It wasn’t that the ever present anxiety had gotten too much mind, nor that the itch in her feet was far too much for the girl to handle either. She just needed to get out, to see what else was on offer in the area yeah? Sure the falls were beautiful but the sulphurous scent of the hot springs and the damp air... well, it was growing on her whatever.

So here she was, sea breeze whipping through her fur and sand under her paws, with Theo perched on her head, small arms folded, facing towards her rump, clearly displeased with this turn of events, assuming she was on the run again. The Avalon had every intention of returning to the Hallows. She didn’t plan on going back empty pawed either.

Something in her blood sung to be so close to the water and she had to wonder. "Hey Theo? Do I know how t’swim?" The squirrel leapt off her back then, perching himself on a stray boulder that stuck out of the sand. "Why don’ y’ try it an’ see?" He shot back rather sulkily. The chocolate coated girl heaved a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. "Fu-iine! But if I drown y’got a long walk home without me." She strode towards the water, muttering under her breath about freeloading rodents treating her like a damn beast of burden or something.

Cold water lapped at her toes, fiery eyes taking in the concentric sandbars and wondering what sort of creatures might live between them? The bottom dropped away suddenly and her head disappeared beneath the surface, an unexpected current pulling her along. She was fucked.

"Percy". "Theo".

this city’s gonna break my heart

WC -276/2500?

Kai seemed continuously drawn to the ocean lately, for reasons he wasn't quite sure of. He didn't even really like the water, not really, but there was something about the vast expanse that lay beyond the water's edge that made him feel exhilarated. The cool sea breeze rustling his coat, the briny stench of filling the air... it made him feel alive. That was the only reason he'd really chose to come here today - this place where sand met sea, where long stretches of sand forked off into smaller strips, until nothing but water stretched off endlessly. He veered down one of these sections of beach, content to feel the sand squish beneath his paws, its warmth a stark contrast to the chilly breeze that whipped in from the sea.

Something nearby caught his attention. Another wolf apparently had the same idea as he, perched near the edge of a pool of water. Lifting a brow curiously as he twisted his body around and angled his tusked head toward the stranger, he started to take a few steps in her direction. Before he was able to make his presence known, he watched as she stepped into the water... and then quickly plummeted below the surface. Almost instantly he felt himself torn between helping her or pretending he'd seen nothing. Helping someone in their time of need had never done him any favors, but ignoring the situation seemed equally as foolish.

Letting out a slight sigh, Kai padded over toward the female... and was that her companion, he wondered?, trying to assess the situation as he watched her being dragged along. "Better start kicking!" He called out, dropping his face down toward the water so that she might have a faint chance of hearing him. The water might be deep, but the open sea was a good ways away and surely she could get herself stable and out of harm's reach before then. He'd follow her, sure, but he wasn't about to drag her out and risk getting pulled down with her... not when this little strip of beach was absolutely teeming with seafood. He hadn't been hungry before, but damn was he feeling peckish now. But maybe he should see how this stranger fared first.

WC: 375
Total: 651

Once the initial shock of the cold of the water and the sweeping current wore off she managed to open her eyes, surprised by the schools of fish that seemed to make the narrow channel home, small swaths of sea grass and floating seaweed getting pulled along with the current. Of course the fish darted away from her unfamiliar form bobbing in the current. Even if she had seen fish this vibrant before she wasn’t sure she would remember it, and that one, hiding amongst a small stand of what she thought was called kelp - all spots and mouth, well she wasn’t quite sure it wasn’t big enough to swallow her whole head and shoulders without any problems. Her lungs began to burn and she looked up, seeing sunlight ahead and a strange shadow on the bank, shouting something muffled by the water over her head. She kicked for all she was worth, finding it easy enough to counter the current now she was trying. Huh, apparently she could swim.

Her head broke the surface and she gulped in air and a little water too, coughing as she made her way to the shore, hauling herself up by the stranger, knees buckling under her own weight and the water in her fur. Without thinking about what would be polite, she shook her fur out right there, showering the stranger with salt water. "THAT’S THE BIGGEST FISH I EVER SEEN!" She mentioned excitedly between her shakes, adding an extra of her head to try and dislodge the water from her ears, "Or at least I think it is, my memory ain’t so great..." Her tail was waving as she stared at the stranger, or at least, she thought he was a stranger? "I’m Percy, sorry if y’already knew that, memory’s a bit shattered." She mentioned offhandedly before turning to peer down into the depths again, wondering if she could spot the behemoth fish (a grouper) from up here.

"Percy". "Theo".

this city’s gonna break my heart

WC - 328
TC - 979

What the hell was she doing? Kai watched, slightly transfixed by the woman bobbing up and down in the water of the little channel. He followed it, though kept his distance. Though part of him wanted to help her - watching another wolf drown wasn't something he'd really enjoy - a bigger part of him wasn't willing to risk his own safety to help anyone in such immediate danger. Next thing he knew he'd be tied up in a hole somewhere, being auctioned off. Kai nearly rolled his eyes at the thought, even though no one was around to see it.

After a moment, and a bit of walking, the stranger managed to surface. She was coughing and sputtering the whole way as she dragged herself onto solid ground. Half-expecting her to berate him for not helping her, and fully ready to argue his position, instead she started babbling about a fish. "Oh yeah?" He replied, only vaguely interested, tilting his tusked head to the side as he glanced around her at the water. A big fish sounded a bit intriguing, he had to admit. At least it'd make a good meal, if nothing else. "Kai," he introduced himself succinctly, redirecting his focus from the waterlogged female back to the stream. Initial visual study of it told him it was likely a lot deeper than it looked, especially further downstream as the water branched off into the ocean. "Oh! There?!" Kai's voice had an uncertain but excited tone to it as he suddenly took off down the beach, obviously spotting something in the water.

WC: 262
Total: 1,241

Kai, well she couldn’t guarantee she’d remember it, with Theo sunning himself over on the edge of the beach, but beyond first introductions at least she had found it uncommon for people to be expected to be called by their names. A ‘hey’ seemed to get her by just fine. But there was no time to dwell on that, the other man was flying through the sand along the delta banks, and the Avalon couldn’t contain her smile as she stared down into the water, spotting the shadow he was chasing.

Perhaps her sudden appearance had startled the fish? Because it certainly seemed to be on the move. It was more than big enough to be the monster fish! She followed the male with his strange tusks, skipping a step as the creature seemed to disappear into another shadow. It didn’t come out the other side.

If they wanted to catch it, they would have to find a way to drive it into shallow water, or maybe it was too big and dangerous to try and hunt underwater where they would have to hold their breath. If it made it into the open water, they’d have no hope at all. "There’re heaps of other fish down there, I just never saw one this big! It might be too big ter catch, but maybe if we both jump in we can spook it to a shallow section?" She looked up and down the beach, noting that most of the channel was the same deep azure that indicated depth. How frustrating.

"Percy". "Theo".

this city’s gonna break my heart

wc - 259
tc - 1500

Traipsing about in the water wasn't really his thing, but he was intrigued by the fish and his paws started moving before he could convince himself otherwise. The fish moved at an alarming speed, and Kai took off quickly across the sand, Percy following after him. "Maybe," he breathed, his chest heaving from the quick little sprint as he slowed and squinted, trying to focus on the fish's movements downstream, though it was proving difficult already. The fish looked big, too.. was it even a two-wolf job? Especially when one had just nearly drowned? Kai wasn't so sure, but he wasn't one to shy away from a challenge either..

Maybe jumping ahead of it and spooking it backwards, toward a shallow section, was the best idea. And before getting Percy's confirmation, Kai lunged forward - his long legs carried him a long distance before he sprung into the water. He didn't know if Percy was joining him or not, but immediately the fish spun in a circle and deeper into the sea. Damnit! Water splashed in a wide arc around him as he continued deeper. Despite not planning on swimming today, this slippery fish had irked him and suddenly nothing sounded more appealing than catching it. A frustrated little huff left his throat as he dove into the frigid water, shuddering all the while. This was cold, but he'd dealt with colder, so it wouldn't turn him off from this little ocean adventure quite yet.

It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the water as he blinked them open and struggled to take in his surroundings. The drop-off here was sudden, giving way to darkness below. Kicking down a bit further, the bottom of this section of the channel came into view. It was largely murky, partially obscured by seaweed that had washed in at higher tide, as well as bits of driftwood that had no doubt come from further inland. As Percy had said, there were lots of fish here - mostly small, impossibly small to catch, grouped in big schools and darting to and fro together. As he moved closer they instinctively pulled away, drifting deeper toward the sea. Closer to the bottom were shells of various creatures; Kai couldn't tell what they belonged to, if anything at all, but he was curious about something else that scuttled near the sea floor. Thoughts of the fish were long since abandoned - maybe Percy has chasing after it, he had no clue - as he saw a fat crab moving slowly near his nose. Quickly he snatched the thing up and kicked off hard toward the water's surface, trying to avoid the creature's flailing claws as it sought a grip on his nose. By the time he surfaced it had grabbed hold of the corner of his nose and he was attempting to shake it off with hard jerks of his head.

Words: 483
Total: 1983

Percy’s whole body wriggled with excitement as the grey man plunged into the water. The flash of silver heading out to the ocean wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the girls mind was a fickle thing anyway. There was plenty else down there to catch - including another wolf now! Frantically she paced back and forth along the bank, occasionally barking at the water while her tail waved in an arch high over her spine. Could he hear her down there? Wasn’t he running out of air yet? What if he’d actually drowned? She was pretty sure there was no chance she would be able to haul him back up... But finally her eyes made out a dark shape rising and she stepped back, clearing a space for the other wolf to emerge.

When she saw the hard shelled creature hanging off his nose with tough pincers she couldn’t contain her laugh. But it was the strangest creature she had ever seen! (or at least she though it was...) It looked just like a rock, but it moved! She’d never seen a rock move before! Deciding she just had to get one for her self. She ran at the water gleefully, leaping into the air and tucking her legs in tight, hoping to make an even bigger splash than the other wolf had, despite her smaller size as she tightly closed her eyes and held her breath for the initial impact. As her head went under the water, she opened her eyes, ignoring the sting of the salty water and adjusting to the blurriness. The rock thing hadn’t seemed to have limbs, so it must be near the bottom, right?

The Avalon kicked out, her feet struggling until she thought to spread her toes, it was just like running over snow, but wetter. Her feet finally found the sand, a pressure pushing on her ears uncomfortably as she tried to find something worth bringing back to the surface. She thought she spotted another leg-rock and snatched it up quickly, her lungs beginning to burn with a desperate need for air. The light above was blocked by an errant clump of seaweed, but it was the only way out. She closed her eyes, continuing to kick up, the thing in her rock not having a very nice flavour at all. Maybe the other wolf would like it though?

The seaweed wrapped around her body, adding weight to her final push towards the surface. She emerged from the water like some swamp-beast, covered in kelpy slime. The spluttered grumbles that left her mouth only adding to the image. She could barely see through the tendrils that draped over her eyes. Everything tasted like salt.

Now that she was back on land though, she dropped her prize proudly, shrugging off her seaweed shroud, thinking perhaps the healers at the Hallows might have a use for it once she was done here. But her rock wasn’t moving like the other wolf’s had been. Now that she was back on dry land, able to see clearly, she realised her rock was, well, just that. A rock. The girl wheezed with laughter, flopping into the sand ungraciously. "I should probably just stick to fish huh?"

"Percy". "Theo".

this city’s gonna break my heart

WC - 537
TC - 2520

Kai was distracted by his swim, though Percy's barking didn't go entirely unnoticed, but only when he surfaced was he made aware of her again. Well, for a moment, as he scrambled to shore and tried to vigorously shake the clinging crab from his nose. "Agh! Help me!" He grumbled, but the second he spoke up she was diving into the water herself and his cries fell on deaf ears. Fortunately the crab couldn't withstand being thrashed about for long, and eventually let go of his snout, much to his pleasure.

Just a moment later Percy surfaced, covered in seaweed and muck. Kai let out a snort of laughter at the sight of her. He was do distracted from his catch - or maybe it was the other way around? hadn't the crab caught him? - that he didn't even notice it slide back into the water until it was too late. Apparently she had found something too, but he couldn't tell what it was from this distance. "Well. Apparently me, too," Kai scoffed, though he wasn't really annoyed. He could've gone without getting wet, though. He gave his coat a good hard shake to attempt to rid it of any water that had accumulated, but he had a feeling he'd take at least a few hours to properly dry off. "But, at least you didn't drown," he offered half-heartedly, as if that might make up for her, erm, lack of success. Maybe the fish had been too big of a target, but oh well, Kai wasn't a big fan anyway.