|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:20 pm
Cody was praticing a new technique in the beach shallows. He knew for some time that was one of the best places to hunt for shellfish, but the problem was locating it when they were burried under the sand. Now that he was able to use echolocation the task was easier
He was still quite new at using it and still couldn't make complete sense of the foggy images he got in return, but after some tries he had realised that different sounds produced different readings. The higher and faster the pitch the better he could "see", but it only worked at short distances
That was what he was doing right now, standing almost vertically in the water, trying to locate the clams under the sand. His tail was often exposed in the surface, kicking back and forth as he tried to keep his balance in the middle of the waves
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:42 pm
Jordan staggered out of his duplex, rather precariously. Getting out had been a chore as he’d needed to move the desk chair towards the door and balance on his weight on the middle leg while shakily leaning forward and simotaneously gripping and pulling on the door knob. The result had been the dog falling to the floor as the door swung open harder than he expected.
It was hot outside- as usual- but it was nearly summer and it’d only get hotter, more humid, and unbearably miserable for Jordan in particular. The sand was hot too as usual as it crunched loudly in his ears. Of course, that wasn’t the only sound to hit his ears. The ocean sounds were much louder now as the many increasingly-familiar scents greeted him like a friendly neighbor.
Jordan was more than stressed lately and just wanted to relax on the beach. That’s when he heard it. The door… it had clicked shut. He looked over his shoulder, ready to shout his grievances when his ears twitched. Sounded like a whistle. Was someone down by the water? He gruffed, not wanting to be seen by anyone in this pathetic state, but he cautiously stepped forward. One paw moved forward and he hadn’t fallen. It took him a while, but he finally got down the water side, some sand on his face where he’d fallen a few times. His ears twitched again and there was definitely a nearby whistle but no one top be found. No wait.. there was... a shark? Alec?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:53 pm
Cody didn't notice the approaching islander. Usually his sharp sense of hearing would have been able to pick up the sounds above the surface, even with the waves crashing onto the sand, but he was too distracted by his hunting to be paying proper attention
He had been rather lucky so far. He still found the seafood by using his eyesight, detecting the little piles of sand with a hole in the middle where the clams had burried themselves. But occasionally his echolocation was able to pick what his eyes didn't
Finally having his hands too full to catch anything else, Cody resurfaced and got ready to eat in the beach, where his food had no hope to escape
That's when he noticed Jordan. At first he thought it was just a regular dog, but then he saw he actually had 6 instead of 4 legs. He had never seen anything like that before
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:03 pm
Jordan watched the swimming form and eventually received confirmation of the identity. That wasn’t Alec. That wasn’t remotely near the size he remembered Alec. This was a new face to him. He didn’t know what to do. His speech was so horrible that he’d sound like a drunk idiot, but saying nothing would also be stand-offish and he wanted to make a positive impression on this person.
The surfacing form took him by surprise, which caused the reaction to back up. That didn’t bode well with his unfamiliar new form as he stumbled over his many legs and crashed backwards onto his rear much like a dog. His ears flattened to his head in embarrassment, looking down at the sand instead of staring rudely at the dolphin-boy with an arm’s fill of clams.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:09 pm
Cody quickly made his way towards the new person, getting as close as he dared to go on dry land. He let out an inquisitive whistle, looking a bit worried
He was pretty sure he had never seen this person before, especially because of the number of legs. But on the other side he was quite positive Jordan was turning into a dog. And he simply loved dogs
"Yiieeer ck?"
(You ok?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:21 pm
Jordan rubbed the back of his right paw along his face, wiping away some of the sand, but also trying to play it off. This clumsy, uncoordinated body was terrible and the slightest shift in weight caused it to tilt or topple in the wrong way. He couldn’t keep this upright position for long though and he came crashing back down onto his paws. Too late to pretend that bit of embarrassment hadn’t happened.
Jordan looked up with some reluctance, nodding to Cody in greeting. Speaking was becoming a strain on his body with so much effort having to go towards movement. He tilted his head curiously. This person… seemed.. so young. His eyes widened at the thought of a child having to endure such treatment. The pain that came with the changes was unbearable for Jordan, no doubt for a kid!
“Wush zat?” Jordan tried to speak. It’d been a few days since he’d uttered a word, so it remained fairly garbled, as if his mouth were stuffed with marbles. “Ahm Jowden.” He introduced himself, not wanting to be rude. “who ah wu?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:35 pm
Cody blinked, a bit surprised to find someone else with speech problems, though not as bad as his own
From this closer observation Jordan seemed to still have some changes to go through, the shorter middle leg obviously being half way through development. His own changes had been pretty symetrical, so it was rather amazing to see someone with this type of problem. The kid couldn't help to feel sorry for this guy
Knowing that his own name sounded completely wrong when he spoke it, Cody written it down on the wet sand with one of his webbed fingers
He also written down the question he asked before, craking the back of one of the shells while he did it. He had learned the membrane holding the 2 pieces of shell together was the weak point and it was rather easy to chew it off. Thenn all he had to do was eat the nutricious invertebrate inside
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:56 pm
He wondered what the kid had gone through and then to be trapped in the water. At least Jordan could still move on land, but with the limp caused by his ungrown leg, he wished he could just swim around. Apparently, he was having speech issues like Jordan, but the dog could at least mispronounce his words instead of having to rely on animalistic sound. Jordan had been wondering if he’d be reduced to whines, whimpers, and barks soon enough. It was impossibly difficult to speak with this muzzle.
Cody was a crafty kid, writing his name in the sand. Jordan tried to smile, but it was hard to smile with a muzzle, so he wagged his tail to show him that he was pleased by this ingenuity. “Esh vewee nishe tah meet-cha, Cowdee.” Her tilted his head to the side seeing that the first question had been written down as well. Inwardly, he frowned. What could he say? He was doing terribly. He couldn’t walk three steps without face-planting to the ground. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t talk right, couldn’t get those blasted shorts off of his hindquarters (and they were really starting to hurt, straining against his body.
His eras flicked a few times, regarding Cody and formulating a response. He had to condense his words to conserve his strength. “Ahm not well, Cowdee. Ah hurt all ovah and ah cont walk or talk right. And etsh too hot fow mee.. ah hate tha heat and humeedity” Jordan lowered his head. Be strong, he thought. Be strong. "How ah wu? Doeeng well?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:20 pm
Cody smilled back and nodded, his way to say he was happy to meet Jordan too. But it soon faded as he heard the amount of trouble the dog-man was going through
He could relate with the man's troubles in many aspects. Walking was out of the question for him since he had lost his legs. Going back to his wheelchair was as well, not ust because of the back pains it caused, but because his last change implanted a fear of the solid ground. He only dared venture on it when knew he had good chances to drag himself back into the water
Heat was also a problem. As long as he kept himself in the water the chances of overheating were small. But the insulation his blubber provided, combined with his dark skin, made the sun a terrible foe if he had nothing to help him cool off
Cody wrote down "I'm ok", eating the clam he just opened. He was trying to think of something that could help poor Jordan off, when it suddely clicked
He looked back into the water and quickly wrote "Want to swim? Water is colder and I can help". He was pretty sure he could handle Jordan's weight if he ever had trouble keeping himself afloat. The kid was stronger than he looked, with a heavy tail packed with muscle and deep lungs to handle long dives. He was surely more than able to act as a lifeguard
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:52 pm
Jordan had never liked the heat and the humidity, even though he’d lived in central Florida all his life, where it was always in the 90s and the humidity was almost at 100% saturation everyday. But now his canine body was even less suited for this climate, torture in and of itself beyond what Moreau could do to him from time to time. The heat had quickly become an immediate concern for him upon his first change, which led to keeping his duplex at a constant frigid 50 degrees farenheit.
A swim sounded refreshing, as he’d done that early on to cool off his fur-covered body, but now he really was afraid he’d drown. It was terrifying to think of himself flailing with those many paws only to sink like a rock. Jordan visibly shuddered and at first he lowered his head and flattened his ears. He let out a sigh and shook his head, making the triangular ears flap against his head. He had to conquer this body’s drawbacks… his many fears as well. At least he’d ventured outside, but that was only out of necessity. His duplex was too cramped to move properly for practicing movement. Jordan wouldn’t know if he could do this if he never tried. And hey… he could just go as far as wading height for his quadrapedal body and if he became scared, he could pull back and sit on the beach.
Jordan cautiously stepped into the softer sand and immediately, his front left paw sank, eliciting a frightened whine from him. He struggled to pull out the paw from the wet sand but in the process of the jerky movements, his hindquarters pushed him forward, dislodging his paw from the sand. He padded even more carefully, sinking from his weight and struggling to pull himself free. The water licked the fur of his paws as the waves rushed towards him.
He turned his head, hung low, towards Cody, whimpering with a look of total fear. “Ah.. ahm shcared ah’ll drown…”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:13 pm
Cody watched with a bit of fascination and fear at Jordan's movements. He still remembered enough body language to tell the dog man was afraid, but he wasn't completely sure of what until he heard his whimper
There wasn't much he could help right now, not until he was further down in the water. It was already troublesome enough to pull himself in
After struggling to drag his weight back into the sea and into the safety of the water, Cody turned around to face Jordan, a confident smile in his face
"Eouuuh wooyiie, yiee houuuk yieeek woii ckkyiieeehnck k"
(Don't worry, I won't let you sink)
To make sure he understood, the boy positioned his body parallel to the tauric dog's, so he could grab his back for support
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:26 pm
He stepped gingerly, or as best he could in the ungraceful body. His ears remained pinned to his head the deeper he padded into the water and panic began to set in when he was up to his neck in water. The world was so frightening down so low. Jordan tilted his head up and off to the side, huffing out breaths to keep salty water from getting into his mouth. He squinted his eyes to prevent the same from happening to his eyes.
Although, he couldn’t understand what the boy was saying, he had a feeling he was trying to tell him not to be afraid. Jordan had to be strong. He had to conquer fear before it swallowed him whole and destroyed him. He could feel his body begin to wade into the water, the panic increasing when he couldn’t feel the sand underneath his paws anymore. The waves were knocking him around without control of direction, tugging him out then pushing him back. He whimpered louder at this feeling of weightless helplessness. He splashed closer to Cody, keeping his head above water the whole way. His body began to sink and not knowing how deep the water was anymore, he reached out frantically, and held onto the dolphin boy’s torso like a life raft.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:37 pm
Cody positioned himself better, his body almost beneat Jordan's one. It wasn't as easy as it seemed to help the poor guy keeping himself afloat, mostly becase of all the paniced movements he made
Considering the implanted idea that all dogs knew how to swim, it was weird for the boy to see this man having so much trouble paddling. It never occured to him that the waves and the currents could difficult the canine's movements. He was just so used to them that he barely paid attention anymore
With some effort Cody managed to move both of them back to where Jordan could use his paws to anchor him in the sand. With that point of support it would be easier for the boy to keep him from being dragged again
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:52 pm
“Ahm shorry… ah paneeked…” Jordan apologized once he was back on firmer footing, while still being within the water. He loved swimming all his life, having lived on a peninsula before the island, and he’d always enjoyed it in weeks past. He didn’t let go of Cody easily, even once he was back in shallower waters. He hung his head in shame. Jordan was so embarrassed to be such a coward infront of others, especially now. He would have drowned if the kid hadn’t been quick on his feet.
“Lemme trah agaun..” Jordan splashed a paw carefully. Since changing, his arms had been used as legs. It was strange, but he had to get used to it. Jordan splashed gently, literally doing the doggy paddle. He was having to re-learn everything to accommodate his five-legged form, swimming included.
Jordan grumbled as he didn’t have full motion over his hindlegs. Those shorts he’d transformed in still clung tightly and with all that fur, it hurt a lot. His middle leg kicked as well, even the tiny paw kicked, trying to move like its ‘older brothers’. Having someone there to anchor him relieved some of the initial panic and Jordan began to tread water.
“Heey, ahm doeeng eet!” the excitement reflected in hs voice and his deep brown eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 3:07 pm
Cody kept a close eye on Jordan, but didn't say anything against his panic attack, only smilled to know he was ok. The only thing that hurt him a bit was the dog's thick claws when he clung to his rubbery body, but it wasn't enough to him to complain. Crabs hurted a lot more when they pinched his fingers
The boy kept himself close to Jordan, just in case he needed extra support. It was interesting to watch all 6 limbs kicking the water, including the shrimpy leg
But there was one sound that caught his attention and got him worried. He could hear the fabric of shorts stretching and rubbing the hind legs in a way that sounded painful. The material was certainly in its limits and looked too tight to be confortable
Instead of resurfacing to cheer Jordan, Cody pushed the dog, trying to unbotton the shorts. The problem was his nailess fingers were having trouble to get a good grip and pull the fabric enough to let the button loose
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
