Ocean Shadows Event

Aborakota looks on in stunned silence as the stranger slips back under the water as if they'd never been there. The water that dripped off their body was the only sign of their presence. Before he can finish registering what happened he's throwing his scuba gear on. He can sense Livia coming up beside him and he twists around, a wild excited look in his eye.

"Want me to join?" Livia asks him.

Aborakota nods his head rapidly, unable to speak, and hands Livia his gear. He hears his partner chuckle as Livius walks up.

"We're going back in the water to meet the strangers, do you want to join us?" Livia asks.

Livius grins nervously, "I do! I'm really curious about what knowledge they'd be willing to share about the local ecosystem, if any."

Aborakota digs out Livius' scuba gear and hands it to him while they talk. He still can't quite get the words to come out with how excited he is, and the nervousness. Kartha sees them getting ready to go in the water and gives a brief rundown of expected behavior. She wasn't taking any chances on misunderstandings on what was expected of the people on the expedition; the last thing she wanted was to be responsible for fighting. Aborakota listened as well as he could, which is to say, he understood the intent, but his mind was already in the water. After she left, he slipped into the water quickly. Behind him he heard two splashes as his companions joined him. 

It didn't take long for them to reach the outskirts of the mountain's territory, and from there, for two strangers to greet them with equal parts wariness, and curiosity. The pair of Kadins point towards the surface. Aborakota swims eagerly towards the surface, but disappointed they weren't going to remain underwater. Once they breach, the pair introduces themselves. Aborakota barely gets his mask off in time to hear them clearly.

The kadin with the bright blue horns introduced herself first, "my name is Amlin. We've seen you three around. You returned Varsha's bracelet when she lost it, that was very kind."

Varsha, the other kadin, nods her head and says, "yes, thank you. I went to retrieve it after your ship moved for the night, and it was gone. Then the next day when Amlin was watching you, you returned it. Thank you. You could've just as easily kept it as a simple trinket."

"It was the right thing to do. Aborakota here, it was his idea to try and return it to you as soon as we could. He wanted to make sure it went back to its rightful owner," Livia said, hiding his nerves with his paddling. Oh, Livia, he thinks, and reaches out an arm in comfort to his partner.

Aborakota finds his voice at last, and says, "yeah. It didn't seem right to take it, and then not return it. Especially since it was us spooking you that caused you to lose it in the first place."

His companions nod their heads in agreement. Amlin and Varsha start to visibly relax more as they talk about each other's sides of the watching, and Amlin make jokes about things that they observed. Livius starts to look nervously between them, and before Aborakota can speak to introduce him, Amlin turns to him.

"And what's your name? I'm sorry for not getting to you with introductions, we got sidetracked," she says remorsefully.

Livius shook his head and says, "it's no problem ma'am. My name is Livius-" the strangers both give a slight look at each other,"-I didn't know quite what to say when you all were talking. My whole world has been turned on its head, meeting you all. I have so many questions, and no idea where to start."

"Well, to start, why's your name so similar to his?" Amlin asks.

Aborakota starts laughing, "Well! That's a simple story. When me and Livia signed on for the venture, we were all organized into teams by the guild. We didn't get to see the lists right away, just where to put our gear after we got it, then getting on the boats. Come arrival day, Livius here sees that we drug out our chest of gear, and asks if our gear is there, then introduces himself. The rest is where we are now. They're not related or anything, either, just a happy coincidence."

"Ahhh, so it's just coincidence," Amlin says.

Varsha speaks up and asks, "what were you wanting to know? If we can answer your questions, we will."

Aborakota grins as Livius launches into a volley of questions about the local ecosystem, certain flora and fauna, what they called them. After answering some of them, Varsha just offers to show him. Right before they dive, Livia stops them and explains some of the hand signals they used to communicate underwater. Then they dive. Their guides show them around the less dangerous creatures of their home, and they soak the knowledge in like buns in honey. He can see Livia in awe at the beauty of this place, and doesn't know whether to watch Livia, or watch their guides, but somehow manages to do both. 

Livius scrawls notes in his underwater book, and Aborakota is still amazed that the ability to write things underwater is possible. Livius tried explaining how it worked, but he could only follow half of it due to his own exhaustion. I'll need to get more details later, he thinks, I'd like to know how to do that myself. He shakes himself out of his thoughts and pays attention to a smallish creature that he realizes is a turtle. Then he sees much larger ones. Amlin and Varsha grin at their reactions, and sign Good, Yes?

He nods his head and signs, Yes Good!

They get further and deeper down, and things become more dangerous, but just as beautiful. Aborakota finds his breath taken in his mask the first time he sees a vipertooth leviathan in the distance. The great being notices their group, but keeps her distance until she slips away into the deep. He shivers, remembering the feeling of that intelligent gaze wash over him. Varsha grins nervously at them, with a ta-daa! spread to her arms. Hmm, the vipertooth appearing must not have been planned. Varsha was really nervous when she spotted her, and only relaxed after she left view. Aborakota mulls the brief encounter over in his head as they continue on their way.

Amlin turns them towards the turrets, which catch his and Livius' eyes. He'd only ever seen technology like this in and near the cities. Not that he'd gone very far, but seeing it this far down under the water was intriguing, to say the least. He admires the technology, and sees signs of repair. Been here a long while. They move on, and Amlin takes them to one of the caves nearby to show them some of the more unique life; even for here. Livius writes even more notes in here,nad makes quick brief sketches, even of the creatures that make him squeamish. Amlin and Varsha pick up on this, and try to keep encounters with the animals brief. 

Amlin shows them one of her favorite deep sea cave plant, something that Aborakota is amazed can sruvive in the caves with no sunlight. It glows when touched, after which she signs, too much bad, little okay. They all watch as she shows how if she touches the plant too much, the glow changes, and a fluid seeps out of the pores. We go, now, she signs. They head deeper into the caves to a spot with magnificent crystal growths, and the water feels warmer. Varsha mimes the caves history, and from what he can tell, this cave used to be too hot to enter, but now it was safe, most of the time. Something about the heat allowed the crystals to grow, too. He can see Livius writing quickly in his book, and Livia swam up to one of the crystals and places a paw on it, admiring it. I'll need to ask Livius about it, later. I think I get it, but he'll probably know more. Livia turns back to him in that moment and grins. 

Aborakota wants to keep that image in his mind forever. He swims up to Livia and nuzzles his neck, and can feel the deep rumbles of laughter in Livia's chest. 

Livia presses his muzzle into Aborakota's neck, "this has been wonderful. I'm so grateful to have met you Aborakota, and to be here with you, with these people, getting to know them."

He practically purrs with affection, and rubs his head along Livia's. They turn around as the group continues deeper into the crystal cave, seemingly oblivious to their moment of intimacy. He keeps his tail where it can brush against Livia's while they swim. Deeper into the caves the crystals change shape and color, and the water gets noticeably warmer. A piece that looks to have broken off long ago catches his eye, the way the light shines in it reminding him of Livia's feathers. He pockets it after confirming it was okay to take. I wonder if that can be made into a piece of jewelry, he thinks., mind wandering to the future. An hour later, and they're back out of the caves into a different section of the ocean.

The tour lasts the rest of the day and into the night, only stopping because of exhaustion of both their bodies, and their oxygen tanks, and by the time they say their goodbyes and drag their exhausted bodies onto the ship to dry off and sleep. He hears Livius quietly put all of their things away before finding a spot to curl up on. Aborakota falls asleep on the deck with Livia curled up beside him, under the stars and floating islands.

This has been the best thing, he thinks as he drifts off.