Wheeling Gull Isle aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe

Backdated to set the day after this thread. Any Undersea member welcome! Tag for visibility:
@King @Komodo @Anatha @Calypso @Aria @Axolotl

Everything is suddenly overwhelming. The storm washed up enough wolves to stick together and survive. She doesn't have to be the sole caregivers of the two young girls (not that she doesn't want to) and focus a little more on her own care. She's done nothing but search for herbs and small prey for the girls that she's neglected most things for herself. A few bites of what's left of a kill (if any) and shards of bones that often leave her stomach in knots. On top of that, she now has a lot more wolves in her immediate surrounding that she has to take into account. Some of them she knows before now, having met them in the Teekon but the few that she's just now meeting in the middle of the ocean.

Adeline, now Cascada, sucks in a heavy breath. It locks itself in her theist and she closes her eyes. Over her shoulder, she looks for others that may have followed her but the first time she's alone without the pull of return is foreign to her. It takes more effort than she'd like to admit to keep herself moving, searching for the nearest source of fresh water to immerse her weary bones in. When she finds it, her legs nearly buckle and her nose roughly hits the surface of the water. The burn of it in the back of her throat causes her face to contort, followed by several sneezes to try and rid the sudden intrusion. Cascada finally settles after several moments and allows the cool water to soak her sun beaten coat.

Axolotl parts with Maera who is a near constant companion for him — though he very much enjoys her company and finds himself missing her presence when they go their separate ways for a few hours (or day) — for a few hours and heads a separate way than her. The leviathan of the seas does not yet pause to examine his growing feelings for the Sveijarn flame if only because of his self appointed duties. There is little time to focus upon himself in the wake of what lies before them. They are all together and they have survived the storm which was a battle in and of itself but creating a pack from nothing is far from simple. Though the sense of duty in the role it has taken within him is unfamiliar he does not shun it, instead he sets out to check upon the wolves of the Isle, setting aside the day for that single purpose.

The sneezes are what draws his attention to the fresh water and his pace slows, glacial gaze taking in the young female. He recognizes her vaguely and remembers that two young pups are often in tow of her when he does see her. Yet, they’ve had little time to interact between his self-appointed duties and her own. “How do you fare?” He inquires as he shrugs through the underbrush after letting out a soft chuff to announce his presence to her as to avoid startling her.

These days on the beach had taught King many things about himself - chiefly, he'd found that he was fairly useless at hunting without other wolves to back him up. Much of the storm's culls had already been scavanged from the beach, and though King had turned his eyes further inland and had found many trails to hunt, he'd yet to actually make a kill.

So he sought out Cascada, hoping she wouldn't think too little of him if he asked that they band together. He needed a hunting partner more than anything, and she was the only one he knew and trusted well enough to fit the bill. Besides, he reckoned she might need him just as much as he needed her, having been looking after those two little girls and all.

He found her easily enough, as his nose was not the problem in these hunting endeavors. But as soon as he saw her - and the male she conversed with - King's intentions fell to the wind. Insecurity ran him through like a lance. Somehow, it hadn't occured to him that Cas might be reviewing several options.

"Hey, Cas," he called, his voice slightly less friendly than usual, but probably, it went unnoticed. He was a very friendly wolf. "And hey, stranger."

She can’t stop her eyes from rolling around in her head but she is thankful she’s pointed the other way and he can’t see her. When she bites her lip to keep from speaking, King shows up from nearly out of nowhere and it takes a second to register he’s talking to her. The last few days have been a repetitive blur and she hasn’t developed enough callous to be able to handle it properly. Even when she has plenty on her plate, she finds her mind wandering further back in her past than she has to. So much has changed since her world had been turned upside down she hasn’t had the proper time to sort her feelings.

“Fine,” she says though her voice is soft, sill dry despite the drink of water. Slowly, she picks herself up on shaky legs and wades out of the water onto the bank. She does not pick one male over the other to be closer to, putting her own distance between them for the time being. Her mind swirls suddenly and ears droop back against her head, her heart thrums heavily in her chest, and her stomach reminds her of her previous goal that had slipped from her mine.

In the chaos of all that has happened there has been little time for proper introductions, Axolotl thinks. They went straight from the storm to trying to get back on their feet as individuals and the natural formation as a group. The agouti woman answers his inquiry, her voice a softness against the sounds that are background noise upon the Isle that his ears cup forth atop his skull to pick up. There is the distinct sound of approaching footfalls and the pair is joined by another: a male and still a stranger to the leviathan as glacial blue eyes fell from the agouti woman to the other male. “Axolotl,” The leviathan speaks his name given by his mother — one name of the few he bears — and offers a polite dip of his head. “my name is Axolotl Corten.” The Corten name has blessed him numerous times in his life and it continues to give nourishment to the familial bond he shares with the inkblot called Coelacanth even if she is not the docile sheepdog he remembers presently. “There hasn’t been much time for introductions in the midst of all the chaos.” They have time now and Axolotl seeks to bridge the gap between strangers (and at the very least) acquaintances and further: future packmates.

"Yeah," King agreed, feeling a bit wrong-footed as the distance between himself and Cascada seemed to lengthen. Forcing himself to look past this, he spoke again to the male - "I've been hunting, mostly." He did not say that it'd been mostly scavenging, or that the hunts he had been on had been unsuccessful. It would be hard enough to admit this to Cascada - he wasn't about to advertise his weaknesses to a stranger.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, though. I'm King," he went on, his tone losing its defensive nature now that they were past what exactly had been keeping them 'busy'. Hopefully, he'd get some practice in with Cas before Axolotl ever had occassion to see him hunt.

Cascada doesn’t know why the exchange between the three wolves feels weird but neither of them seems to notice and allow introductions to begin. She hadn’t said her name and it takes several seconds to dawn on her, glancing between the two a few times before she ushers out a quick, “Cascada.” Her jaw sets and she looks down at her feet, steadying her breath to keep her sides from pinching with every inhale. “Were you not on the beach yesterday?” she asks toward the unknown male. He doesn’t seem familiar, perhaps nothing more than a blur that day from the beginning, but she knows he hadn’t been there when the other all called them to meet.

They only talk briefly before Cascada feels the urge to be alone and she leaves as smoothly from the pair as she can.