|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:04 pm
Completely out cold, he started having dreams: memories of the past...a boat, being tossed around like a toy in a storm...his best friend being tossed overboard...hands holding him back as he tried to save him...Joe started to thrash.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:29 pm
Katalina flinched as her passenger began thrashing, kicking her painfully several times. Tightening her grip, she continued swimming towards the shore. She couldn't completely help the little hiss of pain that escaped her each time she was hit, but she resolutely kept on. Once they were close enough to shore, she would be able to set him down. But not now. Not nearly there yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:32 pm
Kyon jerked one last time, putting full force into it and yelled. "JOOOHHN!!" His eyes opened as he realized where he was. A girl was dragging him along, heading to shore. He realized that he must have been hitting her, based on the grimace on her face. "Uh, sorry 'bout that..." He still couldn't move very well, on account that his vision was still fuzzy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:56 pm
Katalina gasped a little when the stranger suddenly woke up. Her instinctive reaction was to drop him and get away as fast as she could.
But she'd promised Joshua that she'd get this boy to shore.
So she went on faster, her only reply a short, "Don't worry about it." She scanned desperately for Joshua or Lucian, hoping that one of them would come and distract the stranger before he fully understood where he was - and what she was.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:59 pm
Still somewhat dazed, he felt something slippery rub against his leg several times. "Eh...what keeps hitting my leg?" He cleared his vision and decided that now was a good time as ever to swim. "I am ok now. I can swim the rest of the way." He pushed himself away. As he looked down, he swore that he saw a giant fish tail. "What the..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:05 pm
"All right," Katalina replied briefly, letting go. She backed away from him, resigning herself to the inevitable. There was no way he could somehow not see the tail now that he was fully awake.
It was frightening, but not too much. Joshua had been trustworthy, after all. Maybe this boy would be, too...?
And maybe she was just delusional, trying to reassure herself when she was scared out of her mind.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:18 pm
Holding his breath, Joe sank under the water and saw that it was true: she really was a mermaid. He resurfaced. "You're...a..." He closed his eyes. "Oh, I must still be seeing things." He looked at her. "No, it's true...you're a mermaid..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:34 pm
Katalina faced him solemnly, saying nothing. She didn't know what she could say. She couldn't deny it.
Well, then. If she had nothing else to say, she might as well stick with the obvious.
With a flat shrug, she replied, "Yes."
She said nothing else, but merely gestured to him and started for shore again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:46 pm
Joe started swimming to the shore again, in need of a rest. Finally, he could walk the rest of the way. He sat down in the water, letting it wash around his waist and legs. "Sorry for being such a bother. It seems that's all I ever am to everybody. Heck, that's why I tried to leave..." His gaze drifted to the ocean. "I won't tell anyone, if that is what you are thinking. No one would listen to me anyway." A humorless laugh escaped him. "I am Joey, by the way."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:21 pm
Katalina looked around for Joshua or Lucian again. Seeing neither, she resigned herself to conversation.
"Hi," she replied. "I'm not worried."
(oh the lie the lie)
"They wouldn't believe you if you tried," she added, sounding much more confident than she felt. "They wouldn't believe anybody if they tried."
Shrugging, she rolled over in the water so that she was facing him. "You're not so bad. I've dealt with worse 'bothers' than you."
It occurred to her that Joey would expect her to introduce herself. "Katalina," she said, before remembering that there was a protocol to this kind of thing. "My name," she clarified. "It's Katalina."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:28 pm
Joshua headed for shore, towing the bag he'd rescued from the boat. He came up behind the pair as Joey introduced himself. Shaking the water from his hair, he smiled at Katalina. "Thanks Katalina." He held out the bag for Joey to take. "I'm Joshua. You had me worried for a second there." Joshua covered his worry with a smile. 'Please don't let him hurt her.' He called upon whatever gods were listening. Katalina had started to come out of her shell. 'I don't need her sent right back in.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:36 pm
Lucian watched them as they worked. Once they were out, he quickly jumped into the boat and sat down with his legs stretched out, still munching on the cookies. Water was now getting in, so he snatches the bag up. Joshua wanted him to take the boat to shore? He wasn’t sure, so he did it anyways. First he willed the water out of the boat, it flowed over the edge like a waterfall…no new water coming in at all. Looking down at the bag of cookies, he continued to scarf them down as the water pushed the boat. It was almost like he was on a small wave as it drove him towards shore. His feet kicked in joy as the chocolate melted in his mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:46 pm
Katalina turned her eyes to Joshua, relief very visible in them. With a vaguely hopeless look, she said, "He says his name is Joey." And he knows, she added. Then she dropped the telepathy; using it again so soon after so much usage earlier was giving her a mild headache.
With another bored flick at the water, she said quizzically to Joshua, "And now?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:49 pm
"A pleasure." Joe said with a smile, something that rarely happens these days. "Um...is that...my boat?!?!?" Joe watched as his boat came int on what looked to be a wave with some sort of person on it, or sea-creature. He realized something. "HEY, HE'S EATING MY COOKIES!!! I made those myself!!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
