#river rhine

[theworldatwar]

Paratroopers from the 1st Allied Airborne Division approach a farmhouse at the edge of a forest on the east bank of the river Rhine - Germany, 24 March 1945. Note the parachutes caught in the trees

[sir-catsalot95]

Some pics of the famous "Rheintal"

[illustratus]

Extensive river landscape by Wijnand Nuijen

[shutterandsentence]

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”

― Shannon Hale 

Photo: Rhineland, Germany

[lilolilyr]

Inspired by this post by @thedaughterofllandrinwyth from page seven of Yoko Tsuno 2 - L'Orgue Du Diable, for @duckprintspress May Trope Mayhem event!

pre-relationship, ~1k words, no warnings apply

cross-posted to Ao3!

~~~

It's not that Yoko doesn't notice the woman crying silent tears at the railing of the ferry... Pol is right, she's very beautiful, in an eerie, melancholy sort of way.

However, they aren't paid for people-watching and certainly not for stalking a stranger with a camera, and she'd like to think that her team is more professional than this... evidently, in Pol's case that was a futile hope.

Still, perhaps if they can get permission from the blonde they can show a short clip of the people walking past her at the railing before going back to the actual scenery, having some more diverse footage for their employer to choose from certainly can't help...

This occupied with her thoughts and the camera she has wrangled back from Pol, Yoko doesn't notice what is happening until it is too late and the woman is falling from the ship, hitting the water below, followed by Pol jumping in after her and screaming for help.

After that, Yoko doesn't think, she just hands off the camera to Vic and dives into the water, the icy cold of the river enough to hurt but not enough to deter her from reaching her goal.

~

They get the girl safely back to the ship and heave her onto deck. "Vic! Check her vitals!" Yoko shouts before she even tries to climb over the railing herself.

"She's not breathing!"

'Then why aren't you doing anything to help?!' she wants to yell, but saves her energy to vault over the railing. "Get out of my way!"

The seconds applying mouth-to-mouth without a reaction feel endless, but finally the body underneath her twitches, and Yoko helps her lean over and cough up river water and bile.

~

Before they can ask the stranger her name, she bursts into tears, collapsing against Yoko's side.

Her skin is cold to the touch, no wonder with her involuntary dip in the water, and without the physical exertion to get back out...

'Who did this to you?' Yoko thinks quietly as she rubs her arms, trying to get some warmth back into her limbs. She doesn't even want to contemplate the fact that perhaps the stranger jumped in on purpose.

~

Yoko also tries not to focus on the way the woman's face is pressed right against her cleavage as she cries.

Now that the initial danger has passed, Yoko's mind goes over the last moments, remembering the way their mouths had been pressed together as she breathed for the stranger...

Even now, drenched and freezing, the blonde is beautiful in that eery melancholy, way. But she is no longer a stranger Yoko is looking at from a distance, she's a real person currently going into shock in her arms.

~

"Oh dear, now she's crying again!"

Vic's fretting is a welcome distraction.

"That's a perfectly normal reaction to what just happened! Besides, she's shivering from the cold, we have to move her into the sun on deck. Can - oh, hell."

Behind Vic, Yoko seems Pol hold onto the railing with clammy hands. In their urgency to help the stranger, they have completely forgotten about him, and he's still in the water, lips starting to turn blue. He might not have been drowning, but he certainly doesn't have any of Yoko's training and it doesn't look like he knows how to pull himself over the railing on his own.

"Vic, help Pol get up!"

While Vic and another man give Pol a hand, Yoko slowly helps the blonde woman to her feet. She still seems pretty out of it - actually, her eyes are glassy and her movements jerky in a way that to Yoko doesn't seem likely to be caused by the fall. How docile she then is as she follows Yoko to the sundeck confirms her suspicions. The woman has been drugged, must have been under the influence of some substance since before she has gone overboard.

Assault and attempted murder, or an attempt to end her own life? She had already been crying before any of this happened, after all... Looking down at her, Yoko still doesn't believe that she did this to herself.

~

Helping the stranger into a seat and asking a member of staff for a towel, Yoko puts a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.

Whatever happened to her, she will do whatever is in her power to help her.

~~~

Part 1 of ?

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[gentlemanpixelator]

Sankt Goarshausen. Burg Katz am Rhein.

[schibborasso]

the bridge over the river rhine (from the series: "Warum ist es am Rhein so schön")

[waidwund]

color my world at the river rhine near koblenz, germany // 07-2014 © 2014 waidwund-photo