ORIGIN - chin up, we'll drown a little slower

The seal pup had decided, rather abruptly, that she didn't like Pisces very much. She swam around, under tunnels and through little nooks and crannies until she came up to a new place. She could see flickering lights on the surface of the water and, slowly, she came to the surface.

She didn't know what this place was. But she decided she liked it. She could feel fish brushing by her and realised she was pretty hungry, too. Glancing down into the water, she dived back in. The fish abruptly scattered and Nora found herself desperately changing tracks to try and catch the closest fish - but to no avail.

Only a few seconds later, Nora found herself deserted in the river, the fish had all fled already. With a grumble, the seal swam back up towards the surface and flopped over onto the cold rock of land, chin lying on the ground quietly.

_________
"when i speak (water)"
"when i speak (land)"
when i think

@Fleur

There was a lump of silky white fluff awkwardly curled into a ball near the water's edge, snuffling and twitching every so often, long, massively poofy tail curled in to cover its face. The air was still, quiet - until something crashed out of the water, flopping down onto the nearby riverbed, startling Fleur awake. She let out an off-put bark, stomping in the general direction of the noise, tail swinging about to shield her body, leaving only red eyes to peer through the hair at whatever had hopped onto the surface.

It was... a baby. "Oh!" A hairless, weird, frankly downright confusing baby, with flippers for paws and no fluff to speak of, but a baby nonetheless. "Hello," the tank-like mother hen yelped, tail dropping to swish back and settle into a lazy curl as she trotted towards the beached pup. "Are. You. Alright?"

She stopped just inches from the babe, peering down her ice-white snout, concern making her head tilt to one side.

©sanctuare-2k15

@Nora

Nora turned her head towards the skunk as she came close, eyes wide. She flinched somewhat, for a moment completely and utterly positive that somehow the skunk would eat her, but regardless, she waited for it to speak.

"Hello," she repeated quizzically, watching. She thought for a moment. "Eats?"

She paused and she waited, dragging her blubbery self closer towards Fleur before she looked back into the water, then to Fleur, as if expecting her to just dive into the river.

_________
"when i speak (water)"
"when i speak (land)"
when i think

@Fleur

Fleur had winced at the flinch, ready to stumble back, but the pup was speaking - or at least trying to, anyway. Eats? And then it was scooting back towards the river, head bobbing to peer at the water, then back to her. The assassin stared blankly for a few long, agonizingly silent seconds, before her ears perked up and forward, and she let out a soft "Uh..." Waddling after the babe, she stopped next to it, leaning down to nose into the water, grimacing at the freezing cold liquid. Still...

"You. Hungry?" She turned to peer at the pup, taking in its generally blubbery appearance - but did hungry water pups even look the same as hungry ground pups? Humming to herself, Fleur sat back on her haunches, metaphorically pulled her sleeves up, and dunked her head into the water, red eyes flicking about in an attempt to get used to the dark expanse.

Fish flickered by in small schools, and the skunk's head rose from the stream. She shook it rather like a dog, sending a spray of water everywhere, and nodded to herself, taking in a big gulp of breath, head practically smashing back into the river. Pink teeth, at odds sharp and blunt, snapped, and Fleur grinned in success at the feel of fresh blood filling her mouth, jaw clamping shut around a tiny fish.

Un-dunking herself, the oversized cotton ball dropped the fish next to the pup proudly, pinning it to the floor with her paws, grinning, red eyes sparkling almost as much as the crown on her head - which had somehow managed to stay seated. Well, considering it was also ice-cold and once belonged to a flamingo, that might not have been so hard to believe. "Food. For. You!" It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, anyway.

©sanctuare-2k15

@Nora

Nora barked excitedly as Fleur resurfaced with a fish. The pile of blubber and teeth dragged herself over and ate up the fish like it was nobody's business. She looked at Fleur for a moment, wide-eyed. "Eats! Eats, eats, eats!" she chanted, before she slipped into the water.

The seal lurked in the water for a moment, watching the fish for a while before she swam after them, opening her mouth and managing to catch a silvery, wriggling thing in her mouth. It kept moving, even though she had a grip on it, so she began to thrash her head around until the fish was dazed.

She let go of it abruptly and instead took hold of the entire thing from it's side, resurfacing and sliding up onto land. She proceeded to shove the bloody, half-dead fish into Fleur's face. "Eats!"

_________
"when i speak (water)"
"when i speak (land)"
when i think

@Fleur

Fleur blinked as the strange hairless pup devoured the fish, before continuing its chant and slipping back into the water. She shrugged, rose, and shook the water from her fur, plopping back down in time for the seal to pop out of the river again, a fish clamped in its jaws. Said scaly morsel was then shoved directly into Fleur's face, and the skunk blinked again, raising an eyebrow before nodding. "Thank. You."

Well, it was only polite.

With a small smile, she took the fish from the pup's jaws, moving it to lay on the ground between them, stripping off one side of its rib meat and tossing it to the seal before digging into the head, lapping at the meal as one of its eyes popped under the weight of rough quartz fangs. "You. Eat. Too," she mumbled around the food. "Kids. Have. To. Eat. More than. Adults."

@Nora