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[Uleru]

80th of Winter
Year 514
13th Bell

"Well, sir, I have no idea what your talking about", Uleru sniffs, trying out her new Alvadas accent.

“Its right there! Right there! I'm looking at it!' the sailor she is teasing howls with frustration. "By Laviku's salty balls, I'm looking right at it!"

"Laviku's balls are none of your business," the Otani snorts indignantly, pretending to look affronted, "Unless you are privy to them regularly. And I assure you, that can be arranged."

Whatever the young sailor might be thinking about turns him a sickly shade of green. Uleru meanwhile swings her hips back and forth like a pendulum in a mischievous little dance, her lips thinning to keep from smiling. A trickle of people pass the loudly arguing pair, but nobody seems to want to get involved. Though a few eyes do pass over Uleru where she is standing on the low pier wall a foot or so above the young sailor, naked except for a smile, obviously immune to the bitting cold.

The sailor has every right to be upset, yet it's quite fun watching him turn colors on command; from an angry red to a frustrated purple, until finally settling on the sickly green of limp cabbage. It's what is behind Uleru's back that has him so overwrought. It's pretty heart pendant made of gold, obviously intended for the young mans sweetheart, and probably worth half of his savings. Not only did she snatch it out of his fidgeting, nervous hands, she has the audacity to hide the precious thing behind her back. Quite a poor hiding spot, really, as he can see it plainly through her torso.

The sailor seems to be recovering from the talk of godly testicles, and his color seeps back into an angry red. He chooses his next words carefully, all too aware he is talking to one of sea kings servants. "How about... How about I pay you for it, eh?" he starts, his mustache twitching with a horribly forced smile. "Maybe a tribute? For Laviku?" he emphasizes the last word, knowing it's the magical word to calm the tricky monsters.

And indeed he has Uleru's attention. Her head tips to the side like a questioning child. "Will you give me blood?"

"Yes!" the sailor sighs in relief, "yes, buckets of blood, all the blood you want!"

His hand appears in front of her, coaxing as if from a dog he's unsure of. "Can i have that back then, please?"

But Uleru's fickle attention has been caught by something else, dragging her eyes away from the encroaching hand and right over his head. Just in time for her to see some sort of leggy, jewel bright creature vault over a small sack outside a apothecary, and disappear down a nearby alley.

Her first thought is of the tiny, colorful fish that you find darting around the coral in warmer waters.

Except that was not a fish.

And this is not the water.

The sailor whistles to catch the monsters attention again. Indeed it's quite like he's calling a dog. But Uleru has found something new, so she can let go of this game.

She takes the necklace from behind her back and pushes it into the sailors hand. Giving him a quick smile and a pat on the head as a thank-you for the agonizing game she put him through. Then she hops off the low wall and pads towards the alley where she saw the thing disappear. The street is farther from the water than she likes to be, making her glance back every few paces like it might vanish in a puff of smoke.

Finally -with one more glance back- she rounds the apothecary and peers into the narrow alley for the pseudo fish. But not only is the alley empty, it comes to a dead end not a yard from the main street. Huh, she finds herself thinking. This place is fast becoming the strangest place she has ever visited. Even more so than that little Sahovan island, where the port is manned by nothing but mechanical men.

Her gills push out a long sigh as she mentally adds this to the growing list of strange things she has witnessed in her short time in Alvadas. And then she turns back towards the docks-

-Only to smack straight into a cobblestone wall.

No sound, no warning, nothing. The docks, the people, and her precious sea have vanished behind a wall that seemed to grow, plant-like, from the cobbled street.

“No.” she breaths, stepping back and shaking her head as if to dislodge the sight from her mind. “No. That’s not possible. No. No. No No.”

She presses her ear against the stone, tries to climb it, tries to find a way around it. But she cant. The moulding stands there in the middle of the deserted street, feeling each breath pull through her gills. Silently counting down how many she has left until she dries out.

One breath.

Two breaths...

Pressing the heels of her hands into the side of her head, Uleru doubles over and lets out a single, unearthly shriek of panic.

[Shiloh Walker]

It had been a very successful afternoon. Shiloh had been hoping to stop by Matilda's Jewels to drop of several shiny baubles he'd found a few days back, but the city had been rather stubborn about letting him get there. As soon as he'd stopped thinking about it, there he was, standing in front of the little shop tucked away between two larger, much more impressive buildings, as it always was. Grinning, Shiloh pushed open the door, a little bell chiming as he did so.

From somewhere in the back of the building, there came a frantic, "Welcome! Welcome!" As the sound of footsteps could be heard on the cool stone of the floor. Taking his time, Shiloh eased his pack from his shoulders, setting it on a table nearby, careful not to spill the many knicks and knacks from its surface. "Hello, hel-" She stopped, a slight air of confusion about her before she realized why she recognized him. "Oh, Shiloh! Have you found more treasures for me today, then?"

Nodding, Shiloh opened up his pack, sorting through the other two packages before withdrawing a several necklaces, a ring, and three sparkling round things. "Oh! How wonderful!" Matilda wasted no time in snatching the articles out of his hands, holding them up to the light, peering at the individual pieces through squinted eyes. "What in Ionu's name are these things?" The three spheres balanced in her palm as she extended them for Shiloh's inspection.

"Mmm..." A contemplative look spanned Shioh's face as he looked at the round artifacts. "Sparkly balls?"

Matilda nodded, an air of seriousness about her. "I think you're right, Shiloh." She nodded again, rolling them about in her hand by a slight gyration of her fingers. "They most certainly are sparkly balls." Turning a fierce eye on the young man, she spat out, "How much do you want for them?" She waited for half a breath before holding up a hand to keep him from responding. "No-no. I won't give you more than five golds."

Shiloh's eyes widened. That was more than enough money to get him through the next dozen days. "Fine. Fine, seven silvers it is." Deflating somewhat, Shiloh nodded, knowing better than to try to haggle a price with Matilda. He found he was rather lucky to have her pay him anything at all most times he brought her something interesting. Seeing his less than ecstatic reaction, she raised a brow, huffing slightly. "Ten silvers and a muffin."

At the word "muffin", Shiloh's eyes lit up. "Deal!"

They shook hands, though both extended their left as Matilda held the jewelry in her right. "Excellent. Wonderful." She tucked the things into her pocket as she bustled away, disappearing into the mess of baubles and trinkets. Anxiously waiting, Shiloh picked up a large, gold flaked key, tracing the sloppy lines of craftsmanship until she returned, a muffin in one hand and five silvers in the other. Shoving them at him, Matilda rolled her eyes. "I swear you're raising your prices. Next time, I expect a fair trade." To which Shiloh nodded, taking a large bite of the partially burned muffin.

The following flavor was something like a mix of steak and potatoes with a hint of something sour. Lemons, maybe. Grinning his pleasure, Shiloh stuffed four silvers into his pocket, handing one back to Matilda. "You said a muffin, not an Alvad muffin." Snatching the silver out of his fingers, Matilda just laughed, tucking the coin into her seemingly bottomless pockets as she scurried away, though not before offering a "Buy something next time."

Waving goodbye to the woman's back, Shiloh stepped back out into the street, only to be met with a terrifying scream. Almost jumping out of his skin, Shiloh quickly turned to run back into the store and hide, but the only thing behind him was a crumbling brick wall with a scant bit of moss growing in the cracks of the mortar. In a slight panic, Shiloh headed in what he believed to be the opposite direction of where the noise had originated. The streets of Alvadas were about as safe as dancing on small pillars surrounded by fire. Shiloh knew he was meant to hear the sound, but he couldn't decide if fate had meant it as a warning or a prelude to disaster. The best way to find out was through action, so he took it, dashing down a pathway with naught but a slight yelp of fear.

As fate would have it, Shiloh rounded a corner to be met with one of the stranger illusions he'd seen in awhile. Before him, hunched and shaking, was what seemed to be a mass of water that had taken on a loose human form. Slowing to a walk, Shiloh cautiously approached, tightening the straps of his rucksack in case the illusion was hostile. "H-Hello?" Uncertain what to do, Shiloh just inched closer and closer, his body itching in wait to respond to any sudden movement. "Little soggy thing? Are you- are you all right?" His voice had risen to a whispered tenor, and Shiloh found his knees shaking slightly. Having lived his entire life in a port city, he'd never once gone swimming. The ocean in all of its endless expanse and rolling waves was absolutely terrifying.

[Uleru]

The scream has soothed her nerves somewhat. Like letting steam out of a kettle to relive the pressure. But still she stays hunched and breathing shallowly. If there was any time where a meditated state would be useful, it would be now. But she cant seem to reach that crucial state. So with eyes closed and lips moving soundlessly, she silently prays to her god for help to come...

"Hello? Little soggy thing? Are you- are you alright?"

WHACK.

Startled out of her pseudo-meditative state, Uleru erupts into a alarmed white and slaps the speaker right across the face.

"What?! Oh, oh Father take you, you're just a boy." the Otani laughs weakly as she tries to catch her breath again, her left hand still pressed to the side of her head like she hopes to hold herself together. And it is a boy, or at least a young man. He has the narrow, athletic build and tousled brown hair that makes him look younger than she supposes he is. And his green eyes were wide with a twitchy sort of nervousness before she caught him across the bonse.

"I'm sorry about that- that was... ahem. Actually, I seem to have- ah, misplaced the ocean. You wouldn't happen to know the way back, would you?" she pleads, the white leaking away from her body as she forces herself back to calm.

But with calm comes clarity, and with clarity comes the realization that this male just called her the 'little soggy thing'.

WHACK.

"And I am not a little soggy thing! I'm an Otani", she sputters indignantly, her right arm thrown across her body with the follow through from slapping him across the face yet again. Being so closely tied to a god, nobody has actually had the nerve to insult her in such a forthright way before. And she is a bit taken aback by it.

[Shiloh Walker]

And as the thoughts of the terrifying ocean rose in his mind like a tidal wave, threatening to sweep his feet out from under him, there came a splash of stinging cold as the watery creature flashed a bright white before snapping out a limb to forcefully pass through his face. Caught completely off-guard, Shiloh stumbled along with the force of the blow, tripping over his feet and landing hard on the side of his elbow and shoulder. A slight explosion of stars had burst at the moment of impact, and now proceeded to cloud Shiloh's vision as he shook his head, too surprised to really feel the force of the fall for the time being. "Buh!"

"What?! Oh, oh Father take you, you're just a boy." She didn't seem entirely apologetic, which only served to further his confusion, though the pain had started to set in. Groaning, Shiloh picked himself up off the ground, tenderly rubbing his elbow and working his jaw in slight movements, his mouth open slightly. I'm sorry about that- that was... ahem. Actually, I seem to have- ah, misplaced the ocean. You wouldn't happen to know the way back, would you? "I'm sorry about that- that was... ahem. Actually, I seem to have- ah, misplaced the ocean. You wouldn't happen to know the way back, would you?" He blinked at her a few times. His face completely uncomprehending.

First, she'd slapped him straight out, no questions asked. Apparently, she'd decided she'd been in the wrong, and had indeed apologize. What she asked after, a favor, was entirely out of the blue, the question, the box. Shiloh continued rubbing his elbow, staring at the strange watery creature that had a very distinctively female voice as she slowly faded from her white tint. "You misplaced it? Wouldn't it be the other way-" Before he could finish, another strike was issued forth, this time it connected with the other side of his face, sending him sprawling, though still standing.

Whirling about, Shiloh blinked some more, moving his hand to cover the now damp area she'd just passed through. "And I am not a little soggy thing! I'm an Otani"

Having had enough, Shiloh finally was able to blurt out in confused and frustrated tones, "That's lovely! But do you have to hit me every time?!" As soon as the words were out, Shiloh felt immensely better, though he quickly realized he hadn't made much sense. "Er, I mean..." Rubbing out the painful sting, he looked up at the sky, pondering. When he spoke, his voice was distant, dreamy. "You see... Hitting isn't very nice. I don't like being hit." Letting his eyes regard what he now knew to be Otani, he frowned. His next words were much more factual, presented not as an opinion. "And you are soggy. Otani or not."

[Uleru]

"Ah, well, I guess so", she mumbles perplexedly when he points out that she is, indeed, soggy. "And yes, I had to hit you. You were being a ponce!"
 
She stands there in a strange mixture of fuming annoyance and wrong-footed confusion. and for one precious second she forgets just how dire her situation is. Until her mingled emotions negate enough for the paralyzing panic to hover around the edges like a circling shark.
 
"And I know it’s impossible to misplace the sea", she whines, sounding seconds away from bursting into tears. "But it was right there! I was looking at it! And then it was- it was gone!"
 
She neglects to mention the fact that the street suddenly popped up to become an impassable wall. She might be losing her mind, but she doesn't want to advertise it too loudly.
 
"You have to help me find it. I cant stay here. I'll die! I have-" she looks up at the weak winter sun, judging just how long it would take for it to kill her. "Oh, about a bell, maybe, before I suffocate" she informs him with a terribly forced air of calculating shrewdness.
 
Her eyes glaze over and she trembles for a second. There could be no worse fate than to die alone, a dried husk, away from her home and the god she has given herself to serve. Unlike a human she has no life span, so her kind could theoretically live forever if they are carful. Which means she has never had to deal with the ticking clock that the other beings live with, and she's never given great deal of thought to the concept of dying. But now that she is in this situation, she -for the first time- has to stare it squarely in the face and accept the fact that, in a bell, she might no longer exist.
 
Uleru's hands snap out again, but this time not to beat the poor boy about the head. Instead she clamps her fingers around his wrists and pulls them towards her. She pushes his palms over her own ears and listens intently to the sounds. She knows what makes the deep, steady thrumming; its the blood rushing through his hands and the bones moving in his wrists. But with her eyes closed and her breathing shallow she can imagine that the sound is the gentle, hollow music you can hear under the waves. It calms her. And with it she battles the encroaching panic.
 
One breath.
 
Two breaths...
 
With a sigh she takes his hands off her face and carefully replaces them back at his sides, as if she is giving them back.
 
"Thanks," she says weakly. "Now please, can you help me back? I can reward you. I have gold-rimmed coins and pearls and the tooth of a sea beast. I can grant you the audience of a god. I can even use reimancy to take you down to the coral bed. Please, I need your help."