Swiftcurrent Creek trampled by turtles

By day three, young Bones missed Tortuga and even her mother, though she would never admit these things aloud. She kept her back turned on them (literally and metaphorically) as she continued loping purposefully north along the coastline, sure that she would find something, some clue that would lead her to her father. Ah, the ignorance and optimism of the young!

She reached the fringes of Teekon Wilds and the scent of wolves led her inland, into the realm of landlocked landlubbers. She roamed freely, zigzagging across the unfamiliar terrain, sniffing here and pawing there. At one point, she lost the trail of her brethren... but she caught it again and, this time, she headed toward it directly, walking in a straight line until the burble of running water filled her large ears.

Bones stopped when the scent markers filled her nose, warning her to proceed no further. She looked left and right, her pale green eyes scanning her surroundings. She saw no one, save for a box turtle shuffling slowly southeast. With surprising swiftness, the young wolf approached the small creature, overturned it and used her teeth to crack through the shell.

With unprecedentedly delicate precision, she extracted the soft, pulpy meat, which she set aside, then used the coarse, leathery underside of her paw to scrape the veins and gristle from the interior of the shell. When she finished, she bowed forward almost playfully, her chin touching the ground as she wriggled it underneath the shell and, ever so slowly and carefully, managed to tip it back into her gray head like a hat.

Moving very gingerly now, Bones took a seat, the lump of meat sitting neatly in front of her forepaws and her helmet perched at an angle atop her head as she awaited company.

Fox meandered along the border of her home, occasionally squatting to freshen up the invisible fence that warned others not to cross. Things seemed to have slowed down at the creek, and Fox was surprisingly grateful. Not only that, but the weather had been quite warm today, which had caused her to spend most of the afternoon sprawled out on a large rock by the creek. With the sun beating down on her, she'd taken a nice long nap. Feeling refreshed, she had decided it would be best to make a round of the borders.

The sharp smell of food filled the air, and Fox was quick to change her direction to investigate. It was not until she was nearly upon the strange shell-wearing wolf that she realized there was a wolf at all. A young one, at that. The sight of the creature with the... thing on her head made Fox uneasy, and she growled lowly due to the strangeness of it all. Then again, there was a pile of fresh meat laying at the feet of this wolf, so perhaps this was one of those weird traditions. Fox walked stilt-legged toward the weird scene, sniffed the air, and then spoke. “What are you doing?” she asked. Perhaps this one was ill.

Movement in the distance caused Bones to squint. She made out the silhouette of a wolf approaching and she squared her shoulders and dipped her silvered muzzle forward, causing the turtle shell to slip over one eye. "Arrrgh," she grumbled under her breath, carefully tweaking her neck until it slid back into place between her bat-like ears.

A growl reached said ears. Used to various noises of displeasure being directed at her, the sound did not faze the young girl. With that said, she hunched her shoulders and hunkered down somewhat so she did not appear to be a threat. She then flipped her paws upside down—as if holding out her palms in an I mean no harm gesture—before slowly pushing the pile of turtle meat toward the stranger.

"Ahoy!" she said loudly in the next moment, giving the foxlike wolf a lopsided smile. "I'm Bones! That's short for Crossbones. Me mother calls me Hot Cross Buns when I'm mad," she shared with youthful enthusiasm. "I'm here because..." She paused, considering. She was very young and it showed. At the same time, she was incredibly shrewd. "I'd like to join yer crew, if there's room for a Sprog like me."

Bones was many things but she wasn't stupid; she knew she needed the shelter and protection of fellow wolves. At six months of age, she was not aware of the unfathomable scale of the wilderness. And so, she figured she could continue to search from here, since she was dead certain she would find her father (or at least a clue as to his whereabouts) somewhere in the vicinity.

Pleased by the fresh meat (although some part of her thought it could be poison), Fox gobbled up the offering as the younger wolf spoke. Swallowing the last chunk just as the other asked for a place among her ranks, Fox shook her coat and eyeballed the young sassy creature. Bones reminded her of herself at that age, which of course meant that she was going to be one hell of an addition. Fox pondered for a moment, wondering if adding yet another young mouth to feed would be a great idea. Summer was almost upon them, which meant that finding prey would be easier. Besides, it would give Aethon somebody roughly his own age to pal around with. Not that Fox was much older than either of them.

“So where is this mother of yours?” she asked. Fox expected a sob story about how all her parents were killed, along with the rest of the pack. She only expected such a thing because that was usually the reason kids did not have their parents around to watch out for them.

A pleased expression settled on Bones's face as the other wolf partook in her offering. Her pale green eyes seemed to sparkle. As soon as she finished and questioned the youth about her mother, however, a storm broke out, clouding her features. Her eyes became as dark and brooding as any tempest that blackened the horizons beyond Keelhaul Bay and Turtle Island back home in Tortuga.

"Me mother's a wench!" she declared heatedly, unaware that she was shouting. Back home in the overcrowded, disorderly Tortuga, you had to talk loudly and willfully just to be heard. "She spends all her time beyond Tortuga, pillaging and plundering and whatever else," Bones shared without thinking to explain her mention of Tortuga. She took it for granted this wolf would know of it. "She's a terrible mother! I told her so! Then I left to find me father. I haven't found him yet but I will," she added optimistically.

Just in case the foxlike wolf needed even more evidence of her mother's wrongdoings, Bones stuck her tongue in her cheek and screwed up one eye a moment, then burst out with yet more anecdotes. "She's so horrible that she let one of my siblings die and the other disappear! And she barely knew me father, too!" She huffed, then concluded, "I'm better off without her!" Bones stomped a forepaw to punctuate this declaration, causing the turtle shell to tumble from her little gray head.

Fox quirked a brow when the little—dare she say—fireball went off. If Fox had not suspected the younger wolf of being some kind of personality twin, she certainly felt it was true now. Just when Fox was about to interject, Bones had to get one last word in about how her terrible horrible mother had let her siblings die or disappear. Knowing nothing of motherhood herself, Fox had no comment on that piece of information. She wondered if her own children would end up like this one (and herself): hot-headed and lungs as big as buffalo.

“And I’m sure you’re the most perfect angel of a child, yes?” asked Fox. Her love of tormenting and teasing had not simply vanished because she was no longer a leader. And she could not help herself on such an easy and emotional target. Fox had a feeling that if she had a child like this, she would not want to be around it all that much either. Bones not being her child actually made Fox like the little sprog for what she was.

Unaffected by Bones's outbursts—not that the child knew how loud and dramatic she sounded—the adult now questioned her about about whether she was a perfect little angel. In reply to this, Bones's mouth split into a wide, mischievous grin and she shook her head. Almost absently, she reached out a paw and placed it atop the turtle shell, which had landed facedown beside her.

"'Course not. I'm a born marauder!" she said, maintaining her toothy smile. "But I'm no bilge rat," she continued, slightly more solemnly (and quietly). "I'm a hard worker and I learn fast. I'll be a good member of your crew, aye!" She spoke with enthusiasm and confidence, though it lacked haughtiness; it was more of that youthful certitude and optimism.

At least she knew what she was! Fox imagined that this little one would indeed be a good addition to the pack in some way or another. With that much attitude, Fox would not be able to turn her away even if she wanted to. “Welcome aboard, then,” replied Fox, unaware that the term was derived from the sort of place that Bones had come from. “My name is Fox, and I’m the big bad around here. There’s a boy around your age, Aethon, who you should probably meet at some point.” Fox would leave it up to them to decide if they wanted to be pals or not. Both children were strange in their own ways.

“As for what you should do with your time, just spend it learning something useful. You’re still a wee one, so you have the advantage of youth.” The yearling paused, taking another good hard look at her newest recruit. “I’m not sure how you plan to search for the bastard who created you, but I would advise you give up on that. A father who does not stick around is no father at all.” Fox would not force Bones to abandon her search, but she did think it was a fruitless one that would end in disappointment or apathy.

In some ways, she was mature for her age and, in others, not so much. The latter was evidenced in the wriggling of her bottom when the she-wolf accepted her onto her crew. "Aye, aye, Cap'n Fox!" she blurted happily when her new leader introduced herself by name and mentioned another Sprog she should meet and get to know.

When Fox began to tell her how to spend her time, Bones's wiggling ceased and she listened raptly. She didn't like being called wee, nor did she agree with Fox's assessment on the issue of her father but, for all her fiery nature, Bones knew her place. She did not backtalk to the Captain.

There was one thing young Bones wanted to mention, however. "But me father doesn't even know about me—us!" she corrected herself, thinking of poor Skull and Kraken. "Me mother seduced him and ran off in the same day! Once I find him, I know he'll be a better parent than me wench mother," Bones insisted.

But, for now, she was happy to focus on her new crew. "Me crew at Tortuga trained me to be a scout and a thief," she admitted, seeing no reason to be anything but honest with Captain Fox, "and I know a lot about the sea and the tides. I'm a fer—" She meant to say formidable but it was clear she didn't really know the word, nor probably its actual definition. "—a great swimmer and fisher," Bones said instead. "Oh, an' a treasure hoarder, too," she finished.

Feel free to fade with your next post. Welcome to da creek, yo.

The thing that separated Fox and Bones was the desire to please. Fox had had none of it, even with Lethe. While she had respected the woman, Fox had never thought to try and do something to deliberately please her leader. If anything, she probably would have pissed her off in due time. (Un?)fortunately, Lethe had never really seen that side of Fox, and now the tiny fireball was prancing around leading a whole pack. It was utter nonsense in the eyes of most, and Fox was still a little unsure why she had taken over. Nevertheless, there was no time to back out now.

Fox said nothing when Bones explained that her absent father probably had good reason for being so. The fireball made no reply to this, as she was not about to argue with a child (at least not about this). Instead, she waited until Bones moved on to another topic: skillset. A thief could be useful, and a fisher too, considering their creek was full of them. Anything about the sea and tides would be useless here, along with hoarding treasure.

“I’m sure you’ll find your place in due time,” replied Fox. “Would you like to accompany me on the last bit of border patrol?” she asked. Even if Bones would rather turn in after her journey, Fox would still have to make sure everything was looking good.

Thanks. :)

Fox didn't say anything regarding her résumé but, if Bones was apt to feel badly about this, there wasn't time, for the Alpha next invited her to come along on border patrol. "Aye!" the child exclaimed at once, made happy to be invited along by her new leader. It sounded like they wouldn't spend a whole lot of time, if Fox was nearly finished already, but young Bones would have plenty of opportunity to talk off her Captain's ear.

Grinning from ear to oversized ear, Bones blinked down at the turtle shell, indecisive. She then shrugged and left it sitting there, falling into step with the foxlike she-wolf, their shoulders almost perfectly even for now; in time, young Bones would probably outstrip Fox in size. They would've walked in perfect unison except that the enthusiastic juvenile did not walk, per se, but rather bounced at Fox's side as they headed off along the boundary line.