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 Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 12:00 pm
Novacaine, with his head fully submerged, realized perhaps a few moments too late that he had no idea what he was doing.
He glanced sidelong at Narangi, looking for pointers, and found himself suddenly overwhelmed with a number of things happening all at once.
First, his eyes and throat had begun to burn, perhaps because his jaw was hanging slack in the water and cold stream-water was invading his throat against his will. Second, chaos seemed to have erupt next to him from Sudhir's invasion of the water and the sudden plunge of the fish next to him.
Confused, Novacaine leaned forward, searching out his own prey -- and, quite abruptly, found himself slipping. Within moments he was bodily in the river, and everything was backwards.
Even as Narangi was withdrawing with his prized catch, Novacaine was flailing about in the stream, trying to figure out which way was up. His head broke the surface, once, and he caught a tremendous gasp of sputtering breath before he rolled back over into the chaos below.
Could he swim? He was starting to think...maybe not.
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Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:14 pm
There wasn’t time for thinking.
Almost as quickly as the little pink pelt hit the water, Sudhir felt his own body surging after him in what could have been suicidal heroics; he didn’t care that he was just as small, and just as powerless to the river’s currents; he didn’t give two tail wags for the idea that, in trying to save this new friend, he might accidentally forfeit his own life. All Sudhir cared for was that this slow-reacting, quiet little puppy had fallen into a dangerous situation, into a dangerous river, and still hurting from the last friend the river had stolen, it was more than natural for him to leap in.
His parents had done right by the little pup with their swift, rough training, which had strengthened his legs and neck and had taught him how to hold his breath. He had been subject to swimming lessons since he was very small, and so he knew the right moves that would keep his head above water - he even had a vague idea of how currents worked, and knew not to fight against them whenever possible. But he had not been schooled in the art of diving and retrieving, not yet, and he found it intensely overwhelming and disorienting beneath the surface. Frightened, he shut his eyes tightly and almost resurfaced - no! No, he would have to forge on, and he forced himself underwater once more, jaws snapping and paws reaching out for Novacaine’s little body. His teeth caught on fur, and yanking back Sudhir let his back legs kick, breaching the surface with a great deal of bluster and more than pleased to find he had taken a deep mouthful of pink ruff.
But the river was fierce, and angry. It wasn’t to be toyed with and wanted to make that painfully clear, trying to tear Novacaine from his grip and sucking down on Sudhir’s hindquarters. Sudhir snarled, eyes darting about at the riverbank as it thundered by, trying to find some sort of exit from a current that was much stronger than a puppy. “Nova!” he gurgled between his mouthful of water and fur. “Hulld onm!”
A wave bubbled over his head, and disoriented, Sudhir went down. It was only momentary, but just enough to change the scenery again, and suddenly finding a massive tree trunk barreling along in front of them, Sudhir got an idea. “Braysh yershelf!” he cried.
The trunk grew closer.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 5:29 pm
(([dramatic narrative voice] Previously on Too Far From Home…
On an afternoon of adventure beyond pack borders, our heroes The Great Tangerine and his sidekick Sudsface encounter a bizarre pink stranger! After an uncertain few minutes it is determined that the brightly-coloured Novacane is NOT an enemy – but an exciting new friend! The Great Tangerine is quick to ask for Novacane’s assistance in capturing magical, wish-granting fish, and in a moment of both entertainment and horror, the Pink falls into the river! Thinking quickly (but not wisely), Sudsface throws himself in an attempt to save Novacane - - THUS PUTTING HIMSELF IN MORTAL DANGER AS WELL!!! Now, it is up to The Great Tangerine to rescue both his brother and his new friend! Will he be up to the challenge? Or is it already too late??
After four months of breath-holding and anticipation, we’re about to find out!))
Narangi was hardly bothered a bit when neither his brother nor his new best friend had anything to say about his wonderful catch – probably speechless, was all, at his awesome acrobatics and skill. If they had nothing to say, then so be it! He had plenty to do, trying to figure out what good fish were and how they were supposed to be eaten.
Nevermind that the pair of them had fallen in for a good, long drink.
So this fish figured himself to be a wise guy, huh? Didn’t wanna answer any of Narangi’s questions? Wouldn’t tell him what he was supposed to do with it? Well.
“I’ll get an answer outta you yet,” Narangi grumbled, fiddling with the fish as it did a wild jig – trying to escape, no doubt. “No secret can remain hidden for long! No secret at all! Sudsface, hey, you know what to do with fish, right?”
He needed that sourpuss to help him figure out how to eat this thing, or whatever it was one did with fish. They were edible, right? But Suds wasn’t answering him at all now, not saying a darned word about anything, and lifting his eyes from his most precious catch ever, Narangi narrowed his eyes. “Hey, I asked a question,” he began, wrinkling his nose and trying to find his grumpy brother.
Only to find that he was, very suddenly, completely alone. Which didn’t make much sense, because he remembered Sudhir raising a fuss, and Novacane at his side hunting the fish, and the commotion of puppies and fish, and bubbles and water -
Finally, he thought to look further down the river. “Oy, Sudsface!” he barked, spotting Sudhir amongst the angry waters; what was he doing all the way out there? Didn’t he know it was dangerous? “Heeey, where’s -”
Ah. Narangi saw a pink pelt held tight in his brother’s jaws, and finally understood. He and Suds were good swimmers - momma and pops made sure of that - but maybe Nova wasn’t? Which would mean he had fallen in, or that the fish had come to exact revenge for their captured comrade and had dragged him in, to eat him up or do with him whatever they did with wolf puppies, and his brother had jumped in to save his life!! And, well, if that was the case… then Sudhir didn’t look like he was doing it right. “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BRING HIM BACK TO SHOOORE!” Narangi howled, leaping to his feet and circling his fish. “This is presumably all your fault, fish! So you’d better listen to me, and listen to me good ya hear? I’m gonna take my wish now, and eat you later, but ONLY if you do exactly what I wish for!”
Playing and adventuring might have been Narangi’s life, and very rarely did he think there was any reason to be serious - ever - but he wasn’t dumb. He knew that without some kind of tangerine intervention, both his brother and his new friend would be swimming to the bottom and never coming up; it was Narangi’s turn to be the hero, and for that, he fixed the fish in his angriest, most serious face ever. “I wish that Sudhir and Novacane will be rescued from the river!” he snarled, bristling all over and looking very ferocious indeed. “So get to it! Rescue them from the river!”
But the longer Narangi watched, the more obvious it became that the fish wasn’t about to leap up and do anything amazing. It was flopping about and gasping, probably dying, which didn’t seem very useful… until Narangi saw, in the distance, a great big tree trunk getting in the way of certain doom by water; it was a ways away, sticking out the side of the bank like a little dock, and sighing angrily, Narangi muttered, “I meant for you to do something, not make me do all the hard work…”
Still Narangi picked up his feet and ran like the little monster he was. He practically flew alongside the river, catching up to the bobbing wet puppies and hearing Sudhir call something out; they were approaching the tree trunk, and fast, but Narangi made it there juuuust in the nick of time! He leapt onto the trunk, waddling across its somewhat slick exterior, and launched his skilled fish-catching jaws at the water, grabbing what felt like a mouthful of fur. Didn’t really matter who he had caught, so long as he dragged them up - which he commenced to doing, digging his claws into the bark and tugging for all he was worth.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:27 pm
((*snorts* oh god Zee you're making me wheeze.))
Novacaine rolled over, end over end, and resurfaced gasping and sputtering. He nearly found his balance -- come to find out, swimming was sort of like running, except maybe it wasn't like that at all. Regardless, he'd almost figured it out, when his head again ducked under water and when he resurfaced he was halfway under another sopping wet puppy.
His heart had never beaten this fast in his whole life. He was distracted for a moment by marveling at the speed of the heartbeats, fascinated by the feeling of adrenaline coursing through him. He'd never been particularly afraid or upset or excited before. It was a very unique experience.
But, the distraction ebbed quickly and then he remembered that he was possibly drowning.
He struggled against Sudhir, panicking that the other wolf was trying to drown him, not at all understanding that he was being rescued. And, great! Now they were about to bash into a tree trunk and they were going to die.
Novacaine wondered what it would feel like to die. Well, if being scared was a fun adventure, dying certainly would be too...
The pink pup had almost resigned himself to his fate when he felt teeth clamp around the scruff of his neck and for a moment he was confused as to precisely what had happened, if there were some sort of "jaws of life" metaphor coming to life, and then he realized it was Narangi.
Sheepishly, he scrabbled his paws against the tree trunk, trying to heave himself up onto dry land and hoping desperately that the trunk didn't break.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:25 pm
That was it, then. Narangi had finally taken it into his paws to save the day, lifting Nova from Sudhir's grasp and dragging the wet, pink thing to safety.
Novacaine was safe, and Sudhir was so relieved, he almost forgot just ohw much peril he himself was still suffering.
Almost.
One can't really forget they're in the grasp of a boiling, angry river, anyways, but Sudhir wasn't one to sweat the details now that the quest had been won and at least half of the danger had been settled. He took a breath and tucked his paws against his belly, letting the current itself drag him underneath the heavy tree trunk and clear to the other side. He kept his eyes shut and only fought for the surface when he needed air the most, protecting his throat and soft belly from ricocheting debris until he could feel the currents begin to tame. Eventually, he came to rest on a curve in the river some twenty yards from where Narangi had performed his good deed, sputtering up the water he had accidentally swallowed and stumbling up the sandy beach. He shook himself all over, pounded the water from his ears, and very sullenly pushed himself to trot toward the two puppies despite the strain to his little muscles.
"Everyone alright?" he coughed, spitting out a hunk of sand and silt before slapping down onto his wet bottom. "You hurt anywhere, Nova?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:05 pm
Novacaine flopped, sodden and very dirty, onto the riverbank. His heart still hammered in his chest like a small army of tiny creatures was dancing around in there, and a certain numbness had overtaken his extremities. He wasn't sure if it was cold, or that there just wasn't enough blood to go around. Also, he had a funny feeling on the back of his throat, a wetness that seemed to cling to the air as it poured into his lungs.
But, aside from all of that, he was actually feeling pretty good about himself. "That...was crazy," he said, in his usual flat-line monotone of a voice. "Dude."
He marveled for a moment about how thoroughly awesome of an adventure it had been, and how crazy it felt to be scared, and how totally disconnected he was from the rest of his body. Then he lifted his eyes up to Narangi and smiled, an odd smile that seemed to stop before it reached his eyes. "That was...you two are like heroes," he said, as emphatically as the monotone of his voice would allow. "What pack did you say you were from, again?"
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