Ankyra Sound i'm gonna hold a pen while you drag my arm across the page

a lil celebratory howl & the quest prompt (refill caches) AW

it was official -- while ingram had no way of knowing that, their little rag-tag gang had left its nascent form behind and fledged into a fully fleshed pack. everywhere the sign of their dominion proliferated: the borders were patrolled, the grotto oft visited -- even the strand lost its lonely aspect as wolves busied themselves up and down its' span.

ingram had looked for chusi and arrille briefly, but finding neither, swung towards the northernmost peak of the beach, where at low tide a long and flat rocky shore was exposed. he had hunted in these rare grounds before, but this time it was different -- this time it was truly home.

as he pawed through a shallow pool of water he threw his head back in a spirited howl;  every little troubling jigsaw of his life had finally fallen into place and his mood was elated for it.

Arrille perked his head up, upon hearing the howl of celebration, and decided to join in himself with his own. Then, he decided he was bored and got up to start moving for Ingram, to try and find him. In his mind, they had a competition going on who could tease the other more. He had no idea if Ingram had the same idea in mind, but Arrille did.

ingram heard rejoinder to his song-- cheerfully, he finished his howl with a few joyous yips, his tail wagging as he appreciated how their intertwined notes faded into the crashing sound of the strand.

he resumed trawling for food for the cache, raking his paws along the sandbed and striking here and there with quick jaws. a few times he was successful -- but many times, he was not. he looked up after one such colossal failure and spied arrille making his way towards him. "oi!" he chirped, his tail wagging benevolently as the youth approached.

He spoted Ingram digging into the sand, and gave him a very confused look. "What you doing?" he asked, stopping a short distance as not to disturb the male's work. Whatever he was doing, it did not seem as if he was doing well.

ingram raised his snout from the thin pool, fasting his eyes on his young companion with a mischievous grin. "oh, you know, trying to fish. except someone scared them all away with his seal-like singing voice. wasn't me.. you wouldn't happen to know who it was, would you?" 

ingram's tail wagged in affectionate challenge-- he enjoyed his banters with arrille. it kept his mind sharp and kept the boredom of performing endless and interminable tasks at bay.

Arrille feigned a smile, and shook his head. "I wouldn't know who...I thought yours was the most seal-like here" he jeered back. He looked at the pool, and saw what exactly Ingram was trying to get. 

Looking over the water, he dunked his head in, attempting to grasp some. He came back up...with nothing. "Those fish...hard to catch."

ingram gasped in fake umbrage -- his voice, barky like a seal? how dare! he scoffed airily, dismissing the suggestion with a flick of a broad paw. "psh! my voice is heavenly. it makes the women swoon." did it really? no. but ingram believed it did. "it can make men swoon too, if you catch my drift." he chortled, sending a thin elbow in arrille's direction in a ribbing gesture.

he watched as arrille tried and failed to hook a fish.  a fake look of deadpan seriousness panned across his black muzzle. "did you try singing to them?" he asked with a serious face, before his rapid blinking betrayed that it was a joke and he burst out laughing.

Arrille griw a grin. "Oh, really? Like...Chusi?" Then he felt his face heat up, as Ingram spoke of men swooning, he got his meaning. He glared back at Ingram as he suggested singing to them.

Then, slowly he moved a paw toward a water, and while Ingram burst out laughing, he flicked his paw up and out in his direction. And then he laughed.

ingram's victory was short lived. the mention of chusi evinced a squinty glare from the dark male, though it lacked malice. "hey - you leave chus' outta this." he said, his voice only a little huffy. "or else... i'll have to whoop your skinny ass again." he joked, finding humor in the fact that no matter how he spun it, that is definitely not what would happen.

he jumped as a splash of water hit him, casting a most affronted expression arrille's  way. "ok, now you've really done it." he mock-threatened, diving into the shallow pool with maximum aplomb meant to positively splatter arrille in water.

Arrille held Ingram's glare, with a light grin. "Woop my ass? If you remember correctly, I wooped yours. And I would do so again" he challenged, friendly. With a bit of seriousness, as he took challenges and competitions seriously. 

Arrille laughed until he heard a splash. He opened his eyes just in time for water to drench his face and chest, and he stood there. He backed up, with a false menacing look, before he went running full pelt, then leaping to pounce on Ingram.

ingram was about to issue a quick riposte when the angular male backed up; he watched him suspiciously, noticing the devillish gleam in his eyes. "no! you'll scare the fish!" he joked, sitting upright in the water to prepare himself for onslaught. his fur was thoroughly drenched and water trickled down his chest in loud splatters.

arrille jumped to the air and ingram was ready with a playful growl, tousling around in the water with excessive splashes. as the male pounced he ducked but not enough to evade completely - arrille nearly atop him certainly stunted his escapade. "ooof. now you've definitely scared off all the fish. it's no use, we're gonna starve all cause of you." he joked accusingly, leveling some side-eye towards his friend.

Arrille laughed more as he watched Ingram get drenched all over, almost falling over onto his side into the water. "Well youuuu started it" he laughed, enoying the moment. He prodded his nose against Ingram's should in a playful manner, than stayed still. Though he did now feel sorry for scaring off all the fish.

"Well...um...we can find more?" he suggested, as he went to jump back out of the water.

a giggle bubbled from ingram's muzzle - it was true, he was the worst antagonist -- and no doubt, if anyone was to blame for scaring the fish first, it was him. he cast arrille a sidelong glance, pulling his sloppy self out from the tidepool with a liberal shake of his fur.

"we could go down there - i bet there's plenty of undisturbed food there." he motioned to another stretch of intertidal swath, where the water was glittering and shallow and kelp flowed softly in the gentle current. without waiting to see if arrille would follow, ingram headed over there with lightness to his step.

the pool had plenty of small things; an urchin, wary crabs that scuttled under sand as a shadow passed them -- and even the darting form of minnows and shrimp clutching to the stones. ingram dipped his muzzle underwater and raked the surface with his teeth, resurfacing with a small clutch of wriggling shrimp in his muzzle.

Arrille smiled at Ingram, and as soon as he was out of the water he went to follow, sending a playful nip towards his ear. He watched closely as Ingram dipped his head into the water, then came back up with...what was that? How it wriggled, it made Arrille back away from Ingram and the water. "What...is that thing?" There was no way he was going to eat that. "I thought you were looking for fish."

ingram returned arrille's playful nip towards his ear with a cheeky jostle of his shoulder -- the pair were becoming a dynamic duo, and ingram genuinely enjoyed arrille's company. the pale wolf had a way of lighting up his day that only chusi rivaled -- not that he would ever admit he was becoming platonically affectionate towards arrille. besides, if ingram ever was to utter it aloud, surely lycaon would sense his dominion in jeopardy: lycaon had long since occupied the throne as "ingram's favorite". if lycaon was to catch wind, surely (hilarious) disaster would follow.

ingram executed the squirming mass with a swift crunch of his jaws. he caught sight of arrille's expression as he deposited them on the sand. he laughed, amused by the slight revulsion that spread across arrille's muzzle. "they're called shrimp." he turned his head to the side and inspected the shelled invertebrates anew. "maybe they aren't really fish. i'm not sure. they taste delicious though."

in truth, ingram had never ruminated over the shrimp's station, and had never once wondered of its taxon. to him, shrimp was food -- delectable, salty, crunchy food.

Arrille shook his head at it as he physically shook as Ingram crunched it. "That is gross....can we find fish instead?" He went around the edge of the water, looking for fish. He had no such luck. "How do you get fish?" he asked, hoping he could be shown.

ingram eyed arrille as he denounced the shrimp's palability. with a roguish smile he bent down slowly, nicked a long legged shrimp in his teeth, lifted his muzzle to the air and parted his gullet wide with a loud and obnoxious slurp. satisfied with the theatrics he had enacted to consume the meager meal, he wiped his jaw with his wrist and eyed the pool next to them.

"but fish are fast." ingram whined in protest, slumping behind arrille with an exaggerated pantomime of unhappiness. in truth he could take shrimp or fish, both pleased his appetite. as arrille asked how, he hunkered down the bank and stood in the riffling water.

"you have to be still. and faster than them, cause they're quick little shits." he tilted his head, his legs stock still as he waited for the minnows to come out from the disturbed water. "they don't like movement - so you got to kind of hover over a spot you see them and wait for them to come out. " towards the edge, a small band of minnows had tentatively swum forward from the shadowed egress of a rock. "look, there." ingram hissed, waiting with baited breath as they came closer.

he could wait no longer - with a lunge he scooped his muzzle through the water but the fish were swift to depart and he came up with nothing. with a grin he shook the water from his ears and muttered: "see, this is why i like shrimp better."

Arrille had to look away as his cheeks expanded, as if he was about to gag. "But...but fish are juicy" he added, trying not to gag at how Ingram had slurped the shrimp down. Not crunch, but slurp.

As Ingram went down, he went down to catch a fish as Ingram had said. As Ingram came back up with one, Arrille showed off a wide grin, with one in his jaws. "Well that was-" Then the fish starting flopping about in his jaws. it's tail catching his cheek. He let go, only to watch as it swam away. "No!"

i lol'd

ingram watched his "student", expecting failure. fishing was a tough sport to watch, let alone succeed at -- so his expression went from genuine surprise (and a little encouragement) to positive amusement as arrille resurfaced and lost his fish in one fell swoop.

"HAH!" ingram bellowed at the top of his lungs, snorting back laughter as he witnessed arrille's face cloud with dejection. he stepped up to his friend and gave him a gentle shoulder: "it's okay buddy. we all make mistakes sometimes." he wheezed, still giggling though his laughter was far from unkind. "like i said. shrimp is better. plus, they don't smack you as much when you get them. care to try again?"

Arrille watched in despair as his first catch of the day swam away. He couldn't believe it...then Ingram had the nerve to laugh. Arrille would have been fine, but Ingram was laughing at his pride. He swallowed back any newfound anger, as the one thing he hated more than anything was hurt pride. "Fine...let's try again." And this time, any anger he had left would be heard through his teeth.

ingram was unaware he had struck a chord in arrille, but in good spirits, he humored him all the same. "all yours," he said, leaning back and upturning his paw towards the pool that he had just surfaced from.

he had seen some shy minnows flitting through the seaweed near the corner of the small puddle; maybe if arrille was lucky, he could catch one of those and they could head home with the meager rations they had caught. ingram watched arrille for a moment before he turned to razing a neighboring pool, plucking out squirming shrimp and taking care to avoid the big square things with pinchers on them.

Arrille attempted once more to catch a fish, positioning himself as Ingram had shown him how to. He watched for movement. And then, he caught sight of movement. With a side grin directed toward Ingram, and then he ducked his head in after patience. And then pulled back, holding a fish. He tossed it back on land, holding a big grin.

"damn," ingram muttered, wholly impressed with arrille's adept handling of his new skill. ingram admired arrille for how quickly he had taken on -- he wouldn't admit it, but he was not the best teacher for his fishing ability was as good as his flying abilities: at firm ground zero.

soon, perhaps the student would be the master. ingram wouldn't mind that. shrimp were easy enough to source, but he did favor the taste of fish. every now and then he was lucky and some sort of bass or tuna was thrown to the surface and stranded -- those had been some of his best meals to date.

"that's a good hall." he announced, his tail swaying gently as he assessed the small collection they had amassed. it was not much but it was enough of a contribution that it would feed someone too hungry to hunt. "shall we bring it back?"

Arrille smiled back, and even stuck his tongue at Ingram before quickly pulling his tongue back. Then, after a long pause at looking at it, he pushed it over toward Ingram. "You take it...you were meant to catch the fish, after all." And it had been meant to be Ingram fishing, and Arrille didn't want to take that from him...despite it having been his catch. "Go on, take it."

ingram appreciated the sentiment, but he was not sure how he felt about taking someone else's food. it was arrille's spoil - he was the victor, and the reward was owed to him, not ingram.

the internal battle was evident on his muzzle. he wrestled with the idea for some time. "i'll carry it back, but it's yours. so you get to eat it later." he finally said at length, though appreciation rung in his voice. with a wiggle of his body to loosen any stray moisture, ingram set upon the fish and then the shrimp and scooped both in his mouth in the most ungainly manners. mouth full but grinning, he shouldered arrille affectionately and then trotted towards the grotto to place arrille's fish in their stores.