[ti]open[/ti]Women fear the fish that love me

Verai hadn't been out even an hour, and he was exhausted. He had wanted a day on the water, just still reflection and the peace of isolation. Maybe introducing kitten and kitty to the water, if they were up to it. What he'd gotten was... something different entirely.

Verai was entirely uninterested in what women, or fish, were "attracted" to. Even recently, when he had the time to care about others' opinion of him... women's concerns were not his own. However, he was fairly certain neither fish, nor women, loved fake diamonds, handbags, or whatever a Michael Brûlée was.

That was because he was quite aware of what women were attracted to. Brianna was drawn to clothing sales racks, homemade chashu don, and incredibly strange youtube videos. To be fair, she did like fake diamonds, like the lab stuff though, not the... glorified glass things.

"I'm not singing." He said simply. Litten, however, disagreed, scrabbling to the front of the dinghy, looking wide-eyed out over the water. Raaaaahhhhhhhhhheyooooooooogh! She didn't know why Purrai wasn't excited- This was fun!

It seemed like all this man did was talk, and Verai was incredibly grateful, for his sake, that his life had been fortunate enough to allow him to ramble on endlessly, unimpeded. The rambling still, somehow, gave no inclination to what Michael Boray was, aside from a singer. Most likely. However, it also did nothing to hamper Litten's spirit, the pokemon twisting to look back at him, wide-eyed. <Really??? Yeah!!! I'm a really good singer!!> she crooned, pawing gently at the air reflexively.

At the joke, Verai felt his ears pin backwards, though he tried to keep the irritation from the rest of his face. He was- what, just supposed to understand how fish operated? Because he put cat ears on his stupid little icon thing?

The comment about carp went ignored- His tone said it was meaningful, but Verai had no fucking idea what it was supposed to mean. "No." He said, not elaborating on which he was saying no to, and braced on hand on the rim of the dinghy to peer out over the water, studying it. Had he done this before? Absolutely not. But he trusted his reflexes, and his body. This was within his capability.

Litten had paused her singing to listen intently, ears swiveled back. The Nice Man was fun to listen to. <What's a bear?> She asked, tail swishing. Maybe it was also nice.

Verai tuned out everything he didn't need, leaving only the soft motion of the boat, the shift of the waters, the glint of scales that flashed when caught by sunlight. The refraction, how it pulled images sideways, how much, how deep they were. He took a slow breath, as Kitten started in again, screeching loudly-

And the whole dinghy rocked, Verai hissing as he turned, seeing his new companion struggling with a large hunk of coral. It was.... festive looking. It wasn't solidly colored, but instead thin stripes of red and white, like a candy cane. It also had, for some reason, round ornaments hanging from the coral, a few of which had fallen off and were rolling around in the dingy. "What the fuck is that."

Litten had scampered from her position as Helmskitten, and had hidden behind Purrai and Nice Man, peering out at the frightful Thing that'd been fished up. However, the ornaments were more exciting, and she hopped to play with one. <Oh! This is fun! I wanna sing again!>

Verai watched Zac handle the coral, and watched him proceed to lick it. "Why would it be made of candy?" He asked, disbelieving. This man was, quite truly, something else. Kitten, though, was rapt, watching him, watching the corsola shriek and vanish. <Wait! I wanted a lick!> She cried, scrabbling over to Nice Man and pawing at his leg. <Where did it go??>

Verai sighed, but it was fondness at Kitten, rather than any exasperation. He turned back to the water, studying it again. There was a flicker of darkness that he watched, an ear twitching unconsciously as he did. With a breath, he lunged, splashing into the water and vanishing a moment. He then reached up, grabbing onto the dingy's edge to haul himself back up, dumping a [Bigness]Ht_ZJh061d100 [Description]1d90 [Blarney]1d100 into the boat with his other hand.

Verai frowned, watching Zac fall still and silent. He kept quiet himself, watching the ebb of the water, the ripples in the distance.

And then Zac started clicking, and Verai found himself... with doubts. Was he... trying to hear where the fish were? Like bats? Through the water? It all seemed about one step too far removed from reality, but.... Sure enough, Buzzster shouted and threw himself into the water. Verai debated going after him but... He'd wait a moment. If there was no sign of him, then he'd dive in.

He was somewhat relieved to see Zac surface, though grabbing the massive urchin with his hands felt... ill advised. "What was all that?" He growle,d helping haul Zac back into the boat. "You know urchin can be venomous, right?" He didn't really trust the distance between this game and real life- Sure, Bria had said it was perfectly safe, but he wasn't going to go stab himself with something on a whim.

Kitten had been watching this all very intently. First Purrai, and then Nice Man. You jump into the water, and you come out with a friend! It was easy- It had to be, right? They both had done it so wonderfully! So, she moved to the edge of the dingy, wiggled, and flung herself into the water.

Which, naturally, meant Verai lunged after her, surfacing with a spluttering, very upset litten in one hand, and a [Bigness]pvICU_C31d100 [Description]1d90 [Blarney]1d100 in the other. <Purrai! It's so wet! I'm cold! It's salty! I don't like it! I'm scared! I want out!>