Seaside Moors and when the MC rhyme and the DJ spin

a crab scuttled along the hardpack of sand, its claws raised and pace quick. behind it came a clumsy shadow with his nose low and eyes trained in fascination on the strange creature.

valravn had seen (and failed to catch) these things a few times, but they always slipped off into the foamy water where he would not go, and where he was not allowed to. sometimes, they plain disappeared under the sand, and no matter how much he dug, he could never find them.

once or twice, he had found a dead one along the water -- but any time he got close enough to the swashline, a wave came roaring out to greet him and sent him scampering timidly back to dry land.

valravn could not articulate just what about the sea terrified him, but while his siblings played and frolicked in the water, valravn stuck to the sand. not even the coaxing of his mothers encouraged him to dip his feet in the harmless tidepools; if it was water near the beach, he was not having anything to do with it.

wary as he was of the waves which lapped lazily along the shore, valravn had very few reservations about playing in the stones and sands adjacent. he had woken up today with the determined goal to catch one of those scuttlebugs (crabs), and had marched his pudgy butt out of the den down to the shore-line, where he spent the next half hour clumsily chasing after crabs who easily eluded him.

but not this time.

valravn had learned that sometimes, in the weird plants the water spat up along the shoreline, there were interesting things to smell and sometimes eat. as he nibbled at a stalk of seaweed, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. tracing the movement curiously, valravn watched in interest as a crab walked sideways with its claws raised in the air.

"SCUTTLEBUG!" crowed the little ruffian -- at last, victory!

unfortunately, he had no concept of what those claws were, or why they were raised. he thrust his nose down to eat it just like he ate the milipedes and centipedes that wandered into their den sometimes. only, this was no scaly bug -- but an angry creature with pinchers attached. valravn soon learned just why crabby existed in the dictionary -- for no sooner had he tried to chow down on the crab, did he realize the crab was chowing down on him.

he felt a piercing pain in his left nostril, a tightening grip with barbed edges. valravn pulled back with a loud scream, while the crab held on his nostrils like the world's most painful bull-ring.

not even profuse shaking of his head, or crying, or clawing at his face seemed to get the scuttlebug off. valravn was besides himself, and ran yelping all the way back to his mamas with crab cargo still determinedly hooked to his smarting snout.

all the children roamed freely, save for little @Chacal. it would only be a smattering of weeks before she too loped after the others; erzulie was content to dote upon the youngest daughter. however, the demands for food had increased with the greater activity of the first four, and so she found herself busied with their growing needs as well.
she had come up to take her round at the densite, intending that her wife go off for a respite and a hunt of her own. a fish hung from her jaws, weak curlings of its body thrashing against the stone temple of her teeth. however, the gasping thing was summarily dropped to earth as valravn's cries split the air.
spice-lashed ears swept forward in concern; the dark boy approached the densite, no less troubled, and saw at once what had him in such a state. the tiny pincers of a crab latched about his nose; she whined in sympathy, though amusement that this rite of passage seemed to be only for those who lived so close to the sea. "it is all right, sweet t'ing," she crooned, approaching to soothe him with a lick. "we go back to de water, an' he will let go." he had run all this way, but killing it might only provoke a tighter clamp in mortis. "come on," she urged, saddened that he must endure a bit longer until they had reached the pools of brinewater and he had plunged his face into one such.

val's wails sounded all the way to the densite and then all the way back, as erzulie dropped the fish between her jaws and shepherded him forth with a soothing lick atop his dark skull. the boy sniffed and cried, shaking his head and running against his surrogate mom with his skull low and ears slicked back in pain.

his sniffles subsided, as did the length of his stride, the closer they came to the beach. little whimpers pressed from his throat as loamy earth turned into sand -- but it was not until erzulie directed him near a glistening patch of tidewater that valravn summarily threw on the hand-brakes, dragging deep trenches in the sand from his sudden shift in gait.

somewhere, in a dream or a past life, valravn felt he had died by sea. a roaring noise overcame his ears and senses and he cried "nnNO!" as he flung his head to the ground while the crab still hung to his nose.

it was evident the boy would go no closer -- come hell or seawater.

brave valravn toddled back with her, but reached the limit of his tolerance when it came back to the gentle pools. she frowned somewhat, then her brow smoothed. the crab had come from the water, had it not? "pauvre petit poisson," she sighed, smoothing his ear with a lick.
if valravn would not come to the little home where his assailant lived, erzulie must bring it. 
"wait here," she bid the child, striding over and gathering a mouthful of seawater. the heavy brine was familiar; any seawolf had swallowed their share of it. lowering her muzzle, erzulie sought to sluice it gently across the crab, letting the clear liquid roll from the shelled back until, presumably, the nippy crustacean was enticed to let go. she would repeat if necessary.
in the meantime, the harlot, leant so close, wondered at the changing hue of her adopted son's eyes. she did not wish to think of who had granted him the coloration; dacio's name echoed against her will from the cavern of her skull.

"nnyeaghh." valravn responded dully in turn to erzulie's soft command, leaning back so his paws turned up and rake-lines appeared in the sand.

the crab dangled from his smarting nose like a spidery halfwit, its free claw clutching and unclutching -- while its occupied claw seemed to only tighten further around tender nose. valravn's eyes were stung with tears, and he shook his head on instinct vigorously as erzulie waded off; watching her with sorrowful and dramatically full eyes.

when she came back with seawater in her mouth valravn froze, the fur along his spine and neck flaring like a ruffled hen. "mmnooo!" the boy cried, rocking back in fear as water dribbled down his nose and coat. he flailed backwards, violently so -- to the point where he fell over himself in his panic, and lay with his backside against the sand and tears streaming hotly down his cheek.

valravn performed a great fall over himself, and erzulie spat aside the last mouthful. "what be de matter, boy?" she demanded, not harshly, as she reached to nudge him and clean the water from his muzzle. alas, the crab still clutched its literal pound of flesh, and she glanced toward the pool again.
"you scared of de water?" she inquired, turning her mismatched gaze back to the boy. "de water be a good t'ing," and she bent to croon toward him again, kissing his cheeks until his tears had abated.

at some point while valravn was with his backside on the sand, the crab had released its grip and got scuttling sideways along the sand while tears coursed freely behind it. val flinched as erzulie's shadow cast over him, half expecting the sluice-water to trickle from his jaws; instead she tenderly nuzzled his cheeks, posing a question that had val nodding quietly, fearfully, to himself. "mhmm."

he wiped a paw across his tear-stained, snotty face. his nose was red and bulbous where the crab had held its ground; it already was sore enough that val kept thumbing it absently with a forepaw. he knew his maman -- both of them -- had a fondness for the sea, but for him the crashing of the waves and the way they flew at him when he walked on the sand only evinced terror. cradling himself close to erzulie, valravn peered out between her two front legs at the thrumming, hissing waves. "izznot good 'ting. the boy protested dully, eyes narrowing as a wave came hissing towards them. he was scuttling backwards now, between erzulie's haunches when the wave receded. "GO 'WAY, WASSAH." valravn called after it, suddenly besieged by a sense of protectiveness.

a boy born to the ocean without a liking of the brine? erzulie did not understand it; all her brood had taken quickly to the ocean, almost as soon as they could walk without falling upon the sand. but then as he called a baleful warning to the fringe of foam, she recalled what raleska had told her regarding the circumstances of their birth, and wondered if it in some way had touched regin and valravn.
had not their father also been of the sea? erzulie did not like to think of it. raleska had given these children into the care of rosalyn; had they not been fed by both? they belonged to her. if their natal mother wished ever to reclaim them, the harlot would bid it, encourage it, but not once would they hear of that drageda cur from the lips of a rusalkan.
perhaps that was it then, too much salt for the blood. "dat be all right, valravn," she sighed, stepping back and drawing him with her. stooping again, she laved her tongue across his bruised face, seeking to balm it anew. "maybe we go home an' i get you a treatie," the jezebel clucked hopefully, thinking of the sea urchin eggs freshly laid in a cache.

too much salt for the blood -- LMAO

the wave ignored valravn's staunch warcry, rippling well up to his toes and eliciting a squeal of dislike and terror from the child. he was pulled alongside as erzulie turned with a gentle lick to his forehead following.

he was only partially soothed by this -- the sea was his greatest contender.. that was, until treaties were mentioned. his half-floppy ears perked up instantly, his eyes bright as he yelled back "TREATIES!!"

valravn did not wait for erzulie to lead the way. scampering up the slope, valravn's pudgy form left excited pawprints in his wake as he hustled back to the den for treaties.