Huh….When was the last time I wrote a Toan and Xiao romance story…
….October the third of 2015…..
Well then. Time to break that empty streak.
I actually have a plan for the Harvest Festival, but that will be a later story.
Hopefully more of these will be more common in the following weeks.
Probably not as Legacy's First chapter isn't FINISHED YET!
Disclaimer: I haven't done these in a while. I own NOTHING, if you think I own anything I own only the idea!
The waves crashed against the wooden pier, stacked boxes getting soaked in salt water, it dripping back into the ocean through slight cracks in the wooden floor. Ships rolled amongst the waves, as sails lifted up and hugged the breeze blowing through.
However the calm of the pier was broken by a piercing shriek. The shriek emanated from a single female. She was clutching onto a pillar of wood, her cat ears folded back while her claws were embedded into the wood. By her side was Toan, the hero of the atlamillia, along with Goro, the Great Hunter. Goro looked at the catgirl with a look of pure annoyance, while Toan looked at her with worry.
"Told you she would act like this." Toan said with a sigh. "She acted like this when we went to the shipwreck, remember?"
"I vaguely recall her nonstop screaming in the submarine." Goro said with a grunt. He gave the pole a good look over. "So, how do we yank her off that thing?" He rested his hand on a handle protruding from his back, it leading to a dangerously sharp battle axe. "I could chop the pole down…."
"And chop Xiao in half?"
"She won't be chopped in half..." Goro said, "just maybe a third of the way."
"No Goro." Toan said.
"Well how the hell do you expect to get her down?" Toan looked around, finding a empty bucket nearby.
"Well…." He grabbed the bucket, filling it with a bit of ocean water. Goro looked at it with a bit of understanding, backing away from Xiao as a precaution. Toan threw the bucket of salt water at Xiao, the salt water soaking her entirely.
This did nothing to free the wooden pole from her grasp. If anything, she dug her claws deeper into the water soaked wood.
"Good job idiot." Goro said with a smirk. "Any other genius ideas?"
"Shut up." Toan mumbled, letting out a sigh as he rubbed his head. "Xiao, come on. Let go of the pole."
"No!" She shrieked, even as her body shivered in the breeze. "Xiao doesn't want to go in the water!"
"Xiao, we're not going in the water." Toan said, shaking his head.
"We're just going on a creaky boat made of cheap wood into the middle of a deep and dark ocean." Goro said, a smirk on his face. Toan spared him a glare, before looking back at Xiao.
"Xiao, come on. It's not going to be so bad." She shook her head, refusing to so much as budge.
"Just let her stay here." Goro said with a scoff, already beginning to stomp away. "Let the baby do what she wants." Toan gave a slight frown, looking at the shivering catgirl for a few seconds, an idea slowly forming in his head.
He slowly approached her, slowly and carefully tickling her ribs. She froze for a few seconds, before giggles slowly erupted out of her. She began swatting at Toan's hands, having little success in the matter, as he quickly moved his hands out of the way, before returning them to her side.
"Master!" She yelled between fits of giggles. "Stop!" However Toan did not stop, if anything he was enjoying himself, a smile making itself known as he laughed to her squirms and giggles. Finally, she released her grip from the pole, laughing and squirming onto the floor. Toan gave a smile, before he carefully picked up Xiao.
She giggled and squirmed in his arms, smiling at him. Realisation slowly made itself onto her face, as Toan wrapped her in a tight grip. She let out a shriek, struggling a bit and almost freeing herself from his grip when Goro came along, throwing her onto his shoulder like a sack of flour. She screamed, kicking and flailing as she tried in vain to free herself.
"Stupid cat thing." He muttered, as he approached one of the wooden boats docked upon the pier. It was a simple boat, a combination of metals and woods, a simple sail sitting upon it.
Waiting upon the ship was Ruby and Ungaga. They both watched as Goro put Xiao onto the ship, Ruby giving an amused smirk while Ungaga watched on with a look of pity. Osmond, however was busy talking with Pike, the latter of which was busy admiring all the knots and wheels that made up the ship.
Xiao gave a frantic shriek as Goro placed her down upon the boat. She quickly attempted to jump off the ship, but Goro and Toan merely grabbed her as the boat took off to open sea.
The both had a rather rough start, occasionally it would sharply shake and buckle, but Pike quickly gained a understanding of the controls with Osmond's help. After a short while, the boat was flowing calmly among the water, the wind guiding it further out.
Xiao, over the course of this had wailed in despair, looked as the quickly shrinking pier, and latch herself upon the mast of the ship.
"Not this again." Toan said with a sigh. Ruby gave him an amused look.
"What did you expect to happen? She's terrified of the ocean, you know that."
"I thought she was only terrified because we were deep underwater." Toan grumbled. "I didn't think she was afraid of the entire ocean. She likes playing in the lake at Norune for Fairy's Sake!"
"Sweetie, that lake is more like a puddle if anything." Ruby said. "Besides, don't you remember her avoiding the pier at all costs unless we had to go to the shipwreck?"
"Oh….right."
"Unless you want her to hug the ship the whole trip, you should do something and get her down." Ruby said, trimming her nails with a file.
Xiao however seemed to have no qualms with staying glued to the mast the whole trip, her grip unwilling to release the wood.
"Xiao come on. You can't stay on the mast forever."
"Yes Xiao can." She whimpered, her claws digging in deeper to further the point.
"Don't you want to see the fishes and coral?"
"No! Xiao can see Carl and fishies on land if Xiao wanted to!"
"Don't be like that!" He groaned. "I'll give you some Fish Candy if you let go of the pole!"
"How many Fish Candies?" Xiao said after a short while.
"Uh..." Toan started, looking through his bag. "Five!" Xiao's tail twitched, a good sign surely. However, she said nothing, making Toan slightly worried that she wouldn't take the candies. His fears were abated when she slowly released the mast, her gaze fixed to the floor.
"Ok..." She held out her hand towards where she thought Toan was. "Give Xiao the Fishy Candies."
"Xiao, are you going to just get the Fish Candies and cling to the pole again?" Toan asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"No..." Xiao said, her ears giving a slight twitch. "Xiao wouldn't do that."
"Then come over here and get the candies." For a few seconds, Xiao stood there, before she slowly walked towards Toan, her gaze still focused to the floor.
"Sweetie, why aren't you looking up?" Ruby asked as Toan placed five of the blue fish shaped candies into Xiao's hands.
"Xiao doesn't want to see the water." She said, a slight shiver rippling through her.
"Xiao. What fear do you have of the Ocean? You've spent many a time in water before." Ungaga said, a strip of Scorpion jerky in his hands.
"The ocean isn't tiny." She said, a slight quiver in her voice, even as she munched on one of the fish candies. "Its really big and there's a lot of giant evil monsters inside it." She gave a shudder. "Like giant fish monsters that can eat Xiao whole."
Everyone cast glares to Goro, who was currently munching on a roasted chicken leg.
"Mwah?" He said, spitting food everywhere. "Mwlahsintjlme!'
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Ruby said in disgust. Goro swallow, a loud belch erupting out of him.
"I said it wasn't just me. It was Osmond too."
"Osmond?"
"What?" Osmond said, poking his head out. "What did I do?"
"Did you traumatize Xiao with stories of the ocean?" Toan said, looking annoyed with the two.
"Nothing that isn't true I assure you." He said, his propeller backpack whirring idly. Ruby's hand began to spark as she gave Osmond a nauseously sweet smile.
"What exactly did you tell her?" She spoke sweetly, as the orb of electricty formed around her hands.
"Just that there are giant monsters that lie in your oceans. You know, squid monsters that use boats as toothpicks, ancient fish that have teeth sharp enough to cut you by looking at them, standard fare." A spark of lightning struck his propeller pack, causing the moon rabbit to fall flat on his face.
"No wonder the poor girl is scared of the ocean! You two morons spreading rumors like that!"
"Well it's not really a rumor-" Osmond started, a second spark of lightning hitting him, his fur puffing out as his goggles sparked. Goro guffawed at Osmond, before Ruby turned to him, a ball of lightning aimed right at him. He grumbled, returning to his chicken leg.
"Xiao, don't listen to them." Toan said, holding the catgirl close. "The ocean isn't as scary as they make it out to be."
"So the ocean isn't thousands of feet deep?" She asked.
"Uh….well.." She started to turn to the mast when Toan stopped her.
"Xiao. The ocean isn't going to hurt you." Toan said, giving her a warm smile.
"Unless it starts to storm. In which case it'll murder us all before we even have tim-" Osmond started, stopping when another bolt of electricity struck him, his fur beginning to smoke a little.
"Just ignore Osmond." Ruby said. "The only harm the ocean will do is make your hair a mess."
"Xiao's hair is already a mess."
"Then you have nothing to worry about." Ruby said with a smile. "Now get away from that pole and watch the sea with us." Xiao gave the mast a look, before she slowly walked over to Ruby, the genie giving the catgirl a hug.
"Besides sweetie, if the monsters hiding in the sea even attempted to get near the ship, they'd be fried before they could even blink." As proof, she shot a beam of lightning straight into the ocean, several fish floating belly up near the strike. Xiao gave a slight smile at that, despite Pike's yells of shock and sorrow coming from the front of the boat. "Now, let's get you into some dry clothes." She said, giving Xiao a look over. "How on earth did you get wet anyhow?"
"Toan did it." Goro mumbled. Ruby ignored him, as she took Xiao towards the ship's slightly cramped hull.
Hours passed, Pike stopping here and there to try and throw a line, only to reel it in seconds later, grumbling about fish being too small or picky eaters. The full moon slowly began to rise over the horizon, as stars began to twinkle and sparkle in the sky.
Xiao watched the sky with everyone else, Pike trying his hardest to apparently catch some rare fish. No one really paid him much mind, most of them enyjoing the view the heavens gave them.
For a few moments, it was peaceful. Toan and Xiao laid upon the boat, both of them hidden under the cover of warm blankets. He pointed out various constellations, Osmond even chipping in from time to time with some of his own. Even Goro joined in the fun, showing rather crude designs in the stars. Yet, they were all happy, excluding Pike of course.
As the moon stood over the center of the sky, they all slowly began to drift off. One by one, they all fell asleep, Xiao and Toan one of the few awake still. Toan stood up, looking out upon the ocean, the stars reflecting off the waves as though they were surrounded by a giant mirror.
Xiao looked on in awe, as Toan gave her a warm smile.
"See Xiao? The ocean isn't so bad."
"FINALLY!" A loud voice screamed out, startling the both of them.
They both cast their gaze to Pike, who had a strange, glowing fish in a tank by his side. It looked oddly bright, as though the stars themselves formed its scales.
"Can Xiao have a bite?" She asked, her stomach letting out a quiet grumble. Her response was a powerful glare that could have melted frost from Pike. "Nevermind." Xiao said as Toan chuckled.
Originally this was meant to be posted on the third, yet the heat returned and prevented me from finishing this when I wanted to. However, I refused to give up on this story and kept working despite the stupid heat.
Also, heat is why my writing goes inactive. A heated Wanderer cannot focus on writing, which is why I got silent for the duration of summer and some of fall.
For all those who still follow me, thanks!
Be sure to give me ideas to give me a bigger drive to write. I focused so that I could have this story out today to prove that I am not dead/in a coma/ attacked by squirrels.
Also Legacy is coming up, this time for real. It's only a few thousand words away from the First chapter being finished.
Hope you all enjoyed!