[Jedi]

"I... don't... know." She struggled to push the words out. The wheel was putting up more of a fight than she could struggle against, and it started to slip from her hands, one finger at a time. "Grab a rope from the mast!" She yelled out. Tie it to your waist!" She released, letting the wheel spin at an alarming rate, then jumped over and began tying a rope to herself as well. "Only thing I could think of is a Wallos!" When she'd finished the final knot on her waist, she gripped the mast for her dear life. "Grab on tight!"

[Kitsumi]

In all of his years of knowing Donna, Nate had never seen her look as scared as she did now. He began to realize that there was a real danger of the boat being capsized. His face went pale, and he began to sweat nervously as he fumbled with the rope that he was tying around his waist. Then, he came to stand behind the captain. He wrapped his arms around her and clutched the mast, ensuring that he was not only holding on for himself, but helping to protect her as well.

[Jedi]

She hadn't realized he was behind her until he pressed up to her, pinning her to the mast. She'd chew him out under normal circumstances, but due to the gravity of the situation, it hadn't even crossed her mind. Instead, she braced herself as the boat was turned on its side, the surface rushing up like a wall of water, smashing against them. She was sure she'd been ripped away from the mast, had Nathaniel not wrapped around her.

[Kitsumi]

As the boat was turned on its side, Nathanial felt as if his arms were going to be ripped out of their sockets. But he continued clinging to the mast, gritting his teeth against the pain. He could feel Donna's body falling against him, her weight making it even more difficult for him to hang on... yet knowing that he might be the only thing keeping her from falling herself was what gave him the strength to maintain his grip.

And then they crashed into the water. The force of the impact made him dizzy, and for a moment he thought that he was going to black out. Luckily he managed to remember to hold his breath, not wanting to inhale water and cause himself to drown.

Knowing that there was no way that the boat would be able to right itself, Nathanial felt that his only choice was to let go of the mast and swim up towards the surface. He grabbed Donna's hand as he did so, pulling her upwards with him. He only hoped that she was alright...

[Jedi]

With the water nearly knocking her unconscious, she felt the burn of the salt-water as it invaded her nose on it's way to her lungs. She reacted with attempted coughs and chokes, which only made things worse. She couldn't focus on anything as pain wracked her abdomen, esophagus, and nostrils, so she didn't realize at first that Nathaniel was carrying her by the hand. When she finally did get her head alert, she grabbed her side dagger, slashing it against the ropes binding them to the mast. Now that the boat was overturned, it would only hinder their survival.

[Kitsumi]

In his panicked attempts to reach the surface of the water, Nathanial had forgotten about the rope around his waist. Only when it pulled taut, keeping him from swimming further, did he remember. He was about to panic, when he suddenly felt the line go slack. He opened his eyes despite the stinging of the salt water and looked down. When he saw that Donna had her knife in her hand, he felt a rush of relief - not only was she okay (for now at least) but she had probably just saved his life. Trusting that she could make it to the surface on her own, Nathanial let go of her hand and began swimming furiously. The moment that he felt air instead of water around his head, he began gulping oxygen in an attempt to fill his nearly empty lungs.

[Jedi]

She could see him look at her in gratitude before he let go and raced to the surface. She took a few more seconds as she tried to finish cutting her own rope. She started panicking at first when it didn't cut through immediately, but when it cleared through, she headed for the surface herself.

With as much water that filled her lungs and the blunt impact of the initial capsize, her vision was starting to go dim. Her speed slowed as she lost strength in the effort, and when she was merely four feet from air, she lost thought and movement. Her body began to drift in the waves.

She looked down at the abyss of the depths, but saw one last hope as a large portion of wood that broke off began to rise to the surface. She grabbed on, ironing her grip even after losing consciousness. Her body hit the surface, but wasn't able to take in air.

[Kitsumi]

At first, Nathanial was too focused on the fact that he could finally breathe again to realize that Donna had not surfaced. But after a few seconds, he looked around and felt his heart sink when he spotted her - limp, lips tinged blue, clinging to a board.

"Donna!" he screamed her name, as he began furiously swimming towards her. When he reached her, he didn't waste any time checking to see if she was breathing, as he was fairly sure that she wasn't. It was incredibly difficult to do while floating in the water, but he managed to hold her steady as he began administering mouth-to-mouth. After delivering three quick breaths, he struggled to pump on her chest while also remaining above water, trying to rid her of the water in her lungs without accidentally dunking her.

[Jedi]

She let out a loud breath, then immediately began heaving and vomiting water. She turned away just in time to avoid hitting him with any spray, but then found it impossible to focus on anything but the combined burning of the salt-water and stomach acid that coated her throat. Her knuckles had turned purple from gripping so hard in her unconsciousness and her nails had actually cut into the boards. She released her grip, but broke most of her already short nails, even breaking one off whole.

"Shit!" She screamed at the combined pain of a dozen sources. Then she looked at her resquer, her first mate, and realized the actions he'd used to revive her. She wiped her mouth, then yelling at him, "Shit, Nathaniel. Next time, let me drown!" She spat out in the ocean, then took in the sight of her boat, completely overturned. "Shit!"

[Kitsumi]

When Donna began to move, coughing and sputtering and gulping air, Nathanial sent up a prayer of thanks. If she hadn't just vomited and they weren't both barely staying above water, he probably would have hugged her, he was so relieved. Instead, he simply let out a quiet, "Thank heavens you're okay, captain!"

Her response, however, was much less pleasant. Shaking his head, the man said, "You can cuss me out for saving your life later, Donna... assuming we live through this." Honestly, he didn't see how survival was possible at this point. They were in the middle of the ocean, with no land in sight. Surely they would tire and drown before reaching land. And that was if nothing came along and ate them, first.

[Wild Pet Found]