Shells Upon The Shore

A step. Then another. Followed by another. This had been Cobalt's routine for the past day, week, month, he could not tell. Across the ocean floor he had travelled, surrounded by an empty murky darkness that did not part. His sole companions were the slimy sea creatures which inhabit the depths of the ocean, and what poor companions they were. He found himself utterly alone and aimless, with no choice but to plow forward.

Yet at long last there was a sign of hope. A slight incline, a lightening of the water. An escape from the depths, the sign of sunlight, the shimmering of the ocean waves far above. Brightly colored fish swam by, scattering before his ever constant approach. Before long he had broke the surface and found himself confronted with a mass of land, seemingly barren. Yet it was barren no more, as he stepped out of the ocean onto the undisturbed beach.

But he was still alone, and he sought to find others. Choosing a direction without hesitation, he continued his methodical march across the beach. In his wake remained a line of footprints, evenly spaced with no disturbance in their path. Cobalt noted with little interest the rising and setting of the sun, focused on his march across the shore, searching for a sign of another.

Behind him lay his tracks, but for the first time the pattern deviated. There was a set of two footprints next to each other, a sign of Cobalt stopping as he stopped a brightly colored mound amidst the otherwise barren sand. At long last, another. He was not alone, for there was evidence of others being here. He began again, the foot steps falling further apart as he quickened his pace. The shape of the figure among the rags became clear as he neared, and the rhythmic movement suggests that she had not yet left this world.

As he drew near he slowed, approaching cautiously. He attempted to call out, producing a harsh screech as his vocal chords were stimulated for the first time in a long while. A second try, and he managed to grate out a simple "greetings" to the figure on the beach. His glowing blues eyes fixated themselves on the figure, awaiting a response, if this being was capable of returning one.

Despite what the war forged might have expected with such a philosophical answer the answer could hardly be that the girl would laugh. The thin things shoulders shaking as it started out at a low giggle into a relentless mirth as he perched over her for a closer look. One hand covered her mouth to muffle it because even in the hysteria manners were important, presentation was important, and somehow this was perhaps not as poor of one as she might have expected.

Cobalt would see a woman, surely, with mousy brown hair, eyes the color of mud that were just a little too far apart, and a slightly thicker upper than lower lip. She was plain, dishwater plain, but the way she laughed was almost musical enough to make one forget that if they believed in the power of laughter.

The shadow allowed her to squint her eyes in the sunlight and turn her neck so her chin could be upward towards the sky. Opening them to peer at the creature she had not the strength yet to regain her footing. Nor would she judge by his answer that she would be in danger from it, at least not yet. Her judgement on whether it was a male or female was yet to be decided, or even if it carried such a thing as a gender. She'd never seen this type of creature before. Frankly she was glad it was not human, humans tended to judge their own species more harshly than others.

A shiver settled over the edge of her shoulders traveling down the length of her body. Pulling the colorful rags closer he could see they'd once formed a cloak that had been embroidered. The sea had destroyed some of its beauty. How she laid upon it had not allowed it to dry, either, so she was forced to withstand the cold with ever breeze.

"I'm not sure which outcome I hoped for," she admitted closing her eyes again.

Silently and without moving, Cobalt watched with glowing blue eyes as the girl fell apart into laughter. To say this was unexpected turn of events would be a bit of an understatement. He held doubt that he'd ever be able to comprehend the sudden and wild swinging of emotions in any sort of logical capacity. However it was a reassuring scene nonetheless, and already the girl seemed far more alive than when he had first spotted her.

"You received the preferable outcome." Cobalt quickly replied in a tone maybe a bit too objective and impassive for the prompt. "The alternative is permanent, but you can recover from this."

With his focus on the girl in front of him and their conversation, Cobalt hadn't noticed the steady approach of the new arrival until it spoke its friendly, albeit eerie, sounding greeting. Cobalt instantly froze, although considering his already static nature it was hardly a difference. A moment passes and he swivels his head to peer over his shoulder at the crystalline being, his glowing gaze reaching around the edge of his cloak. His eyes swept over the creature, scanning its face and noting the sheath at her hip. Fortunately the weapon was left sheathed, although he wouldn't be surprised if such a creature would be just as well off using its fists as weapons.

His gaze lingered on the crystalline creature, unmoving, for a time that almost border on uncomfortable before Cobalt addressed her. For better or worse, he was in no situation to reject her offer. "Greetings. Your assistance would be appreciated." He lifted a single arm and pointed towards one of the nearer and larger trees that stood beyond the edges of the beach, the grass close around it covered in what seemed like a pleasant shade. "I would like to move this girl out of the heat and to that area. I believe it would be most immediately beneficial to her survival."

"O-oh! Of course! Sure!" Sheenala answered, and jogged over to where the woman and metal man were standing.

She kneeled next to the woman and looked her over.

The woman appeared plain, nothing making her stand out, other than, unlike everyone Sheenala had ever known, well she though she knew, she had flesh. She'd never seen anything but animals with flesh. It was fascinating.

She looked down into the woman's face, blocking out the sunlight a bit.

"H-hey there." She began, trying to remember how you handle someone with heatsickness "w-we're going to try and move you out of the sun. Is that alright?"

The fleeting bit of consciousness she'd managed to dredge up for their meeting threatened to give out on her. It was astounding with a stomach full of seawater she'd felt so empty before but now that it was well and truly empty it growled with all the ferocity of a tiger defending its kill. Which was really more of a chuffing sound but it was the best analogy that she could think of herself as she was shifted in the hands of the warforged. They were softer than she imagined they would be. Perhaps it was the padding. She'd missed that kindness as she'd been busy paying attention to her stomach.

"Fine with me," she'd managed to whoever had asked her a question about being moved. The female she thought. It had barely registered as something she was supposed to reply to until she was squinting upward at metallic features that would rust if they stayed close to seawater too long.

Closing her eyes until his shadow covered her face she knew the shade would be as soothing as getting out of the line of the waves. Her clothing would not dry but once she recovered a little more she might be able to strip loose of the soaked ensemble. Neither of the two around her were probably particular about her running around in her undergarments more or less.

Kneeling down, Cobalt braced himself as Sheenala counted down. With a burst of effort he stood up, lifting Thalia with him. Despite his efforts, it wasn’t an especially gentle movement, and if his face was capable of emoting it would’ve displayed a concerned grimace, especially as Thalia’s body generated a unpleasant grinding noise for which he did not know the cause.

However that concerned would be pushed from the forefront of his mind as he realized that this effort was actually straining him. While he hid it well, his arms were less than steady in their effort to carry Thalia aloft. He had always known that he wasn’t the strongest of his kind, and he by no means unaware that he was no longer in the best shape, but he hadn’t thought that this would be as much of a struggle as it was proving to be.

Looking at his crystalline companion, for whose presence he had a newfound appreciation for, he gestured with his head in the direction of the shade. “Let us hurry.”