Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-34263048-20190826000606/@comment-36855838-20190826012813

I anchor my canoe near the shore, and make the short walk to the beached woman as fast as I can.

"Miss," I say,shaking her arm, "can you hear me?"

She stirs slightly, and then hums a faint affirmative.

"Can you stand, can you walk?"

She weakly flexes her tentacles.

"You're much too heavy to carry to town, but I live right by the docks. If you can make it to my boat I can help you."

She struggles for a moment, rising a few inches, and then flops back onto the rocky beach.

I barely catch her head in time, but she's not hit it, so that's good.

"I'll give you a boost, here we go!"

I lift with everything I've got, and she finally rights herself, her hips just above the ground.

"Let's get you some hot food."

She slinks across the shore, and swims faster than I can run before clambering into my canoe.

---

A quick bout of rowing later and we've reached the only harbor on the island, a set of twenty docks and a small collection of houses and sheds.

at the end of it all is a house, with a large archway in the foot of it's seaward wall, and a pool of water ug out of the shore to allow vessels to enter.

We row our way in, the tide rising near to high and our heads barely fitting under the peak of the arch.

The interior is well lit, a stark contrast to the faintly moonlit night outside.

I set to work tying my canoe to the pulley system, such that it will stay in place during low tide and dry off.

"Alright, let's get you situated."

I pull a rope in the wall, and a bell rings out through the manor, waking my brother.

He soon steps through the doorway.

"This had better be good, Arnold."

I make a short ta-dah gesture, and his jaw nearly hits the floor.

"You found an octopus?!"

I nod excitedly.

"Where was she? Is she okay?"

"I found her on the beach, and I think she's getting hypothermia. Let's get her into the tub and run some warm water for her."

Dimitri nods, and we set to work transferring the woman into the bathtub.

"So, what's your name, beautiful?"

She smiles weakly, "Helga, what's yours, handsome?"

"Dimitri," he blushes.

I smile, happy my brother. seems to finally be getting along with a girl.