Sparkling Waters

Ashe had a new terror. Nothing new there. But this one, unlike most, was aquatic - and, importantly, not a Pliathor. It was an Equillion, a special one designed for the darkest watery depths. She was a part of the Aquarium's, and also the Aquatic Keep's, events made to draw attention to a very overlooked type of creature. For things under the surface were often ignored in favor of creatures in the sky, predominantly Sarane, and Ashe wanted to remind people that there was more to life. There was more to aquatic creatures than Pliathor, too! Loathe as he was to admit it.

But handling aquatic creatures was tricky. They couldn't just walk from place to place, so Ashe had to organize a space for his 'in training' beasts, organize safe transport, and manage them while they were there. Right now, he had just transported Jigar, his Angler Equillion, and the shebeast was just coming out of her induced tranquil state. Confused, lost, a bit dazed - Ashe didn't desire to be too close at the moment. She was within a netted perimeter so she couldn't get lost or flee too far, and the mesh was fine enough water could get through but little else (so she couldn't tangle herself, was the intention).

As was to be expected, she stayed deep below the surface, but Ashe could see the faint glow of the light on her forehead. So much like a unicorn horn, he thought, and yet so different. He decided to perch for a moment on a rock, watching the water, waiting until he saw her surface to know she was ready for interaction. He was dressed in swim trunks and shirtless, barefoot. His tattoos and toned muscles were on display - he had been absent from the public world, but that didn't mean he'd stopped training monsters!

Ashe: +0 1/10
Jigar: +0 1/5

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...fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight...
A small bubble escaped her lips, floating in a silvery sphere towards the surface as it passed her blurred vision. Vixen was submerged under water, free of her amulet which laid uselessly on the dock above her, lungs burning and dark hair billowing in a cloud around her. Her ears were ringing with the pressure of her held breath, and yet despite her increasing discomfort, she still clung to the dock post, keeping herself rooted under the lake's surface. Why she chose to punish herself with the discomfort of oxygen deprivation, she couldn't tell you- something about holding her breath and subsequently having to gasp for air was... cleansing. That wasn't the right word, but it was close. Damn close. It wasn't far off from the piece of clear head space one might have after an adrenaline rush, or a dangerous encounter- but outside, it looked more like attempted drowning, and so it was an odd habit she tended to keep to herself. What justification could she really offer, after all, as to why she chose to choke for air rather than use an amulet explicitly to prevent that?

...seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two...
f*ck, that hurt. The amulets had made her lazy, ruined her stamina- two minutes used to not be a problem, but damn it all if this wasn't burning. She squeezed her eyes shut a moment, bullying herself to push through it, to avoid the sweet release of air above. When she opened her eyes, she again found the pale, shimmering shape some dozen yards away from her. Tlaloc was what she was not in this realm- graceful and effortless. While not skittish of her, the stallion certainly preferred his own company, and elected to watch her with a wary blue eyes as he hovered close to the sandy bottom. Another large bubble pushed past her lips, and his ears swiveled forward curiously. What was she doing, anyway?

Ninety-three... Ni... f*ck.
She kicked off from the dock post that had held her down and shot towards the surface, breaking it with a noisy, desperate gasp as she sucked down lungfuls of sweet air. As her frenzied panting slowed, she touched her head to the dock, clenching it, and closed her eyes. "f*ck me," she murmured, dizzied by her efforts below the surface.

You don't belong. A deep voice resonated in her mind, and she snorted, droplets of water flying from her nose.

Last I checked, you were scared of the water, Voodoo.

I don't go where I don't belong, he answered stiffly, falling silent. Vixen shook her head, grabbing the edge of the dock above her to pull herself up on the edge, hair hanging heavily around her face. Her belly scales scraped the wood and she grunted, muscles in her shoulders swelling subtly under her skin as she found a seat on the dock. Huffing, she grabbed her amulet of underwater travel, looking at its smooth purple stone with a blank expression. Again, unwarranted advice floated into her mind. Wear it.

I'm going to take off my bracelet if you don't stop micromanaging me, she threatened, frowning at the gris-gris bracelet which allowed for shared sight between them. I'm not going to drown myself. A wave of the stallion's dubiousness washed over her, and she smothered a groan and dropped the silver chain around her neck. Voodoo had become as bad as any mother hen as of late, breaking his usual stoic nature in favor of hovering over her mentally, checking in with her, and urging her to go places and do things. It was... well, frankly, annoying. Was she not an adult? Was she not capable of looking after herself, as she had for the past twenty-something years? Absentmindedly, she groped for her bag, feeling for the outer pouch that held a little something that rattled... but something in her peripheral caught her eye, and she snatched her hand back on reflex, heart rate spiking with her hidden guilt. What does some random asshole care if I- Her head turned, hand pushing her dripping hair to the side, and her expression dropped for a moment. "Ashe."

She hadn't such close company she had submerged herself; evidently her lover had showed up sometime while she was below the lake's surface. She scrambled to her feet, briefly considering swimming over to his dock some feet away, but thought better of it. It wasn't worth climbing the dividing net when she would have to return to Tlaloc anyway. Instead, she settled for a happy but puzzled grin. "Fancy seeing you here, handsome." Had he told her he was coming out today? Her memory was so bad lately- maybe he had. Shit. "Who do you have? I know Alaska won't fit in these." She gestured loosely towards the netted pens, glancing towards her own tag-along. A faint, blinking rainbow light was barely visible on the wavy surface of the water. He had drifted closer to her vacated spot, but didn't care to breech the surface, or come flush against the dock.