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 Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:42 pm
Lost  A very frightened little seathi swam frantically from shadow to shadow in the deepest part of a coral bed. He had gotten separated from his brother and parents. Now, all alone and scared, he cried silently hoping that he wouldn't get eaten by something bigger than him.
He swam there in a shadow for a while, and eventually cried himself to sleep. Time passed and the little seathi dozed. He was startled awake by a school of fish rushing by him, sending bubbles up his nose. He awoke with a jolt, swimming upwards with his frantic motion. As he did, his back fin nudged something hard, and from the shadow it cast, he knew it was big.
Scared to look, he peeked behind him finding himself nose to nose with a large mer horse. Neptune had no idea what this creature was, but he was too scared to stick around and find out. He quickly swam back down into the coral, hoping that the big beast couldn't follow after and eat him. Maritza had been floating lazily above a coral reef, admiring all the beautiful life that swam through it. She hadn't noticed the little seathi sleeping below her until he awoke and swam upwards, bumping into her chest. She was just as startled as he was when he turned to see what he had swam into.
When the little one swam off, Mari felt bad that she had scared the little seathi. "Oh! Wait little one! It's alright. I won't hurt you." she called after him, and swam slowly after him, not wanting to scare him even more. "Come on out. I promise you are safe." She cooed.Neptune wasn't buying it. He had been taught since hatching from his shell that bigger was badder. The big female was only trying to trick him into coming out so she could eat him.
He flitted from one group of coral to another, trying to hide the best he could among them. He saw a small crevice between two rocks and swam towards it, diving into the hole, only to get stuck halfway in. "Oh no!" he thought. "I'm stuck, and now I'll get eaten for sure!" He struggled, wriggling and thrashing about, but to no avail. She had lost him amongst the coral, but when she saw a bunch of bubbles floating upwards from one spot, she thought it just might be the little seathi. She swam over, slowly, hoping she wouldn't scare him again. She then saw what all the bubbles were about. He had gotten stuck in a crevice. "Oh no," she thought. "Poor little thing. Maybe if I help him, he'll understand I'm not going to hurt him." She swam closer and spoke gently as she neared. "Okay little one. I'm going to help you out of that crevice. Let me show you that I won't hurt you. You have to be still so that I can pull you out, okay."Crying now and still flailing about, he almost didn't hear her. "W-what? Who-who's there?" he asked frantic, but still tossing about. The edges of the rocks were digging into his flesh now, but didn't cut into him. "N-no. Go away. I-I don't need any h-help."
Too afraid to give up, he kept thrashing.Mari worried for him as he thrashed there, unable to go forward or backward. "Please little one. Just let me pull you out, and I'll swim away. I promise I won't hurt you. I don't even eat meat, if that's what you're worried about. My favorite meal is kelp." She hoped that might sway his opinion of her, but was skeptical at this point.Neptune couldn't help but calm down just a little at her words. Maybe she wouldn't hurt him. He really wished he knew where his brother Whisper was right now. He would know what to do. "That's it!" he thought. "What would Whisper do?" He thought for a second and realized that Whisper would let the stranger help him, and then he would swim away as fast as his fins could carry him.
Decided now, he stopped thrashing and flailing. "O-o-kay. I'll let you help m-me, but you've g-got to let me go as s-s-soon as I get un-st-stuck." He still didn't trust the mer, but he really didn't have many other options at the moment.She gently took the seathi's tail in her mouth, careful not to use her teeth, and tugged as he squirmed, and together they freed him from the crevice.As soon as he was free, he darted away from the mer to hide in some coral. He closed his eyes and cried silently, listening hard for any sounds that she might have followed him.Happy that she could help the seathi, she relinquished her thoughts of him trusting her, and turned to swim away. "I'm glad that I could help get you unstuck. Take care of yourself little one. It's a big ocean out here." she said, and slowly swam away from the reef.Neptune was glad to be safe and out of that crevice, but he was again back to being alone and scared. Where were his parents? Where was his brother? Would he ever see them again? He resigned to swimming there and silently crying again, but a small thought came to him. "What if the mer that just saved him, could help him find his family?"
He peeked out of his hiding spot to see her swimming away, like she said she would. He swam out of his spot and swam after her, unsure of his decision, but hopeful at the same time.
He quickly caught up to the slow moving larger creature. "Um, thank you..." he said timidly. His stutter was gone now that he wasn't terrified, but he was still scared. "For saving me from being stuck." He swam around in front of her and smiled tentatively. "But I'm lost. Can you help me find my family?" he asked, on the verge of crying again. Maritza couldn't help but feel bad for the little sea foal. She had scared him so badly that he'd gotten stuck, and then he was scared when she'd freed him, but now he was showing courage in coming to ask her for help. She couldn't say no to him, even if she wanted to. "Of course I'll help you. What's your name little one? My name is Maritza."Neptune gleed at her agreement to help him. "I'm Neptune. Thank you so much! I can't wait to find them again. I got lost from my moma and papa and big brother Whisper." Happy that he might find them again, he swam circles around the big sea mer. The two swam off together in search of Neptune's family.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:03 am
 Whisper blinked a couple of times. From his resting spot, he could see the sunlight shining down on the water. Suddenly he looked around quickly. "Oh no, its true!" he said to himself. He was hoping that this had all been a bad dream, and he'd wake up to everything bieng ok, but clearly it was not. The sadness started to set in again, and Whisper tried with all his might to hold back. It was to no avail, Whisper sat crying for a few moments. The sadness turned to blame quite quickly. "Its my fault!" he said as he started to get angry with himself.
Whisper didn't remember many of the details at all. He vaguely could piece together images of his mother and father, but he could clearly see his younger brother, the one he let down. "I always told him I would protect him, and I didn't." he started, "But I must do it now. I must find him" Whisper knew he he was way to small to go out and find his younger brother. The waters were dangerous, but he was willing to risk his life to find his brother once again.
Whisper took a moment to wipe the tears he shed, looked around for quite a few moments, and finally came out of hiding in the small patch of coral he had been in.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:05 am
Neptune happily flitted around the mer, so glad that he might find his family again. He'd been so silly to swim off after those fish and gotten separated from his family. His curious nature got the better of him and now he was in trouble for it.
"Do you think we'll find them?" he asked. "There's so many places to look for them."
Mari was happy she could help him, and went over in her mind the many places that a couple of seathis might be, as well as a young foal. She was sure they were just as worried about Neptune as he was about finding them.
"Well, I think with four eyes looking we have a better chance than just two eyes would at finding them. There are a lot of places to look, but the best place to start is near your home. Do you remember how to get there?"
He was sad now. "No, I don't remember." His ears drooped and his eyes began to tear. "I'm never going to find them," he said sullenly.
"Now, now," she said, "Let's think positively. How about we start in the coral reef? That's where I found you. Maybe your family will be looking for you there as well."
Neptune perked up at her suggestion. "Okay! Let's go!" he said excited, and swam off ahead of her, going deeper to the seabed where the beautiful coral grew.
"Wait!" she called after him. "Don't get too far ahead, or I might lose you." She swam after him, her big form slower than his tiny one. She chuckled at his spirit, and hoped very much that they could find his family.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:19 pm
As whisper floated for a moment is the tranquil waters, he looked back at the small bed of coral that he had called his home, at least for the past couple of days. It was obvious that Neptune wasn't in this bed, but he knew that Neptune had to be close. He could feel it in his heart. As he looked around, he saw a couple more small beds of coral in the immediate area. "I should probably at least do a little check on them. The ocean is big, but I cant imagine him go that far away." Whisper began to think. Suddenly he got a block. "Was this where we got seperated?" Whisper couldn't remember the tragic events, only that his little brother was gone.
As he tried to get past this block, Whisper looked again at the coral beds. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for either of the two closest, but that was a larger one just within eyesight. Something drew Whisper to that bed. There was a bright red piece of coral flowing in the calm movement of the water. "I'll check that one first!" he said excitedly before looking around for danger.
Whisper saw that the coast was clear, huffed up his chest a bit (Really just to make himself feel string!) and took off as fast as he could to make it to the reef. "HERE I COME!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:05 pm
Neptune slowed his pace so the mer could keep up. He was so excited that he had made a new friend and that he was hopefully going to find his family again.
"Do you think I should call out for them?" he asked, unsure if it would be safe to do so.She followed along behind the seathi, catching up to him once he slowed down.
"Sure," she replied. "I think it would help a lot if you did. What's your brother's name? Did you know your parents' name other than mom and dad?" (Children sometimes do not realize their parent's name if it isn't spoken around them often.)"Oh, that's easy. Whisper is my brother, but mom and dad are just mom and dad. They don't have any other name, silly." he said matter-of-factly.She chuckled at the naive, innocent child. "Okay then. Let's call for Whisper and maybe he or your parents will hear us."Happy that he had given important information, he puffed out his chest. "WHIS---PER! WHIIIISSS- PER!" he called, as loud as he could.It would be a miracle if either of them could hear the small voice of the seathie, but she hoped that they would. "Whisper!" she called out, smiling to her herself at the irony of yelling the name whisper. "Whisper!"
They were getting closer to a large area of corral, and her eyes searched for any signs of equine life within them.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:54 pm
Whisper finally made it over to the large bed of coral, although he wasn't sure what to do. If he called out, something bigger and badder might come to get him. He wanted to be string, but he was still very scared. He had nothing or no one to protect him, so he decided to just swim, looking for and movement that might be his brother. As pieces of coral floated, he quickly look to see if it was Neptune, but generally with no avail.
As he swam slowly, he heard a small faint sound. He looked around but saw nothing. "It couldn't be, could it?" Whisper asked himself before playing it off. Then he heard it again. "Oh stop it!" he said out loud, telling himself that it couldn't be true. Suddenly he heard it again, his name, this time louder. "What?" he yelled as loud as he could, right before freezing in his tracks. He didn't move. He didn't talk. He said and did nothing. He could hardly believe what he had just heard, and more important, what he had just said.
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:47 am
Neptune kept calling for his brother, growing tired and weary, and wanting to hurry up and find him or his parents. His mind wandered...What would he do if he never did find them? Would he be left alone in this big ocean to live on his own and fend for himself. The thoughts of being all alone worried the little seathie, and he started to cry. Mari kept calling out softly, echoing the calls of Neptune. She had looked away from him for a second, and then back again to find him floating there crying. She swam to him and nuzzled his cheek with her nose. "Come now little one. We'll find them. It may take some time, but we will. Just keep call-"
She stopped. She had heard something - a voice - coming from the large coral bed below. "Wait a second, Neptune. Call your brother's name again," she urged. "I think I heard something." She spotted a few bubbles floating slowly towards the surface, but they could belong to anything. Neptune sniffled at her encouragement. He really hoped she was right.
He got excited when she said she had heard something. "Really? Oh, do you think it's him?!" He was so happy at the thought it could be that he burst into a big smile. "WHISPER!!!!" he yelled. "IS THAT YOU??? IT'S ME!!! YOUR BROTHER NEPTUNE!!!"She chuckled at the child's instant change of mood. "I hope so little one," she whispered, as he called out into the water.
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:16 am
Whisper waited, more quiet than he had ever been. Was something big lurking around? Had he just made the biggest (or second biggest) mistake in his young life? He stayed perfect still, trying not to even take a breath, hoping that it really was his name he heard, and was calling back to something that may be familiar.
As he listened, he heard his name called much louder. Whisper immediately calmed down, and his excitement became to much to control. "Neptune? Is it really you?" He called. As excited as he was, he wanted to stay protected by the big coral, so he only swan to the edge of the coral, looking around excitedly to see if he could spot his brother.
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:15 pm
Maritza watched the coral carefully as the other seathi swam out cautiously. "There he is Neptune," she pointed with her hoof. "Is that your brother?"Over excited in seeing him, he dashed forward, bubbles trailing behind him. "Yippee!" he squealed. "Whisper! I'm so happy we found you!"Maritza swam forward slowly, not wanting to scare the other seathi away, but also not wanting to leave them unprotected.
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:10 pm
Whisper was excited. Ecstatic. More than words could express. As soon as he laid eyes on the little fellow, He could feel the tears well up again. He gave his head one good shake, smiled even bigger, and swam towards his brother. Whisper barely stopped in enough time to prevent from ramming into him, although he was sure that Neptune would completely understand if it had happened.
Whisper swan around, creating a lot of bubbles around him, so many that at times he could barely see his brother momentarily.
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:26 pm
Neptune giggled at all the bubbles and once Whisper stopped moving, he swam up and nuzzled against him. "I'm so glad you're okay big brother. I was so worried I'd never see you again. Where have you been? Did you see any other seathies? Or Mers?" he spoke so fast it was hard to keep up. He looked over at Maritza when he asked about Mers. "OH! This is Maritza. She found me, and helped me find you, so I guess she found you too, big brother."Maritza watched silently as the two seathi reconnected. She was delighted that she was able to assist in their finding each other again, but what did that mean now? Were they to go back out into the big ocean all alone? What if there were predators out there, just waiting to prey on two unsuspecting seathies all alone in the water. No, she could not let them, not if she had anything to say about it. Her mind was made up, now she just needed to convince the both of them that it was for their own good to stay with her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:46 am
Whisper knew he needed to calm a bit. He didn't want o attract attention, especially in semi-open waters. He tried with all his might. "I'm so glad your ok too!" he said eagerly, as he half listened to Neptune questions. "I wasn't looking for anything but you." he said. Whisper didn't specifically recall seeing others.
Just as Neptune began talking about Maritza, Whisper froze. He would have definitely remembered if he had seen as large as her. "Th.... Thank Y... You!" he stuttered out as he approached the lady. "Th... thank you for finding him.... and me." He was a bit nervous,but if she had kept his younger brother safe, she must not be bad.
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:21 pm
Neptune watched Whisper intently. He swam over next to him and smiled brightly, bobbing up and down in the water.Maritza smiled sweetly at him. "You're quite welcome little one. It was my pleasure to help the young lad. He was so worried about his big brother, and I couldn't just let him go searching for you on his own. I found him hiding within some coral. Poor little guy was so scared and alone. He asked me to help him find his family, and that's precisely what we're doing. So far, we've found you. Now, we should try to find your parents." She watched Whisper and noticed he too was a bit wary of her. "Do you know where they are Whisper? Maybe they're out looking for the two of you." She paused a second and then added, "In the mean time, I think you should both stick with me while we look for them. It's much more dangerous to go it alone."Neptune's ears perked. "Oh yes! We should stay with her Whisper. She helped me find you. She's really nice!" His smile beamed and he wiggled with eager excitement. Then he thought about what Maritza had asked him, "Do you.....know what happened to mommy and daddy? I was so sad when I got lost. I miss them so much Whisper." His smile faltered at the sad thought.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:35 pm
Whisper was very happy to have found his brother, overjoyed. He couldn't have been any happier, ever. (at least that is what he felt inside) That happiness would soon melt away with sadness at the mention of his parents. He had no idea what had happened to them, only a recollection of wha seemed to be a bad dream, but non of that was for certain. Whisper was upset, shaking for a moment. "We could try to find them," he finally got out, "I don;t know where they are."
As the trio talked, Whisper tried to calm down, but it wasn't until his brother said something that he stopped mid thought. "Neptune? You don't know what happened?" Whisper recalled what he thought to have been the moment they were separated in his 'dream'. Whisper was confused. Had it been a dream, or had Neptune forgotten hat had happened. Whisper knew that the first thing he should was to talk to Maritza. If nothing else, she might be able to help cheer him up.
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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:19 pm
 His eyes widened at Whisper's question. He stuck out his bottom lip and shook his tiny head, sending bubbles floating quietly upwards. "No..." he said, drawing it out into a whisper. "I don't remember much about what happened, except I was playing in some coral, and I could see you nearby, and mommy and daddy had been...." he paused and pointed with his hoof, "They were over there," he went on, "I don't remembers what they were doing, but I could see them. I looked down at a really pretty snail that was crawling over the coral and it got dark for a second, and then it wasn't." He looked down, remembering the pretty snail that he had been watching. "The snail went inside a big piece of coral so I turned around to tell momma, but she wasn't there. That's when I started looking for them, and started looking for you, Whisper." He looked, his eyes meeting his brother's.  She listened quietly to little Neptune's story. Parts of it were clear, but others didn't make sense. She thought over all he had said, repeating it in her mind, reliving it as if she were Neptune. She imagined herself playing near some coral, watching a snail crawl over the colorful spiny structures. What else? He had mentioned Whisper nearby, and his parents. She imagined that Whisper was nearby, as well as two other imaginary seathi. She continued to focus on the snail, and then what? He'd said it got dark for a second? What could that mean?
And then it hit her.
Oh no. It must have been the shadow of something. Something large. It must have been something large that had swam above him. It could have been a predator, or another seathi, or a mer. Who knows what it could have been. Perhaps that shadow had scared off his parents or maybe whatever it was had taken them, or worse. Maritza shook her head, closing her eyes with sadness. There were so many possibilities, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions so hastily. They would try to search for them. She would not give up hope for the little seathis, and she would not let them give up hope.
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