Company

Massive paws dug deep into the sand, the toes curled inward to form crude cups that rapidly shoved the grit away. The expelled sand was sent flying out behind him in a dusty arc of ebony. It stung the skin on his belly, his thighs, but he ignored the unpleasantness of his task and pressed on. Somewhere below his paws lurked a tasty treat: clams. The brute stood hunched over the hole with his rump in the air and his face hidden beneath the walls of sand on either side of the trench he'd dug.

A sigh somehow managed to rise above the hissing of the waves. Hearing it, Valentine's head popped out of the hole. Sand dotted his face and stood piled high on the tip of his nose, giving him a comical, scruffy appearance. He eyed the fae walking down the beach, his eyes following the sway of her hips for a moment before moving to her face. "Hey," he barked, "Like clams?" Four paws were better than two, right?

"Speech"