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 Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:15 pm
The world seemed to seize under her feet as the boat ruptered on land. What the hell was going on! She'd thought they were in the middle of wide, open ocean. Where the hell had land come from? Damnit, she wasn't a navigator or a geographer, and she wasn't even particularly sure if they were in the Atlantic or Pacific, but this was Not where land was supposed to be. The creaking turned to a groan, the groan to a screech. Wood was splintering everywhere and the lights flickered under the weight of the impact. the great heaving had sent Allie bowling into a rack of freshly baked bread, as scalding pot of her classic MawMaw's gumbo came flying at her. The pot hit with a dull impact, clattering off of her skull as that perfectly good gumbo spilled everywhere and the world went dark.
Allie's eyes opened slowly, trying to make sense of the sounds of panic and mayhem around her. Why was she covered in gumbo? She pressed a hand to her head and let out a hiss in alarm as it grazed the sizable egg that had leaked a trail of blood down the side of her face. She got an egg from MawMaw's gumbo. That would have been funny if it hadn't been for the circumstances. She stumbled to her feet, wondering why the floor was tilted at such an angel. She hadn't hit her head that hard, had she? The more her mind cleared the more evident it became that the floor was in fact tilted. The lights had gone black and it seemed like there was hardly a soul left in the lower decks. She could hear more from above, but down here there hardly seemed to be a soul. Allie's blood ran cold as that cold water began to well up around her ankles. So that was why everyone had taken off. Her breath began to come in short bursts as the water steadily rose. She sloshed through it, looking for a way out that hadn't been blocked off by debris or water. It was up to her knees now. She screamed a string of expletives severe enough to make cheese sour. It was beginning to feel like she could hardly breathe, the air was thin, her throat was closing. She needed light, something to see by, she couldn't lose her head, not now.
Scrambling about she spotted a pinprick of light, something small enough to give hope. The porthole!! It was now almost above her head as the floor rose to a 45 degree angle--she could only guess the ship was slipping on to its side. She made her way up, slipping further, crawling higher. The water at least helped in the respect that as it rose, the further up she could swim. But as it rose, it meant there was that much less air to breathe. Finally she reached the little window and threw it open, less than a foot wide--far too small for her to fit through. She clawed at the wood as the water rose. Now she was panicking. Allie pushed her arm through the porthole, she could reach out, even get some of her shoulder out of the small opening, but there was no way all of her would fit unless she deboned herself like a chicken. She kicked at the ship wall, clawed at the loose wood. Finally she simply stuck her arm out of the opening, waving as frantically as a fish out of water. "HELP, HELP ME...PLEASE!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:04 pm
With the raging storm taking its toll on their shores and homes, Kal's pride perched upon the rocks breaking the hearts of Inura's angry children. The elders and children prayed. The others? Kal? They watched and wondered what this vessel had brought upon them. Strange things seemed to wash upon their shores...living and inanimate. Were they meant to help this vessel? Were they meant to simply let Inura's children take it?
Kal listened to his pride pray and bicker. The majority of them simply believing that Inura had forsaken this vessel and contents. The pale and oddly unmarked creatures spouting nonsense were to be left alone to their own devices and the god's judgement. The vessel? To be ignored. Obviously something so big and outlandish was an insult to the beauty and power of Inura. Nothing their simple boats that gave Inura the choice to overtake or help them. Of course Kal thought all that was nonsense. The ocean in all its power was not full of malice. It didn't decide who lived or who died...merely who had prepared themselves for the occasion.
Lucky for the creatures floundering in the waves, Kal had prepared himself for every occasion. Especially ones that involved the volatile power of waves. Ignoring the words of his betters and those in blind devotion, Kal leapt into the waves, his body transforming into his other, sleeker form. While it was more susceptible to injury, this form could glide through the water and that was what he needed.
Swimming under the waves instead of battling them head on, Kal made steady progress towards the ship and those fleeing it. As he came up for air, Kal noticed a pale flailing appendage before he heard the strange sound the creature emitted. If anything could be said about it...it was certainly a plea for help that was tainted with fear and adrenalin. At least he hoped thats what it was.
The closer he swam to the wreck, the harder it became. Water pulled at him from bellow, beckoning him to swim with the fishes and Inura's children for all eternity. That of course wasn't in Kal's plans. While it was said he was great friends with the god's kids, he preferred his space from deluded friendships... and you know...death.
Coughing as he forced himself back to the surface, Kal waved at the pale creature and tried to give it a small smile for reassurance as he spoke to it over the roar of the waves. Well, attempted to speak. Water tried to fill his mouth and the wind stole his gusto from the words. Not to mention he had no idea whether it would understand him. "Nice day for a swim, don't you think?"
Lunging for the window as a wave carried him nearby, Kal managed to barely catch the window with his fingers. The strain on his arm and fingers sending a shot of pain through his shoulder and upper arm. Assessing the window, it wasn't that hard to tell that she wasn't getting out of here that way. He hadn't brought any tools and with a few bangs to the vessels hull...he noticed it was nothing he could pry off.
His eyes took on a brief panic before he noticed a a larger hole in the hull below them. of course...it was also under the waves. He would have to hold his breath and hope that his family and pride were praying for him. Couldn't hurt...right?
"I'm going to dive through the hole down there. I'll get you out...Stay here!" He pointed down to the hole for extra effect and even made swimming motions before putting his hand on her shoulder as if to tell her to stay. Hopefully she understood everything...Hopefully he would make the swim.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:58 pm
Allie clung to the rim of the porthole and pushed her face as close as she could get to the small hole. Someone was coming! A strange face wreathed with wild hair, and bright orange eyes. He flashed her a smile, and though she could not understand what he said, Allie flashed a big one back. "Thank you! Thank you, oh god, Please, please get me out!" In the wrath of the storm, everything was painted in grays and blues, and it seemed like it was only getting darker.
Then a set of sooty, dark colored fingers caught hold of the window as the waves thrashed the man against the ship. For an instant, she could have sworn they were almost green. She must have hit her head harder than she thought. Allie reached out of the porthole, and held onto the man's hand--likely tighter than she should have in her panic. He told her something, pointed at something. Try as she might, she couldn't make sense of the words. But he had pointed, and swimming motions. Then he put his hand on her shoulder, and while there was no way she could have understood those words, between the look in his eyes and that hand on her shoulder, that one part was clear. Stay here. Allie nodded fervently, and reluctantly let go of the hand holding onto the porthole. Then he was gone.
He'd come, he had to. That was what he'd meant right? The only language she had ever known was english, and while she'd taken a year or two of french in high school, none of it had ever really stuck, but he had to mean that he was coming for her. Allie bit her lip, curling into a small ball in the industrial sink--which oddly enough was the only dry place left that she could get to. She clutched her knees to her chest as she bit hard into her lip. Maybe if she would have just done a bit better in school, maybe if she would have just given up on cooking none of this would have ever happened. Now more than ever, she wished she would have just put down her pride and listened to those stupid, pompous teachers in culinary school. They might have known nothing about real, family cooking, but if she'd have just done that... Well, then she wouldn't be sitting here, biting her lip and waiting for that damned salt water to swallow her. It was starting to feel like she couldn't breathe again. Her chest was tight, and her face strained as her teeth gritted. There really was no use in crying right now. It'd only add to the salt water. He was comming for her, he had to be.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:10 pm
Kal took a brief moment to access its nodding as agreement. Good...it understood. Or at least it understood the stay part. That was the most import aspect anyway. It didn't need to know how he was going to get to it, just that he would be coming. Hope was everything in these waters. He knew that more than most. His tribe focused that hope in faith...Kal just focused on the future.
The next crushing wave took him back into the water. The current and suction dragging him against the side of the vessel and down into the depths. Whatever the boat was made out of...it was slick until it decided to bite. Some kind of metal perhaps? No...metal couldn't be used like that, could it? Enduring the ocean's pull, he ignored the small cuts and bruises as he forced his eyes to remain open. What little light penetrated the surface was barely enough to give him sight. Lucky for Kal, the hole he sought seemed to have lighting of some sort in it.
Feeling the strain of his shoulder, Kal pushed himself through the water on will alone. His hands grasping for the gaping hole in the hull as he pulled himself through. Light filled his vision now...but it wasn't a good sign. It only revealed how far he would have to swim to make it out of the waters grasp. The room...whatever it was, was filled with awkward and bulky boxy things. Tubes shot out from all sides going up into the floor, ceiling, and walls.
It took everything he had not panic in the maze and keep going forward. His air was precious now...more precious than he had ever known it to be. Sure he was a water user, but he was no where near the level to create an air bubble for himself. No. Kal was forced to rely on his swimming skills. Skills that only just managed to get him from point A to point B. He could see it now, the surface of the water. It was blurry...his head spinning from the lack of oxygen, but it was there.
His fingers felt the relief first. The open air that caressed them almost teasing him to breath. As his head crashed through the water, it also crashed into the wall that was serving as crooked ceiling. Cursing in every way known to his kind, Kal rubbed at his forehead with one hand while keeping his other on the wall. While it wasn't progress, it kept him from ramming into the wall once more as the water sloshed about the vessel.
Kal heaved for breath as his eyes darted about what was left of the room above water. Pulling himself along the wall, he neared what seemed to be a door of some kind. A closed door. Dipping beneath the water, Kal tugged at the door with all his might before completely regretting his decision. Flying open from the pressure behind it, water poured out of the hall and into what little air space he had left. Within seconds Kal was back under water and wondering if he should have sent up an empty prayer just in case.
Half pulling and half swimming, Kal explored the new hallway for some way out...and hopefully up. Strange items floated past him in the water and despite his curiosity...air was far more important. Hands reaching out for anything in the way of a handle or hole, Kal's fingers curled around what seemed to be the rung of a ladder. Sending up that silent prayer, he pulled himself the ladder until he reached a dead end. It seemed to be locked from the other side. Of course it was locked from the side. Perhaps this vessel and these people really were doomed...and now Kal with it.
With what little force he had left, Kal pounded his fist against the rounded top and prayed...no...hoped that it was on the other side to open it for him. Sure, the hatch could lead anywhere...but it could also lead to air and the creature that needed rescuing.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:41 pm
Allie treaded water, trying her damndest to control her breathing as she clung to the porthole for dear life. The water now kept her feet from finding any support, and more so than ever, the girl was terrified. Was he really coming? She couldn't know for sure if that was what he had meant. For all she knew, he might have wished her a good death, or told her to have a nice day, or asked if she preferred cheddar or Gouda. It had kinda sounded like Russian. Why the hell hadn't she ever learned to speak Russian. She loved the vodka. Hell, why hadn't she ever gone to Russia? With the water rising--it was near enough to cover the porthole now--Allie suddenly decided she needed to turn her thoughts to more useful things, not alcohol brewed with potatoes and the culture it came from.
Treading water wasn't too hard. Right? She could keep this up for hours if she needed, right? Allie's head dipped underwater, and she coughed up a lungful of saltwater. Ok. So maybe it wasn't that easy. Right now she was just thankful she knew how. Her head dipped below the water again, but this time there was a resounding bang. A surge of terror went through her. What was it now? Were the engines blowing? The engines were probably blowing. She didn't even know if it was possible for a ship to explode while sinking, but right now she was pretty sure that was exactly what was about to happen. Against better instinct, Allie let herself sink under the water, and this time she listened. No. She kicked, sending herself up for another breath. That was too regular, too even to be something about to blow up. Unless, you know, unstable engines liked to tick like a time bomb. What if someone else was trapped?
Terror surged. She didn't want to go into that water. She didn't want to. At all. But if someone else was trapped... If someone else was trapped, she'd rather drown trying to help than just sitting here, breathing what little air she had left. Allie took a deep breath--wait, that wasn't right. To hold her breath longer, to swim deeper, she needed empty lungs. That much she remembered from swim class--and at least she hadn't flunked out of that.
Allie slowed her breathing, and emptied her lungs just before pushing herself under the water. She used whatever she could find for leverage, pushing off of walls, cabinets, as she followed that sound. It was coming from one of the maintenance hatches! She sped her swimming, kicking off of one wall, then the next to move quicker. She near slammed into the wall when she came to the end of the hallway, but what was one more bump on the head? With a fervent terror she held onto the circular pressure valve that kept her compartment separated from the engine access, planted her feet on the sides of the hatch. It was a full four revolutions before the hatch slowly came open despite Allie pulling on it with all of her strength.
As the door came open, Allie reached blindly through the mass of wild hair, searching for something to grab onto. When she found a hold, she pushed off of the hatch as hard as she could--and while it might not have been terribly gentle, her aim was air. If she needed it, certainly whoever this was did too.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:25 pm
Keep hitting the hatch.
Keep hitting the hatch.
Hatch.
Hitting.
Keep.
Hitting.
Hit.Hit.
Hi
...
Kal could only keep his mind on very simple thoughts. Simple thoughts that would keep him alive. Surprisingly do not breathe had turned out to be a very bad thought...so he had switched his focus to the hatch above him. Of course...he could only control his thoughts for so long. Lungs beyond a gentle burn, his head was the only swimming in a strange anti gravity bubble. he wasn't moving himself...it was the water moving his head. Why was he noticing this?
Hatch.
Hitting.
Keep hitting...
Son of a....(insert a number of horrible curses here). Kal's hand flew to support his mane of hair as someone yanked at it and pulled is body up though the hatch and towards the water's surface. Thrashing a bit, he gasped for air as he felt it on his lips and grasped for anything to keep him above the water line. Unfortunately that was nothing and he fell back under the water under he broke the surface one more and tried to force himself not to panic. Panic was bad...panic was death.
As the oxygen made its way to his brain, Kal realized that someone else was next to him. Focusing on the other poor soul, he realized it was the same creature he was trying to save. Through coughing and sputtering, Kal almost stopped treading water to hug her. "Thank Inura...thank the ocean...thank you! You...pale wonderful silly thing!"
Looking around them, he realized that they only had a few feet of air left before both drowned. Motioning for the creature to follow him, he started to tred towards the far side of the room looking for any other hatches or doors. Anything going up. "There! That ladder!" Shouting above the roar of the water filling up their room, he splashed over to the ladder that was now almost horizontal. Would she be able to climb that? Maybe he could half carry her?
Jumping out of the water, he reached for the rungs and swung like some kind of monkey towards the hatch before releasing it. With a silent prayer, he sighed in relief as the only thing that welcomed him was empty air and not more water. Dropping back into the water, he pointed up towards the hatch and tried to make the motions of climbing. She had understood before...perhaps she would now as well.
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Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 12:11 pm
Hands took a hard grip on her own, but despite the severity of their grasp, the sensation was a welcome change from the numbness of cold waters. With a fervent pace she rushed back to air, pulling the mass of hair behind her. When she saw the bleary surface, she half threw him at the surface. The effort pushed her back by a few feet, but in a moment there was a grand bit of thrashing, and she broke the surface a moment later. As Allie gasped for air, it took a moment to register that the being she had pulled up from the hatch was in fact the man she had thought coming to her rescue. Well, so much for the idea of being rescued, but teamwork was jut as good right? He said something, again in that strange language. The tattooed rescuer bolted up a ladder, and Allie's heart jumped. She had not been able to reach the ladder once the ship no longer stood upright, but now that the water had risen... He pulled open the hatch, and Allie held her breath, waiting for more water to pour in--but none came. Her face lit, "Yes! Yes! We can use that ladder to get to the upper decks, they can't all be flooded!" In a scramble of a swim she made her way over to the ladder. Her first leap out of the water sent her floundering back, but on the second her hand grasped the lowest rung of the ladder. Oh dear lord above why hadn't she ever learned to do pushups in P.E. Why the hell had she just sat there. With a grunt (and a dislocated shoulder, she was pretty sure) she pulled herself up, hooking her arm over the rung as she reached for the next. With an exasperated, desperate expression she looked up at the tattooed man. "How the hell do you make this look easy?! This is not easy!"
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Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:59 am
Pop! Kal winced as he heard the noise from the others arm. Well that wasn't good...and neither was the way it seemed to struggle on the rungs. Looking it over again, he frowned slightly. Its arms did seem rather slender. And the way it half flopped out of the water? This was looking worse the more he...
Wait. Was it yelling at him? Him? Of course it was. Looking over its face it was clear that he needed to offer more help. Only, Kal wasn't sure how helpful he could be. His shoulder was already swollen and burning...and his head? Lets just say he would be nursing a lump or two if they got out of this. "Okay...Okay!Just...I can reach the rungs from the water, I'll give you a bit of a boost for getting into the hatch." He could always use his left arm to hold on to the rungs and the injured one to give her the boost. Rising waters and all he shouldn't have to do too much of the work.
Motioning as best he could while treading water, Kal made a carrying motion before he jumped out of the water and back onto the ladder. The corleo hanging from the rung with just one hand as he wrapped his other arm about its waist. Taking a deep breath, Kal used his strength to try and take the weight off her arms as it swung towards the hatch. "Come on...I have crab pots to check..."
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