Shimmering Sands I have a very small mouth and only grabbed some of you

Backdated some to make sense for timeline. I think this is the last place @Smokestep and @Sandpiper were with @Raptor? Making a few assumptions.

She followed on in stony silence, resentful still of the dismissive comment Raptor had made about her goods, but curious and desperate enough to somehow believe he had found her wayward siblings. It seemed next to impossible—one of them she had never even met, and Ingram she hadn't seen in over half her life, so how could she believe he had found their third and they were now here together?—but there was hope nonetheless. She needed something to live for, might as well be them.

"How much farther?" asked the impatient nymph, flicking her tail mildly against her hindquarters and flaring her nostrils in quiet annoyance with Raptor's continued presence. She supposed she could abide him long enough to be reunited with her brothers and then, in her usual fashion, she could proceed to drive him off. Little did she know how much of a barnacle Raptor could be; if she had, she would have abandoned this quest for her siblings immediately upon recognizing it would mean bunking with Raptor forevermore.

throwing a post in bc idk if ill have time tomorrow night hope that is ok - ill have her not see wylla yet and maybe raptor can spot her?

sandpiper had returned to where raptor had caught the urchin, her nose parting the water in small ripples as she searched the surface for any signs of the spiky cretin. a few times, she ungracefully chuffed up salt-water -- causing tears to sting her eyes and her nose to burn in revulsion. she coughed dryly and loudly -- and cursing her ineptitude for finding the quilled invertebrate, she collapsed into to the tidepool with a dramatic splash.

she was unaware that several hundred meters down the coast, an interloper traveled alongside her comrade. the wind was not in her favor, nor was it quiet -- all she could hear was the rush of the wind over the choppy sea and the loud slaps of water against the cold shores.

"I don't know." Raptor shrugged as he trotted along. "I didn't bury them up to their necks in sand. They move around ye know. I'm sure they're here somewhere."

Tracking was not his strong suit. Perhaps it could have been if he found the task more exciting and was not so prone to laziness. He had a good nose for seeking out the smallest scraps of food if he could apply it elsewhere. But even then, tracking was not commonly needed by the sea, where each tide devoured any tracks and scents that were there, and where the best method for finding someone generally was to seek a crow's nest and scan the distances sprawled at one's paws.

Sandpiper's bright coat was near impossible to miss on the dreary winter shores. "Yer in luck," Raptor said, casting the salt and pepper lass a wink over his shoulder before he quickened his pace to the tide pools, hailing Sandpiper with a loud and shrill whistle (in his old crew he had been known as the whistler for more than one reason) without breaking stride.

"Look who I found for ye!"

He stood before his crewmate with a wagging tail and a toothy grin.

Mary, feel free to hop in anytime!

"They move around ye know," Wylla snarked under her breath as she traipsed after the rascally pirate. By now her ears were slung low on her neck and her face was fixed into a frumpy glower. The cold sand sucked at her paw pads and she itched to return to somewhere a little drier, having spent so long inland where the ground wasn't so fluid, but she knew this was sort of her birthright. Not this exact location, but coastal living. Keokuk Glade hadn't been so cold and dreary as this flat; it went on as far as the eye could see, but its rare salt sand was covered with snow nearly up to the water line.

Suddenly her escort picked up the pace and she lurched into a trot as anxiety squeezed at her heart. She hadn't seen Ingram in so long. What was she going to say? "Sorry I got abducted by aliens, why the hell didn't you come find me"? Nah, that was a bit too strong. Anyway it wasn't his fault that her sense of direction was horrific when she didn't have a trail to follow. And what about the other brother? She had no idea what to expect.

Brilliant tawny with sharp black accents wasn't what she was expecting for Lycaon, but then, she didn't know what to expect. She, Lusca and Ingram were all dark, so she'd half-expected her other brother to be the same. Her gait turned into a tumbling run that brought her close to Raptor's shoulder, but when she got close enough to notice some other features—like how that muzzle was a little too narrow and sharp for any man's, and that distinctly female scent—she came to a screeching halt and launched a betrayed squint in Raptor's direction before fixing it on Sandpiper as well.

"Who the fuck are you?"

sandpiper jerked her head up as a whistle sounded; she knew the call as distinctly raptor's. as she looked up she saw raptor swiftly approaching, with a stormcloud of a wolf in tow. sandpiper's hackles lifted somewhat instinctively, if only because it was alarming to look up and see two wolves thundering towards you.

she stood square as she assessed raptor, trying to make sense of what he had said. she hadn't been looking for anyone but moorhen and redshank, and while she only recalled small details about either, this heather-grey wolf with a black mask resembled no one in her family.

she bristled outright as the female spoke, apprising her with a flinty scowl. her tail leapt over her back and she gruffly countered: "who the fuck are you?" she looked to raptor accusingly, wondering why he would elect to punish sandpiper by presenting her with such a rude harridan.

Shit.

That did not go as expected.

Raptor took a step back as both females took their turn at giving him a look. Redirected aggression was a thing and he was not interested in getting in the way of that.

His burnt umber eyes shifted between them. Clearly they were not sisters but... "Aw, come on," he said, grinning toothily because he could not help it, but also making an honest effort to placate them to save the fur on his hide. "Yer a fine lookin' pair of cussin', salty lasses. Can ye blame me for thinkin' ye shared blood? Heh heh heh." The sable pirate shrugged.

Though Sandpiper was more than competent in taking care of herself, Smokestep liked to keep an eye on her to ensure that he would not lose his sister. Raptor had spent a fair amount of time with the dappled female, which left the Captain to feel at ease, but there were times that he missed her constant companionship. They had traveled a great distance from Warsaw to the wilds and they still had plenty of work to do before their home was theirs again. The seafarer knew that all Cairn blood would feel drawn to the waters; he simply wanted to guarantee that they would remain near the black rock.

Padding along the shores, the young pirate caught a whiff of Raptor's saline fetor. Sandpiper's was not far. Long legs carried him from a steady saunter to a wild run. His paws beat into the sand and kicked it behind him until he had locked his eyes on the duo that he knew well... and a stranger he knew nothing about. Slowing his pace, Smokestep closed the distance between them and caught the tail end of Raptor's remark. Drawing his gaze over the interesting female, he frowned thoughtfully.

“Aye, ye could be a Cairn, lass,” the pirate drawled as he made his way to stand beside Sandpiper.

Wylla's neck snapped back and her muzzle shrank down against her neck in affront when Sandpiper met her in exactly the same fashion. Okay woah hold up bitch. "Excuse you?" she snapped, baring the tips of her teeth in a displeased growl, which she whipped around to fix on Raptor suddenly. "You lied to me!" What a jerkwad assface dickbre—

Her train of thought slowed to an amble when a taller wolf made his presence known. She took a second to look him over, eyes settling on a striking pair of dissimilar shades. For a second she felt thirsty. Really thirsty. Okay, so he was probably like half her age or something, and therefore about as worthless as Mato, but at least he was tall and handsome. But then he spoke and she drew the connection to Sandpiper and all that went flying out the window and she scowled.

"Aye, and ye could be a coffin if ye don't shut your face," she sniped back, openly mocking his dialect, and with a flourish she turned and began to stomp in Raptor's direction. "You asshole!" she screeched. "You told me my brothers were here!"

sandpiper recoiled, visibly affronted by wylla's (perceived) pretentious reaction -- despite having nearly the identical reaction herself. she pulled herself upright, her bristled fur on end -- and glared daggers at the blaze-faced female even as smokestep approached alongside them. her lower lip curled back, narrow white teeth bared in wylla's direction with contempt.

raptor -- poor raptor -- caught her attention next. in truth if he had not spoken, perhaps sandpiper would have focused all her vitriol on the grey-clad female. unfortunately, his speech only served to further incite her and she redirected her fury to him with barbed riposte:"maybe we wouldn't be so salty if you weren't a mangy, stupid cur. why the fuck would we want a ratty inland wolf who doesn't know her fat nose from a corpulent toad? she looks nothing like us." sandpiper added abrasively, casting an accusatory glance to the girl that in no way shape or form resembled the cairn brood.

sandpiper might have forgotten wylla's indecent outburst then if she had not opened her mouth again to brazenly disparage smokestep's accent. to sandpiper, that was highly uncalled for and she spat in the sand and snarled: "get the fuck out of here."

Raptor cast Smokestep a side glance as the pale corsair joined them, nodding at Smoke's comment that the she-wolf could have been a Cairn. Sandpiper however was in blistering disagreement and the soot and silver female grew more incensed by the minute. The sable pirate's lighthearted jest had done nothing to calm the swell of the seas and he suddenly felt he was drowning in them.

Sandpiper took the jolly right out of his roger with her furious insult. Raptor pulled his ears back on to his skull and bared his teeth at her in a grimace of ire and hurt — but she might have missed that conflicted flash of fang as the stranger took to insulting Smokestep's dialect and Sandpiper redirected her attention to aggressively dismiss her. That was when he pitched his ears forward and stepped ahead.

Raptor drew almost nose to nose with the girl and calmly said, "my mistake." She was wrong however — he had said nothing about brothers at all. But he was not inclined to split hairs over this. "Time to go," he grinned offensively without a hint of remorse for his wrongdoing, lifting a paw to wave her off in an insulting ta-ta gesture.

chuckles

It seemed that the pale brute had wandered himself into open cannon-fire. The unknown woman was rife with displeasure and had turned her combative self on him. There was no need for mockery, though Smokestep was born with thick skin. He watched her carefully as she spewed at him and then turned to Raptor and immediately began shrieking like a deranged harpy. For a moment, he was amused. It didn't take long for that amusement to wear away. The octaves she had found were enough to grind his gears to the bone.

Sandpiper had already taken to her defensive nature, throwing her own slurs. Raptor seemed to be the calmest of the lot, meeting the wild woman's antics with a pointy-toothed smile. Smokestep could not help but to snicker at the sight before he moved from his position and planted himself firmly beside the sable brute and the wily wench. He roamed over her figure with a thoughtful frown and then cast a smirk toward his companion. “Aye she's much too belligerent to be a Cairn, mate,” he told Raptor with a chuckle. “Ye should have known from the start. Makin' a fool of herself like that.” The pale pirate then scoffed in her direction with a curling smirk and a flashy wink that would – more than likely send her into a fit.

Wylla didn't stick around long enough for Smokestep's barbs; Sandpiper spat into the sand, earning a wretched snarl from the peppered bitch, but when Raptor flapped his mangy foot in her face, she snapped. Her jaws whirled and slammed shut on his toes, grinding down so hard she felt her head shudder, and then she was letting go and turning and heading on her way with a belligerent kick of her heels to send sand cascading in their direction. Whatever Smokestep said was swallowed by the roar of the sea as Wylla flagged her tail over her back, deliberately displaying her puckered asshole for the lot of them, and sauntered away whilst clutching her shattered dignity and hope to her chest.

omfg if i EVER hold up a thread like this SMACK ME GOD DAMN IT PPL HOW DARE U NOT BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR MY ACTIONS!!

if sandpiper hadn't viciously insulted raptor (and then immediately turned to leave, so great was her shame for her rash nature) she might have stopped to see wylla crunch down on his little toe like a fattened pig at market -- but she didn't. all she saw was the beach stretching out ahead of her, tantalizingly barren and not a soul in sight.

she left them behind her, stalking off with stiffened steps as she put distance between them. after several hundred feet her gait transferred into a canter -- and then a lope -- she was angry at raptor for tricking her, angry at that bitch for existing, and while she wasn't angry at smokestep she was so tired of just being near other wolves, and needed to decompress.

and so, she did so --  taking massive strides as she galloped headlong down the beach with nothing but the salt air and the sting of exertion occupying her mind.

Raptor yowled and drew back his foot — hell, his entire self — after the girl chomped down on his toes. He should have expected that but he hadn't and his fast reflexes were only so fast. He might have retaliated, but she had made haste as soon as her teeth lifted, and by now the sable pirate was smarting inside and out and wanted only to crawl away to some hole and fester.

Raptor snorted in her direction and then feigned complete dismissal with a roll of his shoulders. "Eh, her loss," he sneered as he turned to head down the coast himself, in some other direction than the one either of the sassy lasses had taken.

The escalation climbed while the wild woman latched onto Raptor's foot and he yowled loudly. Smokestep bristled, but before any action could be taken, she turned her nose to the air and departed. The pale hound snorted curtly toward the female but did nothing to stop her. Facing Raptor, he made sure his companion was not badly injured before he huffed a grumbling, “good riddance.”

Sandpiper stalked away moodily and Raptor took his own leave. Smokestep frowned between the two and opted for a direction that did not follow either of them. His lengthy limbs carried him in swift strides away from the meeting place and into the wilds.