In the Middle of Summer

"Did it wander someplace gloomy?" Reena asked. She gave him a playful nudge with one elbow. "You looked pretty down to be a guy walkin' down the beach with a cute girl and a snack."

"Yeah. Someplace away from here." he replies, without elaborating.

He takes another bite from his cookie without glancing at Reena.

Reena continued to watch him for another moment or two, the playful smile gradually fading to a small frown. She decided against pressing the matter further and set her gaze back out at the beach stretching out ahead of them. Clearly something had triggered a mood shift in her companion, but she had no idea what it could have been.

After a little while, Wolf sighs and glances over at Reena. He sees her frowning slightly.

"Sorry..." he says, "It seems that I'm not very good company.

Reena looked back up to Wolf as he spoke. A weak smile reappeared on her face and she shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm sure you've got somethin' important you're worryin' about," she replied.

"I'll try to put it out of mind for the time being." Wolf says.

He offers Reena a small smile in return.

"Well, maybe you need to get dunked in the ocean to wash away your worries," Reena teased gently. "Oooor maybe just dip your feet in a little? I hear the ocean is awfully relaxing. Depending on whether you have a hyped up little dog with you or not."

"If only it were that easy." he says, "Maybe dunking you would provide me with a suitable distraction."

He smiles a bit more to her.

"You can try, but I better not have food in my paws when you do it," Reena shot back with a little wag of her tail. She promptly popped the remaining piece of her first cookie into her mouth after.

"So... like right now would be okay." he says.

He steps over to Reena and tries to wrap his arms around her to pick her up, while still holding half a cookie in one paw.

Reena's ears perked up and she looked up at Wolf, letting out a muffled, "Hm?!"

This quickly devolved into her giggling while trying to keep her mouth shut until she'd swallowed her food. "Mm mm! Mmrrrph!" she protested as she held the rest of the cookies close to herself to keep from dropping them in the struggle. Instead of trying to run away, however, the Klee Kai hunkered down a bit where she was standing to brace herself against Wolf's attempt to pick her up.

Since she wasn't running and was more interested in hanging onto the cookies, Wolf is able to put his arms around her from behind. He doesn't hold her too tightly though. He then tries to lift her off the ground slowly.

The feeling of Wolf starting to lift her drew forth another muffled squeal from the little dog before she managed to swallow the last of her cookie.

"Wolf!" she protested, laughing as she did so, "If you put me in that ocean, I'm dragging you down with me!"

She didn't exactly try to wriggle away still, although she stretched out her legs to keep her toes to the sand.

Wolf lifts Reena up off the ground, continuing to be careful since she was still carrying the basket of cookies and he didn't want her to start choking on her food. Once he gets her to a comfortable height in front of him, he starts walking towards the water with her.

"Nnnoooo!" the Klee Kai squealed and kicked her feet. "I'm at a disadvantage! I bet you wouldn't do this if I had my paws free!"

"You think I couldn't pick you up that way?" Wolf asks as he continues walking towards the water.

"I think you know I'd have a better fighting chance with two paws!" Reena replied as she continued to squirm and giggle away.

"Sure you could fight back more easily. I still think I'd be able to pick you up regardless." Wolf says.

He keeps walking through the sand until he's at a point where water can just wash up around his feet.

"So... ready to go into the water?" he asks.

Reena held up her feet to keep away from the water. "Nooo! You better not throw me or you're sleeping in the bathtub tonight!" she warned through her fit of giggling.

"And one... and two..." Wolf says, as he gently sways back and forth, like he's getting ready to toss Reena.

Reena grabbed onto one of Wolf's arms with her free paw and clung to him as best she could that way. "Nnnoooo!" she protested, emitting a loud squeal afterward and continuing to kick her legs. "Wolf!!"

"And three!" he says.

His grip on Reena loosens slightly, but he doesn't actually let go of her. It would probably give her enough space to shift and let her drop down towards the ground by a few inches, but not get loose.

Wolf then carefully lowers himself down towards the ground, so that he can set the kicking and flailing Reena down where the water can lap around her feet when it comes in.

"Yeek!" Reena shrieked a bit as she seemed convinced she was being thrown. Instead, her feet kicked into the sand a couple of times when Wolf moved down to let her feet reach the ground. This was followed by the cool feeling of water coming up around her ankles as the waves continued to wash up on the beach.

Finally realizing she hadn't been hurled out to sea, the Klee Kai paused a little bit in her squirming to open her eyes and glance down... just as one of her flipflops came loose from one of her feet and was swept off a short distance with the receding water.

"Ah! Wolf, my sandal!" she protested, starting to wriggle again to pursue the footwear before it was washed farther out by the next wave. Throughout this, though, her tail was still wagging back and forth playfully.

Wolf winces slightly when Reena shrieks right next to him. He glances around, noting that almost everyone nearby was looking in his and Reena's direction. He's not sure what to do at that point, then Reena cries out about her sandal.

He glances out into the water as he sees it start to float off. Once Reena starts to squirm, he realizes she means to go after it and then he releases her.

Reena went chasing after her sandal, stepping down on it and wiggling it back on properly just before another wave washed up around her feet. The dog turned back to look towards Wolf, still giggling softly.

"You just wait until I put this down, mister Wolf!" she teased, "Then you're so in for it!" She started back up the beach at a bit of a faster pace to go and put her cookies down on the nearest picnic table.