Wheeling Gull Isle Walk the Plank, Ye Scurvy Dog

Perhaps the Aralez ought to have been troubled by how intently the tauhou stared at her — but the whiskey and bourbon tangle of his pelt and the brilliant topaz of his gaze afforded him a certain lenience, and Seelie was not a particularly dominant wolf, anyway. On a baser level, the hot flush of hormones that preceded estrus made a siren of the voiceless selkie’s daughter; she liked that the male’s eyes were just a little awestruck and that he was somehow intimidated by her despite her diminutive size. Her bright cerulean eyes roved boldly over the hawkeyed stranger, skimming over his long legs and the tattered curve of his right ear, the now appreciable divot that marred the symmetry of his skull. There were stories in these imperfections, and she longed to know them.

The tiny Groenendael watched the fluid shift of his body into something at once empowering and frightening; his tail beat against the pale fur betwixt his thighs and the carriage of his head dipped submissively. Her alarm grew when the bedraggled castaway responded to her frail attempt at verbal interaction by cringing further, the chunk of wood in his mouth thumping heavily into the sand between his paws — oh, she did want that for her very own! — and she hastened another step forward as he began to speak, one catlike paw lifted uncertainly as though she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to test her luck with him. Even when he nosed the driftwood toward her, she remained still.

He spoke at length, and she kept to her silence, but drew nearer to him with her weight on the tips of her toes — she was ready to flee if he proved aggressive in the slightest and would shy away even if he made overtures of friendliness toward her. Being quick on her feet was one of the atramentous sheepdog’s greatest assets, after all. “Shh,” she soothed him gently, deciding after a few moments of prolonged silence to put her trust between the tauhou’s jaws. Delicate nose quivered as she swept her muzzle slowly forward in an attempt to make physical contact — if he allowed it, she would press her nose through the fur at his scruff to draw in his scent.