[PRP] The hunt never ends (Maeniel and Treasure)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The tide was coming in. Treasure had many salty exclamations to say about that. The water was already up to her knees and she knew it wouldn't be long until it'd be over her head entirely. She wasn't fearing for her own personal safety, of course. She had the tail of a fish and swam like one too. Only the fiercest of storm waves could give her pause. Instead, she was frustrated because the rising waters would disrupt what she had been working on: digging a hole in the sandy muck.

She heard it from a good source that there was something buried here. She'd thought she'd given herself enough time to unearth it, but hadn't counted on how sticky the mud was. It sucked at her hooves and tried to ooze back in when she scooped it out. It was taking her twice as long to dig and now the rising waters threatened everything she'd been working on. She growled to herself as she sloshed more muck out of her submerged hole. This was starting to feel like a wild squid chase.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel liked hanging about close to shore. He enjoyed socializing with those that wandered the land. They were his only real source of news for things that were going on above the surface of the water. It was also safer for him nearer to land. The giant fish swam in the depths, and he knew too well how easy it would be for one of them to make a meal out of him. He wasn't a powerful swimmer and would be helpless if chased by a killer whale or shark.

He saw the most interesting things by the shore. He'd seen an eagle stealing fish from a raccoon. Today he saw some sort of kelpi furiously digging a hole, even though her hole had already filled up with water. Curious, he drifted closer until they were within speaking range.

"Hello there," he said pleasantly, a smile on his face. "How's that hole treating you?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Treasure heaved a sigh. She hated the curious bystander types. They never helped and really just got in the way. Even worse... there always was the chance that a bystander might try to steal her booty once it was unearthed.

"It's fine," she snapped, focused on her digging. "Just fine. I need to keep doing this so.... just stay over there, will you?" At least it was only a seathi. She felt pretty confident in her ability to repel one of those miniature water ponies.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel was a little taken aback by the harsh reception but tried not to let it phase him. He'd obviously stepped into what was a tense situation. "Is there anything I might do to help you?" he asked politely. He didn't think he would be exceptionally useful in digging, but maybe he could bring her some seaweed if she was hungry.

"Are you looking for clams?" That was the only rational explanation he could think of for her behavior. Many soquili and other creatures enjoyed the sweet flesh of clams, but this method definitely wasn't the best for digging them out.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Treasure did like clams. On another day, she might do something like this while searching for them. Now though, she wasn't looking for clams and was frankly irritated by him asking. She was busy and the little shrimp was distracting her.

"Is your head full of mud?" she snapped irritably. "I'm not looking for clams, I'm looking for treasure!" One of her hooves became stuck in the dark muck. She swore under her breath as she tried to pull it out and then swore louder when she fell over into the water with a splash. Her hat was wet. She hated getting her hat wet.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel's ears flicked back a little. He didn't like being insulted. He was somewhat mollified when she felt over into the water. That seemed like a just reward for rudeness if he'd ever seen one. The waves thrown up by her fall caused him to bob up and down in the water a little. When he regained his balance, he shook his head with disapproving sympathy.

"The water is rising too fast for you to continue that, you know." He suspected that she did in fact know and was just trying to delude herself into thinking otherwise. "It'll be filled up with sand soon." He'd seen it happen to foals digging holes, not that they usually minded the sand influx.

"You should just wait until tomorrow if you want to dig there." He said these things half as polite advice, and half as passive-aggressive admonishment.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Treasure sat up with a huff. Now she sat with her rump on the sand and her front hooves planted, looking more like a dog than a horse. Smelling more like one too. The waves lapped at her sides and she knew that the seathi was right. That didn't mean she was happy about him saying it, though.

"Sure, you want me to come back tomorrow," she sneered. "And you'll just go right on your way and forget what you saw, is that right? No chance of you going off and telling your slimy friends about the treasure hidden here. Or maybe you already dug it up?" She fixed him with a withering glare. "Maybe that's why I can't find anything?" She didn't quite believe what she was saying but didn't quite not believe it either. She definitely didn't entirely trust the seathi. Something about him was weasely.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Now he was getting a tad irked. Even though he was still not even a third of her size, Maeniel puffed himself up larger in the water. "Excuse me?" he asked, indignant. "Why should I care for your treasure and whether or not you'll find it? Why do you think I even want treasure to begin with?"

His back fin churned the water behind him, keeping him upright and tall. "I know where there are ships with things like the ones in that box you're looking for. I don't need them." What would a seathi do with gold or jewelry? He wasn't an exceptionally strong swimmer. He could easily imagine himself sinking to the bottom after trying to dress up too fancy.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The incorrigible Vincent Nail made his appearance around then. He was a dark blotch in the sky, then larger and larger as he swiftly descended. He saw the two soquili and aimed himself for the deeper water past them. He splashed in head first, wings tucking as his fishy tail took up the work. He surfaced, snorting water, and churned his way over to the two of them at a fierce pace.

He too had heard about the buried loot. He'd thought that other soquili might have heard the same rumor as he had so had gotten himself over as quickly as possible. Apparently that wasn't quickly enough. To his disgust, the mare and the seathi looked like they were attempting to claim his prize. He shook water from his wings as he reached shallower waters. They'd regret it if they were disagreeable about matters of ownership.

"Why hello there, little lady." He gave Treasure a toothy smile, something sharklike about his grin. "And hello there, even littler stallion." The seathi didn't worry him. He could just toss it onto shore if it raised a fuss.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The plot thickened. Treasure scowled when she first noticed the male winging his way down and scowled more the closer he came. He clearly had kalona blood and clearly was some sort of tough guy. His slit pupils reminded her of a snake and she immediately was on guard. She didn't like that he could both fly and swim. Normally she could count on her swimming abilities to get away from rough situations but that might not cut it with this guy.

And then he had to go and be condescending at her. His looks were bad enough but his attitude was worse.

His looks...

Treasure felt her heart catch in her chest. The stallion was familiar to her even though she knew she'd never met him before. He looked a lot like Jetsam, the stallion who had helped raise her.

Could he be...?  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel barely suppressed a flinch when the shadow of the flying soquili crossed over them. Seathi were a small breed. They had far more predators than mers and kelpis did. Some of those predators rode the air on feathered wings, always on the look out for a hapless creature to snatch from the waves. He was always afraid when something passed overhead, the instinctive part of his mind preparing in case something swooped down on him with slashing claws.

He was relieved when he realized it was a soquili and not an eagle, but his relief was short-lived. The soquili eyed him with that sort of condescension he was used to from full-sized soquili, but also with a predator's leer.

"Miss?" he breathed quietly to the kelpi mare he'd begun with. "Why don't we give this chap some space?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Vincent didn't know about Treasure. He didn't keep close enough track of his son to know what soquili he was or wasn't raising. He assumed her reactions were simply intimidation. He did have that effect on mares sometimes.

"Nice hole you're digging there," he purred, smoothly ignoring the seathi entirely. "What are you digging for, clams?" He also had no way of knowing that that was exactly the same question that the seathi had asked.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The ridiculousness of being asked twice in one hour about whether she was digging clams was enough to shake Treasure free of her paralysis. "It's not clams, dammit!" she snapped, tail slapping at the water in aggravation. "I'm digging for treasure, not some measly shellfish!"

She didn't even care about trying to keep it a secret now. Her thoughts were such a jumble, between clams, the seathi's offer of information, and the possible identity of the mystery stallion. Probably wasn't even anything in the mud pit to begin with.

"Who are you, anyways?" The words spilled from her mouth. She wasn't one to beat around the bush, but even for her this level of bluntness was surprising.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel ducked his muzzle into the water so no one would see his grimace. Normally he'd be trying to beat a quick retreat from someone like this. He didn't really know the mare, but he still felt oddly responsible to stick around and see it through with her. She was young, younger than he was. Young soquili didn't have as much caution as they really ought to, as was clearly going on in this case.

He kept his mouth shut for now, letting the two of them talk. What could he even do if things got rough? Probably about as much as he could if an eagle swooped down to scoop him out of the water. The thought gave him the shivers. It still felt like he had that shadow over his head somewhere.