Stavanger Bay don't touch my juul

Hoping for someone from Courtfall? But all welcome!

She swore she'd detected scent markers the last time she'd been by here, though the ocean breeze only brought the stalest odor of urine to her nose. Bat stood at the far side of The Sentinels, peering at the bay in the near distance, tongue swirling thoughtfully against her teeth. After some deliberation, she strode forward, toward the sands curving around the sound.

She hadn't fancied herself a rogue (in training) for a while now, though she wondered if there were wolves here and whether she might be able to recruit them. That's what she was doing out here, away from the grove; she'd left the guarding to @Tristan and gone out in search of folks to enlist.

He was not sure how he felt about the coast, the sand clinging to the fur in between his toes and coating his underside whenever he reseted. Grooming was out of the question unless he wished to have a mouth full of gritty sand. It seemed he was in luck though, a figure on the horizon that might distract him from his sand predicament.

A soft bark escaped him as his long legs aimed to move him closer to them. Although he would halt when he was a few yards away, waiting to see if they might accept his presence.

If there were wolves inhabiting this place, they weren't particularly territorial. But the more Bat meandered around the bay, the more she doubted anyone lived here after all. Just to be absolutely certain, she lifted her snout to raise a howl. Before she could draw in enough breath, someone finally materialized.

Her head dropped back down to peer at the dark figure. For half a heartbeat, she thought it was Astara (not that she knew her name), although the dimensions were totally wrong. The resemblance was uncanny though. Bat's silver eyes panned over the tall, slender stranger, his legs reminding her of the herons that lived back on the plateau.

"Heya," she greeted with a wave of her tail, "do you live here?"

The question caused a lazily grin to briefly spread across his features before he shook his head. no, and i'm not positive who does. He thought that scents could be spotted here and there but Absynthe had realized this place seemed rather desolate. Save for the stranger standing before him, of course. are you from here...? He hesitantly asked as he realized he might have possibly insulted someone who may live here.

He didn't reside here, nor did he know that anyone else did either. Bat's lips pursed. If there were two random strangers meandering around the bay, then surely there wasn't a pack forming here. Her nose must've told her wrong the last time.

She shook her head at his question. "Nope. I actually live in the coconut grove west of here. My partner—" Whoa, where had that word come from? She supposed it was true in a lot of ways, though it definitely gave the wrong impression. Nonetheless, Bat decided to roll with it. "—and I are forming a pack there."

And she was out here to find recruits. Bat's silver eyes tracked over her new acquaintance once more. He looked hale. But before she attempted to drag him back with her, she supposed she should ask, "What's your name? I'm Bat."

coconut? A dark brow raised sharply with obvious confusion. The word grove was familiar enough but he was not entirely sure what a coconut was. Of course, there were more important things than that in the information she had provided. A pack was to form in this coconut grove in the west. He had always been eager for knowledge and he could not stop himself from asking. what will your pack be like?

Then she did the formal thing and introduced herself. Bat. He wanted to say it fit her but besides large ears, he didn't see much connection. So he made no comment and did the fair thing. Absynthe. He offered with a brief, small smile.

"Yeah," she said, taking his confusion as disbelief rather than unfamiliarity with the word. Coconuts were kind of an oddity after all. You could eat and drink them, in theory, but only if you could crack through those tough shells to get to the sweet meat and juice inside.

"Nice to meet'cha, Absynthe. As for the pack, it's going to be very chill. We'll do all the standard stuff, like defend the territory, hunt and gather, all'a that... but it'll all have a casual vibe. And I know that I, for one, still intend to do a lot of traveling despite having the grove as a home base. You travel a lot?"

"yeah."

It was not what he had been looking for but at least he knew now that he had heard her right. Maybe he could go poke around elsewhere for what exactly a coconut was, because they had better things to discuss now. The place sounded promising to a degree. No crazy religions or angry mobs. In fact, it sounded like it was going to be the opposite. Very chill and a casual vibe.

Although perhaps he resonated the most with her last statement. The lithe male still had every intention of stretching his legs even when he settled. yes. He admitted with a subtle wave of his tail. i'd like to travel more but i must admit that your pack sounds rather...well, nice. To be able to travel with somewhere to always return to. He was smitten with the thought.

When his tail began to wave, hers did the same. Bat smiled brightly when he confessed interest in the pack. She felt her heart skip in her chest. If she took him back with her, Absynthe would be her first successful recruit and it would mean their pack was actually beginning to grow.

"It's gonna be fab-o," she replied, trying to play it cool, though her excitement shone in her silvery eyes. "I'm definitely gonna continue my ranging, so... and not a lot of packs will be as cool about that... but we'll be totally chill if you come and go a bit." Where they'd drawn that line, it remained to be seen, thought Bat was confident that Tristan could strike that balance, with her help. The two of them always had.

can i see the place? He asked without a second thought. Perhaps it was rude, for he knew some creatures liked to remain secretive. Although it didn't seem like Bat's goal was to stay secret about this place. i just don't know anything about coconuts and the coast is new to me still. He admitted with the slightest touch of embarrassment. The bony man had never been keen on feeling like a stranger.

"Of course," she responded brightly. "Come on," she added in the next breath, motioning for him to follow as she pivoted on a heel and began to stride down the coastline, back in the direction of the grove. "I'll take you there, show you around. You can meet @Tristan and decide if you wanna kick back with us."

Bat tossed him a smile, then increased her pace to an easy lope. Just as she'd said she would, she would not just show him the outskirts but take him on a proper tour of their little slice of paradise, make a point of introducing him to her best friend (his potential future leader) and emphasize over and over again that this was going to be the raddest place to live, ever.

I figure you can wrap this and we can imply all of this ^ happened behind the scenes? :)

sounds good! archiving after posting

He was hesitant to admit it but this had been rather pleasant. To find somewhere he could possibly settle down without being tethered to them entirely was a dreamy concept. She need not emphasize on the radness of it all but he listened on anyway with the occasionally out-of-place grin. He had decided to stay, for at least a little while.

(Although a little while most definitely turned into longer than expected.)