Stavanger Bay let me see the light with the dark trees shadowing

@Ford

It was odd - this world that she stared out upon. Navi couldn't help but imagine what else was out there; she remembered back home there had been ice caps and the ocean but that had been rough. The terrain had been cold and unwelcoming, she remembered slipping and sliding over it as a pup until she decided it was best to just stay on the jagged cliffs and snow-patched areas her family had set. But this, as she looked across the ocean, the silver girl couldn't help but remain in awe. The waves were soft in comparison to her native land, and the ground - gosh, the ground, despite it being covered in snow, it was the good kind of snow. It wasn't overpowering and unpleasant - no, she could actually walk on it without breaking through the surface. 

This was paradise to her, it was everything she could have possibly wanted and more. But this was all she had seen so far: snow, sand, trees, and green in some places. Green - it was so vibrant and Navi couldn't help but feel like it was starting to become her favorite color. Back home had been so bland. She remembered when she had told her parents she wanted to see more and how badly they had taken it; a sharp pain erupted in her chest at the thought of their grief-stricken faces. Her father had taken his anger out on her and she had been left with an everpresent reminder of what was. Her mother had attempted to agree with her father to appease him but when she was alone, gosh, when she was alone the woman had only wanted the best for her.  Her eyes burned and the girl blinked multiple times to cast away the impending doom beyond her eyes. It had been for the best but her mother had been old; she wouldn't have made the travel.

It had been for the best. 

Her tail curled around her paws as she watched the waves of the ocean merge with each other, the sound soothed her soul.

The ocean had a peculiar way of tending to the rugged ways of people's souls. It was as though the touch of the water was just enough to smooth down the worst of the jagged edges; to create something beautiful. It was this that chained the skeletal brute to it. For all of his faults, the titan was made into a greater man because of his attachment to the swell. As powerful as he was, Ford Lasher Mayfair-Cairn would have been a savage and brutal beast of war if it had not been for the touch of the saline water. Perhaps, there was still a portion of him that remained that way. So long as he remained beside her, he would not succumb to those things.

The winter winds had brought a promise of snow many times over in the last month. The titan had watched flurries take to the wind and drift around them on many nights. He had seen the skies littered with looming clouds and then the break of pristine, glistening white. With it, the waters had turned colder and far more intimidating. Still, that was where he found himself. In the depths of his home, Ford was surrounded by only the deep dark of the beryl ocean. It was only when his limbs could not support the weight of his frame that he found his return to shore.

There, he caught sight of a stranger.

For a long moment, the warhound watched her with a calculated stare. His frame dripped freely as he stepped away from the touch of the lapping waves. Once he had been fully released from the ocean's hold, he began his prowl toward her. With his crown held low toward the earth, his movements appeared leonine and predatory. It was not until he had closed much of the distance that had stretched between them that he took on a less intimidating shape.

“Hello,” his smoky baritone struck the air, and his crown was lifted upward. It seemed that his voice lingered there for a moment, waiting to see if she would turn to him or if he had merely imagined her. “You've found yourself at the mouth of the world. Is it everything you could have hoped for?” the massive brute then remarked. There was a hint of humor in the lilt of his voice, and if she were to turn to look at him she would have seen the slight curling of his dark lips into a smile. Only his eyes remained hollow and void of emotion. Everything else spoke of feeling and reverence. His mismatched sights swung to look at the waters before focusing back on her, waiting to see what information he could pull from her response.

Imagine her surprise when the beast made his way from the depths of the ocean, for a good moment she was taken aback. She had barely seen anything beyond the waves for as long as she had been here despite the lone pile of seaweed or a rare fish swimming away; but now, something came towards her stripped of all complexion as if the sea itself had ripped the flesh from his bones and simply revealed what was beneath it all. Bones. A black, inky mass, dripping and awfully apparent on the otherwise paper-white world that had entrapped them. Her own eyes simply followed his movements as he grew closer. He was far larger than her, she realized - he could easily take her out if he so very well wanted to. 

But he didn't. Instead, her offered humor in a situation that had been disposed of it moments ago and yet, Navi couldn't help but let her lips twinge into a small smile before letting her eyes fall upon the waves once again.  "If this is what the afterlife beholds, I wouldn't mind spending eternity there." She mused gently, looking back to him after a moment. Eternity was a long time, she thought to herself gingerly, but she remained truthful in her words. The silver girl rolled her shoulders, a popping sound emitting from the lack of use. Her paws, grateful for the rest, now itched with invisible needles as they fell asleep and soon enough she stood. Unfortunately, however, she only reached to the middle of his chest and thus took a step back.  

"And yet, it has swallowed us whole."

It seemed as though she was not deterred by his presence. That was something that he found to be impressive. More so, he thought that her response was a fitting one. The stranger played into his words without missing a beat, and her sights seemed to linger on the ocean just long enough for him to catch the admiration that was there. It was all that he needed to see to know if she was worthy to stand on his intended claim. Each test was different, and his way with her would not have been the same as it was for another. Still, he had done well to learn the mentality behind many of those that he met, and he had great pride in his ability to speak to them in ways that would appeal to their inner desires.

“We are the fortunate ones,” he remarked, nodding his head twice at her comment.

Of course, he believed this. Most of what he said could not have been delivered with as much confidence if there was not a fraction of belief in his words. Ford was a capable liar, but he had found it far more advantageous to compound on the roots of truth than to simply spin a yarn. His ability to learn and grow from his knowledge was outstanding on its own. Age would only strengthen these skills, and the more he tested his capabilities, the more he would be able to expand on them.

“This is Stormrift. A small group of us have gathered and are looking to claim the bay as our own. What brings you so close, stranger?”

There was a peaceful calmness that rode on each and every wave as it rolled - they would stretch and tumble and yet it would always go back to where it belonged. As she stared at it longer, she began to wonder what had caused the movement in the first place - had it been some diety? Perhaps the legends were true, once upon a time. The monsters that lurked within the depths; perhaps their breaths were the ones that stirred the current. It was as if it was choreographed: one would rise and then fall, the tendrils of the dramatic dance stretching as far as the eye could see. 

She didn't respond to his response to her own comment, her ear flicked in recognition, however. 

Stormrift, he soon commented and her pale eyes sought out his own mismatched ones and, before long, her attention was pulled to the peak of the surface. As the titan continued on, she shifted her weight, her own ears pivoting forward in obvious interest to whatever was about to unfold. At the question, a twitch of a smile in the most meager of seconds. "I come from the far north, the beauty found here was never in abundance there." In fact, it had been bitter, cold and overall unwelcoming. Despite this area being warmer than back home (was it truly a home at all?) it almost seemed like paradise. She was aware that it was most likely too good to be true.

So she would prod.

"What is Stormrift's purpose?"

The stranger spoke of where she had come from; the wild northern reaches. There had been great talk among the wolves of the Warsaw Islands of the seas to the north, and the savage earth that blocked most life from those waters. Had he the opportunity, or the freedom, the warhound would have sought them out for himself. Instead, he had returned to his father's claim and made a great effort to take it as his own. After all, his mother's home was there too, and they had all been told of their birthrights.

Ford listened and then nodded solemnly, a hint of a smile playing at the dark edges of his lips. The bay was truly a beautiful place; he was selfish to have thought of taking more. Still, there was a wayfarer in his soul that longed to see what else the earth had in store for him. There was a wanderer that sought the far reaches of the planet so that he could know them just as well as he knew the land he passed before.

“Stormrift's purpose?” he echoed with a slight tilt of his crown. The titan wondered what she meant by this, not understanding that there were packs out there who did not invest in the growth of their members the way that he intended to. “We aim to take each wolf among us and help them grow to be the best possible versions of themselves. For all the weaknesses that our kind might possess, the wolves of Stormrift are there to work through and beyond,” the massive brute explained to her.