Life was good! Life was fantastic! Life was perfect! That's what the dolphin felt when he barreled through the underwater tunnels of the caves. His tail fin kicked quickly, propelling him at incredible speeds as he raced against the fish of the caves. Well, "race" was a liberal term as the fish were more or less running for their lives while Eeya giggled behind them like a madman. He wasn't hungry, no, he was just enjoying himself by hassling the poor underwater creatures. It wasn't until he made it out into the large expanse of the river that he finally left the fish alone and began to play with only himself. He turned flips in the water, spun this way and that.

After a while of mucking about beneath the surface he finally was ready for a bit of breaching. He let out a whistling laugh before powering himself up to the surface and finally out of the water in a brilliant spinning breach. Water danced off his form as he soared through the air for a while before finally landing cleanly back in the water beak first. Yes... Life was good.

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Open
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4/10

"Talking"
Thinking

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

I'M THE MONSTER, I'M THE VILLAIN
WHAT PERFECTION, WHAT PRECISION

It was unfortunate that the dolphin's emergence was a feast for the eyes - if anybody had seen it that could, well, see, they would have described it as a show of sparkling droplets of water, light glistening off the svelte grey form of the dolphin as it surfaced and danced before sinking back down. Alas, she could only hear it, and it didn't sound very graceful. In fact, it sounded like some poor creature was caught flailing helplessly in the water. Magdalena rarely ventured into Polaris anymore, but it was her task to retrieve water for her dear knight to hydrate herself. Nemesis was healing, albeit slowly; sometimes she feared that she was selfish for being happy that she hadn't retreated back to her chrysalis, knowing that she wouldn't be enduring as much pain if she was locked in her crystal. But at the same time, she wasn't sure she could survive another few weeks without the rhino. The first time was traumatic enough.

The sound of thrashing in the water had drawn her forward, maize eyes wide with blind wonder. Her head swiveled left and right as she tried to isolate the noise, her folded ears twitching slightly. She listened, but other than the splash of water, there were no signs of distress. Was she too late? Had the creature been consumed by the water? There was really only one way for her to find out. "Hello?" Her voice probed the silence of the vast cave, and she heard it echo out into the great core, bouncing off the walls and returning to her. She used this information to navigate closer to the water, taking one slow step at a time.

Underneath the water the dolphin continued to twist and turn and somersault and perform all sorts of underwater tricks. If only his friends were here to see this! His dear Moana and his Arrh! The young sea critters were the perfect companions. Well, not to insult his other land critter companions but there were certain things that they could not do! Things like holding their breaths for extended periods of time or even swimming for extended periods of time. It was a shame that they couldn't truly enjoy the underwater world. Oh well...

He just have to have more fun for all of them! Perhaps he could even find a shiny shell for the song-singing-lion and the fiery-bear! They were getting married or something right? Married... What a strange word. It was easier to think in terms of sea critter talk... They were to swim together for life because they loved each other.

"Hello?" The muted sound came to him from above the water, he could just barely make it out but it was there. Another critter! Oh how exciting! He was so excited that he felt a huge grin erupt on his face as he thrust his way quickly back to the surface and straight towards the sound. However, he didn't leap from the water this time he simply thrust his head from the water as fast a he could and opened his mouth in a wide grin at the white face of a canine-critter. "HAIHAIHAI! EEYA IS HERE! HELLO, LAND CRITTER! WHO YOU? WHO YOU?" He whistled loudly with a laugh of sheer joy. He hardly ever checked the volume of his voice and it showed now with the vast booming sound of his strangely whistled words. He wasn't trying to be rude or scare the poor critter, it was just how he was.

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306
Magdalen
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6/10

"Talking"
Thinking

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

I'M THE MONSTER, I'M THE VILLAIN
WHAT PERFECTION, WHAT PRECISION

She could hear the churning of the water in the river nearby. She could hear the currents dragging across the rocks, pulling down, pulling away. The sound of its surface rippling, tiny waves cresting across the crystal, sloshing against the rocks. Other than that, it was silent. Magdalena paused near the edge, extending her nose outward and sniffing, but she couldn't smell anything. The air was clean as though nobody was there at all. She was beginning to think on this mystery, dwelling on the answer that dared to elude her, when there was another splash accompanied by a high pitched whistle and a voice, a voice closing the distance and near smothering her in its volume.

The sudden sound caused her hair to stand on end and prickles to run across her skin. Eyes widened, and the girl jumped back, her back comically arched in surprise as though she were a cat. Had her bladder been full, its quite possible that she would have wet herself. She barely let slip a startled yelp, and now her jaws hung agape as she stared into the space that the creature must have occupied, but it was difficult to isolate him because of the volume of his voice. "Ah-" She croaked, and then her fur finally eased. Her heart continued to thump rapidly inside her chest, but her nerves allowed her to return to her natural stature, her head cocked downward in listening. "You startled me." Was all she managed to say, hoping to prompt the creature to speak again, with an additional note: "Please don't yell."

The reaction that the canine gave certainly wasn't one that he'd intended but it was certainly one that made him laugh. Again, he didn't have any malicious intent it was just funny to him the way the dog arched her back and let out that funny sounding noise from her mouth. Land critters were ever strange creatures. When she admitted that his overzealous greeting had startled her he was quick to call out, "SORRY!" Only to give a slight laugh when she mentioned he should be quieter. "Sorry." He said in a more suitable tone. "Eeya just happy that he found'em other creature!" He bobbed his head up and down as if to indicate just how happy he was at finding her.

The sapphire eyes of the dolphin watched the land critter closely as she stood on the shore. "What is white-fluffy-dog name? This One is called Eeya! He like to swim fast! See? See? Lookit lookit! No look at ground, look at Eeya! See?" As if to give an example he pushed himself away from the shore and swam around the river a couple of times as fast as he could with his dorsal fin sticking out of the river to make sure that the canine could see him. Then, after a minute or less he was back at the shore with his head poking out to stare closely at the canine. "See? See? Eeya swim fast, *kir?" Was she watching? He hoped so because it seemed like she was paying an awful a lot of attention to the ground.
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233+
Magdalena
*Yes?
6/10

"Talking"
Thinking

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

I'M THE MONSTER, I'M THE VILLAIN
WHAT PERFECTION, WHAT PRECISION

The water creature responded by promptly yelling at her again, even if it was an apology. She flattened her ears and winced, lips tugging down into a frown, but he compensated with a second, quieter apology. Magdalena blinked and her facial expression eased back into neutrality, pushing her ears forward as the creature spoke. Happy that he found another creature? "Why?" She pushed suddenly, curiously. By the splashing sounds, it was obvious that this creature lived in the water. That was strange enough, considering she hadn't met anything that lived in the water, at least exclusively. It would stand to reason that if he lived in the water, other creatures did, but he expressed joy at finding another creature - that suggested that he hadn't seen another one in a while. Was he the only water creature?

She wanted to pose this question to him before his chittering voice broke the silence again, asking what her name was. At least, she assumed it was her. White-fluffy-dog - that sounded like her, but Magdalena hadn't ever gotten the chance to see what she looked like. She knew vaguely that she must have had white fur. Somebody told her that. And that she was a dog, too. Was she fluffy? Suddenly conscious of her coat, she wanted to shake it out and groom herself, but now wasn't the time. He introduced himself and nattered on about swimming, what was swimming? Then he prompted her to look up at him, not at the ground, and then presumably went off on some jaunty display of this whole swimming thing.

Not that she could see. But his voice allowed her to isolate the direction from which it had come, so she dutifully raised her head and stared in the direction she hoped was him - her nose pointed at where he once was, but the dolphin had since darted away to play beneath the surface of the river. There was too much water noise for her to follow along, so all she could do was keep staring forward. Soon enough he returned and spoke again, and her head had to tilt slightly to find him again. "I do not see." Magdalena answered stiffly, but her expression remained the same, cold and void of emotion. "What is swimming? Is that what you were doing?" She asked, taking a hesitant step closer to the edge, but now more alert than ever. She didn't want him to try and drag her in, if that was the kinda thing he did.

So many questions, so many things she wanted to know... It was a good thing that he was happy to oblige! Though he had to wonder why she didn't know he was excited to see someone else... Wasn't she excited when she saw others? "Why? Silly land critter, 'cause Eeya likes to talk with other critters! He is much excited when he sees others because it much fun to talk with them!" He giggled. Ah, these land critters never ceased to amaze him. So silly they were!

At the mention of not being able to see the dolphin paused, head tilting to and for as he tried to comprehend it all. "No see?" He whistled out to her, clearly confused. Blind? Ah, yes! Like when it was murky and dark in the water and he had to really on his echolocation. So... she was... blind? Yes. That was the word. He looked up at her. "Why you no use... use... *Kikiki! Use... Use... Clicks?" To show what he meant the dolphin let out a series of clicking noises, bouncing the waves out and receiving a picture back. Oh yes... Land critters probably didn't have echolocation. That must have been a bother... But, there were blind fish without it as well and they managed fine. Perhaps... Perhaps if she got in the water she wouldn't need her sight at all.

"Ya ya! Eeya swim in the waters! You can swim in waters too! You no need to see! Blind fish swim! You can swim! Ya ya! Much fun! Must swim with Eeya!" It made perfect sense to him. The water would make her feel good and perhaps she'd take to it like a fish to water. That must have been why she was edging closer, right?
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233+
Magdalena
*Clicks
6/10

"Talking"
Thinking

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

I'M THE MONSTER, I'M THE VILLAIN
WHAT PERFECTION, WHAT PRECISION

Oh. Well, that was a deceptively obvious answer. Maybe she shouldn't have thought so much about it. Her head tilted slightly at his explanation, then her lips made the effort to flash a smile, the smallest, faintest ghost of one. Then it returned to nothingness. Then the dolphin went off to swim around, only to return and echo her words. Magdalena leaned forward slightly at his suggestion, and she didn't understand his words at first - kikiki? That was nowhere in her vocabulary. But then he found the word for her. Clicks? That still didn't make sense. And she heard him utter a few clicks of his own, prompting her to furrow her brow ever so slightly. Yes, she could understand how that would be beneficial. But could she make the sound herself?

She wanted to try, but she didn't want to make a fool of herself. Magdalena tilted her head back again, rolling her tongue around inside her mouth, testing the feel of it. She clucked her tongue a few times, but there was no way she could make a sound as loud as Eeya's. If anything, she used her magic to paint a tangible picture of her surroundings. So at least there was that. Her nose pointed back at him at the sound of his voice, reasoning that she could swim in the water like him. Blind fish swam, and they had no problem. So it should stand to reason that she should be able to swim with no problem too.

As skeptical as the dog was, she found herself quite fond of this idea. "If I swim, I will not have difficulty because I am blind?" She asked, edging ever closer. "Would I not drown because of the water?" Truth be told, Magdalena had never really entered the water before. She had drank from it, she dipped her toes in it, but she'd never swam in it. Mostly because of the danger it posed. But this water creature seemed to swim with no problem, and he said that blind fish swam in it. Then again, fish had gills, and they could breathe in the water. But it would be worth a shot, anyways... perhaps it would be beneficial to her condition. The dog crouched at the edge now, extending her nose outward while she gripped the ledge with her paws. "I am Magdalena." She said suddenly, remembering that she had failed to answer his question earlier. The distraction served as a slight reprieve from her concern.

Sucking in a slow breath, she extended her paw out and touched the surface of the rushing river, feeling the current pull at her leathery paw pads.

She understood the reasoning too so he must be right! Of course, she wasn't exactly equipped like the underwater fish but that was negligible with him around. He could support her with one of his fins to make sure that she didn't slip in or drown or anything... Especially with that poor imitation of echolocation. "You no have troubles and you no drown in waters! Eeya be right here! Hold onto his fin while you warm up to waters. He no let you drown!" Then who knew? Maybe her instincts would take over and she would warm up to it like the blind fish did.

While she edged even closer the dolphin peered up at her, floating in the water and waiting patiently on her. "Magdaaaa! Magdaaaa! Magdalenaaaa!" He whistled out for no other reason than that he could. More waiting while she put her paws in the water. Eeya could hardly contain his excitement as she neared! "Eeya right here! Magdalena can hold his fin if she needs!" He splashed the water with his left fin to give her an idea of where he was if she decided to hold onto him. Usually land critters always wanted to hold him first and even though she was non-seeing he was sure she would too. Either way if she was ready he would take off and they could begin this fun little adventure!
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233+
Magdalena
---
6/10

"Talking"
Thinking

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

I'M THE MONSTER, I'M THE VILLAIN
WHAT PERFECTION, WHAT PRECISION

The sea creature continued to reassure her that she would be fine if she entered the water. Her ear twitched, her attention briefly flitting to him as he explained that she could hold onto his fin. What was a fin? It was probably a part of him. How would she do that, bite onto it? No, she didn't want to hurt him. She'd just have to clutch it as tight as she could. Somehow. Then her attention returned to the water. Meanwhile, he sang out her name. She blocked out the noise, focusing on the sensation of the currents before her. She could feel the surface licking her paw, pulling her in, begging her to dip beneath the surface. The dog sunk her paw into the water, situating it on the slick rocks below. Once she found a good foothold, she stepped forward and planted her other paw in the water. The chill made a shiver run up her spine, and if she had bare skin it would be prickling with goosebumps.

Magdalena inched further in, extending her nose outward in search of the dolphin. She heard him splashing and followed the noise, pushing her nose into his slick, rubbery hide. As she tried to shuffle closer, her paws slipped slightly - she stiffened her legs and managed to catch herself. "Where is your fin?" She asked quietly, struggling to keep her voice even and controlled. Even now, only partially submerged in the water, she was fearful. She had already almost slipped once, and the water was cold, and who knew how many diseases it carried? Would she get sick from this? Probably. Magdalena steeled herself against the current and searched for a grip on the dolphin, running her nose along the length of his body as she awaited instruction.