WAVES OF MISFORTUNE
BONUS SNIPPET: UN-FAMILIAR PITSTOP
CHARACTERS: 🌊 Flavie (the Amnesiac) (pov) 🌊 Benji Aikawa 🌊 Zhihao (the Familiar)
(for info on their characters, check here and here!)
(approximately 3 weeks after the Disaster at Vemor, aka when Flavie joined the crew of The Siren's Call)
Waves crew: [has long-since docked and is now mostly finished unloading the cargo meant for Lynsmouth]
Harbor: [bustling and busy, full of endless activity... and very different from the endless swaths of Aurevia Flavie had been through]
Deck: [mostly empty, devoid of others besides Flavie and Benji]
Flavie: [awkwardly hovering beside Benji, watching as Zarina and Cricket speak with someone else on the pier]
Benji: [generally chilling, arms crossed and eyeing something in the distance that Flavie can't find any significance in. Has been helping her adjust to everything on the ship and life altogether... considering her amnesia and general cluelessness]
Benji: [claims to find her cluelessness funny, but... has been genuinely helpful. So it's probably just an act.]
Flavie: [... right?]
Flavie: [turning to Benji, awkwardly) “So... we're just staying here for a while?”
Benji: [snaps to attention, looking to her with a slight obnoxious grin]
Benji: (voice somewhere between amused and annoyed) “Seems like it! Far as I can tell, seems like someone we're waiting on receiving goods from is taking their sweet-ass time getting the stuff over. So we're going to be giving them a few days before heading off.”
Benji: [un-crosses an arm to wave it to the side dismissively, turning his head and shaking it] “If they don't arrive in time, we report it, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
Benji: [grins more obnoxiously as he re-crosses his arms and meets her eyes again, continuing amusedly) “But! You don't have to worry about any of that stuff. You're just a basic member of the crew. The Captain and her mates—Cricket and I, right now—handle it.”
Flavie: [slowly taking it in, gives an awkward nod and crosses her own arms to look down at Zarina and Cricket]
Zarina & Cricket: [still busy discussing matters, but—]
Zarina: [turns to face them]
Cricket and Other Person: [follow her eyes]
Flavie: [heart skips a beat—]
Zarina: [eyes barely flick to her before moving past, onto a mast]
Zarina: (voice raised to carry, but even as always) “Yesval! We—”
Flavie: [forces herself to let out a heavy breath, looking up to see—]
Yesval: [hopped and floating down from a crow's nest, wind swirling around them to slow their fall and—soon enough—drop them by the trio of Zarina, Cricket, and the person they'd been talking to]
Benji: [shifts out of the corner of Flavie's eye—]
Flavie: [tenses slightly, quickly looking to him again]
Benji: [had started talking, his wider obnoxious grin on his lips, but his face softens slightly as it transitions into a more apologetic look]
Benji: (all the while, voice starting off amused but turning more gentle) “So that's Yesval—obviously—but, uh... sorry.”
Flavie: [shrugs slightly, face flushing and forcing herself to turn away from him. Struggling with a lump in her throat and a weird burning in her eyes]
Flavie: (voice uneven) “It's—okay. I don't even know what's wrong.”
Both: [silent, dealing with the unspoken words]
Benji: [sighs again, shifting—]
Flavie: [heart still pounding, but closes her eyes and forces herself to focus on her magic like Benji's been teaching her. With it, she's able to sense all of the water around her... including that within their bodies, and the humidity in the air]
Flavie: [just... gets dizzy as she focuses on her magic like this—]
Benji: (all the while, a hint of awkwardness in his voice) “Anyways, as I was saying... Yesval is our aeoler: he controls the winds whenever they're disadvantageous for us, to keep us on time. The Captain and Cricket probably need to discuss with him what it'll look like for us to be pushed back.”
Benji: [pauses, giving Flavie a moment to respond]
Flavie: [too absorbed into the sensations of her magic; half forgetting she exists as a person, separate from water—]
Benji: [very much noticing her essence interacting with the water around them and uncertain what she's doing or why]
Benji: (an edge to his voice) “Flavie? You got any questions?”
Flavie: [tenses slightly, managing to remember herself. Takes in a sudden, sharp breath, eyes flashing open as she re-focuses on her body and curls her fingers in and out to remind herself she's there]
Flavie: [not {hints at backstory}, not all of water, but a human—a human who'd been calling herself 'Flavie'. For the simple reason that she'd accidentally blurted it when asked her name. Because she was human. And humans did that—made mistakes and had silly reasons for doing ridiculously important things. And so did she... because she was human.]
Flavie: [why was that fact important to her? Why did her 'humanity' matter so much to her?]
Flavie: [heart still pounding, but pastes an awkward grin on her lips as she looks up and over her shoulder at Benji]
Flavie: (awkwardly) “Uh—not really?”
Benji: [quirks an eyebrow at her, obviously unimpressed]
Benji: (dryly) “You didn't listen to a word I just said, did you?”
Flavie: [forces a wider, awkward grin on her lips as sWAVESOF MISFORTUNEhe chuckles, looks away, and raises a hand to rub the back of her neck]
Flavie: (abashedly) “Ahaha... nooooooo?”
Benji:
Benji: [sighs heavily—]
Flavie: [struggling to smile more genuinely, looks up at him and about to try to apologize and tell him what she heard when—]
Benji: [half-turned away from her, face twisted and lip curled slightly in annoyance. At the same time, raises his hand to the empty air above his shoulder, where—]
Zhihao, his fox familiar: [appears, standing across Benji's shoulders, his head under Benji's hand and about to be petted]
Flavie: [gasps suddenly, quickly stepping forward and putting her arms out—]
Benji: [eyes widen—]
Zhihao: [TENSES!!!]
Flavie: (at the same time, voice high) “BABY!!!”
Benji: [dodges out of her way, reaching to let Zhihao step into his arms and quickly protectively hugging him to his chest]
Flavie: [pouts, quickly crossing her arms and standing up straight as she sadly eyes Zhihao... and Benji, who's keeping her away from him]
Zhihao: [pressed into Benji's chest; teeth bared, ears flat over his skull, hair raised, and letting out a prolonged growl]
Benji: (sharply) “Hey! Don't you dare! And don't you think that Zhihao didn't tell me what you did!”
Flavie: (indignantly) “What!?”
Flavie: [throws up her hands and stomps a foot, pouting still]
Benji: [still glaring, hugging Zhihao protectively, and half-turned away from her as though to shield his foxy familiar from her]
Flavie: (as indignantly as before) “I didn't do anything!”
Benji: [narrows his eyes further, all hints of humor falling away... and one of his hands moving to stroke Zhihao's forehead]
Benji: (accusingly) “Yeah, right! You tried to pet him!”
Flavie: !?!?!?!?!
Zhihao: [wiggles out of Benji's arms to climb up onto and sit on Benji's shoulders again. Lying low, ears flat against his skull, as he glares at Flavie himself]
Flavie: [at the same time, half-scoffs, throwing her hands out at her sides]
Flavie: (incredulously) “You were literally JUST—”
Benji: [—hand once again goes to Zhihao's head to pet him]
Flavie: [eye twitching, points at him a little overdramatically]
Flavie: (voice rising) “LIKE RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE PETT—”
Benji: [face twitches in anger before he interrupts suddenly, voice sharp and commanding) “Zip.”
Flavie: [almost chokes on her words, eyes flying wide and a lump suddenly forming in her throat—]
Benji: [still stroking Zhihao's head with one hand, jabs his other thumb in the direction of Zarina and the pier]
Benji: (coldly and authoritatively) “Our Captain is currently in the middle of negotiations and business matters. We're being kind enough to let you stay around, don't be causing a fuss and attracting attention over stuff like this. Got it?”
Flavie: [chokes slightly, unable to speak—]
Flavie: [clearing her throat weakly, looks away and forces herself to nod awkwardly]
Flavie: (to herself) ... why do I feel like this is always how things go? Am I never able to do things right? Have people—
Benji: (speaks over her thoughts, voice grudging and hesitant) “Right—and Zhihao?... I have his permission to pet him.”
Flavie: [hesitantly looks back up at him]
Benji: [standing rigidly as he pets Zhihao with one hand and watches her with careful, narrowed eyes]
Zhihao: [seems comfortable enough over his shoulders, letting Benji pet him as he stares off into the distance. Still seems tense, but leaning into Benji and watching something far away]can
Benji: [not having stopped talking, an edge to his voice) “Because, you know, I'm his anchor. I don't know what you know about familiars, but we're kinda bonded. We share thoughts. I only pet him when he's okay with it. Got it?”
Flavie: [tries to speak—can't.]
Flavie: [clearing her throat weakly, just nods slightly and looks out into the water, eyes burning]
Benji: (remorsefully) “Ah... right. Flavie?”
Flavie: [hesitantly meets his eyes again]
Benji: [an obviously fake smile on his lips, painfully) “You... can speak again.”
Flavie: [blinks, mouth falling open in surprise]
Flavie: (awkwardly, voice weak) “Uh... okay?”
Benji: [quickly looks away, moving as though to pull Zhihao into a hug again for a moment, but soon abandoning the motion to just half-turn away from Flavie]
Flavie: (finishes, not having stopped) “—I... didn't think I needed your permission?”
Benji: [lets out a dry, humorless laugh]
Benji: [reluctantly] “Right...”
Flavie: [confused, but before she can open her mouth and ask—]
Here's a little teaser from a backlog of my old writing since I don't have any Faerie's Dawn content for you guys!
Waves is another work of mine I might occasionally talk about (or just the characters of), but it's unlikely to see long-form publication for a LONG while, as I want to focus on works early into the timeline. And, well... Waves is not, lol
Regardless! What did you think? :>
(Oh, also, Yesval's pronouns are inconsistent between Benji talking about them and the narration because they're a closeted nb, but unaware of that fact. They'd be using he/him pronouns at the point in time, but I'd like to respect their pronouns during these outlines lol)
Waves of Misfortune taglist:
@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star
@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd