Dolphin Hunt

Perched on a low-hanging outcropping in the Bay of a Thousand Scales, Petrel was waiting for some dolphins.

The locals had told her a pod often played in this area. A single dolphin could feed her for days- and she could swap the inedible bits for... something useful. Probably.

The sky was clear, and the slowly setting sun illuminated the waters around the tiny island perfectly. Far ahead, Petrel spotted a disturbance in the water. Small grey backs flashed briefly on the surface. Dolphins! Briefly, she remembered an old Seawing history anecdote. Hadn't some ancient queen forbidden the hunting of dolphins? Typical royal frivolousness. Petrel shot off of the outcrop and into the air, swooping low and swift towards the pod.

Clam followed Petrel into a dive. She was thankful for Petrel finding the pod and dived deep into the water. She loved to feel the coolness of the water on her scales and soon was jumping up and out of the water like the dolphins to catch up with them.

Petrel heard the beating of Clam's wings from behind her. She'd almost forgotten the other dragon was there...

She beat her wings rhythmically, speeding just above the surface of the water. She saw Clam diving in it out of the water nearby. It didn't look nearly as graceful when a dragon did it! Petrel smothered a snicker and turned to the dolphins ahead. As she and Clam neared, they scattered into three rough groups, starting to plunge deeper under water.

Petrel twisted and folded her wings, diving straight down towards one of the fleeing groups. A smaller dolphin lagged behind the rest- perhaps a juvenile, not quite fully grown, but not a baby either.

As the momentum of her dive faded, she pumped with her front webs and tail to chase after it. The other two groups were vanishing fast, but she could hear their squeaks and clicks. Hopefully Clam knew enough about dolphin hunting to either back her up, or chase a different group and not get in her way.

Kaito watched the other dragons from a distance. What were they up to? they wondered, frills snapping tightly against their chest and back. Kaito gave a small growl, grateful the sea muffled the noise.
Then they heard the clicking and their ears flicked. Ah, dolphins. While Kaito enjoyed the company of less adroit creatures than dragons, being able to kill them and not be punished for it overwhelmed their love.
Let's join the hunt, shall we?

Clam dived after Petrel flapping her wings to keep up but her right wing started to ache, Darn Wing! She flashed and slowed down. It didn't seem like she could hunt today. Clam breathed out bubbles and just floated in place. She wished she could hunt like she used to. Instead she can only hunt little reef fish.

The little tail of the dolphin bobbed just a few feet from her noise. How frustrating! Petrel put snapped her tail viciously, jetting forward . She almost had it! She grabbed for its tail, claws outstretched. She almost managed to grab it, but it squirmed away, tail leaking blood from her claws.

I'll get you, she grumbled to herself. Even if she couldn't catch it, she might be able to drown it, but that would take an awfully long time...

It slowed from it's wounds. She closed in, grabbing and rending with all four limbs. It soon went limp.

There. Did Clam manage to catch anything? She wasn't sure why she'd agreed to let the stranger accompany her. Clutching her catch, she floated to the surface, wings gently outstretched. Clam was rocking gently in the waves, no dolphin in sight.

"You couldn't catch anything?" Petrel said, not bothering to hide her distaste. Why come if she couldn't catch a dolphin?

(i haven't mentioned kaito yet as i assume they're still somewhere where clam and petrel are unlikely to notice them?)

Clam's ears went down. And she then flashed to Petrel as embarrassment took over, "No, I didn't catch anything." Clam dropped her head and breathed out bubbles. She thought since her wing healed she can hunt again. It seemed like she was wrong.

//Yeah, Kaito is being pretty sneaky. At the moment they haven't gone anywhere, and they're a pretty safe distance away.

Kaito's claws itched to dart forward and snatch the dolphin right out of Petrel's talons. Their stomach gave a barely audible growl. But they had to wait. Maybe the pair would leave, and they could catch their own dolphin.

Clam soon looked around and saw Kaito in the distance. Who is that? She thought and swam slowly toward the other SeaWing.

Petrel scooted away from Clam with a flick of her tail. Was she just going to sulk? Well, she can't have any of my dolphin. She didn't help catch it. She ignored Clam's gloomy look and got down to business.

Taking the tail of the dolphin, she began to swim for the small island she had perched on earlier. The chase had taken her pretty far away. The angle of the from behind her directly illuminated its rock, but it would be dark fairly soon. I headed out just in time...

She glanced back at Clam. What was she doing? Despite herself, she felt a little twinge of pity. Whatever her reason for coming along, Clam looked pretty downtrodden. Whatever, it's none of my business.

She paused her journey, paddling to a stop with her back talons. Had Clam seen something? She followed the other dragon's gaze, but nothing caught her eye.

Clam tried to tell Petrel to come back but then saw that she went already. Fine, I'll just investigate this myself. She swam slowly to the other SeaWing.

When Kaito saw Clam moving towards them, they gave an annoyed chuckle and swam out of their hiding spot. "All right, you got me," they sighed dramatically. "Hi, I'm Kaito. Now leave me alone." A sharp edge crept into their voice on the last sentence.

Clam flashed some words, Well okay As she was swimming away she glanced back at Kaito as worry made her shiver. Something about that SeaWing was wrong… She will tell Petrel to have a look out for him.

A frail-looking Seawing with bright scales slipped out of apparently nowhere. Had that been what Clam was looking at? Petrel scowled at the stranger. They looked pretty annoyed- how long had they been there?

It looked like the other dragons were speaking, but Petrel was too far away to catch more than a muted murmur.

Should she cut in? The other dragon didn't look particularly dangerous, but Clam might be (deep sigh) offended if she just left with her catch. Social niceties might be a bother, but if Clam had much contact with the locals she might spoil her chances at getting help around here again.

Gently holding the dolphin to her chest, she paddled back to the other two dragons.

"The dolphins are gone," she said bluntly. Well, every alive dolphin anyway. That was probably why the other dragon was here, right?

(Guys, SeaWings speak aquatic)

//Oh, right, I forgot, pfft...

Kaito growled and flicked their tail. "How unfortunate," they signed, pausing between each burst of light to show their anger. I doubt these numbskulls will understand anyways.

(they also speak verbally- in the books, riptide speaks aquatic to tsunami when underwater, but uses verbal speech above. even seawings that both know aquatic will often use verbal speech above water in the books. however, i do see now that clam used aquatic in your previous post. when reading it, i wasn't quite sure what was going on! i thought it was just her thoughts. i'll pay more attention in the future. :-) )

(Oh really? I forgot about that)

Petrel frowned at Kaito. Rude. Not that she was one to talk.

"If you don't want to talk t-," she flashed quickly, but cut herself off. She wasn't about to say 'us'- she might be with Clam, but it was strictly business. When you talked about you and others like you were in a group, they got the wrong idea.

"... you can leave." she finished, after a pause. She openly squinted at the other dragon. You're big, but you don't look like much. Clam seemed nervous, but Petrel couldn't see what there was to worry about. Just a grumpy nobody who apparently liked to watch other dragons doing normal stuff.

Clam looked after Petrel. She swam in front of her so that she can see her lights, "Let's go back to the palace Petrel. I think we can probably hunt on the way there anyway." Clam glared at the SeaWing as she was swimming back. She felt something strange with Kaito, it wasn't bad or good… It was- strange.

"Fine by me," replied Kaito, but they didn't move as they watched the others swim off. They didn't want to overuse their animus powers, though that was the only way they could kill others in water and get away with it.
Kaito growled and shook the thought away, turning to look for that pod of dolphins.

(Why does Kaito always say They? Is he like GolluM?)