fh_trips | Zakynthos, Wednesday Morning/Afternoon

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fall break 2018: zakynthos and athens

Zakynthos, Wednesday Morning/Afternoon

It was another nice, 23-to-25 degrees celsius kind of day - or somewhere in the mid-seventies, for those of a less European persuasion. The water was still warm from summer and the shops and restaurants were still open for business for a few more days.

Of course, today, there were also a bunch of shuttles sitting outside the studio complex, in case people wanted to leave Limni Keri behind and go elsewhere for the day.

[[ ocd up! open! ]]

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"Well," Vette said lightly, smiling around at the... the quiet, in here, mostly, "there's still pretty great company."

And now that Sidon was paddling around more sedately, she actually did chance sitting up.

"I can see why you like it," she added. "I'm sure there are plenty of places like this back home, but I've never seen any of them."

"It's the quiet of it that I think I like the most," Sidon admitted after a long moment of just enjoying the soft sound of the water moving against the walls of the cave as he pushed through it, the sound of Vette's voice slightly amplified, the fact that she seemed comfortable enough to sit up, making the adjustments in his position to compensate for the slight shifting of weight as he continued forward. "A bit like home, on sunnier days. And we've plenty of caves along the rivers and coasts, but it's nice to not have to worry about octoroks or lizalfos lying in wait around a bend like that."

Or maybe there would be, this time, which could make for an interesting adventure, but he was pretty sure it would be just as quiet and empty as all the other times he'd been here so far.

Vette was quiet, silently watching the way the little bit of light from outside filtered and scattered across the ceiling and walls, the water reflecting it almost eerily around them.

"On Ryloth," she said, at length, "some Twi'leks live in caverns. Not quite like this. Um, they're more dry, for starters. Ryloth is a very... extreme... world. But if the caverns go deep enough underground, then people are safe from the heat storms and the lyleks."

She glanced back down at him, teasing her lip with her teeth.

"I don't really remember those ones. I've heard about them, mostly, from other Twi'leks. Taunt and Flash and Plasmajack have more stories than I do. But sometimes I think about what it must be like, living life mostly underground. Probably not very different from Nar Shaddaa. You really don't see much of the sun there, either."

"Well, then," Sidon noted, a faint chuckle of amusement in his tone, though he seemed mostly thoughtful. "It seems to be my lucky day; two Twi'lek tidbits, and I didn't even have to ask!"

And he used that humor to help carrying him into his next question, a bit more hesitantly, because he understood it was significantly more personal, and he should really be avoiding personal questions if he wanted to continue to be distracted for his own personal hardships, but he just couldn't help being curious...

"How old were you when you left? You must have been quite young..."

There was a long pause, before Vette admitted, "I'm not entirely certain. Five, maybe?"

Before then, before she'd become property of that Rodian guy, she'd still been on Ryloth, just... working in the mines. She still had her mother and her sister. It wasn't great, but it was better than what had come after.

"It kind of all runs together, before a certain point."

And yet it didn't. Some of it stood out in painfully crisp, raw contrast from the rest.

"I can only imagine," Sidon mused, "and I mean that to the fullest extent, as before coming to Fandom, I have only lived in Zora's Domain, and even then, I've always wandered far more than others of my kind. Why, I believe I could say with confidence that I am the most well-traveled Zora in at least a few centuries. If not ever!"

Which was interesting, because, to hear Vette speak of where she was from, he felt as though he'd only experienced a small speck of what was really out there...

"Around this bend here," he added, "there's a bit of a rock ledge, if you might be feeling a need to..." To what, exactly? Get off? It was the very last thing Sidon would have wanted right now; he was quite content to go like this all day if he could, but he didn't want to dare assume about how she felt, how comfortable she was, if she was feeling even remotely uncomfortable, then he would just feel terrible if he hadn't at least given her the option "...stretch your legs or anything like that..."

"My legs?" Vette laughed a little at that. "You're the one who's been doing all the work, I should be asking you if you need a break," she teased.

... She was perfectly happy where she was at, and was quite happy to stay there for a while longer.

"I," she said, "think I'm doing pretty well, if I do say so myself."

"Oh, good," said Sidon. And then Sidon realized that he not only said that out loud, but that Vette more than likely felt the large sigh of relief that came with it. So what could he do at that point but to swim with it, letting out a laugh and just leaning in? "Splendid! That's marvelous to hear, and don't worry about me at all! You have easily been quite possibly the most wonderful and pleasant passenger I've ever had!"

And it was the truth, too. She hadn't even pulled his headtail once, which was much more than could be said for the multitude of hatchlings that had had the privileged.

Well, having two extremely sensitive head-tails of her own, Vette was well aware of how pulling was definitely not the done thing.

"Wonderful and pleasant, huh?" Vette laughed a little, herself. "Well, now you have me wondering if I ought to ask what the other ones have been like."

"About a third of your size," Sidon chuckled with the answer easily enough, "and stupendously rambunctious! The hatchlings always scramble to get to me first, as I am clearly one of the fastest!"

If he may be allowed to shine his own scales for a moment there.

"I bet you do everything you can to make sure they're having a great time, too," Vette said, smiling fondly. "I'd love to see that someday. You taking the younglings out for rides, them tripping all over one another to get their turn..."

She looked around the cave again, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"I should learn to swim."

"You have acess to the school''s very best swimmer quite literally at your fingertips," Sidon pointed out brightly. "You know that I would be positively delighted... honored , really!...to teach you."

"Honored, huh?" Here was Vette, blushing a little, though she was desperately hoping the tint of her skin and the dark of the cave combined would cover that fact, right then. "Well, I would be silly to turn down an offer from the school's very best swimmer, wouldn't I? Especially since I have him right here, right now."

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Zakynthos, Wednesday Morning/Afternoon

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