Tourmaline and Anatolio, title to come later

[Menelie]

Toli crawls out of the lake, pulling himself ashore, and then watching fascinatedly as his tail splits into two legs. He'd been practicing with them, and finds they're much more useful than a tail for getting around on land.

He stands up and wrings out his long hair. He braids it into a messy tail and whisks it back over his shoulder, looking around for something interesting to do. He always hopes for new people when he comes out of the lake. His sister and brother could only amuse him for so long--he longs for new experiences.  

[Kira of Flames]

Tourmaline stretched her wings, sitting at the edge of the lake. Her parents were currently out and it seemed the squirrels were with them, since she saw none of the bushy tailed creatures around her.

Her eyes got wide as she saw a fish-man suddenly climb from the water, his tail turning into legs. Needless to say, she was fascinated and she watched with pure curiosity.  

[Menelie]

[Sorry it's been so long. D:]

Toli walks among the trees, humming to himself. He almost doesn't notice the other person sitting on the other side of the lake, except for he turns his head just right and catches a glimpse of bright green and purple. Wow!

Oh damn, it was a girl too!

Casually, as if he hadn't seen her, Toli makes his way over to the girl. She has such strange appendages! Gracious, and he'd thought that red girl who couldn't swim had been odd!

As he nears her, he examines his fingernails. "Morning," he says. "Nice day for a swim, isn't it?"  

[Kira of Flames]

Tourmalin watched him with her head tilted slightly as he approached her. As he spoke to her, her face broke out into a wide smile and her hands flew into motion as she used sign language to greet him. ~Good morning, how are you? My name is Tourmaline, and it is a lovely day for water play~ was what she had signed to him. Letting her hands rest, she bit her lip, hoping that he understood what she was saying.  

[Menelie]

Toli blinks rapidly and takes a step back. "Wh-what?" He looks around, possibly for someone to come help him out. Was this some odd land-dweller type of communication? The funny red girl he'd met had talked normal language....

"Um...can you understand me? I talk with my mouth...not my hands..."  

[Kira of Flames]

Tourmaline frowned and sighed, looking down a little discouraged that he didn't understand sign language. It was frustrating to her, not being able to communicate with others. That was when it hit her; she was sitting on the largest canvas this island had to offer.

Spirits raised, she held up a finger to let Toli know to wait a moment, then furiously got to work writing in the sand with her fingers. Finishing after several moments of furious writing, she stood up and stepped back so that he could read her message.

Good Morning, my name is Tourmaline, and it's nice to meet you. I don't speak, but I can communicate through my hands and gestures, as well as writing. It is a lovely day to go swimming!  

[Menelie]

Anatolio mutters the words to himself as he reads it, eyes scanning the sand. Hm. So she couldn't speak...does that mean she was deaf? No, if she were deaf she would've just said that.

"So....you can hear me, right?" he tries. Maybe if he just asked yes-or-no questions they could avoid the whole writing business. "I'm Anatolio...everyone just calls me Toli."  

[Kira of Flames]

Nodding furiously, Tour smiles brightly to him, then gave a bow of acknowledgment as she heard his name. Bending down, she wrote in the sand again.

You said you wanted to go swimming? Could you teach me?  

[Menelie]

Teach her to swim? Gods and little fishes, doesn't anyone teach their children to swim? First that odd red girl, now her.

Still, he wouldn't want to deprive anyone of the deep and immense pleasure that is swimming. "Um, sure," he says, scratching the back of his neck. At least now he knew how to use his power better, so that would work, even if it was really awkward. Cripes, he hoped he didn't have to use it.

"So, uh, come on over to the lake, I guess."  

[Kira of Flames]

Troumaline's smile sparkled brightly and she gave him a quick hug. Letting go, she sprinted down the sand, kicking up the fine grains behind her, then splashed into the water, clearly excited to be learning. Once she got about knee-deep in the water, she spun around to see how close Toli was.  

[Menelie]

Toli blinks as the strange girl hugs him and then dashes down to the lake. He laughs a little as he follows her at a walk. Hadn't quite gotten the hang of running yet, and didn't want to look like a fool in front of her.

He jumps and dives into the lake. He'd figured this is the most efficient way to do it, since if he walked, his feet would turn into the end of his tail once they touched the water, and then he'd fall over, but the water would still be too shallow to swim in. So he dove.

He pops his head out of the water and grins at Tourmaline. "So the first part is to not be afraid of the water, but make sure you respect it, too." He watches for a nod or whatever.  

[Kira of Flames]

Tourmaline watched with wide, amazed eyes as Toli dove into the water gracefully. The second he'd touched the water, his legs disappeared into fins and she watched him with her mouth slightly open in awe. As he spoke to her, she nodded, sitting in the knee deep water, listening to him intently. She actually wasn't afraid of the water; she just didn't know how to swim.  

[Menelie]

Toli smiles at her and chuckles. "You look as if you've seen a miracle, lady," he says. "I'm just an Aernyn--born to live in water and can somehow survive outside of it. Now, onto the teaching. Hmm..." He ponders where to start. "This would be much easier if I could stand in the water and show you...."

He tries to position himself upright in the lake. "Can you see my tail?" He wiggles it for emphasis.  

[Kira of Flames]

Tourmaline's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he teased her a bit on her amazement of his transformation. Making a small face of 'eeeeeeh', she gave him the 'a little bit' sign with her fingers in reply to his question. Getting an idea, she grinned to him, then made her way to a rock with a flat top that was protruding out of the water. Climbing onto it, she layed herself completely flat on her stomach, then looked to Toli with an expression that read 'Weeeeell?' and waited for his answer on if this would work better.  

[Menelie]

Toli chuckles. "That's it! You're very clever," he says. "Now I'm not quite sure what you do with those legs of yours. I swim just by moving my tail back and forth, but last time I tried to teach a leggy-person to swim she couldn't move her legs like that. But give it a shot anyway, yeah? Like this."

He swims around the lake, staying on the surface so she can see his movement. He undulates through the water, graceful as always.