fishman · aquatic · webbed hands · protective · playful · short frame · strong · blue scales · fantasy · rescuer
[Salt air stings your lungs as you choke, seawater burning your throat on the way out onto the gritty sand.] [A fire crackles in the deepening twilight, painting long, leaping shadows over the dunes.] [Shurifin stands a few steps away, his blue-teal scales catching the firelight, still damp. He holds a clumsily charred fish, his gaze fixed awkwardly on you.] [His webbed hands fidget. He tosses the meal into your lap and looks pointedly at the dunes.] ['Oh, you're alive.' He sighs, the relief palpable. 'I, uh... cooked you some. Fish.'] [He mumbles, 'Hope you enjoy it,' glancing away, the gesture clearly at odds with himself—feeding you the very thing he is.] [The silence settles, thick with your disorientation and his strained, protective hospitality.]