Closed [Sunset Falls] Rendezvous

[Aladari Coolwater]

OOCHoooly shit I forgot this was going on until I saw you were in Riverfall.

Aladari couldn't say she was a fan of the Skullcrows. Yes, they had been common in Sunberth, and she had slowly grown used to them, but she still didn't like them. They had an eerie feeling to them despite their innocent wide eyes. It was almost as if they didn't know they were an omen of death. She did have to admit that this one seemed to like Grim, though, and that was enough for her to trust the crow.

She watched the bird watch them with a cocked head between the empty eyes of a humanoid skull. Who was that? She wondered. Skulls don't just grow on trees. Who's mother was that? Who's son? It gave her chills to think of.

Ironically, the chilled water helped warm her up a little in its familiarity, and so she splashed it up on to her thighs. It seemed Grim felt the same way, since he soon shed his shirt as well. Aladari couldn't help but stare- both at his bare skin and at the faint coloration in his arm. Though if anyone was familiar with colors it would be the Vantha, it still gave her pause when people sported colors in their hair or in tattoos on their skin. Was it confusing to them, when they looked in the mirror and saw something that wasn't their own on their body? She had half a mind to ask Grim if this was the case, but she wasn't so sure that what he had was a tattoo and was having too much fun to risk insulting him.

When she realized she'd been staring, she darted her eyes away, instead pretending to focus on a particularly smooth rock she had picked up from the bank. Grim didn't seem to have noticed. He was busy enjoying the water, ducking underneath and resurfacing with small splashes.

After a tick, he commented, 'Although, I wish I knew how to swim."

Aladari shook her head. "Wrong person." She told him. "I ain't know since I was a lil' kid. I cain sail, sure. But tha's bein' on the water and ridin' it. Is different from bein' part of it."

She wouldn't admit it, but her heart had nearly stopped when he ducked under the water. All she could see each time he did so was his face bluing, and his limbs beginning to float in the water. She closed her eyes against the mental image, but it didn't go away.

"I never wanna know how. If I fall in the water, is up to Laviku to save me, 'a'cause I ain't got nothin' else." She faked a smile as if it were a joke. In reality, it was one of the main causes of her worship of Laviku. She truly could think of no one else who could save her; her parents weren't around her anymore and they were the only ones who knew a sailor like her couldn't swim.

Well, them, and now Grim.

She had never been one to back down though, and with the perceived challenge ahead of her, Aladari slid a little deeper in the water. Her blood slowed in her veins when she left the comforting contact of the rock, causing her face to pale. She breathed slowly, trying to ignore the fact that she could feel her pulse in her gut and her heart in her throat.

"'Less someone else is 'round to save me." Aladari almost muttered it as she waddled in. She couldn't speak much louder than a whisper from fear for being so deep in the water, but nonetheless, she kept going. She made it almost waist deep before stopping and breathing to herself a few more times. In...Out...You're okay. Over and over she played reassuring thoughts in her head.

Finally, she looked Grim in the eye. "So you ain't allowed on my ship 'less you learn 'ow to swim." She said sternly, breaking the tension as best she could with a breathy laugh. "We needa get a teacher for us." Reaching out to rub some warmth into his blue arm, she amended, "An' maybe a doctor, jus' in case."

[Grim Ravenwood]

¤

Grim's arm shuddered underneath her fingers, the warmth of her touch being the only one he felt at the moment, even though he was slowly getting used to the temperature of the water. His thin eyebrow arched upwards in wonder, as to why the somewhat concerned look as she took note of his arm, the doctor-

Oh...

Only then did he remember how the few 'friends' he had during his lacking childhood called him once they saw it, differently did they perceive him. Weird. Odd. Strange. And, even though his mother, a proud Isurian woman, always reminded him to not be ashamed of the blood that runs trough his veins, the Eiyon never seemed to be able to completely shrug the feeling off, that he was at the end, different. "Oh, this?" Grim asked, raising his arm slightly. "Mother be Isur, that make me half-Isur, and we have arms like this." He attempted to explain, though one could notice that he felt uneasy speaking about it. Just then, he caught himself almost panicking as he though what would her reaction be as she found out. Would she... What was he thinking? The whole world has gone mad hunting Vantha, and there he was having never received more than a laugh at his expense. For a moment, he felt ashamed of the thoughts that crossed his mind.

"But more importantly..." He quickly said afterwards, changing the subject. "A sailor that can't swim!?" He asked, in a voice filled with both mock surprise and amazement. Though in truth, he was, indeed, quite surprised. Did sailing and swimming not go hand in hand? Just one slip of her foot would be enough to send her into a watery grave. One of his hands raised to his face, stroking his unshaved chin in slow circles, while the other one crossed over his chest. Stormy gray eyes moved over the Vantha, then over the river, and back to the woman. "Now, we can't have that, can we?" Grim asked, making some distance between them.

"Father try teach me to swim when i little, said most important part is be calm, and breathe." The raven haired man said as his hands raised over the water level, a foul chill stinging them each time wind would brush against his wet skin. Yet, they remained where they are. "But i never calm, always afraid i sink and never come up, always afraid i drown." He added before beginning to move further into the depths, his hands moving as he did, maintaining balance against the gentle current.

"But, death is something i am no longer afraid of." He worded in common, before sending a last smile over his shoulder. The water level began scaling up his body, only for him to completely disappear in a single dive, becoming nothing more than a blur to those on the surface.

Grim held underneath for quite a few ticks more than necessary, remaining in a crouched position. For those few moments, he asked himself why was he doing something that was, in reality, dangerous. Aladari could not swim, and his crow certainly could not pull him out. He could, very well, die now. Yet, the thought came to him mundane as if he was asking himself what was he going to have for dinner later that day. Speaking of, there was a very promising butcher's shop close to where he was residing, tempting him each time he would pass by it, maybe... Oh right, air!

Planting his feet securely on the stony bottom, he bent his knees, pushing with enough force to send him upwards. He took a deep breath the moment he felt the pressure of the cold water around him replaced by the scents of the forest, and did just as his father told him. Grim relaxed completely.

Now on his back, he floated around seemingly without any effort. Arms and legs spread out, moved only by the will of the water. He could not help but smile at his little success. However, this was still not swimming. Both his hands began moving in an uneven, though fluid motion, pushing the water around as they did. To an experienced swimmer, his moves were amazingly clumsy and inefficient, but, he did did move, he actually managed to move.

Underneath, Grim spied a raised rock, one both tall and wide enough to stand on without issue. Thus, before the current could carry him far, the scythe wielder combated the river's flow, and eventually reached the stone he set as his destination. All the while, the beaming smile atop his face never faded. What more, his usually stony pale cheeks were gaining some color, must be the water.

"Who need teachers?" He asked in a way that was more of a statement than a question. His hand brushed against his forehead, removing the damp strands of hair that whipped his face against the wind, only to extend it forwards, toward the Vantha. At that point, she could see the mark on his palm, one taking the form of a scythe. Though it was possible to mistake it as a tattoo, like other mark, they appeared to be much more a part of a person than simple ink.

"Come, now you try." He suggested, offering both a helping hand and an encouraging smile. "No worry, i got you."

Still, thinking that she might need a little more encouragement, Grim cleared his throat, before saying. "What would your family say if they knew a tikita bested you in swimming?" He asked in a playful tone as he jabbed at her pride, his gray eyes gesturing towards his still extended hand.