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Post by Silver on Aug 31, 2021 0:41:14 GMT -6
What a cute little thing. She wanted to pick it up and bring it over to Silver, but she didn’t know how. Her fins were just too short to grab things with, and she was brave, but not brave enough to put it in her mouth.
Wait! A brilliant idea came to her. She could bring Silver to the snail. That would be perfect. She swam eagerly up to them and bumped her head into their feet. They must see, it’s so interesting!
“Ah, what is it, little one?” Silver asked, looking down at her. She seemed antsy about something. Silver wondered what it could be. She wasn’t usually like this, so something had to be up.
“Oh, would you like some treats, too?” Silver asked, assuming that’s what she wanted. They broke off a few small pieces of the dried fish and dropped them into the water. When she didn’t immediately go for it, they tapped the surface of the water a few times to disturb it. Sometimes that was enough to give an underwater creature the hint that something was there. Like a bug struggling on the surface, ready to be snatched up.
13 [127.6, 2.6, 2.6]
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Post by Silver on Aug 31, 2021 0:41:48 GMT -6
Well it was rather morbid when they thought of it that way. Silver tried not to think of the inevitable fate of any bugs that landed in the water, or the fish that eventually became the treats, either. They knew that the world worked that way, but it always made them just a little bit sad. Creatures eating creatures was just a fact of the world they had to face, even if it made them feel weird.
In fact, many of the behaviors they found cute in creatures had to do with their predatory instincts. Cats pouncing, dogs chasing each other, that weird thing lizards do with their tongues, all of those things were part of the hunting instinct. It was pretty gruesome to think about.
“Ah, sorry, Aloe,” they said absent-mindedly. They really had not been paying attention and didn’t even notice that she hadn’t eaten her snack. Instead she swam in a circle, then pointed her short nose in the direction of her new find.
“What is it, little one?” they asked, this time squinting their eyes to see into the water through the glare on the surface. “Ah, sorry, I don’t see anything, do you want to show me?”
14 [127.65, 2.8, 2.8]
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Post by Silver on Aug 31, 2021 0:42:18 GMT -6
Aloe took this all as a good sign and swam back over to where she found the snail. As it didn’t move very fast, it hadn’t really gone anywhere while they were waiting. She circled around it in a wide circle, as not to scare it off before Silver got a chance to look.
“Oh would you look at that,” Silver said. They leaned toward Aloe so that they could see what she had. “It’s a little snail! Good one, Aloe.”
Then they began to wonder if she would eat it. That would be… uncomfortable. They didn’t want to think about that, so they gently touched Aloe to reassure her, then turned back to see what Tessa was doing. Hopefully not eating any cute snails.
Quin rolled out of the branch he was on, nearly falling out of the tree. Nobody would have noticed if he didn’t make a loud squawking sound. Silver and Tessa’s heads both snapped in that direction, all five eyes fixated on the Paogon as he wiggled his wings and awkwardly scraped his way back up the tree. Not that a fall would hurt him, anyway..
“Tessa, do you like Quin, do you?” Silver asked, talking mostly to fill the air with a comforting sound for her. What they said was far secondary to how they said it.
15 [127.7, 3, 3]
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Post by Jack on Aug 31, 2021 7:09:42 GMT -6
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Post by Silver on Sept 5, 2021 6:12:14 GMT -6
“Quin, come here, will you?” Silver asked. They put their arm out in such a way as to encourage him to fly over and land on it. He knew what that meant, of course, and happily flew over for attention.
“Quin, meet Tessa. Tessa, meet Quin. I don’t imagine I’ve formally introduced ya,” they said. Again, whatever they were saying wasn’t important. This whole thing was a bonding experience so that Tessa could get more used to them.
She seemed to think that Quin was fascinating. All three of her eyes followed him around as he moved. It made Silver wonder what she could be thinking about. Did she want to fly? Was she concerned that she could see through him a bit? Did she want to make friends? They would probably never know.
The same way that Tessa stared at Quin, he started right back. She was an interesting looking creature with her gem-like horns, extra eye, long body, and protruding coral-like back scales. They looked totally different from each other, really. He liked that. He chirped happily, then crawled up Silver’s arm and onto their head. There, he curled up for a rest. He was still pretty sleepy from being woken up from his nap just before.
16 [128, 3.2, 3.2]
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Post by Silver on Sept 5, 2021 6:12:43 GMT -6
“I think that means he likes you,” Silver said to Tessa, as though it was a secret they were sharing with her. She blinked, and settled her head back down into the water, still looking up at Quin on top of their head.
Meanwhile, Aloe had given up on her snail friend. He was interesting, sure, but there was so much more to see in the river. She swam in neat little circles, each time inspecting a different rock, leaf, or clump of dirt. There were many things to see.
She decided that, despite her rather rough introduction to it, she rather liked the river they were in. It was a very different place from her pond at home. She couldn’t wait until she could fly, like her best friends could. That way she could explore anything she wanted! It made her happy even just imagining how amazing it must be to ‘swim’ through the air.
What kinds of things might she find in the air? She could hardly imagine it. She began to daydream about every weird thing her brain could think up, allowing the current to push her around while she did so. Eventually, she stopped daydreaming and realized that she had drifted off quite a ways.
17 [128.05, 3.4, 3.4]
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Post by Silver on Sept 5, 2021 6:13:49 GMT -6
Aloe looked around and nothing was familiar. How far had she gone? She couldn’t see Silver nearby and panic began to set in. She wanted to stay calm, but she just couldn’t manage. This was so scary! She began to splash wildly, for she could do nothing else to soothe herself.
Silver was busy making friends with Quin and Tessa, and hadn’t noticed Aloe disappear. That was until they heard the splashing. Their ears flicked back and they felt tense all of a sudden. The frantic splashing nearby meant something bad had happened, but they couldn’t have imagined what.
Had Aloe been caught by a passing seabird? Was there a monster jumping from the water to dive in on them at that very moment? Lots of things could have happened, but they couldn’t stop to think about what. It was time to act.
As Silver turned abruptly, so did Quin. He stopped staring at Tessa and jumped into action. He launched off into the sky so that he could get a good look at the situation. The fact that he could fly into the air made him pretty good at this kind of thing. From the sky, he could see something small disturbing the water. What could it be?
18 [128.1, 3.6, 3.6]
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Post by Silver on Sept 5, 2021 6:14:53 GMT -6
Quin chirped and floated slowly down to the water so that he could see what happened. Silver noticed what he was doing and followed right after. They couldn’t see anything from where they were sitting, but they trusted Quin and stood up to follow him without question.
“Ah, Tessa, stay here a moment, I don’t want you to be harmed, okay?” Silver said. Tessa, as she had been, simply waved her tail slowly back and forth in the water. See? This was exactly the sort of thing she was worried about.
Quin circled down toward the water, then he began to chitter excitedly. Hey! He knew who that was. It was Aloe! She had floated a few meters away and was anxiously splashing about in the water. He felt bad for her, since he could sense that she was panicking.
He landed on a rock nearby and chirred softly so that she could hear him. He thought the sound might make her feel better, but it did not. She continued to thrash about, confused and lost. After all, she didn't really know Quin! With his only real plan out the window, he looked up at Silver as if they could tell him what to do next.
19 [128.15, 3.8, 3.8]
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Post by Silver on Sept 5, 2021 6:15:17 GMT -6
Silver wondered why Quin was looking at them like that. Was he alright? Whatever it was clearly wasn’t dangerous, given his reaction. Silver allowed themselves to become a little more relaxed. They slowed their pace and waded through the water more carefully.
When they finally arrived, Aloe had really tired herself out. She stopped splashing and rested against a chunk of wood that had fallen into the water. She wanted to cry! It was all so scary.
“Oh, little one, how did you get all the way over here? I’m sorry, I should have been watching more closely. I am here now, there is nothing to worry about,” they said softly as they crouched down into the water and reached out to comfort her.
Aloe was so relieved to see Silver that she could hardly believe it. She used what little strength she had left to zoom into their cupped hand. She pressed against their palm, feeling secure in something so familiar.
“Let’s bring you back, okay?” Silver said. They slowly stood up, but made sure that Aloe stayed nearby so that she could see what was happening.
Quin chirped, then lazily floated back up to where he belonged on Silver’s head. “Oh, of course, thank you Quin, for finding Aloe. I’m sure she is very grateful,” they said. Quin seemed satisfied with that response, and curled back up to resume his nap.
20 [128.2, 4, 4]
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Post by Jack on Sept 5, 2021 10:28:42 GMT -6
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