Dragoncrest Cliffs friendly, but not your friend.

set for tomorrow :D

it's noon.
his pelt is a slick mess
of brine and blood
a new soreness
claims his shoulder.
but he's alive, see
another notch
on his proverbial belt.
seal's dead.
he's not.

something in his stomach moves. 

set between his teeth
is the gristly artefact
all toothsome valleys
jagged peaks
twin eyes rolled up
to clouds they cannot see.
the seal's skull bloodied,
his pride sings.

cayetano throws his head back
and howls,
wondering
if he has not just
stepped foot in
a place he cannot get back
jaws wide
teeth bared
and he a lone figure
at the foot of the lion's den.

Tousaint awoke in the morning with remnants of a vivid dream lingering in his mind. He'd been flying over sand dunes, effortlessly winging across the rolling swells of shining gold, aiming for a dancing mirage on the horizon. Water, he thought; it was water, and he was supposed to be by the water, not in the desert. But regardless of how much he flew, the mirage did not get any closer. He longed for cliffs and waves and the dark, cool tones of the seaside- but he couldn't catch them. 

He breathed in a sigh of relief when he came back to reality, loped toward the cliffs and gazed out over the depths of the Pacific. The scent of it was calming. He paused to revel in the feeling of grounding himself in his homeland, though his peace was soon disturbed by the call of an unfamiliar voice at the borders. 

He blinked his long eyelashes as he opened his eyes, and a light frown pulled at the corners of his lips. Curiosity drew him to answer the call, though he became more concerned when the scent of blood lingered on the air. The stranger, in the distance, was darker than the depths of the ocean under a stormy sky- and he had something with him, something Tousaint could not make out until he drew closer. When he realized that it was a skull, one with a predator's fangs, he hissed and drew to a halt, bristling. 

"What be dat- some kind of curse?" He growled.

a young man greets him,
well fed
suspicious. 
he wonders
is this some lord of the flies spin off. 
it’s all children,
and he’s the odd man out. 
he rolls the bone between his hands.
grass and dirt
sticking out at all ends. 

what? no — i was told to get this. 
by uh— he’d never gotten her name. 
well, that’s a pickle. 
his stomach gurgles. 
she kinda looked like you,
redder maybe.
i was gonna bring this as a gift. 
maybe ask,
y’all got room in your pup gang?

He might have been more skeptical had he not known instantly that this was the workings of his sister; obsessed with the macabre, this was obviously her doing. He rolled his eyes and then squinted them when it was insinuated that there might be some likeness between the two. He huffed, insulted that he might draw that comparison as if it might rub some of her ghoulishness off on him to accept that there was a resemblance. 

"Get rid of it," He instructed. "We be not a 'pup gang,'" He sneered, incredulous that Sobeille would downgrade their pack's fine lineage and structure to such a thing. "An' you be not a pup. We be Sapphique. What makes you t'ink you would even fit in well 'ere?" He certainly wasn't keen on having another wolf in the pack that hoarded disgusting trinkets.

and just like that
he'd struck a nerve.
how does the saying go?
to put one's foot in their mouth
cayetano's spent his whole life doing that.
he's looking at a boy
who is staring back at him
contempt in poisonous physical form.
get rid of it.
the boy demands.
cayetano had never felt so suitably dressed down
by a wolf half his age.
okay, if you insist.
he rolls the skull away,
the picture of cordiality.
if cordiality was roughshod and sea-whipped
and wearing the skin of a wolf.
what makes you think you would
even fit in well here?
cayentao gives a rueful smile.
i'm guessing you think i won't.
what did he have in common with an amazon's son?
his road had been very different.
full of strong women, yes
but worse men.
but i'm useful. see --
he gestured to the skull skulking in the bushes
its lifeless eyes staring past them both
longing, perhaps, for the sea
which thundered eternally out of reach.
and maybe you could find use in that.

He rolled his eyes so far back in his sockets it practically made a sound, before he fixed his irate glare on the well-meaning man again. He even gestured toward the skull, which was still within his sight and thus, much too close. 

"I said 'get rid of it,' not 'scoot it five feet away so I can still see it an' smell it,'" He said. He was beginning to wonder if the wolf lacked common sense. He must at least be a bit pliable and useful, though- as his sister had managed to convince him to find and bring such a thing himself. From the wound on his shoulder, it was likely that he had perhaps killed the animal as well. 

"Take it, ditch it, destroy it- I do not want to see it again," He said with a shudder. "Den come back wid a better proposal. I will wait." He said, sitting down. It was about as patient as he was willing to be, but he was not so cruel as to reject the man altogether for the one blunder.

once again cayetano is at a cross-roads
which is worse?
the angry boy
or the creepy girl?
he supposes for now, it's the boy
who holds the key to his golden kingdom
the doors slam shut in his face
but the boy offers a tiny landline.

he looks back at the skull
it's gristly, but nothing a wolf his age wouldn't see.
it's eat or be eaten,
and meat comes from the living.
it's a hard concept to swallow
while choking down warm meat.

he wonders about the boy's strong revulsion
was it that the girl had been told
not to interact with strangers?
or something else?

not'ting is free. he repeats
in the queer accent of the girl.


if i do as you say,
i don't hold up my end of the bargain.
i was fed
and this was my price.
he gestured back to the skull again,
readying himself to leave.
here is my proposal:
i can't go back on my word,
can only forward.
i can get you something too.
surely, you have wants?
name them.
this was beginning to feel
a lot like acatenango.

He refused to take the dreadful thing away. Tousaint didn't want for Sobeille to have it- it was nasty and disgusting. He hated seeing her tote her musty toys around, and thought it was a bad habit for her to begin collecting even more- and bargaining with strangers for them. 

"Where she get de food from dat she gave you?" He asked, curiously, keen to find any loophole in the bargain that had been struck.

he could not tell
if this was a bone being thrown his way
or negotiations gone sour.

sapphique, it seemed
had dreadful tyranny on
children of power.

first sobeille,
now tousaint
two very different needles
threading their mark
on hungry strangers.

a cache, i think.
she'd gone into a cave.
i'll tell you one thing,
it tasted awful.
but a deal's a deal.
tell me what you want,
and if it's possible,
i'll get it for you.
deal?

His eyes narrowed. 

"I see." He said, stiffening slightly. Of course- there was the possibility that Sobeille had given the man something she had stashed herself. The fact that he said it tasted awful made it all the more likely that it was actually hers- she certainly had a penchant for smelly, foul things. 

Negotiation was becoming a passion of his; his dog-with-a-bone attitude, couple with a strong sense of justice, made him all the more wealthy in the desire to hash out details, and seek what he thought was fair. If the food had been from a cache, it could have been from anyone, but that would make it pack property; as a part of the pack, Sobeille had some freedom with how she treated their food supply. He tried to find some loophole- and found himself toying with a possibility. 

"If you be strong enough to kill a seal, why you be botherin' wid bargaining for rotten food from a child?" He asked curiously, casting a brief glance to the macabre, ever-grinning skull, before turning his lavender gaze back to the man.

he thinks he's in the clear
the cogs are turning
the boy is thinking
he squints and draws a new challenge.
cayetano takes a beat
he assesses the boy
he assesses himself.

finally with a sigh, he says
you two have something i want
a deal is a deal, right?
i do something for you,
you do something for me.
everything's transactional.

it just so happens,
you have a pack.
and being in that
is worth ten seals, easy.

Tousaint wasn't sure this was the answer he was looking for. He thought he could sniff out a bit of desperation- but he couldn't be sure. He continued to eye the stranger, more warily now- and in an odd turn of events, he began to grow a bit more concerned for his sister's welfare- seemingly, she'd given a stranger rotten meat and he'd followed her back to her pack, now determined to join. It was like getting food poisoning from a dicey restaurant and then going back the next day to get the buffet. 

He was determined to poke holes in the man's logic for no other reason than the fact that he had happened to meet Sobeille first. She might take credit for gaining the pack a new initiate; a pat on the back he was keen to nab for himself, if he could, though he thought it would be even better if he managed to root out some red flag, to prove that his sister had bad judgement. 

"It be wort' more den ten seals," He said, trying to hide some of his suspicion. "You an' I 'ave not made a deal," He said. After all, the seal's ungainly skull smiled at him still. "What do you 'ave dat you could offer me? You 'ave already turn down my request once, so..." He shrugged his slim shoulder against the cool wind, determined to be just as cold himself.

it was more than bad judgment
that brought cayetano to the grey shores.
a score of misfires,
a string of unpleasant deeds,
his life is a sample of wrong decisions
made at every turn
one sorry page at a time.

he measures this boy
with a long look.
this shore must breed different,
he decides.
whip-thin and creepy girls,
taciturn and proud boys.
not an adult in sight.

he's not one for guessing games;
he lacks the imagination, see.
and this boy is too stern a study
to know in one blustery afternoon.
okay.
he sighs and fetches the skull
mind made as the boy scowls in suspicion.
i'll be back.
he bends down to pick up the skull
takes one breath and winks:
with a better proposal. you wait.
he does not linger
once his talisman is collected
he trots loosely towards the sound
finally given some direction
and grateful for it.

He sniffed lightly, but was somewhat relieved to see the man go, taking the skull with him. Tousaint would entertain a better offer, if he came back with one- but once the man disappeared from sight he decided not to even mention the man's visit to anyone else- lest they give word to Sobeille who might be irritated to know that her latest chunk of bone had been sent away.