Odd Otter [Gabrielle Seawind]

[Sari]

Timestamp: Spring 42nd, 512

Sari floated on her back, wrestling with a clam shell. When she finally got it open, she gave a small coo of pleasure and ate happily, the small waves causing her to bob up and down. The ribbon around her neck caused each swallow to hurt, but the meal was delicious. When she finished she examined the clam shell, trying to decide if she should keep it or not. But the shell was cracked, so she dropped it. Sari cleaned off the peices of clam from her stomach, as being dirty was an appalling thing to her.

Sari dove again, this time bringing up a small sea urchin. It pricked her paw and she yelped, accidentally dropping it in the process. She watched it drift down to the sea bed, but didn't go after it as her paw still stung.

Looking up, she saw a ship, so Sari swam over, as she recognized the type. It was the type of boat that had fish following it, hoping for a treat to be dropped. She hadn't had fish in a while, just clams and mussels, so this would be a treat.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

'This spot seems to be okay...' She could see the shore, and the water wasn't too deep in the parts. Gabrielle could see the corals beneath the shallow water, and there were some nearby rock formations which were being perched on by sea gulls. Gabrielle started to lower her sails as she moved around her casinor. The casinor slowed down, but since she didn't want to drop anchor, it wouldn't be staying still in one location. The small ship swayed with the wind, but the lack of sails wouldn't really move it too far. Gabrielle had to be sure that it wouldn't get close to the more shallow grounds or the rocks, though. 'Now, where is he...?' Gabrielle peered over the casinor's rail and looked into the ocean. There were fish following her boat's trail, causing her to blink in puzzlement. They probably thought she had food. Suddenly, the fish all swam away in a jiffy as a gray shadow came to the surface. Water splashed everywhere, and out came Kairo, Gabrielle's dolphin tavan. Gabrielle grinned at him, and made a move to join him in the water, when an odd sight caught her eyes. It was an otter... with a pink ribbon around its neck. It looked quite thin. Gabrielle had a barrel of small fish nearby, although she meant to give it mostly to Kairo. The dolphin gave an irritated sound as Gabrielle grabbed some of the fish and tossed it to the otter.

[Sari]

Sari watched in a mixture of surprise and amusement as a dolphin leaped out of the water in front of a boat. It seemed to be saying hello. She'd met otters before who stuck with boats, they were, Tavan was it? Yes, they're Tavan and they lived with people called Svefra. Of all the Svefra she'd seen, most seemed to be otter friendly, so Sari relaxed a bit.

Looking up, she saw the Svefra on board was throwing her some fish. Her eyes lit up in surprise. The dolphin was irritated that she'd gotten the fish instead of him. So she kept one of the fish and nosed the other towards the dolphin. She ate her fish, inwardly smiling at the taste of fish on her tongue, no matter how hard the ribbon squeezed her neck.

Mmmmmm Sari thought, closing her eyes.

Suddenly, she remembered that most people carried knives on them. The Man who'd captured her all that time ago had had one. Maybe a knife could free her! She dropped the scraps of her fish in excitement and swam over to the boat, looking for a way up. She had been on boats before, not just before the Man had taken her away, but no one ever seemed to understand that she wanted the ribbon off. Still, there was always hope.

Then a funny thought occurred to Sari. What if she'd forgotten how to shift? Wouldn't that be funny? Well, not exactly funny, but if the ribbon was off, Sari could live with anything else! Sari swam around the boat a couple of times, eyeing certain places where she might have a chance of climbing up.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

The otter was behaving strangely. It was swimming around her casinor, and Gabrielle stared at it, puzzled. Did it want to get on her boat? It didn't need to get on her boat to get the fish. Gabrielle would gladly just throw it in the sea -- it seemed to want something else. "Kairo!" called Gabrielle. She clapped her hands to get the dolphin's attention, then she did some gestures that seemed to signal helping the otter up on the ship. It was a signal Kairo was already familiar with -- she and her podmates used it when they wanted the dolphins to help someone on the ship. They usually did it for the younger and lighter children. Kairo gave a squeal and swam over to the otter. For a while, he disappeared under the water and then reappeared right under the small creature, nudging her up on the boat. Hopefully, the otter wouldn't get hurt in the process, but it was the easiest option Gabrielle could think of.

[Sari]

Sari was puzzled for a moment as the dolphin appeared under her. What on earth was he doing? When he nudged her up towards the boat she finally realized, she'd seen other tavans do the same trick. She clambered aboard gratefully.

Upon being on the deck, Sari immediately began looking for something to signal that she wanted her ribbon off. She bounded along the length and back of the ship before coming to a stop at the Svefra's feet. Taking her rock, she mimed cutting her ribbon. She repeated rubbing the rock on the strip of ribbon again, in case it hadn't been clear.

She looked hopefully up at the Svefra, looking for some form of recognition. Maybe this would be the person? The day where she could breathe easier, eat happier, live fully without something holding her back, prohibiting her from breathing, living, moving. A Kelvic could only hope...

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle found herself staring at the small creature. It was acting very strangely for an otter. It was doing something with a rock and it seemed to be... saying something? Gabrielle had seen intelligent animals before, Kairo being one of them. However, she had never seen an animal that seemed to have this much intelligence and could be able to do gestures that a human would be able to understand. "What's this?" The svefra leaned down and pointed at her neck. Was the otter telling her to remove the ribbon? Gabrielle's eyes widened. That's it, wasn't it? "Wait here," said Gabrielle as she stood up. She disappeared into her cabin and rummaged through her belongings. A minute later, she emmerged back out with an iron dagger in her hand. The svefra leaned down, and being careful not to accidentally hurt the otter, she sliced through the ribbon in one quick motion.

[Sari]

Sari waited patiently, praising all the gods she could remember the name of that she'd finally found a person who understood and didn't think she was some side-show creature-feature or something.

When the girl returned holding a knife, Sari felt bursting with happiness. The knife near her head made her flinch and tense, as it seemed to similar to that day long ago when a knife had been held up in the same fashion. But instead of poking at her face, this dagger sliced through the ribbon. Sari breathed in deeply, enjoying her first breath if fresh air without something inhibiting her.

She looked down at her ribbon and, smiling as only otters can, stomped on it, twirling around in happiness. Kicking aside the ribbon, Sari dove overboard, but came shooting back up, enjoying the feel of salt water on her newly-exposed fur. As soon as she hit deck again, Sari decided to become a human. It had been so long, how weird would it be to feel and move in too-big arms and legs?

She sat up on her hind legs, breathed deeply and tried to morph. Maybe she had forgotten? But a second later a glow spread from the tips of her ears to the webs of her toes and she felt her skin stretching, her fur retracting, and her bone elongating in a matter of seconds. Soon she found herself in human-oid form, sitting on her knees. Her long hair, the same color as her otter fur, was wet, as had been her fur before morphing. She was naked as a, well, a naked person, but she ignored it, wobbling to her feet. It felt so weird to stand!

"Thank you!" Sari said creakily in Fratavan, and she cleared her throat. "Thank you." She smiled shyly, a little unsure as to how she'd be taken.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle watched in awe as the otter, obviously delighted at the events, dove into the water. The svefra was in an even bigger surprise when she morphed into a human girl. Seeing that the otter was a kelvic made so much sense to Gabrielle now, and she mentally kicked herself for not realizing that. It was a young and skinny girl. She wasn't wearing anything, but this didn't really seem to embarrass Gabrielle. She was a svefra and nudity was not an issue to her. Despite not being embarrassed though, Gabrielle knew that it would be best to hand this kelvic some clothes. She didn't seem to have anything with her. "You're welcome," said Gabrielle in the Fratavan language as well. "What... what happened though? Who put that thing around your neck? And do you have a name?" The svefra stood there and observed the young kelvic. Her eyes were filled with concern, and she felt pity for this poor creature. She had found this kelvic, all alone, and evidently the ribbon around her neck had been keeping her from morphing. "Wait here," she said. She once again retreated to her cabin and started rummaging in her belongings. Gabrielle knew she had some clothes that she could give the girl. Finally, she found some simple looking clothes. The svefra went back to her deck and handed it to the girl. oocFeel free to describe the clothing. Just remember that it's just something simple. Consider it a gift!

[Sari]

"It's a bit of a long story." Sari grinned a little. "I'm Sari. Or that's the name my mother would call me. I haven't been called that in a long time..." She shrugged sadly.
"When I was young some man caught me and tied the ribbon around my neck and I think wanted to sell me as a slave, but it never happened." She looked out towards the sea, trying to shake the memories away.
"I eventually escaped, but I was starving. I learned to live with the ribbon, but I've hated having it the moment it was on. I can't say how thankful I am!" She rose up on her toes in excitement, but calmed herself.
"Oh, what's your name?" She blinked curiously, ignoring the slight pity she saw in her savior's eyes.
A sea breeze swept past and Sari shivered a bit. She missed her fur. The Svefra must've noticed, as she graciously brought some simple clothes. A slightly large light blue shirt and light brown pants were a second best to her fur, but Sari fell in love with them immediatly. It took her a few tries to get the buttons on the shirt, but when she did, she looked like any Svefra you might see. The sleeves hung to her wrists, but Sari rolled them up to her elbows. She rolled the pants up a bit too, as they hung past her feet. Being small was such a bother sometimes...
"Oh, they're wonderful!" She exclaimed softly. "Thank you so much!"

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle listened to the kelvic's story. It was a sad story, one that made the svefra feel sympathetic. It also made her curious -- she wondered what had happened to the man, but she kept herself from asking. "My name's Gabrielle," she said in reply to Sari's question. Kairo made a squeaking sound, and Gabrielle realized that he must be hungry. The svefra leaned down and tossed him some fish from her bucket. He could find fish very easily on his own, but he was spoiled. "The dolphin is Kairo." The clothes that she had given Sari seemed oversized, but the girl made it work. In a way, Sari now resembled any other svefra. Coincidentally, she even had the blue eyes that were characteristic to a person of the race. "No problem," replied Gabrielle. "What are your plans now? The city of Syliras is near here, so I can bring you there if you want... the place is a mess because of the storm, but it's the closest civilization." She decided to choose her words cautiously, as she wasn’t familiar with kelvics. Maybe they liked being in the wilds, and if was that case, Sari might want to be left behind.