Ankyra Sound they might have split up or they might have capsized

Oh raspberries, I should have asked her what he likes. Reef looked down upon the assorted things she had gathered: a branch of driftwood as thick as her wrist that had been rounded and smoothed by the sea, a pretty starfish, the sun whitened claw of a rather beefy lobster, and a bundle of kelp with the bubbly bits that snap, crackle and pop between your teeth. I like all these things, she mused. I would be thrilled to have either one. I wonder... could I just... Reef stacked her goods and tried to gather them all into her mouth at once. She managed the pick the entire kit and kaboodle up and took a couple of paces, only for the driftwood to shift and topple right out of her mouth and for the rest to soon follow in a spectacular show of gracelessness. Humm. I guess not! The girl tittered.

The flaxen wolf took another moment to consider her options, and then decided on the rice-crispies-seaweed and the lobster claw. Reef set those aside. She tossed the starfish back into the ocean, and then rolled all over the driftwood to imbue it with her scent before burying it in the sand and marking the spot with a few small stones. Perhaps one of her packmates would find it and enjoy it. If not, she would come back for it later. Reef collected her chosen gifts, smiling around them, and then trotted off toward the grotto in search of @Ingram, to thank him for helping her. There was a bounce to her step and a jolly animation to her tail as her seafoam eyes searched for the dark boy.

omg i love her

the male was alone on the strand when he heard an ebullient clip-clop of feet on packed sand; he pulled a long ear back and turned his muzzle, greeted by the bright form of reef. her tawny composition did not stand out much against the pale sand, but she was moving which drew his eye -- most notably, she held something aloft in her muzzle as if some supplicant bringing wares before a shrine.

ingram at first felt his throat constrict, worried she had forced her way past the borders and had not spoken to wylla at all -- but as she drew closer, the variegated scents of her pelt suggested she had both met wylla and, at some point in time, been in contact with mushrooms. her scent also announced her newfound allegiance to the brine -- the coarse salt seemed to entwine her scent same as his.

he smiled somewhat, his head tilted to the side as he studied her. she was by far the friendliest he had come across in a long time, and her chipper attitude had him grinning before she even spoke a word. "oi!" he loudly hailed over the waves, his tail swinging amicably. "what's that you got there?"

Thank you! :)

Her new home was beautiful. Reef was born and raised by the ocean but she had never found herself tucked away in such a secluded and peaceful place. She already felt she knew it, that it was part of her and that she belonged here. Nyx had given her a cursory tour but there was still a lot to be seen, and as much as her eyes searched for the roguish male they also drank in her surroundings.

Reef did not have to go far to find the wolf she was looking for. He hailed her amiably and she loped toward him, tail frisking happily at her hocks as she dipped her slim head and tucked her ears back in humble recognition of his rank above her. She laid down her thank-you gifts in front of him and neatly seated herself. "Hi Ingram!" She chirped with a warm smile. "Wylla told me I might find you along the beach or in the grotto somewhere. I wanted to thank you for sending me for the mushrooms -- she certainly loved them because look! Here I am!" Reef beamed; her smile reached for her ears.

The girl bent down and nudged the lobster claw and seaweed. "I forgot to ask her what you like, but I thought some crackle kelp and this cool claw might be to your fancy. What do you think?"

his words carried quick but true; reef's attention pulled to him and she made towards him at a flouncy lope. secured in her muzzle were two trinkets he could scarce identify until she placed them nimbly on the ground. he looked from them to her suddenly sitting form, a curious look on his muzzle as she spoke. she was so warm - so friendly -- ingram was so used to his prickly siblings that her embracing demeanor was almost a shock to him.

she detailed briefly her interaction with wylla, which eased his fears she had trespassed. wylla would never say no mushrooms, he knew that -- it might have been vaguely manipulative of him to suggest reef secure them for her entry, but he wasn't exactly sorry. especially when she seemed so genuinely nice.

his ears cupped on his head as he looked at the gifts; his tail beat around his hocks and he looked to her with gratitude. "oh. that's..." what was the word again, when someone wasn't a total dick? "that's really nice. thanks!" awkwardly he placed a paw on the two wares, a grin still clinging to his gums. "that must have been a pretty big lobster." he examined the claw carefully -- it was far larger than any specimen he had ever eaten.

She waited expectantly for his reaction, wondering if he would have preferred the driftwood or the starfish. Ingram seemed a bit uncertain at first, and the small girl cocked her head at him. Her inviting smile never left her lips although she felt a bit sheepish. She was a confident wolf, and outgoing, but she keenly felt a need to have his approval -- and that of her other packmates too. It was an immediate relief when he thanked her and inspected the claw.

"Can you imagine!" She exclaimed, standing and turning a quick circle in her enthusiasm as her friendly gaze swung about the beach. She could picture the big lobster clearly in her mind's eye. "I bet he could have fed the whole pack!" Reef, with her tail beating rapidly, plunked herself down again. "Okay, okay, maaaybeee that's a stretch," she corrected herself with a giggle, "I would have liked to have seen him though...

Say, you don't get a lot of gifts do you?"

his gaze rose from the claw as the wolf neatly pirouetted, her actions bringing a small smile to his lips. slowly his unsure expression disappeared, replaced by a playful grin as he felt his spirits lighten. the last few weeks had been so tumultuous the boy hardly knew the tension he was carrying -- until it lifted off of him leaving him free as a feather in the wind.

"i would not be involved in the catching of that thing," ingram declared with a wide grin as he imagined the size it would necessitate to feed the entire pack. his ears fell at her next question, unsure of how to handle it in a way that did not incriminate him or his siblings.

"uh, well... no, i guess not really. i mean i get lycaon roe every once in a while, and wylla likes her mushrooms.. why? is that normal where you're from?" he canted his head to the side, suddenly looking at the cream wolfess anew. "where are you from, anyway?"

She grinned broadly, unable not to find his uncertain demeanor and hesitant answer charming. If she was not so inclined toward optimism she might have found his answer a bit sorrowful, but instead she simply assumed that wherever he grew up they had different customs for showing appreciation and friendship and that sort of thing.

"Yup," she answered sunnily. "I am from a place called Hatterascape. It a long ways south from here. It's marked by three funny looking trees that stick out of the water in a row... they only have a few really straight branches and no leaves... I don't know. They're weird. Can't miss them," she explained. "That's where I was born and where my family still is. But yes, we like to look for things to give each other. It's fun and it helps the pack bond. If you tell me what you like, I will remember and try to find it for you," Reef smiled and wiggled her ears, thumping her tail in emphasis. "Or you can tell me what you do here for pack bonding," she offered, tilting her slim head and peering at him curiously.

hatterascape had a fantastic ring to it. ingram replayed it in his mind, repeating it mentally the way one does when they find a delightfully aesthetic new lexicon. it also had a faintly exotic quality to it, not unlike the wolf before him.

she looked so out of place on the beach -- so out of place in grimnismal. ingram thought her too nice for such a sorry place - nice in a different way than chusi had been. he wondered again just how she had charmed herself past the ostensible wylla -- surely wylla would have seen such a cherubic presence was possible threat to her station?

"we have weird trees here too," he chimed up a little belatedly, his gaze sliding to the immense sequoias that sat in the distance, half obscured by briny fog. "your home sounds nice. we don't do that here really. not that we aren't nice but i think... maybe we're just lazy. i like food, though. what about you?"

Reef chuckled at the lazy comment. The way she saw it there was nothing wrong with relaxing and enjoying a quiet life if that is what one was inclined to do.

"Well who doesn't like food?" She grinned. "I love clams the most. Not just the taste but digging them out of the sand too..." She also liked pretty round stones and sea glass, but before she could elaborate on that or any number of other things that she found appealing, she landed upon a thought and twitched her ears. "Say, do you want to go clam digging with me? I bet this beach is full of them... oh and the tide is going out! It's the perfect time. I bet we could find enough for everyone."

She could not hide how excited she was at the idea, from the sparkle in her eyes to the wagging of her tail and wiggling of her toes.

ingram had never been one to deny a pretty lady; as she mentioned her predilection for clams his muzzle lit up for he shared a similar affinity for the husked mollusks. with a swing to his tail he playbowed and nodded, escorting her down the beach with a delighted schwung to his step. he would gladly spend the rest of the evening in her company, and once the two had secured what they could, would turn for the grotto with a grin still habituating the gentle corner of his mouth.