Information

Wanderlust_546 has a minion!

Sprout the Berana

Wanderlust_546
Legacy Name: Wanderlust_546

The

Hydrus Paralix
Owner:

Hope

Age: 15 years, 3 months, 2 weeks

Born: January 15th, 2009

Adopted: 11 years, 3 months, 4 weeks ago

Adopted: January 6th, 2013

Pet Spotlight Winner
May 19th, 2014

Statistics

Level: 60
Strength: 149
Defense: 148
Speed: 149
Health: 148
HP: 148/148
Intelligence: 1
Books Read: 0
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Store Clerk

art by

~~Phobia~~

She watched the dirty men out on their large floating ship, with the big billowy sails and that black skull-and-crossbones flag that always gave her the shivers. Her vantage point was a good one - she could see the faces of the men completely clearly from here - but her constant companion, Sprout, kept pushing her tail, trying to get her to move: he felt they were too Exposed, and too close to the island. If she thought about it, she knew the little fish was right; they were only ducking behind one of the many rocks that made this part of the shore an unsafe place to moor a boat. But Sprout shouldn't worry so much - they were water creatures, after all; if anything came too close or glanced over in their direction, all they'd have to do was dive.

Actually, it looked like they'd have to dive in just a moment: one of the men had slipped into one of the small boats that carried passengers from the large ship out at sea back to the rocky shore. Merissa searched to see if she could recognize which man was on the boat, and felt a secret thrill pass through her when she distinguished him as being the darker-skinned man with the Irion. Even in the privacy of her own mind, she quickly chastised herself for that thrill; it didn't mean anything, of course, it's just that she felt somewhat responsible for him, having seen him crash-land on that island a whole year ago now. She had sang to the Irion to calm him down until the man awoke, and the other dirty men found them. She was the one to place the conch shell tied with seaweed on his sun-tanned stomach, which is what made those superstitious dirty men take care of him. Without her, those men probably would have robbed the Irion-man and left him to die. Instead, he was taken in, shown the ropes, and given a new life. Of course she felt something when she saw him. But it was only the feelings of a protective friend, nothing more. Besides, he was one of the dirty men now - "pirates", she had heard them called, but "dirty men" fit them so much better, did they never go in the water they floated on top of? - and besides all of that, he was a man. There was nothing more to be said.

Had she really been here a year? Well, roughly speaking, at least - minus a week or two, here or there. She had been traveling for so long...the thought of being here for a year made her start to feel antsy again. Always that itch, that need to go on, to just keep going, to see more; yet recently the restlessness had been able to be subdued. She wasn't sure what was going on. All the things she had seen - so far away - she almost didn't even remember where it all started, it was so confused in her head - but then she remembered the roar of the dragon when she was tiny, bobbing off shore with others of her kind, risking Exposure while the Red Rreign created such a perfect distraction. Veta Lake. She came from all the way across Subeta, off the coast of Veta Lake. She remembered. Such a quiet life.

She had had to get away.

So she swam. North, and east, up the ocean between Riverside and the Darkside and Delphi, stopping only briefly before she felt that need to keep going, keep traveling on. She kept going north, before things became blocked off - the SAI didn't like visitors, she quickly learned, so she turned east, and learned what "frigid" meant, and found that she didn't like it. Arctic Frost was given only a day of exploration before she was off again, turning south this time to warmer waters around the Sacred Lands. This was her favorite land yet, as it was so vastly different than what she knew; she could watch these creatures of this sandy land for a long time. Or so she thought, but eventually that itch returned, and she was helpless to overcome it. South she swam, following the coast, then breaking for the dotted islands that made up the southern half of the Omen Islands.

That's where she was when she saw the Irion careening toward the ground, much too fast, with the man upon his back. That's where she was one year later, still watching out for those two, with only a twinge now and then that hinted at oceans untasted, lands yet to be glimpsed, creatures still unseen...but right now, she wanted to be here, wherever "here" was. She didn't even know the name of this place! Some tiny unnamed island, next to some other tiny unnamed island, that made up a whole that was called "Omen Islands", sure. But this place right here...it was like it was taken out of the rest of the world, with no connection to anyone or anything else; it just was. You didn't make grand plans here; you just lived, day by day. And day after day, she watched the man with the Irion.

Maybe it would be better to keep traveling on...

He was approaching in the tiny boat. Another stroke of the oar and she'd be at risk of Exposure. Merissa took a deep breath, then nudged Sprout with her flipper. For now it was time to move on, but only far enough to dive.

story/profile by me
background art by Shuwa