A Crash Course in Shipwrecking?!

[Fox]

“Ho-kay!” Standing back from his newly constructed raft, Bee Bee wiped the sweat from his brow and huffed. It was a very foggy day on Oni Island, but that’s how it tended to be. It was rare that they got a sunny day. Bee Bee stood on the island’s beach, the high cliffs of the island looming around him. He was dressed in his usual attire. A maroon gi and white pants. He had his sleeves rolled up so that they didn’t get any sand on them, but they just rolled back down again anyway. He pushed them back up and scooped up the oar that he’d made off of the beach.

“Time to test it!”

Leaning down, Bee Bee shoved the little wooden raft into the surf. This time, he had given it some walls. He had wanted to keep the inside dry too, so he had made a leaf mat and lined the interior of the raft with it. He had tied it down with some fibers from the same plant too! Not too shabby. It didn’t have a sail, but he was saving that for when he was sure that his raft wouldn’t break on the rocks. Cloth was too valuable to lose!

Guiding the raft out into the shallows, he clambered inside, shivering as he felt some cold water splash on him. Bee Bee hopped up onto his knees and set to work paddling himself out to sea. It was going to work this time! And then… then he could finally get off this island! Grinning and chuckling to himself, he steered himself out into the part of the shallows where the waves crashed and broke. He had never really managed to get past them, but this time… this time!

Bee Bee braced himself, seeing a giant wave swell up in front of him. Okay. Okay! He could do this! He held his breath and closed his eyes as the raft went up… and up…. Oh no. His eyes shot open in a panic. He let out a little yelp as the wave crashed down right on top of him. He let go of the oar and wrapped his arms around his head as he went under, feeling something smack his forearm. Squirming around in the water, Bee Bee managed to kick off the bottom and break the surface of the water with a gasp. At least for a second. Then another wave plunged him under again. Damn! He had really thought that this time he was going to make it out!

[Vio]

Green eyes squinted, trying to peer through the thick air that surrounded the island like a baby’s swaddling — a tight veil of greyish white that strongly reminded them of the drifting, fluffy seas of their homeland. Gaille Arelya, Skypiean, had finally descended the ten thousand metres from her homeland, assisted by a native creature of her land. An octopus that had carried a small waver down from above. Such an animal had long since abandoned her, but not before accidentally smashing the vehicle against the rocks.

At least she’d managed to salvage the Dial that powered it.

“This must be what fog’s like on the Blue Sea,” the winged woman wondered. Stepping across the gravelly beach, it seemed her first true venture down below was not going to go as smoothly as she would have desired. Idly, she tested the thickness of the mist, shifting her headset and clicking one of the buttons. The light of a Lamp Dial illuminated… nothing. Useful as it was when rummaging around in the darkness of a shipwreck launched skyward by the Knock-Up Stream, such utilities seemed pointless against a wall of dense, damp air.

…!? Ears pricked up at the sound of wood crashing against rock. Or was it just the sound of the waves crashing against the rough shore? Another sound to which her aerial ears were unaccustomed. Everything was so fresh and new. Everything was so unique compared to the endless cloudy expanses of the White Sea. Vearth was everywhere, as was the water she’d been told not to drink. Then she saw it. Arms breaking the water not too far from the coast.

Hesitant was she to take action. She could just ignore it, move on, and look for an actual settlement. This wasn’t an issue she needed to get herself involved in—

“Ah… F*ck!” Hesitation thrown out the window, Miss Gaille unshouldered what little in the way of belongings she was carrying and sprinted for the waves. A bit of fear and uncertainty might’ve slowed her steps, for she was unfamiliar with the seas of this world. Saltwater, not Sea Cloud, was what was said to comprise the oceans of this realm. And soon she hit it, cold and dense and somehow hard. Swimming in Sea Cloud was one thing, it meant the difference between living and falling out the bottom, but this was different. This supported her weight.

Why the hell am I doing this? Fighting against the march of white horses galloping on to the shores of the isle, Arelya did her utmost to rescue the seemingly drowning soul. Drowning. Now there was an interesting concept. Her own breath held, she seemed to struggle little — the richness of this air infused her with greater energy, and that energy was enough to reach out and grab the person’s arm and drag their weight to the surface…

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)

[Fox]

Things were actually getting scary. Bee Bee was pretty confident in his swimming ability, but when his lungs started burning and he wasn’t sure anymore which way was up, he got very scared. Was he going to die like this? Before he had ever seen the world beyond this dumb island? Panic made Bee Bee’s head spun, which didn’t help his sense of disorientation. As the burning in his lungs grew unbearable, he gasped and let a rush of salt water inside. The sensation was paralyzing.

That was when Bee Bee felt a hand on his arm. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but that hand pulled him up to the surface. As soon as his head broke through the surface, Bee Bee coughed and gasped and choked up the water that he’d breathed in. He clung tightly onto the hand that had helped him, regaining enough of his senses to look around. What he saw confused him. The person holding onto him was a woman, and not only that, but a woman who was very much not from Oni Island and was beautiful. She was dressed in strange clothes too. She... she had to be a goddess, right? Where else could she have come from?!

Bee Bee’s eyes sparkled with awe. He managed a few stumbling words, “I- uh-” How… how was he supposed to talk to her? “A-Are you a goddess?” He finally managed. His dad had kind of taught him how to address the gods, but that was only in prayer. Gods didn’t just appear before people! Especially not a devil like him. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew that it was probably a good idea to get back to shore before another wave took them both down. Using his patented doggy paddling technique, Bee Bee hurried back to shore with the occasional glance back, making sure that the goddess lady wasn’t just going to disappear.

[Vio]

Safety was assured as Arelya pulled the figure above the waves. A boy, perhaps not even in his adolescence, with messy hair and deep inky eyes stared back at her in awe as the two of them trod water. A meek utterance escaped the boy’s lips — words to which she was not entirely sure how to respond. Had she heard him right? A Goddess? Maybe she had misheard him over the noise of the tides. Regardless, he headed for shore, and she followed suit. This was a far cry from what she was comfortable with.

Dry Vearth was much welcome beneath her feet, but now she was sodden with the saline tang of the Blue. The way it made her hair and clothes feel heavy and cling to her skin was uncomfortable, not to mention the fact it was cold and intrusive. The stench of salt burned at her nose and throat, coughing a little as she walked over to the pile of belongings she had left scattered on the beach.

“A— Are you okay?” she asked, glancing to the boy as she rummaged through her gear. “You’re lucky I saw you when I did, you know… There you are,” Miss Gaille muttered, wiping sodden locks of jade from her eyes as she pulled out an unusual tool. A black handle, white casing, and green stripes were very unique to its design, but it was with a flick of the back of the item that revealed its more mysterious inner workings. As she fidgeted, she plucked a silvery spiral shell from within the device’s case.

A better look at the boy revealed some more distinctive features of his form — exposed by the watery weight of his hair, strange and pointed protuberances emerged from his crown. They somewhat reminded her of Enel’s Divine Soldiers, such strange individuals whose appearance had become a bit of an interesting tale spread around her homeland in the wake of the Tyrant God’s reign. But unlike them — and unlike her — he bore no wings upon his back.

Click… Ka— Chack! Placing a grey and red shell inside the chamber to join its sky blue comrade, Arelya folded the tool back into shape and slid its locking mechanism back into place. Raising it up to her head, she pulled the trigger. Whoosh…! Invisible force pushed out from the muzzle, warming her hair as she ran fingers through it.

^{“What were you doing…?”
Arelya yelled over the whooshing:
“And what’s your name, kid?”}

---

Gaille Arelya (50c878)

[Fox]

When Bee Bee felt the sand beneath his feet, he thought he would pass out from relief. Instead, his knees just buckled as he flopped onto dry land and rolled around happily. He was alive! So very alive! He perked up when the woman - possible goddess - asked if he was alright. Hastily, he got to his feet and flexed one of his noodle arms at her. He smiled big to doubly reassure her.

“Yep! I’m very okay now! Thank you, Miss!” Especially since, if this lady was the goddess of their island, he could maybe go back to his village. But as he calmed down from the excitement and really looked at her, he started to wonder. Her things were strewn over the beach, and she had pulled out something… odd. She pulled it out, and he got a better look. A sea shell? Mm, he was pretty sure his island’s god wasn’t a god of the sea. Or shells. Bee Bee frowned. Guess that meant that he wasn’t gonna get to go home… well, whatever! He didn’t need them anyway! Scratching at his horns nervously when he caught her staring at them, he bit his lip and watched her fool around with her seashells.

“Wh-Whoa!!”

Bee Bee’s eyes went wide when a sudden force erupted from the tool the lady had put the shells into. He stumbled backwards and fell onto his butt in the surf. Magic?! Black magic? Holy magic?! Bee Bee couldn’t tell! He just knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t normal. Was it bad? It couldn’t be right? She was pointing it at herself! Mm, but if she was a goddess, would it have any bad effects on her? Uncertain, Bee Bee looked up at her with a mixture of fear and wonder.

“I-I’m Bee Bee! And… I was trying to… I was riding a raft I made out to sea, but…” Bee Bee mumbled, “It didn’t go well…” But now it was his turn for questions as his curiosity won out over his fear and suspicion. “Who are you? What’s that? Where did you come from? Are you an outsider? Where’s your ship?”

[Vio]

Rescuing a child… Since when did I become such a good samaritan? Scolding herself mildly for her behaviour, but by no means feeling sour for her efforts, Gaille Arelya simply listened to what the boy had to say. He identified himself, explaining his reasons for nearly drowning. His reasons were worrisome, to say the least, and he spent little time upon them. Instead, the boy known as Bee Bee spilled forth his own enquiries. Still blowing at her locks, she rolled her eyes. She should have expected this.

“Woah—! Slow down, Bee Bee,” she said, switching the tool off. Her hair was mostly dry now. Dampness clung to it as it did everything else upon this forsaken shoreline. Odd little cowlicks had made themselves manifest upon her crown — little devil curls of lime that rebelled against her attempts at keeping them down. Feeling them, she patted them down, suppressing years of tradition.

^{“Uh, right,” Miss Gaille mumbled:
“My name’s Arelya.”}

Explaining Uirlis Ilchuspóireach probably isn’t a good place to start. Was I this bad for questions when I was his age…? The fallen angel quickly pieced together what she believed was the better order to address the boy’s questions in. Much like building a ship, where one had to start with the keel and mast, explaining such complexities was best done progressively. Unfortunately, to make sense of anything she was about to explain to him, she had to start with what was perhaps the most awkward of questions. An answer she strongly believed that he wouldn’t.

“Yes, I’m not from this island… I’m from an island in the sky,” she answered, averting her gaze. How else was she supposed to explain the functionality of her tool? How else could she possibly explain how her boat — or what was left of it — was strewn across rocks far from where the waves reached? It had already been a long day. Somehow, she felt it was going to get even longer.

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)

[Fox]

---

Bee Bee immediately pouted when the lady told him to slow down. How could he?! Still, in an effort to be polite to the nice lady that had saved him, he stayed quiet and picked himself up off the sand. He dusted his maroon gi off, vaguely annoyed at the clumps of wet sand still clinging to it and now his fingers. He shook his head to shake the water out of his hair and blinked up at the lady as she turned off her weird thing and patted at her hair. He impatiently shifted from foot to foot and puffed out his cheeks as he waited.

He at least got one of the answers to his questions. Her name! Arelya definitely didn’t sound from around here! His impatience disappeared as quickly as it had arisen, replaced by boundless curiosity. The next answer… that made him pause. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He blinked and made sure that he didn’t have water in his ears or something. From the sky? An island in the sky?! Bee Bee made a high pitched incredulous squeak.

“WHAT?!”

Bee Bee clamped his hands over his mouth and glanced in the direction of the village. If he got too loud, someone might come down to investigate, and he… he didn’t really want that. They’d take Arelya away, and he wouldn’t be allowed to go with them! He looked up and smiled at her with a certain degree of awe and reached for her hand. He jogged ahead a few steps, picking up some of her scattered things in one hand.

“C’mon! This way! You can tell me more at my house! Hurry!”

House was probably a generous term for it as Bee Bee had made it himself with limited tools. It was more a shack. He had built it by a little spring instead of the river so that he wouldn’t run into any villagers. It was set a little back from the shore, so that high tide wouldn’t flood it. It had done that once before, and it hadn’t been nice at all. “So, so… how? Like… there are things out there like that?! Are you sure you’re not a goddess, Miss Arelya? I thought only like gods and stuff lived up there!”

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[Vio]

The boy’s surprise was anticipated — his response not so much. Without a second word, he was quick to grab her by the hand and to scoop up a few of her strewn items; toolkit and headset tucked beneath his arm. It seemed she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Holstering her tool, she grabbed and shouldered her wrench, only to be pulled along to the supposed house of Bee Bee. But house wasn’t an apt descriptor. More of a shack tucked away from areas of major traffic, reminiscent of her own little shelter on the White Sea. A house it wasn’t; but it was a home.

“Gods…? Well,” she tried to explain, “we call the leader of our people God. Is there a God of this land?” Arelya now found herself the curious one, but as she examined the place in greater detail, she noticed a stark absence of something. Bee Bee wasn’t that old. He was just a boy. Yet, looking about, she could see no evidence of any parent or guardian in the vicinity. Again, a stark reminder of the life she had lived prior to the heroes of their country dethroning the tyrant.

^{“Hey, Bee Bee?” Miss Gaille asked:
“Where are your parents…?”}

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)

[Fox]

Brushing aside the blanket that he had put up for a makeshift door, Bee Bee set about making it comfortable for his unexpected guest. He hastily shoved some of his half finished projects and tools in the corner next to the rolled up futon that was his bed. It was a rush job, but least it cleared some floor space for the both of them! He plopped down on the dirt floor next to the fire pit, carefully setting Arelya’s stuff aside. Picking up some flint and steel, Bee Bee sparked up a quick fire. He smiled and let out a happy ‘mm’ as the warmth from the flames washed over him.

Bee Bee perked back up when Arelya got around to answering his earlier question. His eyes practically sparkled when she said that the leader of her people was God. He wondered what it would be like to live with a god! Probably good, right? People wouldn’t have to take things on faith or try and figure out what the gods meant. Bee Bee bet that a god would be super nice. Much nicer than normal people anyway.

“Mm, yup! But… they don’t live… with us? There’s a village chief… um. Well, I was always told that they lived in the old temple on the other side of the island, but no one’s allowed to go in there.” He warmed his hands up on the fire and smiled at Arelya, more interested in hearing about the island in the sky. He opened his mouth to spill forth another deluge of questions, but her question… Some hurt washed over his face. He looked down at the ground and touched one of his horns anxiously. What if she left too? Treated him like the villagers did… He didn’t want that. But… if he didn’t answer her, then she might leave anyway.

“Um.. my dad and twin brother live in the village. Mom died when I was born, so I didn’t know her. But um. Anyway… um… if your leader is a god, are you one too?”

[Vio]

Arelya frowned. Bee Bee’s explanation of the situation was a strong indicator of something she knew all too well — being outcast from society. That explained his eagerness. He was lonely. What made it worse in the Skypiean’s mind was that her exile had been mostly self-inflicted when she was a teenager, but this youth wasn’t as old as she had been when that happened. Worse still, his exile even pushed him away from his family, leaving him alone to face the world. But despite that, he was persevering.

^{“Uh? No,” Miss Gaille replied:
“I’m not a God…?”}

Wow, people on the Blue Seas have some weird cultural differences. What does God mean to them? Questions ran through her mind. Everything she was used to was topsy-turvy down here, and this was only the first person she’d met since her crash landing. Maybe she was just stuck with an exception to the rule, but sometimes the most honest and innocent of things emerged from the mouths of the young. Even having studied what she had upon the wrecks of the White Sea, she for certain did not know enough.

“My people,” the emerald angel began to explain with some degree of reluctance, both in regards to her distaste for tradition and the fact she might’ve ruined the child’s views of the world, “are called Skypieans. God is just what we call our leader. I, uh, don’t think it means what you think it means?” Anarchistic tendencies emerged once again — a defiance of traditions and regime honed by isolated and oppression. She really needed to work on not insulting people’s points of view. Hastily, she changed the subject: “So, Bee Bee, what were you saying earlier about a raft…?”

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)

[Fox]

Bee Bee deflated a little when she said that she wasn’t a god. If she had been, that might have… really helped. But… maybe his father had been right about him. What kind of god would treat him nicely anyway? With what he was… He looked up at her as she explained what she meant, nodding a little as he slowly understood her. So, their god was like his dad. The village chief. Probably. Bee Bee tried to hide his disappointment by rubbing his cheek with one of his forearms. It… really hurt to get his hopes dashed like that.

Thankfully, Arelya was quick to change the topic. He perked up a little and smiled at her. “Oh! Yeah! I build them. Haha… I’m not really good at it though… I’m better at um… reading the waves, I guess?” Standing up and shaking out his hair, Bee Bee turned and picked up a little bundle out of the corner and bounced on his feet. “Like! I know when bad stuff is coming! Like a big wave or something, but… um. It doesn’t really help. It’s kind of annoying…”

He puffed out his cheeks in a huff. “My rafts always break or flip over!” Scooting out of his little shack, Bee Bee walked around to the back where he had various half constructed rafts. Some of them were new designs that he put together. Some were the remains of previous failed attempts. He sat in the middle of all of them and untied the bundle in his arms to reveal two enormous rice balls. Their construction was about as slapdash as the rafts on the group. Bee Bee smiled up at Arelya and lifted up the bundle to her.

“Want one? They’re my specialty!”

[Vio]

Reading the waves…? She surmised that was something to do with the Blue Sea’s odd movements — those strange and fierce fluctuations that were uncharacteristic of the White Sea she was used to. Seeing it in person, Miss Gaille had a better idea of why the ships of the Blue Seas were built as they were; a higher hull and railings would have minimised the risk of capsizing if a ship was being tossed around by such waves. But that was a ship, not a raft. A raft was little more than a flat sheet of wood, better suited to what she assumed were calmer waters.

She soon saw what Bee Bee meant.

^{He’s pretty determined to leave this place, Arelya noted:
Things must’ve been pretty bad for him to try…}

^{“Want one?”}

“Uh—” A little surprised about the sudden offer of food, she hesitated a little. His little question had snapped her out of something of a trance — an analysis of the various constructs that lay scattered about. Still, now the Sky Islander was presented with a ball of something. She wasn’t quite sure what. Ball, to be fair, was a rather generalised term for its shape. Nonetheless, she accepted. “Sure. Thanks.” On closer inspection, it was a sphere of white grains, though exactly what was inside it was a mystery. Before she even considered taking a bite, she eyed the rafts again.

^{“You wanna leave this island?” she asked:
“I’m going to have to find a way off as well.”}

^…

“How about I help you build a…,” she combed her mind for the Blue Sea word, “a boat! It won’t be great, but there should be enough materials around here to put something simple together.” With a small smile on her face, Arelya took a bite out of the ball of white grains.

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)
Bee Bee

[Fox]

Bee Bee watched with a certain amount of pride as Arelya took the riceball, leaning in as she held it up to her face. He was a little disappointed when she didn’t take a bite, but instead asked him more questions. He opened his mouth and shoved his own rice ball into it whole. It was the side of his head though, so it took some cramming into his cheeks to get it all to fit. He choked it down, slightly turning blue due to not being able to breathe. How did snakes do it? He glanced up at her, realizing that he was keeping her waiting and tried to murmur something out in response.

“Mrphm, hrggggkkkkKKkkKKKKK!”

Turned out, attempted to speak with his mouth full wasn’t a great idea. Bee Bee gulped the whole rice ball down and coughed and gasped for air. He managed to nod in response to her question. He did want to leave… well. Eventually, maybe. He wasn’t sure it was going to be a lot better out on the ocean and he didn’t exactly want to drown or die in some awful way. Starving had to be the worst way to go.

“Yeah, hck! I do…” He muttered, somewhat recovered from the rice ball attack. He hadn’t even tasted the fish inside. His face lit up when she said something about helping him build a boat. That would be like… a ton of steps above the rafts that he was trying to master. His eyes sparkled even more when she finally took a bite out of his dish.

“R-Really?! Yeah! That’d be awesome! Um… how’s… the rice ball? Do you like it???”

[Vio]

The unfamiliar tang of fish filled Gaille Arelya’s mouth as she bit into the ball. Steamed rice grains coupled with a taste far stronger than the kind of food she was used to were at first overpowering, lips sucked inwards briefly in contest to the saltiness, but soon she relaxed and accepted the strong flavours. It wasn’t the perfect combination, but then who was she to question the culinary arts of the people? Well, it was a child’s cooking. All things considered, it was pretty good, and her stomach was by no means as quick to protest as her taste buds.

^{“Mm— Yeah,” she replied:
“It’s… It’s pretty different.”}

Wow, that sounded awkward, Arelya! Silently scolding herself for her apparent inability to say anything immediately positive, the winged woman continued to peck at the morsel in small bites, savouring the flavour as opposed to consuming it in a single bite as Bee Bee had. Was it some sort of custom to consume these in one go? That seemed more a way to end up choking than enjoying a meal. If it was a tradition, she had no intent on following suit and continued, little by little, until it was all gone. From there, she briefly returned to the shack, grabbing some of her belongings, and then returned to the midst of the rafts.

“Right! Let’s get started,” Miss Gaille said, laying down her things and spreading out various tools upon a sheet of fabric — a hammer, handsaw, protractors, screwdrivers, and more. Amongst them sat the unusual tool, one spiral shell beside it. Without much hesitation, she unfolded a piece of paper and took out a pencil, quickly sketching out the basic framework that she knew they would need to even consider sailing a vessel. Fortunately, after many a moon of studying wavers and Blue Seas ships alike, the Skypiean shipwright was well accustomed to the nuances of buoyancy, breadth and balance.

“Okay… This should be perfect!” Within a minute, she had a rather simple yet effective schematic — a depiction of a craft shaped almost like a grain of rice, with two sails connected to a single mast. Protruding from the intended flanks of the boat were arms supporting additional lengths, though the purpose of much of the craft’s design was likely nonsensical to the untrained eye. Smiling confidently, she presented the blueprint to the youth and asked: “What do you think, Bee Bee…?”

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Gaille Arelya (50c878)
Bee Bee

[Fox]

It didn’t really matter what Arelya said so long as it wasn’t outright awful. Bee Bee stuck out his chest proudly and grinned from ear to ear. Rice balls were his specialty, but he didn’t have much rice left in his stores. He might have to steal some from the village again. But… if he got caught, then he kind of shuddered to think of what might happen to him. Hm. Guess it would be fish for dinner for a while? As he thought about dinner plans, Arelya finished up her rice ball and had returned to the shack to grab some of her weird looking tools.

“Right!” Bee Bee scooted closer to her as she laid out all of her tools. Man, it was probably nice to have actual tools. He spotted the weird shell tool and eyed it with a mix of wonder and suspicion. What else could it do? Maybe it could spit fire! Or like was filled with spiky teeth. He peered over her shoulder as she sketched out a basic design, trying to commit it to memory. Maybe he could get her to leave it with him so that he could study it better.

It looked very weird. He couldn’t really make heads or tails of it honestly. It hardly even looked like a boat to him. It almost looked like some kind of bug. Maybe a beetle? He tilted his head to the side as she presented it to him. “Um… is it a bug boat? Looks kinda weird to me. You sure you know what you’re doing, Miss Arelya?”

Bee Bee didn’t love saying that to a lady as pretty as Arelya, but he couldn’t stop himself from just saying what he was thinking. She did just fall out of the sky though. Oh. But maybe she didn’t and she was just crazy from being shipwrecked? Maybe she bumped her head? Mmm… but she didn’t seem off her rocker, so maybe it was just something he wasn’t getting. Oh! Maybe he could make it up to her by adding a suggestion. He grinned nervously. “Um… maybe give it wings? It’d look more like a beetle then!”

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