Edwin Courcey & Nico Robin (Ft. Leon Orcot & Kellach Donnallen)
WHAT: An elemental sinks Robin's houseboat; Edwin jumps in to save her WHERE: The marina where Robin's house boat was WHEN: During the Flood Plot (backdated to August) WARNINGS: Destructin of a boat, possible near drowning(s) STATUS: Complete
Storms did not bother Robin and even with the rising water around Vallo’s shorelines, she didn’t see a point in evacuating her new home just yet. She had chosen this particular marina to dock in because it was supposed to be calm and protected.
It wasn’t.
She woke up that morning to strange noises that were neither ran or the gentle lapping of waves against the side of the houseboat. She barely had a chance to get out of bed before the entire boat lurched to the side as though struck by something. A dozen or so hands sprouted from the floor and counter to catch Robin before she tumbled across the room and out the door. She steadied herself, looking up in time to see something dart across the porthole window next to her.
What was that??
The boat continued to leap and lurch from side to side, hurling anything that wasn’t nailed down around the inner cabin. Robin herself had difficulty staying upright. Hands sprouted up from the floor and walls to help keep her steady as she made her way towards the door at the stern of the boat. She just crossed the threshold when another lurch sent her flying. She clung onto the railing of the back deck to avoid falling into the water.
Up above the sky was dark and angry. The waters of the normally calm marina churned viciously. Boats moored away from the docks were threatening to come loose and a few of them had and were being tossed around on the waves which seemed to be getting higher by the moment. It was all Robin could do to cling to the rail of her deck as those same waves rocked her little boat.
The same thing that darted across the porthole window darted again just in the corner of her vision. Robin dared look to see the back end of a watery looking creature as it slammed itself against the side of her boat in the opposite direction of the waves. She recognized it as one of the elemental creatures that had been plaguing Vallo for the last couple of weeks. She’d had a run-in with a few small ones when she had initially moved onto Still Waters. She’d intended to leave them alone, however, after they had smacked her in the face with seaweed, she squished them and that had appeared to be the end of it. Now it looked as though their big sibling had come back for revenge.
Robin watched in horror as the creature reared back, getting ready to slam into the boat again. “Stop it!” She shouted. “Giganto Mano!” A pair of enormous arms sprouted from the dock directly behind the creature. “Grab!” The arms grappled hold of the elemental and kept it from slamming into the boat.
The moment the arms wrapped around the elemental, all the strength flooded out of Robin’s body. Of course, these creatures were made of water. This particular one was made of sea water, which was even worse. Try as she might, Robin couldn’t maintain her hold. She slumped to the floor of the deck and the enormous hands disappeared. Robin raised her head in time to see the creature rear back again. All she could do was brace for impact.
This storm made Edwin nervous. It wasn’t that he was a stranger to sudden rainstorms – he lived in England, after all – but he wasn’t used to them lasting quite so long, and to blow with such ferocity. And while things seemed safe enough at Sutton Cottage – he’d had none of the flooding that seemed to plague much of the rest of Vallo – he couldn’t help but think about Robin. Robin, and her houseboat on the choppy seas, and the fact that he recalled that one of the side-effects of her magic was that she couldn’t swim. It seemed like a bad combination at the best of times; a deadly one during a storm like this.
He’d texted her earlier, asking if she might come spend some days at Sutton Cottage until the weather calmed down, and when she hadn’t responded, he’d called her, only to go to voicemail. And now, for some Godforsaken reason, he was out here, braving storm and wind to come ask her in person.
He’d originally set out with an umbrella, one that he’d reinforced with magic after the second time the wind blew it inside-out, but, of course, the wind had caught it and blew it to Kingdom Come some time ago. Now, he was soaked to the bone, and shivering, and regretting this whole endeavour. No doubt Robin was somewhere safe and dry, and he was a fool.
He was still some way off from the dock when he saw the giant hands rise up and grasp an unusually large Elemental – one that had blended in with the storm churned sea and sky right up until Robin’s hands highlighted it – and he took off running. He was nearly at the dock when they disappeared, and the creature slammed into Still Waters. He let out a cry and ran faster, but stopped at the edge of the dock. The water was tumultuous. He couldn’t see parts of the planking from Still Waters, but there was no sign of Robin himself. Edwin was a decent swimmer, but he’d take home no medals for it. He certainly couldn’t afford to dive in without a plan, swimming around with no idea where Robin might have been.
He pulled the brown string from his pocket, and started the cradle, fumbled it, started it again, and fumbled once more. He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and then carefully, deliberately, tried again.
There was a brief, golden glow of the string, and then below the waves, there were answering glows. Fish, mostly, but one larger, one shaped human, and he gave a sigh; at least she was still alive.
And then, before he could second guess himself, he dove off the dock.
It wasn’t Edwin’s smartest moment. Far from it. The water tossed him around like a ragdoll, and debris only avoided hitting him in the face by dint of the fact that it hit his arms first. The salt-water stung his eyes, but he kept them open; he didn’t need to see clearly. He only needed to swim toward that golden glow.
He swam down, far enough down that the waters calmed, and those last few feet before he could wrap an arm around Robin was almost easy. Part of him almost wanted to just stay there, where things were calm, and it was easy to tell what was way up, and what way was down. He looked up at the water churning above him, set his mouth into a determined line, and began to climb his way upwards.
The moment Robin hit the water she was caught up in the churn and swell. Desperately she tried to keep her head above water. But try as might, she sank like a stone beneath the surface, what remind of her houseboat that wasn’t bobbing along the surface, sinking along with her.
Completely submerged now, the ocean stole her strength. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t move her arms or legs – couldn’t get her body to respond to orders to move – to swim! She could barely keep her eyes open and her only thought was to hold her breath for as long as she could! She could not, would not -- die here! She had to see her friends again!
In the darkness she became aware of something in the water with her. A mind starving for air immediately jumped to shark or sea beast. She tried desperately to get her arms and legs to obey her, but all she could do was sink further.
She was fighting a loosing battle and she knew it. She slipped further and further away. Movement in the water caught her attention. Zoro? Relief flooded through Robin. Sanji? Robin forced her eyes open. She didn’t see either Zoro or Sanji in the water with her. She was confused seeing Edwin in the water with her. She wasn’t even sure he was real until he put his arms around her and started pulling her up with him.
Edwin was fairly certain that by jumping in after Robin, he had condemned them both to a watery grave. He wondered if drowning hurt. He assumed that first lungful of water would be, but after that, perhaps it would be peaceful. He wanted to think it would be, at least. He supposed it was impossible to know, unless in some other world he had Maude interview someone who’d drowned to death.
When his head broke the surface of the water, it was more surprise than anything that had him take that first brilliant breath of fresh air, and while the second gulp of air he took involved getting a good deal of sea water in his mouth, he was grateful for it, too.
Keeping his and Robin’s heads above water was a lot of work – Robin was more dead weight than anything, though the golden glow that still suffused her let him know that she wasn’t actually dead, thank goodness – but when he looked around he could see nothing but roiling stormclouds and violent waves.
The detect life spell that he’d cast – one that he’d created while here in Vallo – had already taken a lot out of him, and he worried casting another one, even a small one, would drain him to the point where he could no longer keep Robin and himself afloat. But there was little help for it; he wouldn’t be able to keep treading water for long even without it.
And so, he raised his free arm in the air, and performed a one-handed cradle – it was the first he’d ever taught himself, and one that he had memorized well enough that he could manage it even when all his thoughts seemed to want to escape his head like rats fleeing a sinking ship. A ball of light rose from his fingers. He sagged, head going under the water, and with a momentous amount of effort managed to kick himself back up above.
As luck would have it, Edwin was not the only person out braving the storms. Members of the Defense Department were out as well looking for anyone in need of assistance. Kellach had met up with Leon a few moments earlier and had been bitching about the rain when he heard a commotion on the wind followed by gleeful laughter he was all too familiar with. “Oi, d’ye hear that?” he asked Leon, turning his attention towards the marina. “Somethin’s happenin’ down there.” His eyes narrowed, that laughter still on the wind. “C’mone, lad,” he said, pulling Leon with him towards the marina.
Leon strained his ears. He heard the wind, loud and roaring in the storm. It was hard to tell if he heard some unearthly laughter carried toward him or if it was just the gale. Regardless, he followed after Kellach.
The rain was coming down nearly horizontally, and Leon squinted in it, hand held before his face to do what he could to block it. There was definitely a light up there somewhere. He tried to picture the marina in his mind; he couldn’t think of what that light could be. He picked up his pace, running toward it, and stopped short just before he ran off the deck and fell into the ocean.
“Shit,” he swore. Those were definitely people. He kicked off his shoes and removed his hand gun from his holster. “Here, take this,” he said, handing it to Kellach, and then, without another thought, he dove headfirst into the water, slicing through the water like a diver.
No sooner had Leon hit the water then the same elemental that had sunk Robin’s boat reappeared. Kellach watched with wide eyes as it rose from the water. It was reminiscent of the elemental spirits he was used to seeing back home. He knew the larger the spirit, the more powerful it was and this one was huge!
The creature was moving towards the two figures bobbing among the waves. Kellach swore a few Irish oaths under his breath. “Oi!” He shouted. “Over ‘ere!” The elemental paused and turned, twisting in the water to look back at Kellach. Intrigued, it skated over the water towards him. Once it got to the dock where Kellach was standing, it brought itself to full height, dwarfing the werewolf. It did not speak, instead it loomed over the docks making that same laughing noise that had caught Kellach’s attention earlier. It seemed very interested to see him standing there. Kellach hoped he could keep it distracted long enough for Leon to rescue the two people in the water.
Leon glanced over Kellach’s direction when he heard him calling – was he trying to call Leon back? – and then he saw it. Leon’s eyes widened and he swallowed. That was… a really fucking big water monster.
He forced himself to turn away from it. He was already in the fire (or, in this case, in the water). He’d hope that Kel had it handled. He swam with powerful strokes to the two people in the water.
“Keep a hold of her!” he yelled at the librarian, swimming up behind him. He wrapped an arm around the man’s thin chest, and began to swim back toward shore, quietly praying under his breath that the freaky ass water monsters would stay distracted. Leon could handle fighting monsters on land – he’d even killed a few in his time with his bare fists – but he didn’t think he’d be as successful in the water, trying to tow two people back to shore.
Robin was aware that she and Edwin were still in the water. She was afraid that the water creature was now attacking Edwin. She tried with all her might to muster up enough strength to summon a pair of arms to either fight back or pull them back to the dock. The best she was able to do was get her eyes open.
All she could see was angry churning water as the waves tossed the pair of them around roughly. It was amazing they were both still afloat! “Ed—!" She tried to call out to make sure Edwin was alright, but water rushed her mouth the moment she opened it. She coughed and sputtered and tried to not go under again and drag poor Edwin with her.
A new voice on the wind caught her attention. Robin couldn’t see who it was and she didn’t recognize the voice. Who in God’s name was out here in all of this?? A moment later, Robin heard another voice, this one right behind them. She didn’t recognize this voice either, but it was clear they were here to help.
Meanwhile on the docks, Kellach was fighting the water creature. It was unlike any spirit that Kellach had encountered before. Typically, elemental spirits were curious about him, liked to play with him and chatter away. This creature had no interest in either. All it seemed interested in was destruction and right at that moment, it was directing that towards Kellach.
Kellach’s entire purpose in life was to fight creatures like this. Blue flames engulfed his hands and arms up to the elbows. When the water creature touched them, it hissed and recoiled back. Kellach laughed and taunted it drawing its attention away from Leon and the two people in the water. If he could just draw it further onto the land, maybe he could weaken it enough to…
Kellach didn’t even get to finish the thought before the creature blasted him with water. It hit Kellach square with the amount of pressure of a fire house. As Kellach coughed water out of his lungs, the creature laughed, delighted. Then it seemed to remember that Edwin and Robin still existed. It turned away from Kellach and ambled back towards the water.
“Get…. back here!” Kellach wheezed through coughs. He shifted to Hispo, which made it easier to get to his feet. Blue flame engulfed his paws and legs once more. He ran down the dock after the creature, jumping into the air and through it.
Kellach hit the water and paddled his way to Leon. In this form he was faster and stronger and more capable of dealing with the angry churning water around them. “I can take one!” he howled at Leon. “Quick! Have them grab hold!”
The water was cold, but not so cold that it had robbed Edwin of his faculties. He had managed to follow along so far. He’d been sure that he was going to drown, and then this man had, against all common sense, jumped into the churning ocean to save him, giant water monster be damned.
Except now there was a dog howling or barking or something very nearby, and the man who had him was saying “Well, you heard the man, grab on. I’ll take the girl.” And then the man was trying to take Robin out of his hands.
Edwin panicked. He tightened his grip on Robin, and tried to grab hold of the man who’d, up until a second ago, had been holding him above the water. Some part of him was dimly aware that he was shoving his head under the water in some attempt to grab hold of him, but Edwin was beyond coherent thought.
And then the man had a hold of his wrist, breaking his hold on the man’s shoulder, and came sputtering up from the water.
“The fuck are you doing?” the man roared, shoving Edwin’s hand toward another body. “If you’re going to try to drown someone, drown this guy. I’m trying to save your friend.”
It wasn’t another ‘guy’ that Edwin’s hand closed on though. Instead, he caught a handful of wet fur. He stared: he was pretty sure that whatever this was, it wasn’t a real dog, but some kind of monster.
He released the creature, and then immediately started sinking. Given the choice between grabbing hold of a monster and possibly being devoured, and almost certainly drowning, Edwin chose to grab ahold of the fur again. He looked, frantically, for Robin, but the other man was already hauling her back to shore with powerful kicks.
For a gut-wrenching moment, Kellach thought the redhaired magician was going to fight them, but Leon quickly put a stop to that. It was another much too long of a moment for the magician to decide if he was actually going to hang on to Kellach or not. The werewolf was just about to grab hold of his arm with his mouth before the man finally grabbed a fist full of his fur.
Good, lad.
Kellach maneuvered himself so that his back was under the other man to keep him above the water. Then, with his charge secure, he started paddling towards the shore.
Robin was too weak to fight her rescuer, even if she’d been inclined to. She wasn’t, though. She didn’t know who this person was, but he obviously wanted to help them. That being said, she thought that she may have been dreaming when she saw the large wolflike animal rescue Edwin. Surely, she must have been! She didn’t remember anyone on the Network mentioning owning such a large animal. Maybe it was native to the island? An elusive creature of Vallo legend. How could that be? In her many trips to the Great Library to read about Vallo history, she had never read about giant wolves. She would have remembered that.
She wanted to call out to Edwin, but she didn’t dare open her mouth again. She’d had enough water down her throat to last her a while.
Leon could have very nearly sobbed with relief when the nothingness under his feet turned to gravel. Leon might have grown up spending as much time as he could at the beach, but he’d always known better to go swimming during a storm, needing to fight against the tide, winds and waves all. And to do it while hauling a body…
He grimaced. He hoped he hadn’t been hauling a body. He would have brought her ashore regardless: whoever it was deserved to be able to come home to be buried, and, he remembered with an exhausted start, that there were a handful of people who he was pretty sure could resurrect the dead. But her woman had been too limp and unresponsive for Leon to have much hope.
He dragged her onto the shore, and went to place too fingers at her throat to check for a pulse; there was too much wind and rain for him to be sure of her breath.
Once she was out of the water, Robin’s energy started returning to her quickly. Leon didn’t have to wait long to see more signs of life than a simple pulse. Robin coughed up whatever water remained in her throat and lungs while at the same time trying to choke air in. She grabbed hold of Leon, using him to help pull herself upright. “Thank you,” she managed to wheeze out. Then immediately after: “Edwin? Where’s Edwin?!”
Robin’s grip on Leon’s shoulder tightened as she scanned the beach and water in front of her. Fear choked her far worse than the water had as she desperately looked. Relief flooded her when she saw Edwin on the back of the large wolf-dog, the two of them making their way through the waves towards the shore. Thank goodness! She hadn’t imagined it!
By the time the large animal had brought Edwin to shore, most of Robin’s strength had returned. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to meet them. The dog gave a surprised yip when several arms sprouted up from his fur. They lifted Edwin down to Robin so that she could get a good look at him and confirm for herself that he wasn’t dead.
Leon hadn’t expected her to come to life, so to speak, as suddenly as she did, and his initial reaction was to jump back from her. But once he got over the initial startlement of it, he helped her, and then collapsed supine onto the wet beach, chest heaving. He really was getting to old for all this shit.
“Kell’s got him,” he said, waving vaguely in the direction of the sea as Kellach came ashore.
“I”m fine,” Edwin assured Robin, though his teeth were chattering. He’d barely been set down before he demanded of Kellach, “How did you do that?”
Robin looked Edwin over for herself, just to be sure that he wasn’t bleeding, or had any bones sticking out of places they shouldn’t be. Once she was sure that he was indeed fine, she hugged him close to her. Tears of relief stung her eyes. She was thankful that her face was wet so that no one else would see her crying. Her voice trembled just a little when she whispered, “Thank you, Edwin.”
She pulled away to let Edwin speak to their rescuers. She was surprised to see a young man standing where the wolf-dog had been. He was clearly drenched from head to toe. His shirt clung to his chest and his pants were waterlogged and sagging. Obviously, he’d been in the water with them, though Robin did not recognize him.
For his part, Kellach’s attention was still on the water. His hands and arms were once again engulfed in blue flame. He was searching the water, his body tense. Robin recognized the look of a man who was ready to fight. Her eyes widened and she looked out to the water as well. Was the water creature still out there? Was it going to attack again?! Robin held onto Edwin a little tighter and a little more protectively.
Then Kellach relaxed, letting out an audible breath. “I think it’s gone,” he reported, the fire dissipating from his hands and arms. He turned to look at the two people he and Leon had pulled from the water. “Sorry?” He said sheepishly. “How’d I do what?”
Edwin tensed when Robin wrapped her arms around him, but after a moment he gave a gentle pat on her arm in some sort of attempt to give reassurance. He was relieved when she let go of him, even if he missed the extra body heat.
Leon propped himself up on his elbows when he saw the fire from Kellach’s hands, but didn’t last long before he flopped back down. If this was his time to die, then this was his time to die.
“The transformation,” Edwin said impatiently once the man’s attention was back on him. “How did you do that? Was it some sort of spell? A transmutation spell of some sort?” He wondered how that would work; how much magic would it take to shift one’s entire body. Not just disguise it, but to shift it into an entire different beast. And then, as if noticing belatedly what the man had said, asked, “What’s gone?” And then, his memory coming back to him slowly, “The creature that attacked Robin’s boat? It was still here?”
He suddenly felt very foolish for diving in after her.
Kellach shook his head with a chuckle. “Nah, mate, it’s not magic. I’m a Garou – a werewolf. I was in one of me battle forms.” His preferred battle form, really. He gestured towards the water. “I think I wounded the spirit, or whatever it was, but I didn’t kill it. It’s gone now, I don’ hear it laughin’ anymore.” He glanced to where Leon was sprawled out in the gavel. “Oi! Leon! ya still breathin’ over there?”
He turned his attention back to the two people in front of him, giving them a rueful, albeit soggy looking grin. “That was some heroic stuff ye were doin’ out there, lad,” he said to Edwin.
Leon groaned and waved an exhausted hand in the air to indicate that he was fine.
“It was some stupid stuff I was doing out there,” Edwin muttered, and glanced, shame-faced, in Robin’s direction. It might have been the stupidest thing he’d done in an age, but even now, cold and wet, he couldn’t have thought of another way to keep Robin alive before proper help had come. If he’d had more magic…
Well, there was nothing to do for that. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said to Robin instead.
“You saved my life,” Robin said, giving him a small, tired but rueful smile. Edwin’s rescue attempt may have been impulsive and foolhardy, but she thought it was brave nonetheless. “Thank you so much.” Rather than hug him again, she gave his hand a tight squeeze to show the affection.
She looked at Kellach. “Thank you both as well,” she said.
Robin may as well have been thanking Kellach for going for a swim as far as he was concerned. He gave her a smile and a light shrug. “Don’t mention it.” he said. “We should get the both of ye outta the rain and somewhere warm before ye both catch a chill and a cold.” He started guiding Edwin and Robin up the boat ramp to where the marina office sat waiting for them. Kellach nudged Leon’s with his foot as they passed him. “C’mone, lad.” he said. “Up an at’em.”
Edwin managed a smile, and gave her hand a squeeze back. Her hand was cold, which was to be expected with the temperature of the water – his wasn't any warmer – but it was capable of squeezing and that meant more than he could put into words.
Leon groaned when Kellach nudged him, but, after another moment he rolled onto his stomach and then climbed to his feet.
“Somewhere warm that has hot, boozeg drinks,” Leon amended. “And somewhere that has somewhere to smoke away from all this rain. I need a fucking cigarette after all of that.” Not that any of his were smokeable anymore; he hadn't bothered removing them from his pocket before he dove into the water.