33 ap euphoria by shyadventures

    Eris had thought that, after sailing on the Irreverent for nearly three years, that he’d be able to handle a vessel alone. The craft Eris had borrowed wasn’t even a fraction the size of the warbird frigate he’d learned the waters on. It couldn’t even be called a sloop, if Eris was being honest with himself. That being said, Eris was having about as much trouble with the stupid boat as he probably would trying to sail a frigate on his own.

    Without Piper at his side to balance the abominable thing, Eris probably would have flipped it more than once. A lot more than once. It was a blessing that Euphoria, Batman, and Bhean were content to fly alongside the boat instead of ride on it. 

    The sky was cloudless and vivid blue, the water crystal clear and running under the boat like silk. It was a middling temperature, not quite warm enough to be ideal, but neither was it cold. Eris wore a light coat, and he was thinking about how he was going to break it to Piper that she’d need her own coat clipped some time soon.

    Bhean dove into the water to swim every hour or two, staying until Eris’s boat outpaced her enough that she had to take to the sky to catch up. Eris could tell that Piper wanted to join the brown tyto in the water, but was loathe to leave Eris defenseless against the wooden monster he rode down the river.

    Skimming the top of the water, Euphoria sent glittering droplets of water flying with a swift stroke of her wings. The liquid rolled off of her iridescent feathers, leaving a sparkling trail as she swept up into the sky. The hawk hadn’t yet made the decision to actually get into the water. Instead, she’d contentedly stayed above the treetops alongside the river, punctuating her flight with an occasional drop to the water’s surface.

    Batman, on the other hand, had stayed well away from the water, not even daring to fly over it. He stayed among the trees, mostly out of sight. On the occasion Eris did catch sight of him, the chiroptera’s acrobatic stunts to keep between the branches impressed Eris nearly enough to forget about his boat troubles.

    Piper shuffled slowly towards Eris, huffing beneath her breath as she tried to draw his attention. It took Eris a moment to notice her, as most of his attention was focused on keeping track of the stryx and keeping his boat above the water. It wasn’t until Piper gently butted his hand with her nose that he realized she was there.

    “Hey beautiful, what do you need?” Eris murmured, adjusting his stance to accommodate Piper’s new position. He brushed his hand over her head, ruffling the thick fur beneath her ears. “Piper?”

    Bhean smashed into the water ahead of them, spraying droplets across the boat. She resurfaced with a salmon and tossed the fish onto the shore. A second later, she joined it on the rough sand and rock riverbank. Euphoria made a pass at the catch, but didn’t go further when Bhean squawked at her.

    Piper’s mouth dropped open and she panted excitedly, glancing between Eris and the salmon, asking for permission. Eris could hear the absolute elation in her Voice, her tension quivering through the air.

    “I never said you had to stay on the boat, Pipe,” Eris told her.

    Without further ado, Piper leaped off of the boat and hit the water with an inelegant splash. The boat rocked violently in her wake, and it was all Eris could do to keep it upright.

    Eris could swim, but that didn’t mean he wanted to. Especially since he’d have to figure out some way to right the damn thing.

    Batman popped out of the treeline as Piper dragged a still-flopping salmon onto the bank. He hit a thin bush when he was about two yards away from the brown vayron and the impact sent him spiraling past his target and into the water.

    Fortunately, Eris was far enough downstream from him that the shockwave the chiroptera sent through the river didn’t reach the boat.

    Surfacing much closer than Eris had expected, Batman’s head broke the water with a high, aggravated screech. Batman could swim, but that didn’t mean he was positively inclined towards the activity.

    Euphoria skimmed the surface of the water once again, coming up with a smaller salmon after a quick strike into the water with her talons. Batman spotted the action, and immediately set about trying to chase down the salmon underwater.

    His level of success was about parallel with a cat trying to swat a fly with a tree trunk.

    That is to say, not successful at all.

    At least until Bhean joined in and, in conjunction with Euphoria, used their shadows over the water to scare the fish towards the chiro.