice was as light and inviting as Citrine, possessing no hint of malice. "I've never seen anyone fish quite like that." She stopped her approach several yards from the man, waiting to gauge the complexion of his response to her.

[Topaz Maelstrom]

The dolphin's laughter reached Elijah's ears long before he saw the dorsal fins. The sound translated into click sand whistles, trills, long snapping noises of silly joy. At first there were quite a few of them, but as the spear fisherman gutted his prize, he could tell most stayed well out in the deeper part of the surf while two strayed closer. It was a pair of oddly colored dolphins, pale in the summer sun and crystalline water. They were moving in, attracted by the scent of the blood and the splashing of the spear fisherman as he hunted in the shallows. Had he been familiar with dolphins on a whole, he would have noted they were albinos, shimmering white and iridescent in the azure water, pink eyes dancing over the waves as they peeked up out of the water.

One dolphin, even as the depth dropped off, kept moving in even as a second one was lingering out in deeper waters. Soon, the one inbound swam closer, slicing through the water, her long sleek shape shifting as it did so, loosing the dolphin form and slipping entirely back into her human shape. She surfaced not too far from the stranger standing on the shore, while trying not to stare at her sister in the sand some distance away. "Aye, me either."

Slowly, she made her ay to the shore, worried about Sunfish all alone in the company of strangers.

"Draw sharks, you will, making such a bloody mess in the water. They'll not only steal your kill but your life, if you aren't more careful." Topaz Maelstrom was wearing nothing, not from the waist up, and certainly not below the waist either. Her blue eyes were bright with mischief but wary of the man's spear as well. "You aren't from around here, are you? Nor Svefra either, not with them hazel eyes... These be Svefra waters, you know, and stealing our fish is frowned upon. You'll have to pay a fine for the fish, taking its life so sloppily, that is, if you want to leave these waters alive." The girl said with casual ease.

Oh, she wasn't joking, not really. This one'd better have a sense of humor and give as good as he got, or else they'd run him clean off the Suvan. Svefra were svefra and the stranger definitely wasn't svefra. If he had nothing to trade and wasn't trusted among them, then he was good for nothing but dying out in the southern suvan.

[Elijah Tidalwave]

The shock caused by too many things in a too short timespan to handle it all well, caused Elijah to stumble over the flat rock on the beach in an attempt to create a distance between him and human voice behind him. As he fell on one knee and turned around with his spear gripped tightly in his hands he stared petrified and in disbelief at the beautiful woman standing on the shore. For a fraction of a second he wanted to go over to her and touch her just to see if she was real and not a figment of his imagination. But the thought quickly escaped him as he noticed her blue eyes, just before the clicking noises from the ocean penetrated his eardrum. His brown eyes shifted from the woman to the ocean where he saw nothing but the recycling waves washing up onto the shore. He focused his attention back on the mysterious woman and pointed his spear at her while standing in a pose that indicated he was ready to be pounced by a predator. Careful, scared, astonished and intrigued were a few of the things passing through his body as he tried to take in what was going on right now. He moved his trembling jaw to open his mouth and speak to the woman, but then he saw a fin slash through the water before it retracted and another woman appeared. Elijah was completely freaking out right now, these women weren't human. In his mind they were predators on the hunt for human flesh, eventhough they were both downright gorgeous women, he saw nothing but creatures out for his blood. Fortunately for him he wasn't brave enough to attack them nor run away from them. Otherwise he would have surely met his early demise and have cast away his life merely because of a misunderstanding. His eyes were fixated on the women, gliding rapidly back and forth from blue eyes to blue eyes as his spear and pose were still ready for a sudden attack. Then, it all became clear. Or clearer, at least. The brownhaired woman who appeared last started to speak about him not being from around here, about these waters belonging to the Svefra, about him not being a Svefra. He still breathed heavily and stayed on guard but he no longer threatened by them, nor did he mean to threaten them so he planted his spear buttfirst in the sand and spoke to the women. " I know the ways of the Svefra, I know who these waters belong to and I know I'm rightfully fishing in these waters like they were my own. " He made a broad waving motion with his arm in the direction of the Suvan Sea as he spoke. Continueing his speech with a loud tone of voice, he said: " I am a Svefra, I was born without the blessing of Laviku, according to OUR kin. I was saved by my parents, who could not give up their CHILD! They left EVERYTHING as a result of the Svefra ways. So do NOT say, that I am not a Svefra. " His speech became audibly intense and filled with frustration and pent up rage, rage but not hate. He was a Svefra alright, and no matter what happend in the past, he would not forsake his origin. But right now he was releasing his inner demons. His eyes locked onto the blue eyes of the brownhaired woman standing waistdeep in the flowing water, he continued: " If you do not believe me, you can do two things. Ask someone who lives long enough to tell the disgraceful fate of the Tidalwave pod. " He pointed in the direction of his Calindor behind him without breaking eye contact with the woman, and said: Or strike my ship ....and see what happens.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

Citrine stood, digging her toes into the sand as the man in the water stared at her as though she were some kind of apparition. She kind of liked it, not really used to captivating men when in the company of her sisters, and even more so when in the company of her brothers, so she just stood there quietly, the light breeze making her pale blonde hair dance around her shoulders. When she heard the chittering laughter of the dolphin, and then caught sight of the pale figure cutting through the water, her eyes widened and a smile turned up the corner of her mouth. "Uh oh.. you're in trouble now.. " Her words were spoken under her breath not meant for public consumption, but was she talking about the man, or herself with those words. Topaz emerged from the surf like a goddess, and her words rained down on the stranger with elegant force. She could see the posture of the man change with every word out of Topaz' mouth, he visually shrank from her while the fire in his eyes grew. This could be bad. As the man spoke of his heritage, and rightful place, she watched and listened, and when he invited attack upon himself, his voice raising nearly to a thundering shout, she decided to speak up. Mostly in protection of her sister, though inside she knew very well she could take care of herself, and as well with a share of hoping the situation might resolve without bloodshed. Frankly, after his treatment of the fish, she thought it would be very messy. "It's lucky you caught that fish, because I think you may have cleared the seas with your words, just now. We're quite close, there's really no need to shout." Her eyes fixated on the spear still poised in his hand, noting the well worn appearance of it. This man was not a stranger to using his weapon. The head of a Sealion, her Cyrus, breached the surface off the man's left side, and Citrine faced a moment of panic. She quickly made a fist with her left hand and brushed the palm of her right over the flattened top toward the Sealion, at which point it slipped below the surface again. "Cyrus." Her chin lifted toward the spot where he'd been, hoping explanation would help to stay the spear of the volatile Svefra. "Tidalwave is it?" She looked at Topaz with a shrug, searching for any sign of recognition the name might have stirred in her sister, then her eyes returned to the stranger. "I think you are before my time." Standoffs were not her thing, so she once again, made herself comfortable, coiling herself into a compact form on the beach, arms wrapped around bent legs, and wide blue eyes watching every move of her companions. "We're Maelstrom. Citrine and Topaz." Her hand lit on the center of her chest at the mention of her name, and fanned out toward Topaz at its cue. She knew that she had no intention of attacking the man's ship, though if Topaz seized upon his challenge, she would heartily stand at her sister's side, so to speak. But their action remained to be seen, if it were up to her, they would not fight, the sun was too warm, and the sea too inviting. "How long have you been away...Mr....Tidalwave?" With her chin resting on her knees, she waited for the situation to diffuse or explode.

[Topaz Maelstrom]

It was probably unfortunate that the Tidewater had returned to the sea and the first duo he'd ran across were Maelstroms. It might have gone smoother if it'd been someone else's pod entirely, but the Maelstroms were always trouble and kept to the traditional ways of the svefra. They'd never accept someone without blue eyes as Svefra. Sure, if they proved themselves competent sailors and decent swimmers that'd be one thing, but if they just wanted to belong because they had a Laviku mark or had the indecency to be born to a Zvefra mother without the blue eyes, then they were fooling themselves.

Topaz, with a pointed look at Citrine that clearly said 'distract him Sunfish' took advantage of Elijah's anger and outburst to move down the waterline, skirting the seething maybe-svefra-maybe-not and causally gave his Casinor a once over. The ship was just too heavy for her to heave back into the waves, most were in fact, but the high tide would pick it right up again and have it floating free.

"She's right. You don't need to shout. And if you were actually Svefra, you'd know how we feel about people with hazel eyes. And if your parents were really Svefra, they'd know too. Laviku gives us eyes the color of the sea because we are of the sea. It reminds us of who and what we are and where we came from. Not to have blue eyes is a curse. Are you cursed, angry man?" She parroted, a smile curling the corners of her mouth. It was ever so much fun to bait the stranger who was yelling at them about a pod that they'd never heard of and one they didn't actually care about regardless.

"If the Tidelwave?... Tidlepool?... pod produced a bunch of hazel-eyed land dwellers, no wonder its gone now. They must have upset the Father something fierce." She glanced over her shoulder at her sister, a smile fleeting across her face. It was a warning to Sunfish too. Her gaze said 'be ready to run' which was enough to tell citrine she should keep the water just on the edge of her flight zone, so the man couldn't cut her off from the sea.

Topaz turned her attention back to the ship beached and reached out to touch its hull.

"Ships decent. But it could be stolen. Stealing someone's Casinor isn't very hard, though I've heard of none gone missing for a while. It's not rigged completely properly, not like a real blue-eyed svefra would rig it, but its been beached decently and its hull is in good shape." She commented absently.

Then she offered him a sugary sweet smile and began working on her nails using her morphing. Slowly, without drawing notice to them she focused on them, thickening them, sharpening them and making them more clawlike than the week nails humans usually had. Sunfish was armed, but Topaz was still wearing what she came into the world with: nothing.

[Talgir Moontide]

Beneath the cool aquamarine of the island waters, blood seeped out from the fish and wisped on the open tide. Other fish swam through it, then away, scattering as they sensed a presence approaching from beyond the dappled darker blue of the open sea. Two shapes, near twelve feet long and sleek as a spear in flight came slicing through the shadows. At first they simply circled, testing the shallower water while still premonitions at the edge of sight, but as Elijah began shouting, one strafed through the water with a casual speed only given to some of the larger fish species. As it passed through the fish still circling their island home, its jaw snapped once, twice, and blood flourished in the waves.

But the creature was already changing, growing, shifting, and as it hit the shallows of the shore not feet from the Casinor and Topaz, the dark rubbery skin of the shark now sported legs and arms, then shoulders and tangled blonde hair. Black eyes refocused as the blue of sea waves bled into them, receding the darkness to just two small orbs in the center.

Talgir twisted from the sea naked as he'd entered the world, bones reshaping and snapping with a hissing language of cracks and groans. His tavan, Tycho, strafed back into the shelter of the deeper blue, a constant phantom presence but not so forward as to unnerve the tavans of others. Water fell from his skin and beaded against weathered flesh, burnt bronzed and hardened by the ambient forces above and below the tideline. He wasn't smiling, not at first, his teeth still sharp and jagged from his transformation. His tongue resided in the back of his mouth, quiet and waiting for the chance to lick the salt from his lips. After a moment he grinned and licked his lips, cracking his neck to assure himself of shape.

His nudity was hardly pressing, a foregone conclusion for most Svefra who lived as naturally as they could. Clothes and modesty were for those who had a society dependent on appearance. The Svefra communed with the sea, their peers were the fish and the birds who cared nothing of fabric.

Topaz again, he smiled, and her lovely sister.

Where one Maelstrom went, another was sure to follow...a law he wished his own pod observed.

He strode through the waves, kicking them back as he approached the shore. Sound was different in the waves, and he wasn't sure what the conversation had been about. He only observed the distance between the two sisters, the claws sprouting from Topaz's fingers, and the brown eyed stranger on the shore. Was he trouble? Certainly he couldn't be, not against two Svefra now three...but he would be a fool to judge a situation by sight only.

"Someone left me a trail to follow," he murmured, eying the dead fish beneath Elijah, "You?"

He strode beside Topaz, maintaining a distance of at least several meters between them. He smiled at the stranger, but joy only touched his eyes when he nodded to the Malestroms, welcome sights on the Suvan. "What have we here?" He asked Topaz and Citrine, glancing between the two of them before nodding at Elijah, "Marooned sailor or..." he looked at the Casinor Topaz was touching. Not hers certainly, nor Citrines. "A thief perhaps?"

[Elijah Tidalwave]

' Another one. ' Was all that passed through Elijah's mind as he stared blankly at the newcomer, a male now, Svefra no doubt. He hadn't heard much about the Svefra magic but apparently many of the Svefra wield the magic to transform into water or travel through water in a disguised way, either way, he didn't care about that right now. He started to become aware of the situation he was in, a relatively hostile and provocative atmosphere lingered and eventhough he was the one with a weapon, he was hesitant to strike. But no matter what, if the Casinor would be struck, blood would be shed. After all, it's a Svefra Law to protect your ship and treat it as an extension to the soul. His spear still planted in the sand, Elijah hoped it would indicate that he would prefer to avoid conflict. Next thing he knew, he was smiling and couldn't help but laugh. " My first contact with humans in a long time, and this is how it turns out. Must have pissed off Laviku indeed, for him having such fate for me, having send me such bittersweet treats even now. " He then spoke to the most recent appearance, the man, with a lighthearted tone of voice and a smile, shaking his head briefly before he spoke, he said: " No thief here, just a mere non-blue-eyed Svefra who has survived thanks to his pod. Whether you believe me or not is up to you. " In one smooth motion he turned his head and body to the friendliest one of them all, the blone woman that seemed to have started this chain of events, albeit probably against her will. " Tidalwave, yes, Elijah Tidalwave is my name... Citrine? That's a beautiful name, suiting for a woman such as yourself. " The last part just added itself without thought, as he was speaking to her the carefree attitude mixed with the stunning beauty became crystalclear. It had been hidden behind his emotions of fear and anger up 'till now. He smiled rather hastily and timidly before turning to face "Topaz". For a shortlived period of time he simply stared at her and seemed to be chewing lightly on something, eventhough he had nothing in his mouth. Then he brushed his beard with the mouse of his hand and said: " I do not care whether you approve of me or not, believe me or not, like me or not. " He swallowed insults and a reprimandal speech, she didn't seem like the type of person that accepts logic if it wasn't in her benefit. He continued: " ... I lived this life because of a superstitious rule that isn't even mentioned in the Svefra Law, but I do not hate nor resent the Svefra for it. The world does not revolve around one man, nor does it wheep when one man cries. I have no need for sympathy nor understanding, I just want you to know that I mean no harm, nor foul, to any of you. " He made little to no handgestures while talking, what he did do subsconsciously was having a bent arm next to his side and keeping his hand open, as to invite her to accept his unspoken offer, to have a truce of sorts.

[Marrow Moontide]

There was blood in the water.

The realization of that hit the long, lightly striped tiger shark as it strafed along the sand of the seafloor, followed by an identical shark. Both wound around eachother gracefully, keeping wary of eachother's ever working jaws but generally at ease. The scent of the blood in the water was enough to catch their attention, though, and as one both sharks turned towards it.

The twin sharks lifted closer to the surface, their sharp dorsal fins cutting out of the water as they approached an island, the source of the blood. Both of these two tiger sharks had names, although one was not a true shark. As they came to the rising of the shore, this became apparent, for one shark split off to circle the waters restlessly, and then strafe the sands deeper in, as the other began to morph, to shift her form into that of a slender, naked, blue-eyed young woman with sweeping tattoos marking her face and the tattoo of her pod on her lower back.

Marrow Moontide stood in the shallow water, dismissing her own nudity as she worked her fingers back into her usual slender ones, her bones cracking, her muscles writhing, as she took her own true form. Once she was complete, she stretched and made her way up the sandy beach, laughing as she recognized members of the Maelstrom pod, and the son of the Lia of the Moontide pod himself: dear old Talgir. Her eyes flashed last onto the form of a man with the fish that had caused the blood scent in the waters she had been wandering. She assumed he was Svefra, until she realized he had just finished an angry tirade about them, and had hazel coloured eyes. At once, anger curled in the pit of her stomach, although she only laughed as carelessly as ever.

Her blue eyes observed the man, judging his claim to be of the Svefra kin, and she shook her head in exasperation, salt-caked drying hair the colour of reddish copper whipping at her own sun-kissed flesh. No Svefra had eyes other than the varying shades of blue. This thief was mocking their culture. Someone should drown him now.

Turning her eyes to Talgir, she sighed. "Who found this loud-mouthed thief first?" She asked the man.

[Citrine Maelstrom]

Topaz could very well have been named Mischief, and people thought that Citrine was bad, they never seeming to make the connection as to where her wicked streak had found its source. As with all of the Maelstrom pod, there existed a non verbal shorthand between Topaz and her sister, and the look directed at Citrine held equal measures of shenanigan and caution. With so much going on, there was no note of her hand as it crept to her back to curl around the handle of her dagger, if only for confirmation. The Tidalwave's attention was on Topaz still, that it until the emergence of Talgir from the sea. She felt a small pang of sympathy for the stranger as more and more 'proven' Svefra began to float to shore, carried by the arms of the Suvan. A bright smile was offered to Talgir, she liked him, he had kind eyes that seemed always to carry a smile. A lilting bit of laughter escaped her lips, the seventeen year old's reaction to the slow equalization and possible outnumbering of clothed to naked, though she had no fear or discomfort with being naked, her skin was so fair, that it never seemed very wise to her. Just as her sister's graceful hand began to alter itself, adding crag and nail to the landscape of its appearance, Talgir chimed in about a thief. Her eyes shifted to the Tidelwave, only to find him looking at her. With her head cocked to one side, she listened to his words, and how they seemed to dredge through honey on their way to her. When attention was turned to Topaz, she too looked at her sister, a smile and a shrug offered in response. "He certainly has a good eye." She laughed, always thinking herself the plainest of the Maelstroms, with her vanilla hair and skin. "I don't think him a thief, but the color of those eyes certainly is out of the ordinary." Her decision was not made, though precedence certainly existed not to trust the stranger, she found herself enjoying the moment, and his influence upon it. "Elijah is a good solid name for the honey tongue." She flashed a grin between Topaz and Talgir. The moment was once again gathering momentum with the addition of the handsome Moontide, and she sat back and watched, her own sense of mischief supplying the yin to her sister's yang. She was the island of sympathy, while Topaz was the rushing wave pushing with her own brand of intoxicating force toward the shore, between the two of them, they had caught another unsuspecting sailor in their beguiling little trap. A happy bit of laughter emerged from her throat at the naked outnumbered the clothed with the addition of what she could only guess was a younger Moontide. On my, poor Elijah. She thought to herself, but the words that emerged said nothing of the sort. "Now -this- is a proper party!"