A Whale of a Tale
------[Mehen]
Korbin stood beside his tokota- the adventurous Cherry, borrowed from Anik- looking out into the ocean from where they sat on the shore. The orca, the massive stubborn beast who had been terrorizing some of the local communities, lurked there, watching them back. He was almost in disbelief that Russell had managed to beat the thing in a race.
It was fast, incredibly so, but Russell had been faster. He and his tokota had made an amazing team, and he was thoroughly proud of them. After a moment he wandered over to his lover with a bottle of water, offering it to him, before taking another bottle and a collapseable bowl to let the tokotas have their fill of a drink too.
"Congratulations, I don't think she'll be bothering the locals again for awhile at least, if she keeps up her end of the bargain anyways." He looked towards the whale as he said that, but he couldn't determine if she intended to break the deal or not. As he spoke, Cherry wandered over to lap up some of the water poured for the tokotas, thirsty after her long run.
The race had been long, really long actually, but watching Russell absolutely in his element and taking the challenge had been thrilling. He was pretty sure everyone was going to be wiped out after that though, it had been a hell of a run.
------[Cantbreakthis]
Speed had always been something of second nature to Russell. Maybe it had been even better that it had been a challenge as well, but the race had been one long and arduous. Quartz had been pushed hard and the roan male was literally exhausted, flopped on the sand next to the handler.
Russell was tired as well. He’d gotten used to riding but it had still been a push to control the tokota as much as possible, not wanting to drive the poor male to death in the process. The half mane finally yawned and visibly stretched, looking calm and content, before he reached his head forward to investigate first his sister then to see what Korbin was doing.
Really a part of the redhead couldn’t believe that he’d managed to win the race either… not that he’d ever say that. Keeping the overconfident persona was all a part of the façade after all!
“Yeah, gotta hope so. Guess if she starts bein’ trouble again someone else’s gotta race and beat her too. Nevah know.” At the very least the harassment wasn’t dangerous levels of hostile – a creature that size could cause some serious damage.
Quartz finally shifted, shaking off the sand and causing the younger of the two men to laugh, before he moved over to get a drink as well. Meanwhile the third of the tokotas present, the tiny little toki Bhadra, was trying to get a good look at the massive orca that was still lurking and watching them.
What was it? Why was it here? She’d seen the handlers running like wildfire and had been hard pressed to keep up with her stubby little legs, but right now there was none of that silliness. The little female moved forwards into the water, feeling it lap over her feet, before she offered an audible bark towards the orca… greeting it, trying to figure it out further.
“Do’ya think she’s gonna be a problem again?”
------[Mehen]
Of course, the other man was fast, was a runner and racer and oh he could definitely beat most people on his own. On a tokota, it was beyond impressive. He hadn't known they could move so quickly, and even the whale had seemed surprised by it. Of course, he wondered if that had just been arrogance on the whale's half.
Of course, Korbin was sure they were both going to be damn sore the next day from riding so hard. It would be a whole new kind of pain for them, similar to other pains perhaps but definitely...different. Korbin could remember it from riding horses.
Cherry eagerly licked her brother's nose, her tail wagging happily. She didn't know fully what was going on but she knew he had run fast and hard, and she was so proud of him! Her brother had done amazingly, and she loved that.
"I suppose we'll find out in time, at the very least for now she's not causing any trouble. She's just sitting there." He laughed, watching the whale float where she had been for the past few minutes.
When the roan male shook off, he chuckled lightly. It was good to see the tokota wasn't too worn down from all this action, that was definitely a good thing. The little toki didn't even seem too bothered, and he watched as she shuffled over to investigate.
Cherry followed Bhadra, wading into the water with her, wagging her tail as she looked towars the Orca. Though it didn't try to come closer- knowing the dangers of the shallows- she did look over at the tokotas, and sink below the surface of the water before propelling herself upwards and leaping up, to show off a bit. They were interested in her, why not show off eh?
"I don't think so. I think she was just after a bit of fun, none of it was very harmfull I think, just annoying." He laughed softly. "Though maybe she'll do it more just to get races out of it now." Whoops.
------[Cantbreakthis]
It could’ve possibly been arrogance on the whale’s part. Could she even feel arrogance? Perhaps she could. What mattered the most was that the race had been won – it almost made Russell miss his work back at base, far far away from here. Almost. Everything else that came along with it sure did put a damper on that.
Needless to say it had been a tough race. While the reward for winning was a darn good thing in the long run they paid the price and would suffer the consequences for it as well – it was what it was, right? They would be fine with a few days’ rest.
Happy to have the attention of his sister Quartz moved to lick her back, not wanting to move around too much. It was lucky the moist sand on the beach was of the soft sort, otherwise his paws would’ve likely been bleeding from the amount of effort that had been taken to win the race. Even better he’d had the support of the only sibling he’d actually been allowed to get close to.
“Probably curious or somethin’.” Weren’t orcas known for being curious? Russ knew that they were very intelligent animals and with an audible grunt he moved to push up into a sit, glancing over in her direction. Yep, just watching them for right now. “Mebbie she’s impressed we totally handed her fin to her.”
Okay okay. That was just awful wasn’t it?
Tongue flitting out Quartz was greedy in lapping up water he could but he almost certainly had the common sense to not go and make himself sick with it. He needed to drink now that he’d actually cooled back down a little bit.
Of course Bhadra wasn’t too bothered. She might be on the quieter side on a normal basis but this was her very first time ever being at the ocean. It was all new and exciting! Even better there were only a few tokotas this time with them and she was less intimidated with fewer numbers.
She glanced over towards Cherry when the roan female joined her, tongue lolling out between her lower range of teeth, before she all but danced in the shallow waters… spurred on a bit by the orca when she leaped. That was so cool! What a neat big fish thing.
“Heh. Gimmie a couple days and I’ll give her ‘nother race. Don’t think I’ve ever rode like that on a tokota before.” Stretching a bit he moved to lean to the side, just wanting to prop himself up with his lover’s weight for the moment. “I think Luce would’a really liked it here.” Maybe, just maybe, he really was starting to miss his best friend horridly.
------[Mehen]
This whale was certainly more intelligent than most seemed to be- but he felt like whales were smarter than they were given credit for. They were, after all, mammals with a complex hierarchy and everything. Also, unique languages, if research was to be believed.
Oh there would be concequences for their actions, but not necessarily horrible ones. Not in the least. They'd just be a bit sore for a few days and would have to take it easy, no big deal.
Cherry was definitely happy to have her brother around. Maybe they weren't the closest of siblings, but they were family and she adored him just for being around. She would support him, always.
"Probably." Korbin agreed. At Russell's bragging, however, he laughed. "Maybe she is, but I wouldn't taunt the whale, she's still way bigger than you are, and she has more teeth." He teased lightly. It had been a relatively fair competiton, they should regard her with respect.
Cherry would join in the dancing and splashing, playing in the water with Bhadra excitedly. It was all new to her too, and she was definitely glad to have a friend along to enjoy it with- and her brother if he ever wandered his way down into the water. After their run, it was incredibly refreshing just to be in the cool ocean waters.
"You're going to feel that later." He chuckled, shifting a bit to support Russell better. "I think he would too, Vadim as well..." There was a bit of sorrow in his voice, missing both of them terribly. "We'll have to bring them sometime." Promosing that they'd find time to come back to this beautiful place.
"We should rest a bit here, we can head back in a little bit." No point in leaving just yet, they were enjoying the view, and well...they were tired. Rest was important too. They'd done what they'd come there for, and there were no other obligations for them that day anyways.