Currents

[Thalron]

Lacere almost immediatly ignored her back pain the instant the slipper tsume came up to her, her little hands grasping the larger water tsume quickly... It might have been painful, had it not been for the fact it seemed that the child had filed its claws down, oddly enough... and her fur felt so soft against the other creatures skin, even in the water it held a silkiness that was oddly appealing... It felt almost addictive.

Her eyes closed tightly as they dove, and she held on all the harder, burying her face against the others side, the cold, quick moving water felt good over her back, but it didn't remove the pain, not by a long shot... It hurt so much that she hardly realized that she was still holding her breath, at least until she was more or less out of it..

Her grip loosened a bit as she shook and convulsed as she foguht to keep herself from breathing in while underwater, she hoped that the water tsume would notice, even if it was suspicious or annoyed at her..

(( Sorry about the slow response, I thought I replied earlier but apparently it didn't go through. >.>;; ))

[sunblind]

Though she had hoped it might be otherwise, Lacere was no better at holding her breath than other land-based Tsumes. She started struggling noticeably much sooner than Cyrill would have liked. After all, if she surfaced her own hide was at risk, and Cyrill wasn't exactly big on the risking herself for the sake of others. But keeping Lacere down here would be as good as killing her herself. And there was something about that soft fur that was just so pleasant to hold....

So Cyrill rose up to break the surface just long enough to allow the little one to get a couple of gasps of air. Fervently she hoped that the fire-whatever, probably a Tsume, hadn't been able to keep up. Cyrill couldn't see it, but all her glowy bits were submerged and the cavern was pitched in darkness. By the sound of the water she could hear that they had approached the narrowing of the cavern where the other Tsume wouldn't be able to follow unless it took to the water too, but they weren't there just yet.

OOC: no worries, I'm not the fastest responder myself

[Thalron]

As soon as they had reached the surface she lifted her head up and gasped for air, she couldn't see anything partially because of the darkness, but mainly because of the wet hair over her eyes... she shook her head to try and clear the hair from her eyes, but just as she took her third breath she saw some approaching light, orange, yellow and rippling. quickly she held her breath and tried to duck her head back under the water.

The fire wasn't as concentrated as before, and was travelling over the surface of the water in a broad wave, it would be easy enough to get out of the way so long as Cyrill caught it in time...The fire tsume obviously did not want to get very close to the water, with good reason. Water and fire did not mix very well... And it most likely thought that Lacere had Cyrill entranced or something.

Lacere was unable to mentally take control of others... yet... but she knew several little tricks to get on others better side, one such trick was her shampoo. It had a few chemicals in it that had a rather... interesting effect on most tsumes. Needless to say, many who picked her up were rather reluctant to set her back down.

[sunblind]

OOC: Lust shampoo?? 0.o; Freaky.

Cyrill heard Lacere's gasps, first one, then another. Well, at least that meant she hadn't drowned yet. Cyrill raised her head from the water, turning slightly to look back the way they came, small yellow eyes narrowed. Let's just say that though Cyrill wasn't one for getting into fights, she was currently quite pissed. And those small eyes of hers *glared*

Lacere took her third breath.

Cyrill's eyes winced shut as they were temporarily blinded by the flames coursing along the surface of the water. With a rapid undulation of her long body she dove once again. She didn't feel the flame and hoped that she got under the surface fast enough to prevent Lacere from getting her back burnt again.

Though her body was long and lithe, very useful for swimming through narrow passages, Cyrill suddenly found herself wishing for large flukes. How she would have loved to send an enormous wave back at the fire breather. But her body wasn't designed for that.

Instead, she sprinted forward into the narrow part of the cave. However, though this was safety from the fire, it also meant that Lacere would have no access to air. The cave's ceiling descended till it touched the water. So the ocean tsume swam as quickly as she could, hoping that an air pocket would present itself, or another cavern opened up soon.

[Thalron]

OOC: Probably has some of Geil's pheromones in it XD

Her little hands hung on tightly to Cyrill as she dove, lowering her head at the same time to duck it away from the flames... Not too surprising that she wanted to avoid being broiled. She could see the orange and yellow light of the flame filtering down through the water for a moment before she closed her eyes and simply held on. She tried not to think about how she was clinging to a random tsume whom she had just met, or how her back hurt... and especially not how there may not be any air for miles in this direction, definitely not that.

She needed something to keep her mind from panicking, anything... she decided to count, maybe she'd find out how long she could hold her breath just before she drown. 1... 2... 3... She tried to keep the pace steady, counting seconds, but as she slowly felt the air losing its usefulness in her lungs she sped up a little. 220...

Her grip became looser, and her body seemed to relax a bit, twitching oddly as she continued to hang on as best she could. She wasn't thrashing around as much as the first time she had begun to run out of air. Then her body started choking again, spasming and clutching at the tsume tightly, a large cascade of bubbles coming from the small tsume... She thought she saw a light just before she blacked out.



That was because she /did/ actually see a light before blacking out, other than the glowing ones permanently attached to the odd water tsume. Up ahead the underground tunnel broke out into the surface. Hopefully this far away there would be no angry tsumes about to flame them.

[sunblind]

OOC: That Geil is definitely smexy though, isn't he

Cyrill kept up a sprint like she hadn't done in years. She had no objections to physical exertions when necessary, she didn't try to weasel out of work, but sprinting was something done either for fun, or in a life-or-death situation. Odd combination that.

The ocean tsume could feel the little hands losing their grip. ~Hold on a little longer~ Cyrill willed the youngling as she approached a brightness up ahead. As Lacere slipped off, Cyrill spun around onto her back, holding the child in her arms. One final burst of speed and they both broke the surface...but only Cyrill was gasping, panting after the effort.

Awkwardly she placed Lacere on the bank of the river, the warm sun shining down on them, kind of bizarre that the day should be so beautiful when such horrible events were taking place. The grasses shushed quietly in the breeze. But Lacere did not breath.

Drowning wasn't something Cyrill usually had to worry about, so her first-aid knowledge was minimal at best. Weren't you supposed to press on the chest or something? Do ear-to-ear resuscitation? No, that didn't make sense. Instead she just started pounding the young tsume on the back. It would probably aggravate the burns but that was preferable given the alternative...

...and wondered how long it would take the fire-breather to work its way around here on land. Hopefully it had assumed they both drowned. She re-doubled her efforts.

[Thalron]

OOC: Well, that is his job. XD

Everything was dark, and seemed to be slipping away when she heard an odd voice... 'hold on a little longer' it sounded like the water tsume, but it didn't care about her... did it? she tried to reach out for it but couldn't feel anything.

Afew moments later feeling returned, it wasn't a warm feeling no not warm, it was burning. Pain and burning. She coughed loudly and some water came from her mouth as she gasp and choked on the mixture of air and water that had begun to combine in her lungs. Her body was writhing as she tried to remove the water, and her first instinct was to twist around and cling to the larger tsumes arm, coughing, sputtering and shivering as she hugged against it.

Her back still hurt, as if someone had been pounding on it... but her head was so dizzy that she could hardly tell where she was, let alone concentrate on the pain, that might change in a moment but for now it wasn't really registering. "Wha-" she coughed and pressed her head against the tsumes arm.

Cyrill felt so warm to the touch, comforting... Whether this was all just in the confused tsumes mind or not was hard to tell, but she didn't want to let go... The only steady thought going through her little head being that thought she had heard not so long ago.

[sunblind]

Suddenly the seemingly lifeless form started coughing and gasping, water bubbling from her mouth. Lacere turned and clung to Cyrill's arm...and the Ocean Tsume wasn't sure what to do about that. So she did nothing. It gave her an odd feeling, she kind of liked it. The sort of thing that warmed one's heart. Whether it was the young Tsume's special shampoo or just the clinging of a cute, little helpless thing, there was no way to know. Maybe a little of both.

"Are you alright?" Cyrill asked when it seemed that breathing had become a normal function of the bedraggled, half-drowned child once again. Laying half in and half out of the water, Cyrill was in an uncomfortable position, but she remained in this awkward pose as Lacere continued to shiver.

[Thalron]

OOC: Yay for school, and then finding out that you have to clean the entire house on your own for a party on the weekend..... sorry for teh delay. <3

Her little body continued to quake and quiver violently as she clung to the larger tsumes arm, the dizziness and disorientation was slowly wearing off, even though she continued to cough out the odd drop of water or two... And as the pounding in her head subsided the searing pain in her back seemed to grow. "...It hurts." a small whimper escaped her lips before she had to clench her teeth to keep from choking on the pain.

This wasn't the first time she had gotten badly hurt... It was actually a lot more common than she wished, but that didn't make it any easier or less painful. She held her eyes closed and pressed her face against Cyrill, tears welling up under the little lids.

...Then she began to cry.

it started with a little bit more whimpering, but then came some strangled sounding squeaks which quickly developed into soft, sad crooning with only the occasional pause when she sniffled, or choked on the pain.

[sunblind]

Uh oh....the young Tsume started bawling (ok, so that's an exaggeration but this is Cyrill we're talking about here!) in the Ocean Tsume's arms. Her first reaction was to just swim away, fast, but of course she couldn't do that. So she held the little thing and tried to comfort her by nuzzling some unburnt parts of her body. Not that there was too much of that, her entire back was raw.

A healer, she needed a healer...but Cyrill didn't know any. Unicorns could be handy for such things, but she didn't know where to find one of those either. Besides, probably shouldn't move Lacere until she's had some time to heal.

But how much time did they have till those who were hunting the little one found them again. And why did they want the child dead? Cyrill should probably just wash her fins of the whole affair, but found that she couldn't bring herself to just abandon the softly whimpering thing.

[Thalron]

The little tsume quieted down a little bit as she was nuzzled and tentatively looked over, rubbing her nose back against the larger tsumes in a cute moment, before sniffling a little and hugging against her chest... "I'm sorry..." she whimpered again and ducker her head down in an attempt to hide her face... It didn't work too well, but it was obvious she was really sorry for getting the tsume involved in all of this.

The odd thing about that was, she didn't even have to act. she was actually sorry that it had happened, more so than just the fact her back had gotten so marred in the process... Cyrill shouldn't have to worry about these tsumes attacking either of them. Lacere'd run off right now if she thought she might be able to get away on her own, but she knew she couldn't... and Cyrill was so comforting, and soft...

[sunblind]

They stayed like that for a while, but Cyrill knew they couldn't stay there. Lacere needed a healer, and the other Tsume's might find them. Plus she was getting really uncomfortable in this position and was doing to have to move anyway.

She nuzzled the young Tsume, "Do you think you can get on my back again? I won't go very fast and I won't go under the water either, so you won't need to cling like you did before. You could probably even sleep. I don't know where we can find any healers, but they certainly aren't just going to appear out of thin air if we don't go looking for one."

Yup, it was definitely too late to just back out now. Should have just turned around and gone back home the moment she realized she was in the wrong river. But then Cyrill thought about what might have happened to Lacere had she not been there and sighed. Oh well, guess it worked out for the best anyway. She was, however, going to have to have a long discussion with Coincidence and Fate about this little scenario she got caught up in later...

[Thalron]

Lacere looked up as she was nuzzled again, moving her hands up and over the larger tsumes snout, gently stroking the side of her face for a moment before nodding silently and letting go so that she could go back into the water. "I think I can..." she nearly whispered before slipping into the water beside the other tsume.

A small gasp escaped as the cold water ran over her fur and back, causing her to nearly dunk herself. The water felt very good over the burns, but the sudden change in temperatures was shocking enough that she nearly dunked herself before recovering enough to swim up to Cyrill's back. "am I going to be ok?" she asked with a small whimper, carefully wrapping her arms around the other tsumes neck.

[sunblind]

The ocean Tsume was surprised by the surprisingly tender touches to her face. Darn this fuzzy little things was starting to grow on her. She almost shed a tear!

Cyrill slid gratefully back into the water, he was starting to feel dried out, and the water was soothing over her skin. She felt the little hands wrap around her neck and could barely make out the soft question.

"Of course," Cyrill replied, not actually knowing the answer to that. Though the nature of water based Tsume implied that they were rarely in a situation to get burned, Cyrill came from Dragon Mountain in the Realm, and there lived both a Solar and Fire Tsume. She'd seen what they could do, and knew that burns were nasty things, often fatal, as many an unwary trespasser through their caves quickly learned. This wouldn't be the first time Cyrill has helped someone escape a fire-based Tsume.

Swimming as gently as she could, trying to keep her back out of the water as much as possible to reduce the drag on the little Tsume's tired arms clinging to her slick body, Cyrill continued upstream away from the cavern to....wherever.

[Thalron]

The soft noises of discomfort slowly dwindled as they moved through the water, lacere felt exhausted and although it still hurt she couldn't bring herself to keep whimpering like a puppy. Apparently before cooked, doused, and nearly drown took some out of you... she let out a small sigh as she pulled herself up a bit higher on the tsumes back, pulling herself to lay partially ontop of Cyrill's shoulder, allowing gravity to do a little bit of the work in keeping her there.

Slowly her eyes closed, as her head lowered to lay across the side of the larger tsumes neck. resting there softly, it was hard to complain about the added weight... as this little tsume seemed to weigh very little more than the water that clung to her fur.

Upstream, there was... well... More river. trees and rocks were littered about the place seemingly at random. No more blood thirsty tsumes appeared out of nowhere to gobble up the little one draped across Cyrill's back, unfortunately no friendly ones seemed keen on arriving either. Further upstream the river seemed to get calmer, and it looked like there may be some sort of lake or widening of the stream.


OOC: I don't really have any good healers. >.>