Duck Lake Before I can live with folks, I have to live with myself.

@Aqakuktuq ! Forward dated a bit after her thread with Embry, rolled for odd = success

Angakkuq finds the body of water after leaving the male in the past, a bit bloodied and roughened from the typical small injuries involved in a fight but nevertheless moving towards the lake. Perhaps she'd be impressed by the size if she had not grown up half a day's travel from the sea, Uki mused as she washed her wounds in its dark waters. 

The tundrian wanders its edge for a moment, her coat rusty with both blood and dirt. A glance to the sky reveals Siqiqniq has moved significantly since she encountered the stranger, she sighs again in longing to be at the glacier as she gets to her feet. 

Tupilaq has the idea of returning to nanuk and the rest of them but her silver eye is caught by the shape of a footprint in the mud at the banks of the lake. She leans close, eyeing it with intent. It looks rather like a duck's imprint but much too large to be a duck. 

Tapeesa follows it, disappearing into the lake with nary a backwards glance. The dark waters swallow her pale body up to her chin, blotting her out as she glides out into the deeper waters with strong strokes. The arctic that flows in her veins speaks of naturally being a strong swimmer; she makes short work of the search. The goose, as she finds it out to be, is not so far out from shore and with most of her hidden in the silent waters, Uki plunges into the deep waters. 

She swims beneath the goose, not unlike the great seal beasts in the north, snatching a leg and plunging the honking creature into the waters to silence. When she comes back, her lungs burn for the relief of fresh air. Tupilaq swims back to shore, collapsing in the mud and dropping the goose at her side. 

She catches her breath slowly, casting a glance to the slain bird. It'll feed @Shivali (visibility) and the hungry pups at her side, undoubtedly. Her stomach rolls with hunger, demanding she attend to the sharp curve of her spine and the scalloped ribs that become more prominent with each passing day. With a snarl born of self discipline, she snatches up the thing - treating it a little more roughly than needed - to take home.

I hope it's okay to mention Fisher having seen Uki around. Lmk if anything needs changing!

Desiring some way to get on good terms with the hormonal mother that was Siarut's sister, Aqakuktuq had headed out from the glade to find a gift for her. She always felt a need to make herself useful, anyway. An expansive body of water was in clear view now as she neared it, the din of waterfowl becoming louder with each step. Interestingly, she spotted another northerner leaving the lake. She was far more lithe than herself, and in her jaws was a sizable goose. The wraith narrowed her eyes. Didn't she recognize this wolf? She swore she'd caught glimpses of her near the traveling group, but the woman was highly distant and standoffish from what little Aqakuktuq had seen.

The cloud changed her course to drift towards her. Once close enough to be heard in an even speaking voice, she said, Hello. You are part of IkKanattuk, yes? Now she was sure of it, her gentle scent vaguely familiar. Still, the fisherwoman said no more than that, not sure how the other would respond. Aqakuktuq stopped a few feet away, not wanting to make the woman too uncomfortable.

Angakkuq turned to see the distant white blot of another approaching from the direction she'd originally come from around the time Siqiqniq reached his zenith. She could only assume it was a member of her own group, and set the goose at her feet with a weary sigh. Wounds opening as she sat, she grimaced at the feel of them beginning to trickle again, she waited for the other to reach her. 

Tupilaq had seen this one around, another that nanuk had brought back not unlike herself. She knew little of the woman they nicknamed "Fisher" though likely if she knew that the woman too had already formulated an opinion of her, she'd have picked up her goose and kept walking. Alas, tapeesa is an ordinary wolf with ordinary talents - psionics are not included with them. The tundrian merely waits, watching with expressionless eyes as Aqakuktuq approached. 

Her head gives a mere nod, for of all the wolves only nanuk has coaxed her voice out. Though she was silent there was a curious gleam in her moonlit eyes, particularly as they lingered on the feathers that were plastered into Aqakuktuq's coat with mud.

When the other woman sat (with a grimace, she noted), a trickle of crimson peeking out from her alabaster pelage caught Aqakuktuq's attention, a flash of surprise evident in her eyes for just a heartbeat. She thought the faint coppery scent of blood was solely from the freshly-killed goose, but it must've been emenating from the wolfess, as well. The injured snowfield's eyes showed a silent yet prominent interest in Aqakuktuq's feathers, and she appeared to be in decent shape, but the fisherwoman felt it was inappropriate to pretend her injuries weren't there. They couldn't have been from geese, nasty as the birds could be.

Are you alright? What gave you those wounds? She asked. The questions made her concern clear, though her tone remained even as if inquiring about something out of mere curiosity. Pesi had circled back around after noticing the holdup and landed behind Aqakuktuq, eyeing the unfamiliar wolf curiously.

The fisher woman is persistent in her questions and Uki's ears flicked back - unnerved. Pressed so by the woman's state and expectant gold gaze, Uki is forced to nod in response to her well being. She's seen worse and there are more important things on tapeesa's mind. 

"Rogue," she mumbles finally, moonlit eyes downcast. Her voice doesn't particularly wish to be heard around a stranger and the feral girl seems unable to elaborate further. There's a glint of the berserker beneath lingering in her metallic gaze, the northern part of her that seems to say she won't speak further unless she wants to. 

Tupilaq watches with intrigue as the corvid finds Aqakuktuq, perching on her shoulder and eyeing the waif with equal curiosity. "You have a bird." The mute girl seems so stunned by this that her shy voice emerges. 

"Tupilaq," she murmurs softly, the name her own Angakkuq had once dubbed her - the soft name for a familiar. "I'm Uki," she finally introduces, finding the gold gleam of Aqakuktuq's gaze. 

As suspected from the scarce sightings Aqakuktuq had of her, the woman seemed incredibly shy―unnaturally so. She wondered what may have caused such behavior. Still, the small woman nodded and gave an answer, brief as it was, her silver eyes losing their shine when they fixated on the ground. She was fortunate to have walked away with only minor tears. Surprisingly, the quiet woman spoke up again to observe Pesi's arrival. I do, Aqakuktuq confirms with a nod. We are friends.

Then, the little snowfield murmurs "Tupilaq" under her breath, which confuses the fisher, but then she introduces herself as Uki. Silver windows met gold, and the fisher said, I am Aqakuktuq. It's nice to meet you. Her expression softened then, and the ghost of a smile was offered.

Keenly noticing that his friend was introducing herself, Pesi piped up with his practiced greeting: Hello!

With a glance towards the raven, she introduced him, as well. His name is Pesi.

Angakkuq was unaware that some might question what had caused her personality - whether they were concerned about her withdrawn nature or the berserker's learned brutality was unsure - for it didn't seem worth asking. The story was plain, written in her coat with teeth and the words were open wounds. 

She'd been defiled. She'd been ruined. They had tried to crush tapeesa's petals and tear her up by the roots. The story was there if they were curious; the scars left behind that said she should not have had a voice left to hide.

Aqakuktuq seems confused by the word, rather than recognizing it for what it was. Tiqaqq's stsa' had begun to get the prickling inclination that the fisher too was Angakkuq and that perhaps what held the bird to her was spiritual. Her confusion over the word brings clarity and Uki looks again at the bird as it speaks, recognizing it now as a companion rather than an equal. She nods for she never saw a Tupilaq that was not in some way, more wild than its witch and fisher with her Pesi is possibly the tamest northerner she's met. 

"It's nice to meet you both," she's impressed that she can say it evenly, given that she's possibly never used a polite phrase in her life and her current exhausted state. "It'll be good to have others, there's only so many who can hunt or patrol." 

I forgot about Uki having visible older scars while writing the previous post, so Fisher would've actually noticed them and not been confused because she's very observant. I just looked up that Tupilaq means "monster". I'm not sure if that's the usage you're going for. If so, I think she would still be confused at Uki using it out of the blue. All of the foreign words are confusing me a bit, sorry.

She was glad to hear Uki return the pleasantry and agreed with the statement that followed. Indeed, Aqakuktuq replied while moving her gaze to the goose the other had caught. Pesi was eyeing it as well, and the fisherwoman glared at him. Don't you dare, her eyes warned. She would feed him soon. Looking back at Uki, she said, I also came here to hunt, though fish will be my target. Birds were tricky to catch, especially with so many eyes and ears around. Aqakuktuq much preferred fishing.

Tapeesa's ragged ears flutter back as first Fisher's eyes, followed by Pesi's, land on her catch - feeling a tad territorial, the tundrian shifted protectively over the goose. Her moonlit eyes flickered between the two, for she was unsure how well trained Aqakuktuq's beast was, the guarded tint to them seeming to say, Don't even try it. She'd been through too much today to lose the food she'd caught for the children.

When the moment seemed to pass and her prey was no longer at threat, the spearwife turned a wary eye on the flocks lining the shore noisily. It seemed simpler to catch them off shore but the waif kept this to herself, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of yet. "Fish can be difficult," was all she had to say before turning cool silver eyes back on the fisher.

Pesi's fixation made Uki reasonably defensive, and the wolfess stood over her prize. Go, Aqakuktuq ordered him, the command being something he recognized. She shook herself to get the meddlesome bird off of her, and he flew into a tree near the lake, now preoccupying himself with watching the noisy waterfowl go about their business. While the wraith found corvids' mischievous ways endearing, she understood that it could be difficult to tolerate for those lacking a connection to them.

Aqakuktuq turned her attention back to Uki as she said, "Fish can be difficult."

She nodded in agreement. Both fish and birds are masters in elements we can never be... but fish are my specialty. The fisherwoman said this wide great pride, though not in a boastful way.

Remembering they'd been standing here despite both having somewhere to be, she added, I don't want to keep you long, but I'm glad to have met you. Perhaps we could hunt together another time. Fisher gifted a small smile then.

With a command, the bird is gone - perching nearby. Uki's momentarily impressed, nodding absently to the fisher's words as she observed the forbid with intrigued silver eyes. Aqakuktuq's next words drew her attention but the only sign she gave of hearing was a twitch of her ragged ears. She'd find out for herself if there was any truth to the claim soon enough.

"Perhaps," Uki agreed, dipping her head as she took her goose in her jaws. With a last glance, she left both the fisher and bird behind.