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 Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 3:20 pm
 Tethys Ceto trotted along the beach, reveling in the feel of wet sand under her feet. The year was turning toward summer, but here on the seashore, morning fog tenaciously clung to the air, keeping the day cooler than it might otherwise be. She tossed her head and veered into the surf, letting the salty spray cool her scaly tail. Warm beaches were nice when the weather was cool, but give the kelpi mare a cool beach on a hot day.
What she could do without, however, was the smell on a hot day of the kelp that had washed up during high tides and winter storms, but at least the former were abating for the year. The high tides, however...the tidal wrack and the salt were a constant to the smell of most beaches, and a beach without some kind of tidal wrack was suspect. Sometimes, it could indicate an unsafe beach with wicked tides. Otherwise, it indicated a lack of life in the intertidal zone, which was boring and lonely. Honestly, as unpleasant as tidal wrack could smell on a hot day, the presence of tidal wrack was probably a sign of a healthy beach.
Slowing to a walk, she started looking around, and spotted something unusual. A kalona mare, with a small bucket in tow, wearing goggles, walking straight toward the tideline. Odd. Non-aquatic Soquili usually didn't do much in the way of swimming, in her experience. This one looked prepared to spend a lot of time here. Maybe she was an enthusiastic beachcomber? Tethys began making her way over to the other mare. Darya Morvarid had gotten up early. This time of year, when the seas were quieter, it was less important to know whether it was going to be too dangerous to dive, but it was still better to be certain of what the tides were like. Besides, the kalona cross just liked to get her work done early, so she could spend the rest of the morning parsing through her haul, and figuring out what she could trade at a trading post. Above her pale, sandy eyes, her goggles bounced gently against soft, thick hair that matched her eyes, and behind her, her kalona tail casually swung a small pail. One of these days, it might be worth it to try to trade for a bigger pail, or a large basket, or a fine-mesh net, or maybe she should just harvest a giant clam, anything to enable her to carry a larger haul back, but she wasn't entirely ready to let her favorite pail go. Not yet, anyway.
As she hit the wrack line, she paused and began stretching. No sense in not being properly stretched during a dive. And the waters looked pretty chill this morning. Good. It'd be a good morning for pearl diving. If it hadn't been a good set of tides this morning, Darya would've had to resign herself to beach combing. As much as it was far safer than pearl diving, it was also less exciting, less invigorating, and sometimes less lucrative than a dive.
Having finished her stretches, the kalona continued to make her way down to the shore, tossing her head to settle the goggles down over her eyes, reaching up her tail to snug it into place and pull her forelock out from underneath. As she set foot in the surf, she noticed another Soquili making their way over. Darya paused, blinking in surprise. Oookaaayyy. This was different. Looked like...a kelpi? A bald one with a weird tail. In her experience, kelpis seemed to be a magnet for weird traits. She hadn't met enough mers to know whether the mers were the source of the weirdness, or if the kelpis were just weird all on their own.
"Good morning! I don't think I've seen you around here before?" she asked the kelpi curiously.
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 3:40 pm
"I'm new to this beach. I am called Tethys Ceto," she replied, suddenly self-conscious of her subtly harsher accent. "I don't see many Soquili like you swimming in the sea," she added. "What are you up to, if I may ask?" she queried curiously, eyeballing the other mare's small pail.
Darya Morvarid blinked at the other mare's harsher accent. It sounded like she came from further north, a lot further north, and from another part of the world. Then again, her accent, in her experience, was as soft as the sand dunes at the wrack line. "Nah, you're good," she responded casually. "I get that a lot. The name's Darya Morvarid. I'm a pearl diver, and these shores are I guess what you could call my farming zone. Shells, pearls, if I can find it for ya, I can probably get it for ya." She paused, realizing she was probably hard-selling her occupation. "Ummm, wow, that came off kinda hardcore, didn't it?" she asked shyly. "So, uhhh...you're free to come along and hang out if you're curious, just don't ask me too many questions, I kinda need to keep working before I run out of air."
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 3:55 pm
Tethys Ceto cocked her head. Pearl diving? She hadn't heard of it, but there were lots of things pertaining to sea and shore that she didn't know about. The kelpi grinned. This sounded like an adventure, even if it was short in both duration and conversation. "Sounds like fun. I'll follow you. Mind if I help out?" she asked. "Just tell me what you want me to pick up for you, and what I shouldn't pick up." The sea was an ecosystem, and pulling the wrong thing out could upset it. As one born of the sea, and with a father bound to the sea, Tethys was pretty conscious of the importance of the health of the seas, and, as oddball as her father was, his fascination with the world had infected his daughter at a young age, and he'd happily encouraged her to be an adventurer and explorer.
Which reminded her that she should probably visit her dad one of these days. How long had it been since Tethys had last visited Gahz'rilla? Probably too many moons. Since her mother and sister had drifted away when she was little, he was probably awfully lonely all by himself. After this adventure, she noted to herself, she'd try to make time to swim home and check in on him.
Darya Morvarid grinned a more leisurely grin than the fiercer grin exhibited by the kelpi. "Sure, sounds good! Follow me, and I'll show you what I can of pearl diving, my kelpi," she replied.
Mmm. "My kelpi." Sure, it was part of her lingo, but something about it sounded...nice. Probably just that the kelpi had good pheromones, or something. At least this Tethys Ceto seemed really nice and fun to hang around. And she seemed to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Hard to go wrong with that. Probably better to finish the dive and hang some more, see if they really did mesh. Then figure out how to persuade Tethys to stick around, at least as a diving buddy. She'd been taught at an early age that, for non-aquatic Soquili, a dive partner was a good safety net. A safety net that Darya had long foregone. But...maybe...if Tethys liked hanging out this much...even if something more never blossomed, she'd get a diving buddy.
Flushing darker teal across her cheeks, she shook herself a bit. Back on topic. "Right, let's go," she said, leading the way into the waves, the kelpi close behind.
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 4:27 pm
Tethys Ceto followed Darya, who gracefully and with a practiced air, swam a good distance from shore, sucked in a deep breath and dove beneath the waves. Inhaling deeply herself, the kelpi submerged and swam powerfully after the kalona cross, who seemed quite experienced at all of this.
Honestly, it was sort of fascinating to see a non-aquatic Soquili this at home both under the waves, and alongside the tides. A bit attractive, really. Whoa. Nope. No flirting mid dive with a dive partner who couldn't communicate underwater with her. Which...well, that would make family visits with her dad tricky, but maybe they could find the right bit of shore to socialize along. Preferably something with a deep delta or a sharply inclined beach. Which should probably wait until she got to know this mare better, and had a better sense of whether she'd be fine with another person hanging around her.
Following Darya, Tethys noticed that this seemed to be an area rich in bivalves, such as clams, mussels, and abalone. Tasty shellfish that had pretty shells, and which sometimes grew pearls. Swimming closer, she watched to see which the other mare would harvest.
Darya Morvarid held her breath as she dove in one of her favorite diving spots. It seemed to be attractive to bivalves, so the kalona cross could usually get a good harvest here, which was why she tried to harvest more sparingly here. No sense depleting a good bed. Besides, this was hopefully a more attractive spot to go harvesting. Glancing to the other mare, she thought she spotted the glowing, pale yellow eyes light up more intensely for a moment as they peered around.
It sent a pleasant little shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cool water temperatures. Casting around, Darya angled for a bed that seemed to contain older bivalves. It was bad practice to harvest the beds that seemed richer in juveniles, as they would be the future of this bed. Better to harvest the older adults. Nodding to herself and the other mare, she used her tail to start knocking bivalves free from their holdfasts, mostly mussels and clams, with a few abalone. Darya was pleased to see Tethys pick up on her cues, knocking some free.
A frown crossed her face as they quickly filled her small pail. She had more help, she still had air in her lungs, but they were out of room to carry more to the surface. Drat. They'd have to stash these on shore and come back for more later. If the other mare was interested.
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 4:42 pm
Tethys Ceto frowned as she added a similar mixture of shellfish to the tiny pail. They needed something bigger to carry a bigger haul to shore. Nodding toward the surface, the kelpi led the way back toward the surface. Breaking into the open air, she said, "Why don't I get us a giant clam to carry some more back? You'll get more things to trade, and we'll both get a lovely meal," she added. If Tethys recalled correctly, kalonas were carnivorous, and a coastal kalona would probably be good with shellfish. Besides, it probably counted as a romantic date, right?
Darya Morvarid blinked at the suggestion. A giant clam would be really helpful. And...was the kelpi suggesting a romantic meal date on the beach with her? She flushed a little, lowering her eyes. "That sounds great, babe--" she stopped, realizing she wasn't sure if she'd crossed a line she shouldn't.
Tethys flushed this time. "Babe is, I think, a term of endearment?" she asked shyly. Did the kalona cross feel the same way about her? "If so, then..." she trailed off, swimming closer uncertainly. Was it okay to be affectionate yet? She didn't really have any experience with dating. It was okay, right?
Darya smiled shyly. "Yes, it is. So, uhhh, if you were asking me out, I guess we'll need that giant clam for more shellfish, huh?"
The morning was shaping up to be better than either mare had anticipated, and, as they swam back to shore together with a large harvest in tow, both found themselves hoping they'd have more mornings like this on beaches like this one.
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