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 Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 5:49 pm
 The tiny form of Onya waddled along the dusty pathway between the stables, the morning sun just touching the tips of his ears. It was largely quiet: many of the fighters wouldn't get up until later in the day to train or fight, as it was rare that many of the humans would get up until then to watch the fights. Even pearl divers generally didn't go out this early - the water was still very cold, after all - but for little Onya, this was his first time, officially, out to the pearlbeds. He'd trained there as an adolescent with one of the Elders, but he had been strictly forbidden, then, from taking any pearls back with him. Not that he could stay underwater for a long period of time, and the pearls themselves seemed awkward to carry for such a little Mokai, but he still would have liked to try.
Today, though, all of his diving practice was going to be practically applied. He'd finally get to do something to help his owner, and maybe his owner would finally be proud of him! With this shining image in mind, Onya's tail whisked behind him, and he trotted along the pathway, chin held high. Considering his stature and the way he waddled ... the picture was less heroic and more hilarious than anything.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:06 am
It was odd that the young mokai was found out on his own more often than not. Andi had a way of losing track of him, and Jak just had a knack of slipping under the radar. As it happened, he and Andi were out for a morning jog that morning, and Jak saw his opportunity to run off when she ducked into a small building for some reason or another. As long as he came back on his own before dark she never scolded him for too long, so he didn't worry about it too much. When he decided he was a good distance away from where he last saw Andi, the pup slowed his pace down to a nice walk and just enjoyed the morning.
As he went he eventually caught sight of something off in the distance; it was small and walking kinda funny, which piqued his curiosity just a bit. Tail wagging at the idea of having an interesting mokai for company, Jak picked up the pace. "Hey!" he called, "hey, wait for me!"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 2:19 pm
Wait - what was that? The voice made Onya's ears perk, his head coming up in surprise, head tilting to the side.
To his surprise and pleasure, he saw a puppy rushing toward him - a pale-pelted thing with streaks of white across his cheeks, and white-tipped ears, legs, and tail. He didn't look familiar, but that really was hardly surprising: Onya didn't know many of the Mokai of age to have puppies. He'd only just gotten out of adolescence himself. Did the puppy recognize him? That was a puzzler, and Onya wrinkled his nose a little as Jak came racing up to him. His own tail wagged a little, sure sign of friendliness. At least this wasn't a scary Elder or a fighter. Most of the heavily-scarred fighters rather terrified poor Onya.
"Hullo," he offered to the boy, cheerfully."You looking for somebody?" Maybe it was lost. This tended to happen, to puppies.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:35 am
The funny-walking mokai heard him and came to a halt, so Jak managed to catch up pretty quickly. He came to a stop just a few feet from the older mokai, tilting his head at the other now that he was close enough to get a better look. He had a bit of fur-mustache going on, not to mention the spiny things growing out of his back. From a distance Jak couldn't quite tell what they were and assumed it was a ridgeback of some sort; boy was he wrong. A curious, almost confused look, crossed his features, and the first words that came out of his mouth after Onya's rather pleasant greeting was, "what the heck are those things?"
It couldn't really be helped considering this was the first time he'd ever come across a pearl diver. His owner's family bred fighters, and besides those Jak had only come across one other pet. His "stomping grounds" were really just within the settlement and, occasionally, the main compound. He had yet to venture out into the fjords, mainly because he didn't know that the fjords even existed.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:49 am
What the heck were what? At the boy's baffled look, Onya twisted his head around, expecting to see some strange tableau laid out before him. Instead - he saw nothing except the stable wall, which wasn't particularly fascinating, nor called for such a reaction on the puppy's part. Puzzled himself, the little pearl diver peered back at the young puppy, and more carefully followed his gaze now, to the spines coming from Onya's back.
Why the child should call attention to them, he didn't know - they were perfectly normal, unlike some things he'd seen on a Mokai. "They're my spines and fins," he stated, tipping his head to the side as he regarded Jak. "They help me swim, I think." Actually, he'd not give it too much thought, but that's what he assumed they were there for. "Ain't you never seen a pearl diver before? Most of us have 'em, or something like 'em. It's pretty sad when a puppy's born without them," he added, after a moment. Those divers were typically shunned from their families, he knew; his own parents had been relieved to see that he himself carried traits common to the lineage. It was considered a shame on the family to birth a son or daughter without any.
"What were your parents?" It was impossible to tell what a puppy's subspecies was - not until they got older, at any rate. His own gills hadn't grown in until he was adolescent, and had relieved his parents further: at least he'd not been a cull.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:52 am
Spines and fins? Did mokai need those for anything? The pup pondered a bit on this idea as the other mokai tried to explain to him what they were for. It didn't really register though, considering he didn't know that mokai needed anything to help them swim. As far as he knew, swimming was the hardest thing to do. Just make sure you don't stay underwater too long and you should be fine. Andi showed him once, and he actually tried it alongside his owner. He didn't remember needing any help...
"Do you have trouble swimming?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "I've been swimming before, and it's not too hard. I didn't need any "spines" or anything..."
The term "pearl diver" didn't really register with him either, so he tilted his head up at the mustached mokai with a curious look. He had heard it before, when Andi's family was talking and he was wrestling down one of the pets roaming around the house, but he didn't know they'd look like this. Jak was actually listening to his explanation, nodding only once when he finished and commenting with nothing more than an "ohhh" at the end.
"They were fighters," the pup answered a few beats too late; he'd been staring at the spines and fins on the other mokai. The idea of growing those sorts of things kind of freaked him out, and he was wondering if it was really natural at all.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:23 am
That startled Onya for a moment, and got him to thinking. "Well," he said eventually, wrinkling his nose at the puppy. "It's probably for diving, really. I get pearls for my master," he added, with a satisfied air. "A lot of them." As if this weren't quite enough, he finished, somewhat lamely: "Well, at least three a day, but I'm really just starting out as a pearl diver, you see. To get to the bottom of the fjord-bed is hard with the currents and the tide, sometimes, and they make me go faster than a normal Mokai."
This one's parents were definitely not divers, if he didn't know anything about them. That left either pets or fighters - and pets didn't usually come into the compound. The little otter-like Mokai wasn't too surprised to hear that Jak's parents were fighters, but his eyes shifted around uneasily at the words. Fighters could be trouble, if they were around. Normally he avoided them at all costs.
"Oh. Um. So that probably means you're gonna be a fighter, too." Curiously, he added: "Do you want to be?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:35 am
Diving? In.. the water? Now it was Jak's turn to wrinkle his nose up at the older mokai. "Can you breathe underwater?" he asked slowly, then, as the idea sank in, the pup's eyes widened slightly. How cool would it be if he could breathe underwater!? ...Not that he would have much use for such a skill, all things considered, but still! His tail started wagging at the thought, a silly sort of smirk on his maw as the last bit of what the other mokai was saying went in one ear and out the other.
It wasn't until he started talking about Jak's growing up to be a fighter, judging by his lineage. That got the young mokai to snap back to reality and, upon hearing the other's question, he went silent for a short while to think about it. Sure, he wanted to grow up to be big and strong like both of his parents, yes, but that could be partly because he didn't know much else about his other options.
"I guess," he answered finally, though a bit dissatisfied with it. "Fighters are really strong, and I wanna be really strong so yeah.. I guess I wanna be a fighter. Is that bad?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:21 am
"Of course!" Onya at first sounded mystified, before it dawned on him that this skill wasn't available to everyone. Oh. "All pearl divers can, anyway. I have gills," he explained, pointing a paw at the side of his neck. "Like fishes do. I can only breathe under there for a short time though. I gotta come up for air eventually, the gills aren't perfect. Champion pearl divers can go underwater for an hour or longer, though. I'm working up to that," he added, deflating a little in sheepishness.
As Jak continued, not looking completely happy with his lot in life, the otter-like Mokai blinked, then gave him a nervous grin. "Of course not, that's perfectly fine ... heh, fighters are big and strong, I'm sure your parents are, too. You have to be tough to work in the pits. I'm sure your parents are proud."
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:29 am
After Onya pointed out his gills, the young mokai couldn't stop looing at them. They just looked so odd on a mokai, like cuts that were agape but not bleeding or anything. He touched a paw to the side of his own neck, brows knitted together and an almost disbelieving sort of look on his face. If he grew up to be a pearl diver he would have those things on his neck? A shiver ran down his spine at the idea, and he decided that being able to breathe underwater might have been a neat trick, but if he had to have gills to do it then he'd much rather not.
"I don't know why they'd be proud of me," the pup replied to the otter-like mokai's words, shrugging. "I haven't done anything to deserve it yet, but I'd be happy if they were." Jak smiled at that, then said, "and it probably takes tons of practice to breathe underwater for that long," going back to their previous topic. "I think it's cool that you can breathe underwater at all."
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