@Huā
Tumultuous waves were treacherous. Crashing over the shoreline, they promised to swallow any who stood in their way. For all the sea could take it also gave, tossing up all manner of flotsam.
Shark-chewed and rotted, what was left of the seal was little more than some bone and frayed hide. It sat just inside the dark edge between wet sand and dry, flopping and rolling each time the salt water surged in. It lured the wolf near, only for the loud roar of another wave to send him scuttling back.
Skookumchuck stood in consideration, a soft whine announcing the conflict between stomach and mind. His head dipped below his lean shoulders, and as the last wave retreated he lunged in and snagged his teeth on a strip of carcass. It was just that piece that came away with him when he bounded back to safety.
omg im sorry I rambled so much in this lol T_T
Huā was on her regular little transcendentalist journey upon the sands, feet leaving pawprints in the soft dry sand behind her. Something ahead caught her eye then, a dark little speck, playing a game of tag with the ocean. Getting close to- something, lying there on beach, fleeing each time the sea threatened to lap at its feet. Huā had never taken the danger of the oceans seriously and so seeing the wolf flee the water made her giggle on the inside.
She paced towards him, curious, and it was not long before some things became apparent to her. First of all, he seemed to be a coastal wolf- maybe not fully, she thought? But his figure betrayed that he must be at least partly, born of the sea. The combination of a dark coat and a smaller figure made him look like he could've been one of her own kin.
Secondly, the thing lying there, its scent hit her nose... seal. Her mouth was watering immediately and her trot speed increased. Oh boy, how long since she had a good chunk of seal? And here was this stranger, not daring to feast because of some fear of the waves? "哎! 你!" She shouted, her tone a little playful. All the coastal wolves she'd met before had spoke her language- but that was her kin in the South, and suddenly she wondered if he spoke the common language, if he was a Northerner. Finally he tore away a piece and she breathed a sigh of relief, that the food would not go to waste. She stopped a few yards from him and the feast, not daring to get too close to a hungry wolf, lest he be aggressive. "You, hey, why you don't eat like normal? You are afraid of the sea?" She asked him.
Her hail was lost on him; it was only noise but it did serve to catch his attention where his ears could not hear her steps above the roar of the sea and where his nose was occupied elsewhere and without the favor of the wind.
The wolf lifted his head and directed his amber eyes toward her as he chewed and gulped at the strip he had plucked, ears piqued with interest. His tail was still. Not much remained of the seal but he was hungry enough to feel possessive over the tattered hide and bone that did.
Her question was met with a glance over his shoulder and across the violence that roiled out there over the ocean. Skookumchuck spoke once he finished swallowing. Saw a wolf get swept off his feet once.
These were no ordinary seas. For every few waves that came predictably, another reared up surged even further. He was dragged out and drowned.
Fear or respect; it was hard to say where the line was between them.
Her slightly playful expression faded as the man turned the conversation suddenly to something very serious. Talking of witnessing the death of someone... that was one way to start a conversation off. Huā struggled with what exactly to respond to that. She had never taken the danger of things as seriously as she should've, but she couldn't suddenly start now. Her body was only a vessel to her, and so she lived as fully and recklessly as she could.
She decided to tuck his little tale away, into the back of her brain for later, in case she ever changed her mind about the sea. And so she was silent for another moment. The first coastal wolf she had found here, but he didn't seem to be as fun-loving as her, more of a serious dude. What a letdown.
Nevertheless, she did not want to give up talking to him yet. "What I pay, to have little eat? I am also hungry..." She told him as politely as she could. That seal looked delicious and watching him eat only made her hungrier. Not that she had much to offer. The way her cousin had done things, "buying" food from other wolves by renting Huā out like a slave... she did not have that kind of option. But the thought came to her mind and immediately she cringed and shooed it away.
For the loss of her bright expression, the wolf smiled and offered her a couple wags of his tail. She was a young thing, and he had twice the seasons on her. Likely it was then that he had witnessed and experienced far more; had been taught that many more lessons. She would do well to heed his words lest she learn in more unforgiving ways.
What do you mean?
He queried as his ears twitched and his brows knitted with confusion. Pay?
Though he kept an ear toward her for an answer, his gaze was stolen by the sea. It had drawn back, and in that brief moment he seized the chance to make another lunge. This time, his teeth connected with the protruding arc of a rib, and he was able to drag the sorry carcass from the sodden sand to well beyond it.
Skookumchuck braced his forelegs on either side of the meager meal and lifted his amber eyes to the other wolf.
The wags of his tail lightened her heart a little again, feeling that perhaps he was not as serious as he had first seemed. She was a tad too ignorant to realize that his seriousness was well-placed. She took the dangers of many things seriously- wolves, wild animals, storms- but the ocean was something she would still have to learn to respect the dangers of. To her, it was only her love, her mother.
When he did not understand her question, she shook her head in a little disappointment with herself. 我的语言不好吗? She wondered. Perhaps he hadn't understood, whether through her grammar or accent... she tried again: "I am hungry, I want a little bite. I give you something, and eat? I do not have many, but I can tell story, or dance, or other thing. Please," She asked of him again, hoping he would understand better this time around.
Hm.
The wolf lowered his head to the carcass, but his eyes continually flicked to her as he plucked at a glob of sour fat that hung from the hide. They did not barter where he came from. Food was shared among fellows or taken, depending on the circumstances. He had no use for stories or dances. Those things could not be eaten.
Skookumchuck shifted toward one side of the seal. He would not lower himself to feed and kept his feet, readied, as his ears listened around him. Don't do this pay thing.
He said. Come eat.
He ticked his head to further invite her. Paying for food was a foreign concept to him but respect of space and a humble requests were not. Had he been hungrier, and not still well-fed from a glut of salmon and fortuitous hunting not so long ago, she may well have found him less generous.
He did not wait for her. His teeth shared another strip of hide and fat from the bones.
Huā watched as the man seemed to consider her offer. And then, he moves over, as if to leave half the seal open for her. She wonders which payment he will take, until- he offers it to her, seemingly for free. Seaglass eyes widen in wonder. As he invited her and leaned down to eat again, words sputtered out of her mouth, "Oh thank you thank you! You so kind! I really thankful, thank you so much."
As the words finish rushing from her lips, she hesitantly comes closer. Scooting in next to him, she gives the older man a glance before leaning her head down to the carcass. She plucks off a strip, gulping it eagerly down. A swallow and she runs her tongue over her lips, before going down for another piece.
Her enthusiastic appreciation lead him to believe she did not know much kindness or that she had not been in the company of it in some time. Or perhaps her stomach burned hot enough that the relief inspired her.
Welcome.
His amber eyes glanced her from the side as his fangs continued to rend flesh and fat from the hide. She settled in beside him and there were no tricks. She ate and did not try to stake a claim on what he portion of the carcass he worked, and he left her to the space and meat he had invited her to.
Skookumchuck hastily consumed what little he needed to take the edge off of his hunger and then he stepped aside, his tongue swiping around his mouth.
Enjoy that. Think you need it more than me.
He could hunt and so he would. He picked up his feet in a gentle lope down the coast, leaving the young wolf to her tough and salty meal.
Quietly they ate side by side, Huā careful not to encroach on his portion. That was short-lived, though. He told her to enjoy the rest, and suddenly he was off, heading down the coast. She didn't understand why he'd left her all this, but she wasn't sad to see him go either. The glutton dug into the tough meat of the beast further, not bothering to call a farewell. Just giving a little glance of that seafoam gaze before turning back to her meal. She would finish eating what she could and continue on her way.