Serenade to the Sea

Ru's small boat (more of a raft, really) drifted along the shallows of the bay's coast. Through the clear, barely rippled water, he could see some of the small reefs that speckled it. He grinned at the antics of the playful fish, diving in and out of coral homes, swimming one way, then suddely the other, then yet again another in some sort of random yet purposeful path.
The Gyre bay had always been a peasant place for Ru, bringing him sweet sad memories of him and his brothers swimming in the sea as children.

Ru let his legs dangle over the edge of the raft and in the water, laying down on the raft and letting the current take him. He knew which way it was going to pull, and was in no hurry to his destination.

Slowly, fading in to his hearing, was a melody both played and sung. He looked up and in the distance could see someone on the shore.
Impulsively, he took the pole laying on the raft next to his sword and sat up, angling himself gently towards shore.

The raft wedged itself into the sand a few meters away from the dark haired young man with the guitar and Ru spoke to him.

"That's a nice song you're playing."

Lothaine glanced up with a start, then smiled. "Thanks," he said, a crooked grin on his face. "It's not much, really," he added. "You're the first person I've seen up this way for a while." His fingers stilled play across the strings, having a merry conversation of their own right. "What brings you up this bend of the river?" he inquired, flipping sable locks from his eyes.

He noted the glint of light on the raft from the large sword there, but didn't feel too threatened- it was too gorgeous a day for violence, after all! And even so, this guy was much bigger than Lothaine, a good head or so taller- he certainly wouldn't need a sword to handle me! he thought.

(Eep, sorry it took so long. My computer is currently kersplat and my mom's computer is... a little touchy. ^-^)

(OMG YOU REPLIED xD I never thought you would)

"I'm headed to Deiah city, eventually. It's just too nice a day to be in hurry,though." said Ru conversationally. "And you...?" He kept sitting on the raft, although shifted his stuff further up on it so the small waves of water hitting it didn't splash anything.
"I'm Ru, by the way."

"Name's Lothaine," he replied, his smile broadening. "And I'm out here because..." He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "'Cause it's a beautiful day?" Well and so, it was the truth; he'd really had no plans for the day- other than to enjoy it, of course. "If you're really not in any hurry, you can join me," he continued, patting the sand next to him. "I'm probably going to be catching myself some lunch pretty soon!"

"Who'd hurry on a day like this?" Said Ru, joining Lothaine on the sand.
"So does 'catching' imply fishing?" Asked Ru.

"It does indeed," he replied. "Here, gimme just a second." He stood, quickly brushing the sand from his pants, then walked over to where his pack lay in the shade of a tree. Carefully setting his guitar down, he pulled two poles from his pack (lucky he'd brought his extra today!) and quickly assembled them. He also grabbed a bit of bread to bait the fish with.

Walking back, he set the pole down next Ru. "If you don't have a pole of your own, I brought an extra today." He smiled, then sat down and cast the line, plus a few bits of bread, into the water. "Do you fish often?" he inquired.

Ru grinned and took the fishing pole. "I used to when I was a kid, but I'm usually not around many bodies of water."

He baited the line and cast it into the water. "Feels like just yesterday, though," he said with a bit of a laugh, then sat quietly waiting for the fish to bite.

"Ah, that's kind of sad," he said. "I make a point to try to be around water, but this is the first time I've been to the sea since forever and a day ago." He sighed. "I should come out to places like this more often. It's relaxing, don't you think?" he added, glancing at Ru. "I mean, there's just something about the vastness that makes me feel... humbled, I guess. Like you're not as big as you think, you know?"

Ru nodded. "That's exactly it. Thing is though," he added with a small laugh, "my girlfriend hates the ocean. Doesn't like to talk about why, so I avoid it when I'm with her." He paused, before adding comedically, "With someone like her around I don't need too much to bring me down to earth...."

"Her name's Xyn-lea," Ru said, shifting the fishing pole slightly in his hands. "At the moment, she's out on some business. I'm supposed to be meeting her in Gyre city later on this week, but I decided to come early and enjoy the scenery."

His train of thought drifted off as his eyes eagerly followed a few of the fish who seemed to be getting interested in the bait.

"Do you two travel alot?" he asked; though, his attention was truly focused on the tip of his fishing pole, which had begun to bow slightly. He toyed with the butt of it for a moment, and when he felt a resistance, he set the hook with a single deft jerk. A couple moments later the fish was flopping in the sand- a perch a few handspans in length. Lothaine grabbed the fish with one hand and with the other pulled a hunting knife from its sheath at his hip. Holding the perch down, he quickly severed its head and set it down in the grass, where it twitched a little more and then stilled. He sat back down and recast, then looked at Ru. "Sorry," he said with a smile. "What were you saying again?"

"Travel a lot would be an understatement," replied Ru with a bit of mirth. "We rarely stay in the same place for more than a week or two. It's not the life for most people, but-"

He stopped mid sentence to allow Lothaine to deal with the fish he'd caught.

"Oh... I was saying, it's not the life for most people, traveling constantly, but it fits Xyn-lea and I well. Neither of us really have need to call somewhere home." He paused. "What about you? Travel a lot as well...?"

"Yeah, recently," he said. "Haven't had a home since I moved out of my parents' place a couple years back. Just follow the trails I can find. Sometimes I hole up in a town for a while, work for some money, but I always end up heading out eventually. Guess I just haven't found the right place for a home yet." He considered a moment. "Or maybe I haven't found the right people for a home yet." He shrugged. "Guess I'll find out some day, if I don't die of dysentery, right?" he laughed.

((Dysentry? lol nice....))

"Or something else..." added Ru. "It's a rough life, traveling." He paused for a moment. "Doesn't your family worry, with you out on your own?"

Shrugging, he said, "I wouldn't imagine so. I mean, they might wonder on occasion how I'm doing, but they sent me on with a packful of food and their blessings. They probably wanted some alone time after dealing with me for nineteen years." He glanced over at Ru. "Ya know, old people stuff. Rocking chairs, sunsets, tea. I imagine that's the life they're living now. I imagine I'll wander back there eventually and see how they're doing." He reeled in his line, rebaited it, and cast again. "How long have you been on the road?" he inquired.

((Yeah, I've been watching MASH. They complain about dysentery all the time, it's great. ^-^))

((xD nice. but fux man, you're making me really think to count for this post.... btw, this is probably the fastest we've gone back and forth replying to a RP in like.... forever hehe))

"Quite a while," said Ru. "Has to have been, say... eleven years? I was only a bit younger than you when I left. Haven't been back since then, either."

Ru shook the fishing pole slightly, hoping the way the bait moved in the water would be at least somewhat appealing to the fish.

((Haha, you jinxed it. Sorry, mi madre's computer is teh freayikin out.))

"Holy crow," he said. "Haven't you ever thought about, ya know... settling down, marrying, stuff like that?" He tossed a few more pieces of bread out for the fish. "I dunno, have some kids?"

((aaah,... dammit xD I should really keep my mouth shut then.... ))

Ru burst out laughing at the concept. "Kids? Somehow, I can't ever see Xyn-lea agreeing to that happening. They'd get in the way of her job, and we'd have to find somewhere to live... However, her mothering tactics might e fun to watch." He shook his head, chuckling.

Lothaine grinned and shrugged. "She says that now," he said, "and my mother told me she said the same thing for a looong time. People change sometimes." He cocked a questioning eyebrow at him. "What do you mean, her job? How can you hold a steady job when you travel constantly?"

"Well, her job's why she travels, actually..." He said, attention entirely shifted off of the fish and into the conversation. Should I really tell him...? Her job's supposed to be secret.... He hesitated before continuing. "She... works for the Elfin leaders of Nera," he said somewhat cryptically.

"Well, how gloriously ambiguous," Lothaine laughed. "Too important to talk about, I assume. I'd sooner not know." He gave Ru a knowing look. "Sounds like politics, and politics have gotten many a man killed while he was still young and pretty."

((I just realized that it's REALLY hard not to throw in something extremely stupid while listening to this in the background http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Brazil/ ))

Ru nodded. "Yeah, it's a lot of the time political stuff. Although that's not really what she cares about," he added as an afterthought. "I agree with you on all that ending in people getting killed...." He sighed. "I worry about her, especially whenever I'm not there to back her up; there's been a few close calls in the past."

((Is there really a giant Jesus on top of a hill? That's crazy...))

Lothaine grimaced. "I've only been dealing with it for a little while and I'm already wishing we could just get rid of the government," he snarled. He brightened a bit when he caught another fish. "Not that I'm an anarchist. I just think we should live in a utopic society where nobody fights and everyone's a nudist." He gave Ru a toothy smile.