Fantasy ᴍᴀɴɢᴏ ᴛᴀɴɢᴏ ᴀɴᴅ ɢʀᴜᴍᴘʏ ʙᴀꜱᴛᴀʀᴅ

[queermoth]

kilrai woke with a groan. everything ached, and although they'd never thought it possible before, they both burned and were far too cold. pushing themselves up, they checked themselves over. wet clothes? check. various bruises all over their body? double check. sand where sand shouldn't be? triple check. sun beating down on their body and burning their skin an even darker pink?

yeah, you get the gist.

the last thing that kilrai could really remember was the storm. there was a lot of shouting, and they'd lost hold of the ropes several times, but ultimately it wasn't the sail they'd been helping with that hit them in the face and knocked them off the ship─which, yeah, that did happen, didn't it? they got to their feet, shaky but thankfully sturdily. all around them was what they could only assume was the wreckage of their boat, between the wood and the tattered fabric and the familiar stamped crates. whatever island he ended up washing ashore on had some vegetation, at least. he stared into the inland forest before turning back to the wreck around him, hoping to find some signs that other crew members had survived.

while he did find one or two of his old crewmates, kilrai almost immediately puked when he found the state of their bodies. slightly bloated, torn into by the wood, and generally very, very dead. he managed to hold onto what little contents his stomach held, quickly removing himself from the pile in which he found them, retreating away from the shore. it took him a minute to realize tears had begun to stream down his cheeks, and he quickly wiped them away, determined to stop himself from crying; until he figured out where he was, and found some non-salty water, he really needed to maintain what he had.

"hello?" kilrai shouted, voice slightly hoarse and throat very sore. probably swallowed a bunch of seawater while, you know, drowning. "anyone?"

 

[golden_]

The sky had flashed just as it did back then. Favian had slipped off the deck during the ships fated collision with the island. He wondered, as his legs gave way and the sea swallowed him alive, if it was another cruel joke played by fate or if this would be the thing to save his life.

But strewn out on the sand like a piece of seaweed caught on the shore, he couldn’t really contemplate that at the time. In fact, he didn’t even realize where he was or what was happening. His mind was too fuzzy. Everything felt heavy, like his limbs were being held down by some unimaginable weight. He opened his eyes slowly and blearily.

In his delirious state, Favian thought that he must be home. Not stranded in the middle of nowhere. So when he heard someone else nearby, he immediantly gave a cranky, yet practiced reply.

“No...Emmeric.. Im sleeping a little longer.. fuck off...” He rasped.

He heard some strange voice, like someone was talking through a rug. It was some kind of oddly toned “Hello.” Who the hell sounds that fucked up...’Old man must have been off getting wasted or something...Or maybe he sang out loud too much again... Ugh, I hate his yodeling...

“Don’t hello me... you overdried piece of salmon...” he mumbled. That’ll teach him to “Hello! “

It was a shame he was not coherent in the moment to recognize that this voice was not from someone he knew. Perhaps he hit his head a little too hard on the way down...

 

[queermoth]

Honestly, Kilrai hadn't actually expected any kind of response. He had honestly been ready to start crying again when he was ultimately the only person around. The grumble of someone else nearby had his hopes climbing higher, and he quickly began a thorough search of the surrounding area; the voice hadn't been loud enough for him to make out the words, but that just meant that it's owner had to be relatively close by. '

When the tiefling found the other survivor, he just about tripped through the sand in his haste to get to him. Kilrai didn't recognize the figure laying in the sand, half covered by a piece of tarp or sail, but it wasn't too far fetched for another boat to have gotten caught up in everything, he supposed. As gently as his trembling hands could manage, he pulled the fabric off of the human and shook his shoulder.

"Hello? Are you alive?" He lifted his hand over his eyes to get a better look at the other, without the sunlight making his facial features hard to read. Definitely a human, then, and it looked as though the storm hadn't been kind to him, but he was at least still breathing. "Please be alive. I'd rather you weren't dead."

 

[golden_]

ooc
(so very cringe of me to lose track of time with dragon age last night!! i feel like a Beluga for only responding now im big sorry )​

---

Favian's eyes shoot open as he is pulled from incoherence and straight back into reality. He sees someone unfamiliar looking down on him, and despite this individual's unconventional (and not very threatening) looks, there is a moment where pure terror flashes through Favian's eyes. It doesn't fit the scenario at all, anybody opening their eyes to someone like that would more likely be interested, marveled, or confused. This animalistic fear makes Favian reach for his weapon on autopilot, bringing up an ornate golden dagger and thrusting it forward, unsure of what he's aiming at, thankfully not hitting the fellow who has just interacted with him. It was almost as if he was attacking something else.

The spark of recognition comes back into Favian's eyes abruptly. That's right. The news of Ronan, leaving home, gathering information, the city, the port. How he hid away as a stranger on board, trying to find his old enemy and friend without being caught. Everything went wrong... He realizes that the terrified individual in front of him isn't who he thought he was. There are no obvious weapons or signs of aggression. But Favian still isn't convinced.

He holds his dagger forward with hands that have ceased their relentless trembling, which has failed to make him seem any more sane or any less threatening. "Who are you! How did you get here!" He shouts aggressively.

He wasn't on the ship. I would have known. Every record I've ever found, everything I gathered on this. They never mentioned a pink tiefling. And yet...

Favian gritted his teeth together. This person was just another threat! "How did you get on the ship?!"

The ship...Yes, the ship that was currently in a massive wreck. He was so busy trying to deal with his newfound enemy, that he hadn't looked the other way. Ronan's ship was giant, a gallion. It was currently crushed across a sea cliff. Rocks from the sea jutted out and tore through weak sections of the hull. The wood was scattered about like it had rained from the sky. Such a majestic ship was split so crudely, with another tired mast hanging over the cliff and dangling pitifully through the post-storm breeze. It was as if a dragon had died in the sky and was left to wither away on this very sheet of sand. Favian lets his guard down as he is blown away by the state of the ship, by seeing the destruction of a beautiful vessel in its full glory.

How could anyone have survived this...?

 

[queermoth]

// i am not at all worried about it b, whatever pace works best for u. dragon age is v distracting and im sure will do the same thing at some point

Kilrai immediately jumped away from the man's weapon, or at least tried to; his feet had sunk into the sand, and more than stepping away he just kind of... fell onto his butt. He flushed in slight embarassment, but quickly stood back up and brushed as much sand off of himself as he could. A second glance at the stranger's face told him that he was scared, although Kilrai had a hard time imagining what of; the golden dagger (and really, the part of him that had spent several months at as an apprentice blacksmith wondered how the soft metal stood up to actual use,) was pointing at him. Kilrai wasn't armed at all.

"What do you mean how─" His face twisted into a frown. "I worked on it, what do you mean how did I get on the ship?"

Was this human from his ship? Kilrai had never taken the time to really get to know most of his crewmates, besides his fellow riggers and the cook, but he was fairly certain that he had never seen this human before, and his memory wasn't that bad. The more he thought about it, the more he was fairly certain that the other had to be from a different ship. He eyed the man critically for a moment, unsure about how to deal with this particular situation.

"My name is Devotion, if it helps," Kilrai offered, hesitantly (and slowly) offering a hand to the man who was still sitting in the sand (and still threatening him with a knife). "Maybe multiple ships got caught in the storm? I'm from the Stormseer."

 

[golden_]

//im distracting

“You’re telling me.. You’re telling me that another ship happened to crash nearby and you just happened to find me?” Favian crossed his arms. “Hmph. If you were trying to lie, you could have done better then that! And, Devotion! What kind of mushy stuff is that? Tell me the truth already! Tell me what really happened-“ He stops short in the middle of the speech when the recipient of his conversation becomes more and more confused by the moment. He’s a good actor, I’ll give him that. But this isn’t whats important right now! This can wait!

“Whatever! I’ll deal with you later. But don’t you dare try anything!” Favian warns.

The most important goal was right in front of him and he couldn’t let a momentary distraction stop him. He stands up, but stumbles. Doesn’t matter if he’s shaky on his feet. He steadies himself and hobbles over to the remains of his ship. He doesn’t look back to see if the other person is following him, but every sense is tuned in preperation to respond for an attack.

Am I injured? He wonders, clenching his stomach with a hand. He couldn’t seem to walk right. Perhaps he had hit something when the perilous waves threw him ashore. He didn’t have time to check, though. And the adrenaline of such a moment meant it was impossible to feel a thing. There was only one issue burning through his mind at the moment.

As he makes his way to a torn opening in the ship, he peers inside to see complete chaos. Furniture, seaweed and seawater, wood, various objects, and even... people were scattered about in some kind of screwed up mess. Actually, it was pretty gruesome, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him, and he didn’t bother trying to interpret the very unsettling scene in front of him.

Ronan... I gotta find Ronan... He leans on a section of the ship buried crudely in the sand, breathing heavily and trying to keep his balance.

“Ronan! You fucking bastard.. come out here right now... if your alive...”

He squinted his eyes shut, not wanting to consider any other possibility. He did not know that his enemy was alive, but now very far away from here...

 

[queermoth]

//mayhaps

Not only was Kilrai incredibly confused, he was growing more and more offended. He bit his lip which may or may not have started wobbling a bit, but ultimately swallowed his upset. The other was clearly going through it, and the situation they were in was pretty terrible. He couldn't really blame the human for being upset or suspicious of him; the fact that Kilrai wasn't suspicious of him was probably the weirder thing. Not knowing tiefling naming conventions wasn't his fault, and considering the other's mumbles, he clearly had someone he did need to worry aboutit. With a deep breath, Kilrai readied himself to follow the stranger.

The stretch of beach they were on was covered in debris, and now that he was looking, he could see difference between some bits of wood and others; the wood the Stormseer had been made of was a fairly dark brown, while some pieces were made up of a red-stained wood. They'd been laying there long enough that the wood had begun to dry. He spent a few moments looking over the debris, catching his breath (something was definitely up with his ribs) before ultimately following the human into a larger section of one of the two ships.

"Is this a good idea?" Kilrai questioned, hesitantly stepping after the other and pointedly avoiding looking at the bodies around them. "I don't think either of us came out of that unscathed, and we should try to find some clean water so we can figure out where we are..."

Although he didn't really expect the other to listen to him, he started poking through some of the boxes in the area, hoping to find something useful. Some of them weren't marked with any stamp he recognized, while others were definitely from his ship. They'd mostly been importing fabrics and processed metals to Ohmer, so he was mostly hoping to find a cache of their rations, although he wasn't hopeful; they'd only been a bit more than a day away from port, and had gone through most of it already.

"Do you know where we are? I'm fairly certain there's no forest on Alsin, or near Port Lonen..."

 

[golden_]

Favian whips his head around angrily. This guy was acting like they were all buddy-buddy or something! However, he didn’t doubt that it was important for them to check on their own injuries, to establish where they were. The more sensible part of Favian’s brain was overridden by his desire to search for his friend, though.

“Don’t get me wrong. I have no intention of working with you! But I don’t know where we are. Its only the smart thing to do for us- I mean, for me, to try to establish where I am.” He pauses. “But first, I have to look for something! I’ll have my eye on you.”

He looks through the expanse of the shipwreck as his head buzzes. Although the tiefling, “Devotion” Ugh! It just sounds so sappy and feel-good.... But I shouldn’t disrespect teifling customs. N-not like I owe them any respect! Was trying to avoid the bodies, he searched through all of them, at least trying to get a glimpse of their face. He even went inside some of the ship wreckage. There was no sign of his enemy, anywhere. Favian clenched his fists. Why now? Why when he was so close? Why did fate have to toy with him yet again?!

After he’s done searching, he returns to the tiefling. He doesn’t want to share the information of another survivor in his crew. Who knows how it could be used against him? Besides, a potential enemy should know as little as possible.

“D-Devo...” He stutters.

U-Ugh... Saying this name is going to make me feel weird. But... I’ve ought to at least be respectful of these customs...

“Devo-De...Ugh! You... you mango!”
I screwed up!

He clears his throat. “Is anyone in your crew still alive? Where is...whats left of your ship?” Asking a stranger for something never struck right with him. But right now, information was going to give him an advantage. He needed to know who could be on the island besides Ronan. He needed to know the location of the other ship. Every resource that could help him survive was paramount. He was not going to die here. Not after all he had been through...

 

[queermoth]

"Why not? It'll be much more efficient if we work together..." The human had already wandered off, and Kilrai sighed. Dealing with him was proving to be just as exhausting as if he just worked on his own, especially when all he wanted to do was lay down and sit there for a while. Ultimately, however, he followed after, carefully stepping through the sand to avoid falling on his ass again. The granules were starting to wear on his feet, and with how little luck he was having looking through the crates that had washed ashore, he really only wanted to go look into the lusher regions of the island for something to eat or drink.

They watched as the other continued searching for... something. Clearly he was hoping to find something important in the wreckage of their ships, and wasn't having any luck. Kilrai briefly contemplated offering their help, but with how standoffish the man had been so far, they figured it might be better to hold off. Annoying him more was probably the worse thing they could do at the moment.

"I..." Kilrai was self aware enough to recognize that they'd been avoiding thinking about their crewmates so they didn't have to deal with the thought of being the only survivor. Naturally, this human had to bring it up. They took several moments to collect themselves so they could speak without crying. "I don't know. I haven't seen anyone else. I woke up pretty close to where you were, just a bit down the beach that way..." Making a vague gesture with their hand in the direction they had come from, Kilrai bit thier lip in thought. "I've seen bits of my ship here and there, but no big chunks like yours. Maybe it washed up somewhere else, or hasn't washed up at all. I wonder if both of our ships crashed? That might explain why things went especially bad. I'm pretty sure I got knocked out of the boat earlier on in the storm, but it wouldn't surprise me if it ruined our ability to navigate away from each other."

 

[golden_]

Favian crosses his arms thoughtfully. What would be the best course of action now was for him to survive. He had no idea how far the largest settlement was out here, and it was going to get late. He’d have to check on his injuries as well...Not like he would admit he had them.

“Later, I’ll search for that ship of yours.” He tells Devotion. But right now, he needs to get prepared. Who knows how long it could be before he found others?
“Maybe your lucky and one of them survived.”

What am I doing, trying to console him? It’s just a hassle to see him so worked up over it. Ugh. I should stay away.

People who were that emotionally involved in others are bound to be hurt, he thinks. The guy in front of shouldn’t be getting his hopes up. He bites his lip, stopping himself from saying that their probably dead. Would be an inconvenience if this one freaked out in front of him, he didn’t want to deal with that. Or maybe, deep down, he was a little bit jealous of his naivety.

I’m only going to watch him get crushed by his own hopes. He thinks solemnly. I wonder if, in a sick way, it will be satisfying to finally to see that in someone besides myself.

He sighs. “I don’t care what you do. Search for them if you want. But me, I’m going to survive, wherever the hell I am.” And that lead to the first manner of things- getting through the night and seeing if he can find out where he is. Favian spends the next part of the day searching through the rubble and the belongings of nearby pirates.

I’ll build a fire. And get some shelter. The sail of the ship will help cover me if the weather gets rough again. Once I find enough food, I can explore the jungle deeper. I have a weapon, too, in case the tiefling tries anything. Or if I find something else, something worse...

He gets a handle on multiple pieces of split wood, thankfully having drawn out by now. Its a physical pain to have to carry a large amount of wood when he isn’t in the best shape, but he doesn’t care. He’s taking his own steps forward right now to cope with the anxienty of being stranded in an unknown land with a stranger. This is the only thing that will get his mind working, distracted, make him feel like he’s making progress.

He notices that Devotion is still nearby- Favian isn’t sure what he’s been doing, but he seems to be staring at him as he hauls the wood. Well, hes sure he stands out, all worse for wear and muddled. And hes the only thing moving in this place.

“What?!” He shouts defensively, voice croaking a little from the strain. “D-don’t just look at me like that...”

It’s unnerving... I don’t feel safe at all here. No matter how much I try to take my mind off things... I just cant feel anything but fear with a stranger nearby like this. It makes my hair stand on end.