Ever since the world around her changed before her eyes, filling the world with strange blue fireflies, glowing mushrooms and crystals, and animals with glowing blue markings, Fortune hadn't spent much time doing the things she was usually filling her days with. Could she even call it a day anymore? It was almost always dark now, and when it wasn't completely dark, the sun barely lit up the sky. It looked like evening at best. As Fortune trekked from the lands of Habari to the eastern coast, very little light brightened the sky above her. Her time lately had been spent investigating fireflies and voices, leaving her very confused and almost afraid to return to the falls close to home.

With winter coming to an end soon, Fortune decided to check the delta out east for fishing possibilities. The ocean never froze over like the water inland, so as long as the tide was in her favor she bet she had good chances at catching something. With the moon constantly hanging overhead, even during the hours in which it should be daylight, she wasn't sure what pull it would have on the tides. She didn't know what to expect, but was relieved to see that they were low and she was able to access the beach and all that the ocean had washed up.

Although she barely had any light left, she would be quick about searching through the beach debris. Perhaps she could find some kind of net or cage to make fishing a bit easier.

257/1500

"Speech."

It was a long way from the crocodile island, and while Arvid seemed happy to be free of the place, Arne kinda missed the daytime warmth of the desert. It was his first time travelling so far east, and it was with salt in his nose once again that he made his way onto the soft sanded beach. The tide seemed to be out, so that was helpful, and the young boy started dragging his tusks through the tide line, looking to unearth any small crabs or pipi’s that might make good bait for something larger.

The warthog grunted at his rear, and he flicked an ear in acknowledgement but continued to shower sand about them. The grunting took on the edge of a squeal as he shoved the boys back end and tucked himself up along Arne’s flank. Well that was weird. Arvid was just as likely as his wolf to run face first into mischief, what could he be so worried about all of a sudden?
The boy lifted his sky blue eyes to scan the beach, illuminated by the fat moon that never seemed to go down. Even the water was glowing with the waves crashing, and as strange as it was, the boy wasn’t overly phased. So far he had seemed to mostly escape the attention of any of the weirdness.

If it hadn’t been for the white of her legs, he might have missed her. His feet began to shift excitedly, his back end swaying with the wag of his tail. Sure, he knew it wasn’t polite to tackle strangers, but it had been so long since he had seen another wolf that the urge to greet them in the same way he would a sibling was almost unavoidable. With a low, almost anxious excited growl of playfulness, the boy began to bound forward, covered in sand, tail waving wildly high over his back, jaws parted and tongue lolling with his wide smile. "HI!" was all the warning he could manage before his body was barrelling towards the girl. He would try to avoid hitting her, but there was just so much of him.

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

616/1500

Fortune was happily minding her own business searching on the beach for anything that could possibly help in her fishing experiment. She'd never fished with any kind of tool before, but due to the colder ocean water, the unending darkness, and a few other factors, she decided a net or cage would be the only way she would be able to safely fish. It would have been smarter of her to travel her with someone else, to assist and maybe teach her something. She wanted to learn though, and what better way than by yourself? It seemed good to her, but she had to admit that she was getting a bit lonely.

As if on cue something, or rather someone, was barreling towards her at a surprising rate of speed in the sand. Her back was turned at first, only until she heard the approaching pawsteps in the sand as he charged. When she turned, she was met with a much larger boy armed with strange forward-pointing tusk like teeth. Fortune yelped in surprise as he collided into her, her small body toppling to the ground as she hadn't been prepared and been in an awkward position to even attempt bracing herself.

818/1500
"Speech."

The smaller girl certainly wasn’t as robust as his siblings, and a wave of guilt came over him as she collapsed beneath his weight. Having hit her side on, he was sprawled across her, his legs splooted out on one side and paws extended on the other. Feeling a little bit guilty couldn’t wipe the smile off his face though.

His tail still waved obnoxiously as he turned to meet the girls eyes, “Hi!” He said again with another wide grin, “I’m Arne!” He jabbed his nose towards the girl’s cheek cheekily, as if to say You’re it! Before he found his feet again and moved off her to bow down low. It might have been to make himself look less intimidating, or it might have been to give her a better shot at retaliation. He wasn’t quite sure himself. “What’reyadoin?” He had been planning on fishing, but if she had a better idea, he was all ears.

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

976/1500

She was never going to be a strong girl, after the incident that kept her separated from her family for so long. Squished underneath the weight of the larger boy, Fortune tried to wriggle out from beneath him, but was unsuccessful. She scowled at the boy as he spoke whilst laying on top of her, even daring to reach out and boop her in the cheek. Fortune leaned her head back and pinned her ears, thankful that moments later he rose off of her. Within the same moment his weight shifted off of her, Fortune scrambled to her feet to stand. She may not be tall, but she sure stood as tall as she could.

"I'm trying to find something to catch fish with." She spat at him, her scowl still present despite his obvious oblivious behavior. He was still very much a puppy it seemed, even if he didn't look much older or younger than her. Had he been dropped on his head? Maybe... Fortune sighed then, dusting herself off as her posture relaxed. "You need to be more careful. It's very rude to tackle a lady." Her eyes narrowed at the larger tusked boy. "But, if you apologize and help me catch some fish, then I might forgive you." She smirked then, a playful look flashing in her pale lavender eyes.

A moment later, she was off and back to searching. Leaving it up to him, he could either grovel and beg for her forgiveness or simply leave and end their interaction. Frankly, she was fine with both. Although, he was pretty cute, even if he was a dolt. She smiled as she began searching again, sneaking a peak behind her to check on him for just a moment, only to return to her search and find a net tangled loosely in some seaweed. The seaweed seemed harmless to the net, so carefully she began to grab it and stretch it towards the ocean with the intention of stringing it between two of the smaller sandbars to catch any fish traveling between the two.

1322/1500

"Speech."

For such a small wolf she certainly had some attitude. His tail waved happily as she told him off, his rump settling to the sand with his forelegs as he was chastised. His ears turned back in the appropriate motion, but his tail kept thumping away at the sand. He supposed he did kinda owe her an apology. WELL HOW ELSE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO SAY HI? He countered mentally with a frown and a roll of his eyes, but after a very dramatic sigh, he did say the right words. “I am sorry, an’ if you’re fishin’, don’t you need bait?”

He trailed along behind the girl awkwardly, wondering if she was going to spin and sink her teeth into his muzzle. In an attempt to answer his own question, he began to drag his tusks through the sand once again in an attempt to dig up something to tie to a line to lure something bigger into their reach. Normally he would just dive in but the water was just a bit on the icy side this time of winter.

As yet another raining of sand came down upon them, he saw what she had found, and his mind started to tick over. Of course it was at that moment that he had also managed to finally locate a crab, and in his moment of distraction it latched onto his lip with a pincer. His yelp was reflexive, and his shaking head only served to make the crab hold on tighter. Finally he lowered his head to the sand, a paw on the back of the hard exoskeleton pinning it to the ground as he tried to free his lip. “Damnit bait! Get off me!” Another shake of his head sent the crab flying across the streaked sky as it landed in the water with a plop.

“Maybe we should do it your way huh?” He rubbed his throbbing lip against the inside of his leg before moving to the other edge of the net. “Where are we takin’ this thing?”

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

1665/1500

His question only reminded her why she doesn't fish very often. Probably why she should have asked someone else to come here with her, but since the boy did apologize, even if it was only barely, she supposed he could help as she had promised. Besides, she didn't want to swim all the way across from where they were to the smaller sand bar some distance away. It wouldn't be a long swim, but certainly not something she wanted to do. She was still pretty scared of the water, after all. What had she planned on doing if she hadn't found been tackled by this boy? That part didn't matter now, he was here and that's all that mattered.

"You're right, why don't you find some while I straighten out this net." She asked through barely clenched teeth as she carefully pulled the net out closer to the ocean, but focusing more on straightening it out. She hadn't immediately noticed the boys struggle with the crab until he yelped and cursed at it. She couldn't help but giggle a little at the struggle, but as he sent it flying into the ocean, she frowned and wondered if he was okay. He admitted to possibly doing it her way and asking her where they were taking the net, but that wasn't on her mind now. She dropped the net when the crab went flying, so she quickly strode over to him to check on him. "I'm uh, I'm trying to stretch the net across the water from this side to the little sand patch over there... " She responded quickly. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking up at him to look for signs of injury. She may not have much of an interest, or knowledge, in healing... but her mother was an amazing healer.

As she looked up at him, studying his face lip for signs of injury, she decided that he would probably (hopefully) be fine. Her eyes flashed upwards towards his own before she quickly looked away and started to head back towards the net. If a blush could be visible on her face, it would be. "You should be fine..." She said as she moved back to the net, picking one end back up. "Would you mind grabbing the other end and swimming over there?" She asked, motioning to the patch of sand she mentioned earlier. It wouldn't be a far swim, and perhaps he would even be tall enough to walk through the whole thing. For all she knew, it was only a few feet deep. "Take a stick or something with you so the net won't go anywhere, would you?" She flashed her lavender eyes at the boy, hoping to tempt him into being a gentleman.

2124/1500

"Speech."

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".

running around like a clown on purpose

2543/1500

She couldn't ignore the strange feeling in her chest as she walked away from him and back to the net, attempting to breathe slow to calm herself down. What was that? Maybe just a side effect from looking upwards so soon after being tackled... yeah, that was it. Taking a deep breath to try and settle herself, she was pleased to hear that she was alright and glad that her assumption of him being okay would more than likely be reality. It would probably be real sore tomorrow though, and for that she felt bad for him. Would it swell and make him look silly? Fortune would be embarrassed if it happened to her, so for some reason she wished it wouldn't happen to him.

He didn't seem to mind taking the net and having a short swim to the other side to place it. He didn't seem to struggle much with the swim, only needing to paddle for what was only a few moments before she noticed that he was walking again and pulling himself onto the shore of the tiny island with net and stick in tow. She smiled, thankful that her plan so far was working. Once he had his side of the net pinned into the sand with the stick, she did the same. Being smaller and not nearly as strong, it took her a bit longer to drive the stick into the sand but she finally managed. Now, all they had to do was wait. Hopefully some fish would come by sooner or later, but perhaps they really could use some bait.

It was then that he called out to her, reminding her that she never actually did tell him her name. She smirked, though figured that by now he had at least earned that. He had gotten his lip pinched by a crab and then swam across the cold water for her. "Fortune." She called out, giggling slightly. "Do you think you can find any bait over there without getting pinched again? Or do you want some help this time?" She laughed, walking up to the edge of the water as she teased him.

2903/1500

"Speech."

Arne smiled at her tease, even laughing before he replied. I think bait works better with traps and lines, the current should sweep them right in with the way it’s set up, but if we hang around too long, I’ll get swept away and so will the net, so we’ll leave it until the water gets to… He stepped forward a few steps and drew a line in the sand about here, and then I’ll swim my side back and we should be able to drag it up… Already the top of the net was dipping and thrashing in the water, as though something was trying to push past the net and not quite making it. It looked like they would have something to eat, at least.

When the water reached the designated mark, surprisingly quicker than he had anticipated, he took up his side of the net again, walking a few steps forward of where it had been placed to make sure anything tangled in the lines would stay there and be corralled as he made the swim back to Fortune. It was harder work this time, the weight of the net and the strength of the incoming tide meant a much longer swim than before, but he could do it. It was fine.

As his feet found solid ground again, he put the net properly in his mouth and began to pull, eager to see what they had managed to snare in their net.

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

3149/1500

He responded and she didn't really think it through, but now that he had put into words the purpose of the net, it all made sense. The fish didn't have anywhere else to go, so why use bait?

Fortune was surprised that it didn't take long for the net to thrash with the promise of caught fish. She couldn't hold back her excitement and her tail began to quickly wag at her heels. Soon, her new friend began to pull the net back towards her on the mainland with whatever fish in tow. She could tell that there was at least something on the net due to him moving slower through the water, and of course the splashing and thrashing of the net itself.

As he came to shore, Fortune hurried to help pull the net ashore. It was heavier than she imagined, but soon they had gotten it up and she was surprised to see so many fish! There had to be at least ten, but with the net tangled it was hard to count. Her tail never stopped wagging and a grin plastered across her face as she looked wide eyed at their catch. "Look at all the fish we caught!"

3352/1500

"Speech."