deercountry | A Merry Jaunt Upon The Sea

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A Merry Jaunt Upon The Sea

Who: Delilah Dirk, Luz, and Varian
What: Charting and exploration using Delilah's flying boat.
When: Early afternoon, start of October.
Where: Darcmouth, Pthumerian Ocean

She spent her nights in her small bunk on her boat. It had all she needed, really. A tiny little kitchen, somewhere to sleep. A few books of poetry, from the old world. Mostly in Greek. In times past, she'd sail her little ship from port to port - the entire Mediterranean Sea had been her playground, and she'd known every inch of it.

This was new territory, and while she missed the sun-kissed days and the bluest waters - there was new adventure to be found here. Though the vast ocean beyond was...different. There were things about it that she couldn't quite put her finger on, couldn't quite put words to. Things were different. It was far more than the different, starry sky she looked up at some nights, when laying back on the deck.

But today, well, today was going to be an adventure. She'd received word she'd be having guests aboard. She hadn't cleaned up - there was little enough on the boat that it hardly made much difference, really - but she had worked on breakfast. Pan-made biscuits, breakfast meat, and some fruit - and juice, of course. Because the Turkish coffee - or the closest ersatz she could make, anyway - she was brewing was...potent.

She would be easy enough to find, and hadn't bothered with directions - after all, how many sailboats tied up at the dock were there? And how many would smell of breakfast?

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Varian (very maturely) sticks his tongue at Luz, before going through the busy task of helping get the boat out of the harbour and to the sea. It's definitely not as busy as Corona's port- but taking risks is definitely something they want to avoid in largely unknown waters.

"Looks clear from this end."

"Yeah!"

Luz couldn't help but try to get to the front of the boat and leave her arms open wide, taking in the first rip of breeze against them as the smell of the ocean hit her. The girl let out a laugh and looked back at the two older people.

"It's the best!"

She watches Luz's reaction and smiles. That one has definitely had adventure sink its teeth into her - and it doesn't exactly let go once it has you. For her part, she lets a hand trail in the water over the side, with a sigh.

She nods at Varian.

"Good handling," she says, finally. "Bit of a boatman, then?"

Tough she does reach out to make one small adjustment to the tiller with a single touch, eyeing the waters ahead of them.

"I say, it gets deep awfully fast from the shore."

First unusual thing from the day.

She fished a map out of her outfit, flicking it open.

"They say there's fishing grounds just offshore - you'd think there'd be more boats out."

Oh, Luz. That's adorable. Varian watches her with no small amount of amused fondness, before turning his attention back on Deliliah.

"It's been a while, but I grew up in a coastal kingdom. On the mainland of it, but we used the river a lot to get supplies to the capitol."

He doesn't seem to mind the adjustment, peering over at the map.

"You really would be- and it's strange it gets so deep so fast. Almost like there's a massive drop in the land."

Luz couldn't help it: it had been some time since she'd been on a boat, and now that she was on there and not stealing from pirates, it was actually pretty freeing! That aside, she was still listening to Varian and Delilah, and looking down into the water herself, wondering if she should be alert about any impressions she got from the water.

"A drop? Is there any way that we could actually test out how far out it goes? I don't suppose anyone has any SCUBA gear on them?"

Or even knew what that was, Luz.

She gestures with her hands to explain it to Luz. "Where the land falls away underwater. It's usually more gradual, you see - but with fishing grounds right off-shore like this - which is also a bit strange..."

She gestured with a steeper curve. "We get to deep water more quickly than is usual...this is more like what I've seen with volcanic islands."

She turned to Varian.

"Not any of those around here, are there? Oh, and what's a scuba?"

It's adorable, and he's glad to see Luz having a good time. She's had a rough settling in period too- she should take the opportunity to enjoy being out on the water while she has it.

"Yeah, it's strange it's happening so soon, I really hope this doesn't mean we're actually on a volcanic island," he grimaces. "Because that would be very in-keeping with the general nightmare world we had to live in. Just surprise volcano."

He scrubs his chin.

"I don't have any on me, but I'm sure I could put some together once we're back on land," he smiles at Delilah. "It's a mechanism that lets you breathe underwater- you attach an oxygen tank to your back and put some flippers on your feet and down you go."

"A volcano" Luz said, sighing. "Yes, that really does sound like the kind of luck we'd have. I never even thought of that. Now I kind of wish we had Luca here too, since he'd be able to tell us more accurately what we might be dealing with."

He could, after all, go down farther depths than any of them could.

Luz nodded, and then something occurred to her. "I wonder if there are things in the water to make sure that we don't go any farther than we're meant to. I kind of got that impression with the sky when I was flying one day."

Luz, go back to feeling fancy free. Now you're in Dipper theory mode.

"Ugh, well, that would be terrible," she said, making a face. If anything limits her adventures around here, well. That'd just be wrong.

She pointed at the food.

"Oh, right, load up before it gets cold. It'll fortify you if it rains," she added, finishing her thick coffee in one long sip. She pointed at the tiller. "I'll take over for now, Mr. Varian."

Edited 2021-10-17 02:16 (UTC)

"Oh well, maybe next time. I'd be happier having a better idea of what's out here before sending him into deep water anyway," because Luca isn't allowed to get hurt ever. That's just the Disaster House rule. "And maybe? The Dream definitely had weird stuff in the water."

He smiles, doing as he's told to eat more food- don't have to tell him twice.

"Thanks and...hah, just Varian is fine. You don't have to be fancy. Here's hoping it doesn't rain, I don't like to think what this water is like if the visibility's reduced too much."

"Not by himself, of course! We'd need to have him have a buddy, just in case."

Nope, Varian is definitely going to be back by Luz there. Nothing bad was going to happen to Luca that the two of them could control.

Luz started to sit down and eat herself, a little more slowly, just so she didn't get sick from eating too quickly.

"We could try a spell to repel that, if that managed to happen?" Luz said, her mouth half full of food.

She's quiet for a long moment - strange enough for her - and when she speaks again it's in a curious tone of voice.

"It's like the Atlantic," she said. "Colder, darker. Hope the waves aren't like it out to sea, because it can be...well, let's just say you don't want to be in a small boat on it when it gets angry."

She frowns at the horizon.

"Might not take her out as far as I was planning. Well. On the water."

She stands up, grin coming back. "Brace yourselves, it's going to get a bit bumpy."

And as they talk, she's going to move a bit forward, and pull on the right lever and ropes to make the side sails slap into life - and within a few moments the hull will be barely kissing the wave tops as the boat smoothly rises into the air.

"Oh, of course, that's what we'd use the diving stuff for."

He'll chew his food thoughtfully, looking out at the water. Being on a small boat on angry water is not what any of them want, even if Luz's magic could likely help them out of a jam.

"Not to mention what might be lurking down at the bottom there."

If they came from squids...well, what's to say everything in the city doesn't come from the ocean? Bigger, nastier things. He moves to lean idly on the side, one hand resting on it to keep him steady, planting the prosthetic leg a little more firmly on the ground.

"Okay, let's see what's out here."

"Right! Of course, once we're wearing the diving stuff we have to document what's happening there too, in case anyone else had the idea of trying to go off and have a swim."

Luz is eating with gusto by now though. She had skipped breakfast at the house so she wanted to be ready in case they needed to really get into things.

And then the boat started to rise in the air, causing Luz to hop about a little excitedly.

"Yes! Flying ship, flying ship!"

'The diving stuff' is now, forever, how Delilah will describe scuba gear. But that's neither here nor there as she moves forward, shading her eyes as the boat rises off the waves, smoothly striking for altitude. Her hair and skirt flow behind her and she looks, perhaps strangely, entirely at home. Like this is where she belongs.

"Wind's strong, that's good!"

"It's probably wise. So long as someone has seen it- maybe try and record it on the Omni- people will see it's really not worth diving in there."

Okay, Varian definitely wasn't expecting the flying and this is really impressing him quite a lot. Sorry, ladies, his thoughts about scuba diving are now well out of the window as he coos up at the sails, excited.

"This is amazing! How does she keep airborne? Does she have some sort of power system to fight against gravity? Perhaps something to aid the thrust upwards?"

"Says you! I had the fun the last time I was there with Luca! Of course, we didn't go that far in, and honestly, that's probably for the best, right?"

Luz decided to not take personally how much more comfortable Varian was on the flying boat than on her staff. She guessed it was probably because a flying ship was more like zeppelin, and riding on her staff was the equivalent of riding a motorcycle: there was just more inherent danger.

"That's what I was curious about! But isn't it great! Man, I love flying! The sea salt air, the change in altitude, the slow rising! Really wakes up your senses!"

She looks between the two of them, looking a bit confused, then points at the sails.

"Big sails, light boat."

Honestly, that's really all that it is and all that makes sense to her - as long as there's enough wind, they can achieve a considerable height and speed - to her, it's the simplest thing in the world.

"You and Luca are just diving into crazy shenanigans, you're outliers."

Look, Luz, look. Here he was on a big ship and not having to cling to a teenage girl on what was essentially a broomstick. There's a difference! This is like being on an airship.

"But- but surely you need more than wind? Like- back home we had hot air from a furnace to keep a ship like this up in the air?"

How does this work, Delilah, explain, gosh wow.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that Luca and I will get into some super cool adventures, Varian. We're just following the responsible example you and Fern set in the house."

Ha ha.

"Varian, you guys can go over the particulars later! We're basically sky sailors now! Let's go exploring!"

She nodded eagerly at what Luz said, grabbing hold of a rope and pulling herself on top of the boat deck, looking off to the horizon.

"Well said, dearie! All you need is the wind and..."

She pulled on another rope, warping the side wings a little bit, and the boat hove to port, giving a view of a vast, gray horizon.

"A spirit of adventure!"

"Wow. WOW, that's just," he puts a hand to his chest, faux-offended, he hasn't a leg to stand on and he only has one leg as it is. "That's totally uncalled for and only marginally true!!"

It's super true and they both know it. Varian, of course, loves the particulars and would really love to take a look at everything to understand every tiny piece of his ship. He never does great at just winging it when there's learning to be had! But he realises he's outvoted and sighs softly.

"Okay, okay. I'll uh... try for the spirit of adventure thing," he squints into the distance. "See what's...uh. As ahead as we can get."

"That's the spirit!"

And speaking of that, Luz is really getting into the grove of their sailing. The girl's practically at the mast of the ship, spreading her arms wide and letting out a whoop.

She also can't help herself, and gives the two a wink and pulls out a small cowboy hat before taking a falling swan dive off the ship...for a moment. Soon after there's a bird with a cowboy hat on its head, squawking and keeping toe with them.

What a show off.

She isn't jealous, she isn't jealous, she isn't jealous, she isn't jealous...

She's jealous.

"She's a bird," she says, turning to Varian and pointing at Luz. "She turned into a bird."

Can just turn into a bird is just the sort of magical bullshit Varian tolerates rather than actively enjoys. He actively rolls his eyes as Luz turns into a bird, flying off.

"Show off," someone had to say it, and then to Delilah. "Yeah. She has...uh. A magical hat? I try not to think about it too much honestly, it hurts my head."

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