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 Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:24 pm
Bolide was restless. He was not doing well living at the Institute, oh no. Too many people all crowded in, too many people doing their mysterious human things. Too much stress. Too many worries. With a short goodbye to his adoptive mother, Bolide had set out on his own.
The urge to spend long weeks or months wandering the world's oceans was not precisely a natural one. Had things been going good for Bolide, he would have been content to simply live out his life at the shore, fishing and telling stories and relaxing with friends and family. As it was, long periods spent in the stressful company of humans sent him over the edge. It was long past time for him to go.
The Cambrian swam slowly northwards, skirting the coastline. He planned to spend some time relaxing in the wilderness of Canada, maybe Alaska, before heading southwest across the open sea to Micronesia. Bolide liked Micronesia. The people were small, brown, and not terribly curious about him. They had on occasion thrown nets or octopus spears at his head, but that was understandable.
Despite his plan to simply live wild for the next few months, Bolide felt a bit lonely on his first night out. Instead of sleeping on the fin, he dragged himself all the way in to shore. It was better to sleep on land or close to it, and this seemed as good a place as any. About as deserted as California got these days.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:14 pm
Blueshift shifted on his tail. This stupid "hoodie" thing was too big on him, and the mud slapped on him in a sore attempt to make him look more human in color was making him itchy. Not to mention they were hopelessly lost. Taking no more, he finally voiced his opinion to his "mother" in the form of a snort.
"Hey, I'm trying to find our way. It's not my fault I can't see well at night," shot back Raven. Normally, he was a calm person, but Blueshift's incessant low blows and whining were starting to get to him. He adjusted himself on his rocky seat, trying to read a map by using Blueshift's natural nightlight. It didn't quite help the situation that Raven had little idea what town they were close to. Trying to stay far away from any possible Pikaia's Children and making their way to the Institute seem to be contrary to each other in terms of application.
Blueshift didn't want to stare at those lines anymore, so he turned his head for a better view. The night sky was quite lovely, what with all the stars, but he was jolted out from under it when Raven tugged on his angler.
"Sorry," Raven apologized when Blueshift shot him a growl. "Couldn't see."
Blueshift went back to his sky, taking in the moist and salty night air. Wait, salty? "Pada," he mumbled.
"What?"
"Sea. That way," Blueshift pointed. "Naemsae it."
"Alright!" Raven shouted, springing up. "We can follow the coast!"
Blueshift snorted again at this running Raven. It was his fault they lost sight of it in the first place.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:33 pm
Curled up comfortably in a warm tide pool, Bolide was drifting into a doze when he heard the shouts. He jerked his head up with a snort, staring hard into the darkness. Who could be around at this time of night -- and why? Probably some irritating human teenagers were going to make a bonfire on the beach and drink intoxicants. Bolide's lip curled. Nasty, nasty.
Ordinarily the thought of scaring the stupid brats out of his chosen territory would have appealed greatly, but Bolide was tired. He had been swimming hard all day, without even a break to eat. He wanted to sleep. There should be other tide pools further along the coast, and if need be he could burrow partway into the sand and sleep that way.
He rose quickly and splashed into the shallows, wading out just far enough for him to be able to lie flat on his belly and hide beneath the waves. Now he could watch for the intruders. Hopefully they would leave and he could go back to sleep. If not, well, he would have to move on.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:52 pm
Raven, in momentary a lapse of common sense, forgot that he couldn't see well at night, and tripped after running a few paces. Blueshift sighed, angrily, at having to deal with such such a stupid mother. He could just waltz up to the coast, submerge himself into the water, and swim away, far from clutzy, sunlight-loving, dryland humans. The thought, however, didn't appealy to him much. Although he hated to admit it, he and Raven were pratically attached at the hip. The thought of being alone was a bit frightening, and that fear made him more huffy.
By the time Raven had regained his composure, Blueshift had passed him and was heading toward the water. At least, that was his guess, since only Blueshift's snout and a cloth hood were illuminated by his bobbing angler. "Where're you goin'? Rosewood's that way, south," he said, pointing.
Blueshift's head swiveled, but the rest of him kept walking. "Ch'ot, south," he said, pointing south as opposed to Raven pointing north. "Ch'o, itchy!" he complained. The dry mud had cut of his sweat glands for too long. He needed to get wet!
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:07 pm
The murmer of voices grew nearer -- two or three, less than he had figured. Good. Perhaps it was just a couple of humans out for a walk. Though Bolide was mostly submerged, he had kept his snout out of the water. He needed to be able to scent the approaching humans, and he couldn't very well do that if he were using his gills instead of his lungs. The switch over to lung-breathing -- requiring a very noisy expulsion of water from his respiratory system -- would have alerted the newcomers to his presence.
The faint glimmer of light that reached his eyes intrigued him. It was very faint, yellowish in tone. Not like the usual human electric torches. Bolide inhaled slowly, wondering if the humans had fire with them. Them and their damned beach bonfires. The scent of fire was sharp and unmistakable, but Bolide couldn't catch any of it. The good smell of the sea diluted the scents coming in off the land, but Bolide could catch a trace of human. Human and... something.
Raising his head just enough to lift his eyes clear of the water, Bolide stared thoughtfully at the beach. One human and one other, heading towards the water. They were illuminated by some kind of light strapped to the smaller human's head. It was shrouded by the short human's lumpy clothing. Hmmm. Bolide was perplexed. Maybe they were divers. He liked divers. Bolide carefully edged closer, hoping for a better look. The waves broke cleanly over his broad back, his dorsal fins now completely out of the water. Bolide didn't think the humans would notice him yet. They had notoriously poor night vision.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:37 pm
Blueshift pricked his ears at the sudden sound from the sea, causing his hood to slide back a bit. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Raven heard it, too, but he was paying more attention to Blueshift than the noise, so when Blueshift stopped, he wasn't sure what happened. Did he smell someone? "What's wrong?" he whispered.
"PSHHHHHHT," Blueshift exhaled, trying to imitate the sound.
Raven wasn't quite sure what Blueshift meant by that at first, but it dawned on him after a moment. "Oh! Just a whale. Or a dolphin."
"Whale?" Blueshift asked, curious of this new word.
"Big, giant, fish-like thing that breathes air. Dolphins are smaller."
"Oh." Blueshift blinked. "Dangerous?" he added, as an afterthought.
"Naw, not this close to shore."
That was all Blue needed to hear. He gallumphed towards the water, looking for a good spot to roll around. He saw, what he thought, were some pointy, moss-covered rocks sticking above the water, so he veered away from them. As he was turning, though, he did catch scent of something fishy, yet not a fish. He didn't care at the moment, though, since all he was worried about was getting wet.
"Wait!" shouted Raven, trotting after him. "You can't go in with clothes on, you'll get them wet." Blueshift stopped, and was violently yanked out of his baggy hoodie-thing. He grumbled his disapproval at having no warning, but Raven wasn't listening. Instead, he was grinning at how silly Blueshift looked, having brown hands, tail, and face, with a bright lue and white body. Blue was not amused at his mocking look, turning back to the water, fuming inside.
Now that Blue's eyes weren't shaded by the hoodie, he could see better. Especially those pointy rocks, which didn't really look so much like rocks to him anymore. That weird smell was coming from them, too. Blue went for a closer look, while Raven, whose eyes were worse and had little light to see with anyway, remained oblivious, putting his hoodie back on.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:52 pm
Sinking a bit lower in the water, Bolide considered. One human and one Cambrian, of a type he'd never seen before. At least it's not a smoochy couple, Bolide thought. He didn't really want to be pounced on by a couple of humans slobbering all over each other like rabid dogs. The romantic moonlit beach. Yeah, right.
Though slightly annoyed that these two had chanced to come upon his sleeping place, Bolide was curious. He hadn't met these two at the Institute. Perhaps they were terrorists? Bolide knew that some of the extremist groups adopted Cambrians themselves. Weird, but true. Maybe they were just lost.
Even a day away from human civilization had served to calm Bolide somewhat, and he decided to reserve judgement for now. Using his claws to push himself up out of the sand, the large Cambrian began to cruise slowly through the shallows, making a wide half-circle around the unlikely pair at the water's edge. He was careful not to come in too close, not wanting to fully reveal himself yet, but it was obvious that something large was moving slowly through the shallow waters. Bolide lifted his head up, blowing out another gust of briny air as he struggled to catch the scents of the human and young Cambrian before him.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:18 pm
Blueshift blinked as the rocks receded and something large started swimming in an arc. Was this a whale? It certainly was large and fish-like. Blue sunk to his belly and dragged hiself to the shore's edge. Rolling around in the shallow shallows, he was annoyed that, not only couldn't he venture into even a reasonable amount of water, but that Raven lied when he said that whales didn't come close to shore. The mud was more prevalent in his mind, however, so he chalked it up as another reason to loathe being stuck with Raven.
Raven kept lookout as his charge flopped around like a beached fish. This made his visible light quite erratic, but even he could see the shadow in the water. He never saw a bull sea lion get that big, but what else could it be? Even though it was exhaling like a dolphin, it couldn't be one. It would've beached itself by now, said what was left of Raven's logic.
Unless...
Unless it was a shark!
Panic mode kicked in then, and Raven ran for Blueshift, trying to drag him out of the lapping water by the tail. "Outoutout!" he shouted. Although Blueshift had no idea what was going on, he could feel adrenaline pumping through him in response to Raven's paniced frenzy. Instead of giving in to what Raven was feeling, Blueshift used this surge of energy to fuel his anger. Raven kept tugging at Blue's tail, but he was fighting a losing battle as Blueshift pulled himself further out into the water. Soon, they both spiralled downward into an all-out flail-fest.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:31 pm
The young Cambrian with the funny head-light had noticed him, but continued to splash away. Bolide ducked his head beneath the waves, breathing the water in. Ahhh, this was much better. He could smell mud, sweat, the strange sour-sweet smell of the alien Cambrian's flesh. He could smell... anger. Not much, but some. Curiouser and curiouser. Bolide turned and circled closer. The glowy young Cambrian looked a bit like his squishy friend Faculae. Two arms, a long body... this guy looked quite a bit more muscular than Faculae, though. And was it a guy? Bolide hovered in the shallow water, thoughtfully swishing the water around in his mouth. Funny thing, he couldn't tell the gender of the newcomer.
At the human's sudden outburst, Bolide froze. What was going on now? Obviously he had been spotted, but ... hmm. The human seemed to be hauling on his charge's tail, while the obstinate Cambrian was squirming into deeper water. As the two fell to fighting, Bolide kicked forward. Stupid, they would both drown if they carried on like that. Hadn't their mothers ever told them they couldn't horseplay in the ocean? The huge Cambrian swept forward, gliding easily through the water -- his grace hampered somewhat by the fact that his hands and knees were now scraping through the sand. Rising awkwardly to a kneeling position in the surf, Bolide reached for the thrashing duo, trying to snag them in his claws and seperate them.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:44 pm
Bolide's grab was successful, rendering the two apart. The sudden sensation of being lifted extinguished any fighting between the two of them rather successfully.
Raven, having been grabbed by the hood, squirmed to haul himself up enough so as to not be inadvertantly strangled by his own clothing. Water dribbled out his nose and mouth, but the appearance of this giant thing silenced any coughing. Instead, he made odd heaving sounds with his throat as he tried to force the rest of the water out of his lungs quietly. If he could see and wasn't half-drowned already, the sight of Bolide probably would've made him relieve himself by now, but survival mode had kicked in, and the giant shark creature's prescence merely disquieted him with an odd mix of fear and respect. He rather liked having a head, thank you very much.
Blueshift, on the other hand, was hauled up by the base of his skull. He snorted a stream of water out of his airways and onto Raven. His anger quickly switched from Raven to his captor, then fizzled out altogether just as quickly. The giant whale holding him filled him with the most unusual sense of awe. He was HUGE! And, better yet, Raven even feared him! He grinned at this thought, that Raven truly was a low and pitiful creature fuelled by unrestrained emotion. If this whale killed him, he would definately die happy.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:03 pm
Seeing that both of his captives had ceased struggling, Bolide carefully set them down. "Good," he said, satisfied. "You are not fighting in the water. You are small..." His voice trailed off for a moment as he attempted to find the right words. "You don't breathe good, in the water," he finished, gesturing to his gills with one heavy foreclaw.
With the fresh air searing into his lungs, Bolide couldn't quite catch the scent of these two. If he wanted to sniff them again, he would have to dunk them and smell them underwater. That wouldn't work. He had just dragged their silly selves out of the water. Judging by their facial expressions -- though it was difficult for Bolide to interpret the blue Cambrian's -- the human was frightened and the young bluey ... satisfied. Or angry. Or both. Bolide couldn't tell for sure.
Bolide stepped back a few paces, hunkering down on his haunches to observe the duo carefully. They didn't seem too threatening. Probably not Pikaia's Children. He didn't know what they were, other than fools to try to drown one another in a couple feet of water. He remained silent and still, content to watch and wait for their next move. The saltwater streamed from his gills and the pores in his hood, tinkling merrily into the waves.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:42 pm
Both of them nodded their heads at Bolide's words. Raven did it more out of respect, since he really didn't want to risk getting it angry. Blueshift nodded because, well, it was true. Inhaled water seared his insides, almost as much as being around Raven for too long did.
After regaining himself in silence, Raven thought of something. This thing could talk, and certainly wasn't human, so that had to make him... somethign else. Something like Blueshift, even. So maybe he knew how far the Institute was!
Or, he could be a spy for the Children, in which case, he was probably dead where he sat. He swallowed hard at that thought.
Well, no. If he was a spy, he wouldn't be just watching them, and Blue would probably be disemboweled by now, or worse.
So after a bit of sitting and staring blankly, in which Blueshift used to itch at the tip of his slightly throbbing tail, Raven raised his hand. If almost drowning in barely three feet of water didn't seem silly enough, acting like this was a schoolroom certainly brought it to that level, and possibly beyond. He realized that was a pretty stupid move rather quickly, and grabbed his hand behind his back.
"Uhh, hi," he started. He was talking to a giant, talking fish, what else was there to say? "I'm Raven, and he's Blueshift." The blue Cambrian snorted in recognition. "We were wondering..." Blueshift interrupted with a throaty cough. He was in no part responsible for their meandering, but he wasn't about to start speaking to Raven to tell him so. Not after what just happened.
"Fine," Raven said, rolling his eyes. "I was wondering if that," he said, pointing in the direction Blue had earlier, "is where the Institute is. Y'see, we're kinda... uh..."
"Lost," Blueshift concluded. If Raven had listen to him ealier, they wouldn't be here right now. Not being able to understand what he was saying was no excuse.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:09 pm
Why was the human reaching up to him? Did he want to shake hands? Did he want to pet Bolide? Bolide noted the lowering of the hand with some relief. He didn't want some stranger touching him inappropriately.
"The raven is a bird," Bolide retorted. Bolide was not in favor of birds. Screechy, smelly, irritating things, with stringy meat and feathers that scratched his throat. Nasty birds. Blueshift, that was an okay name. The Cambrian was blue. Understandable.
As Bolide remained hunched over in the water, the thought occurred to him that he was naked. Maybe that was why the human was afraid of him. Bolide usually wore his lederhosen or some form of lower-body garb when on land, but he swam naked. No sense ruining his clothes with salt water, it was hard enough to find clothes in his size in the first place. The Cambrian took another step back, making sure his lower body was underwater. Humans had the oddest nudity taboos. Once he had seen a man in a trenchcoat, pulling it off in public to reveal his naked parts. People had run screaming! How silly. Didn't humans know that they were all naked under their clothes? Weird, weird.
"Why you going to the Institute?" he asked suspiciously. "It is south, yes. The way you are going." Raven and Blueshift seemed far too incompetent to be Children, but looks could be deceiving. They were probably just seeking sanctuary, but if they attempted to trick him he could always kill them. "Sorry to be naked," he added.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:48 pm
"Well, yeah, I guess it's a bird, too." He never really thought of that much. Raven was his name; whatever else was called a raven was, well, not him.
The human saw him shifting in the water, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe he was sitting on a rock? Blueshift, however, saw that he was just moving back. For a second, he thought the whale would haul out, leaving him alone with Raven again! How dreadful.
"'Cause it's safe," Raven said, as if that was obvious. He always imagined the Institute as looking like those old castles, and there'd be no way Pikaia's Children could break into it. Talking, too, was making him a bit bolder, though there was still that fear that, since he could clearly lift Raven, what worse thing could this giant thing do? He was relieved, however, that they now knew the way for sure. Blueshift shot his compainion an "I told you so" sneer, but Raven missed it.
Raven, however, was caught off-guard by his next statement. He hadn't even though of that. "Not problem," Blueshift added, when Raven clearly wasn't going to say anything on it, being lost in thoughts he'd rather not think. After all, Blueshift himself was clothesless normally. He didn't quite get why humans wore clothes, anyway. Maybe they were trying to make up for their bland skin patterns.
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Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:31 pm
Safe? Well, okay. The Institute probably would be safe for Raven and his companion. Not very interesting, but safe. The two could probably do with some protection; Blueshift was obviously young and the human didn't seem terribly smart.
Bolide nodded approvingly at Blueshift's comment. Most of the Cambrians he had met didn't mind being naked. Human clothes were terribly uncomfortable, for him at least. "You are blue. Good." As a compliment, it was a little odd, but Bolide appreciated the younger Cambrian's interesting colors.
"We will go," he said abruptly, gesturing south once more. He couldn't let these two wander off into the night alone. It would screw up his plans, but he would have to shepherd them back to the Institute. Bolide sighed. He was terribly tired, but he didn't think that Raven and Blueshift would like to sleep on the beach.
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