lady luck

Embarrassment warmed his skin at her concern. He wasn’t used to anyone even noticing when he did something stupid, he was usually on his own and left to figure it out. His head angled down as she came closer, noticing for the first time what a pretty shade of purple her eyes were. There was a weird feeling in his stomach, like he needed to go and eat some grass or something… He almost missed the directions she gave him about swimming across to the sandbar, only coming back to it when she asked if he was ok. “Me? Oh yeah, been in heaps worse situations than that!” He laughed nervously, swallowing as she retreated and trying to figure out just what was going on. What if it was contagious and he made her sick too? What if he caught it from tackling her?!

His attention was drawn back to the task at hand and he was actually looking forward to getting in the water. His skin felt all hot and wrong under his fur. At least if he helped her set up the net she might be able to help feed her family through this weirdness if he was, in fact, suddenly dying of a mysterious illness. Hellbent on acting normal however, he grabbed a stick in his mouth and slipped some of the line of the net over his small tusks. There was a risk of getting caught up in the net if the current pushed it towards him so he allowed that to dictate what side he would swim on. Even with the water being low, most movement was still coming from the ocean side so he put his body that way.

It was so cold! but he managed to walk most of it, only having to paddle for a few strokes before he felt the sand beneath his paws again. It would have been a much harder swim for his smaller companion. Placing a paw on the net to stop it being swept away, he lined up some of the tattered seaweed covered squares and drove the stick into the ground to hold it in place. He shook out his fur and settled himself to wait. Once some time had passed, he would swim his side back. He didn’t want to be making that trip twice. It was during this moment of quiet contemplation that he realised she was being very rude! He had introduced himself, and he didn’t want to be equally rude and start calling her girl… “Hey! You never told me your name!”

"speech".