fog bound

Leucothoë found herself desiring to do more for the Sound. Presently she moved in the territory, the place ridden with fog. In order to do more she would need to learn more of the place that she lived in, understand it wholly and know it as she knew Themiscrya. She knew she was homesick for certain sights, but Leucothoë imagined it was more for the faces that came with it than perhaps the land. There was something about this place that stayed her paws that had once always itched to travel; her wanderlust was sated upon her first journey. She had no desire to leave this place, only learn it.

Although it was more difficult to see through the haze, the scents were just as thick if not thicker. She was a ghost in this weather, her furs blending well with the color surrounding her. Leucothoë kept to the shoreline, using this as her guide. She had been doing more patrolling than she had exploring, and she sought now to make up for the time she had lost to do so.

*rolls upon* :D

Unlike her sisters who had spent their first days in the Sound learning how they could assist the pack and immerse themselves into the health of the Nereides, Callantha done... Well, nothing. She'd spent her days wandering the coast and exploring the forest, avoiding her fellow packmates as best as she could within reason. Of course, Minthe would always be there to reel her back in and try to put her head back into her studies, but once she was released, the ward was off again - putting as much distance between herself and the pack as she could.

Simply put, Cal did not like it here. It was different than the feeling of discontent she'd had in her birth pack or in Themiscrya. This place felt just plain.. wrong. It looked Nereides, and it smelled Nereides... But it somehow wasn't. Not with the sea crone at their helm. With her creepy, skeletal looks and her creepy, leering eyes... Just thinking of her made the ward shudder as she meandered along the shoreline.

She had never been particularly devout, but in trying times like these, even the unruly ward would look to the sea for comfort and for guidance. The fog that settled thickly upon the beach seemed to her to be sent by the gods... Perhaps they too were displeased with the Sound and so had shrouded it in mist so that they wouldn't be able to see it.

Cal gave a lonesome, miserable sigh. She was considering turning back and headed up towards the forest when she suddenly spied a hazy form in the distance, growing more and more solid as whoever it was came nearer. Cal froze, her instincts warning her that it might be the witch herself. When Leucothoë's silver frame finally appeared, the porcelain ward released the breath that she'd held tightly in her chest. It wasn't often she was relieved at the sight of her packmates, but considering how much worse it could've been...

"Leu," Cal called softly to gain the girl's attention.

yay! was hoping it'd be you!

The fog clung thickly around her, but wavered as she moved, slipping away to come back as she entered another thicker wave of it. She could distinctly smell another, but could not see them; she presumed that whoever it was was further off until—

Leu, she heard. She visibly flinched and nearly reeled backwards, but was able to maintain enough composure to have not done that. Leucothoë let out a loud gasp, blinking quickly to gather her bearings. As though it would help her see through the thick, rolling fog, she narrowed her eyes... And then stepped closer, scoffing, correcting the other in a polite tone despite her annoyance: “Leucothoë,” ...and then she saw who it was. “Oh. Callantha. Hi.” The Greek came off her tongue easily, and she moved closer to the girl to inspect her. Really, the girl had been quiet... Better than usual, really.

Leucothoë looked to the Ocean, and then to the pale girl. Perceptive though she was, she hadn't been around Callantha long enough to know she felt uneasy as her sister had. She shifted her weight, and licked her sea-salt laden chops. “You busy? You want to explore with me?” Leucothoë thought she might be nice and invite the girl along with her; having not seen her around the Sound too much, she figured she would check on her progress herself.

yay! :D

Callantha winced visibly as her sister corrected her. Just like with many other things in her life, this was one mistake she seemed doomed to make again and again. "Sorry," she muttered in response, not for the first time and more than likely not the last either. She gave her coat a hefty shake, trying to free it of some of the sand and other debris that clung to it, knowing that was another pet peeve of Leucothoë's. It was an effort in futility, though. Her fur remained just as stained and unruly as it always was.

A crooked smile flit briefly across her lips at the girl's greeting, though she kept quiet. It didn't occur to her how strange she probably thought it that the usually silly wolf had been so reserved since coming here. She actually figured her traveling companions hadn't spared much thought for her at all, except for Minthe who continued to monitor her development. Her brows lifted in surprise when she was actually invited to go exploring. It was not an often heard outreach, and Cal was quick to jump on the opportunity. "Really? Sure!" she said, her mood brightening, "Where do you wanna go?"

Leucothoë narrowed her eyes skeptically at the girls apology. Callantha was forever shortening her name into something it was not, and it displeased her immensely. Gods, it would be like her calling Callantha callous or something! She was aware that it was not the same–not at all–but she could think of no other comparison in her annoyance. It took everything in the silver girl to not roll her eyes; she heard her mother in her head how unbecoming it was, and “do you want your eyeballs to stay that way forever”. Both appealed to her vanity, and the horror-stricken Leucothoë never sassed those she hung around with via her eyeballs again.

She watched as Callantha shook her furs to try and remove whatever walks of life might exist in it (she swore she could HEAR whatever was falling from her coat hitting the ground) and took a step back, not wanting to come in the crossfire. The girls excitement caused Leucothoë to look bewildered–although anyone should be so lucky to receive an invitation by her, she supposed–and lift her head up. “Callantha! Calm down,” she tosses her head and takes a step forward, her tail waving as she finished, “I never say things I don't mean, so, yeah, really. Anyway, I want to find something. Maybe things to add to the cache or like, a place...”

Leucothoë took another step forward, ears erect. She wanted to prove useful, and she supposed she could humor Callantha in the process, admonishing her when she was wrong so as to keep her mothers lessons in tact.

In Cal's excitement, she forgot her decorum - something that Luecothoë was quick to remind her of. Her ears fell back and she bowed her muzzle with an apologetic smile, though her tail continue to sway steadily at her haunches. That was one of the problems her mentors often faced when trying to teach her - she was a very excitable creature, and most definitely a poster child ADHD. She wrinkled her nose briefly and paused, listening as Leucothoë explained what it was she wanted to do.

"I heard there's a pretty cool-looking grotto along the shore somewhere," Cal suggested, her eyes sparkling with excitement though she tried to stifle it in her tone, "We could check that out? Maybe dig up some clams or something?" She wasn't completely certain that there would be anything edible to dig up at all, but it was something she had done often back home in Hagios Bay. It had been summer then, but... it wasn't like clams migrated, right?

Leucothoë was slow to come to the side of Callantha, moving to nudge a knotted clump of fur on the girls shoulder that had caught her eye and frustrated her. Even if Callantha shifted away, at least Callantha would know it was there and more importantly, that she knew of it... Callantha was proving to be at the very least a thoughtful individual, and that was a good thing as far as Leucothoë was concerned. Listening to Callantha's words, Leucothoë perked with interest.

“Oh, did you? From who did you hear that?” The question was asked without any disbelief or incredulity; really, Leucothoë was curious. Thus far Leucothoë had met the quiet Phantom and kind, present Wynter... and had more desire to interact with the consorts that had kept them at the border. Their leader, too, of course, but she had yet to have any one-on-one time with the woman. At her question, the silver girl nodded slowly. “Yes, let's do that. See what we can find.” Be it that grotto or whatever was in it or all of the above... Leucothoë had every desire to inspect this territory. Every inch of it. Leucothoë took it upon herself to lead the way, lifting her head and her plume above her as she did so, testing the hierarchical waters without fear. Leucothoë had a take-charge personality, though was trying to learn to be quiet in her command as her mother. She certainly had plenty to learn, herself.

The first thing Leucothoë did in response to Callantha's suggestion was to call her out on who had told her of the grotto. The girl bit her lip anxiously at the question, her mind racing to quickly come up with a response. The truth was, she'd been spying on her new packmates and had overheard it through eavesdropping on them - something she was certain Leucothoë would not approve of. But what to say she did instead?

"Oh, I just heard it in passing, some of the sirens chatting, y'know," Call replied slowly, trying maybe a little too hard to be nonchalant by adding a careless shrug, "It sounds cool though, I bet we could find it in no time!" She gave a smile, hoping the girl would take the bait and be redirected towards excitement at finding this grotto.

Callantha hopped eagerly along after Leucothoë as she took the lead and started down the coast. She lowered her head and tail humbly, not at all minding to assume the role of the subordinate/follower. After all, it was a role she fit perfectly into personality-wise. Eager to attempt to further distract her, Callantha decided to broach a new topic of discussion. "So, what do you think of the pack?" she asked, honestly quite curious to hear what her much calmer and more dutiful sister had to say about the Sound.