[Solo] Dream Dive (Real Big Fish)

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert3.png[/imgleft] Real Big Fish had gone to sleep in the sand, letting the warm water of high tide lull her to sleep in the near distance. The beach was so different than the riverbank, but there were still many similarities- and overall, it was still home. A good home. She loved the coast, loved everything about it. The smell of the salt- no, the brine. Salt didn’t really have a smell, but the ocean was rich with whiffs of rot and the stink of fish, the tang of seaweed, the warm body smells of sea birds… it stank, but in a wonderful way. It was the smell that led her in her dream.

She realized quickly that she wasn’t in her Totoma body; this was relatively common in her dreams. Much of the time when she dreamt, she was in her eagle form. She cut through air and water on feathery wings, diving and banking and spinning in an ecstasy of flight. Sometimes she saw things through bodies that weren’t her own; other Totoma, like herself. Sometimes other kin, though that was exceedingly rare. She could always tell if she was in her body, or somebody else’s. In this dream, she was in her body, it just wasn’t the form she was used to. Quadrupedal, with an awkward mouth full of teeth that her tongue tripped over. Not quite a creature of the land, but not quite a creature of water. Amphibious. Sand-crusted. It was a form that suited her, and she wagged her newly-scythed tail as she trotted through the sand. She’d taken the form of a shuppy, the delightful fish-creature that inhabited the shore and ran with its kin residents- embodying the best qualities of mammal and shark. It was a good form for exploring a dreamscape.

And what a dreamscape! An island, fringed with palms, and sand so white it sparkled. The ocean so bright, waves lapping the shore hypnotically. But something tugged at her, leading her to abandon the sand and dive into the water, gills flaring and bubbling as she swam deeper and deeper. Eyes, dark and gleaming, saw through the water as though it was air; this shape, slightly awkward on land, was built for the reef she saw ahead of her. Using her paws to paddle and steer and her tail to propel her forward, she flitted through the coral and admired its beauty. Tiny reef fish, too small for her hunter’s notice, danced around her, darting forwards and backwards. Fat, round gobies spat tiny stones at each other, and clownfish hunkered down in anemones.

The water below the reef was dark and deep, and eerily still. Tiny motes of plankton drifted down and disappeared, the fathoms below swallowing them up. She wasn’t ready to go deeper, even in her dream- it wasn’t for her, not yet. Perhaps not ever. But this reef, this space was her domain. Her territory. And- what was that?

A long shard of silver with crystalline teeth glimmered in the water just off the reef. A growl bubbled forth from her throat. A predator… No. Prey.

The barracuda was fast, but so was she. The reef disappeared as she chased the huge fish further into the sea, bubbles streaming around them, white and dense. She snapped her jaws, barely missing its tail. A burst of speed, and she snapped her jaws again…

On nothing. She woke up suddenly, kicking a leg in the air and pawing the ground. It had been a vivid dream- it felt so real! She stared out at the sea, peering into the distance. Perhaps somewhere out there was a white-sand island with a jeweled reef, and perhaps one day… perhaps she’d find it.  [WC: 616]