Walk | "Talk" | think

What was it about the water seemed to draw young life to it?  Kotori stepped into the water, feeling how it climbed up his paws and then slid away. Kotori had found numerous funny things by the shore.  The best of which he had taken back to the den. It included both the pincers from a crab he’d run into and the shell of a turtle.    What else came from the ocean that he could find?  Kotori high-stepped another stride into the water.  He was careful that his feet could still touch the soft sand below.  Animals swam in the water like it was natural but Kotori had early learned that if you duck your head underwater breathing became a problem.

Kotori strode forward again but as the water rose so that it would have hit along the top of his chest Kotori backed up.  The pup’s ears pricked forward as he turned to look at his new pet.  The mongoose was in the water and swimming out towards Kotori.  Fang made it look easy.  Kotori let out a huff looking from the tiny predator to further out in the water muttering “show off”  The pup took another half step forward, feeling the water lick up his chest further when it hit.  He was fine right there, but it seemed the next step would determine if he could figure out the swimming thing.

Mortis jogged lightly down the beach front, his wings trailing along at his side, catching air as he moved and fluttering lightly at his side. It felt rather good, the ocean breeze through his feathers. He found the small form of his youngest sibling and let his jog slow, hearing the words ‘show off’ muttered by the small tawny-dark boy, and laughed softly. Mortis was determined that this litter would see a gentler life then he and his had. They would not know the fear of falling, or the anger of their fathers bite. Luckily, Sirius seemed to have shown a mellow side to this lot. In fact, their father seemed to have been finding a new outlook to life these days. The world was a strange place. He dropped his wings down and over Kotori, covering his view of the world as he tickled the boy with his feathers. “Do you know how to swim, Koko?” "Mortis"

Walk | "Talk" | think

One moment he’s glaring at a pet that questionably knew it was a pet, and the next blackness was in front of him!  Feathery blackness fun! Kotori stood up on his hind legs with a small laugh to bat at one of the higher-up feathers but then went down as balance in the water was suddenly harder than planned.

At Mort’s question, Kotori rolled his head up with mixed emotions of happiness to see his brother and a bit of sheepishness that he wasn’t so sure on swimming.  “Um,” pride over honestly had to be argued for a second, then shoulders slumping a bit, “no. I can’t go past where I can walk.  Do you know how to swim Morty?” Mort was getting looked at with those hopeful pup eyes for the solution, “can you show me how?”

The mongoose for its part seemed quite talented at disappearing when it didn’t like other wolf showing up.  It was swimming off and towards the shoreline.

Kotori responded to his tickling with laughter, and a bat at one of his lead feathers. As he landed with a wobble, the feathers would come down tighter around him, offering him support and balance before loosening again.

“I do! Your Auntie Hana had me fishing so much that i’m a swimming pro now” He explained with a laugh. Hana of course wasn’t actually related to them, but she spent so much time babysitting and keeping an eye out for the rugrats that she was family. Besides, Mortis had adopted Seer’s habit of calling everyone close to him family.

Mort lifted his wings, and stepped in front of Kotori. “Alright, walk into the water as far as you can.”

Walk | "Talk" | think

One day the pup would be reasonably large, even if not quite as much as his older brothers but, for here and now he was still small and it took little time to be in as far as he could go.  He took a cautious step forward and then about another half-step before the water was reaching his upper chest. If he tried taking another step from here the water always tried to suck his legs away from the ground as if to leave him at its mercy.  As the wave washed in he still felt his body lift up for just a heartbeat so that the toes would be a hairsbreadth off the sand but only for a second but it was still unnerving to lose control over where he was. “Ok, right here.”

After marking his spot a thought occurred to him that made Kotori forget the waves for a moment as he looked up directly at Mort again, “You fish while swimming in the water?” That sure sounded impressive to a pup that hadn’t figured out swimming yet, “I wanna learn how to swim and fish!”  Kotori imagined getting to bring home all the fish he’d catch and how far out he could go to get the bigger fish that were surely out there.