All of a sudden, Fira's warm body and soft fur was gone as the big cat headed towards the water. Tipping her head in momentary confusion, it took a few seconds for the platypus to manage to untangle her limbs and then stand up, and just as long to pick up the pace and waddle after with her little feet slapping frantically. "Oh, really?" the idea that not all creatures were inclined to swim seemed like an odd thought to the little platypus. "O-o-oh! I could teach you if you wanna sometime?" she asked cheerfully and a little bashfully.

As the cat put her paw in the water, Destiny took the opportunity to slip into the water bill-first. Popping her head above the water a short distance away and using her flippers to keep her steady, she floated there and listened patiently. "Uh, ah... if you do I'll catch you?" she asked uncertainly. A few moments later there was a clear rasp as Destiny sighed with relief. "Ah-ha! Good idea!" she gave a little purr of laughter.

@Fira

Fira’s ears perked when Destiny mentioned teaching her how to swim. The idea intrigued her. She didn’t know this yet, but she was very much the type to come into a challenge with high hopes and expectations. And she didn’t know the word defeat. She was the type who wanted to learn everything. Well, maybe not everything, because not everything interested her. But learning to swim certainly had its advantages. Like maybe if she needed to get away from something really fast, if she knew how to cross this river, that could be supremely helpful. Or if she wanted to learn how to fish later, she could do so without fearing what would happen if she fell in.

She sat up now, ready to learn. “I’d love for you to teach me how to swim,” she said, with a grin. “I mean, you don’t have to right now, but… We could definitely do that some time. It would be fun, I’m sure. You know, as long as I don’t drown. Heh.” She padded over to the river’s edge again and dipped her other front paw in. It was cold, but she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the water rushing around her fur.

She opened her eyes again and stared down into the water. Her reflection was difficult to work out because the current kept shifting it around. For a moment, she wondered if she could change her reflection somehow. Maybe make herself darker, harder to see if she were in a dark room… And suddenly her bright orange fur had turned a dark rusty-red color! She stared at herself in the river, and then looked down at her paws and legs. Being her, of course, meant that she never overreacted to anything. “Huh…” was what came out. “That’s new.”

Words: 303 @Destiny

Smiling under the water, Destiny's bright shining eyes were just about the only thing not submerged for now. However, as Fira spoke in response to her offer, the little platypus' bill sprayed droplets as she lifted it from the water so that Fira could see the bright grin on her face. "I-I'd love to teach ya too!" she squeaked excitedly. "N-never taught b-b-before but I'll do ma best!"

The thought of Drowning, Destiny had never really considered before. I brought a little fear into her heart all of a sudden as she slowly grasped the meaning. "Ah-ah! I won't let you drown..." the little one's face changed to more than slightly determined and a little sad at the idea, but she quickly shook it off and was smiling again after a few moments consideration. I think we'll be fine, though, yeah? I mean, we can easy stick to the shallows. You'll be able to swim around there 'fore you go out in deep water like I do. But ah-ha! Any water is deep water for me." she laughed at the little joke on her own short stature.

Then, when she looked up at Fira again, Fira had changed colour! Or at least, Destiny thought she had. She'd flushed a much darker tone, a sudden change and one that Destiny thought was fascinating. "Oh, oh! How d-d-did ya do that?" Destiny flicked her flippers so that she swam towards the shore, her eyes bright with curiosity. "N-never seen anything like that before..." She hopped up onto the bank so she was barely clear of the ripples and gave her velvety hide a good shake.

@Fira

OOC - Hey, you wanna try to reach 30 posts with this thread? Then we can finish it off and claim 100 Magicka!

Fira split her attention as best she could between focusing on whatever Magic was doing this to her fur, and listening to what her friend was saying. The rusty-red color began to fade back into her regular orange fur in another few moments, and she could feel her skin tingle from whatever had just occurred. As someone who was very interested in constantly bettering herself, this new form of Magic was a good thing, and she was determined to try it out again. “I have no idea how I did that,” she admitted, looking up from examining her body and grinning at her friend. “But it was cool and I’m gonna try again.”

She concentrated again, looking down at herself in the water. There she was, with her regular coloration, her reflection staring back at her. Light shined off the water, giving it a white sheen when looked at from certain angles. This gave her an idea. “I wonder if I can… make myself lighter…” Even as she spoke, she noticed the change in her fur. It wasn’t as noticeable, and the tingly sensation in her skin wasn’t as strong. But her fur did turn a shade or two lighter, now more of an orange-cream color. With a puff of escaped air, she let the Magic go, finding herself a little disoriented.

She lay down at the edge of the water again to rest. “That’s really cool,” she repeated. “Wonder how I can use that in the future…”

Words: 250 @Destiny

OOC: Yeah, let's go for it! :D

Destiny gave a bright nod, and gazed at Fira in both complete admiration and expectation. She knew that Fira could do it! The little platypus was fascinated by this new magic and she wondered if she'd ever be able to learn it herself. "I dunno either. But ah, um... Go for it!" she chittered, a slight tremble passing over her fur. And then she watched patiently again.

Destiny's own magickal knowledge was a little spotty. Whilst she knew what it did, she was a little spotty on the idea of what she could do. She couldn't even imagine what she, herself, would be capable of in the future. All she knew was that some day, she wanted to do great things! When Destiny paid attention to Fira again as a response to her words, the leopard's fur had lightened, rather than darkened. Destiny squeaked excitedly, seeming to find that even more enthralling. "Oh, you're so pretty!" Destiny crooned happily, watching as the magic faded and Fira seemed to return back to normal. "O-oh, not that you're not anyway... just, ah-ha... I could see your spots more, an' that was a real nice c-colour."

Destiny waddled over to Fira again as she lay down, and plopped herself down at the leopard's side, looking up at her face happily. "I dunno! I guess we'll see when the time comes, right?"

@Fira

Fira scrunched her eyebrows and kind of smiled in confusion when her friend called her pretty. “Hahaha… I’m not pretty. I’m just… you know… me. I uh… yeah.” She nodded her head, and that was that. She’d have none of that ‘she was pretty’ nonsense. She was too focused for compliments. Still, it felt nice, in a way — though she’d much rather be complimented on something that actually mattered, like her skill with Magic, or something. Being told she was pretty gave her absolutely nothing to work on, or for. Being pretty had no advantages for someone like her. She wasn’t really the… charismatic type. Besides, it made her feel weird.

Of course, she said none of this to her friend, having at least some semblance of how social graces worked. She didn’t want make the platypus feel bad, since she’d been trying to be nice. Trying to move the conversation along, she asked the first question that popped into her head. “What Magic can you do?” She allowed her friend to snuggle back into her side, then settled down for more talking.

Words: 183 @Destiny

Destiny tipped her head a little in response to Fira's reaction to her compliment. She didn't seem disappointed, but she shuffled her flippers a little awkwardly. "Well, I think you are," she mumbled, looking away, anywhere but Fira as she struggled with the words to say. Had she said something wrong? Destiny panicked a little inside, but fought hard not to show it. A moment later though, Destiny looked up, and grinned again, as though she'd completely forgotten her momentary panic.

An odd little thought lingered around in the back of her mind. Others always seemed to comment on her bill, on how funny and slow she was. It wasn't really a big thing, but she couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever get called pretty.

Then the subject changed. Destiny perked up slightly and plopped down onto her belly again. "Well," she began bashfully. "I can't do much b-b-but... I can hear heartbeats if I try! 'least, I think that's what it's called... dunno how I know it."

She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and listened out. It was faint at first, but then she heard it- the deep thumping sound that was Fira's heart. The glimmer of a gem on the back of her head gave a little flickering glow that soon tapered out.

@Fira

Fira was mildly surprised when Destiny revealed what her Magic could do. “You can hear heartbeats, too, huh? That’s weird.” She quieted to allow her friend to focus, as she was clearly attempting to cast the spell. She watched as the gem on the back of Destiny’s head glowed, and then flickered out. “Wonder if my gem glows when I do Magic, too…” She glanced back at herself in the water, focusing on the dark green and black stone that sat in the middle of her forehead. Out of curiosity, she tried to cast her Heartbeat Sensing spell, and watched the stone in the reflection.

There didn’t seem to be much stone glowing going on, but she did note that her eyes flashed bright green with the successful cast. She’d have to keep that in mind if she was ever using Magic while hiding. Didn’t want to give her position away. ’Note to self: Close eyes when casting spells while hiding.’ She allowed herself to feel Destiny’s heartbeat for a few moments, and then let the Magic slip away again. Her eyes stopped glowing then, and she put her head on her paws. “If we can both do the Heartbeat Sensing Spell, maybe you’ll learn how to change your fur color, like me, too?”

Words: 214 @Destiny

Destiny tipped her head to one side to listen to Fira's words, and then let out a tiny and excited gasp. They were the same! "Yeah, I can! That's so sweet!" she said excitedly, a tiny chitter escaping her bill. "Oh? I d-d-don't think it glows. D-d-d-does mine glow?" Truthfully, Destiny wasn't really aware of her gem, other than the headaches it sometimes gave her. Ugh, the headaches. But since she couldn't see the gem, she forgot it's existence a lot of the time. But that thought made a little flicker of curiosity flare up inside her. "What does it look like?"

For the first time, Destiny noticed the flash of Fira's eyes as she cast her spell, and wondered how she could possibly have missed it before. She grinned broadly, once more oblivious to the businesslike thoughts in Fira's mind. "That's so cool! Wish my eyes d-d-did that. I like to look at my eyes sometimes," she nodded matter-of factly. When placed in lights such as those in Polaris, they shone in every colour of the rainbow. "You.... you really think I could d-do that?" Destiny hadn't considered it before. But now she thought about it, maybe she could. A little bit of warmth came onto her face. "Maybe I c-could.... That'd be really cool!"

Maybe the leopard could teach her? Destiny looked at Fira with bright eyes.

@Fira

Fira lifted her head and moved it to the side, tilting it to get a better look at the back of Destiny’s head. “Yeah, it glows a bit. It looks like… I dunno. Just a little gleam, I guess.” As an afterthought, she added, “It’s… pretty.” That word. Ugh. Still, she felt obligated to compliment the platypus now that her friend had complimented her. She laid her head back down on her paws and closed her eyes, letting her body relax a little. Up until that point, she hadn’t realized she’d been on alert. But there was no danger here. She stretched out a little, and gave a lazy yawn.

She opened one eye slow, glancing at Destiny. “You want me to teach you how to change your fur color? I mean… I barely know how I do it. I just… focus on wanting it to change, I guess. I tell it to get darker or lighter, and it does it. You have to concentrate, though. I don’t know what else to tell you.” Fira wasn’t really cut out to be a teacher. Especially not at one cycle old. She placed her cheek on her paws, head to the side to watch Destiny. She was curious whether the platypus would actually do it…

Words: 213 @Destiny -- Do you wanna continue, or make a new thread? Maybe we can like... have a thread where they practice Magic or something? IDK lol.