Out of My Element [Castle]

[Castle]

Castle and the fish just stared at her for a moment after that comment. Then the fish regained it's composure and swam forward a bit to address her directly,

"I only want you to tell me what's inside the witch's grotto after I lead you there. No strings attached," he explained smoothly.

"Yeah. And if you're lying, we'll tear you into fishy chunks and put you in a tin can," Castle said.

The fish smirked, but he looked uneasy. Castle rolled his eyes and scuttled over to Emi,

"Look, we can at least give it a try, right?" he said quietly, so the fish would have trouble hearing. He didn't want their scaly acquaintance to think they were totally desperate. "Unless you actually know a way we can get all the way back up to the gummi ship when you finally want to ditch this place. Besides, he said the witch is long gone. He's just scared of the old spooky lair," he finished sardonically.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I have a feeling this won't turn out well.
--

Emi definitely didn't want to be going into any caves any time soon. Also, she was street savvy enough not to know not to take strange propositions from shady tuna. That same knowledge is what didn't let her show weakness, even though she still felt like running away to cry somewhere. And honestly, she didn't have another way of getting back to the ship. She had an idea, involving a whale, but that was just her imagination getting ahead of her and would never work. So, she sighed and hung her head.

"Fine. Let's do it, just.... never mind,[/color]" she said, resignedly. It wasn't as if she could ask Castle to hold her hand, especially not with those weird shrimp arms. Yeah, she wasn't gonna go there. She would just have to suck it up and not let them see her weak. She tried to tell herself that besides the tunnel incident, nothing bad had happened to them. Yet. "Lead the way,[/color] she said to the fish. And when the fish started to do just that, she followed him after a moment's hesitation.

[Castle]

Only when she agreed to follow the fish did Castle notice that something wasn't right with Emi. She was being too quiet, too... cooperative. He'd expected to have to fight to get her to even consider the fish's offer. But no, she was following him without much of a complaint, and Castle did the same. He thought about asking her what her problem was, but didn't feel like bringing it up with some random guy listening.

He led them to the end of the caverns, where they ascended out onto the side of a rocky incline that broke off suddenly. Beyond that, on the other side of a gap, was the large, ominous, skeleton structure of the abandoned grotto. He stopped at the edge of the cliff and floated around so he was facing them.

"Here we are. This is as far as I go," he announced.

Castle looked out at the grotto and suddenly felt skeptical. What if this was a trap? What if they really were being led into a dark alleyway with a jar of bees?

But, if he backed down now, he would look like a wimp.

"All right. If you're not in this same spot when we get back, it's your loss," Castle said simply.

He went to the very edge of the cliff and paused. How was he going to get over that gap? Well, he knew how, but he didn't like it. He stifled a sigh and stole a quick glance at Emi.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I'm not doing it. Don't look at me like that.
--

Emi looked down. Well. It wasn't as if they were going to fall to their deaths or anything. Good thing she wasn't nearly as afraid of heights. She saw Castle's meaningful glance and twitched. "You got a problem? Let's go,[/color]" she said, roughly and started to swim across. Did he need help getting across, or could he do it himself? Either way, she didn't like the idea of touching him when he was a human, much less with a creepy shrimp body. Emi, now she loved to eat shrimp, especially the teeny-tiny ones that came in her spicy shrimp cup noodles. However, she did not like to look at live shrimp before they had been prepared and cook and served with ramen noodles in a spicy broth. They looked like bugs. Creepy bugs with lots of arms and weird eyeballs.

There was no way in hell she was going to carry him across. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not any day-- "Dammit,[/color]" she growled, turning around. She would regret this. She was becoming too soft, pretty soon no one was ever going to take her seriously and she wouldn't be able to get what she wanted just by threatening people anymore. She made a vow to stop being so nice. "Need some help?[/color]"

[Castle]

At first, Castle was really hoping that she'd offer just that. But when she actually did, it became a lot less appealing. He could take on that gap by himself. He didn't need any help, and he definitely didn't need to show the dang fish guy he couldn't handle it.

"No. I got this," he said adamantly.

He turned around and propelled himself backwards like he had done before. As soon as he was over the edge of the cliff, some of his confidence wavered. Sure he wasn't about to plummet like he would in the air, but being that he still wasn't a very good swimmer, even as a subaquatic creature, it was far from a comfortable situation.

Forcing himself not to look at Emi or the fish guy, he continued on. However, then he realized that he might not be going the right way anymore. He tried to glance behind him, got disoriented, and flipped over, his legs now above him.

He gritted his teeth to bite back embarrassment as he sank slowly toward the dark abyss below them.
"Okay. Maybe help would be nice," he amended reluctantly.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Ew. Ew ew ew.
--

Emi watched the whole scene with a part-concerned, part-amused look on her face and when Castle began to sink and asked for help, she swam over and picked up him up by one leg and nearly pulled it off. Shrimp the size of babies are not meant to be held up by one leg. She hated to do it, but she gathered him up into her arms. She absolutely HATED the feeling of his nasty little legs wiggling against her bare skin and she hated even more the proximity of him to her chest, flat chested or not.

"I bet you're loving this,[/color]" she muttered. "Better enjoy it while you can. This is the very last time.[/color]"

She writhed uncomfortably. "Stay still, would you? Those legs are creeping me out,[/color]" she snapped, and then thought maybe it was a better idea to hold him at arm's length, which she did for the rest of the short journey across and down. The reached the opening of the grotto and Emi let Castle go, free to swim by himself now. "Ladies first,[/color]" she said, followed by a nervous laugh, and swam on in.

[Castle]

"Why do people always think I'm up to something?" the fish sighed once they were out of earshot.

--

Being that close to Emi was interesting, to say the least. This was the closest he'd ever gotten to the chest of a woman who wasn't his mom. It was almost enough to make him forget how horribly embarrassed he was. Unfortunately, his stupid shrimp body was the worst killjoy ever. He just couldn't get his limbs in order, and when Emi finally pointed that out, he knew she had a point. He didn't blame her for holding him at arm's length. It didn't stop a flicker of resentment, though.

He sighed in relief when she let go of him. Emi went into the mouth (literally, it looked like a big skull) of the grotto first, and he followed behind her. The nervous laugh reminded him of what he'd noticed earlier.

"Hey, you doing okay? You've been acting weird since we got here," he said.

Was he concerned? A little, admittedly. Was he trying to put the spotlight onto someone else so his humiliating form could be ignored for a while? Definitely.

The wide, dark tunnel led them deeper into the grotto. However, it was easy to see where they were going, at least. The silhouetted walls were black against the dim, and there seemed to be a dim light ahead.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Boooooring.
--

[/right][/size]

She didn't answer at first. Not that she was super eager to try and explain herself to Castle, but they had found themselves in a room of some kind. Emi looked around warily, unconsciously pulling an arm to her chest as if that was some kind of defense against the bad vibes she was getting. She was going to answer Castle, but got conveniently distracted. There was some kind of pink algae or something hanging from the ceiling and she lifted a hand to push it out of the way. Time to take an inventory of what exactly was in here so they could leave, asap.

Okay, there was a giant seashell hanging in one corner.
"Nice decor,[/color]" Emi murmured, raising an eyebrow. The vanity off to one side caught her eye, so she swam over to investigate. She sat down on the seat and glanced herself at the mirror. Yep. Still skinny, still brown, still had dark circles under her eyes. She grunted and started poking around, picking up bottles and what not, examining for a few minutes and putting them back when she lost interest. She got up looked around.

"Pretty boring,[/color]" she sighed, crossing her arms. "What exactly did that fish guy think was in here, anyway? Treasure or something?[/color]"

[Castle]

Of course Emi avoided his question. Did Castle really expect her to trust him? Honestly, no, but it was a good try. She'd given him a snippet of information about herself the day before, but it seemed that was going to be the extent of it.

"Good question," Castle muttered, also looking around. The place was pretty dang creepy, and that wasn't in the "creepy but cool" sense that the other place had. However, it was both creepy as heck and empty as heck from what he could see.

He scuttled over to a bizarrely shaped rock near the center of the room and climbed up onto it. At least, he thought it was just a rock, but upon closer examination he saw that it had a really weird texture to it.

"What the heck is this?" he wondered aloud.

Without warning, the top of the object sprang open. Castle yelped as he was knocked off of it. A weak, eerie, purplish-pink glow emitted from the round opening. At the same time, there was a small creak as a large clamshell in one of the upper corners of the room came open a few inches.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Oops, forgot my title.
--

Emi jumped a bit when the shell opened, but swam over to investigate anyway. She peered inside, the look on her face one of interest. "Eh? What is this?" she asked, poking at the shell. When it didn't explode or otherwise hurt them, she said "Well, this is interesting. We should probably tell that fish guy about this? Or... should we keep it to ourselves? What do you th--..."

She trailed off, looking up at the clamshell cabinet that had opened. She looked at Castle and when he had no explanation for her, she went to investigate herself. She rifled through the cabinet, and turned around with a bottle in each hand. "Ewww," she said, wrinkling her nose. "What is all this stuff?"

She looked at one bottle, and then the other. Looked to her to be some kind of...cooking ingredients of some kind? She wasn't sure what it was but she didn't want to eat anything made from these ingredients. These bottles, alongside that thing in the middle of the room with the fog and pink light, led Emi to believe whoever or whatever had lived here had been some kind of... oh wait! "Wait, wait, wait, wait.... didn't that fish say this was a witch's grotto? What if this her magic cauldron and these are her potions, or whatever?[/color]

[Castle]

Poor Unfortunate Souls

Castle climbed back up onto the edge of the smoking cauldron thing. He held onto one of the horns that rimmed the side and made a face as he peered into it. It smelled kind of funny. Emi diverted his attention upward when she pulled the bottles out of the cabinet.

"That'd be my best guess," he agreed, with a bit of sarcasm, since, "And, y'know, that is the whole reason we're here. Maybe she's got a spell in there that can get us back to the gummi ship somehow." You would've known that if you weren't so busy zoning out earlier, he wanted to say, but opted not to. He didn't want any of his legs to be yanked off.

He examined the bottles she was holding and immediately became skeptical. They just looked like bottles of squishy things. But, maybe those were just the ingredients for the actual spells or potions or whatever?

"What happens if you dump one of those bottles in here? Are there any labels or anything?" he asked.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I told myself, no more drinking out of strange punch bowls. Or magical cauldrons. Same difference.
--

She looked at the bottles in her hand, and then in the cabinet. "Sorta, but I can't read them,[/color]" she said, squinting. She had to say, she wasn't too fond of the idea of using magic- at least the kind of magic they were talking about here, actual witchcraft. Just she didn't have many other ideas, so until this one blew up in their face (literally or metaphorically, whichever came first), they would try it. She shifted the bottles she held to one hand and then proceeded to gather up as many of the other ingredients as she could into her arms. She carried them back over to Castle and said "'Kay, so... what do we do? Should I dump them all in?[/color]"

That didn't seem like such a good idea, so she chose one. She manipulated the top off of it with one hand and poured the contents inside. The shell/cauldron spewed smoke for a moment. Emi turned to Castle. "What are you waiting for? Try it![/color]" she said, nudging him with her arm. "You already have the body of a shrimp, what else could go wrong?[/color]"

[Castle]

"Wh-What? I'm not about to stick my face in that!" Castle protested. He looked at the cauldron again. Other than that single smoke spew, it wasn't doing much. "Is it even working? Maybe it needs something else..."

He reached up and tried to take one of the bottles from Emi. That was a pretty stupid move, because his shrimp arms were no good for holding things. The bottle tumbled out of his grasp and fell into the cauldron. "Oops," he mumbled sheepishly, watching it disappear into the pink light.

Suddenly, the light changed to an acidic blue, and Castle got a face-full of acrid smoke. He turned away and coughed while a flurry of bluish white orbs shot out of the cauldron and impacted the ceiling. Each orb vanished in a cloud of bubbles. The light and smoke then died down to the same dull pink as before.

"Nasty," Castle wheezed, still trying to get the awful smell out of his nose. He shuddered as a chill went through him, and then he shook his head and looked at Emi again. "What else you got, dare I ask?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I'm a terrible person, aren't I?
--

Emi shrugged and swam a little closer, positioning her arms above the cauldron. Then, she simply opened her arms and dumped all the bottles in. "There, that should do it,[/color]" she said, taking a step back and crossing her arms. Then, all hell broke loose. The cauldron exploded, shooting off firework-like lights in several different colors, smoke, bubbles. Emi's eyes went wide and she slowly moved her hands to her hair and made an "oh crap" face.

Then she swam back over to Castle.... picked him up by a leg...and, ignoring his protests, plopped him into the cauldron. There was no way she was going to try the stuff. It might turn her into a rock, or turn her hair green. Or kill her. Something like that. Either way, it wasn't a good idea. Castle on the other hand.... well, she didn't think much worse could happen. Other than him dying.

That wasn't so bad though, was it? She blinked, unable to believe she'd actually though that. It was terrible. "Castle? You okay in there? You, uh... you still alive?[/color]" she asked, peering inside with a nervously laugh.

[Castle]

What happened in those last few moments was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. It combined every child's fear of being cooked alive with his own unpleasant memories of being bullied in school. As he was dropped into the cauldron, he suddenly and wildly imagined that he was back in the old days, when the older boys would dunk his head in the toilet. Only this time they were going too far, and they were dunking him in a boiling vat. He actually let out a strangled cry as he went under.

Fortunately, it didn't burn. It just smelled like sin and threatened to drown him even though water couldn't. Finally, the rushing energy settled down and left him huddled at the bottom. He wasn't hurt, but his heart was racing, and he was absolutely going to kill that girl!

He sprang upright and clambered back up onto the side of the cauldron, glaring daggers at Emi.
"Why did you do that?" he cried furiously, "I swear, I'm going to... to... um..."

He felt his anger waver and disperse. Looking at Emi, at her face, those green eyes... it was suddenly hard to be mad at her. His expression softened.

"Hey, you look pretty good as a mermaid," he said, moving a bit closer to her, "I mean, you always look good, but right now you look really good."