It's been a while, but here's another chapter for you to (hopefully) enjoy! As a word of warning I forgot to give two chapters ago, however: there is some futa content in this one! If you don't mind this, I'd love to hear any thoughts and criticisms that you might feel like sharing - but for now, let's get on with the story!
Swaying back and forth, starboard to portside, up and down... The ship's rocking certainly made Lanica feel a little queasy. Still, watching the waves crash against the ship's hull and the salt in the air seemed to help a bit. "
Sure beats most of the people here - do those humans even bathe, anyway?!
" the catgirl thought, a scowl passing over her face. "
If all of them had a proper sense of smell like a neko's, the world would be a better place.
"
The beastkin leaned forward against the railing, enjoying the breeze brushing against her face as she glanced sideways - towards the amazonian girl at her side who watched the water with a big smile on her face. "
Doesn't take much to amuse her, it'd seem,
" Lanica scoffed inwardly, but... she did have to admit it looked good on the orkhai, that joy.
"Do you think we might see a mermaid?" Tarai asked, those pretty mismatched eyes seeking out the catgirl's.
"Might be hard to see from here, really - why dontcha swim and look for one?" the catgirl snarked. Far from disheartened by the response, the orkhai's smile only deepened with a soft laugh.
"Well... it's a lot of water for me to search all by myself," the tall girl pointed out as a little blush came to her cheeks. "I'd definitely be able to use a hand, you know..."
The thought sent a shiver down Lanica's tail, and not the good kind. "Oh no. No, no,
no
..." she quickly answered with a brush of her hand, as if dismissing the entire sea. "'S far as I'm concerned, we'd better get some solid land under our feet - the sooner the better! Water's
really
not for me, you hear?"
Tarai's brow furrowed in thought for just a moment before her lips parted in understanding. "...O-oh, you can't swim?" she guessed, and the fact that the thought apparently hadn't crossed the girl's mind was enough to make Lanica mentally roll her eyes. Even so, the beastkin couldn't help but feel the smallest bit of embarrassment.
"...No, I can't," Lanica admitted, glancing away annoyedly. "No one ever bothered to teach me, and I'd be damned before jumping in a creek on my own, okay! ...Besides, it's not like there's much reason when you live in a city," the catgirl reasoned, not entirely sure why she was feeling so defensive over an innocent remark. With a sigh, she looked at her companion again. "Not like you, anyhow - did your people teach you? Does your clan travel the Dreadsea?"
Shaking her head, the orkhai looked around the ship a bit. "We've always traveled along its coasts if we had to - this is actually my first time on a boat!" Tarai shared, clearly a bit excited by the fact. "And yeah, they did teach me. All of us from a young age, actually." Shy as the girl usually was, the pride in her eyes that came with her words surprised Lanica a little. "Being able to swim comes in handy when there's few - if any - roads in the wilds, so my parents and sister showed me how to stay afloat the moment I became old enough," she recalled, the memories apparently bringing a small, sheepish grin with them. "...Actually learning how to swim took a while longer, but..."
When the next words left Lanica waiting for a bit too long, the catgirl stepped a little closer. All she had to do was stare up a bit and she could enjoy the sight of that demure girl's face reddening so amusingly. "...But what?" she asked expectantly, somewhat curious about whatever the dense orkhai was struggling to spit out.
"...I-I could teach you," Tarai offered with a tremble in her voice - and as she turned to look at the tall girl, the catgirl had to admit she wasn't expecting the girl to actually be looking at her. Anxious and demure, it seemed the orkhai wasn't completely spineless...
Not entirely sure what to make of it, Lanica put on a little smirk for her 'girlfriend'. "
...
Sure, one day," the beastkin relented, leaning against the railing. "That said, the Dreadsea'd be a shoddy place to learn it, dontcha think?"
Smiling happily when the catgirl accepted her offer, Tarai nodded, her eyes drifting away to the roiling waves once more. For a few, long moments, the two just stood there together, peaceful despite the busy deck and the crashing water. "...Do you think they would call it the Dreadsea too?" the orkhai asked, her gaze clouded in thought. "The mermaids, I mean - if these waters are their home, would they fear it enough to call it that...?"
The catgirl didn't answer immediately, instead looking at the girl who appeared to have a more poetic side to her than she'd first assumed. "One's home is not always..." Lanica began before cutting her sentence short, considering her words carefully. "...Might be that there are things in there that even they have to fear - 'sides, it's not like the surface is all roses and sunshine for us either."
"Maybe you're right," the orkhai agreed, but she didn't sound ready to give up on the idea just yet. "...Hopefully we can ask one in person, one day!"
Lanica could only chuckle at the thought. "
As if we'd ever get to see one...
" she thought. Let alone one that'd be willing to talk about something so
menial
.
As the neko quickly scanned the ship's deck just in case anyone was getting a bit too close to her belongings, she instead spotted someone familiar. An older troll, not particularly easy on the eyes that seemed to be arguing with a few others. "...
Is that the guy with the cart?
" Lanica wondered, in hindsight not being too surprised that they'd ended up on the same ship. "
He seemed to be in a hurry, anyway. ...That means that other guy can't be far away.
"
Indeed, the catgirl didn't need to search for a long time to find the human he'd been travelling with a dozen paces away, eating a bowl of the same (rather bad) soup she and Tarai had been provided with. Glancing between him and the orkhai, Lanica began to think of a way to maybe open the girl up a smidge. "
He
did
seem rather into her... It can't hurt to encourage her to try something new, can it?"
"...Say," she began, nudging the orkhai from her daydreams, "Didn't we see that guy before?"
"Hmm?" Tarai drew her eyes away from the sea, following Lanica's gaze. "Which gu... Oh, with the cart!" the orkhai recognized, understanding dawning on her face. "Thomas, I think? I'm glad they made it in time!"
Smirking, Lanica nodded his way. "Tobias, actually - he'd probably be glad to see you again, you know..."
Confused, the orkhai looked at her. "...Because I helped with that cart...? That wasn't that big of a deal, w-was it?" she asked.
"Pffff, you're selling yourself short!" the catgirl chided her with a poke in her side. "But no - I meant that he seemed to be, how should I say... rather
interested
in you, judging by the way he looked at you." Looking the tall girl over none-too-subtly, Lanica's slitted eyes glimmered deviously when they reached Tarai's face. "Can't really blame him for it, either - you've got a special kind of prettiness!"
