A Home...for now {Open}

[Kitsune]

"I am wondering. Why should I catch you?" Kyran paused and tilted his head to the side, "You're the one who needs to get better at swimming so why don't you catch me." He let his tongue loll out of the side of his mouth as he slightly panted. Walking and running through the water was kind of difficult, plus wagging his tail against the water put a lot of his muscles to work. He was also getting a little bit thirsty, that however was a little bit easier and he quickly lapped at a little bit of the water. Honestly if he was getting a little bit tired then Mike was most likely a bit tired too, so if Mike was chasing him he could choose what he was doing instead of just running and then Mike could take it a little bit easier if he needed to do.

[yoko]

Mike stopped paddling to listen to Kyran. He had a point, even though at this point his legs were a little tired and he was pretty sure he'd need more energy to chase Kyran than to run away. It wouldn't be fair to make him do all the work though. So he decided to make a good effort to do the opposite before going to shore. "Alright, here I come!" And with a big push from a large rock he propelled himself directly towards Kyran. He was paddling full speed with strong strokes. He flatted his ears against his head, braced for a splashy onslaught.

[Kitsune]

Kyran decided he would make it a little easy on Mike. He did kind of have a rather unfair advantage over him. Mike was paddling fairly fast though and Kyran opened his mouth in his wide silly grin that he could do for a little bit anyway. His mouth got tired if he did it for too long. He started basically crawling across the rive bed, just staying high enough for his head to stay out of the water. What he would do was make it look like he had a plan to go around Mike, but instead it would most likely end up with him trapped against the bank. He let out a quick yawn before he kept on going. This really wasn't a fast movement but he was moving along at a fairly decent speed. The cool water really did feel nice now that it was heating up. Vaguely he wondered if Mike would realize there was a rock a little out of the water that he could get on and probably jump from it onto Kyran. If he didn't that was just fine but it would be interesting to see if Mike thought of it. He seemed pretty smart so he very well could.

[yoko]

Mike started after Kyran, working his hardest to get over there quickly. He soon found that in a river full of water, he was getting thirsty from the effort. He also noticed that Kyran didn't seem to be getting very far ahead of him, though he'd been right on his tail earlier. He suspected that maybe his new friend was going easy on him and another feline might have been insulted by this, but Mike was rather touched. He was also determined not to appear pathetic by failing to catch Kyran, who was going so slow for him. At first, Mike swam right by the rock, which had a rounded top that was barely above the water. Then, realizing the possibilities, he swam right back around and scrambled his way up, Standing up there, he wasn't sure this was going to work. He was drenched and weighed down heavily by the water. But still, he bunched together his muscles and lept, aiming right for Kyran's back with his paws (not his claws for he had learned from accidentally killing the prey earlier) outstretched. He prayed to whatever was looking out for them that he would land on his back because otherwise he'd be going under that cool river water.

[Kitsune]

Kyran's eyes widened and he couldn't help but admire just how much power Mike had in his legs. Even soaking up he was able to make an amazing jump. Kyran realized though that he probably wanted to stand up a little bit more so they both didn't go underwater when Mike landed on him. He barely had time to brace himself before Mike landed on his back. He let out a grunt of air and he had to steady himself before he fell over. "That was an amazing jump!" Kyran gasped out once he got some air into his lungs. He realized it was probably a good time where he was standing was a slightly more sandy than other parts of the river because otherwise that might have hurt his paw pads. Although he hadn't been alive that long his pads had toughened up quite a bit, the water made them soften up though. "The question is what do you want to do now?" Kyran asked Mike the current feline getting a free ride on his back. He slowly walked closer to the bank making sure to stay steady so he didn't tip Mike off his back. Then he got a better idea and turned around back towards the middle of the river. "If you want you have stay up there and I'll swim us up to that larger rock up in the middle. The river gets a little deeper there and the current is a tad bit faster so I would feel better with you up on my back.." Kyran paused to lap up some water, his throat was getting a bit dry," Then we can lay on the rock and relax for a little bit. I feel like we are both tired. Or at least I am, I don't know about you."

[yoko]

Mike felt Kyran give a little as he landed ontop of him. The canine's fur was wet and slippery, but Mike managed to balance enough so that when he began to slip, his paws slipped down on either side of him, so he didn't fall off. Cold from the air touching his wet fur, Mike shook himself out a little and bent down to Kyran's ear. "Thank you. I wasn't sure I'd make it," he admitted with a small dry laugh. "Are you alright? I'm not too heavy am I?" Between his tired muscles and the weight of water, Mike felt he must be ten times heavier than he had been this morning, but in truth he probably didn't weigh that much more. He tilted his head at the question at first. He didn't know what he would like to do. He knew he definitely didn't want to travel now, not even to see Ebony. At Kyran's suggestion, Mike found himself nodding. "I am pretty tired, and I think that's a good idea, but are you sure it's not too much effort with me up here?" he asked. Even dead tired, Mike was pretty sure, he could force himself to swim to shore if he needed.

[Kitsune]

"You're not even close to being too heavy," Kyran barked out laughing slightly at the idea. "You probably weigh dry, as much as my tail does wet." Kyran shook his head softly in amusement. Mike wasn't even close to being too heavy. Maybe if he was a little bit bigger and more stocky he would be too much, but at the moment even being tired, Mike wasn't any trouble at all to carry. "I have plenty of energy, even if I don't want to use it. It isn't any effort to get you there. I haven't really gotten a chance to actually swim yet, so this will be nice." With that Kyran kept walking. He had paused to talk to Mike, and to prepare himself to make sure he was indeed alright for him. He didn't want any cockiness to end up with one of the getting hurt. He truly felt he could handle this. "Just remember to hang on good, and if you need to, you can use your claws. My hide is pretty thick and my fur should help stop it from getting to me. I'm a little bit tougher than that bird was." The ground farther out got a little rocky which was nice because it gave him a little bit of a purchase. He really hope that Mike would be able to hold on. With that last though he got to where he needed to swim. The rock really wasn't that far and it was slightly downstream so the water did most of the work. He loved the feeling of paddling through the water. He had seen some canines awkwardly attempting to swim once and he was glad that wasn't how he swam. In no time he was next to the rock and he stopped so Mike could get on first.

[yoko]

Mike smiled, glad to know he wasn't too heavy. Although now he knew for sure he'd never be able to carry Kyran or even drag him a short distance, if his weight was so minute. Hopefully, his large friend would never be in any danger of drowning. "Alright," Mike replied, using his slippery paws mostly to hang on. Even though Kyran said it was alright to use his claws, he'd rather not. Soon, Kyran was hanging onto the large rock in the river, and he took the pause as a sign that he should get off first. Mike stepped lightly over Kyran's shoulders and teasingly let a paw touch his muzzle, though he didn't put much weight on it. He shook his pale fur, luminous in the bright daylight, and laid down at the very edge of the rock, wanting to be sure Kyran would have room. Even as he waited for his friend, he began to lick his own fur dry. He didn't want to "catch a cold", whatever that meant. "Let's not go to the Blue Plain today," Mike suggested. "We should stay here and play and rest instead..." He had something on his mind, but since Kyran had just asked to travel with him yesterday, he didn't want to just spring it on him.

[Kitsune]

Kyran had to admit it did feel a little nice to have Mike off his back. Though he wasn't that heavy it was nice to not have him on his back. Turning around a little bit he crawled onto the rock. "That sounds nice to me. I do like playing after all." He said right before he shook vigorously. He didn't even think of the fact that it might be a bit annoying. It was extremely instinctive and he didn't know if he could stop if he wanted to. The rock had been warmed by the sunlight and it felt amazing against his paws, it wasn't warm enough to burn which was good. the rock was also very smooth and so it didn't hurt his pads that were softened by the water. the bottom of the river had been a little rough and pokey. With a soft groan he got down, he was just a little big though and his front paws dangled off the side of the rock. He glanced over to look and Mike and he snorted in amusement at how close to the edge the feline was. "There is enough room you can stretch out a little bit."