Stavanger Bay but albert with one aimed harpoon ignited their rum with a spark

Set immediately after the rank challenge.

He had arrived too late. The challenge was over and @Sandpiper was making off like a scald cat in the distance. Raptor did not need to ask to know what the outcome was. He trailed after his friend, avoiding the group that witnessed the duel. He did not begrudge Rosalyn her win, but he was more concerned with Sandpiper's loss.

"Piper?" He hailed her softly as he closed the distance, loping up from behind her. Raptor did not draw all the way forward and hung back tentatively, unsure if she would welcome his company after her fall.

the girl had run, hounded by shame -- her loss consumed her and she sought to soothe her mind by breaking into a burning, breakneck gallop. each stride stung her lungs and wretched her body; each stride worried the wound on her back, and burned in the back of her brain. a backturned ear suggested she was aware of raptor's presence but unwilling yet to acknowledge him. as if punishing herself for her stupidity and gross inexperience the girl pushed on, fighting each stride of pain with wracked and angry sobs.

she slowed eventually, coming to the beach's end. reluctantly she turned back to face him -- if he was still following her at all. defeat wrung out hard lines under her eyes, and there was a dullness in their reflection. her fur was matted with blood, and she looked no more hale than a rotten rat that had drowned at sea two weeks ago.

"what?!" the girl spat, as if he had been the one to smite her. "what do you want?!"  her tail lashed like an angry cat as she stared at him, her pride and flesh still wounded by rosalyn's victory.

He kept after her stubbornly, determined to try to... what? Console her? Raptor was not even sure. He simply felt a need to pursue his companion and be there in whatever capacity, even though there was a persistent thought burning at the back of his head that told told him Rosalyn had won the duel fair and square, and that Sandpiper needed to toughen up and get on with her life. That this was part of being a pirate as far as he knew.

Raptor ground to a halt when at last she slowed and whirled on him. He tucked his ears back, lowered his head and wagged his tail at his heels. He really was not sure what to do next, so he offered her a sheepish sort of half-grin and replied with the first lame joke that sprang to mind.

"Yer still my first mate..."

she was angry in her defeat, and it showed in the simmering harshness of her gaze. with no one around to redirect her anger to besides him, she found herself sharply reining in her tongue. there was no one to blame but her for her loss, and unwilling to be so introspective about it (and how could she? she was but a child) sandpiper instead boiled in self-pity and fire.

raptor's attempt to console her was met with a rueful gaze that could not hold its' iciness for long - she fought against the smile that ruined the sorrowful composure of her face -- but what he had said had been so lame.

"that fucking eel." sandpiper growled, bringing a paw to her face to cover the smile his joke had conjured. she had no reason to be so angry towards rosalyn - she had lost fair and square - but it did nothing to balm the sting of her shameful loss.

It was lame but it worked. He could see the fire simmer enough that he dared to creep closer and seat himself. Raptor licked his lips as she growled about Rosalyn, still unsure of how best to the approach his companion and struggling to form a meaningful opinion on any of it. "Did you... want to be First Mate?" He asked, canting his head. "I mean... It's good not to have responsibilities," he added. "Run around and eat, not have to worry about too much stuff..." Raptor shifted his paws in the sand and rolled his shoulders, holding back any commentary on how he felt about his own rank for the time being.

she could tell he was not at ease -- certainly, the events that had just transpired were imminently unsettling. she wanted to cry -- truly -- and steeled herself by sucking in a shaky breath through her thin ribcage, cold and all.

"it's my duty." came her quick reply, without even thinking she laid plain the structure of her core, the support that held the thin fabric of her life. her brother, smokestep. "she can't take that from me." sandpiper felt a new wave of anger wash her, and turned her thin face before he caught a glimpse of the frustrated tears that welled in her fierce gaze. "and.. i didn't want to be humiliated like that."

Boneheaded as he was, even Raptor could tell how much his companion was warring with herself to keep her composure and put on a tough front. He was quiet as he gazed upon her, for he felt that he was looking upon himself in that moment. The corsair licked his lips, turning his eyes thoughtfully to the shoreline as he considered what to say, and what if anything to share with her, before he looked back to her.

"Nope," he agreed. "I mean it's just a title," he shrugged casually. "It only means what anyone believes it to mean. So what if she goes 'round callin' herself First Mate. You're still your brother's sister, and you can still look out to him, right? Not having some words attached to yer name don't mean you can't suddenly do what you would have done if'n ye did have them..."

If Raptor came across the least bit sage, it was accidental. He half-smiled at her, sheepishly thumping his tail as he grasped to cheer her up.

even out of the corner of her eyes, she could see raptor was being careful -- she appreciated he did not press to see her face, or call her out for her childish tears. she couldn't help it as they sprung to her eyes and stung her lids -- she inhaled the air that suddenly seemed thick and viscous, and brought the flat of her wrist across her eyes.

raptor's words, wise as they were, only somewhat quelled the pain in the same way a bandage only somewhat stifled the bloodflow from a wound. it was enough to take her mind off of the insult of her loss, but it was still there, plain as day for her to pick at. she bit her lower nip and nodded; he was right, rosalyn couldn't take away the fact they were siblings.. and maybe it was just a title..

"yeah.." she sniffed, still taking care that her face was turned from his. she didn't really want him to see her like this. "i'm.. i'm going to go into the water." she suddenly said, pulling towards the shore with quick steps. it would do her well to wash the wound that had been reopened, and if all of her was wet, he couldn't tell she was crying - right?

Raptor hung back for a few moments. His tail had ceased thumping and he chewed his lower lip as he watched Sandpiper head for the ocean. He wished he knew what say, but finding no words he instead strolled after her. He let her submerge into the sea, pursuing only so far as to get his toes wet and feel the waves break against his forelegs. Raptor waited, and then without warning he splashed into the brine towards his companion and made a sloppy grab for her ear.

the icy brace of the saltwater outpoured around her, and sandpiper exhaled a heavy sigh -- the sea had always had that affect on her, eroding the tension from her clenched muscles and fretted mind the way the tide sucked out through a delta. raptor had trailed a short distance after her and he had paused -- she mistakenly assumed he would advance no further.

WRONG!

he lunged for her ear and she had not expected it - TRAITOR! the maneuver took her by surprise and she tried to pirouette away from him but was too slow -- his teeth clasped her lower neck and she growled (playfully -- though it was reluctant), swinging her head around and issuing rapid snaps to his chest in the hopes of abating his onslaught.

He missed her ear but found purchase on her neck. His grasp was firm but he was careful not to break skin or cause pain as he tugged at his companion playfully. Her retaliation against his chest was met with a stubbornness to let go and back off, and the sound of his own undulating, joyous growl as his forepaws pranced in the sand.

Raptor let go of Sandpiper after a few moments, springing back from her snapping teeth with a cheeky and toothy grin. He darted sideways then, locked on to a different target entirely - the swinging flame at her hindquarters that was her tail. He was intent on catching it, but he was also content not to, or to at least delay that end. Raptor lunged and jumped theatrically, yipping and growling and occasionally slapping at his crewmate with an outstretched paw.

for a moment sandpiper forgot her troubles as they tussled, unaware that was likely the reason raptor had engaged in play. she snapped after him as he sprung back, whirling around like a little dervish and chasing after him. he was sprightly on his feet, quick and limber and athletic -- as she swung around after one of his toes she realized too late his ambitions and he clasped firmly the tip of her tail.

HEY! RUDE!

wildly the cairn girl swung to her left, and then to her right, to try to bite his face, to chew anything -- but the inflexibility of her spine disallowed such motion and she was pressed to pull away from him with a low growl gurgling offensively in her throat.

In the midst of his clowning, he managed to catch that elusive tail of hers. Raptor strafed and leaped to dodge her retaliatory strikes, grinning through a mouthful of tail fur. He was pleased with himself to see how his play had seemingly lifted his companion's spirits. That had been his plan, and his tail fanned exuberantly and his eyes sparked with joyful mischief.

Sandpiper pulled ahead, and the sable wolf released her tail and danced backwards, dropping into a playbow and drumming his paws on the sand. His hips swayed slowly in the air, taunting. "Come back, Piiiperrrrr," he called, cocking his head and flashing her a goofy, toothy grin.

with her tail released, sandpiper jettisoned forward -- nearly falling on her face in the process. in the most sloppy of pirouettes she spun around to face him, eyes glowering as she watched him cant to the ground and pitter-pat the sand with his arms splayed ahead of him in a cocksure, taunting bow.

he was grinning -- she was not.

she moved after him like an eel, expression dark and jaws gaping -- bullishly she lunged for an outstretched paw, attempting to nip or grab anything she could though whatever she managed to scrape in her teeth would be quickly released.

For a moment he doubted what their spar had become. His eyes flew open and his jaw hung slack as she about-faced and came for him. Dumbfounded and unsure, he did not move to avoid her. Her teeth closed on his left paw and he yelped out of an expectance of pain, recalling sharply the crunch of his toes between Wylla's fangs on that fateful day. But there was no pain and Sandpiper relinquished her grip as quick as she had attained it, leaving Raptor to scrabble backwards and hike his paw to his chest while his brain slowly registered that he was unharmed.

Oh.

Raptor grinned wide and foolish as he planted his foot back down. "You had me goin' there!" He said in defense of himself. "I'll get ye back though." Quick and sudden as he could, Raptor flung himself towards her with a growl, keen to take her down and make her a plush and warm place on which to rest his rump.

sandpiper hadn't dialed back the energy of her lunge -- so when raptor didn't move, she was nearly taken aback and sprung like a startled cat at the yelp that pried open his muzzle. her tail swayed arrogantly behind her and she propped both paws ahead of her, ears flat back to her skull like some hellion as a derisive laugh cut through her muzzle. "big baby," she teased between clenched teeth, readying herself for his retaliation.

a retaliation that came quite quickly, apparently -- sandpiper's eyes widened as he lurched towards her with a growl. she shuffled back wildly and got enough ground going beneath her to spin around -- just in time to be struck by raptor's freight-trained assault. the transferred momentum caused her to lose her balance and her haunches to collapse -- enough of a falter that if he was quick, she could be easily taken down.

He was quick or reckless or both. Making no motion to rein back his momentum, it carried him forward and took them both to the earth, flipping Sandpiper over on her back with he landing across her chest as his forelimbs folded under him. Quick yet again, he gathered his paws and hastened to push himself up and assume the position he had intended by dropping his rear down onto her. Raptor doubted he would hold the fiery girl beneath him long, and seized the brief window of opportunity to loom over her face and beam his biggest shit-eatingest grin down at her as his tail thumped across her belly with impish glee.

he saw her weakness, and exploited it -- like a line of lead sunk into water, sandpiper fell. raptor, for all his tenacity, had won this bout and he firmly placed his haunches down across her ribcage. forced into the sand, the cairn girl could do very little to object.

instead, she let loose a painful yelp -- a fake cry of agony that would hopefully wipe that shit-eating grin right off his cocksure face, for if he so much as faltered and showed concern she would leap upon him, all fang and fury provided she was able to even get out from under his big ol ass.

He fell for her act of course, and soon was on his heels fleeing down the shore to get ahead of her assault. Laughter followed him, for he delighted in this game. Calling over his shoulder, he egged his companion on further. "See! Yer feelin' better now, right!? Come 'n get me!" And the pair ran nearly the length of the bay before their energies had been spent.