when the colors fade

The digging. There was so much digging. Moving the earth aside with his paws, and making quite a mistake in the process-- Tide doesn't respect the shaking beneath him. The tremors in the earth, feeling the way they roll through, don't slow him down.

Even if they should.

With a last great tremor, the ground beneath Tide's feet collapses. He's not quick enough to drag himself to the side, the boy going ass over tea kettle at the bottom. While the fall isn't long, his landing is brutal. It knocks the wind from him, and the boy struggles to catch his breath at the bottom of the hole. A long moment passes before he can answer Pythia, whose voice comes from the surface above.

"No, the fall was short but it killed me." Though the response is sarcastic, his tone is relatively light. Going from head to toe trying to stretch-- "Ow." He'd landed wrong. "Think I fucked up one of my back feet." Climbing back to his feet, shaking the dirt from his coat... how the hell was he getting out of this one? "The hole is bigger than you are, it's a decent drop." Sincerity in his words, this time. Tide had to worry at least a little bit, now that he's injured and they're separated.

"speech"