Ravenshook Cliffs kind of mood that you wish you could sell

maybe @Velen... even tho we have 2 threads already going... AW

today was no different from the others, except that today dalia felt overwhelmingly alone. she'd been alone many days, but today, on these cliffs, she'd felt more homesick than ever. 

the pearl laid on the edge of the cliffs with her ears splayed, pale paws draped over the edge and her head laid across them. she stared out over the horizon, the sun pouring across the water in a mess of orange and yellow and purple. she wondered if her mother was watching the same sunset-- the thought was just as comforting as it was saddening. she knew she'd made the right decision-- she was going to be happy here-- but today... today sucked. 

softly, dalia released a sigh, her hind legs untucking from her stomach and stretching out beside her.

>>;;

today velen thought of his mother, and of skellige. it had been some time since he and his brothers had come to the bay, and already they were not alone in their claim. dalia, a flower-girl of a person, but not so sweet that she was not witty, willing to bandy barbs back. this delighted velen, for the snowdrop provided an altogether different sort of diversion.
he went looking for her that day, trailing a thick strip of seal-pelt behind him. what he had intended with it was altogether a lost cause; now the mayfair-cairn danced lightly along the cliffs, twirling as if he were a temple dancer with a length of ribbon.
velen spotted dalia not far off, and slung the grisly toy along his shoulders, approaching her with a gait that soon became solemn when he was close enough to note the dejected stance of her body.
"you okay?" he chuffed, settling nearby but not so closely that he interrupted the edges of dalia's personal space. and, not wanting to stare, velen turned his own gaze out over the sea, comforted every time he laid eyes upon it.

dalia was too lost in thought to pay attention to her surroundings. perhaps it was not the best survival tactic, but today her naivety was saved by velen, who came across her before anyone else could. 

but so his approached surprised her, and her head shot up and turned, ears suddenly pricked. but when her gaze fell upon the mayfair-cairn, a gentle wash of relief fell over her. her lips turned into a small smile. "i'm fine," she said, shifting ever so slightly to the side so that he knew he could join her, "i miss my family." her voice was quiet. not quite embarrassed but... well, she hoped velen wouldn't think she was wanting to go back.

she couldn't even if she wanted to.

velen cleared his throat and inchwormed himself a little closer. still — he did not want to feel pressured, so kept a respectful space between them, one dalia could close if she so chose. her family. it occurred to the obnoxious boy that he had never asked the backstory of the girl with the two-toned gaze.
"i miss mine too." of course he had ford and rann, whom he loved dearly. but his sisters, the others he had left in warsaw. his heart pined for them also. "the sea helps me feel close to them, sometimes," velen murmured, chestnut stare tracing the expanse with a warm fondness. "i know sometimes we are looking at the same waters."
his attention returned to dalia; he offered her a brief, encouraging smile.

dalia was not surprised to hear what he had to say. ford had said they were born to the ocean, and he'd mentioned his own family once or twice. so, of course, it made sense to the pearl. her smile widened, her chin tucking to her chest as she took in what he said. 

"i'd like to think the same," she replied, turning and raising her chin to look out onto the waters again. 

after a few heartbeats silence, dalia said, "i can never go home." her expression faltered, teeth clenching. it was only a matter of time before someone would ask of her origin anyhow, and she was feeling sad enough to openly share it now.

she missed home, but she could never return. realizing belatedly he was towering over her, velen lay down as well, large paws draped over the edge of the stone and dark eyes trained on her. "why?" was his simple inquiry. he wanted to ask where she was from, inquire as to why he couldn't take her back home. eyeing the stretch of beach below them, where each day the cairn scent strengthened, velen's jawline tightened.
it was time for the siblings to stake their own claim; it was the way of wolves and of young things. but often the boy could not help but think of what he could have been had they stayed in warsaw. was staying there even possible? had it ever been an option? whatever — he had been happy enough to leave with his brothers.
not so, it seemed, for dalia.

velen settled beside her, but not too close. dalia didn't mind the closeness, but she appreciated his respect for her space. when he'd done so, he asked a question in the form of a single word, and dalia let out a breathy sigh. "drageda has strict laws. anyone who leaves is banished. i was stripped of my title and my surname," she told him, bi-colored eyes still trained on the sun as it melted into the ocean. clouds dappled the sky, breaking up the smooth gradient the sky had painted.

and then she looked to velen with a small smile. "my family was there, and i love them more than anything. but i wanted more than to live in my mothers shadow my entire life," she continued, her lips pressing together, her smile tightening. "the healers daughter," she spoke in drageda's tongue, "i wanted more than that." 

drageda. he was not sure he had heard the name yet, before dalia had said it. strict enough to throw out a daughter? velen did not understand. even as savage as warsaw had been, he could not imagine skellige turning out one of his family members without due reason. all dalia had done was leave, which was not a transgression in velen's eyes.
again to the ocean his stare traveled; he was silent for a series of heartbeats before he attention returned to the girl. it was certainly not a bad reason she had left; he remembered the thought that had come to him when he was cavorting with her and with saucy. "you didn't do anything wrong, dalia," he murmured in his low tones, somber now and devoid of his usual sarcastic warmth.
"and you deserve more than that." gingerly velen reached across the small space between them, seeking to brush her cheek gently with his muzzle. they weren't strangers, but he wasn't sure if touching was something dalia wanted in this moment. his chestnut eyes drifted back to the sea, always back to the sea, and he gave a low and satisfied grunt.
"maybe it's time you made a new home, where you can be whatever you want."

to her, velen said something that meant more than he probably knew. and as his muzzle reached to brush gently across her cheek, she felt that same, now familiar twist in her chest that she’d felt with ford. what was this? 

warmth flooded to her face, but her expression remained as it was, save for a few blinks of her seafoam eyes. “that means a lot, velen.” the pearl turned to study him carefully, especially as he began to speak again. he told her that maybe it was time to make a new home— to become a new wolf. “that’s what i hoped for when i left— and when i met all of you,” she responded, a little sad, but still hopeful. dalia smiled, finding his own gaze. something good was here on this coast, she was positive.

 


ugh sorry on mobile

velen was not sure of what he felt as his touch brushed dalia — a budding warmth of sorts, a shyness. had he ever been so close to a girl before? the mayfair-cairn could not recall. his chestnut gaze met her own and then the dredge looked away, back to the sea and the pillar of strength he found in its crashing.
it was too soon to tell, perhaps, but velen wondered if ford had already fixed dalia with one of his implacable stares. it was not envy budding in his chest, but desire — to have the same one day, whatever continued the brief blossom their moment had engendered. "you can build whatever you like here," the boy declared gently, and then laughed for the sheer sensation of it. "i'm going to build a fort. no girls allowed," he teased, tongue lolling as he turned to observe dalia again, hoping in some small way she would allow herself to be steered from the awkward spur they found themselves on.

ford had made some sort of impression upon her-- but dalia was impressionable, so velen did the same thing. it was no fault of the freckled pearl, simply a sheltered life away from anyone who wasn't family. how was she to know any different now? she remembered everything her mother told her, but it was different to actually be in the real world. she knew she wasn't supposed to fall for every man that looked her way, or even give them the time of day. but here she was, staring doe-eyed at velen as he told her all the wonderful things she'd longed to hear her whole life. but, wasn't he looking back at her the same way?

her ears pricked in surprise as their moment ticked away and velen mentioned a fort... that she wasn't allowed in! catching quickly onto the new road their interaction was driving on, she shifted where she laid. "well that's too bad," dalia huffed, faux upset by the exclusivity of his fort, turning her chin up and away from him towards the ocean, "but i'm building my own fort, and it'll be much better than yours anyhow." a fort would be nice, actually, but dalia found the idea of a den in the cliffs much more appealing. she missed hougeda. 

grateful for dalia's intuition in the face of his sudden shyness, velen lolled his tongue mockingly. "is that so?" a brow arched; he crossed his forelegs with a huff. "that is so rude," the dredge whispered toward the sea, despite the clear fact he had been the one to begin all of their ridiculousness. 
gathering himself to his paws, the mayfair-cairn stretched with a low oof of satisfaction, then swept his ears to ponder dalia. ever-moving, as if the ocean writhed within his veins instead of blood, velen lashed his tail and snaked his muzzle closer to the girl. 
"last one down is a clam taint," velen stage whispered into one of her pretty ears, before whirling with a chortle to dash back the way he had come. of course, there was an unfair advantage in that he had already been standing, but whatever. fair was fair, and he was going to exploit his advantage wherever possible.

the atmosphere shifted from entirely cloudy to rather playful in just moments. in seconds, velen had closed the distance between them, his warm breath against her ear causing it to flick-- and causing a twinge in her spine. god! what was that? 

"no fair!" dalia called, scrambling to her feet to chase after him. she had been blessed-- cursed, in this instance-- with her mothers frames, but... with her short legs too, and so dalia probably wouldn't have beat him with a head start anyhow. delicate paws pressed against the ground, propelling her forwards best they could, but all she got was a view of velen's ass, which was not what she was pining after in this moment! 

when they'd reached the bottom, dalia would have certainly lost-- at this rate.

dalia shouted at him, but velen snorted. this wasn't no democracy. when she finally arrived on the shoreline — a scant handful of seconds later — velen pranced toward her with a teasing sneer. "did you like watching me and my ass beat you?" turning, he squared his hindquarters and began to back toward her.
"what's that, clam taint? you totally loved my ass? haha, perv," velen mocked giddily, but surely the light in his chestnut eyes would tell the girl he was only kidding. maybe.

how scandalous! dalia huffed, tongue lolling as she stopped before him to catch her breath. he started backing towards her like some sort of loud, garbage truck, but his beeps were arrogant calls about his own ass. dalia lunged forward playfully to snip at it, aimed particularly at his left flags, but stopped short to avoid actually making contact with his butt. ew! 

he shouted out another mocking claim but, truthfully, dalia was far from insulted! "it's not an insult if i don't know what it means!" she sneered back, pulling her already panting tongue into a small mlem, her brows furrowing in. hah! jokes on him. "your rear isn't nearly as nice as half the ones i've ever seen!" she added, but dalia had never actually stared at an ass before-- she didn't know the qualifications of a good ass.

velen rounded on her with a piteous gasp of fake indignation. "well i never!" came the boy's pained exclamation. seating his defamed rump in the sand, the warsaw yearling toppled slowly over. "you've done me in, dalia," he hooted in an exasperated tone. "there's literally not even an ass store for miles. i'm stuck with my inferior buttocks." the boy settled himself against the beach, rolling to his back and folding paws against his chest.
"bury me here. say 'here lies the dude with the subpar ass,'" he implored the freckled girl, a sigh of long-suffering drawing slowly from his lungs. she'd killed him, after all: dalia had murdered his pride and his ass pride, and it was the least she could do to make sure no one ever saw his shame again.

"o-oh!" dalia half-gasped, half-groaned at him, "you're so dramatic! they should call you-- velen the theatric one!" her reference to their first interaction was one dalia thought about quietly to herself quite often. who could she be? she really always had thought about herself as the kind one. velen had turned into many things to her, but he was currently the theatric one. 

she padded circles around him as he played out his role, fainting to the sand and suffering one final, weary breath. she stopped her circling and began to kick sand over him hind-legs, burying him just as she'd asked. 

"hey-- come-on, you're not allowed to die on me-- i pledged myself to your subpar... rear, you can't throw in the towel yet!" the pearl stepped over him and nipped at the fur along his cheeks and muzzle lightly, urging him to get on up. her tail swung at her hocks, and a soft, not-in-any-way-shape-or-form-menacing growl rumbled in her throat.

velen managed to hold back all but one snicker, sighing loudly as he was laid to rest in a spray of grit. this was how it was supposed to be, he wanted to wail; the idea of getting sand in his mouth did not sit well with the boy, and so he decided to shut his trap for now.
a moment, and then dalia's soft voice. "won't you let me be at pe —" velen began in the grousing voice of a disturbed spirit, but her teeth had set to gently chivvying him awake, and he opened his chestnut eyes to regard the girl's freckled face, inches from his own.
the former dredge was still, gazing up at her for that iota of time. did she know how pretty she was? or that she reminded him of summertime flowers along the coast??
stop
she was ford's woman, right? or was gonna be? velen had no business ... yeah. the boy blinked, grinned churlishly at dalia, and rolled his eyes. the game must go on. "do you make it a habit of waking up ghosts, hmm?"

as he opened his eyes dalia paused with her menacing display of aggression, pulling her head back a few inches to just stare him down. the look that velen had return to her her, pressed inches beneath her, did not go unnoticed. but what did dalia know? she certainly didn't know what the look meant, if anything. dalia's first assumption was that he was merely fake annoyed and staring at her to ensure she knew this. it made sense given the context, and though it sort of made her feel all warm inside, he was moving on in the next moment. dalia had no time to process. 

besides, it seemed every guy she encountered made her feel all warm inside. this was no different, it seemed. 

"yes," she returned, nipping once at his cheek again and then stepping across him like a mere stone and turning to sit facing him on the other side. "i am a ghost myself, remember?" would he even remember such a small comment? "i need more ghosts runnin' around up here with me."

fade after another round? they need a new one :D

that was velen: row row row the fuck away from all your problems. forever. tongue lolled as he rolled to his side, chuffing in amusement. "guess we're both dead then," the boy shrugged, reaching to run his teeth through the fur of dalia's own cheek. the contact of their playful nature was both comforting and confusing to velen for reasons he didn't understand, and wasn't willing to analyze, not now.
"are you happy here?" he inquired gently, chestnut gaze falling upon the ever-present, almost omniscient roar of the ocean. it reverberated in his blood, his heart, the very sinews of his body. this could be home, velen felt, even if it was not warsaw.

yes please!! <3 i have an open one here !! 

he moved to his side, and then his teeth brushed through the cropped fur along her cheeks. and then his gaze fell away from her. the touch was comforting, welcomed, and dalia didn't entirely comprehend how it made her feel. but she felt something. "guess so," she murmured in a gentle breath as she gazed upon him. but his eyes focused elsewhere, and after a few moments her own seafoam gaze followed his. 

"i am," she responded, finding herself settling down into a more comfortable position beside him, "very much so." her pale paws, dirty from their 'roughhousing', tucked beneath her chest, catlike, but her tail swept through the sand as she watched the waves roll in. so peaceful, so wonderful. dalia loved the ocean so dearly. "are you?" she asked him then, gaze flitting once towards him, but quickly looking back to the water.

for a long moment, velen did not respond. and then, ever so slowly, a smile spread across his muzzle, becoming a grin as he resettled his chestnut gaze upon dalia. "i am." how could he not be? his brothers were here, lilia was here. dalia and saucy were here. the bay belonged to them, regardless of a title — the mayfair-cairns had established themselves, and he was proud.
this could be home, if only they allowed it.