River Rats, much victimization abound

[Kitzu]

What? You must be insane, to think that you have had an equal share of discomfort; I was made to work at least four times as hard, the Drake said, incredulous and indignant. And for what? So I may dodge better, and become a champion for you. Avander had worked himself up considerably by now, and Luke was becoming alarmed by the whole ordeal, especially when Kitzu snapped back a retort and the whole thing did not look as if it was to end, but rather as if it would escalate instead and turn into a brawl. In this case, he was worried more for the sake of his very small, female and not nearly full-grown Bonded, who would surely be hurt more in the process. It was all well and good that she trusted Avander, but the Drake was a stranger yet to the Draconic.

"Er, that's all very nice... I suppose I won't visit for a while, then, if you two cannot agree on it," he said, trying to placate them both. Ever the peacemaker, he tried to interpose himself between the two of them, though he had a tendency of curling around Kitzu slightly, as if to shield her. "In the meantime, I do believe we are here to fish... If you would, please?" Here, he gave Kitzu a very significant and severe sort of look, and she ducked her head abruptly, looking appropriately admonished by his words.

[Kitzu]

Avander was content to take Kitzu's lack of reply as an admittance that she was, in fact, wrong, and proceeded to look off into the distance with a very huffy and self-righteous expression. At a little private urging from Luke, she managed to ignore him. Be the bigger man here... Uh. Girl. Be the bigger... You know what I mean, the Draconic finished a little lamely, for he was never particularly skilled with the turn of phrase when it came to things like that. But Kitzu nodded once more, looking better for the encouragement anyways, and went about assembling her equipment for fishing.

"You ever actually seen me fish, Avander?" the girl asked of the Drake, who was slowly coaxed out of his sulk to wander over and inspect the equipment and, later, the process. It was new to him, and he could not help but look at least a little fascinated when she began casting in earnest.

Are we likely to find something, then? Preferably soon? Avander fidgetted impatiently, which in a creature of such size and prowess tended to manifest itself as a disconcerting tendency to knead the stone with his claws and lash his tail and such. Wisely, Luke chose to keep out of his way. He could see now, at least, why the Sarane was such a likely candidate for the fights; but then, if all the Sarane were like this, perhaps that jurisdiction was a little less suitable.

<Avander: 46/47>

[Kitzu]

"Of course not!" Kitzu retorted presently, waving her hand for emphasis. "This is fishing. It's about relaxing. We're not actually too likely to find anything of interest here..." When Avander nearly deflated with the blow of such a comment, Kitzu hurried to reassure him. "It's not entirely out of the question," she said hastily, "'cuz we've found a Sea Pony once, and this big fish thing with a hard head. That was a wopper, wasn't it?" She turned to Luke for support, and the Draconic, upon noticing her significant look, nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, it was a very large specimen," the Draconic offered, holding his claws apart for a better estimate of the size of the thing. Avander was suitably impressed by this to settle himself back down for the weight. Kitzu hadn't been lying about their chances, however; it was severely unlikely to find such things again, especially considering how there had been no bites from even the smallest of fish for ages here. He wondered briefly if the river had somehow been polluted, or if something had happened to decimate the population... But then again, their sport did not rely upon finds, and he troubled himself no more with the thought, for fear that it would ruin his mood and their day. They should enjoy themselves, especially if Kitzu was going to be all the more displeased in the days to come...

<Luke: 10/83> (exit)

[Kitzu]

The weather had been foretold to hold well over the Canyons, or so Luke had told her (it had been Marric's prediction, and true to his intelligence he was seldom wrong about that sort of thing), and the summer season's end was approaching. It came as absolutely no surprise at all that Kitzu chose this time to set off on a fishing expedition to the Canyons, least of all her little family back at the Labs. With the assurance that Rey and Daimon would keep things sane back at home until she was back, as per the usual arrangement when Kitzu went on these sorts of trips, the Mammalian girl set off to the Canyons.

A short rest after her arrival, and the next day they were making their way down to the river. The way down was always steep, and their cave was higher up in the canyon than most, so the journey took a while. Not that either Kit or Luke ever minded, having made the trip many times before, and having each other for company as they chattered away. The trip there, at any rate, was seldom any trouble, as they'd grown sure-footed; it was the trip back, very much uphill, that was unpleasant.

However, when they arrived, Luke was in for a peculiar surprise. Floating in his river, swimming quite strongly against the current, was something... white.

<Cupcake: 3/3> <Luke: 15/88 +2>

[Kitzu]

He paused at the river's edge, simply staring at it for a moment. Could it have been some sort of optical illusion? No, it was moving, and quite large at that. Its outline was too definite to be a fabrication of a sun-addled mind, and he'd never seen a creature like that in all his life, so he didn't trust himself to come up with something like it either. It was a strange creature, its limbs all paddle-like, without any indication that it could walk at all. No, being on land with such appendages must be gravely unpleasant, or so he imagined. Its body was blubbery and fat, with a short squat tail, and its head at the end of a long neck was short-snouted and graced with what looked more or less like soft horns, or very thick, short whiskers.

He subconsciously flicked his own whiskers as he thought. Kitzu, meanwhile, caught onto the look and laughed. "What's the matter, Luke? Never seen a Lasiobel before?" To which he gave her a rueful shake of the head. It stood as a testimony to how many sarcastic creatures she knew that she was taken a little by surprise, having expected some snide quip instead of acknowledgement of the truth in her teasing joke. Avander or Daimon would have said something snarky, Rook would have joked right back, and Aster would have sent her such a singularly withering glare that she would be admonished.

[Kitzu]

Of course, the lack of admonishment was one in its own way; Kitzu was much more encouraged by someone who would nip back when she teased them, and so she subsided in the face of Luke's more docile nature. "He's a creature from the Labs that I'm training up. Alain didn't want to come, and Azalea's keeping Ariel company, so I thought I'd bring him over. His name's Cupcake, by the by," she announced. As if to support her words, Cupcake perked up at the mention of his name. She'd probably trained him to do that, Luke thought, continuing his thoughtful inspection of the creature. Cupcake was a bright-eyed thing, alert and healthy, though neither of them expected anything less. More interesting was the sign of intelligence lurking there, a wariness to the gaze that the... the Lasiobel, was it? fixed on him.

"He seems a very strange creature," Luke replied at length. "I've never met a Draconic with flippers like that... Nor have we ever fished up anything of that nature. Fish fins look more like our wings, except with many many more spines and much smaller..." He leaned in closer, trying to get a good angle to inspect the appendages in question. Kitzu laughed, shaking her head.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't... Sharks have something resembling the shape, but you'd have to be some kind of water mammal, I think, to have the exact structure," she offered.

[Kitzu]

That caught Luke's attention. Marric's children had the tendency to be that way: always a little scholarly and alarmingly intelligent, the entire family was smarter than any human Kitzu had ever met. Marric, as patriarch of the family, was the most impressive, but surprisingly the young hatchlings of Zair's looked to be matching him for wit. Kitzu's memories of Marric's hatchling times were a bit fuzzy, but she was sure that they displayed the same level of intelligence, speaking perfect Common straight out of the shell. Ah, but that was neither here nor there. "Yes," she said, coming out of her thoughts, "when they adapted, it was from land creature to sea, so they started out with limbs like mine." She held out her hand for inspection, and Luke nodded along.

"But then they'd adapt, and slowly it would change to a shape more suited for swimming as they evolved, and then you'd have what you see on Cupcake today," Kitzu went on. "Only, because they've been adapted from land limbs like ours, the bones in there are still arranged in numbers and positions vaguely similar to what they used to be. You can see it in their skeletons when they die." It sounded a little morbid, but she didn't think the scientist killed the poor creatures they'd learned this from to find out. If they did, she didn't want to know.

<Luke: 16/89>

[Kitzu]

Luke looked as if he was thinking hard about what she just said, probably exploring possibilities and questions she had no way of keeping up with or answering at all well, so Kitzu shrugged and turned her attention to Cupcake instead. They'd known each other for ages, Kitzu and Luke, so she knew better than to poke him when he was thinking. Cupcake, meanwhile, was swimming contentedly about in the river. Mostly used to still pools or big lakes as opposed to a river, even if this was a tamer stretch, he seemed to be experimenting with the largely single-direction current. "Hey there, buddy boy," she called out, and he cocked an ear at her in reply. He didn't care for her much, not even as much as Alain did (which wasn't saying an awful lot, to be honest) so even that much was gratifying to see. "How're you enjoying that river there?"

She wanted to jump in with him, mostly because of the sun beating down on her fur. It lightened in summer, both in volume and in color, but it was still a dark russet sort of color that wasn't good for warding off heat. She'd swum in the river many times in the past, and in fact had done so in this particular spot before, but... Ah, not yet. She might get thrown in against her will at some point, if it came to that.

[Kitzu]

Besides, whatever else they might end up getting up to here, they were here to fish. "Let's get down to business," Kitzu announced, more to herself than anything. She did catch Luke wandering back to the world of the living out of the corner of her eye, but she took out the fishing rod and lures briskly, mindless of him for the moment. As she looked through her baits, she caught Cupcake eying her cautiously, and flashed a quick smile at him. "Want a snack then? Here ya go," she said, tossing him a sardine. He caught it with surprising deftness, munching contentedly. "Help me catch some more of those, won't you? Maybe you'll scare some up, like a good hunting dog, only with... fish." She knew that wasn't really how it worked, and if Cupcake scared the fish they weren't going to bite, but it was a nice enough thought.

With no further ado, she cast the line, careful to aim where there was no chance of hitting Cupcake. She didn't want the poor fellow getting struck with it, or to ruin any tentative trust that they'd built up. Unfortunately, she miscalculated and hit Luke instead, though to her credit he'd moved suddenly to plunge into the river.

"Whoops," she said, rubbing the back of her neck as he extricated the hook from his seaweed mane. "Sorry, Luke."

<Cupcake: 4/4>

[Kitzu]

Luke shrugged it off good-naturedly, with a grin that told her not to worry about it. When she was sure the hook was fully disengaged from him, she reeled it back in. The bait was, thankfully, intact, and she could cast again without having to fiddle with it. Not that it was a whole lot of trouble, but it did save her some inconvenience, so she was glad for it. When she cast again, she made sure to aim well clear of both of her companions, even if it meant doing a trickier cast than she was entirely comfortable with. Oh well, she'd made it; now all she had to do was sit and wait. Nothing particularly exciting ever happened during this part, she lamented. That was the only problem with fishing, aside from their lack of catches lately. Not that they needed fish, but it would be nice if they got something, to bring home and show off to people.

"What do you suppose we'll catch today?" she asked, not really meaning anything by it. It had been a while since they had much luck here, and she wasn't even sure what lived in this river anymore, much less this particular stretch. Maybe Luke would remember; he was always better at remembering things... Actually, a great many were better at remembering things than Kitzu was. She wasn't exactly known for her organized mind.

[Kitzu]

Luke thought for a moment, gave a Draconic equivalent of a shrug, and abruptly ducked below the water. What he was doing down there, she couldn't be sure--- scouting for fish, possibly, or just seeing if there was anything under the murk, or gathering evidence for an improbably lengthy calculation taking into account more factors than Kitzu could ever keep straight in her head at any one point... Meanwhile she watched the place where he'd disappeared, knowing he likely would resurface somewhere much farther away.

Cupcake, too, glided over to look at the ripples and bubbles he'd left behind, though more in a warily puzzled sort of way. To him, the Draconic had been some sort of novelty, and a startling one at that. It looked very much like something that might eat him, so he stayed well away, knowing very well that Luke was elsewhere in the water by now. He wasn't alarmed yet, but one could hardly be expected to feel safe and relaxed in the face of something like this. He didn't know why Kitzu was so calm, really. Though she did look as if she got on better with the Draconic than with him... Maybe that was for the best, though. She was entirely too bossy to be much fun as a friend, and if she wanted to consort with suspicious-looking dragons, that was her problem.

[Kitzu]

Cupcake got bored soon enough and headed off in the direction opposite that in which Luke had gone, and began looking for water plants to eat on the side of the river. Fish was well and good, but some greens wouldn't be unwelcome either, especially as the season was still hot, and greens were a nice way to cool himself down. After a bit of searching, he found a promising patch and dove down to graze, paying no more mind to either of his companions. As long as he didn't wander off too far, he'd learned that Kitzu wouldn't object, and he was more than capable of keeping a wary eye out for that dragon fellow. There was no way something that large was going to sneak up on him.

Kitzu, meanwhile, was counting. It had taken a surprisingly long time for her to train herself out of holding her breath when she saw him dive down; it was just something she did before realizing, only to suddenly find that she'd stopped breathing. She knew, of course, that there was no point. Luke could hold his breath for hours if he wanted to, and she wasn't entirely sure that he couldn't just breathe water too, for that matter. Still, there was some subconscious thing that drove her to it, and she'd only recently managed to get into the habit of not doing so when he dove underwater.

<Luke: 17/90>

[Kitzu]

Finally, Luke's head bobbed up. A short dive by his standards, mostly to see if he could in fact spot any fish down below. "There are some little ones, swimming about... All this big, more or less," he said, pinching his claws together. The resulting gesture revealed a size of about the same as Kitzu's entire hand, the thought of which amused her. She was exceptionally small for a humanoid, and while Luke wasn't more than average-sized by Draconic standards (if still much taller than his father), the size difference between the two of them was nevertheless a significant one. In fact, she could ride on his shoulders without his feeling it much at all.

At his news though, she sighed. "That's no fun! I want something big and exciting, like a shark. I've heard there were sharks in the water." She mimicked the shape of one with her hand, and motioned it chomping. With a sly grin, she added, "Some of 'em are bigger than you, I hear."

Luke's eyes widened at that. He'd always known about the shark rumors, but it had never been made clear to him their size. "R-Really?" he said, looking a little uncertainly about him now. Kitzu laughed at his apparent discomfort, totally at ease herself--- but then again, why wouldn't she be? She was the one on nice dry land, after all.

[Kitzu]

But despite her laughter and lack of worry, signifying that she was joking, Luke still didn't look at ease. "No, it's not me I'm worried about," he said; belatedly Kitzu realized he must have telepathically heard what she'd assumed about his concern. "I'm simply thinking that they might eat your, er, Lasiobel. Cupcake, was it? That name is a rather nasty premonition, don't you think...?" Now it was Kitzu's turn to look surprised, and she quickly glanced at the Lasiobel in question, almost as if she was afraid that a shark would pop up and eat him right this second. If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't his nature, she would almost have thought that Luke were getting revenge for a tease, and a very effective one at that. She was glad he wasn't petty enough to argue with her; she doubted she would ever win.

"Do you really think they'd come eat him?" she asked, no longer cheerful. Cupcake was just grazing along the banks of the river, unaware of the potential danger he was in... Like Kitzu had been, scant minutes ago. But leaving now, was that really an option? And after they'd just gotten here too... Cupcake was sure to be miffed at it if they moved him again so soon, seeing as how he'd just settled into the river. What would she do...?

<Cupcake: 5/5>

[Silver]

A tug on the line! Finally! It was a long, colorful fish with yellow fins, and it could be removed from the water with little effort. However, before they could pull it to shore, a fatter, purple fish with white spots reached up and took hold of the smaller fish by its tail. Then, if that were not bizarre enough already, a much bigger fish, covered in little spines, reached up to enclose the other two in its relatively huge mouth.

... Well, that was weird? What to do now?