Otter Creek song of the merrows

Iqniq laughed. The words she spoke were very true. He and Echelon had a relationship that bordered something near to sibling rivalry and for all he knew, it was all in the spirit of play. This current female appeared to be a little more reserved than spirited, but he supposed a lot of that was due in part that they were two strangers in the wild. No doubt, his first impression of himself had not gone over well, but they were recovering. Hopefully.

She hopped back into a bow, splashing into the waters as she hopped, feinted in, and pulled back once more. A wag lifted to his tail as he bowed, mirroring some of her movements as he echoed her footwork. A hop. A skip. A jump. His paws lifted as if to playfully bat at her nose as she leapt toward shim that last time. He darted forward too, closing the distance between them as he neared the stream at her back.

His teeth nipped lightly at her shoulder before he shifted his stance and drew his own paws into the shallows of the water. It was cooler there. The smooth stones at the bottom were slippery. His footing faltered and his hind quarters collapsed. Rolling with it, he none-too-gracefully forced himself to sit with a lolling tongue as he grinned back in her direction.

"Missy have a name?" he asked, lifting a hind paw to scratch an itch behind his ear before he was back on all fours. He splashed through the shallows of the water towards her and landed at her feet in a bow. Paw lifted to bat at her ankles before he hopped aside and stared back at her.