Ankyra Sound Ocean Breeze

@Kerosene Oh the memories with Wynter in this place. XD

Ryker had decided that after having been up in the mountains for a while it was time to travel back to see level. Literally. Ryker found himself on a beach near a forest with huge trees. It was nice to hear the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore for once. This had been one of the only beaches he had seen since he had been travelling. When his mother was still around they spent most of their time under the cover of trees. They didn't venture far.

Ryker padded along feeling the warm sand sink between his pads. He looked around for a moment. It had an eerie feel to the area. Almost like there was once a pack who lived here. What happened to them Ryker didn't know. Far as he was aware though. There was no one here now.

He trotted closer to the edge of the water and let it roll over his paws. He sat down for a moment and looked out over the water. This place was quite beautiful. Perfect place for a pack. Too bad they weren't around anymore.

More traveling. More wandering. The back and forth of his journey was becoming a little redundant. He'd seen this place before. Not seen that place. How he'd missed some of these areas was beyond him, but at least he was filling in quite a few of the gaps of his mental map of the area. This time, he was traveling more northwest. Than he'd ever gone before. From the mountaintops, he'd seen a wide field of blue in the distance, but something had always pulled him in the other direction before he'd gotten a change to really see what was out there.

Kerosene decided not to let anything distract him this time. One paw after the other, he pushed himself towards the large body of water and wasn't looking back until he found it. The trees thinned as he walked. The air grew thicker and more wild as he approached the water. He'd never smelled anything quite like it before, but salt was heavy upon the breeze. There was weight to it he'd never quite felt before, but it tangled in his fur in a way that was strange. It wasn't like the crisp clean air of everything he'd seen before.

He kept going. He'd not seen this giant water quite yet and he wasn't going to stop until he found it. Fortunately, that didn't take long. The solid ground gave way into something softer. Sand. It was hot against his paws and his body seemed to sink into it with every heavy step he made. It was slow going, but slowly it seemed to harden beneath his feet until the damp sand became firm and far easier to walk upon. He made his way to the water, watching the waves roll against the shore for a moment. Thirsty, he decided to take a sip. he lowered his head to catch a wave and, "Fuck that shit." It was awful.

Kero lifted a wrist to wash away the dribbles of brine from his chin. Ocean water was definitely not for drinking. Damn. And there was so much of it too. He frowned at the waves for a moment before he decided he might as well explore since he was in the area. He walked along the water's edge, letting the waves roll over his paws until he spied a grey wolf in the distance. Kero trotted up to him. "Hey. Did you know this water sucks?" Not a greeting per-say, but something. 

Ryker shifted his paws in the sand debating whether or not to go for a swim. Before he had a chance to make his decision he was joined by another male wolf. "Yea, I wouldn't think you would want to drink this," Ryker muttered at the slight stupidity of this wolf. "Salt water actually won't do anything except make your throat more dry. The only thing its good for is cleaning wounds," he stated glancing with a rather unamused look in the direction of the stranger.

He didn't have the scent of a pack. Which was a relief to Ryker because for a brief moment he was worried he had been wrong about the non existant pack. Although this wolf was certainly interesting company. Would be one of the first wolves to approach him since Luke. "Name's Ryker, and you are?" he decided to attempt to be nice to this wolf. However well that may work.

Heh. Well. It seemed this one knew a heck of a lot more about the ocean than he did. He didn't know it was good for cleaning out wounds and stuff. Made him respect this place more than he did before. He'd have to keep the salt-water trick in mind if he ever got himself in a bind of any kind.

"I did not know that," he said, revealing his ignorance. "I've never seen the ocean before. Heard of it, but never visited." Kero took a step further into the waves. The water curled a few inches above his ankles. He could feel the weight of the waves pushing and pulling with their ebb and flow. There was great power in this water. It was very much unlike the lakes, rivers and springs he was more acquainted with.

"Name's Kero," he offered, returning the favor of a name. "You seem to know a lot about this place. Come here often?"

Ryker watched as the wolf stepped into the water answering him just as ignorantly as Ryker had greeted him. He probably deserved everything he was getting. "Wow, ok," Ryker faked a little surprise acting like it was completely uncommon for a wolf to have not seen the ocean before. Ryker himself had only been to one once before.

"Kero. Hm. Nice name and actually no, this is the first time I've been to a beach in a long time. My mother just taught me a lot of things about medicine, not enough to heal an ill wolf though apparently," he said with a hint of sarcasm to his voice but gaining a more serious tone as he said the last phrase. He always though had he been a little older, a little wiser could he have saved his mother.

"I'm not invading on any pack or anything here am i?" Ryker was pretty sure he knew the answer to that. He just wanted to be completly sure. Clearly this wolf was not from around here but perhaps he knew.

Sorry its a little short. I was running out of time but figured i would post anyways.

Kero grinned. This one was gonna be a hard sell. He didn't seem to believe Kero'd never encountered the ocean before, but he didn't suppose it mattered much. He was an inland wolf. Born and bred. A visit to the ocean like this was a rare treat. He was certain, if he ever went back home, his family wouldn't believe him when he spoke about endless, saltwater. Kero turned his eyes towards the horizon. This ocean went on forever. 

His ears turned as the wolf went on. There was something young about him that he picked up on. That, and the hint of disappointment in his tone was unmistakable. He'd been vague about something that was no doubt, heavy on his mind. "Lose someone close to you?" he asked, not meaning to pry, but Ryker'd left himself open for it. It was almost as if he wanted to be asked. Otherwise, he wasn't sure why he'd mentioned his mother, training, and something he seemed to consider a great failure. 

"Oh. No. Not that I know of." It was hard to smell much of anything over the sea breeze, but Kero hadn't picked up on any permanent scent of wolf. If someone did live here, they'd likely have a full time job defending their borders. The ocean was a far more powerful smell than anyone could dare to understand until they'd experienced it for themselves. "I didn't pick up on anything, nor am I affiliated with any local packs." Or distant ones. Lone wolf, he was. "Is a place like this even habitable if you can't drink the water?"

Ryker winced. He knew he'd left it open for this wolf. A virtual stranger. To ask him who he had lost. "I lost my mother, when i was about 5 months old," he stated once again staring at his paws. Shifting one in the water.

"Oh ok, thanks." he said looking around once more. Ryker had been right, there was a pack here at some point. Just not anymore. "I'm not affiliated with any packs in the wilds. I've heard of a few but I myself am not much of a pack wolf just yet, maybe not ever." he stated. That was something always on his mind. The decision on whether or not to join a pack and what benefit that would give to the young wolf. Sure a family. A solid place to stay. Things to learn. No freedom in Ryker's eyes though.

"I think there may be a lake of some sort further in land. There was a pack here in the past, or at least that's what the rumours say," Ryker said acting like it wasn't a thought that had occurred in his own mind. That it was in fact something he had heard. He had a feeling this wolf wouldn't have believed him if he said he thought that there might have been one.

Ouch. Okay. He hadn't expected to hit that close to home. It sounded like this kid had it tough growing up. "Sorry to hear that. My condolences." He seemed a touch uncomfortable. If Kero had admitted something as personal as that, he might have been too. "You been on your own since then?" He had to ask something. Anything to change the conversation up a bit.

Of course, the age old conversation between lone wolves would do just as well. Talking of packs was a very common subject, one he still wasn't sure how to broach himself. He'd had an offer, Kero just wasn't sure if he was ready to settle down yet. From the sound of it, Ryker wasn't either. "Mmm," he started, making an agreeable sound. "I feel you. There's nothing quite like the earth beneath your feet, the wind in your fur and eternity before you to make you feel alive again." 

Kero turned his gaze out across the ocean for a moment, thinking on his words before he looked back towards the younger wolf. He hadn't caught whiff of a pack around these parts, but if they'd left the area, the salty air seemed as though it would be quick to erase any kind of scent. "It must have been one hell of a pack," he said, for no reason other than that he thought it took balls to set up shop in a place like this. 

"Speaking of. What if you did find the perfect pack? What's that look like to a kid like you?"

"Yeah, I don't have a father as far as I'm aware, and no siblings. Mother wasn't in a pack either. Most of what i know i learned on my own," he said looking remotely proud of himself for having survived this long. He knew though that his skills needed a lot of work, they were no where near perfect.

Ryker didn't feel like explaining to this wolf that he hadn't remained a loner solely for the purpose of freedom but also because he didn't know how well he would do suddenly having a pack to look after when he had spent his life alone or with his mother.

Ryker chuckled "Yea no kidding, a place like this might be a little hard to live in. I mean. I don't suppose there's much large prey around here. Plus if they didn't spread far into the forest, wouldn't they have to eat crabs?" he mentioned looking around for a moment at the seaweed piles that had been swept onto the land. He supposed there was a chance crabs may take shelter under the seaweed. Hard to find them under there.

"My idea of a pack, i think that wolves there should share equal responsibilities obviously, there has to be a lot of loyalty, because there's nothing like hiding secrets from pack mates to add some drama. I think that there has to be a certain amount of freedom though so that wolves don't feel they are always so tied down. That part might just be me though," Ryker stated.

"That would be my perfect pack, haven't talked to many pack wolves in the wilds yet, they all seem super strict from what I've heard about some of the packs," he finished stepping further into the water.It felt nice to have the cool water running through his fur again. He was careful not to let any of the water splash up into his face though. He wasn't a fan of getting his head wet.

Kero grinned. It seemed as though this pup had come through a pretty rough patch. Single mother. No father figure. No siblings. His mother appeared to be a very important figure for him. She'd taught him just about everything he knew and it was evident that she'd done a good job of it. He'd survived. Most pups didn't make it through those scenarios. No doubt, he was a bit of a fighter, even if Ryker didn't realize it yet. Kid had spunk.

He didn't say anything, instead he offered the wolf and nod and made a mental note about this one. There was something about him that Kero liked. His spirit, perhaps. Maybe the way he saw a little bit of himself in Ryker. Whatever the cause, they both seemed to agree that this place was a little bit uninhabitable which might have been why the wolves who were here previously moved out. Well. That, or they got tired of a steady diet of crabs. Whatever those were.

Kero laughed. "I have no idea what crabs are, but they sound awful." And not fun to eat. Kero was partial to land animals if only because he had a feeling that anything living out here would be permeated with the taste of saltwater. Good for wounds, clearly not so good for drinking. Either way, he was definitely ocean dumb. Whatever. Kero'd learn. 

He watched the kid look around for a bit before he settled on the question Kero'd ask. What kind of pack was he looking for? Sounded a lot like what was turning through his own thoughts when it came for a home. The only thing Kero would add would be an alpha he could respect. There were too many of them these days that he just couldn't look up to. It didn't help that Kero's own stubborn streak made him far more dominant a wolf than he wished to admit. It took a lot for him to bow. Joining a pack wasn't something he was going to go into blind. 

"That would be the catch twenty-two," he mused out loud. "It's hard to create loyalties as a loner. We're never around long enough to earn each other's respect." As for freedom? "If you ever do find a place, you should consider a position as an outrider. It's their job to roam and patrol beyond the borders. It's a happy medium between commitment and freedom."

Kero shrugged. He could preach all he wanted, but it was hypocritical of him. He hadn't even decided what he wanted for himself quite yet. That uncertainty made this conversation all the harder. 

"I think they're all a little bit different. Each with their own personalities and goals and such." He'd encountered a few; enough to have a vague idea that each pack held a slightly different vibe. "We'll both probably find something eventually."

And with that, Kero bid the wolf farewell and took off.

Added on a quick ending to finish this. Thanks for the thread!