[Kiel]

Chosen, look. Looklooklook! Lookit what I got for youuuuuuu!

“Wah!” Shane's nose pressed against the small of Kiel's back, chilling his skin even through his top. Kiel's spine straightened with a jolt, his head jerking up and his eyes widening. Like, you'd think a dude would get used to that kind of behaviour when the culprit did it kinda frequently, but it wasn't like he was wearing all that much, you know? He'd come out for a run with Shane, so he was only wearing his silver jogging pants and sleeveless vest, figuring he wouldn't feel the chill of oncoming winter while he was chasing through the streets and fields.

“Watcha got there, man? Show me, show me,” he demanded, holding out his hands so the shadowkin could drop her 'present' into them. It was probably some dead bird or something. Kinda gross, man, but it didn't bug him like it probably should have. He thought it was so sweet, you know? Like, it was usually him showering his loved ones with gifts, it was nice to be on the receiving end, hahahaha.

A present, a present! For youuuuu! Her butt wiggled like she was going to pounce, but she was totally trying to climb into his lap as she opened her jaws to drop her gift. It wasn't gross like he'd thought, though.

“Wah! Hahahahahaha, dude, that's so cute, that's so cute!” A small posy of yellow flowers, most of them crushed 'cause she didn't have opposable thumbs, landed in his cupped hands. He'd been looking at them earlier, like, a wave of them as far as he could see. He'd never seen them back home, you know, and this was his first autumn on the mainland so they were new to him. “But, like, dude, man, I'm so not a girl, hahahaha.”

Shane was still trying to climb into his lap, but he was sitting too scrunched up. Like, they'd stopped running on a grassy knoll overlooking the river, you know, and he'd just dropped onto his butt, curling his arms around his knees and wrapping his fists around his ankles. It was kinda quiet at this time of day, way early in the morning. He'd thought about calling Phenny to see if she wanted to make their normal run earlier, but somehow he'd wanted to be alone for a bit. Didn't happen very often, but he was kinda homesick today and he was being weird.

“Hahahahahaha, you're too big, you're too big,” he told the still-clamouring Shane, but he kinda wanted a hug too. So he straightened his legs either side of her and sat there with her head nestled over his shoulder and his hands buried in her fur. “Like, I wonder if Zeph'd take me home this weekend...?” The dude probably wouldn't want to, but if Kiel pestered him enough he totally would. “He wouldn't even have to stay, you know? Just, like, free taxi, hahahahaha. And they totally haven't met you either, yet, man, we so gotta fix that, you know?”

[NPC]

((Jack the human played by Emma))

This early in the morning, there wasn't much traffic on the river. Jack heard the occasional splash as trout and other fish popped up to snag a walker* off the surface, but for the most part he ignored them as part of the normal routine. From under his hat, he glanced periodically at the fishing pole tucked tight against the prow of his rowboat, his hands crossed over his chest and one foot resting atop the other, but most of the time he just snoozed. His wife had taken the kids to her mother's for the weekend, so he didn't have to worry about feeding the five thousand, just him, and for that, all he needed was one nice, juicy fish.

Water rippled as a small merchant vessel passed, the backwash rocking Jack's rowboat into the reeds along the riverbank. He could hear someone talking, but ignored the fact there was only one voice. Could mean anything these days. Crazy, COM, vocal telepath. Either way, it was none of his business and he made it his policy to keep his nose away from places that would get it bit.

Another splash. Louder this time, too loud to be a fish. Jack's eyes opened, but he didn't move to look until the boat rocked violently as something nudged the bottom. Jerking upright, Jack gripped the side to peer into the water, spotting an all-too-large and all-too-close shadow disappear out of sight into the reeds. Call him paranoid, or perhaps just an experienced fisherman, but Jack didn't think that was a fish - or friendly.

“Time to go home, methinks.”

He was reaching for the fishing rod to pull in the line when something bit. The line taughtened for a second, then shot out as whatever was hooked spun away from the boat. Jack just had time to spot a frothy white tail flash out of the water before the boat shuddered and tipped over, tossing him out on his ear with a muffled “Hepmpgh!”

((He's talking about those insects that walk on the surface of the water. I can't remember what they're actually called, but this is as good a slang as any.))

[Kiel]

Rrrrrrr. Bad, Chosen. Something bad.

Like, Shane was so easy-going, it was hard to remember she was a predator sometimes, especially when she was trying to climb him like he was a tree and she a monkey. Hahahaha, she was so cute when she did that, man, he totally wanted to ask her to turn into an actual monkey some day. Like, hahahaha, maybe they could trick Zeph into thinking he'd got another pet. The dude would go ape, man, it'd be so funny!

But when she did that hackles-raised thing and started growling at the water, her whole body tensing up like she'd got cramp, Kiel started to get nervous. Like, he wasn't a wimp, man, but they hadn't been together all that long, so while they were getting on like a house on fire and learning each other's quirks way quicker than people normally did, just 'cause, like, she never left him alone (and he loved her for it), he hadn't seen her mood change so fast before.

He didn't think he was nervous of Shane, though. Like, he loved her to bits, man, and he just didn't have the smarts to keep his guard up even around a predator. Like, the first time he met Zeph, you know, the dude literally jerked him up off his feet by the throat, and while he hadn't actually forgotten the incident, he just never thought about the fact that the dude could totally snap one day. No self-preservation instincts, hahahaha.

But, like, dude. Seeing Shane bristle like that. “What's up, man, huh, huh? You see something tasty?” He knew she liked fish 'cause she'd totally stolen a whole one off his plate not long after he brought her home, but these weren't "ooh yummy" noises.

Chosen, Chosen, something nasty coming. She was nudging him to make him move up the hill away from the water, but, like, by now he'd seen the rowboat overturn and even though he knew getting in the river was a bad idea, he couldn't not help, you know?

“Coming, man, I'm coming!” So he dashed down the little knoll and waded into the water, the reeds and grasses tickling his ankles. Shane went berserk, snarling and growling at the water's edge where she darted left and right and left and right like she was trying to spot whatever had upset her.

Thrusting out a hand towards the fisherman, Kiel yelled, “Here, man, grab on!”

[NPC]

((Jack the human played by Emma))

Jack could swim. It was rather irresponsible to get in a boat on a river that could be as dangerous as Cora without being at least able to keep his head above water, and only marginally less stupid to do so without knowing how to get back to solid ground if his boat overturned. In all his life, he'd never once had need of the skill (outside of teaching his own children, of course), but he was immensely glad now that he'd learned.

Except being able to swim through clear, clean, unobstructed water was much easier than trying to resurface in the densely reedy area along the riverbank, especially when he was rather more convinced of the presence of some underwater horror than he would have liked. Any thought he had that he was a level-headed man who wouldn't panic in a tough situation fled his head the second he felt the reeds tangle about his feet and he glimpsed a flash of white darting toward him from the deeper part of the river.

Jack did manage to keep his wits about him long enough to grab hold of the proferred hand and begin using it as leverage by tugging heavily on it. His head surfaced and he gasped for air, but he caught only a glimpse of a young man hip-deep in the water, and a black oversized cat on the shore before something latched onto his ankle and yanked.

He swiftly found his mouth back under water with a blub-glub, but Jack didn't let go of the kid's hand. The water was a little murky because of all the dirt and silt that had been churned up by his struggles and the movements of whatever was under here with him, but he could easily make out the fangs wrapped around his ankle and the frothy fins moving powerfully to pull him further into the wolf's underwater den.

[Kiel]

Kiel had no idea what was under the water with the dude he was trying to rescue, but it was obvious something was. Like, for one, he didn't think Shane would go totally ape like she was if there wasn't something mean and scary there, you know? Plus, like, for a second, he had hold of the dude's hand and he was pulling him to safety, and the next there was a great lurching yank like something was pulling at the other end. So, like, either there was a monster grabbing at the dude, or, like, well. The only alternative Kiel's brain could come up with was some kind of black hole in the middle of the river.

Maybe it was both, hahahahaha.

“I got you, man, I got y-ergh!” His foot slipped and Kiel almost landed on his backside in the mud, staggering instead to try and stay on his feet without letting go. His trainers were probably totally ruined, and, like, “Dude, focus already, idiot.”

Wah! Dude, it was like having a mini Zeph in his head. So cool!

He'd been talking to himself, and his hand totally wanted to smack his face to get his attention or something, but Shane must have taken it personally 'cause she stopped growling from where she'd been pacing on the riverbank. “Wah!” Something pounced on Kiel's shoulder and he almost flung his arms up in surprise, barely keeping hold of the fisherman's wrist as his head whipped around to see what had got him.

“Wah?” It was a small fur-ball, like, some kind of monkey or something but the colouring was like nothing he'd ever seen. Like, mottled grey, you know? Kinda like Shane actually and - “Hey, hey! Shane? Shane!”

The 'kin was gone from the riverbank, and Kiel's jaw dropped as his head whipped back around just in time to see the monkey thing dive into the water. He'd swear up one side and down the other that she - and, like, he was pretty sure it was Shane, for sers, man - was shrouded in clouds or shadows or something, her form was totally vague, like he was seeing double or something. Just before she hit the water, though, he could swear she was a fish.

“Shane!” Panic lifted his voice an octave and he was about to ditch the fisherman in favour of saving her, his friend, his Chosen, but then whatever was pulling on the fisherman let go and Kiel crashed backwards into the reeds from the sudden release. “SHANE!”

[NPC]

((Jack, Shane and wolf played by Emma))

Chosen, Chosen, I'll save youuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Shane's only thought was to save her Chosen, but her mama had taught her never to confront a kelpie wolf. It wasn't that they were tougher than shadowkin, she'd said, not really. When she was fully grown, she could probably do okay fighting one if she had to, but she was still young yet and they were vicious meanies.

That's what her mama had said, anyway. And the second Shane landed in the water and gave a fishy wriggle, she knew she really ought to have listened. The wolf was bigger than her and had a powerful-looking tail. It was used to the water, and she wasn't, not like this. But her Chosen was in danger, and she loved her Chosen, so she didn't have any choice, did she? She just had to make sure she swam faster than the wolf, distracting it long enough for her beloved Chosen to get out of the water, and then she could turn back into her Shane-self.

---

Jack was stunned when the wolf let go and he found himself almost flying backwards through the water, only to crash into the poor lad who'd helped him. He flailed his arms a bit in an effort to regain his feet, every sense that was in him telling him to get up, up, up! and away because the wolf was coming for him right now.

It wasn't. When he wasn't immediately pulled right back under, and the kid wasn't either, Jack paused enough to catch his breath and his wits. The water was thrashing a few feet away, evidence that they were far from out of danger, but it seemed something else had distracted the kelpie.

“Move, kid, let's go!” Time to get back to shore.

---

The kelpie wolf had been a resident of this particular stretch of the river for almost half a decade, having been born in the reeds right here. Usually, it fed on fish. Lots and lots of fish. Yet, recently, more and more people had begun fishing this stretch and the kelpie's main buffet had dwindled, making it harder and harder for him to fill his belly.

It hadn't actually intended to up-end the boat, only declare that this was his territory and these fish belonged to him. Once the two-legged was in the water, however, and so obviously vulnerable, it was hard to pass up the opportunity, especially when the wolf had little mouths to feed.

But then it saw the fish. Colourful, its shiny scales reflecting just enough light to make it visible in the murky, grassy waters, it demanded the wolf's attention. Since a fish would be so much easier to kill and store than a grown man, the choice was simple.

The catching was far harder than he'd thought, though. It was fast, and seemed to think more like a predator than prey, but it was still a much more tantalising meal than the leathery taste coming from that man's foot.

[Kiel]

Kiel had never really had anything that was just his, you know? His clothes and his toys were mostly hand-me-downs, and okay so, like, his hats were unique to him in his family, but even his friends tended to be also friends with his siblings. He didn't even mind that he had to share pretty much everything with the rest of his family, you know, it was how he'd grown up and he didn't know anything different, and he liked to give people stuff anyway.

But Shane, Shane was different. Shane was his and his alone. And he had the sudden, terrifying realisation that he could lose her.

“SHANE!!!”

He could see the water having a hissy fit, with mini explosions erupting from the surface like something was trying to kick off a whirlpool. Which, like, wasn't easy, you know, especially in water this shallow. He just knew Shane was doing something crazy, man.

The dude they'd rescued was trying to tug him to shore, telling him to move, but Kiel was fixated on the disturbances in the water, searching for something he could pounce on.

“Shane!”

There it was, and he flung himself at it, trying to grab the wisp of what might have been a fin or a tail, totally determined to rescue his Shane.

[Nicolay]

The entire time Jack was trying to get him away from the water or Shane's name was being announced for the entire city to hear, it was inevitable that a small crowd would form behind them...a few paces behind them. There were women, fewer men, a kid and some teens.

One of them was Nicolay Armitage, out in his first tourist's walk around the new city, his presumably peaceful day ruined when Shane (whoever they were) did something crazy that this man was now on his toes trying to set things right. He had on a new set of clothes the woodcutter's wife had managed to procure for him -- light gray tennis shirt accentuated by his star-shaped beaded necklace, a pair of deep brown denims -- and his pair of hand-me-down sneakers and he wasn't really in favor of getting them dirtied in his first day of putting them on.

But the guy was so obviously distressed (and was that blood on that other man's ankle?) and no one was moving in just yet! Anyway, there was no way everyone would just...stand there and watch him like some freak show.

...right?

These were Nicolay's thoughts as he looked around the crowd, waiting for a gentleman or two to break out and come to the desperate man's aide but apparently, there was no such character among them and everyone was just satisfied with being...stunned by the man's outstanding performance. “Isn't any of you going to help him?” he heard himself spitting out later in English, repelling a pair of female friends directly beside him who inched away from him and his disgusting language. Obviously, he'd forgotten about the recent barrier between him and communication but hadn't exactly remembered it as he shook his head, spun round his heels and jogged towards the pair of men near the waters.

“Excuse me,” he called to them as he neared, slowing down to a halt beside the wounded man, asking him, “What's the problem?” still in his native tongue.

OOC: If there's anything wrong here, please tell!

[NPC]

((Emma be here! Arrrrr!))

Jack let go of the kid. It wasn't like he had much of a choice since the young man basically threw himself back into the river as if his life's wealth was at the bottom. Since Jack didn't know about the relationship between he and his Chosen, or even really what was going on, he had no idea why the lad dove back under or who Shane even was Probably a pet.

For all he knew, the kid was stark raving mad, and he had a family to think of. When his fingers slipped away for the third time after trying to get a hold of the kid's leg or waist or anything he could use to tug him to the surface and to the shore, Jack gave it up as a bad job.

“Help him!” Dragging himself up out of the water onto the now muddy bank, Jack groaned. His ankle was throbbing where the wolf's teeth had pierced the skin. It didn't seem too bad at first glance, but the mud under him was starting to turn a disgusting ruddy brown where his slithering was leaving a trail, and he couldn't get a good look through the muck. “Dammit, someone help him!” None of them seemed to listen, only staring at the water in horror, and Jack focused on the one voice that met his in a tongue he didn't know, waving his arms in vague gestures from the dark-haired lad on shore to the kid who'd rescued him. “Help him, dammit!”

---

The wolf was growing incredibly frustrated. Mostly living in rivers and shallow freshwater, his species wasn't built for speed so his attempts to catch the darting, flitting fish had all been in vain. He was beginning to think he should have kept hold of that two-legged; even the struggle against something that size would probably have been easier than trying to catch this slippery, wriggly prey. He'd come close - oh, so close! - a few times as she led him a merry, tangled chase through the reeds, but then as his jaws were about to snap closed around her, she'd dart away or break off to the side so he'd have to turn and come back.

And then the two-legged - no, a different one - was back in the water, thrashing around, yelling, and the wolf felt fingers brush his tail. Hmmm. Smaller didn't always mean easier, so the wolf gave up on the fish. He was going for bigger prey, swimming out into the depths of the river to turn and come back, gathering speed for a full frontal chomp.

---

The second Kiel threw himself back in the water, Shane knew her distraction plan had back-fired. Nononono! Chosen, no, back, go back! It was her job to protect him, not the other way around, and yet Kiel, her beloved Kiel, couldn't not try to help her. She could hear the panic in his voice, feel it, and was suddenly desperate to be back on shore with him.

The second she realised the wolf wasn't right behind her any more, she flipped around in the water and spotted a flash of white further into the channel. Somehow, she doubted he'd given up, not with Kiel thrashing around like that. Have to go, have to go, have to go!

Darting through the reeds towards Kiel, her shadowy form began to morph. By the time she reached her Chosen, she was more mammal than fish, and leaped out of the air towards him in the shape of a small, long-tailed grey monkey. Go, go, go! Chosen, hurry, hurry!

[Kiel]

Kiel couldn't swim.

Like, that tiny, unimportant little fact had escaped his memory again until he was already, like, thrashing about in the shallows, almost out of his mind with panic and worry as his hands searched underwater for his Chosen. He'd totally missed his chance to grab onto the predator (like, by now he was pretty sure it was a kelpie) and, like, apart from a couple of quick glimpses of it chasing his Shane-fish through the reeds and water, he'd totally lost track of them.

Like, wah. He couldn't even get out his katana and start whacking stuff, 'cause, like, maybe the river sailors would appreciate him cutting back the reedy growth a bit, he didn't see how killing grass would help. Except for making him feel better. Like, dude, he was starting to see why Zeph liked pummelling stuff so much.

Coming up for air once more, Kiel's foot slipped in the mud and he thrashed some more just to get his balance back. Then, like, his eyes totalled widened and he was all, like, “Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” when he saw this big grey furball flinging through the air at him.

He splashed backwards in the water again as the monkey totally clung to his face and neck, a crazy long tail wrapping around his throat. At first, he kinda figured he was totally doomed and that somehow all the animals of Elysia had decided to gang up on him or something, but then he realised something.

Grey. A grey monkey. With the same markings as Shane?

Yeah, like, no, man.

“Shane! Shane!” With both hands, he hugged her to his face with all the relief of a parent who'd just found his kid after, like, saying no she couldn't have any candy and she'd run off or something, but then he remembered something.

“Like, wah! Kelpie, kelpie! We gotta get outta here, man, wah!”

So he thrashed some more in a near-vain effort to reach shore, his feet slipping and sliding and his arms reaching out for purchase. He heard voices on the shore, and glanced up to realise he totally had an audience or something, but none of them were trying to help. “Wah, dude! Gimme a hand, a hand!”

[Nicolay]

Instead of just standing there and waiting for some sensible answer to reach him, Nicolay did put himself to good use by reaching out and tugging the man further out of the water (or more like holding onto him while he pulled himself out of the water). He would have repeated his question if the older man didn't suddenly interrupt him and flailed at him.

“Help him, dammit!”

The moment the wounded man blurted that out at him, Nicolay just...stared and lost the hinges of his jaw, eyes pretty much turning coin-shaped. He didn't understand a word he was saying! But he had heard of something familiar and--

Oh dear God in heaven, it was Elysian, wasn't it? Damn that language to depths of the deepest hell!

But now there was no time for anger because the panic had pretty much seeped into him and now he was frantic and was a snap of a will away from diving into the water and doing a mediocre version of a dog puddle. At this scene, actions spoke louder than words (and thank goodness for that) and that was how Nicolay understood that the crazy guy was drowning and something more terrible was up ahead for him. “Mister,” he called out in the foreigner's accent of Elysian as he sidled closer, inch by inch, towards the water, down the mud, and the frantic form of the guy. “Mister!” he tried again -- but that was all he'd said. His mental vocabulary still needed some helping.

When that gray, furry figure leaped out of the waves and attached itself to the crazy man's face, Nicolay let out a startled wail and hurried towards the drowning man, frightened that some strange starfish had erupted from the waters and was now suffocating him. His sneakers were totally ruined now, the hems of his trousers getting a taste of the mud as he slid further down as the victim wrapped his arms around the -- was that a monkey? -- and tried to pry him out...or so he, thought. The brunet paused, uncertain, when the previously-helpless man started going, “Shane! Shane!” like everything was a little bit better now.

And then he started panicking, again.

The younger man only snapped back into reality when the monkey'd man was now forcing himself out of the water, urgency in his voice, his hands stretched high and out. Nicolay's dominant hand was his right but what with the spiral of bandages growing out of his right sleeve, ending just above his elbow, it was his left hand that he threw towards the man in the waters as he inched lower, needing to try twice before he finally managed to latch his fingers around one of those reaching hands; he secured his grip by slapping his right hand onto it.

“Come on,” he grunted, again in English, as Nicolay began to abandon dangerous waters (it had started to splash into his ankles), yanking the man with all his strength all along, concentration quite besides him what with the risk of his feet slipping in the mud and him falling face first without a change of clothes. “Mister,” he said again in Elysian -- but this time to the man with a wounded ankle and would have waved at him to help them if he wanted to risk losing his hold of the drenched man with the animal.

[Kiel]

“Wah! Hahahahaha!”

Kiel's laughter was verging on hysterical as he felt something snap at his feet, turning his next step into a weird little jig meant to snatch his sneaker from the fanged jaws of doom. Like, dude, man, this thing wasn't taking "no, I'm not food!" for an answer!

The kelpie missed, thankfully, and Kiel figured he was out of danger (more or less) now he was pretty much traipsing through more mud than water, yanking and pulling on the other kid's wrist for leverage. “Dude, am I glad to see you, man!” He'd never met the kid, but that didn't matter to Kiel. All that mattered was that instead of standing on the shore like all the other pre-dawn fishermen and farmers and the whatever-else-they-did-for-a-living-that-brought-them-out-this-earlys, he'd lent a hand. Like, for sers, hahahaha.

Sprawling face-first onto the grass beside the dude he'd saved, Kiel mumbled something totally incomprehensible to a blade of grass. Like, something along the lines of "never again, man" or "dude, I gotta learn how to swim" or "thanks for yanking my butt to shore, man" - or even maybe a garbled combination of all three. The weight on his shoulder had disappeared when his face was half-way to meeting the ground, and he figured Shane had hopped off. He felt a tongue swipe the back of his neck and reflexively half-flip-half-flopped onto his back, giggling.

Then shot upright. “Wah, dude, you okay, man?” he asked the fisherman sprawled beside him, then straight away flicked his gaze to the kid who'd saved him. “Hahahahahaha, bet you never knew you'd rescue a rescuer, right? Hahahahaha, I'm Kiel, I'm Kiel.” His right hand shot out, like he'd been going to offer to shake, but was intercepted by Shane's swiping tongue. “So you turned back into a 'kin-kitty, huh? Hahahaha, dude!” Flinging his arms around the shadowkin's neck, Kiel pinched her ear ever-so-slightly. “Don't scare me like that!”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay had thought of the worst thing when the crazy's movements had changed (Oh God he's going to drag me down) but as it turns out, neither of them liked the water, anymore. He was so concentrated on getting both of them to dry land, especially with the man's slippery grip on him, that whatever he'd said had passed the younger brunet through deaf ears.

Once they've reached the grasses, he left the heavy man to fend for himself and finally allowed himself to breathe, moderated puffs and pants resupplying his lost oxygen as he turned around and bent over, pressing his hand gingerly against the knees of his trousers, trying not to get as much mud in it as he could (and thank goodness he decided to take the brown one out today!). Long smudges of what seemed to be like melted, diluted chocolate (care of the man's varying grips) decorated the lower half of his lower arm with his hands taking the brunt of the stain. It felt...thick and gooey and not at all pleasant on him. Nicolay fought to keep the grimace out of his face. No one was disgusted, after all, so why should he be?

In the background, the crowd was cheering, clapping their hands, with a quarter of them having gone back to their ordinary lives, as though disappointed that the man hadn't gotten killed.

It only took Nicolay a short time to pretty much recover his regular breathing and heartbeat's pattern before he finally straightened up. He was a runner, after all, so he knew how he had to breathe and had pretty strong legs at that (albeit ones that shook during the whole rescue process). He would have wanted to compose himself before he addressed the man who sat up with a start, having to satisfy himself with keeping his bangs out of his face with a toss of his head but as he opened his mouth to speak, the other man let out a rain of incomprehensible words and punctuated it with the only four he could understand:

“I'm Kiel, I'm Kiel.”

Nicolay was almost stunned by what he heard. That was an introduction, wasn't it? "Kiel" was the name, wasn't it? A strange kind of smile spread on his face when he realized his victory -- he understood something! In spite of the delirious state in which he learned how to first talk in Elysian, he managed to retain something from it and now, there was hope. He recognized the words! He could do this.

So it was with as much enthusiasm that he extended his caked right hand to Kiel until the strange gray creature intercepted him and he'd had to pull his hand back just as quickly lest the starfish-monkey-cat thing take the chance to bite him.

Also: how awkward.

A squished smile appeared on his face as he allowed them this reunion that almost disappeared, his left hand moving to press the side of his thumb against the end of his bandages consciously, partly making sure that the whole thing hadn't been undone just yet. After a while, he finally asked, still in Elysian, “Are you all right?” albeit with a bit of a hard tongue. It was the one question he first grasped completely since traveling from the forest to the city, considering it was the one of the things his caretakers kept asking him. He asked this also to the man with a wounded ankle.

[Kiel]

“Hahahahaha, yeah, I'm okay, I'm okay. Like, I was almost toast! hahahaha, Thanks for the save, man. You okay?” This was said, repeating his earlier check, to the dude bleeding beside him, but the older guy just nodded vaguely and continued sucking in air like it was going out of fashion. Shane, looking like he was used to in her oversized kitty form, was sniffing at his foot like she could still taste the kelpie on it or something, but nobody seemed all that bothered by the sight so Kiel didn't stop her.

“You okay, man?” This time, he said it to the guy who'd saved him, wrinkling his nose and plucking futilely at the wet, sticky mud caking his clothes. “Ew, I'm all muddy, wah!” His silver track pants and vest weren't silver any more, for sers. Like, kind of a yucky green-brown with streaks where he'd slipped in the mud and across the grass, but hey, at least he wasn't kibble, you know?

“We should get that guy to a healer, man, you still okay to help?”

[Nicolay]

Oh dear. What was he going to say?

“I don't know how to speak Elysian.” it was better to get that out of the way. Nicolay realized this as soon as Kiel told him things he couldn't understand and he said this with an embarassed smile mixed with one that dearly hoped the older man understood. “I'm new,” he went on to say -- then added quickly with a stretch of his right hand, “I'm Nicolay! And I'm...all right in you are all right.” The first word of that sentence was said in English.

He stretched his smile just in case Kiel needed to know he was happy he was safe.

After some time, Nicolay cleared his throat and spoke again. “Uhh...” he started, swallowing spit as his eyes wandered to the grey kitten, the waters, his muddy hand he later took back in shame, his feet... “I don't know how to speak Elysian, so...” last word came out in English. With hand gestures this time -- hopefully ones he understood (he mostly moved them around each other and then made to calmly pat the air with both hands, “Slowly,” he said in Elysian. “If it's okay, slowly speak.”

((OOC: for any formatting errors, I blame this to the internet and will fix as soon as I get a stable one!))

[Kiel]

Kiel had needed to adjust when he moved to the mainland, his native tongue being a slightly different dialect of Elysian, so it shouldn't have taken so long for what Nicolay said to sink in. Like, how hard was it to understand "I don't speak Elysian", you know?

Putting it down to all the excitement, Kiel paused in the act of scrambling to his knees and stared at Nicolay for a second. He probably looked like he was totally dumb, right, but Kiel shook it off and laughed. “Hahahahahaha, sorry, man, sorry! Like,” he gestured back and forth between them with one hand, trying to figure out how to bridge the communication gap. He totally sucked at languages, man.

He'd totally forgotten to shake Nic's hand, too. Like, wah! The dude must think he totally sucked!

“Like,” he said again, flapping a hand uselessly. “You wanna help me, like, take the dude, the guy, to the healer?” Accompanying this with elaborate gestures, Kiel tried to slow down his speech but found it next to impossible. He jabbed a finger toward the fisherman's bleeding foot, then toward the city sprawled across the river not far away, then tried to mime grabbing the dude at both ends, lifting, and carrying him. “It's all, like, ew and stuff, you know? He could get infected. You could get infected, you know?” This last, he said to Jack in the same slow, careful way he'd been talking to Nic, forgetting to switch. The dude totally looked at him like he'd lost his last marble or something, hahahahaha.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay was not a smart kid but given the sudden shift of events around him, he'd learned how to be keener and how to cope with the inconvenience of...well...just about everything! He was delighted when Kiel accommodated his need for a slower speaking pace and watched him with really round eyes, trying to keep his ears attentive to every foreign word spoken while his gaze followed his hands and movements. He took note of the bleeding ankle (and dear God was it so much worse! Actually, wasn't there an article he read back home that a lot of patients die because of people who can't speak their language?), then watched Kiel's mime show and drew out from it the act of carrying something. He was distracted the entire time he clung onto what he could of Kiel's dialogue until it hit him.

Healer -- that was indeed a word he'd heard of before! He heard it while he was swimming in darkness and it came from the troop of travelers whose first plan of action was to do something with his open wound. Open wound.

“A doctor!” he suddenly exploded in English before he shook his head at himself then nodded at Kiel. “That's right, we need to take him to a clinic--” Nicolay cleared his throat before Kiel lost track of him and everything would dwindle down to a linguistic chaos. His hands moving to gesture himself then the older man, he said finally in Elysian, “We, him,” pointing to Jack who was probably the most inconvenienced by the lack of his skills, “Haler-- Hee-- Healer, no-- I mean, yes!” "I mean" was spoken, again, in English. Dear God the language can be confusing!

After an awkward moment, Nicolay decided to just...do what he thought Kiel told him to do. With Kiel closer to the feet, he moved towards the man's back and eased himself to crouch behind him, offering a small smile in hopes of comforting him (as his words were useless) while he began to slip his hands under his shoulders. They were all covered in mud now, surely Jack wouldn't mind his fudged hands?

OOC: Thank you for fixing my post!

[Kiel]

((No problem. ^^))

“I'm Jack, my name is Jack. Not "dude".”

Kiel's apologetic retort got lost in his “Wah!” when the kid who'd pulled him ashore exploded like he'd been bitten by a ferret or something. Kiel peered at him semi-sideways; it was probably way obvious his cogs were turning as he tried to figure out what the guy was saying.

“You know, I can probably walk by myself, with a bit of help...”

Jack was ignored once again as, watching Nicolay - whose name Kiel automatically shortened - grab the fisher dude's shoulders, he hopped to his feet and around to the guy's bottom end to collect his ankles.

Shane, being way clingy after their little scare, tracked him every step of the way, her nose totally glued to his leg. Luckily, Kiel was getting kinda used to not tripping over her.

“Ready? Lift!” He was already doing it the second the 'l' left his mouth, simultaneously trying to back up before he'd really got his end off the ground. More haste, less speed. Slow down, numpty! his brothers would say, but Kiel was too busy trying to figure out how to have a conversation with a guy who couldn't understand him to listen to absent siblings.

“So, like. You come here often? Hahahahahahaha, don't answer, don't answer, that totally sounded like a pick-up line! Hahahahaha.”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay didn't understand whatever it was he said. But Kiel laughed so he just laughed along. What else could he do?

His mind was parted, once more, with hanging onto Kiel's words while keeping himself upright behind the man. Goodness, was he heavy! He dearly hoped nothing of what they were doing was going to reopen his healing wound but he did his best to keep his mind off it and follow the older man's movements. He was the local, he was the Elysian so he ought to know what to do from there.

“You eat a lot?” he asked Jack by way of a small joke, repeating a phrase he'd heard a lot from the traveling troop, a phrase they normally said to him. Nicolay still kept a warm look on his face, doing his best to involve the poor man into the conversation lest he feel left out.

And then he added awkwardly later, “You're all right.” A look at Nicolay's face was all it would take to see how worried he was that his stream of Elysian words would dry out even before they reach the clinic.

[Kiel]

As they walked, laden with their Jack-load, toward the nearest healer (well, like, that he knew of, anyhow. Kiel was pretty familiar with the layout of the city since he had to dash about like a mad hatter for his courier job, but, like, he hadn't been everywhere, you know?) Kiel totally tried not to ramble like he usually did. Like, Nic was probably the best audience since Kiel figured nobody actually listened to him anyway, so, like, it wouldn't matter if the dude didn't get what he was saying. But, like, having somebody chatter away in a language you couldn't understand was probably the worst thing ever, right?

Except for becoming dragon barbeque, but Kiel didn't think anything could be worse than that.

But, like, dude. Man, this was hard. He had so many questions and comments and observations and stories and "hey, hey"s they were starting to overflow and he felt like he had ants in his pants or something.

“Kid, if you have to pee, you can put me down for a bit.”

“Wah!” He didn't have to pee. He had to say something! “Wah, wah!” That was his version of "which of these awesome words should I start with?", and since they were all totally awesome, he couldn't decide. Several things spilled out at once, competing with each other and turning into a string of incomprehensible sentences even Kiel couldn't track. It started with "where are you from?" and scattered across several other introduction-ary topics before crashing head-first into a vague resemblance of "did you know kelpie wolves don't actually eat people, I dunno what was wrong with that dude". And after a brief pause where he looked totally startled while Jack guffawed, Kiel tried again. “Dude, I think I just broke my head. But, like, you probably didn't get any of that but it's okay, man, 'cause I don't think it was even Elysian, hahahahahahahaha. Hey, hey, go left, left, okay?”

“You taking me to Sal?”

“Like, yeah. That okay, man?”

“Yeah, he healed my kid a month back. He's nice and cheap.”

“Hehehe, I had to deliver, like, this package to him one time. I swear, like, it was worms, man. I could feel them wriggling in the paper. Ew.” Glancing at Nic, Kiel waggled his eyebrows. “You ever felt worms through paper, man? It's weird, it's weird!”