
X
X
Name
Pingu
Gender
Female
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X
Extra
Pingu lay gazing down at the water that sloshed against the rocks she had been warming on. The sun was high in the sky, gracing all the land around her in comfort and warmth that she had been greedily been soaking up. A soft purr was ringing from her throat as she was lulling herself to sleep listening and warming.
Her eyes shot open as cold sea foam rained down on her from a wave crashing on a nearby rock. She shook her head, annoyance clouding her good mood, and attempted to groom the salt out of her fur- not that it mattered when a growl curled through her innards letting her know it was time to fetch something to eat.
With fluid motion, she stood and gave a big stretch to shake the sleepiness from her muscles. It was high time to find food for herself, but as she looked down to the water, she was unsure. She was hungry, certainly, but she wasn't willing to jump headlong into the surf without knowing food lay close by. She decided to take her chances inland, and turned tail, bolting away across the beach and into the tree grove.
It took all of two hours for Pingu to now that this was a fruitless effort. She had exhausted all of the fruit bushes on this side of the island, and none of the good animals would be out in the heat of the day like this. She sighed once she found herself back at the edge of the water with a grimace.
She wasn't the best swimmer, even with her fins. And she wasn't much like the other Nepts she's met, with a wee bob tail compared to their powerful mer-tails built overtime for swimming, but her wee bob was more fit for running through the trees and being lightweight as it was, she was a pretty decent climber. That didn't mean much, though, when it was time to swim with the others... she was a right fish out of water in those moments.
But her stomach urged her forward, into the water. She slipped effortlessly from her warm rock and dove into the churning water. The feeling of weightlessness was a common one, but the push and pull of the water against the rocks now at her back was something she needed to get acclimated to for a few short moments. Her head broke the surface in time for a quick breath before she kicked back into the water.
Her limbs moved with practiced motions, and her fins at her elbows aided in propelling her further, but her little twitching tail really slowed her progress onward. She had to thrash more than anything to sink lower and lower into the water until she was off the coast into the salty waters. Around her fish moved, yet every time she tried to chase after one, they sped away from her quicker than she could follow. After a few shots at 'fishing' she was tired, hungry, and brine began to collect in bunches on her fur. It would take her quite a bit of time to clean herself and she groaned inwardly until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bit of flash.
A few tail lengths away was a bioluminescent jellyfish, flubbing along in the water. It was dark enough to see bright tendrils of light flash down its long whisker-like appendages. This little creature, so insignificant and little in this ecosystem, was perfectly in place. It was exactly where it should be with its hoard of jelly companions, elegantly drifting through the brine. No fishtail to guide it, and no hurry or question of its presence. She floated there, letting the currents dictate her movements just as it did the lowly jellyfish that wafted slowly ahead of her and all at once the punch of jealousy to be one of them hit her.
She didn't quite belong on the land, and never quite working well enough in the water. She came back several times after that, enjoying the feeling of serenity these little creatures displayed. They were simply there, living as best they could. Why couldn't she manage as much, living as best she could with what she was given?