[PRP] tell me a fable [ swoles + skinnies

[houllow]

The water is getting colder! How cool is that!! Fisher looked over into the clear waters at her dragon that circled just beneath surface. Euxanth looked like a large and dangerous predator moving beneath the waves, wings tucked tight to prevent drag as she dove. Lots of the fish are gone too. Is this that winter thing you were talking about?

Yeah. Back at the High Reaches place, by now there'd have been snow an' stuff on the ground. The water froze, I couldn't swim. Slowly the teen slipped her feet into the water and casually kicked at the surf. The warm sun beat down on her bare and naked upper torso, helping maintain the lovely tan she'd earned over the long Turns. Her hair had been recently shaved down to the scalp despite comments of wanting warmth for the upcoming colder months; long hair was harder to maintain and Fisher liked it short anyway. Wait, what are you getting into down there?

Concerned that her dragon had gone silent (as Euxanth never went quiet), the rider nudged at her beast. .....nothing. I'm just looking 'cause I found a hole. Euxanth turned her head up to glance at Fisher, prompting some bubbles to rise to the surface as the dragon exhaled a bit. Clearly she'd been caught.

If somethin' snaps on your muzzle I'm gonna be the one in trouble for lettin' you mess 'round you know. The water was kicked again as the green shoved off her spot and surfaced, spraying an arc of water into the air in a fine mist. It dropped down over Fisher's shoulders like a cape, prompting a shiver. "Nice. Didja have to do that?"

Yup. Fisher flopped back onto the mini-rock she was sitting on. The pair weren't too far out from the shore, which happened to have most of Fisher's clothes and her shoes resting nearby. Eventually they'd need to get back over and gather them before tide came in and swept them out.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

For K'bet, the waters were not getting colder, they were already cold, far too cold for swimming at the very least. Not that he did much of that on the warmest of days. He and his dragon did have a fondness for flying, however, no matter what temperature it was, and even though K'bet knew their love of the air would probably be the death of them someday, he couldn't help how he'd grown to crave everything about it. The anticipation before takeoff. The dip of his stomach when Rubiginth dove in for a landing. The whipping wind the only sound that he could—

Euxanth!

K'bet flinched at the sudden mental call, but his surprise didn't last, drowned out by Rubiginth's excitement and nudge of apology. They were on the ground mere minutes after that, the blue barely giving him a chance to slide to his feet before he was splashing toward the green.

Hello! Do you mind if I join you?

"Or we can go, if you'd prefer," K'bet added. He took note of Fisher's state of undress with a faint raise of his eyebrows, but did nothing more after that. Theater people were freer with their clothing than some. Maybe sailors were too.

houllow

 

[houllow]

Rubiginth!! Of course you're more than welcome here! At the sound of her name being called the massive green turned and looked, all the while bugling a welcome for her blue brother. Fisher looked over too at the pair coming in for a landing on the shore and sucked in on her teeth, seriously hoping they didn't kick her clothes into the water with the wake brought about. She could deal with wet clothes though.

"Nah, it's all good. You're good company." Fisher sat up a bit more as K'bet started to speak, and she stretched her arms over her head. The crack and pop of a few joints echoed against the sounds of the sea and the muffed rumbles of her dragon happily greeting her sibling. "Out for a flight, yeah? I was plannin' on doin' that later with Euxanth but we needed to get our daily swim in. Entirely too much energy to burn on just one thing alone, yanno?"

Even though more than six months had passed since Euxanth's first moments in the world, it hadn't slowed down. If anything she was getting more and more restless every day and their time spent swimming and flying grew longer and longer. As a result they were nothing but pure muscle, were it possible, and Fisher looked as though she could break a lesser man over her thigh, or crush his head between them. Euxanth could likely crush skulls with her hind end. They were a good, deadly couple.

Euxanth moved a bit more out into the open waters, careful not to crush the rocks or growths around her. Do you wanna swim a bit with me? I found a pretty cool cave near here. Mine can't hold her breath long enough to get in there but we both can make it. Her eyes whirled a merry blue and green with the invitation as the swimming continued. Clearly Euxanth wasn't going to wait for a proper reply, she was simply going to go, and from her perch on the rock Fisher sighed.

She stretched again before sliding into the water herself, maybe intent on moving closer to the shore and K'bet. "You gonna join us?"

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Their deadliness might have been dismissed by Rubiginth as just How Things Were, but K'bet was forever observing and cataloging, and he had most definitely noticed the potential Fisher and her green held for crushing skulls. He was also occasionally a jealous man, but not even the promise of actual muscles could get him to do more than what was required on the exertion front. He nodded anyway. Too much energy. Oh, yes. They had been flying, to be fair, but that didn't count.

I do! Rubiginth said, consciously containing his excited bouncing so that he wouldn't splash anyone. I'd love to see a cave! He was sure it would make an excellent story.

"I... um... can't?" K'bet fumbled for an excuse, but all he could find was the truth. "Aren't you terribly cold?"

houllow

 

[houllow]

"Can't what? Swim?" Fisher looked at K'bet with an expression of pure pity.
How could someone live without being able to swim? Swimming for her was as natural as breathing and all that time at High Reaches without a proper sea had felt like she was suffocating. "How do you not know? I mean, we're livin' right on the sea so." Swiftly she moved closer to the man, coming out of the surf right near him. A shiver from the cold air on the cold water had her skin prickle up and rub one of her arms with a hand. "Also not too cold, it's warmer when you're in the water. It may be winter or whatever but it's still the ocean." Maybe she just had ice in her veins, or her love of swimming did outweigh the fact it was freezing.

For her part, as a dragon with enough energy she could heat the world,
Euxanth wasn't cold either. Instead she was vibrating merrily as her brother followed her into the deeper water. Okay we're gonna go down here a bit and then turn and then go wooosh through here and roll and then we'll be there. You got all that? Thankfully what Euxanth lacked in verbal communication she could make up with visual, so hopefully her brother got enough of the picture to understand because she wasn't going to wait. A quick tuck of her wings had her zooming beneath the surface of the water and farther out than where she and Hers had been relaxing.

Her movements were just like she'd told Rubiginth, with a down and a woosh and a roll, and the green didn't so much as let up or look back as she swam through water that was sometimes murky, sometimes clear, but always fun and full of amazing things. Euxanth was so happy that Hers liked swimming and made sure she swam a lot, because if they didn't swim she wouldn't have found such amazing things.

Okay here we are, do you see it??? I think the opening is big enough we can still fit if you fold your wings and walk along the bottom. Do you need to get some air?? There's an air bubble in there but if you gotta breathe now lemme know!!

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He nodded a few too many times at Euxanth's directions, taking a very deep breath before diving after her. Rubiginth hadn't done much swimming, but he was quick in the air and kept up with the down and the wooosh and the roll rather well. The sights along the way did slow him a little, and the blue definitely needed to breathe by the time they paused. It was with a touch of panic that he replied, Air! Yes, please! as his eyes gained a faint swirl of yellow.

"I can swim, I just... it's terribly cold." K'bet smirked as he repeated what he had previously said, folding his arms under the cloak draped around his skinny shoulders. "Maybe can't was the wrong word. I shouldn't join you because I'll die of the chill and then Rubiginth will give a ten minute soliloquy about mating flits before he goes Between and it will all be terribly sad." He was clearly not listening to himself toward the end as he rummaged around his person, producing a stick of graphite and a piece of paper. "I can sit here and write a story about a fearless adventurer named Fisher who talks to fish? Is that a fair trade for staying dry?"

houllow