Help! (Open)

Lelei had wanted to go for a swim that day. The temperatures about the island had risen and the sun was shining, so it was the perfect kind of day to get back into the waters and have a good swim. After dealing with the Deep One, his ban on oceanic swimming had been lifted and he was now free to swim in the waters he held so dear. With the ban gone, he also felt like he could returned to most of his traditional roots as well, as long as he was allowed to be in the ocean. However, his plans were cut short after he arrived at the beach.

A blonde girl was walking around the sand and enjoying the weather when he arrived at the beach, ready to strip down to nothing once more and dip into the water. It was a little discouraging, but it was nothing he got upset over. He would just have to find another stretch of beach to start from. Even though he wanted to swim in his tradition naked fashion, Lelei knew it was still inappropriate around most of the islanders, especially younger women.

But before he turned to go find somewhere, he watched as the girl lifted up into the air in a graceful arc. Well, it was graceful and majestic until she started flailing. She must have been a new student at the Academy, and she was still getting the hang of her powers. It was almost funny until she fell out of the sky, into the water, and immediately started panicking.

The giant shark man immediately leaped into action, dropping his bag and running off for the water.

"Hang on! I'm coming!"

The girl was lucky. The person coming to save her could not have been more qualified to do so. Lelei dove into the water with ease and sped over to her with the help of his tail. His fin poking above the surface might have caused some concern, as would the way he suddenly picked her up.

"Don't worry! I got you!"

With his strong muscular arms and physique, it was no trouble carrying her back to shore and swimming at the same time. In no time at all, she was set gently back down on the sand with Lelei crouching next to her.

"Are you okay? Do you need first aid? Should I get help?"

Saving the life of a drowning girl was a higher priority than being concerned with scaring that same drowning girl with his beast-like appearance. Of course Lelei was aware of how intimidating he looked, especially in the water. There was escaping that fact since he had first come onto the land, and it was a fact that he had quickly come to terms with, as did most of the people who knew him. The blonde girl was just another new person whom would need the time to become familiar with him.

He heaved a sigh of relief as the girl made a few errant coughs, but otherwise indicated that she was alright.

"Good. Good. Very good. You were lucky I was in the area, or no one might have come to save you."

Lelei noticed her squinting eyes and the way she shielded the sun from her face. Being a much larger person than she was, and being the nice shark man that he was, he moved over into a position to block the sun from her eyes.

"My name is Lelei 'A'amakualenalena. But you can just call me Lelei. I sometimes work for the Academy on the island, and I assume that you go there too?"

No one had ever complimented Lelei's name like Samantha had, or maybe he had never paid it any mind before. Either way, he was flattered to hear that his name was apparently quite lovely. A name was something a person became very very familiar with over the course of time, to the point where it lost most meaning beyond identifying them. The same went for Lelei, whom had never considered how nice-sounding his name might have been to people who were unfamiliar with the language. At least he was always aware of how complicated his last name was, and most people were grateful to not have to try and pronounce it all the time.

"The sand is crab-free on shore. Don't worry."

Her joke was lost on him as he helped her to her feet. As she cleaned herself off and dried what she could, he remained in her sun. He was going to ask if she wanted to dry off in the sun, and he would have gladly moved if she requested, but she asked something else instead. His head tilted in slight confusion.

"Um. Yes. Starlight Academy. I believe that's the only academy on the island. Do you need some help getting there because..."

Lelei looked out around the beach.

"... You're kind of nowhere near it. The Academy isn't located on the beach. And maybe we should get you some dry clothes before we go there..."

Farther away from the water, the boardwalk began so it was not like the girl was in danger of getting lost in the wilderness. But if she was lost, the city was only slightly safer. Manta Carlos was a good place, but there cars and troublemakers all the same. Though if she did get lost, Lelei suspected the wet teenage girl would draw enough attention for someone to come along and help her.

"Well, relatively speaking. I mean--"

The young girl proved to be, perhaps, more than Lelei had bargained for when she started rapidly switching gears in her statements and then walking off on her own for some reason. She spoke so fast and moved with so little warning that Lelei was left standing in the same spot, confounded and waiting for his mind to process what was happening with her. But before he could even do that, she was back at his side and seemingly finally ready to start cooperating with him a little bit.

He looked down at the girl, curious but not upset. She was interesting, he had to give her that. But something seemed off about her. The way she had squinted at him, staring almost, had been a little odd. The fact that she did not seem to be bothered by his shark man appearance did not even register for him, as Lelei was used to everyone on the island being okay with him.

"Maybe you just need some sun then."

Lelei rotated around her a few degrees, staying at her side but letting the nice warm sun hit her finally and chase away whatever cold she was feeling.

"I like meeting people too. Maybe we can meet some more. Come."

He gestured for her to follow as he started off towards the boardwalk.

"I'm sort of from around here. Not the island. I come from somewhere nearby. I just live and work here. What about you? Why are you here, Miss...?"

There were parts of the island that were exactly what Samantha had expected from an island in the middle of the Pacific, with palm trees and coconuts. But there were no hula dancers to Lelei's knowledge. Manta Carlos had a nice diverse set of parts that allowed the population to live in comfortable civilization or in serene privacy out in nature. Most people chose to live within or immediately around the city as it was simply more convenient and familiar, and the city provided. Only a few chose to have a nice place more out in the woods or along the beaches.

"You're doing fine, Samantha. Don't be too hard on yourself."

The boardwalk was comfortably busy at midday, with all the shops open and business going about as usual. Warm weather and clear skies were bringing out all the folks looking to have a good time on their days off, creating a nice and lively atmosphere. Only a few people turned to wonder what was up with the soaking wet girl, and no one chose to really question it once they saw whom she was walking with.

"So you have a sibling already here, hm? That's nice. We can ask about her once we get you to the Academy, and maybe arrange a dorm or class schedule where you two could be together."

Her follow up question got him to pause for a second in thought, before continuing to walk, looking for a suitable place for Samantha to get changed or dried off.

"Not to my knowledge. But it could very well be a different case now. I haven't been back to my home for family matters in quite some time."