closed 🌠⚡ it's far too easy to miss the beauty in the simple things

[starshower]

Who: Eustace & Tifa Lockhart.
Status: Closed.
Where: Around.
What: It's Tifa's birthday, and she's overworking again, so Eustace takes her away. Event stuff tba.
Warnings: Fluff.

Comments

🌊 while we devotin' full time to floatin' under the sea.

[starshower]

[It would take some getting used to, she knew, and this isn't the first time that she's been on the back of a sea horse, but never one so big before, first of all, big enough that it actually fits the two of them this time. And second of all, never under water. Having just a mermaid's tail to just drape over the side does not make it any easier to stay balanced on its back, especially when waves come through, but with Eustace at her back with his arms secured around her and his hands on the reins, she knows she's safe at least. At the start, there had been a few wobbly moments where she thought she might fall from it, but he kept her in place.

Of course, she was not going to say no to going down here, especially when she had heard that this was all part of the effort to try and find Elah, and to earn the Leviathan's trust back. The poor thing had suffered so much, and she wanted to do whatever it took to help, and if that meant riding on the back of a giant sea horse with a mermaid's tail again, then she would do it.]

Well, at least we aren't getting stuck in the seaweed this time...

[flamekthunder]

[Riding a seahorse the first time had already been difficult, but trying to do it without any legs and with a tall instead... Definitely a challenge. It's probably fortunate that these horses take their cues more from the head and vocal signals than legs like the ones that live closer to the surface of the water.]

I don't think you disliked it that much.

[Before, he would have felt a lot more awkward recalling that time. Now?

He just grins and speaks low against her ear. At least he's also not teasing her with his tail... He has better control with it this time.]

[starshower]

[She definitely does stiffen a little every time his tail bumps hers, like she's expecting a tiny shock again, but fortunately, not much so far, unless he's feeling a little mischievous. But his voice low in her ear makes her shiver for a different reason, and she swats him on the arm.]

Didn't think you'd bring that up.

[flamekthunder]

Hard to forget.

[Even when he wanted to back then.....

But he just smiles and stops teasing her for now, his arms remaining secure around her.]

This is better, though, even if different from the last time we were on seahorses. Don't slip off.

[Okay, a little teasing as he wraps his tail around hers as if to keep her in place.]

[starshower]

[He is free to tease her all he likes, even as her cheeks start to change colour, and as her own tail slowly wraps around his, though less for security and more for... closeness.]

I won't. I've got you keeping me safe.

[And with them straddled sideways on the seahorse, she is easily able to turn around and smile up at him before she rests her head on his shoulder.]

A little different than riding chocobos, though.

[flamekthunder]

I think I asked you once what that was like...

[He smiles down at her before he glances up to make sure they are still on the trail, the seahorse swimming at a decent pace through the coral so they can take in the sights and surroundings.]

Still hard to imagine it being there comfortable.

[starshower]

Well. Can't exactly compare it to this... When I ride a chocobo, at least I've got both my legs.

[She holds onto him tight, arms wrapping around his waist when she feels herself rise up from the saddle as the horse sways down and then back up to avoid a coral.]

You should try sometime.

[flamekthunder]

Don't you have one?

[As they near another obstacle where the seahorse needs to rise, he holds onto her tighter and press their tails closer to the seahorse for balance.]

[starshower]

Well, the crew has one—Marcon. Brought it back from that group that was breeding the chocobos after Yuffie left hers behind.

[She leans close to him, arms growing tighter as they start to rise in the water.]

Maybe I'll take you for a ride.

[flamekthunder]

Next time I'm around then.

[Up the seahorse goes...and then doooown what turns to be a steeper slope down the trail.]

[starshower]

[Okay, well... at least with a chocobo, it's a little smoother than this, and Tifa finds herself having to hold onto him tighter again that she glances up at him with narrowed eyes.]

You're not doing this on purpose, are you?

[flamekthunder]

How could i? I don't know what the trail is like.

[But he says it in such a way that it could be read either way.......

But no, he really isn't, and once they're at the bottom of the sleep and on even ground, the seahorse continues to swim through a bit more smoothly. It's also open enough that small schools of fish swim past them.]

[starshower]

Uh huh...

[Totally not doing it so that she will hold onto him? Not that she needs a reason to...

But as they come out of the thick corals, Tifa looks up and around them, her eyes going wide with wonder. They had been down here once before, but not even Pearlhaven was as deep as this. The surface seems so far away from them now—they are right among the fish. And now she can see the village in the distance, with its even taller corals of all different shapes and colours.]

Is that... Baleen's Reach?

[flamekthunder]

[He looks up with her with that same bit of wonder.]

...Looks like it. If you look over there, I think I see a whale swimming around.

[starshower]

Oh, I see it!

[Is it coming closer? It certainly is, and it grows bigger and bigger, almost intimidatingly so. Besides Elah, she's never really seen one up so close before, and certainly not in its more natural habitat. Is it considered a whalefolk, or just a regular whale? So many questions rush through her mind...

Interrupted by a sudden and strange feeling in her stomach. She furrows her brow, a hand pressing to it as she silently wonders why...

...

Huh. Maybe the potion isn't sitting right in—



One moment she is curled up next to Eustace, holding onto him and the next, she is gone from where she'd been sitting in front of him on the horse's back, and he'll hear a tiny squeak from somewhere near his ear—]

[flamekthunder]

With the whale passing closer than expected, he's glad the seahorse is calm about it, likely used to the presence of such large creatures as they are native and used in this area. He still tries to hang on tight, not wanting to be caught in its wake...

But just as he's tightening his arms around Tifa and trying to maneuver the seahorse a little ways to give the whale more berth, he finds his arms squeezing open air??]

Tifa!?

[Had she somehow slipped out? But he had also heard a strange squeaking sound and belatedly his head snaps back in time to see something... Very small tumbling around in the water???]

[starshower]

[At least his ears can pick up on her small voice while she screams his name—]

Eustace!? Eustace—!

[—as she's carried away, spinning round and round as the whale swims right over their heads, the current from its large body dragging this tiny white and black slug-looking thing away in the water. Up and up and up she goes....!]

[flamekthunder]

Tifa!?

[He...hears her voice...??? Coming from that small squeaky thing!?!?!

Well without her obviously around him, there's only one conclusion he can make, and bringing the seahorse around he zaps it with his tail to spur it forward, the seahorse neighing loudly before surging forward into the current to try and chase after the tiny thing that might be his girlfriend??]

Hang on!

[starshower]

[Oh god, she can stomach a lot of things, but the way that this current is carrying her would make anyone sick.]

Eustace, what's going on!?

[Can he even hear her? She's so far away now that she can barely hear his shouts over the loud rumbling of the whale above her, and no matter how hard she tries to swim away, she can't.]

I can't get out of this!

[Too lost in her panic, she has no idea yet that she's a little bunny—]

[flamekthunder]

[Because she's so much smaller, that current is carrying her farther and faster than he can keep up.

But he continues to urge the seahorse on, who seems to be taking this as a kind of race as its legs churn the water, its tail snapping behind it to push along the current.

What worries him most is where this current is even going and what if he loses sight of her? What the hell even happened!? And eventually there will be a large shelf of coral where some figures seem to be swimming around, perhaps some hunters or other travelers.]

[starshower]

[Oh, thank goodness. She swears she sees something—someone up ahead, though with all of the spinning she's doing, everything is just a blur of colours that she's not sure if she imagined it or not. And then there's Eustace, who I also a blur on the other side as he chases after her, though it never feels like he gets any closer.

So, she's just going to shout a little louder.]

HEEEELLLP!

[She tries to flip herself over, tries to swim out of the current again, but then she's slamming into something solid and the waves that have been carrying her suddenly come to a grinding halt while she's left spinning round and round, unaware that she's pressed up against a very buff chest—]

[flamekthunder]

[Urgency rises when he watches her tiny form slam into something larger, but there is some relief as it was clear he wasn't going to catch her soon. Yet he still won't slow the seahorse until they are closer, pulling up just in front of them.]

Tifa, are you...

[But his words falter when he sees how the...person...is holding Tifa. She's so small, smaller than his own fingertip, and yet this...fuzzy...slug...bunny...??? Is holding her in their oversized hands veeerrrryyy close to its face.

"Ah, a blessing from the seas! My wife has finally appeared!"

.........

......................

EXCUSE!?]

[starshower]

[She doesn't realize that it could be a person—or whatever the hell this thing is—until she goes to thank whatever has caught her, and she gets about as far as catching her breath before she is met face to face with...]

Ah—!

[Anyone would be terrified upon seeing a giant... face??? looming over them, if one can even call it that. It's a round head with ears shaped like a rabbit, and a face so fuzzy that she can't tell if it even has eyes!? She tries to swim away when its voice booms so loud around her, but she instead bumps against its hand cupping behind her.]

What's... Who are you?

[What is it!?!?]

And excuse me, I am not your wife!

["The sea siren said that my beloved would one day find me in the currents, I think that this is what she meant..."

EUSTACE??? EUSTACE WHERE ARE YOU]

[flamekthunder]

[In the next moment, there will be sharp crackle of electricity that fills the water as a lightning bullet whizzes past the side of the person's(?) head before his low voice can be heard as a growl.]

Let her go.

[starshower]

[Once again, Tifa tries to swim away, but now she's trapped inside between two very large hands. Just how big is this thing!? Is he a whale, too? And when that crackle and bullet whizzes past him, he dodges, swimming in a circle through the water.

"And who are you!?"

She hears Eustace, and she slams herself against the palm, and then tries to bite, but she's pretty sure that he didn't even feel it because there is not a single flinch.

"I was the one who found her! Get your own wife."]