Stavanger Bay teach our bodies: haunt the cause

@Sandpiper

The pale pirate trekked along the edges of the shores, his tail flagged behind them. He knew that they were close to completion, but he was obsessive of his territory. Smokestep moved with purpose, marking here and there to keep the scent of the Ironsea crew as strong as possible. It would be clear that any passersby would find that the bay was taken, and it would not fall again for as long as he lived. Skellige would have been proud that his son and daughter had accomplished what they had set out to do. While Smokestep did not always agree with his father's tactics, he was confident that he had done precisely what was necessary and the rest would be his own. Though he was Cairn, he had forged his own mindset and abilities and he was ready to thrive.

enter the truant cairn -- sandpiper, shitstirrer, trouble-maker, rapscallion -- she trailed after smokestep's path with dutiful familiarity, marking a little ways off of each of his marks, twigs and snow blotted with her urine as she went. she did not mark as frequently (nor as high) as he, for she lacked the faculty to aim much more than a sprinkle on her intended targets.

her bladder was quick to empty and at length she caught up to him, loftily cantering through the snow and attempting to place her front legs over his back in a pounce. her legs and muzzle were still sore from arrille's assault, but her spirits were high as she sought to worry her brother's flank with a few affectionate nips.

The pale creature could feel her before she had even come to his flank. With a slow swinging of his head, the brute curled his lips in a smile and drew in her scent, wondering where she had been. The pirate was pleased with her actions, no matter what sort of trouble she had caused. The golden cloak she wore was the only thing that he needed there – truly – and so he would allow for her rapscallion ways. It was, perhaps, his fatal flaw; Smokestep found it incredibly difficult to say no to his sister.

“Where have ye been, Piper?” the corsair inquired with a cant of his head. One ear swiveled to survey the surrounding terrain in order to make sure that no one else would be joining them on their patrol. He was curious, though, to know how she was getting along in their new home. More than this, he wanted to know if she missed any part of Warsaw or their father.

like any sibling, smokestep was aware of her intentions - perhaps it was easily read on the miscreant smile that doused her face. she slid from his flank as he turned his muzzle to her, her smile mirroring his own in affection.

as for where she had been -- sandpiper flicked her gaze down the strand, and then looked back to him with a somewhat solemn aspect. she did not think of warsaw as much anymore, and it was scarcely on her mind as she replied. her father she missed the way any daddy's girl would burningly miss, but she was an adult now, and had to wean herself off of her neediness for her father. "mostly with raptor, exploring. we found a new crab you can eat." well, only raptor had eaten it -- sandpiper was not so dumb to eat a foreign thing first. "chased off a little trumpet a few weeks ago, and met ros.. and that coyote thing. you've been busy." she apprised him with another sly smile; she admired how well smokestep could woo the locals -- especially when she would rather just antagonize them.

Her smile mirrored his own and he felt himself fall into a homebody-like peace. His eyes roamed over her, making sure that she was well enough – fed and without mark – and noticed that she had taken cuts to herself that appeared to have come from another wolf. Smokestep narrowed his brows as she explained her treks with Raptor and drew his tongue along his muzzle with some interest at the crab, but still she did not seem to mention that she had found herself at the hand of someone who had wished her harm. A small voice in the back of his mind had fallen to his sable-pelted friend and he wondered if Raptor really had gotten his way with Sandpiper or if the marks were from another.

“That's all, eh?” he prompted with a quirk of his brow. “Did the trumpet give ye those?” The pale creature gestured to her muzzle with his own and then smirked at her with a peculiar expression painted to his face. “I have been busy, right. We need the crew to be strong, aye? I'll go out and scout fer more soon,” he affirmed and swung his tail to bat against her softly. “So... what happened? Ye lose a fight wit a shark?”

she had glossed over her encounter with arrille for good reason -- but as always, her brother was too astute to lead astray. his look upon her was all-consuming - he saw the marks on her muzzle and the ugly gash on her scruff that her wispy hackles did a poor job of hiding. if she lied, he would easily sense her omission - she just knew it.

with a sigh that rackled her frame she acquiesced in answering his query, though she hated herself for admitting any sort of shortcoming. "some guy out by the buffs. wasn't friendly... and i bit off a mite bit more than i could chew." she admitted with rueful chagrin. she was not the best fighter -- that title was easily reserved for smokestep -- and while she had always been a bit pugnacious, usually it was her mouth that wounded her opponents, not her teeth. "oh! raptor was there. i think he liked coming to a lady's rescue." she smiled wildly, as if the notion of her being a lady was positively absurd. raptor would have surely decried that title.

"of course, that's not as interesting as assembling the crew. any other promising prospects?" she was proud of all that her brother had amassed while she had been picking squabbles and offending the natives. day by day their ragtag tribe was growing - soon they'd be a true crew with smokestep proudly at the helm.

“Ye catch his name?”

The tone that was released with fiercely protective. While the corsair was certain that his fiery sister could very well protect herself, he did not like the idea that someone had come along and caused harm to her. Sandpiper was dear to him in ways that his other siblings never would be, and never had been, thanks to their upbringing. She was all that he had left of his Cairn blood, and he hung over her like a vigilant guard. If he could get a name from whoever had attacked her, he would be sure that the crew tended to them once they had grown stronger. No one would lay a fang on one of the Cairn siblings.

Piper tried to change the subject, but Smokestep caught it quickly enough and found that the subject of Raptor was something of a sore one for him. He loved his good friend, but the question about whether or not Sandpiper was off limits had been surprising and frustrating for the Captain. “Right, I'm sure he was,” the pirate muttered with a curling of his lip. He shook his skull a few times and frowned at the thought. She tried to ask how recruits were going and he shrugged his broad shoulders.

“Ran into Moorhen, Piper... she's gone an' given up our good family name. Calls 'erself 'Sif' now. She don't even speak our tongue, sis. What kind of ripe fish gullets is that?”

smokestep was right to be protective over his sister -- she had a penchant of running her mouth, and lacked the ability to back it up physically. arrille had bowled through her like soggy tissue paper. she had come to the startling conclusion she was hardly a pugilist -- that much was obvious.

she tested a cut on her lip with her tongue, worrying the split cut with a frown on her gums. "no name, just a lot of attitude." the girl admitted with a huff, somewhat disappointed she hadn't asked for a name first. "he was white with yellowy looking legs. don't worry, i gave him something to remember me by." she winked, trouncing forward with pride to her steps.

pride that stopped as she caught the tail end of her brother's dark tone. a singular ear pulled back and she turned her muzzle slowly, regarding her brother with a troubled expression. before she had much of a chance to press the issue, he mentioned moorhen. abruptly her ears pulled forward and she felt her heart pitter -- only to have it sink as soon as it stirred. "did she hit her head?" sandpiper tried to mask her disappointment - her pain - with a feebly formed joke.

Smokestep cursed at the sands when she mentioned she had no name of her assailant. He did not take kindly to those who might harm his sister. Curling his lip and baring his fangs, the pirate peered down the coast and snorted. “Least he's easy enough to pick outta crowd, eh?” the young Cairn stated coldly. If he caught sight of such a brute, he would be sure to leave a few marks himself. The yearling would tuck away the information for a later time and use it when it became necessary. Until then, he had more to focus on; the forming of the Ironsea crew would not take much longer. He would have felt better with more members under the ranks.

While Sandpiper did not seem at all bothered by her fight with the stranger, Smokestep opted to mull over it for a while longer before she made comment on Moorhen. It seemed there was more than enough to keep the young brute aggravated. He could not imagine why she would have abandoned their name and their cause. His golden counterpart asked if she had damaged her head and he snickered softly. “Had to have... she was a ripe wench, Piper. Trotted off like she was some sort o' queen. Makes me sick,” he growled in response. It was safe to say that if Moorhen was to come back to the coast, she would have been met with the baring of fangs and the lashing of his teeth. Smokestep did not carry very much of his father with him, but he would not tolerate the desertion of the Cairn clan.

wanna wrap up and archive? i want to wrap up all threads taken before the challenge <3

she too was at a loss for her estranged sister's behavior; was not blood and sea thicker than water? it would have disheartened her to know her sister had abandoned her ancestral affinity for the sea in favor of some brackish, stagnating inland pack. a woeful expression knitted her brow as she momentarily grieved for a sister she hardly knew.

that was the thing about their relationship that allowed sandpiper to sever herself so easily -- she had never had any true connection with moorhen save for what they shared in the womb -- it was easy for her to briefly observe her sister's loss and then, quite simply, move on. they had existed this far without her, and she without them; and life would continue that way.

she did not understand it, but she would not waste time on a wolf that had abandoned them. should moorhen return she might find kinder reception in sandpiper simply by virtue that sandpiper took moorhen's desertification as a lack of moral fiber and not a true betrayal. she might have been more sympathetic, though not by any measurable degree.


she rolled her shoulders and cast moorhen from her mind. "she is the sick one. we have better things to worry about." hardly encouraging words, but she knew smokestep would not need a loquacious speech; he understood her better than any.

Dismissing their sibling was something of a relief for the pale pirate. He looked away from Sandpiper for a moment and sighed; Moorhen would take whatever life she felt drawn to. Smokestep had done the very same, but he was too young and cocksure to realize his hypocrisy. Instead, he felt the need to damn her for her choices and to poison the remainder of the family against her. It was more in his nature as a Cairn than complete forgiveness. After all, his father had spent years of his life hunting down his own sister. Perhaps, he was not as far from Skellige as he had imagined. As that thought started to sink into him, he felt cold and turned to follow his sibling up the beach in search of their next task.