Reality's Strange

Nervous but Angry (Melody's P.o.V.)

I stare at the polar bear. He's still distracted. Judging by his actions, he's probably of a high rank.

Okay, so I'm making this guess based on Hilda, but he does seem like her. And- I think that dog just saluted him. I tap again, this time a little harder. Andy's now trying to drag me away.

"Mel!" he hisses in my ear, looking nervously at the cat below.

"What? I'm just trying to get their attention-" I pause, amazed. The second part of my sentence seemed to have happened both inside the ship and outside. The dog - dachshund, by the looks of her - just tapped a button.

"Dashi here. Who are you?" she says, speaking into a screen. Hilda swims up beside us. But, before she can get a word out, she's interrupted.

"And what do you mean by getting our attention?" a voice that's somehow both harsh and soft says. I think it's the polar bear who spoke.

"Hilda here. Thin malamute's called Melody, but call her Mel, and brown husky's called Andy," the husky says. She sounds fairly... angry. I would be, too, I guess.

"Why did you smash into our ship?!" Andromeda, a rat who's our medic, says quickly but furiously. Wow. She's even more angry than Hilda!

"Smash?"

"Ship?"

"Hilda?!"

"Huh- what?"

"But, really, who are you?"

Those are all from, according to my observations, in order:

*Polar Bear

*Dashi

*Pirate Cat

*Sea Otter

*Dashi

Don't ask me how that cat knew Hilda's name - all I know is that he looks like someone who just ran into someone they'd heard of and found out that this really was that person. Hmm. Actually, considering how we send information on mythical creatures to what is ABSOLUTELY the BEST magazine about animals EVER, Mythical Monthly, that's pretty likely. We did send a report on a 'dragon's nest' (actually from an eagle who agreed to let us take a picture of her nest) to them recently, that got published in this month's issue.

Wow, my thoughts are off-track.

Andromeda - I focus on her. She's got white-and-silver fur that seems to sparkle in intense sunlight, a tail that is often wrapped around either herself or a nearby... thing. Could be a tree, could be a strand of kelp. Right now, she's holding the tip of it. Right. Nervous but angry.

Her large black eyes are currently narrowed to slits, at the cat. He's glaring right back at her. This isn't some primal cat-mouse instinct, I think that they've met before. And have a grudge. This will make things - interesting?

Hilda replies to Dashi, "We are the Helping Huskies, and your ship seems to have smashed into mine." I take it back - while Andromeda's death-stare could curdle milk, Hilda's glare could freeze the Sahara Desert. Bad first impression, I think.