Skeletons in the closet

The young seadweller watched her hatchlings play along the sand, racing each other and nipping at the waves. She laid on the beach dressed in one of her favorite swimsuits, a book in her hand and a wide brimmed hat on her face. She quite enjoyed the warmth of the moon's light, especially when both were full. Her palmhusk sat nearby her, but she was more focused on the beautiful lagoon that her hive perched upon than any technology. The waves slowly rolled in, lapping at the shore and spraying water on her young dragons. To be honest, she came outside to distract herself. The creature she had created for her new friend, Theiyw (whom she still wasn't sure if she was pale or flushed for) was ready. If all went well, he may be arriving at the beach later in the night.

Closing her book, she rolled onto her back, flipping her braided hair behind her. Giving in, she checked her palmhusk, perhaps Theiyw had messaged her and she just hadn't heard her husk ring.

Theiyw had finally made his way to the shore. He hadn't been too far away from it to begin with, something he was infinitely grateful for. If he went wandering off to spend time with his new friend (?) his lusus might leave, and he would never be able to catch up that way. The trail always vanished after a few days anyway. Taking out his palmhusk, he looked out onto the expanse of the beach, tentatively untying his shoes and setting the piece of electronics down on the ground long enough to walk forward and dip his toes in the water. It didn't feel any different from the lakes and ponds that he'd camped next to previously, and he hoped that once he was forced to swim, he would not end up humiliating himself. 

TF: im here
TF: eisire?
TF: is this the wrong beach i am pretty sure that this is the right one
TF: hopefu//y

Fidgeting around with his feet in the water, Theiyw looked around after sending the messages, hoping that he wasn't catching her at a bad time. He tried to calm down by looking at the water. It was difficult to find the ocean calming after he'd been taught that it was lethal for most of his life, but he could see the beauty in a great deal of things, and pushing aside the thoughts of being violently murdered by angry seadwellers, he saw the relaxing nature of the waves lapping up onto the beach. Sighing, he tried to push his mind away from the things that had happened the last time he'd been with Eisire in person - specifically the quick kiss on the cheek she'd given him before leaving.

Eisire couldn't help but squeal from excitement. Giggling, she quickly responded to her blue blooded friend.

AA: oh excellent!
AA: just give me one moment and i will be at the beach!

She scrambled to her feet, kicking up sand as she did, and ran back to her hive. Her above ground cottage was three stories, or more accurately two stories perched on top of a boat garage. Once inside, she slipped a sundress over her head, re-braided her hair, and told herself not to panic for the tenth time that night. She looped a sling around her shoulder and picked up the creature she had made for Theiyw, who was sleeping beside her recoupracoon. He was still just a baby, a tiny and fluffy thing that quite resembled a bark-beast. But, at his full size Theiyw would be able to ride on his back, along with the bag for his possessions and tent. She tucked him into the sling, then grabbed the keys to her jetski before heading back down to the boat garage.

The jetski was rarely used but was easy to operate, and soon Eisire was clear of the lagoon and speeding across the sea. As she approached the shore, she spotted a troll. As she got closer, she saw the glint of metal on his horns, immediately recognizing the troll to be her crush. Crush? No no friend. Theiyw is just a friend. And with that the nerves had a hold on her once again. She drove the jetski all the way to shore, effectively parking it on the beach with the tip of it in the sand, then dragging it the rest of the way onto land.

Before she could realize what she was doing, she had hurried over to Theiyw to give him a hug, which lasted perhaps two seconds before her face turned pink and she released him. "Its so good to see you again! I trust your walk to the beach went well?"

Theiyw couldn't quite see the approaching troll until a few minutes after she messaged him back. The froth of bubbles pushed up by the jetski was really his only warning that she was getting nearer, and once she reached land he was about to help her lug the jetski up onto the shore, only to remember that Eisire was a seadweller, a faction of their species with near legendary strength. Or so he'd been told. Somehow, she managed to get it on shore, and he was stuck standing there, wondering what on earth was in that sling she was carrying while simultaneously worrying the larger part of his thinkpan away. Of course, they'd talked a little bit since their last meeting, but not once had the two of them actually discussed why on Alternia Eisire had kissed him on the cheek before leaving. Of course, this was still a relatively big deal for him. Traveling did not lend itself very well to kissing most of the time.

The hug caught him by surprise, and he squeezed her tightly before she pulled away from him. His face was quite nearly the color of the darker parts of seawater out on the ocean by the time the hug ended, and he shuffled around a  bit uncomfortably, nodding. "If by that you mean I was not attacked, then it went great. It took me a while to find this particular beach though. They all look the same." He glanced down at the sand beneath his bare feet, shaking his head as if he was scolding the granules.

Taking a deep breath, he continued to talk."How are you? It's been a while.." His words trailed off into nothingness, and he wondered what exactly it was that he had been planning on putting into the blank period of silence. Recalling, he almost began to speak again before remembering that it's not exactly customary for one to tell another troll that they missed the other during the time that they'd been apart. That would be irrational and far too romantic for a pair of trolls who had only met face to face twice.

"I'm glad you were able to find you way! Although I must disagree that all beaches look the same, then again I know the beaches like the back of my hand." She smiled at him while wiggling her webbed toes in the sand. Where as most trolls could not stand it, Eisire quite liked the feeling of sand against her skin. The other day she had sat out in the sand while she painted her toes, purring contentedly. She needed to paint her nails, she never really liked the colour yellow and had taken to painting her nails all sorts of different colours.

She ran her fingers through her hair, brushing the locks loosened by her wind from her face. "I've been alright, I've been busy working. And speaking of work!" She dove her hands into the sling, plucking out the little creature. It yawned, showing of tiny pointed baby teeth, then blinked a few times, showing off a pair of brilliantly blue eyes. It was a small thing with a little fluffy tail and four legs, each ending in big paws. He had pointed ears, and seemed to be one big fluff ball. "He's only a baby, but he will get much, much bigger! You'll have to train him to carry heavy stuff, when he gets a little older I suggest giving him small things to carry. He's hive trained and very loyal." Eisire was beaming, so pleased with herself as she often was once she had completed a project. She blushed a little, "Is he ok?"

Theiyw shook his head, unable to contemplate the idea of being in one place for so long that one gets to know its landscape so wholeheartedly. "It's nice being here without having to worry about getting killed?" He offered, shrugging a little bit as he dug his feet deeper into the sand. This was partly to hide the fact that his feet were incredibly bruised and perpetually blistered around the heel, and also because the somewhat damp sand felt good against his mostly desensitized callused feet.

When she took the small creature out of the bag, he had to keep his face from lighting up, biting his tongue rather severely as he watched it yawn. Finally permitting himself to speak, Theiyw reached out and patted its head a little bit before carefully wrestling it from Eisire's arms and holding it in his own grasp. "Wow, Eisire he's going to make my life so much easier." He said, clearly overjoyed now at having such a lively and friendly (for once) creature in his arms.

"I'll keep you updated, send you pictures. I promise to carry him if he hurts his feet." Theiyw wasn't particularly sure those statements were overly reassuring, but at least they displayed his gratitude. "Does he have a name?" He inquired, looking down at the creature which was now taking its tie to gnaw on his thumb. The teeth didn't hurt too much, and he decided to let it slide, out of fear of ruining his relationship with the young animal.

Eisire clasped her hands, bringing her thumbs to her mouth as she grinned, her fins wiggling with excitement. The little thing had already taken a liking to Theiyw. "I'm glad! And that would be fantastic, I would love to see pictures of your travels. And of the baby growing up." She blushed a little. "And he's gonna be teething for a while, until his adult teeth come through. And I haven't named him yet, I, um, I was going to let you name him." She didn't often create pets for others, but her heart glowed when she saw Theiyw's reaction to the little thing. "If you ever have questions about him just tell me!"

Eisire glanced over her shoulder, noting that the sun would be up in an hour and a half. "So, um, maybe tomorrow evening you could come over for breakfast? I'll leave the jetski here for you, its got a GPS with my hive coordinates in it, and if you lift up the seat there is a life jacket. Oh, and here is the key!" You hand it to him. "So, um, yeah if you want to have breakfast just message me when you get up, I need about an hour to get ready. That-is-if-you-want-to-I-mean-you-don't-have-to." Eisre blushed, realizing she was rambling again.

The comment about teething had Theiyw looking down again at the small creature, which had stopped gnawing on his fingers and had switched to the thick metal bracelet he was currently wearing. It was a relatively crude piece of metalwork, something he'd done in his spare time, and he slipped it off and handed it to the the waiting jaws of the youngling. "If you really trust my naming abilities." He joked, looking down at the creature once more before turning back to Eisire. "I'll be sure to ask if I need to. In the meantime I'll probably just have to make something so that he doesn't shred my tent to bits." Shuddering at the thought of waking up to a shredded hivetent, Theiyw patted the animal once more with his spare hand.

He took the key willingly, tossing it up into the air once or twice to get a feel for its weight before tucking it into one of his pockets. "Okay, okay." He assured her, a little amused at how excited she was getting. However, it was more endearing than intimidating, and he managed to give her a reassuring smile to make sure she knew the rambling was okay, not to mention it was kind of cute. Attempting to push that last thought from his mind, Theiyw nodded. "Of course I want to visit. Not sure how well I'll be able to work that thing.. " He looked cautiously at the jetski, wondering what would happen should he accidentally tip it. At least she'd told him there was a life vest. "If you want me to bring this guy along, I might need the sling. Otherwise, do I leave him in the tent?" He asked, wondering if it would be wise to leave such a young creature alone in a cloth tent.

Eisire continued beaming at the blueblood. "You can always fashion a leash of sorts so he can't reach the tent walls, but I've not seen him going to shred my curtains like my dragons do. So I think your only issue with leaving him in your tent alone is that he will gnaw on the poles. Then again his baby teeth won't even dent the metal." She rubbed the little beasts head, right behind the ears, causing his tail to wag.

Eisire motioned for Theiyw to follow her, and quickly gave him a rundown of the jetski controls. "Its very easy to handle, it has a gyroscope so it can't flip." She pulled the sling off and adjusted it so it would fit Theiyw then handed it over. "You could leave him in the tent, he is rather curious so he might get into your stuff. He won't leave, right now he's rather confused about doorways so you have to carry him across the threshold." You laugh and remind yourself to show him the video of the baby barking his head off at the open door.

You shift from your tiptoes then back to the heels of your feet. "So I'll see you in the evening? I don't know how far away you're camped and I would hate for you to burn."

Theiyw nodded, wondering if it was possible to make a leash out of his own available materials. He wasn't very good with cloth and rope, so perhaps a chain would be better suited to the situation. The assurance that he wouldn't attack the tent also made him feel better about leaving the creature at the hivetent, and its happy demeanor upon the head-rubbing made him even more glad about having such a nice new companion to take along on his journeys. "Okay, I'll make sure he's all set for next evening."

The jetski didn't really appear to be too complicated, and to be honest Theiyw was even a little bit excited to be using such a device. Compared to swimming, it was a lot easier to learn, and it might even help him in an escape should a seadweller or their lusus decide that he was better attacked than let travel freely.

The thought of doorways being confusing made Theiyw laugh a little bit, as he wondered whether or not the cloth doorway of his tent would have the same effect. He also made a point to remember at all costs to not set the beartrap that he usually did when leaving the tent. For such a curious and playful animal, it could be incredibly dangerous.

"I won't burn." He assured her, tying his hair up into a loose bun to make sure that it wouldn't hinder him on the way back. Plus, the creature in his arms was reaching up towards the curly locks in search of something new to gnaw on, and he didn't particularly want his hair covered in slobber. "Tomorrow evening, for sure." He agreed, taking a few steps back and setting the creature down so that he could put his boots back on. It was a little uncomfortable to have sand in his socks, but the blueblood decided that would be the least of his worries. Plus, he was pretty sure it was supposed to be good for the skin. "Bye?" He asked, finally realizing the time and remembering that he most likely should have set off a few minutes ago.

Perhaps telling her that he wasn't going to get sunburned was a little premature, but he wasn't about to tell her that, not wanting to worry her.

She smiled warmly at him, "Bye Theiyw! I hope you sleep well!" With a little bounce in her step she bolted towards the ocean, jumping up and cannonballing into the water. She poked her head into the air and waved at her friend before diving back underneath the waves and swimming back to her hive.


Eisire woke to the sound of someone pounding on her door. She flopped out of her coon blearily, trying to rub the sopor from her gills. The pounding increased and she growled. The only logical explanation was that Theiyw had arrived and she hadn't heard her phone go off when he messaged her to say he was on his way. Yawning, she tied up her hair in a ribbon (putting all of her hair in a hairband was impossible) and stumbled into a pair of pants. "I'm coming I'm coming! Don't get your knickers in a knot jegus christ."

However, it was not Theiyw at her door. The second the door was open, something connected with Eisire's skull and everything went suddenly black.

Perhaps half an hour later she stirred, horribly confused. She was sitting in her bathroom.... Her head aching, she tried to stand, only to find her hands were bound to the back of the chair. That was most definitely a wake up call. She struggled quietly with the ropes, managing to free herself by strength alone. Her eyes widened when she saw her reflection in the mirror, blood was pouring from a cut on her head. 'Come on, focus Eis focus!'

Eisire pressed her finned ear to the door, hearing a couple voices. She gritted her teeth, it was fucking pirates. 'Ok think... what can you use as a weapon...' Five minutes later, she was 'armed' with two legs of the chair she had been tied to, an expired epi-pen, and nail scissors. She pulled her phone from her syladex, sending a quick message to Theiyw. Just in-case things went sour.

aquaticAssassin (AA) began messaging tumultousFacade (TF)

AA: good evening ive run into a slight problem
AA: ive got pirates in my hive so im guessing breakfast is off for now
AA: i am going to try to make a run for the stairs and get to the underwater part of my hive
AA: if you don't hear from me in five minutes send help
AA: wish me luck

aquaticAssassin (AA) ceased messaging tumultousFacade (TF)

Theiyw returned to his tent in good spirits, taking turns between carrying the creature, who he had decided to call Rust, for no other reason than the fact that he was absolutely horrible at naming animals, and because the creature seemed to be gnawing at the metal bracelet he'd given it vigorously, making it almost look like the metal had been corroded.

Once back at the hivetent, he chained together a few pieces of wire and stuck them to a peg in the ground for when the day came, although he was happy to let Rust gallivant around the tent before he went to sleep.


He was awakened by his palmhusk buzzing, although for a moment he'd thought that there was some sort of insect buzzing infuriatingly at his ear. Whatever the reason, the blueblood quickly turned to his palmhusk and read Eisire's messages. He jumped up as soon as the word 'pirates' was mentioned. He didn't really know what pirates did beside what he'd heard in stories and during schoolfeedings, but he knew that it wasn't good. Plus, anyone with the audacity to attack a Heiress' cottage probably wasn't the best troll to begin with.

Without even bothering to message her back, although he did mentally wish her quite a lot of luck, Theiyw had gotten ready, slipping his feet into his shoes and pinning the largely aesthetic rings around his horn. It may not have seemed important, but he'd gotten used to fighting with them, and due to their weight, fighting without them might actually cause him to lose his balance.

Bidding a quick goodbye to Rust, he dashed out of the tent, leaping over his lusus, who was currently coiled up on the ground in front of his hive. The snake had already met Rust, and they had actually gotten along quite well. That thought was pushed from his mind once Theiyw remembered that Eisire was likely in trouble at the moment, and he rushed down to the beach, trying to remember how to work the jetski before switching it on and flying off on it, not even bothering to put on the lifevest, although he knew that if he fell he would be in a great deal of trouble.

The island was somewhat easy to spot, and he slowed the motor as he neared something that looked like Eisire's cottage. Gliding up to it, he realized that there appeared to be some sort of boat dock, and he let the jetski drift into the garage-like space before hopping out onto solid ground. Picking the key she'd handed him last night from his pocket, Theiyw opened the door leading up into Eisire's hive, slowly climbing the stairs until he could just see over the lip onto the next floor. Staying hidden, aided by the voidlike dark around him, he held his hammer at the ready, hoping that Eisire would be alright.

Eisire was not alright.

Armed with her 'weapons', she had taken out four of the eight pirates. She had driven her epi-pen into the eye of one, left her scissors in the neck of another, and had placed the chair legs into the thigh of one troll and the neck of the last troll she took down, with each hit making sure she got the major arteries on the first try. She'd gotten punched in the face in the process, and she could feel her eye already starting to swell. Her nose was bleeding, perhaps broken.

Before she could make her escape, she had been pinned to the floor by three of the remaining trolls. They dragged her to her feet, one on each arm and the last with a fist full of her hair in his hand and his knife pressed to his throat. She growled, hissed, and fought against them, but each movement dug the knife deeper into her skin. So, she elected to stand still for the time being. "Release me at once! I am employed by the Empress herself and when she hears how you have not only trespassed on my land but held me against my will she will have you all hang!"

The leader, a tall and lanky troll, approached her, laughing. "Do you hear that boys? She works for the Empress herself." A chuckle passed through her captors. Eisire growled, bearing her teeth in a snarl. The captain's hand grabbed her by the chin, holding her roughly. "Unhand me!" She spat, trying to tear away, but his grip only tightened.

"You've gotten some fire over the past two sweeps, Eisire. Or... What was it he called you? Re-re?" He chuckled darkly. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me, then again I am not wearing my paint. It still hurts, Re-re. I did pierce your eyebrow, after all." Any bravery Eisire held was gone instantly, her eyes widening. "D-don't call me that!" "Why, Re-re? Does it remind you of him? My moirail, your matesprit, the one you killed?" "It was an accident!"

His mace connected with her ribs, hitting her right in her gills. Eisire's knees buckled, only being held up by the trolls holding her. "HOW IS RIPPING SOMEONE'S HEAD OFF AND STICKING IT ON A SPIKE AN ACCIDENT?" He roared in her face. "I-I can explain!" The pirate glared at her. "Go on then."

"I-I have a split personality, a other side I c-can't control, I don't remember anything that happens I just black out. When I f-f-found out he was just using me for whatever power he thought I had I must have snapped. It was an accident I never meant his death!" Eisire was crying now, panicking, her words jumbled. The pirate studied her for a moment. "Hm. You know... I think I remember him saying you have something weird going on in your head. I believe you." A grin spread across his face. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill you." His fist connected hard with her jaw, effectively knocking her out.

"Make sure you tie her up tightly this time, unless you want to end up like those four," he barked at his crew.

The first sign that things were not going all that well was the fact that it definitely sounded as if there was fighting going on nearby. Given that Eisire would be alone against quite a few pirates, Theiyw was about to go and assist her when she was dragged into his line of sight. The sight was not a good one, and eventually the leader walked in front of where he could see. Thankfully, it didn't appear as if he'd seen the blueblooded vigilante yet, and Theiyw decided to stay and wait where he was hidden from both the pirates and Eisire.

What happened next shocked him a little bit, as the pirate leader proceeded to actually speak to Eisire, not only ignoring her protests, but also calling her condescending nicknames - which she actually seemed to recognize. Did they know each other?

Theyw sat on the edge of his hypothetical seat as the highblood talked, biting his lip when it was mentioned that Eisire killed her matesprit. Would she really do that? Things became clearer as she attempted to explain to the highblood what had happened, but the graphic depiction of what exactly she had done to her matesprit stayed with him. Head on a spike? That was gruesome, needless. Stereotypical of highblood rage, actually.

Despite what she'd allegedly done, Theiyw knew he couldn't simply let his friend get killed. Not when she seemed to be so nice. Perhaps she really did have a split personality. He realized that this would be the second time he had saved her life, a little amused at the fact, before creeping out of the staircase and into the shadows on the far side of the room.

He was still relatively cloaked in the darkness, and he used this to his advantage - sneaking up behind the highblood before jumping out into plain sight. Thankfully, this troll is tall enough that it's relatively easy for him to swing his hammer around to the pirate's kneecaps, effectively shattering at least one of them and sending the angry troll to the floor.

This causes two of the trolls holding Eisire to rush at him, furious for the injury of their captain. They had previously been working with the rope, but thankfully the interruption caused them to stop working on binding the unconscious heiress up and focus on the new intruder. Gritting his teeth, Theiyw spun around with his hammer, and due to the position of the two trolls, knocked at least one of them to the ground. "Eis!" He yelled out, hoping to wake her, unsure if he would really be able to attack all of these pirates at once.

It was more the drop to the ground that woke Eisire, Theiyw's voice making her snap to attention. Gritting her teeth, she was able to tear herself free from whatever binding they had accomplished. "Theiyw?!" One of the trolls had realized she was up and tried to grab her. But Eisire's adrenaline was up and pumping again, and she easily sidestepped him, grabbing his arm to launch him forward, snatching his knife from his belt as he fell, and driving it into the back of his throat.

Her vision was growing spotty as Erisie struggled to break free, the adrenaline and blood arousing her. Eisire clutched her head, knife still in hand, waging a desperate mental war. She opened her eyes to see another pirate headed her way, sword in hand. She stumbled back as he slashed at her, sweet glob she was bad on her feet. She scrambled to the side, knife at the ready, and sheathed it in his eye socket as he turned to skewer her with his weapon.

"Pirates are a lot more difficult to fight than a pack of angry lowbloods, agh!" He reeled back, managing to uncerimoniously smash an approaching pirate's head in. Eisire seems to be holding her own, but just barely, and Theiyw attempted to rush over to assist her, knocking one more pirate to the ground. The leader was writhing on the floor, obviously in pain. It didn't seem as if he was quite capable of standing up yet, which was understandable, as his knees were now clearly shattered.

Pushing the pirate that Eis had just stabbed in the eye aside and ramming him in the stomach with the hammer just to make sure, Theiyw turned to Eisire, making sure that all the pirates were down before walking over to the highblood, breathing a little heavily from the exertion and adrenaline it took to fight off so many trolls. "What do you want me to do?" He asked, simply deciding to ally with Eisire until something really told him he shouldn;t.

Honestly, he was still a little nervous about what he'd heard. If she had really beheaded  her matesprit, that might mean he was in a great deal of danger. After all, he was only her friend, and that held a lot less weight than the weight a quadrant would. But she had mentioned something about an alternate personality, and so Theiyw decided that it would be better just to let things be. She probably knew that he heard everything, and would explain things when the time came.

Eisire was staring at the purpleblood, the troll she had once called friend but because of her inability to control her other side now wished her dead. The guilt she had thought she had long buried was all churning inside of her. 'Kill him. Do it. Kill him now! He'll only come after us again! Do it or I will!'

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Eisire was on her knees, eyes squeezed shut and clutching her head. The knife had clattered to the floor, forgotten like everything else as she tried to contain Erisie inside her breaking mind. Tears streamed down her face and Eisire was sure that she was going to be sick at any moment.

Theiyw couldn't truly tell what was happening currently in Eisire's mind. He knew that it was something important, and that it was probably messing her up a great deal, if the way she was acting right now was any indicator. The pirate who he now had pinned under his boot squirmed, trying to get free, but he knew that he couldn't let the troll get free. Not when his friend was in such distress. Acting on impulse, he swung his hammer down right between the violetblood's horns, effectively ending his existence in a relatively quick, if not clean, manner.

Deciding that he probably shouldn't approach Eisire with a blood-spattered mess of a hammer, Theiyw set it down once he decided that his current surroundings were safe. Walking over to her, he knelt in front of the heiress. He wasn't completely sure if she had been yelling 'shut up' at him, or if perhaps that was more in her own mind. Whatever the reason, Theiyw reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, using his other hand to try and wipe the tears off her face. "Eisire, you're okay. Eis." His voice was clearly nervous, and he was biting his lower lip, worried that he had done the wrong thing by killing the pirate.

Eisire flinch when she heard the hammer meet bone. That quieted Erisie, who laughed in commentary, mocking her before returning to the hole Eisire had created for her. She jumped a little when she felt someone touch her, at first nervous that one of the pirates had somehow reanimated and was making a grab at her. Eisire opened her eyes to see Theiyw kneeling in front of her, drying her eyes. He's nervous, that much is clear. He'd most likely heard her exchange with the pirate, he was probably wary that she would turn on him.

A dry sob escaped her throat. "I-I'm sorry, oh glob I'm so sorry Theiyw. I never m-ment to drag you into this."

The fact that Eisire was apologizing meant that she still had something to say, and she also was probably likely to explain what the deal was with what the pirate had mentioned. Attempting to reassure himself as well as the worried troll in front of him, Theiyw attempted to remember what he'd done that day when he had needed to console her. Now that he knew Eis better, this would hopefully not be as awkward.

Wrapping his arms around her, he started to run his fingers through her hair, shooshing  her so quietly that it was almost a whisper. "I'm not dead, or injured. You okay?" He asked, although it was clear that she wasn't.

Her reaction was instant. Eisire clung to him, burying her face in his chest. She shook with each sob that broke free. But Theiyw's shooshing was quickly calming her, and five minutes later she had managed to stop crying, her fists no longer clenched around his shirt. She hiccuped a few times, trying to catch her breath. "I feel really dizzy..." She had been hit over the head with a mace and later whacked in the gills with it. Eisire could taste blood with every exhale; the gills on her ribs were directly connected to her lungs, pushing out carbon dioxide when she breathed underwater. If she hadn't been so dizzy, it probably would have occurred to her that Theiyw was hugging her, her pale-crush was hugging and shooshing her.

Theiyw felt lost. It was easy enough dealing with pirates. All he had to do was smash them with a hammer, that's it. But that wasn't exactly the way one could deal with a pale-crush. Yes, he might as well admit it - he'd finally figured out what he felt for Eisire, and this situation certainly wasn't making him change his mind.

Nodding at her comment, he lifted her up over to a couch. It wouldn't do to place her in her recuperacoon, mainly because if she needed any medical assistance, there would be no way for him to do anything from outside the coon, or from inside it as a matter of fact. Thankfully, smithing meant he had to be relatively strong, and so lifting her up to the cushioned platform was not a struggle at all.

Kneeling down next to the couch, he smoothed back her hair, still shooshing her under his breath. "Better?"

Lying down helped the dizziness. Eisire nodded, her eyes closing. She felt so tired, her head was pounding from fighting with Erisie and being clubbed over the head. "My side hurts..." Her hand was pressed to her gills, like having it there could ease the pain. But everything felt kind of numb at this point, her thoughts scrambled. Part of her brain was focused on the dead bodies all over her hive, another at the guilt from killing her long dead ex-matesprit, another at her feelings for Theiyw and yet another completely unrelated train of thought streaming never ending strands of DNA. It was just four letters in different sequences over and over again, but Eisirie knew exactly what each combination created. In her mess of a mind, she did manage to say something that made sense.

"I owe you an explanation."

The part of his mind that didn't quite trust Eisire told him that this would be like in his adventure books, where the villain would tell the hero their entire plot, explaining it in detail only to attempt to kill the hero after they were done revealing their master plan. One look at Eisire proved that this wasn't the case, and he cursed himself for ever thinking so.

Nodding slowly, he shifted around so he was sitting more comfortably, unsure if this would be a long story or not. "If you have an explanation you'd like to share, I'm all ears." As if to emphasize that, he tied his hair up into a bun again, a little frustrated with how it had gotten in his face while he'd been fighting and how it was sort of a mess at the moment anyways. Now that his hair was largely clear of his face, his ears - pierced in quite a few places with numerous rings - were visible, thus proving the saying 'all ears'.

He figured he would at least wait until she was finished talking to even start thinking about what these overwhelming pale feelings actually meant. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to having crushes, but pale crushes were different than red ones. They took more effort, more trust. Some part of him wanted to hug her again, but he knew that would only lead to her side getting more hurt in the process of doing so.

Eisire curled up a little, fisting one of her hands and bringing it to her mouth as she coughed. She wasn't sure if she was up to telling the entire story, she might fall asleep halfway through. She looked up to Theiyw, distracting herself from the flecks of tyrian blood on her hand.

"Um, do you remember when we met, and I had a daymare? I was talking about the trench and getting sucked in... Well... I didn't get out of the trench... I woke up lying a few feet nearby. Soon after I started having blackouts, I kept hearing a voice in my head. And it only got worse as I got older... I would venture onto mainland and I would wake up covered in blood." She squeezed her eyes shut, hearing Erisie mock her, telling her how pathetic she was.

"I sort of figured out how to prevent blackouts. And then I met... Then I met him." You couldn't bear to say his name, just talking about it made you feel so guilty you wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "I was so stupid and young and he was a charming pirate who spun me tales about adventure and glory and sailing all over the world." She laughed dryly, "Oh glob I was so stupid.... I guess I still am. It took me three months to figure out he was using me for the power he thought I had. I was seven I couldn't do jack shit without my lusus hovering over me. I confronted him and he got angry... And... And I woke up covered in blood."