How to get Better at Saving People

Writers: AL, Jelena
Date Posted: 5th February 2012

Characters: Irabel, Naton
Description: Irabel and Naton try out some new search patterns at sea.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 6, day 4 of Turn 6

Naton was all suited up and waiting for his fellow Journeyman. They both
had some time off duties and had decided it would be a good moment to
practise some rescue operations. Naton liked to keep his instincts sharp
and like almost any dolphineer, gladly took whatever opportunity he got
to get in the water with the dolphins some more. With his feet dangling
in the water, he splashed some water over an eager young dolphin that
had decided to come and have a look at what he was doing. The splash
earned him a cheerful squee and a splash in return.

"Now now, it's not the time to play." Irabel chided, though it was all
in jest by the light tone of her voice. She was glad in her swimming
suit and lowered herself to sit beside her fellow dolphineer. "Have you
been waiting long?"

"It's always time to play if you're a dolphin," Naton said with a grin
as he looked up from his seat at the dock. "So why should us dolphin
people be any different, eh?" As Irabel sat down next to him, he shook
his head. "Nah, only just got here."

"This is true, everything is a game." Well, usually, almost. Dolphins
got sad and angry, just like people, but in general they were a pretty
fun, easy going bunch. "Good, glad I didn't keep you waiting. Although
from what I understand, women are supposed to keep men waiting."

"Hmm.. I do not care much for such etiquette," Naton said with a laugh.
"I'd prefer a punctual lady anytime! So consider yourself on my list."
That last bit was delivered with a playful wink, to show he didn't mean
it.. much. Naton was and would always be a bit of a flirt.

"I'll do my best not to let you down." Irabel grinned. She lifted her
legs, splashing at the playful dolphin. "Are you ready to head out?"
Practise was important, but this was one of her specialties so it was
especially important for her to practise.

"Yes, let's get going," Naton said cheerfully as pushed himself in to
the water and came up but a second later. "Do you have anything
specific you would like to practise today?"

"I think just a general practise with a sweep. If we see anything
interesting in the water that we can haul in as a 'person' we might as
well take advantage of it." Sometimes one found various things from old
shipwrecks drifting up to the surface. It wasn't common, but it happened
from time to time.

"Perfect," Naton said with a nod before he began to swim away from the
dock and was soon joined by an eager dolphin offering him his dorsal
fin. "Are you coming, or what?" he called out teasingly as the pair
sped into the deeper parts of the water.

Without needing any further encouragement, Irabel slipped into the
water. Her partner was already there, waiting for her and the
dolphineer caught on to Kerchek, allowing him to pull her on.

As the pair of dolphineers sped into the water to do their drills with
their two trusted dolphin friends, Naton smiled at his own good fortune.
What kind of job allowed to you play in the water with dolphins all day,
after all? Even if it got quite serious during actual rescue operations,
the practise still felt like play to him and he loved it. After a long
practise run, he finally heaved himself back on the dock just a little
out of breath. It had been good exercise. "You did well, missy," he said
cheerfully to Irabel.

"I did well, hm?" Irabel tread the water a moment later and then pulled
herself up after Naton. She flipped around and sat back on the dock then
let her feet dangle in the water. "You didn't do so badly yourself."

"Well thank you!" Naton said with a grin. "I aim to please!" Then he
continued seriously. "I think we really have something going there with
that new search pattern we tried. I think we covered much more ground in
much less time. We should ask someone to observe next time we try it."

"It helped that we had the currents going with us. It's not always
feasible but yes, let's do that. It could be useful." Irabel agreed.
The faster a search could be done, the more likely they would find
survivors in an incident.

"You're right, but it is worth investigating more. Maybe we could adapt
it for different situations." Then Naton got to his feet. "Well, I'm
going to change into something dry. Let's discuss this later over a
cool drink?"

"Sounds good. I suppose I should take that as a hint to do the same."
Irabel pushed to her feet and stretched. "We should write it out. The
Master will want that."

"Yes, we really should," Naton agreed with a nod. "Do you have some
spare time later tonight, or would you rather do it some other time?"

"No, tonight works for me. I've nothing planned." Irabel would have
just wound up reading or going over charts, especially since it wasn't
a rest day on the morrow. "After dinner?"

"Perfect, I'll come look for you at dinner," Naton said with a smile,
taking a ridiculous little bow and heading off. He was pleased with
the result of their efforts and quite eager to present their findings
to their Hallmaster.

Last updated on the February 16th 2012

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