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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2023 2:16:53 GMT
"C'mon Kahru!" Rayli shouted as she trotted through the fen-like woods. Her short legs moved as fast as she could make them, slowed only by her attempts at lifting her feet high to keep from being swallowed up by the thick muck that was forming on the ground. She had had a few close calls the past month with how wet the weather had been. Getting sucked under and drowning in mud was not her idea of a good time. But playing in the mud puddles and splashing was.
The activity had become almost like a comfort to her. It was something she connected to finding her newfound family. Kahru and Castor. The new papa and mama. Though, which was which? She hadn't thought to ask. They both had repeatedly corrected her in using their names instead. So use their names she would.
"Hurry up!" she called back, not even checking to make sure the other canna was actually behind her. She giggled as she ran. "Ipidi! Randan! Splash! Fun!" Her quick movements were made to make sure that Castor did not catch them. He always seemed less than thrilled when the two would come in dripping in mud and gook. Unfortunately, "sneaky" was not in her vocabulary. So shouting and prancing took its place. Plus darting away on her shortened legs ought to do the trick. If only Kahru would hurry up!
As she turned to look for her adopted sibling, she immediately lost her balance and went careening head over paw into a sticky section of slop. Rising to her feet, she tugged to free herself. Only... she could only seem to get one paw free at a time. She would tug one free with a shluurrrp, only to sink further in with the others. When bracing herself to free the other leg with a shhluump she found the first one to be stuck again. Her bottom lip quivered as she found herself in such a sticky situation. With a loud wail she screamed out at the top of her lungs, "KAHRUUUU!!" |
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Ah'mir
Ele'cannara
Played by Collie
7 MOS
26"70LBS
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by Kahru'hu on May 27, 2023 3:07:42 GMT
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.
BUT I KNOW I'M DOING IT REALLY, REALLY WELL."
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"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kahru called back, bounding between trees and through puddles some distance behind Rayli. He too was coated head to toe in thick muck - Even the pouring rain wasn't enough to wash it away from his coat for more than a moment before he was painted again from the shoulders down. He was grinning wildly, clearly having a blast chasing his friend through the storm.
He knew that once he got back home, he'd probably be in loads of trouble for running off with her again. Especially since it was raining and he hadn't yet cleaned up their paw tracks from their last run through the greenhouse. (How could he have known that Rayli was going to jump right into Castor's bed and get it all muddy?)
He'd tried to keep her home this time! He really had! But then...well. Maybe he hadn't tried very hard at all. But his life had suddenly become so much more fun since Rayli had showed up. Before, there weren't any pups at all his own age in the clan. Now he had a new best friend who always wanted to play! It was impossible to say no to her when she ran from the greenhouse and invited him to chase her through the muck outside.
His carefree, happy thoughts were ripped away from him in a moment though when he heard his new pal cry out in distress. Tall ears flew to attention, the smile left his face, and he took off slogging through the mud as quickly as he could to find her. He could see her little shape through the rain up ahead, struggling to right herself in a thick, goopy pool of mud.
"Don't worry, I'll get you!" He barked loudly, shaking the rain from his eyes as he reached her. His long legs were much better at wading through all this mud than Rayli's little short ones.
"How'd you get so stuck?" The pup asked, shoving his nose against her flank to help guide her out of her sticky situation. It was the best that he could do - He knew from experience that she was harder to hold onto than a rapha. He couldn't exactly pull her out by her scruff. "Here, I'll push, you walk."
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2023 3:46:18 GMT
Tears rolled down the ren's face, mixing with the raindrops that fell atop her head. Just as she was about the throw her head back and call out for him again, the larger pup burst through the curtain of rainfall. Putting on a brave face of one about to be rescued, she sniffled her tears away.
"How'd you get so stuck?"
Her lip began to quiver as her words started to get stuck in her throat. "Randan," she said through gasping breaths. Tears threatened to spill over again. Why was he interrogating her? Why wouldn't he just get her out? As he pushed her from behind she could feel her paws freeing up from their mucky prison. She followed his advice and took steps forward in an attempt at reaching freedom. With him pushing and her pulling herself she finally could move her legs freely. A bit too freely. The momentum of the two sent her tumbling forward at a speedy walk just to keep her upright. Her legs moving quickly she attempted to slow herself but only succeeded in tripping over her own short paws. Soon, she was careening through the mud once again, rolling downhill, letting the slippery rain and slick mud take her wherever it wanted.
"Kahru! I fall!" she shouted playfully as she toppled down, coming to a dizzy, splashing halt at the bottom of the small incline. Looking down at her feet, she noted the water covered over her paws. It nearly reached her elbows! With a girlish giggle she slapped her front paws in the rising water one at a time. She was so preoccupied with splashing the water that she hardly paid any attention to Kahru.
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Ah'mir
Ele'cannara
Played by Collie
7 MOS
26"70LBS
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by Kahru'hu on May 27, 2023 23:08:48 GMT
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.
BUT I KNOW I'M DOING IT REALLY, REALLY WELL."
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"Well let's get you not-stuck!" He barked out encouragingly as he shoved Rayli along. Before he knew it though, she was free and tumbling down a nearby hill, making the muddiest, wettest splashing sounds ever on her way down. He raced after her and leaped into the biggest puddle he'd ever seen, falling in at his friend's side with a huge splash of his own. The water here in this place was really deep. For the moment, it didn't strike him that this was odd - They must just be really close to the river.
All he could think about was that Rayli was giggling and happy and the deep water was washing all of the mud out of her fur.
"Rayli, look!" He barked, splashing around beside her in the deep puddle. "You make your own mud puddle with all the stuff coming off your fur!"
But...something was kind of weird here. He stopped and looked around, realizing with a sickening confusion that he kind of recognized the trees in this place. They weren't close to the river at all. This place was usually dry. The pup turned around where he stood, splashing through water that seemed to be even higher than it was a few minutes ago. This wasn't a puddle. The whole forest seemed to be getting swallowed from the ground up.
"Um...Rayli?" He said nervously, turning to look at the shorter up for reassurance. What he found instead was really scary. The water was now rising up past Rayli's elbows. It was getting deeper! Kahru didn't like to admit that he was kind of afraid of the river - But usually it stayed firmly in its place and he didn't have to face it very often. He'd never before seen the river sneak into places that it didn't belong before. This wasn't right.
"Rayli, we gotta get back home. Let's go." Another frantic look around - He didn't think that they were going to make it back up that hill. They'd have to walk through the water until they found a lower bank to climb up. He started to wade through the deepening water, hoping with all his might that Rayli would listen to him this time. He really didn't want to have to drag her home by her tail...but he needed the guidance of a grown-up right now before the whole world turned into a river.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2023 21:24:22 GMT
Giggles escaped one after the other from the young pup's mouth as she remained preoccupied with the rain puddle building up at her feet and the thick mud dropping from her fur in large plops. Kahru was right! She could make her own mud puddle! Rising to her feet she began her own little rain dance, lifting a front paw and the opposing back paw at the same time, balancing on just two legs as she pranced around in a circle. "Randan Rayli! Randan Kahru!" she laughed in her signature sing-song tone. "Rayli make randan puddles! Randan Kahruuuuu!"
She had failed to notice her partner's change in demeanor as the water was rising. She had barely noticed the change in liquid levels, herself. The little ren was always far too prone to get caught up in her own little world to pay attention to her surroundings.
"Home? Go?" she asked, catching the tail end of his last statement. Her voice carried a strong note of dejection. "Don't wanna! No! Kahruuuuuu!!" Unfortunately for her, it seemed he had made his decision and her tantrum would get her nowhere. Reluctantly she began to follow before finding joy in splashing behind him. Her instincts drove her to follow the older pup. Attempts were made to nip at his heels as he walked but the stickiness of the mud slowed her down too much for her to get a solid strike. It had only taken a few paces until she found she was unable to touch the ground any longer.
"Kahruuuuuu!!" she cried out with another girlish giggle.
Paddling in the now swim-deep water, she swam about in circles behind her companion, eager to show off. With a smile and a laugh she began singing an on-the-spot little ditty as she paddled. "Rapha'rayli, rapha'rayli, rapha'rapha'rapha rayli!"
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Ah'mir
Ele'cannara
Played by Collie
7 MOS
26"70LBS
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by Kahru'hu on May 29, 2023 2:20:39 GMT
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.
BUT I KNOW I'M DOING IT REALLY, REALLY WELL."
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Rayli's pleas to stay were not lost on Kahru, but he was now in a state of confusion and panic. As he splashed through ever deeper water, his chest heaved with quickening breaths. He turned this way and that, but realized with a feeling of dread that he couldn't recognize their surroundings anymore. Once familiar bushes and landmarks had been engulfed by angry brown waves.
It was a far cry from even a few minutes before. The flood water seemed to be rising faster all the time, and as he turned to express his fears to his friend, he found himself gasping in shock at the sight of her joyful little self paddling around without a care in the world behind him. The water was now creeping up past his chest, but it had already swept Rayli right off of her paws.
"Rayli!" He barked, stuttering over his words for a few breaths before finding the words that he needed to help her. "Grab onto my tail. We gotta get out of here!" Even as he spoke though the water around them seemed to be growing more turbulent, more like the hungry river that had once tried to sweep Kahru away when he was small. The waves now were nearly strong enough to knock him off of his paws -
And then he was off of his paws, bobbing along in water too deep to touch the ground no matter how hard he tried. He could only pray that Rayli would listen to him and take hold of his tail before she was pulled away by this new Big Water.
How could everything have turned so scary so fast?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2023 19:33:17 GMT
Confusion at their current situation was beginning to shift itself into fear as the older pup seemed to be getting more and more paranoid at the rising water levels. He didn't appear to be enjoying the short-legged ren's antics like usual. It was very strange and left Rayli with a feeling of uncertainty and strain in her chest and belly. Her brief expression of concern turned into a playful smile with eyes full of determination as he told her to grab his tail. A new game!
Paddling forward, she reached the appendage that floated halfway on the water itself. "Dita'du, dita'du, Kahruuuuuu," she giggled as she approached him, opening her muzzle wide to take a big bite of the fluffy tail. She floated lazily back and forth, moving with the water but staying firm to her companion through a mouthful of fur. There was nothing really for her teeth to latch on to as she had managed a chomp of nothing but hair, but she kept her grip to him as she hummed and paddled along behind him.
The urge to comment on their predicament grew strong within her as Kahru found himself no longer able to walk on the water's floor. She wanted so badly to call out and call him a "rapha" as she had done for herself. However, her grip on his tail fur was not the best, and her refusal to lose this makeshift tug game allowed her to keep her jaws shut. Instead, she opted to let out a "Hmmmmm," in amusement as she wore a big, closed mouth smile upon her face.
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Ah'mir
Ele'cannara
Played by Collie
7 MOS
26"70LBS
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by Kahru'hu on Jun 2, 2023 1:57:10 GMT
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.
BUT I KNOW I'M DOING IT REALLY, REALLY WELL."
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Kahru was fully paddling against a strong current now, nose tilted high to keep himself from taking in water. His breath came in great, ragged gasps and his paws flailed and splashed clumsily. He was on the verge of a full-on panic attack now, which made his situation seem all the more urgent - But then he felt Rayli finally take hold of his tail and his nerves calmed just the tiniest bit. He was very young when the river had taken him from Castor, but he remembered how scary it had been to be swept away from the bigger dog. He didn't want that to happen to his friend.
"Okay, Rayli." He gasped, thrusting forward against the current. "Just hang on, okay?" He didn't expect her to answer. "Hold on hard as you can!" And then he was off, paddling with all of his might and finally making headway against this awful rising water...and suddenly a lightbulb lit over his head. The water was rising. The hill that they had tumbled down was growing smaller and smaller. He didn't have to scramble around the hill...they could just swim over to it now. And maybe if they hurried, they could get out of the water at the hilltop and race back home to tell a grown-up what was happening! The grown-ups could fix this. Castor could fix this. Castor always knew what to do.
The pup scrambled and splashed, fighting his way over to the now barely-visible grass covered hill. He grabbed hold of the slippery earth with his front paws and clawed his way up, finally, finally on solid ground. Even if most of it was now submerged, it still felt better than swimming.
"We did it!" He barked, his voice breaking with relief as he pulled himself up the hill with the smaller dog in tow. Now if he could just make it to the very top and pull them both out of the water...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2023 23:42:18 GMT
Rayli's lips were pulled back in a wide smile as she floated behind Kahru. She stifled a giggle at the thought of how they must look like the water fli that she had sometimes seen swimming atop larger bodies of water. How silly! The two canna were just like that. As she went to tell her companion so she tightened her grip on his tail. No, she couldn't let go, lest she lose this game and ruin the fun.
As the two began to ascend she took note when the larger pup seemed to have found his footing. At his exclamation of success she found herself wanting to join in with the vocalizations. "Yay! Kahru! Yay! Kahru! ...Kahru? Kahruuuuuuuuuuu!!"
Her joyful celebration was cut short as she began to drift off from her companion. Paddling legs were useless against the current that seemed to be picking up with the stormy winds and rainfall. As the distance between the two canines expanded she began to feel a tightness in her chest as the panic of being separated began to set in. The distant memory of a similar emotional pain only accentuated her fear. In her panicked state she found herself unable to control her legs in the confident paddle she had previously displayed, instead flailing her paws wildly at the top of the water. Sinking. Her body was sinking. When before it had seemed so easy to float it now seemed impossible to keep her head above the water. Her vision was blurred by the splashing liquid assaulting her eyes and her nose and muzzle burned as she inhaled water instead of air.
A crash of thunder was the cherry on top of the natural disaster as her panic was morphed into a full on manic episode. Anxiety poured out of her through every expression and every word she was able to muster out when she did manage to peak her head over the water. "Kahru!! Help!!" she pleaded with her friend whom she was unsure was even still within hearing distance or even there at all. "Kahruuuuu!!!" Her last cry was stifled out by the waves as she was pulled under. Panic, anxiety, fear, confusion, all faded as the world seemed to begin to turn dark under the river.
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Ah'mir
Ele'cannara
Played by Collie
7 MOS
26"70LBS
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by Kahru'hu on Jun 12, 2023 4:04:10 GMT
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.
BUT I KNOW I'M DOING IT REALLY, REALLY WELL."
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As Kahru scrambled up the hill and onto solid ground with his sing-song, happy friend celebrating behind him, it didn't immediately strike his consciousness that her release of his tail might be a bad thing. He just naively assumed that she had let go so that she could run alongside him up the disappearing hill. He was so focused on getting himself and Rayli back to Ah'mir's base that he didn't even turn around, he just continued to cheer and chatter, letting her know in no short words that they really needed to hurry before the big water caught them again. And on and on until...
"Kahru!! Help!!"
He turned and once again gave a great, panicked gasp, realizing with an almost painful shock that the water had caught Rayli.
"Oh no!" He cried out, scrambling back down the rain-slicked hill and into the water just in time to see the pup's head disappear underneath rolling waves.
"Rayli!!" He howled desperately, throwing himself back into the river in pursuit of his friend. Earlier he had been afraid of the water, afraid for himself and afraid of his own memories. For now, all of that was instinctively shoved to the side as he dove under the current in search of Rayli. He came back up a moment later in a different location, shoved along by the strength of flowing water, jaws empty. Where had she gone? He had lost her!
Again and again he dove, his own breath growing more and more ragged each time he surfaced, yet he still called her name in between coughs. She had to be somewhere! Oh, what a nightmare this had turned into!
"Rayli, where are you?" He cried once more into the storm, but there was no answer save a clap of ominous thunder. He had lost her.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2023 5:45:07 GMT
Drifting. Drifting. Further and further into darkness she fell. How ironic only moments before she had been comparing herself to a fish. A fish would have found itself at home beneath the surface of the water. Maybe this was her new home now? Down in the dark below? Rayli's lungs burned from bouts of holding her breath interchanging with breathing in more water in place of oxygen. Her muscles ached and were sore, it was too hard to keep trying to breach the surface above so she would remain below.
Ideas and memories crossed her mind as she drifted downstream, her body following the current to wherever it was willed. There were others, canna who were but shadows to her. Vague and obtuse shapes with missing faces and smells. She tried to smell them but it only caused her more pain in her chest and belly that remained swollen with the swallowed liquid that encompassed her small form.
The shadows, though. There were two, similar to herself yet larger. As large as mountains in her memories. And fellows her own size, squeaking and crying as they climbed over her and she over them, searching for warmth and comfort. In her mind's eye they faded, blown away through the winds of time and replaced by another. This one clearer yet still without a true form. The shadow was not solid and it, too, faded. This time replaced by two familiar faces that harbored their full features. A red and white Ibizan who stood towering over her and a large mutt that looked similar to those she saw looking back at her through water and glass - albeit much taller. She recognized them instantly as Castor and Kahru. She willed her body to move towards them, yet they seemed to move farther and farther away and she was unable to catch them. She would have cursed her short legs had she ever had an idea to. No, they moved away. She tried to call out but found she had no voice. They weren't actively walking or running from her, just seemingly drifting over the vast nothingness until they were gone from sight. A great sadness washed over her body, she wanted to give up. She was so very, very tired.
A glimmer of light shone through the darkness, ebbing it away to only exist in her peripherals. Another shadow, another figure. This one just an outline, yet something familiar. Her reflection from across the water?
Her mind was groggy as her dream world pulled her away. The darkness threatened to consume her vision once again. She couldn't think straight. The tall ears, the agouti face, she could only think of one canna. With her last remaining bit of strength she mustered up the question through a quiet, waterlogged voice.
"Kahru..?"
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Rith'r Flik
Ren
Played by Collie
5 MOS
10"/6LBS
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
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Post by Kanya'grair Shempsar on Jun 13, 2023 3:49:35 GMT
In your eyes I see the eyes of somebody I knew before, long, long, long ago...
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For days, Kanya's mysterious lookalike had haunted not only her dreams but also her waking thoughts. She could still see the stranger in her mind's eye, how the other canna had smiled and played and even made her laugh. No matter what she did, she couldn't shake the sheer curiosity of that day at the river...and eventually it had become too much to bear.
On the day that Kanya had made up her mind to finally go back and investigate, there had been a heavy thunderstorm, so heavy that all of Rith'r Flik's work had been halted for the day. Everyone had remained huddled inside waiting for it to pass. Kanya was a stubborn sort of dog though, and she wasn't about to let that stop what she'd made up her mind to do. Kind of. She'd at least waited for the storm to lull into a drizzle in the late afternoon before sneaking away from her clan and bee-lining back to the river.
What she found was even more confusing than the last time. It was as if the river had grown and swallowed up the docks and buildings at its border. There were debris and river things everywhere, even littering streets that had never touched the water before.
As Kanya neared the "new" shoreline, she spotted something that made her heart jolt - A sodden grey shape was lying sprawled at the river's edge, teetering precariously close to being sucked back into the rushing current. The Rith'r Flik pup recognized her immediately - It was the dog that she'd come here to find.
"Hey!" She barked out awkwardly, scrambling down into the water to rescue her doppleganger. As she approached, the other dog murmured something, but Kanya couldn't make it out. Even so, relief washed over her that she wasn't dealing with a dead body here. Definitely not in the plan today.
She bent and grabbed hold of the pup's river-soaked scruff as tightly as she could with her jaws, yanking her none too gently from the water. It was hard work...the stranger had to have weighed as much as she did, and she was in no shape to help herself at all. When Kanya had dragged the other dog clear of the water, she let go and panted, "You stay right here, I'm going to get help!"
And then she bolted away, straight back to the clan that she knew would follow her back here in a heartbeat. Rith'r Flik would know how to help.
| But I'm still trying to make my mind up. Am I free or am I tied up?
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