Sea Lion Shores i saw her, yeah i saw her with her black tongue tied

gulls swarmed the beach, their loud calls drumming over whipping wind.

bijou watched in dull interest. it was not unusual for them to follow her -- she was rivener, the carrion-finder -- and no gull ever had a better friend. they flocked and crowed and squabbled around the form of a coyote lean with hardship. the sand had long since been darkened by the felled beast's blood, which sprawled in dirty ringlets around the print-scattered sand.

if there was any foul play, none of it was evident on bijou's pelt. and yet, she looked at the corpse from a distance, as one might watch art of their own making come to life.

Huā kept her distance from the birds. She had seen pictures like this before, and gazed from a distance at the fallen creature, the flapping of wings and snapping of beaks around it. And then she looked to the dark figure, who watched as she did, only closer to the mess. Her gaze rose from the female's tail-tip to her hindquarters, and then to the back of her head, where she expected the stranger might open a hidden pair of eyes and look back at her. But unsurprisingly, there were none, and feeling the world was quiet these days she called out, Birdwatching, hm?, in a loud voice which would stretch the distance between them, while Huā made no move to approach.

it was a stirring scene; bijou thought of how every action was a constellation of its own, and how each thing one did (or did not) breathed into life a swirling universe of events sometimes entirely out of their control.

somewhere a pair of eyes watched her. bijou's ears perked as the voice passed through the veil of clamoring gulls. turning her gaze to the source of the sound, bijou was met with the figure of an attractively slim she-wolf built in the manner of her coastal cousins.

a smile. "they seem amused. and in turn, they are amusing." bijou's glittering gaze set in full on huā. "who are you?"

A smile, and eyes like jade. Huā returned a polite upward lift of her lips, though it was distant and unfamiliar. All the other creatures of world are amusing to us, especially here on the beach. Huā laughed lightly, musically, and stepped toward Bijou in a careful manner that suggested she was testing trust. She paused once she was a touch closer. I am Huāzhēn, empress of the island, She declared with a brief motion of her muzzle to the distant land upon blue horizon. It sounded a tad dramatic, didn't it? She grinned awkwardly, I lead a ocean-pack. 

And you?

the gulls were interesting in their own way, but they paled in comparision to this fascinating creature that came before bijou. she studied her with keen intrigue, noticing the careful comportment and foreign lilt of huāzhēn's tongue.

"so you are the one whose island i was considering visiting." bijou inferred, ignoring the flocking of gulls which swirled around them. "that is much more amusing." a flicker of her attention to the waves and the distant island beyond it -- a brilliant setting of emerald in lapiz-lazuli sea. "i am bijou mayfair-cairn, empress of the gulls behind us. not much of a title compared to yours." she grinned doggedly - queen of the island, queen of sea-rats -- what, truly, could be more befitting? "do you swim out all that way?"

I always like pretty guests, Huā dared in a slight testing of the water, You would be welcome any time. She watched as Bijou's gaze shifted to the azure sea. To the introduction, she giggled at that title, and noted the name for later. She might've commented on those gulls further if the question wasn't flung to her; instead she shook her head. No, usually only swimming if it is high tide. When the water is low, we have a strip of land that connects the island to here. She revealed. Gosh, how tiring it would become to always swim! She was thankful for that bridge.

the fox and its dinner guests were completely forgotten. bijou's expression went from politely interested to purely delighted as she caught the subtle suggestion in the empress' words. her gums turned up in a charmed smile which faded into a grin of fixed interest.

"do you often house pretty guests?" bijou inquired, peering towards huāzhēn with scarcely veiled coquettish regard.

That look! Huā couldn't help but return her smile, and soon her expression was something more playful. Not often enough, Huā laughed, I chose members with skill, but unfortunately, that left out all the men and women who only sit and be pretty and handsome. She joked, and it really was just a joke- she was confident Yuèlóng had some beautiful faces among them, but flirting with packmates had always seemed too complex, and many already had romantic involvements anyway. Nor was Bijou the most lovely face she'd ever seen, and she was sure the girl had a skillset of some kind. But flirting was just flirting. But like seashells, I always find treasures scattered across the shore. She laughed, and waved her tail slowly in good humor, offering a direct look to Bijou that said that's you.

bijou decided in that moment that this woman - delightful as aquamarine fragments of seashard on a grey shore - was amusing enough to stay her more basal hunger. after all, if bijou coveted all of the things that brought her amusement to this otherwise bleak earth, she would soon run out of playthings. and a life without the occasional sunbeam was a drab life indeed.

"so, i shall be the prettiest among them." bijou jested, tilting her chin subtly into the air. "besides your eminence, of course. it simply does not do to have subjects which surpass the beauty of your eminence. do you often hunt for seashells and bring them home?"

wrapping since bijou inactive <3

Of course, Huā purred playfully, and laughed aloud. To the question, Huā sighed and shook her head, looking out across the sea in a fake performance of loneliness only meant to amuse. Not often enough, my collection is too little. Sometimes it is hard for such a busy empress to save time for her treasure-hunting. They went on joking together a little while before Huā had to head home, letting her short yet pleasant time with the pretty jade-eyed girl fade with the day.