Saturday, May 25, 2013

Prompt: Wolf Underwater


Benna padded across the moonlit sand to the water’s edge. She took a dancing step back at the next wave’s advance, then jumped forward and leaned down, snapping at the water and tossing it up in the air.

You look like a foolish pup! Golen admonished from the treeline.

Benna jumped around in an exaggerated play bow, then whirled back to face the water, tail high to show her disdain for his concern. He growled low in his throat, and she wagged her tail, teasing or appeasing, he couldn’t tell.

It’s time, then, pup. What are you waiting for? Golen tried to infuse more irritation than amusement into his tone.

Still wagging her tail and playfully bounding into the waves, Benna ran into the water, her white coat quickly hidden by the surf. Golen’s golden eyes glittered in the moonlight as he settled into the leaf litter, tucking his paws under his chin, to wait for her return. He had dreamed of the ocean since he was a pup on his mother’s teat, but his white fur darkened to black under his first new moon. He would never go underwater like the white wolves. He closed his eyes to slits, keeping watch while he rested. He dreamed.

Benna jumped over the waves when they first splashed cold water on her belly, then she took a deep breath and dove into the next one. She crouched low under the turbulence, and as her paws touched the sand, she started walking. The first breath underwater was always the most challenging, just like the first breath back in air. It helped to find a distraction, and Benna looked around the deepening water for something to—

There! An urchin! Careful, careful, or she’d be pulling the nasty sharp spines out of her nose for hours. She padded through the sand and tapped the urchin gently so that it floated up from the sand and hung in the water like a puffed up balloon fish. Benna slowly blew out the last of her air and opened her mouth to fill it with the cold salty water. She leaned closer to the urchin, noticing the little white tube feet waving in between the wicked brown and yellow spines. She swallowed the water and tried not to gag. If she gagged on the air when she returned, Golen would tease her all the way back to the den.

He’s just jealous, she thought meanly, then whined an apology in her head. It wasn’t Golen’s fault, and she knew how much he’d always wanted to come underwater. She would bring him something special. With that thought, she spread her paws wide and swam on, leaving the urchin bobbing in her wake as it drifted back down to the ocean floor.

Dogs in house:
Houdini


Time writing:
~20 minutes


May word count:
16,081

2 comments:

  1. Prompt: Wolf Underwater


    The intercom crackled. "Wolf Two to Wolf One, I can see..." Something unintelligible, then: "I'm going in."

    "No! Wait!" But I could tell from the static overriding my words that Grace had probably not heard me. "Negative on the entry, Wolf Two. Do you copy? Negative." Gah. I bet Grace knew I couldn't reach her, and was taking advantage. These young hot-shots thought they were immortal.

    I fired up my sub's propellers and aimed west, where Grace had been exploring along the trench. Whatever was it that she could be entering? We were in a mid-ocean trench, one of several criss-crossing this mainly water planet. Unlike coastal trenches, they did not tend to contain caves. But it was still unexplored, and we didn't know the history of the place yet. Perhaps the water level was once much lower.

    "Wolf Two, come in." No answer. We were out of range of Base, and she should have come back towards me when the connection got bad. Now we each out here on our own. We were here to support each other, dammit, not run off into...

    Freakin' queen of the universe, what _was_ that?

    My confused mind struggled to make sense of the sight. It looked like a city, or a ship, or a... dragon? Whatever it was, it was several times the size of Base, and _not_ a natural formation.


    Time writing: 75 minutes, active baby

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the coat colour tied to going underwater, neat!

    I wasn't quite sure if the second bit, with Benna's POV, was Golen's dream or not.

    ReplyDelete