Plenty more fish in the sea [Audun/Ash/open]

[qhostqrowls]

Audun had been incredibly pleased with the results of his and Ash's explorations. Their latest and greatest find had been along the coast - a cove. It was a secluded area, protected by dark rocks at one end, and by the old growth forest and a steep cliff at the other. The sandy beach was wide, and sloped gently into the sparkling turquoise of the ocean. It was wild, and beautiful, and wasn't accessible to the public in the slightest. Which was exactly how Audun liked it.

He did not look like a creature suited to swimming at all - his muscled legs spoke true of his kinds preference for terrestrial hunting, and his coloring was that of a desert dweller - but he was a swimmer, and a good one at that. And so he looked incredibly at ease as he lounged on the rocks at the back of the cove, keeping his hawkish gaze to the skies as he waited for his friend to arrive.

[kilnarak]

The cove was beautiful and Ash was very pleased when Audun shared his excitement over the find. He felt... giddy? He felt like a fledgling, when he had first flown and been praised by his sire. It was odd to feel it now, to be reminded of that time, but he was still happy.

He had, of course, told Jedi of his find as well, and told him that he intended to go there today. And that he hoped to catch fish! He had never actually caught a fish before - there had been none large enough to be worth the trouble in the shallow pools and slow rivers near the Eyrie - but the prospect still excited him.

He wore his smaller scaled form as he flew over the treetops toward the cove. It would have been quicker flying higher, but he didn't want to attract attention to himself in that wide open sky. Still, the flight wasn't especially tiring, and when he arrived at the secluded beach, he quickly picked out the large form of his new friend sunning on a rock. He beat his way a little higher, then pulled his wings in to drop down, angling into an easy glide as he neared the ground.

His feet touched ground, the thick talons curling into the sand, and he folded his wings against his back. His tail swayed behind him, his scales and crest up in a happy, attentive set. "Audun! Hello!" He bounced on his toes, looking from the giant drake to the ocean, then back. "Have you fished yet? Are they big?"

Unlike their first meeting, this time around he wasn't especially concerned with the other's larger size. Much larger than his current form - but he felt safe with the drake. His wings twitched and his wide orange-gold eyes turned toward the water again, his crest quivering with excitement. He wanted to get in there! "If they are very big, should I be larger as well? Is the water very cold?"

[qhostqrowls]

The drake visibly perked up as Ash glided in to land, rising to his feet and chuffing out a wordless, friendly greeting in response. The others excitement was infectious, and he nudged his shoulder with his muzzle, urging him towards the water. He was warm and sleepy from sunning, but had plenty of energy to spare now his friend had arrived.

“Yes, shift bigger! You can’t catch anything when you’re this scrawny.” His reptilian grin softened the words, clearly teasing, as he stretched out his front legs, tail swaying behind him. “I haven’t swum or fished yet, but the water was warm when I last checked. And the fish look big!” Another encouraging nudge, and then he was running towards the ocean over the small stretch of sand, pouncing into the shallows and looking back at Ash when the water reached his stomach. His splashing had scattered all of the minnows, but he knew that they’d come back - and they could fish from the rocks, for the bigger ones, anyway. Not that he had much experience with fishing...he was fairly certain that was how it was done.

“Come on, get in!” He called over his shoulder, wading deeper.

[kilnarak]

Ash responded to the muzzle-nudge with another bounce, his crest flicking up briefly. He wanted to do... something. He wasn't sure exactly how to respond to the affectionate gesture, but it clearly pleased him.

At the drake's agreement that he should take a larger form, Ash took a few steps back to make room. Before he could shift, Audun nudged him again, then bolted past him toward the water. "I'm coming too, wait!" Ash let his form blur and grow, then turned to bound after the drake and splash into the water. The sensation of his claws sinking into the wet sand was pleasing, and he dug furrows in the ground with each step.

When he drew nearer the drake, he extended and beat his wings forward, sending a little wave toward Audun. Then he took a few steps too far and floundered a little as the water became too deep for his feet to touch ground. This caught him off guard for a moment but he quickly began to paddle, remembering learning to swim as a child. His wings were half furled - although they weren't much use here, if he went out deeper and swam beneath the surface they might be able to aid in propelling him through the water.

He paddled out a little further, then flattened his crest and ducked his head under the water, looking for any fish. He saw a few little silver things, darting away from the commotion they were making, and a clump of something large and dark floating near the surface - some sort of plant? - but nothing worth hunting.

A swish of his tail saw him turning about, and he paddled a little back toward Audun until he bumped into the drake's side. He leaned a little against other's larger form, lifting his head enough above the water to speak. "What do we do now, to get the bigger fish to come?"

[qhostqrowls]

As Ash dove under the water, Audun followed close behind, launching off from the sand with a powerful push of his back legs. The moment his head dipped under the surface, his transparent second eyelid slid shut, protecting from the salt while still allowing him crystal clear vision of the underwater environment. The cove was teeming with life - tiny little fish and plants, some coral, mostly. Beyond the dark rocks the open sea loomed, a deep, sparkling blue. The drake paddled for a moment, taking in his surroundings, watching the black dragon swimming below him, before flicking his tail and diving deeper.

His streamlined form was surprisingly well adapted to the aquatic environment - a far fetch from the sandy expanses of his natural territory. His front claws dug into the gritty seafloor, and he made a lazy, futile snap at the tiny silver fishes that darted to the safety of the rocks. After a moment of observation, he pushed himself back up to the surface, breaching with a spray of seawater snorted from his nostrils. Ash bumped into his side not a moment later, and he turned to look at the other, treading water with lazy sweeps of his front legs.

"Hmm..." he rumbled, thinking. His reptilian grin was sheepish, but decidedly cheeky. "We probably scared them off. If we wait on the rocks they will come to investigate. But we could also use some bait." the grin widened, and then he half reared- the movement slow and clumsy in his playfulness, and with the drag of the water - clawed feet splashing down almost directly on top of Ash. "You're smaller, so you'll have to do!" he growled, laughing and making another rearing pounce for the other, a soft, toothless snap directed at his scaled flank to encourage him into the playful romp.

[kilnarak]

"We have to get out?" Ash's scaled crest began to droop, but then Audun mentioned bait. For a moment, he wondered if the drake meant they should kill some of the smaller fish, but then he reared up and splashed him. Ash made a startled, squawking sort of noise - the sort of noise that he would be embarrassed by if he realized he had made it - and flailed his wings to push away.

"Oh no! Not me!" He cried, mock-frightened - he did realize this was play, and it made him feel giddy. He splashed and flailed at Audun, then twisted his head to the side to snap back at the drake. His teeth lightly scraped the other's hide, not enough pressure to break skin - for Sival it was an affectionate gesture.

"You'll have to catch me first!" He lashed his tail, using the movement both to propel himself forward and splash at Audun. He pushed himself toward deeper water, then dove down toward the bottom. He swam... a bit awkwardly - it wasn't an activity he was especially used to, and it took him a moment to decide just how to move his wings to push himself forward. He found that he was a bit more buoyant than he would have liked, so he caught at rocks along the bottom with his claws, using each grip to help leverage himself forward.

[qhostqrowls]

Audun let out a raspy, hiss like exclamation of faux-shock at Ash's friendly nip, ducking down into the water as if terribly wounded. He was vaguely aware that he looked ridiculous, but at the same time, the pleasant warmth blooming in his chest was a feeling he wanted to keep. And he was having fun, genuine fun, with the other. He watched Ash dive down for a brief moment, and then began to paddle for the rocks. Still chasing - just not as directly as Ash may have imagined.  

There was a brief bout of splashing and scrabbling as his claws hooked into the surface of the slick black rock. He was out of the water within moments, water streaming from his hide in sheets, and then he was running in the next, tracking Ash's progress through the trail of bubbles and the dark, hazy shadow of him within the water. The drake eyed the end of the rock spit. He stretched his legs into a full sprint, and then he leapt from the rocks - arcing high into the air - and then back into the water with a tremendous splash, neck and feet outstretched in a diving pounce.

He landed just slightly ahead of Ash, touching down on the seafloor in a billowing cloud of sand. Again, with a slowed playfulness, he pounced for the other, swimming above him in a few swift strokes, and mirroring the Sivals earlier movement as he snapped softly at his neck. The drake swum to the surface not a heartbeat later, tail trailing behind him like a lure, looking back to see if he had gotten the other to chase him.

“You're just too fierce.” he huffed, grinning, once the other surfaced, half rolling on his side. “I guess you can't be the bait, even if you're a tiny little baby.”  

[kilnarak]

Even with nictitating membranes drawn down over his eyes, the world underwater was still blurry. Fish were visible as flashes of silver scales reflecting the light, and Audun behind him was a dark brownish shadow when he first glanced back. A few moments later, however, when he glanced back over his shoulder the other's shadow-shape was nowhere to be found. He stalled, using wings and tail to turn himself in a circle, then began to move to surface.

Before he made more than a claw span up, however, there was a great explosion of movement and water a bit further in the direction he had been heading. A dark shape crashed into the water, falling straight to the bottom and sending up a cloud of murky sand. It had to be Audun - water creatures that big wouldn't come so close to shore, would they? He let his claws touch ground again, then when Audun pounced at him, trying to get away before the other could tag him. But Audun was more maneuverable in the water than he, and the other kept above him, nipping at him.

When Audun moved to surface, Ash pumped his wings in the water to quickly surface as well. He came up less than a body-length away from the drake, and near immediately lunged at the larger creature, flapping and splashing as he 'pounced' at the other's side. He nipped at Audun's neck again, rumbling a noise like laughter. After a moment, he eased his 'attack' - he kept a forelimb and a wing draped over the other's side, leaning into him as he figured out how to most comfortably float near the surface.

"I'm hardly as fierce as you! But maybe there's better bait. Fish eat other fish, don't they? Or... maybe bugs?" He cocked his head to the side, regarding the vague fish shapes he could still make out farther out in the water.

[qhostqrowls]

Audun thrashed playfully at Ash's attack, growling and making a whole manner of mock-angered noises. He quieted as the dragon draped a wing over him, but couldn't resist one last playful nip, mouthing at Ash's crest before stretching his neck out in the water, much like a crocodile would. He lay on his side and tread the water with large, lazy strokes of his feet, keeping them both afloat.

“Yes…” came the thoughtful rumble, as he tipped his muzzle out of the water. “Maybe smaller fish, to catch the bigger ones? If they smell the blood then they will come to investigate.” there was a lull in conversation as he stuck his head back under the water. The smaller fish had returned, and were enticingly close. He sneezed lightly as he surfaced, before lightly bumping Ash with his nose. “We should have a competition, who can get the biggest fish! Or the most.”

The drakes gaze was bright and friendly, and he seemed incredibly relaxed as they floated in the water. He was still playfully riled up by their mock-fights, and he resisted the urge to start another game. He needed to act like he knew what he was doing. He wanted to impress Ash, after all.

Deeper in the ocean, where the water turned royal blue and the surface sparkled far, far above, something stirred. Fleshy barbels twitched at the vibrations and the scents of the two reptiles, and one large, dull eye tipped upwards. A thick tail moved from side to side, a toothy mouth agape, and then it began to move towards the cove.

[kilnarak]

After a few moments, Ash made an attempt at mimicking Audun's posture. He relucantly mostly drew his weight off of the drake - though his wing remained extended over the other's back - and stretched his neck out over the water, trying to float and tread like the larger drake. It didn't go quite as smoothly, and his free wing flailed out to slap at the water as he balanced himself.

"We could- uf! -make a game of it! It could be fun!" Ash agreed with the idea, his scales lifting and his tail twitching with excitement. "Maybe... well, we can figure out how to score when we have fish! And then we can eat some!"

He tipped his head to the side to regard Audun, then awkwardly slapped his wings against the water and Audun's back before folding them against his back, getting ready to try swimming again.

[qhostqrowls]

Audun laughed as Ash tried and failed to stay afloat, momentarily nudging the others chin in an effort to keep his head above the surface of the water.

“You can hold on if it’s easier.” He chuffed, extending a leg even as Ash seemed to balance himself in the water. “And yes! Once we have them we can count. We should also see who gets the biggest one!” the notion seemed to excite him, as he lifted his head out of the water - if he had ears, they would certainly have been perked up.  

A shadow fell over the mouth of the cove. The monster fish moved silently along the seabed with a slow, swaying swim, barbels brushing along the mud and sand. The dark rock blended near perfectly with its scales, but it did not yet enter the cove, circling like a shark in the depths just outside of it.

Audun tipped an eye downwards, trying to distinguish movement in the water, and then back towards Ash.

“Maybe I can chase them towards you?” he shrugged, and flicked his tail, splashing the other. “Otherwise they'll scatter.”

[kilnarak]

Audun's nudge tipped him slightly, and Ash flailed again to right himself, then caught onto the larger drake's leg and steadied himself.

"I wish there was a way to practice," he rumbled, tilting his head to try to peer down into the water as well. "They're so much faster and better at swimming. Maybe there are some slow ones?"

He could just barely see a shimmering cloud of fish further out - or maybe that was some sort of reflection of light on the water? He hesitated a moment, then ducked his head under to get a better look, the nictitating membranes slipping up to protect his eyes. The silvery shimmers were still there, so... probably fish? He lifted his head again and flicked his scales to get some of the water off.

"Maybe that might work! Have one chase and the other ambush! But... but then I'd be getting all the fish, wouldn't I?" He offered up a thoughtful hum, flicking his tail back and forth.

From above, the dark shape of the monster-fish was all but invisible - the ridges of scales on its back mottled black and brown, trailing into fleshy tendrils that could pass for clumps of kelp. It had considered the silvery school of fish as well, but had deemed them unsuitable prey - too small, too flighty. But the two larger creatures floating near the surface? Those were interesting - larger than itself, but awkward in the water like something injured. Something slow.

It circled and drifted, making it's way a bit nearer the lip of the cove where it dropped off into deeper water. If the big things would come just a little closer, close enough that it could bite and drag down...

[qhostqrowls]

"Hm. We can split the ones that we ambush, and later on we can do the competition?" torn between having a friendly fight with Ash and actually catching fish, Audun considered the situation, enjoying the sun on his scales and the pleasant coolness of the waves lapping against his side. "We just need to catch some to get started."

He snapped softly and lazily at the others tail as it swept past him in the water, another hatchling-like motion of playfulness. He kept his leg extended for the other to rest on, and spoke in the next heartbeat - they had to stay focused even if he still wanted to play! "Do you want to chase or catch? Your wings would be good for herding the fish, but you're also fast."

The monster fish watched the surface with large, dull eyes twice the size of dinner plates. The slow things had not come any closer. But it was patient - they would come near enough eventually, and when they did, it would be worth the wait. They were large, and would make a good meal. It was not concerned with the teeth or claws they might possess - it was an ancient predator, and they were clearly not aquatic creatures.

[kilnarak]

"That sounds like a good idea!" Ash bobbed his head up over the water and he rounded about on the drake, darting his neck forward to nip at the other's flank affectionately. His tail sent up a small wave with the turn, water splashing up.

"You're faster, I think. But I can chase them, and then you can snap up and grab them?" That idea sounded sound enough to him - Audun would probably be better at catching them, more used to the water as he was. Ash's tail wiggled excitedly behind him, his wings shivering. "Just find a place to wait, then I'll... find some fish! And chase them to you!"

[qhostqrowls]

“Okay!” the larger reptile all but chirped, eyes bright and fangs gleaming in the sun. “Go on then,” he urged playfully, pushing the other under the water for less than a second with a soft, splayed-clawed slap. “I'll wait over there,” he turned himself away, pointing his muzzle towards one of the many outcrops of rock that made up the natural barrier of the cove, and began to swim towards it. “Just chase them near me! Don't bother going out too deep!” he yelled over his shoulder.


With a few strokes of his legs, he was at the ambush spot. He scratched for purchase on the slick rocks, hauling himself out of the sea with a chuff and a flick of his tail. At that, he pressed himself down, hunches lowered in preparation for a mighty leap into the shoal Ash was going to herd towards him. Bright eyes tracked Ash's movements with a growing fixation as he slipped into a hunter’s mindset. The hoarse, distant cries of seagulls, and the lap and gentle roar of the waves echoed in his ears. All was peaceful, for now.