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Post by VoxApocrypha on Apr 25, 2022 14:05:33 GMT -5
Somewhere off the coast of North East Kumosenkan..
The one-man(though not by design) expedition boat had broken up in the middle of the open sea after it ran aground over what had to have been a reef of coral, perhaps having grown atop of a draednaught. There was nothing else that he figured, or would have figured were he awake at the time, could have done so much damage and sunken his vessel. It had been the weather in all likelihood, a storm blowing in from the north that made the waters harsh. He'd hit a wave, he thought, and then he had been knocked hard against the mast of the ship. From what he could gather, by the time he woke up, they'd already hit something hard enough it tore the ship apart from below and allowed water to flood into the hull too quick for any pump to have had a hope of getting it out. Not that it would have mattered, the ship wouldn't have been seaworthy or even mobile if it hadn't sunk.
A few hours at sea stranded in the ocean, dawn breaking over the water as the sun rose. He'd gotten a SOS out in Common before his ship had gone down, but doubted anyone had heard it, he wasn't even sure if the radio had power from the batteries at the point he sent it out, and had just been shooting blind in the dark. He'd given a rough estimation of his location but that'd been all he could get out before the ship began to list a little too far for him to remain stable and standing, and he'd had to grab a life preserver.
He'd spent the better part of the night drifting in the waves and swimming for dear life, until the storm passed and dawn came.
By then he was exhausted, barely even awake, but cold and tired, and unsure of his ability to remain above water if he did pass out - his fur was dense and heavy with the water it trapped, and it already took a great deal of strength to keep so much extra weight from dragging him down. When the next bought of rough waves came, he wasn't able to do more than brace, and let himself be carried. Eventually he was carried by the water towards what he vaguely thought looked like a fog.. and then later, into a outcropping of shallow rocks, a tiny island.
He clawed his way out of the ocean, as a few pieces of debris from his ship washed up with him, until he was on the dry-ish part of the mass of stone.. and then he'd collapse, laying on his back, staring into the sky as the fog began to clear again.
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Post by Sophie on Apr 25, 2022 15:53:28 GMT -5
Hours passed on the cold open ocean. No ship came near the island the man called refuge. However, be it divine intervention or pure dumb luck, a Kumosenkan fishing trawler happened to call this area its usual spot. The captain had come to memorize the small island. She stared at it for hours on end with her net in the water, anything for a break from the endless blue. But today it was different. Today it had a big red mass just on the shore. Something she had never seen before. She scrambled for her binoculars and her jaw hit the floor when she could clearly identify a man.
She ran towards the aft and began pulling in her netting so that she could divert her course to the island. Within minutes she was mere feet from the shore. She dropped her anchor and killed her engine. "Hey down there!" She screamed off the edge of her boat, "Are you alive?!"
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Post by VoxApocrypha on Apr 25, 2022 16:17:02 GMT -5
Hours passed on the cold open ocean. No ship came near the island the man called refuge. However, be it divine intervention or pure dumb luck, a Kumosenkan fishing trawler happened to call this area its usual spot. The captain had come to memorize the small island. She stared at it for hours on end with her net in the water, anything for a break from the endless blue. But today it was different. Today it had a big red mass just on the shore. Something she had never seen before. She scrambled for her binoculars and her jaw hit the floor when she could clearly identify a man. She ran towards the aft and began pulling in her netting so that she could divert her course to the island. Within minutes she was mere feet from the shore. She dropped her anchor and killed her engine. "Hey down there!" She screamed off the edge of her boat, "Are you alive?!" The hours passed with only the sound if the waves. No seagulls or predatory ocean birds. For what little time he'd been awake he'd only recalled seeing what looked like a hermit crab, sitting in a seashell and staring in his general direction. He would have eaten it then if he had the energy to make a fire. Or to even really move. But he was exhausted. He was sore, cold, wet, tired. As the fog cleared the sun beat down on him and his fur, slowly over the hours drying his fuzz out, slowly but surely. But even as the day dragged on he was still damp. He'd been asleep but only on the edge, briefly peaking back into consciousness at a sort of edge of rem sleep and total awareness, the cool seawater constantly lapping at his feet. What brought him back fully was the sound of a voice. It took a few moments, but he lifted his head from the pebbles and stone, the sunlight practically blinding him as he tried to lift his hand, but felt his muscles protest. He blinked at the question, and he'd take a few seconds to try and lift himself up. "Yes.. Yes!" He'd manage out, throat hoarse and his voice slightly stunted, the festria trying to use his hand to block the sun even as his body protested all the movement. "I'm alive.." |
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Post by Sophie on Apr 25, 2022 16:42:28 GMT -5
"Spirits above!" The Captain shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?!" As the man's eyes came into focus, the captain became clearer. She was fairly short for a Kumo, only six feet tall with pale white skin in contrast to her short dark brown hair. Her body was a trapdoor spider. The captain was wearing an amigasa, a flannel shirt, and coveralls. She quickly darted inside her bridge and grabbed a first aid kit and a bottle of water. Darting down the hull of her ship and into the water she quickly swam over to the man.
"Here! Take this." She handed him the bottle of water. "Are you injured anywhere? Does anything hurt?" she asked in a hurry.
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Post by VoxApocrypha on Apr 25, 2022 18:55:28 GMT -5
"Spirits above!" The Captain shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?!" As the man's eyes came into focus, the captain became clearer. She was fairly short for a Kumo, only six feet tall with pale white skin in contrast to her short dark brown hair. Her body was a trapdoor spider. The captain was wearing an amigasa, a flannel shirt, and coveralls. She quickly darted inside her bridge and grabbed a first aid kit and a bottle of water. Darting down the hull of her ship and into the water she quickly swam over to the man. "Here! Take this." She handed him the bottle of water. "Are you injured anywhere? Does anything hurt?" she asked in a hurry. He had spent a moment trying to resolve what he saw entirely, as if the fog from before had lingered around in his mind, despite him now seeing with relative clarity. As he pulled himself to all fours, and then moved to sit on his knees, hands keeping his upper body steady. As she would swim up and onto that little island, coming over to him, his soreness would be ignored so he could look at her. He was big, Festria always tended to be, so even on his knees his head was almost level with her chest, until she handed him the bottle of water and he'd slowly lean back onto his backside, taking the bottle. He slowly unscrewed the top, taking small sips as he listened to her voice. When he'd drank a little he would clear his throat and swallow again. Vmthroat still hoarse and voice quiet, he'd say, "I'm not.. hurt. Just sore. Really sore." He'd tell her. |
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Post by Sophie on Apr 26, 2022 15:42:38 GMT -5
"Thank the spirits you're alright." She smiled softly. "How did you end up here? I've never seen anything wash up on this island." She looked around, there wasn't any driftwood, glass, or other trash anywhere on the island. Just sand. She looked over the festrian's body, adjusting his clothes and searching through his fur for any bruising, or injuries he simply hadn't noticed. "Does it hurt when I press anywhere?" She prodded him in several areas checking for any sort of reaction. Her mind kept racing through things that could be wrong with him and thinking of ways to help him."
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Post by VoxApocrypha on Apr 27, 2022 4:32:41 GMT -5
The Festria's entire body was sore, so when they pressed on parts of it to try and find anywhere he might have missed, he'd wince anyway. "Everything kinda hurts right now. Nothing feels acutely bad at least though."
He felt areas where it was worse than it was over the rest of him, but most of that appeared to be bruising, and it wasn't terrible from the looks of it. There was no blood, at least any they'd both be able to notice at that moment, and his clothing didn't have any crimson stains. It looked like typical clothes, though his shoes were gone as he'd likely ditched them in the sea or just not had them to begin with.
"My boat hit something out at sea and broke up last night. Got washed out into the waves after putting out an SOS and held onto a life preserver for dear life, but I guess I lost it when I ended up on this little bunch of pebbles."
He'd look around for the hermit crab from earlier as he spoke, but find it to be gone, shell and all.
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Post by Sophie on Apr 28, 2022 12:41:50 GMT -5
"Thank the spirits. You seem alright." She leaned down and hugged him softly. "I have food and a bed on my ship. Can you move?" She attempted to lift him onto his feet. "It's a miracle you ended up here, this is the only spot of land for miles and miles." She watched him shake and shudder as he tried to stand and she pursed her lips.
"I can web you to my back and swim us both back to my ship. Would that be okay?" She asked slowly setting him back down on the ground.
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Post by VoxApocrypha on Apr 28, 2022 15:38:38 GMT -5
The mention of webbing would make him visibly seem to recoil a little, though not much - he wouldn't be able to really move a great deal without feeling like his muscles would cramp up. But he didn't outright deny the idea, and after a few seconds, he looked at the boat and her once more and would let out a shaky sigh.
"..I don't like the idea but it's better than sitting on this rock until I die of dehydration." He'd say.
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Post by Sophie on Apr 30, 2022 15:53:11 GMT -5
"I'm sorry. I know it's not exactly comfortable to be in a Kumo's web, but I think it's the safest way to get you on board." She softly lifted him up and helped him onto her back. She draped his arms over her shoulders and began producing web from her spinnerets. She pulled it forward with her back legs and fed it into her hands. Very carefully, she began tightly wrapping the Festrian to her back. After about 5 layers of webbing, she felt confident that she wouldn't lose him in the water.
"Alright, are you ready? I'm going to start swimming to the boat." With reassurance, she began wading into the water. The boat was pretty close to the shore, but the drop-off was rather sheer and the water became very deep very quickly. All eight of her legs worked together and kicked her towards the boat. She latched her forelegs onto the hull and began climbing up. It reassured her to feel her webbing pull tightly on her chest so she knew the Festrian was still latched onto her.
Finally on the deck of her vessel, she began unwrapping the web and lightly picked him up into her arms. She took him below deck and laid him out on her bed. "Isn't that much better? Can I get you anything? Are you okay?"
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Post by VoxApocrypha on May 5, 2022 3:30:21 GMT -5
Lifted up onto her back he would hold onto her weakly, strength still sapped and body still feeling fatigued and weak. Despite that he had not been shaking, but he began to when the web came into play. But he didn't complain, nor did he fidgit. He'd recognized this was his best shot at not dying of dehydration so he wasn't about to complain.. even if he really really wanted to. The webbing was straight up sending jolts of primal fear up his spine with each new layer, but he kept his self control as the last was applied. But even so he had his misgivings, not that they'd last.
He weighed a fair lot, so the fact they had made it onto the ship with both of their weights to contend with was a shock to him - having expected fully to go under. When they did get aboard safely he mentally sighed in relief, but was keeping his mouth closed to not get more seawater flowing into his mouth from his own fur and hair. When the webbing came off and he'd find himself in her arms, he'd look up at her for a moment, and then back at that little island.
"I don't want to be more of a burden than I already am, I'll be okay here with another bottle of water.." He'd say. He felt guilty for simply having taken up space on her bed, a bad habit learned from a life he'd left behind. "You've saved my life, It'd be unbecoming to ask for more. I owe you big time.."
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Post by Sophie on May 9, 2022 10:07:54 GMT -5
The hull was quite clearly aged- wherever panels of metal met, rust outlined the edges, and flecks of paint littered the floor that had fallen from the walls. There was very little light below decks, illuminated by only a single dim staol lantern and a stream of sunlight sneaking in from the entrance. The permeating stench of mildew and fish infested the nose of all living creatures aboard, though it was not so strong that left one gagging.
"I insist." She pleaded. "My mother always told me, 'when you have plenty, share with those who have few.'" She slightly smiled at the memory. "But nevertheless, there is plenty of fish on board. I managed to pull in a decent haul just yesterday." The legs of the Trapdoor Kumo tapped anxiously on the deck. "It would be rather awful if I saved you from that forsaken island just to let you starve."
Not intending to take anything but yes for an answer, she walked a few feet over and threw some wood into the belly of her stove. A simple flick of a switch allowed a bit of staol dust to fill the stove and act as a fire starter. As the water lapped lightly against the hull, rocking it gently like a cradle, she drew a rather long match from a cupboard and flicked it against the wall, igniting it in a small orange flame that danced in the hazy light of the cabin. The stove quickly roared to life as she tossed it in, replacing the stench with the smell of burning firewood. From her icebox, she retrieved a small bluefin fish and filleted it with a clean swipe of a knife. She swept the fillet onto a pan, the heat of the stove meeting the metal of the pan with a fierce sizzle as the fish spattered in the heat. A delightful aroma of cooking bluefin began emanating, mixing into the smoky air of the burning wood.
After a moment or two, she began seasoning the fish. It wasn't anything extravagant, or even particularly flavorful for that matter, but it was better than the fish alone. She put it on an old metal plate and handed it over to the Festrian.
"I'm Sone Atsuko, by the way," she said, smiling softly. "Once we get some food in you I can set sail for the nearest shore." She quickly turned to pour him a glass of water into a cheap glass cup, setting it aside for the Festrian to drink at his leisure.
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Post by VoxApocrypha on May 10, 2022 14:52:35 GMT -5
As she had gone over to begin cooking him a small meal, the Festria would look at the fire below the oven, his eyes attracted to the flames again by a buried fixation. In part it was a distant root born in the past that led him to enjoy the sight of dancing flames, but more than that it was the warmth the flames gave off. He wanted to get up, sit by the stove until his fur was completely dry. But his muscles were still sore and body exhausted from his ordeal, and as well he wouldn't want to get in her way.
He would be thankful though silently for the new smell taking over that of fish and mildew, the smoky scent of the burning wood and the cooking fish making it all the better. When she had finished, he slowly went up into a sitting position, and considered if he should try to move more toward the floor, but settled just for leaning forwards so he could keep from getting anything on the bed. "Thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay you for all of this."
He'd nod as she told him their name, replying a moment later with his own.
"I'm Apollo." He'd tell her. "Just Apollo."
"What is the nearest shore?" He'd ask as he would start to eat the fish she'd prepared for him.
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Post by Sophie on May 10, 2022 15:20:18 GMT -5
"It's nice to meet you, Apollo." She spoke with a smile. The fire continued to burn in the belly of the oven. Atsuko had left it burning to bring the temperature up in the compartment. Hoping to help him dry off, she reached for a closeby drawer, pulled out a towel, and handed it to him. She was happy to see the Festrian eating. She was worried he would outright refuse. "You don't need to repay me. I'm happy to help. It's what we do where I'm from." Her smile cracked when he frowned at that. "If you feel the need, once you're feeling better, you can help me bring us to shore, or pull in some fish if we come across some."
"Utoro is closest. It's this small fishing village where I live." She answered, "In Kumosenkan, of course." her tone and candor became a lot more calm and casual as she continued. "It's not a big town, but it's my home and I love it there. We have a nice clinic there, Dr. Takami is wonderful. She'll take a look at you when we get there."
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Post by VoxApocrypha on May 11, 2022 5:38:37 GMT -5
He'd look at the towel and for the moment, sit on it and finish with his food. He'd use it once he had finished to dry himself off as best as he could, for that moment he would finish eating. The Mention of Kumosenkan though has him stop midway through a bite for a brief second, before then he would continue, though a bit more slowly. He'd swallow and then nod his head. He doesn't seem to hang onto whatever thought ran through his head for a moment, and he would finish eating quickly, before then he would set the plate down.
"Thank you for the food. Once I'm a bit dryer I'll be up there to help you." He'd say. "I owe massively, it's the least i could do to start repaying my debt." He'd tell them.
He would take the glass of water, and start to drink slowly, though his sips were larger. When he'd finished it off, he set it down atop of the plate to keep his mess as clumped together as he could.
He'd grab the towel, and then he would unfold it and begin to dry himself off, working it over his face and hair, and then down his neck, before after a moment he would set it down, and slowly work off his shirt. He'd set it down at his feet and start to dry his chest off. "Thank you for the towel, by the way, miss Atsuko." Apollo'd say, smiling at her.
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