A Grave for Secrets

Rayner made a noise similar to a rumbling purr at being hugged.
He was very quiet while she was putting the mask on, and let out a small, "wow" when she turned around. It was fascinating how different a shinlai looked when wearing another's mask, as was true in this case.
"You remind me suddenly of the mythical sea maidens people like to tell stories about. That mask is even more stunning in use." He nodded his approval, "We might as well go now, it would be a shame if nobody else was able to witness this."

Under the mask Ryshka blushed but it was hard to see, so she felt lucky. She walked out of the cavern and down the well worn pathway to the shore. Examining the shoreline as well as she could. She could definitely see where the commotion had occured the prior night but was in dismay as the sand seemed to be spotless of anything. "This is going to be a long day..."

The black cat that had come to inspect Rayner was back and padded softly towards him again mewling softly. Not far behind was Alessa sauntering towards them a cheerful expression on her face. "Goodmorning the both of you! I see Neri found you both well."

Rayner chuckled, kicking at some sand, "Unfortunately it would appear so! Too bad masks don't send out some sort of signal when their owners are near."
The water did look nice though, secretly he hoped that they would be able to take a break eventually and try swimming. Or at least wading, if his fur was going to be held down with humidity anyway he might as well just soak himself completely. Maybe Rysh wouldn't mind, surely she knew some good water type games. Those thoughts were interrupted by a soft mew. Rayner turned his head and let out a growl, seeing the black creature coming towards him, "Didn't anyone ever tell you, curiosity killed the cat?" He whispered, eyeing it.

Rayner looked up at Alessa as she aproached them, and then back at the cat. "Neri? You mean, this is yours?"

Neri eyed Rayner and yowled at him grumpily before slinking around Ryska's legs. Alessa laughed "Indeed Neri is mine, I sent her up to see if you two were awake earlier but she came back rather puffed up so I assumed only you were awake. I was going to invite you both for some food before you began your journey back or whatever it was you had planned today."

Ryshka smiled and nuzzled the cat, and Neri was instantly intrigued with the dangling shells. Rysh pulled her head back and away from the cats swiping paws. Alessa smiled a bit before walking up to Ryshka and running her hand softy through Rysh's grimy fur. "You look just like her you know...I think she would be proud."

"Oops, that explains some things." Rayner decided not to mention the fact that he had chased and even considered eathing the cat. At least Neri wouldn't be able to tell anyone about that, he blinked as if to appologize, but still didn't seem to keen on making friends with it. When he was growing up domesticated animals such as cats and dogs were not something he saw on a daily basis. In fact, Rayner had never seen one until after he had earned his mask. So in general he tended to have about as much respect for them as he might any other small animal. Enough respect not to torture and abuse them, but not enough that he wouldn't eat one if there was no other food. Rysh however seemed to get along quite well with the cat.

Rayner smiled in amusement at Alessa's comment. It was nice to know that it really hadn't been a mistake for Rysh to put on the mask. He really did think she looked quite stunning with it on. "Actually, we came to look for Rysh's mask. Yesterday when... Well, it came off anyway, somewhere around here."

Alessa's face looked a little concerned once she heard what they had planned for the day. "The tides came in early today, I do hope it is still on the shore, but there is the chance the waves took it back. Anyways, I brought some lunch food for you both and some blankets and a few towels, I know that no one usually messes with the cavern while you are away but you can never know what other creatures might decide to go in for a visit." Strapped to her back was a large basket full of various fruits and slightly salted meats and bread, covered with a few towels and large blankets. A grin slipped along her face, "Maybe before you start the hard work, you two could relax and have a picnic on the beach. The weather is so nice, it would be a shame to not take some enjoyment out of it."

Rysh tilted her head a bit, somehow knowing that Alessa was trying to do something...maybe plan or push something forward but truth be told she was too naive to see it. Neri padded back to Alessa and hopped up onto her shoulder and perched like a bird would and simply stared down Rayner. The tiny hermit crab they were releasing back to the shore had retreated into its shell and only its bright red claws could be see poking out.

Rayner looked out that the waves, concerned. The wave could already have taken it back? He probably wasn't a good enough swimmer to go look for it out there. Rysh might be able to, but then where would they look? It could be anywhere, there was far too much space out in the water. His nervous habit came running back, and he ran his tongue across his top teeth, thinking.

Food did sound good though. Maybe eating would increase their chances of finding the mask. Not really, but Rayner had a hard time saying no when there was food involved. He could smell it, sweet fruits, salt, meat... His eyes traveled briefly to Neri. He chuckled, mentally washing away any remaining temptations to eat the cat. So long as it didn't try to steal the little crab he was carrying, he decided that he didn't mind it so much.

"Well, maybe a picnic wouldn't be such a bad idea." He turned to Rysh with a smile, "What do you think? It is a nice day..."

"I uhh... sure I guess. I guess I do owe you a day of relaxation since I...tried to drown you and made you trudge all the way out here." Most of the village was too busy to really truely enjoy a hot day by the ocean. most of the men and young boys out on the fishing boats. The women doing a wide array of other things from caring to animals and children, to fixing nets and or helping to patch boats. The children knew what a great day it was and most of them splashed about in the water swimming as if they were born part fish.

Alessa knew that the shinlai would cave to her offer of a relaxing day and had thrown the blankets and towels down on the ground a few feet from the waters edge. The basket was set to keep the blankets down and Neri had decided to take a catnap on a corner of the blankets. Alessa stood up, her long pale white and blue skirt made of a light thin cotton caught the wind. When she wasn't pretending to be so rough and tumble she was actually quite a stunning woman. She spoke before leaving them to be on their own. "Now Ryshka, I am not sure if you will be able to find you mask, so please try not to loose this one."

Ryshka nodded almost sadly and went to lay down then looked at her muddy grimy fur. "If you don't mind I think I am going to wash myself a bit before deciding to eat and lay down Rayner, you can start without me, but if there are any apples could you save me one?" She padded towards the waters edge and seemed to move away from her feet creating an arc of dry sand. The water boiled a bit then rose in a sheet clear and cool unlike the rest of the sea. It was easier for her to filter out the water so it was clean and free of salt when she really tried. It wasn't perfect but anything would be better than looking like such a mess. She held her breath as the water coiled and pooled around her in a constant whirling motion. She rubbed her paws and removed all the mud and the rest of the water took the grim out of her fur.

She stayed encased this way for a few minutes on one breath and once she thought she was clean enough dispersed the water back to the ocean. She padded away from the waters edge and the remainder of clinging liquid froze against her fur. It took her a few passes with her paw but she swiped away the ice that came off her fur and shook herself a bit, before returning to the blankets.

"Well, that wasn't the reasoning I was going to use, but sure!"
Pleased that she had agreed to a picnic, he relaxed and moved his toes around in the sand, waiting until the blankets were set up. He would have offered to help, but Rayner wasn't really very practiced in using his front feet as hands like some shinlai. He could pick things up, usually without breaking them, but that was about it.

"Sure, I'll save some apples for you!" Rayner went and sat down, observing the cat before flipping open the basket. He decided not to disturb it, the cat was actually pretty cute when it was sleeping like that. Just another little bundle of fur. Sifting through the contents and pulling out different bits of food, Rayner couldn't help but watch Rysh out of the corners of his eyes. So that was how she cleaned off her fur. He'd never seen anything like it! Origionally meaning for her not to know that he was watching, he couldn't help but gape and stop what he was doing. Just before she finished he looked away and continued to sort through the food, pulling out 3 apples and setting them all aside.

Rayner pulled out some bread and meat for himself. Just to see what it would taste like he tried smooshing a bit of meat and some fruits in between two pieces of bread. He was getting ready to try it when Rysh came back. "I found three apples for you." He said, taking a bite of the bread, meat, and fruit combo in an attempt not to stare. Last night Rysh had looked so frail, but now that she was clean again he hardly recognized her. "You look very nice." He said, feeling shy for the first time that day, and pushed the apples towards her.

"I feel a bit better too!" She let some of the ice close to her skin stay as she sat next to him and grabbed the first apple with her paws and began to munch on it lightly. She watched the children playing and mildly stared out at the calm blue of the water. "Well seeing as that we've quite the task at hand, what would you like to do today since it's been decided we do nothing?"

"Hm...." Rayner thought for a moment, looking down at the little patterns on the blanket. "Well, I wouldn't mind learning how to swim. But really I'm up for anything once we look for your mask."
He paused again, something had been bothering him. It was difficult to relax with the thought lingering at the back of his mind, and maybe it was a bad time to bring it up, but Rayner wasn't very good at waiting in those sorts of situations. "Rysh, are you really going after Lycu?" He asked, "I know that doesn't have anything to do with today, but I can't stop thinking abou it."

She turned her head not fully looking at him but more staring into some unknown abyss only her eyes could see. "After all the things he has done to me, taken away the only thing I ever cared for a needed...how can I not. I am not saying that I will even survive the encounter, but I can promise that he won't." This cold almost heartless side to her was hardly ever shown but it was there. It had taken years for her to even build up the courage to say such things, and especially being so small and considered so weak it seemed out of character but deep down she knew she had to try.

As quickly as the dark cloud had passed over her, it vanished like it had never even happened. "Swimming is easy, you mean to tell me you never learned?"

((Waiting on a judgement on what happens when a shinlai looses her mask. Might have it so she keeps her mom's mask, but I have to wait and see what Alana says. Sorry for the mask searching delay lol))

(That's alright, I'm curious to hear what she says ouo)

Rayner sighed, he was afraid she might say something like that. He knew there was nothing he could say to change her mind, he might make her mad if he kept bringing it up anyway, but he wished she didn't have to go. What if she really didn't survive? He didn't want to think about a world where she was gone. Surely that was what had inspired her, had made her say such upsetting things, but why did it have to be that way? Rayner wasn't sure she would even accept his help, but either way he would follow if he could.

"Huh?" Rayner looked startled for a moment as he sudden shift in mood. But he didn't mind a change in subject and took it up eagerly, "Nope, I never learned how! But then, I'd never known any water shinlai either. Can you walk underwater without breathing?" He asked, "I was thinking maybe you could help me with that too, I want to try walking underwater, I might be able to draw a bubble of air around my head and bring more in from the water, since I hear that's kind of like how fish breathe."

She thought for a moment.."Well I can hold my breath for rather long periods of time, but what if both of us worked together. I can manipulate the water to stay off us at the bottom, if you can get enough air to sustain us in our.."bubble" I wouldn't recommend us going out too deep mostly because if something goes wrong and you aren't the best swimmer I wouldn't want anything bad to happen. As for air out of the water, I am not sure whether you could filter it out. Perhaps a balance of water and air could, but manipulating water is tough, mostly because it has a will of its own and is constant motion against you will. As for the swimming bit however I know I can help you there."

She didn't want to think about the prospect of her continued hunt for Lycu and she could tell it upset Rayner to think about it. She only hoped his allegiance wasn't strong enough to make him protect Lycu. She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on trying to have fun. She wasn't going to lie but the prospect of spending a day just relaxing and doing the things she loved with someone ,who even though she felt like she didn't know anymore, she was quickly falling in love with.

She closed the basket and put it next to Neri who was sound asleep, his paws twitching gently, letting the basket shade him. And she got up and began to walk to the edge of the water. Her toes wiggled against the firm sand loving the way with the slightest pressure it would harden but if you relaxed you could sink in a bit.

"Ah! Well, you seem to know what you're talking about, so I'll take your word for it. Best take the side of caution, I would love to learn how to swim first and then maybe try that. It could be interesting, to see if we could use our elements together." He couldn't help but think of how she had almost drowned him, and if she might lose control of her element again. It seemed like he should have been worried, Rayner had reason to feel paranoid, but he didn't.
"Two different Shinlai using their elements as one... I wonder if it's even been tried before." He mused quietly, as Rysh stood up and walked to the water's edge.

He stood up and followed, looking out at the water. Rayner took a deep breath, he just had to learn how to swim, and do it well. With a determined look, he stepped on into the water, feeling it push harder against his legs the deeper he got. Now it made sense, what Rysh had said. Air could easily be very gentle to manipulate, even churning strong gusts never brought much protest from the element itself, however much it buffeted one's fur when uncontrolled. This water was heavy and dragged his fur down. He could understand an element moving constantly, as the wind did, but was unused to this extra weight.

"Hm." Rayner stopped just as the water began to lap at the long fur on his chest, and turned back to Rysh. "If I kept walking, wouldn't I just dissapear under it all?"

Rysh let go of her cares and took a few steps back then ran bounding deep into the water and sinking below its surface momentarily. She surfaced with a grin as beads of water trickled along her fur and horns flopping her normally spikey and outlandish hair down along her skin. She looked at him as he asked if he would sink. "Well technically yes you will sink if you don't move any part of your body, but if you relax and churn your legs gently you can float and tread the water. Even though we are large, our buoyancy is pretty good." She swam towards him and stood at his side and lifted one of her fore paws out of the water. "Spread your toes, not uncomfortably mind you and your paws will act like mini flippers." She then sank her head below the surface and swam out into the depths a bit, but not deep enough where she wouldn't be able to reach the bottom easily.

Rayner lifted a foot and tried spreading his toes out, "Like this?" He flopped his foot against the water, and it made a *splat* sound. Seeming satisfied, he followed her. "Okay, I'm going to try it!"

As the water got deeper, up and over his shoulders, Rayner had to lift his head a bit higher. He couldn't help feeling a little nervous now, what if he didn't float? Shaking his head to clear the thought, he took a little jump and splashed in where it was deep enough to swim. Rayner found that his feet and legs already seemed to know what to do, swimming wasn't so bad! He resurfaced and sneezed to clear the water from his nose. "Rysh, this is fun!" He exclaimed, and paddled around, head bobbing in the water. "Oh!" He looked down to see that the little crab he'd been carrying was still hanging on to his soaked fur. As if on cue, it let go and sunk down in the water. Rayner wondered for a moment if he should retrieve it, but the crab was probably happier here, where it belonged.

Rayner swam out further until he reached Rysh, "It's wet out here." He whispered, then used his head to splash water at her and tried to swim away, laughing.

Ryshka saw the incoming splash and halted the droplets midair before letting them plop into the water. She smiled and sank swimming after Rayner under the water. She felt more comfortable submerged and could swim faster this way as well. She let out a few chirruped clicks and listened examining all the things the sea had to offer using her ears. She sensed something large and moving slowly in the deep and poked her head out of the water to look at Rayner. "Would you like to see something interesting out in this oh so wet water?" She smiled.

"Not fair." Rayner half-pouted at Rysh's smooth stop to his splashing, but his interest was quickly caught. How much could there be to see out here? Fish and rocks was all Rayner could think of right off the bat, but he was still curious. "Sure, what is it?" He asked, still treading water.

(super short post yay!)

(haha yay!!!!)
Rysh said nothing just smiled and began to swim out into the deep and cool water. Occasionally slipping below the surface and chattering to make sure she wouldn't loose the beast. After 10 minutes she stopped and about ten feet below them a large black mass was moving. It was almost diamond snapped with a long thin tail, it swam like a bird would fly with great wings propelling it through the water. Rush took a moment and made a platform of ice to sit on for both of the. Which also gave them a clearer view of the creature. "They are called manta rays by the humans. They are a type of fish. I always thought they were such curious creatures"

"Hm." Intrigued by Rysh's no-answer, Rayner followed behind at a slight distance, just in case. Whatever Rysh was after definately seemed to be moving, for they kept on for what felt like an eternity before she stopped. As much as he hated to admit it, Rayner was quickly becoming exhausted since he wasn't used to swimming yet. His leg muscles were feeling stiff, and his breath came in short little puffs. Of course, he could increase his air flow if he wanted to, but when he was tired Rayner always had a harder time concentrating enough to use his element.

Luckily relief was in sight. He scrambled on top of the ice flow Rysh had created with a grateful grunt and looked down as she spoke, spooked a little by the dark mass he saw below. They'd been following that? He glanced at Rysh and back, listening to her carefully.
"A manta ray?" Now that he looked at it, the creature did seem to have a definate shape. Still very alien to him, but it had a certain grace to it's movements as well. "Curious is a good word, I've never seen such a strange creature." He half frowned thoughtfully, "But nothing is ever really that peaceful, isn't it dangerous at all?"

Rysh laughed "It is really that peaceful, it filter feeds for tiny things with its crazy filter mouth. It doesn't even have teeth!" She concentrated a little and the water whirled under it forcing its path closer to the surface where she put her paw in the water and traced her paw gently along its smooth silky back.

"There are thousands upon thousands of neat creatures in these waters, each as different in colors and shapes as we are. " She smiled almost talking to herself as the ice floated along in the water.

"Really? It doesn't even look like a fish..." Rayner looked down at it and decided to try touching it as well. He dipped his foot into the water and touched its back with one toe before pulling his paw out and inspecting it. The creature did seem to be pretty peaceful.

He smiled, "Okay, I guess it's true, that I've been missing out on something pretty incredible all these years. So before we try walking on the bottom I have one more thing to ask you. It's not an immediate request, but some day, when there is peace and a vacation can be afforded, I think we should travel all the way across the ocean. Not for any particular reason, but because we can." He looked off into the open water, "I know you probably don't trust me very much now, just... Some day."

"That may be true, but whats on the other side of the ocean?" She looked out into the endless blue curiously. "I suppose it would be interesting to find out. " She gazed for a few more moments before looking him straight in the eyes. "Rayner...its not that I don't trust you. You had many opportunities to harm me and see that you never took them says alot. I probably over reacted last night, and I am sorry for that. Its just I kinda feel like I don't know you. I mean I hope I do, I hope that everything wasn't a lie. You just didn't seem like the type that would be a darkblood from everything I have ever experienced with them. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I need to know if you are the same lai I met in the forest that day, and the same one I curled up against near the pond. I am tired of being fearful and I want to know that if I keep you close I won't have to be."

She looked down at her paws once she had said her peace and fiddled with the silver bracelet.

(Rayner talks too much, he needs to get to the point)

Rayner shrugged, "Maybe it's the edge of the world."
He found himself trapped in Rysh's gaze, and couldn't bring himself to look away. He didn't have to, it was she who looked down at her paws. For a moment he just smiled, "Hm..." And then he broke into a laugh.

"I'm not the Darkblood type? You know, I can't say that upsets me too much. Ever since I left my family I wanted to be a credit to the revolution. But the Darkbloods you've met, and probably most of them if we're being entirely honest, are after more than just the truth. They want revenge on those who have wronged them, they want power, and a lot of them are mentally unstable. I could swear to anything you might want me to swear to that everything hasn't been a lie. I'm not really very good at lying, otherwise I would probably not have spilled my alligance in the first place.
I don't want you to have to be fearful..." His tone changed slightly and he started to sound a bit colder,
"I shouldn't tell you any of that though. The subject will just get changed and I'll only feel better for a little bit. I wish you would just say that you really don't like me, it would make everything easier. I just wanted to be friends at first, but I can't help it, I like you more than that. At least if you said for sure that you really don't trust me or you hated me or something I could work to get over it. But then you said love, and I have to know, what did you mean by that?"