Summer relaxation + a space conqueror = ???

[warrior_king]

Who: Gorthan and you!
Where: A beach on the island.
When: Today, though there will probably be similar scenes happening every morning all week.
Style: Starting with prose, but I'll match yours.
Status: Open!

Gorthan is aware that this may not be Earth. Even so... the ocean is as blue as it was during that fateful summer. The summer he realized that the conquest of Earth would only be detrimental to Evron... and to himself.

There's a very peculiar bather this morning on the island, clad in nothing but a turquoise loincloth, and he doesn't seem to care about the really strange weather - Gorthan's amazement at this world knows no seasons. His head is a spot of violet and orange in the waves, and his blue eyes are widened in amazement at all the similar blue surrounding him.

Glimpses of his broad chest, large, muscular arms and comparatively flimsy, lithe legs can be seen as he swims ashore, and he swims fast. It happens, when you have large, webbed feet that render flippers completely unnecessary. He takes deep breaths once he's out of the water - this was something he had needed for a long time.

From a bag left lying on the sand, he takes out a notebook and begins writing, speaking his thoughts aloud as he does so. "Could it be... that our species... was originally an aquatic one? As a hypothesis, it seems deserving... of consideration."

You'd think a duck would have thought of that before...

Comments

[rainbowarch]

Now that the Embryon base looked a little less like a disaster zone, Cielo needed a break from all that cleaning and restoring. A little swimming and flying perhaps? It's cloudy, but even if it were pouring rain, he would still head for the beach. He'd probably even enjoy it too. When he steps off the elevator onto the island, Cielo decides that he wants to go swimming first, making a beeline for the water. But before he can hop in, he spots Gorthan on the beach.

And just like that, he changes direction and plops himself in the sand a couple feet away from the duck.

"What's that?"

[warrior_king]

Lifting his eyes from the notebook, Gorthan turns to face the newcomer.

"It is... a notebook."

He blinks a little. As an Evronian in surprisingly Earth-like Vatheon, Gorthan is surprised by many things that are new to him, but even he sees a notebook as a commonplace object. And then there's the fact that something about this individual - the unnatural paleness, for one - reminds him of...

"... Are you, by any chance... one of Serph's friends?"

[rainbowarch]

Cielo knows what a notebook is, as sometimes he has to use one himself during work. He was more curious to the contents of it. But his curiosity about it is immediately pushed away because that is Serph's name he hears.

Goodness, Leader, is there anyone in this place you don't know?

"Ja, I'm Cielo. Serph's my leader."

[warrior_king]

"Cielo..." As he closes his notebook and sets it aside, Gorthan repeats the name to himself. "Yes, Serph has mentioned your name to me. I recall he told me you were capable of... flight. Is that correct?"

[rainbowarch]

If there was one thing Cielo was proud of, it was his flight capabilities. So he holds his head up high as he answers the question. "That's right! You won't find a demon faster than me."

[warrior_king]

Gorthan smiled a sincere smile, one seen by few. The swim in the ocean had relaxed him extremely.

"What a gift it must be. I am Gorthan, and Serph is an acquaintance of mine. May I see a demonstration, Cielo?"

He was not really used to saying "please", unfortunately. Just that his request was in the form of a question, as opposed to an order, was already an improvement on his old self.

[rainbowarch]

And what a gift it is! He's quite lucky to have a demon with the ability to fly. The lack of a please in Gorthan's request doesn't bother Cielo - he's always happy to show off his abilities. Standing up, the tattoo on his right leg glows, blue lines covering his body. He lifts his left hand slightly and snaps his fingers, the transformation completing.

Now in full demon form, he hops and hovers upright a couple feet above the sand.

[warrior_king]

As Cielo transforms, Gorthan mutters under his breath. "So the transformation process is similar..."

Gorthan's eyes seem to brighten visibly once Cielo's demon form is before him. In a place where most people were either earthlings or earthling-lookalikes, he feels much more comfortable around a being like this.

He smiles and nods, clearly pleased. "Wonderful. But this is not all, I assume."

[rainbowarch]

And Gorthan would assume right. Cielo nods and all it takes is one flap of those wings for him to ascend directly upward, spiraling as he does. He flies lower than usual - what good is showing off if Gorthan can't see him? He takes off in one direction before turning abruptly in another. And he throws in a loop here and there. When he's finally done, he targets a rock not too far away and roars. As he does, a bolt of lightning strikes the stone.

"How's that?" he calls. It's not the full extent of what he can do, but it certainly looks flashy.

[warrior_king]

Gorthan watches in silence, wearing a satisfied smirk. He's used to theatrical shows of assorted powers, but... this is refreshing somehow. He almost wishes that that incompetent Zoster were here, to draw some inspiration for new mutants from these abilities.

"Sound manipulating the atmosphere..." he remarks, not entirely sure if Cielo can hear him. "Is that what this was, just now? How remarkable..."

Either way, he's very evidently pleased by Cielo's spectacle.

[rainbowarch]

Fortunately, like this, Cielo has much better hearing.

"It's magic, one of the things we can do as demons."

He's never given much thought in how magic worked, just that demons were capable of it and his own affinity for electricity.

[warrior_king]

"Ah... magic? I see..."

Gorthan isn't unfamiliar with the concept of "magic", as, at the time of Zartas, many phenomena were still being referred to as "magic", though the Great Zartas, the beacon, certainly contributed to lifting that curtain of ignorance, rescuing the Empire from the menace of darkness...

... ah, moving on. Gorthan's gaze keeps following Cielo wherever he goes. "And you and the rest of your tribe were all born like this?"

[rainbowarch]

Born? Cielo shakes his head. He doesn't remember ever being born, but even if he did, the answer to that was a definite no. He descends, landing in the sand.

"It's something that was forced on us." Forced on him, on his Tribe, and on everyone else in the Junkyard.

[warrior_king]

"And yet, you don't seem to entirely mind it..." Gorthan remarks, with a bit of a smirk, as he watches Cielo land.

"How many more of you are here?"

[rainbowarch]

"Some people mind it more than I do," Cielo answered. He, personally, really does like his demon form. But Gale and especially Argilla...they don't like theirs very much at all. He makes a fist with one of his hands and counts off the fellow members of Embryon with his fingers. "Well, you know Serph, there's also Gale and Heat and Sera, but she's different from the rest of us. She doesn't have a demon."

[wavesoakedlegs]

Not long after Gorthan has come ashore, something else comes cutting through the waves.

It is not a humanoid of any kind; instead it is an elegant blue creature with a large shell on its back and a long neck. A pokemon, specifically of the 'Lapras' type. She made cheerful sounds as she moved through the water, apparently enjoying herself, but this happiness did not last long.

As the young Lapras drew close to the short (close to Gorthan) she slowed down, looked behind... and promptly came to a sharp stop.

The sound she made then was rather distressed. Perhaps she had lost sight of her trainer? It was difficult to tell.

[warrior_king]

Gorthan rose to his feet and walked closer to the water's edge, leaving behind footprints on the sand that many, he realized, would find strange. At least he was no longer the only being here that earthlings would think was odd and out of place.

"I know you. You are... a Lapras, correct?"

He wasn't sure if the creature could understand speech. Then again, Gorthan was the type to talk to himself a lot - whether his listener understood him or not, he would have spoken either way.

[wavesoakedlegs]

The Lapras turned her head when addressed. She regarded Gorthan for a moment before making a soft, sad sound in reply. Whether she had understood or not was not really clear.

What was for certain was that she was rather distressed. Miyuki, for she was indeed Akechi Mitsuhide's Lapras, swam around in circles a few times afterwards, looking this way and that way but not seeing what she was looking for.

Gorthan, of course, had no way of knowing that Mitsuhide wasn't too far away. All that had happened was that the two had both been swimming together, and Miyuki had gotten a little overexcited and began to swim a lot more quickly than her trainer could manage. He'd been left behind, though she did not seem to understand that yet.

After all, she was still, in truth, a child.

[warrior_king]

"Are you... Mitsuhide's Lapras, by any chance?"

Even though Gorthan did not enjoy the creature's full attention for some reason, he hoped that it would at least give a sign that it recognized its master's name.

"If so... where is he?"

[wavesoakedlegs]

The mention of Mitsuhide's name drew Miyuki's full attention. She stopped and faced Gorthan again, before swimming up as close to him as possible, lowering her head and making an inquisitive sound.

You could almost imagine her asking a question.

Do you know where he is?

Fortunately, at this point there is audible splashing not too far away, and if one looked to the side the sight of another, far smaller, figure cutting through the waves.

[warrior_king]

So this was Mitsuhide's unusual pet, after all... While Gorthan noted the merit of it being oddly expressive for a lesser intelligence, he narrowed his eyes in mild frustration.

"I just asked you about his whereabouts and- "

Just then, Gorthan heard the splashing, and it wasn't long before he successfully located his source.

"Oh."

[wavesoakedlegs]

Moments later the figure got close enough that it was obviously Mitsuhide. His Lapras looked around and made a delighted trill of sorts, swimming over without a second thought. When Mitsuhide got close enough he climbed onto her shell, clearly exhausted, and stroked her neck.

She made another inquisitive sound, causing the samurai to laugh.

"Goodness, my dear, I cannot swim as fast as you. If you wish for me to keep up, you will have to slow down a little when we both take to the water."

Still stroking Miyuki's neck, Mitsuhide turned his head to regard Gorthan.

"Lord Gorthan. I apologise on the young one's behalf, if she bothered you at all."

[warrior_king]

Gorthan shook his head, his wet braids following the movement. "She was not bothering me, although I find the fact that she depends so much on your closeness rather unusual. Overall, I find her fascinating, quite frankly."

As he talked, he walked back into the water and waded closer to where Mitsuhide and Miyuki were.

"This creature seems to be... strangely intelligent. You just talked to it - does it mean it can understand our speech?"

[wavesoakedlegs]

Mitsuhide smiled softly. He was glad she had not been a bother; the young one was a little too full of energy at times.

"She can understand some words, not all, though I am told her and her kin are extremely intelligent. So she should gain full understanding in time."

The samurai turned to fix his gaze upon Miyuki proper.

"Right now she is basically a child, who looks to me as a parent. From what I gather pokemon can get very attached to their trainers anyway, so her attachment to me is unlikely to lessen in time."

He didn't mention her jealous tendancies, because that itself was likely to be a result of her youth. Miyuki had only started to act in such a way after Mitsuhide slept for two weeks, thus worrying the Lapras to the point that she got anxious if Mitsuhide was out of her sight for too long (and apparently, she seemed to think it the fault of other people if he was).

Time would help her get past that.