Ocean's Breath Plateau i live on saturn

he continued to watch carefully, up until the man spoke and asked him what he'd been up to. he glanced around, hoping to catch sight of the siblings he'd been tracking down. however none were within eyesight of the pair, and so sirmiq turned to face the man with a hesitancy he had not displayed before. 

he gave a few nervous blink as he bit down on his lips in preparation of sharing his voice. looking for siblings. looking for siblings. looking for siblings! he practiced the sentence in his head over and over and over again. it sounded perfect, he knew how to say it! and yet when he opened his mouth to speak, the words sounded just as he knew they would. 

"l-l-l-lo-loo-lookin'," he sucked in a deep breath, "f-fo-for," his eyes darted around in desperate hope that his littermates might appear so that he could point to them. but they did not. "s-s-s-si-si-sib," he tried again, "s-si-si," but he could not get the last word out and threw down his head in disappointment and embarrassment.