[FIN] No Fear of Drowning [Private]

[Lucca]

At the time, it had made sense. Armed with a new 'good-luck' spell thanks to Zuberi, the Midori witch doctor, Eldryia would step out of her comfort zone and visit the second of the major watery Realms, Selkie Lakes. When she sensed the ability she gained had very limited uses, Eldy had faltered, slightly, but then when had she ever really backed down from something because of fear? She'd seen things in the Hearts dungeon that would make most Cards run the other way screaming. Surely she was fearless.

But there was just something about lakes and seas and any other large body of water that was just...disconcerting. She'd tried to find a reason for it, once, when she'd been unable to fall asleep, alone and in the dark in the wee hours of the morning when her thoughts tended to rise up like ghosts in her mind, silent and unnerving. She hadn't been able to come to any satisfactory conclusion.

And so it all led up to this moment, now, when Eldryia was walking along side a large lake, ear pulled back as she kept glancing over at the moon's reflection in the water. It would have been pretty, if she'd had an appreciation for such things.

But she didn't, and she really just didn't want to be here. Never in all her travels had she wanted nothing more badly than to just go -home-, but she did now. She wanted to see those familiar halls, the cloying scent of roses invading her nostrils, the familiar arms of her mother wrapped around her...

Lost in thought, she didn't notice the other figure until there was suddenly someone -right- in front of her, and she leapt back with a startled mew, paws hitting water with a -splash-.

[Lucca]

Happy, full, and only slightly drunk, Felix had decided he could stumble his way home when the barkeep started to kick patrons out of his establishment for the night. It was only just past midnight and the Porcupine was in no particular hurry, so he waddled his way waveringly along the side of the lake near his home, a large, cheerful smile on his face. His ears and tail twitched in time with music on he could hear, and he gave himself up to the happy haze of alcohol.

Well, he did until he saw something black, walking towards him along the shore. Felix's ears perked forward in interest. Someone else was out tonight? Golden eyes lit up as he also saw purple, purple so dark it was nearly black as well. A Torquehelm, then! Could it be Horatio? He thought he caught the glint of metal, somewhere behind the figure. But as they drew closer together, he saw that it was quadruped. Someone new, then! That was even more exciting.

It was strange that he (she?) hadn't seen him yet, and Felix stopped, swaying a little, about to call out to the Feline, as he could now see it was, when she finally seemed to notice him. He stared in surprise as she gave a cry like he was some sort of monster and vaulted right into the shallows of the lake. "Hello!" he said, smiling in his normal friendly manner. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt ya, promise." He extended a paw, rather belatedly towards the newcomer.

[Lucca]

Eldy's eyes were wide, pupils narrowed to mere slits, and she froze for a moment as her paws became cold and wet. The Card who had startled her was some sort of creature she'd never seen before, Rodent for sure, but with spikes coming out of his back and tail. She eyed him cautiously, heart still pounding from her scare, but when a small wave in the lake caused water to lap against her tail she puffed up and jumped again, gaining an impressive height before falling...right onto a rock. Her paw hit at an odd angle that sent pain shooting through it and she hissed, rolling back onto her feet and gasping in pain.

She held her front right paw up in the air, noting that it was twisted at a funny angle, and that was when she remembered she wasn't alone. Purple eyes darted up to meet golden, and she licked her lips, feeling a wave of shame at her overreaction. "H-hi," she said meekly. "I'm sorry about that you just...startled me." Her one remaining ear flattened against the side of her head. Understatement of the year, heh.

[Lucca]

Felix let out a startled cry as the Feline jumped again (aww, nervous, wasn't she?) and he immediately felt bad, honest face twisting into an expression of guilt and worry. He moved toward her quickly, more quickly that his lumbering bulk would suggest possible, the tingling feeling at the edges of his mind being pushed aside in light of the situation.

He held his worried expression until she looked up and spoke, and then he settled into a smile again. "Hey, no worries...is your paw okay? It's not...broken, is it?" His brow furrowed as he stared at the aforementioned limb for a moment, but then he perked up again. "Oh, hey, I know! You can come back with me to my house and stay the night. Then if it still hurts in the morning, we can take you to the doctor! He's a Corvie mix and he knows what he's doing." Felix, by implication, knew nothing about treating broken limbs.

[Lucca]

Eldy gave the Porcupine an odd look. He seemed slightly...dense. Geez, she wasn't dealing with another 'Captain Obvious', was she? She seemed to attract those sorts of Cards, apparently. Of -course- her paw wasn't okay! She wouldn't be holding it up in the air if it wasn't injured! Her ear stayed flattened and her mouth turned down in a frown. "I don't know if it's broken," she said flatly. Though that would be a good thing to find out. She tried to twitch her toes, and hissed in fresh pain, but, looking down, she had managed to move them, and felt a rush of relief. Not broken, then...just twisted. She'd broken her leg before, when she was a child and hadn't yet managed her balance correctly, and she'd gotten to ambitious in what she attempted and...fell from a ceiling beam to land on the hard floor of the Palace floor. It had not been a pleasant recovery, not the least because her Mom let her know -exactly- how stupid she had been to attempt something she wasn't ready for yet.

Perhaps she needed another of those lectures right now.

Shaking herself out of those thoughts, she realized what the Selkie was saying...and she backed up, clumsily, on three legs, until her leg hit rock. Sure, she'd stayed in lots of stranger's houses in her travels, but usually they at least gave their name first! And she had never been hampered in her ability to get away before, either. "That's a funny thing to offer when we don't even know each other's names," she said in a low tone, tail twitching. "And I don't need a doctor. It's not broken so it should heal plenty fine on its own." The words were a bit harsher than she intended, but she found she didn't really care.

[Lucca]

Confusion was plain to read as a book on Felix's face as he watched the Feline get upset. What exactly had he done to get her that way? From his perspective, all he'd done was show concern over this guest to his Realm and offer her what any decent Card would have. The idea of taking advantage of her in her weakened state would never have even crossed his mind, but as she backed up, he sat down on his haunches, tilting his head forward to peer at her.

But at her hissing inquiry, he actually laughed. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry! Usually I have better manners than that, heh." He cleared his throat and offered her his paw again. "My name is Felix. How about you?" He strained to think of something to ease the curious tension in the air. A compliment always worked, right? So the Porcupine blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. "You've got a lot of purple on you. It's pretty."

[Lucca]

Eldy frowned as the Porcupine laughed it off and gave his name, finally. Felix. She blinked owlishly at him, not sure she quite wanted to return the favor. After a moment, she raised her head, whiskers twitching, and said, "It's Eldryia." She didn't bother giving the shortened version. Let the guy figure it out himself...if his small little brain could manage to come up with such a thing on its own.

She was almost ready to just go with him anyway and take him up on his offer, since she was cold and wet and unhappy, before he made the stupidest comment yet. Eldy's ear went back and she stared. She'd been to bars before, but she'd never heard flirting quite that bad before. "Wow, yeah, amazing right? It's not like every single other Card from my Realm has the exact same shade of purple on them or anything," she deadpanned.

That was it. She was through with this crap. Turning her tail to Felix and her nose in the air, Eldy limped off with as much dignity as she could.

[Lucca]

Felix smiled, ears perking up as the Feline gave her name. And wow... "Oh, that's a very pretty name! A mouthful, though...mind if I just call ya Dryia?" he asked, getting more comfortable. For being off to a pretty rocky start, this introduction was certainly turning around for the better!...or so he thought.

The sudden biting sarcasm and abrupt dismissal was a cold shock that left Felix feeling like he was suddenly trying to swim against a current. Leaping to his feet, he waddled after her, easily catching up due to Eldryia's hurt leg. "Wait! Dryia...Eldryia, please! I didn't meant to insult you, really! All Torquehelms have pretty fur! Or...feathers or scales or whatever..." He paused, panting, unused to so much physical activity, while also trying to talk and -think- at the same time. It was a bit too much multitasking for him!

But he really didn't understand the hostility, and he didn't want to leave such a poor impression. If he'd truly insulted her, Felix would make it up, somehow.

[Lucca]

Dryia? It took all her considerable training not to snort. That was certainly a new one. This guy was a real riot. But that wasn't worth the headache he was already giving her, so the Feline didn't let it stop her from walking off.

And of course...the dumb lout had to go and follow her. On any other day, she could have easily lost him, but thanks to her newly-acquired limp, he was having no trouble keeping up. Perfect. Eldy gritted her teeth and tried to ignore him, but the stupid just bypassed all her normal filters and went straight to her brain, trying to rot it out of her head. She just -looked- at him, and tried to push past his large, bulky and spiky form. What were those freaking spikes for, anyway? Skewering fish in the lake? What a thought. Snigger.

"Whatever indeed," she said flippantly, and turned her head away from the annoyance.

[Lucca]

Felix was very confused, and getting more disheartened by the moment. It wasn't as if he'd never met rude Cards before, and he could generally take whatever they said to him in stride, but this time was different...this time, it felt like his fault. And he couldn't represent his region so badly as to let the poor girl walk away with a broken leg.

"Wait...Dryia, please," he begged, golden eyes sincere, even though there was no need to tell her to wait when he was quite solidly blocking her path, though whether he knew consciously that's what he was doing was anyone's guess. "Let me make it up to ya somehow, okay? I could pay for you to stay the night somewhere else or...or pay for you to go on a sailboat ride or whatever else you were planning on doing here...buy you dinner, maybe? It's a little late but I know a few places that are still open..." He bounced from foot to foot, paws lifting in the air alternately, but eyes never leaving her face. This felt really, super important for some reason, and he wasn't exactly sure why...