[crow]

And this time there was more than one. First two, then three, then four... Some moving slowly and languidly, others darting back and forth, fish appeared from between the trees as if they were magic. And, well, what else could they be, with how they looked, and how they moved? What else could do that?

"Whoa," said Milo, looking up at them. The wonder in his voice was evident, and he didn't even try to disguise it as he stared up, open-mouthed.

[Bonus Thread 72]

[crow]

Kip glanced at him for a moment, but that was all the attention he had to spare for his friend--- of whom he was very fond, to be sure, but Milo was pretty mundane, as far as figments of his maybe dream went. The fish were a lot more novel, and not something he could see every day as soon as he went to school. Get an eyeful while you can, right?

The first thing that they confirmed was that these were, indeed, fish.

[Bonus Thread 73]

[crow]

Maybe that was a little... obvious in retrospect, but they hadn't been sure until just now.

The fish were a little hard to see between the trees, and they weren't really close enough for the boys to make out all the details, but there were enough of them now for Kip and Milo to get a pretty good idea of their general shape. And it was all there--- the head, the body, the lack of a neck, the fins. It would be pretty hard to argue that they were anything else at this point.

[Bonus Thread 74]

[crow]

The way they moved was also a part of what made it clear that they were fish after all. It really did look as though they were just swimming through the air. Nothing they were aware of that could fly would have moved like that, least of all birds... Birds just didn't bend like that, never mind the fact that these glowing silver things were the wrong shape to be those anyway.

And as for bugs... he was pretty sure bugs wouldn't look like that either.

[Bonus Thread 75]

[crow]

Besides, Kip didn't even want to think about the possibility of there being a bug that big. Small bugs, even bugs that were big for bugs were fine, but bugs the size of a fish you might buy at a supermarket... Hard pass. There was a limit, even for someone who liked being outdoors as much as Kip did.

Granted, bugs could have a pretty wide variety of shapes, and he wasn't about to claim to have seen every kind of bug under the sun, but even so.

[Bonus Thread 76]

[crow]

The second thing was that the glow they gave off was real too. It wasn't just a trick of the eyes or anything. Kip could see the highlights and shadows they threw across the trees themselves with their passing.

Sometimes he could just about make out the location of a fish when it was hiding, just by watching the shadows and looking for places where it seemed like a light was obscured. It was kind of a fun game to figure out where they were on that alone.

[Bonus Thread 77]

[crow]

"What do you think they are?" he asked. In reality, he doubted Milo would have an answer, but maybe he would at least have a theory. And even if he didn't, they could speculate together.

Kip didn't know why, but he was suddenly very eager to feel that he wasn't here alone. Maybe he didn't want to be the only one to see something so strange and wonderful... Or maybe this whole experience had spooked him with its strangeness, and he was feeling uneasy about being here after all.

[Bonus Thread 78]

[crow]

It had been his idea to come here to begin with, coming here, so maybe it was a bit much that he was getting second thoughts, but... He hadn't quite thought that something like this would happen. And could you blame him? Who the heck expects something like this from a walk in the woods?

"Geez, why are you asking me something like that?" said Milo. His tone was so irritated that Kip almost laughed despite himself, and in spite of the entire context of their situation.  

[Bonus Thread 79]

[crow]

He didn't, of course--- the reverent atmosphere that the sight of these fish inspired in him managed to hold it at bay. But the temptation was certainly there. Milo had sounded so much like... well, like himself, that it almost brought Kip out of the semi-religious experience he seemed to be having.

"Well, you're so smart," said Kip. "I thought you might have an idea." He was grinning as he said it though. Maybe some of the mood really had been broken irreversibly by Milo's comment after all.  

[Bonus Thread 80]

[crow]

But that wasn't a bad thing either, really. Kip didn't feel as spooked as he had, which had been his whole goal when he had asked Milo that question, hadn't it?

"How come you only compliment me at times like this?" Milo grumbled in reply. This time, Kip really did laugh, but softly enough that it didn't disturb the otherwise silent forest. They were still talking to one another in hushed whispers, even though in theory there was no one here to hear them even if they screamed and yelled.  

[Bonus Thread 81]

[crow]

No one but the fish, anyway. Did these fish have the ability to hear? Not that he knew much about the hearing ability of even regular fish. But still, could they be spooked by loud noises too, and frightened off into... wherever it was they hid when they thought they were in danger?

Come to think of it, did the fish know that Kip and Milo were here? Kip wasn't sure. Observing their movements, it didn't seem like they made a special effort to avoid the two of them.

[Bonus Thread 82]

[crow]

But at the same time, they never strayed very close either, so maybe they were merely keeping a good, wary distance from Kip and Milo...

Anything was possible. And Milo did say he wanted to get to the bottom of this, right? Well, you had to break a few eggs to make an omelet--- that was what Kip decided, anyway. So he raised his arms, waved them around, and hollered suddenly at the fish. "Hey! Heeeeey!" he said, as loudly as he could manage.

[Bonus Thread 82]

[crow]

He would have picked something else to say, but most of the things that came to mind were insults. The fish hadn't really done anything to them, so it felt a bit off to just start calling them names out of the blue, on the off chance that they could understand.

Milo's reaction was to startle, and then to try and pull his arms down in an attempt to get him to stop. "What are you doing!" he hissed. It was less of a question and more of an admonishment.

[Bonus Thread 83]

[crow]

Kip refused to look very admonished though, and simply grinned. "Experimenting," he said. When he saw the face Milo pulled, he laughed again. "Come on. We'll find out more about them by seeing how they react, right?"

"Yeah, and what we found out was that they ran away!" Milo said. It was only when he pointed this out that Kip glanced back up. Milo's sudden intervention had stolen his attention for a second, and he hadn't been able to see the immediate effects of what he had done.

[Bonus Thread 84]

[crow]

But Milo was right about what he had said; the fish were now nowhere to be seen, not even the glowing auras that they carried with them.

"Huh," said Kip. To say he wasn't disappointed would have been a lie... It was sort of a shame that they were gone. But at the same time, he had sort of expected this outcome, so he had been a little more ready for it in his heart. And they did find out some new things.

[Bonus Thread 85]