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 Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:26 pm
Angathi was trotting along the seabed. Well, trotting as well as anyone could under water. This day he was in fairly good spirits.... which wasn't to say in the best mental state.
The fallen Knight appeared to be talking to himself, but he was hearing the remnant voice of Mishos, his fallen brethren.
"No, no! Weren't you paying any attention? The Commander said we were to wait at the Corps outcrock." Angathi spoke to the water. I was paying attention, but it appears you were not... he said that was to be tomorrow, he heard in his mind.
"What? You must be joking, he said the day the moon was full." Angathi tossed his head. Didn't they have this conversation before? -A chuckling- Oh, Angathi, you silly barnacle! He said the night after... so that would be tomorrow, not today.
The Kelpi snorted, his shark-tooth necklace jangling in the currents of the water. He didn't have a good response, as he was trying to remember.
A few strides later and his hoof caught on something, slipped, and the Knight stumbled to the sea-ground. His lower jaw connected sluggishly on a nearby rock.
"What the-?" Angathi grumbled, getting back to his feet and looking down at a.... It's a shell!
"I bloody well see that, thank you!" Angathi stared, and nudged the shell with him muzzle. Now, what was in it? A Kelpi? Mer? It was out in the middle of nowhere, perhaps it belonged to one of the feral Mer's... but if so, where was the mother?
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:51 pm
From seabeds to kelp forests, from coral reefs to the utmost bottom of the sea floor, the little speckled shell had been rocked by the unloving currents of the ocean hither and thither and across the world. It had no mother, no father - no one to speak of, and for all anyone knew - be them the fish that had flit by to the seals that had played in its wake - it had been born of the sea foam spat from the waves that crashed overhead.
But finally fate decided for the little clam to halt, and soon the sands covered half of its shell with a protective arm, barring its view from the rest of the underwater world.
Well, for a while that is. Until a certain kelpi jarred it from its peaceful slumber.
The case, slightly scratched around its top and stressed around its edges, responded in kind by wiggling; almost skittering from Angathi's hooves when his nose touched it.
Now that was strange! And in that moment, the little creature inside seemed to finally awaken.
Sightless eyes opened to a sightless world at once. Oh, well this is quite cramped, now isn't it!
Another wiggle. Bubbles spewed out from the edges of the clam as the lips drifted open, before forcibly snapping shut again.
The creature inside gave a petulant keen.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 12:01 pm
Angathi snorted as the shell wiggled, not really surprised by it's action. "It appears to still be alive, Mishos!" Wow, you sure know how to announce the obvious, don't you?
"Quiet, you," the Knight grumbled in the back of his throat. Why must Mishos always be so snippish sometimes? Seriously, sometimes the kelpi wondered about his Merlock knight.
Angathi turned his attention back to the clamped shell when a keen sounded, "Well, Little One, don't you think it's time to come out? The wide Sea awaits your arrival." The stallion nuzzled the shell again, positive that it was about to hatch.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 12:21 pm
It could hear the voice of the other, faintly, as though Angathi were speaking into a glass bowl. Even if the little creature could make out his words, he would never be able to understand them; but the Kelpi's steady egging was something new, something the shell had not felt before. After all, when he was tossed about in the arms of the sea, it always stopped sooner or later.
And it never spoke.
It wriggled a bit, and the clam looked as though it were chewing on something particularly gummy. When Angathi nuzzled the shell yet again, the little creature inside jumped - the feeling was curious indeed! but not unwelcome - and the edges of the shell drifted open again.
But this time they clamped down onto the poor kelpi's nose!
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 12:46 pm
This was a surprise! Angathi threw up his head in suprise and pain as the large shell attached itself to his nose! He was cursing in some other language - at the shell, the creature inside, and the laughing he heard in his mind. Why was this thing attacking him? Was it too dumb to understand he was just trying to help!?
Determined, Angathi dropped his head back down, bringing the shell to the ground. He tried to pull the shell off, his head between his legs as such limbs held the shell tight while the Knight pulled and pulled.
Don't rip your nose off, now!
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 1:09 pm
There was an audible squeal when Angathi suddenly tossed his head; the baby inside was squished against the top of its shell, and it gave an indignant wriggle while the kelpi spit and cursed. A tiny, finned tail crept outside and snaked about, before it was jerked hastily back inside.
When the throwing stopped to a manageable tugging, the little Soquili opened its eyes and peered at the nose caught in the shell. What a funny looking thing! Were those eyes? Whatever the case, it had no right being in its home! It pressed its much smaller muzzle against the Kelpi's, pushing as though to help him get out, before tiny teeth bit into the tender flesh of his nose.
The shell drifted open again, finally revealing the little mer-colt that was now attached viciously to Angathi's face.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 1:52 pm
Angathi was not in a good mood anymore. His eyes blazed and his tail twitched back and forth in irritation. While he wasn't in a violent mood, he did his best to show the new fish-foal that he was not pleased, not at all.
The stallion pulled all that way back, away from the protective shell. If this little Mer (and since when did Mer's act as such!?) was so adamant on pain, then he wouldn't let it return back to it! Ha! Show him!
Angathi, eyes still angry - but starting to cloud in pain - "Leggo, you little grackle! I'm not food, now leggo leggo leggo!!!"
He thrashed around a bit, and finally turned almost all the way around, and his tailed curled around the newborn, to do his best to detach the imp.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:52 pm
The little colt shrieked and kicked out his forelegs when he was grabbed, gumming wildly on the stallion's nose in hopes he would let go. He gave a resistant little wriggle, flapping this way and that like a fish out of water - though, he was quite the opposite! But he was new to the world, and so very tiny, and soon the struggle waned and the little mer-Soq gave up, allowing Angathi to tug him free.
However, that didn't stop the rowdy babe from champing threateningly - albeit tiredly - at the kelpi. He blew out his cheeks and extended his knobby, awkward legs again in attempts to paw his way to freedom. All of his grand-standing was weak of course, and more comical than threatening. Oh, but he tried! Oh yes.
The minute fishtailed Soquili was the baddest thing this side of the ocean, so Big Bad Ugly better watch out!
He whinnied again, a high-pitched hoarse noise.
Take that! He placed a hoof between Angathi's eyes - a tap that he believed was a fearsome strike! Ha!
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:47 pm
The newborn released his nose, and a small blur of red mixed with the water as the Kelpi bled. Angathi grumbled in exasperation, the voice drowned out at the moment due to his own anger.
... and then he KICKED!
That was too far! This one might have been young - just born mind you! - but it needed to learn som manners. The elustrous kick didn't even give poor Angathi stars, but it just made him mad.
Not to mention, the little imp couldn't do much of, well, anything.
With a slight growl in reponse to the quiet whinny, Angathi lunged forward, grabbing the small baby Mer in his tail and then swimming away to try and drag the infant with him.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:01 pm
He must have done SOME damage, because Angathi looked startled! The colt gave a wheezy bray in triumph, kicking his legs out gleefully. But when his attention returned to the matter at hand, the kelpi no longer appeared surprised - no. The little one may have just been born, but he could tell that the stallion was angry.
More than angry. The ridge on the baby's back bristled and stood erect, his pale eyes widening with suddenness, as there was not enough time for anything else before he was snatched and dragged away.
He pawed the sea and kicked and wriggled, long ears flattening against the curve of his skull. The breath was knocked out of his little chest. Was this how it was going to be all the time now that he was out of his shell? His posturing quickly melted away, replaced by fear.
And so he did the only thing he could do: cry. He opened his mouth and whined, clawing for his retreating shell and wishing for its comfort and safety again. He wailed his alarm, a sound no mother could deny, if one had a mother who'd come calling.
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:07 pm
Angathi felt his own sense of pride rise, for the rambuntious colt had been overcome! His ways had overcome the little imp, and his frustration was released. Needless to say, the Kelpi was pretty darn proud of himself.
...that was, until the small Mer-foal started to cry, and not just wimper here and there.
The sound broke through. He's only a child, Angathi! the voice snarled. Just a newborn, in fact; how could you be so harsh? There is no honor in the punishment of a Little One that knows no better!
"He started it," the Knight pouted to no one in particular, but he slowed and finally stopped. His fins worked to keep them in relative place in the current and his hooves swayed ever so much without the Sea-floor underneath. But Angathi still kept his tail wrapped securely around the infant and he twisted his head to get a real look at the now-crying colt.
He let him cry, and only watched - almost as intensely as he sometimes watched the seagulls dive and soar in their own currents of the sky.
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:39 pm
Oh, how he cried and cried and cried! Loud, nasally bleats for a mother who would never come. He hiccuped and sobbed, the fight completely purged from his little body. After a while, his tiny hooves stopped scraping for his shell and he fell still, eyes squinting open after they had been pinched shut for a while.
He stared back at Angathi through the popping bright spots, a small hiccup jolting his tail every now and then. There was a sort of tiredness ringed around his eyes, as though he had just figured that crying would get him nowhere, and there was no mother to pluck him from his this Kelpi's grasp.
"Pa'w," he whiffled in defeat. He nosed the curve of Angathi's tail and yawned, beginning to drift. One foreleg kicked out, "Pa'w."
His little belly gurgled. He looked expectantly at the Kelpi.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:37 pm
The crying finally stopped. Angathi, who had been staring at the colt, blinked as if out of a trance. What was it doing now? I think he's hungry... you should feed it.
"Are you implying milk?" The stallion now looked at the infant aghast.
.... do you have a better idea?... The voice whispered and then was quiet.
So he wasn't any help.... The Kelpi swayed with the current, still wrapping the child up in his tail. What was he going to do with this.... thing? The stallion looked around, unsure. Maybe seaweed? There was a field nearby!
Slowly, carefully, and trying not to abruptly jar the rambuctious -and nippy- colt, Angathi made his way over to the seaweed field. Once there, he grabbed a stalk of seaweed and then held it in front of the newborn. "Well? Surely you know how to eat!" He cared for young ones, but that didn't mean he knew how to treat them.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:09 pm
"Malk," he parroted, though he had no idea what that was.
When Angathi began to move again, the foal squealed with a dual noise of fear and delight. He kicked his legs in a movement like a rear, but this time in glee for the fact that they were moving - as though he had forgotten his earlier treatment already.
The seaweed danced in front of his eyes like a snake, and he watched it, going cross eyed in the process. He snuffled the sea grass and pulled back, thoroughly confused.
"Malk."
Why exactly was he showing him this? It didn't smell nummy at all! He pushed it back at the Kelpi as if to say 'You eat it!'
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:54 pm
"No, seaweed... kelp... food," Angathi tried to correct, as if the newborn could fully understand the meaning and intent.
When the little boy looked at him confused and expectant, Angathi took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. "Mmmmm, it's good!"
The stallion tore off some pieces, making the stringy food smaller for the colt to chew on, "Try some!"
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