Dragoncrest Cliffs remembering when you were mine

Trade thread for naturalist. Anyone is welcomed. :)

He had taken to the shore that morning. Paws, legs and underside dusted with enough sandy grains to hint that he had walked his fair share of their claim. The clouds hung heavy like a pregnant mother. Granted they seemed unsure if they wished to spill back the contents of the ocean just yet.

However he had time to spare, he felt. Plenty of silent moments left in his still early day to wander the bay and watch the sky. He felt determined to see how the sea sent the clouds to them.

erzulie's jaws split in a ponderous yawn, and she sauntered down to find a meal along the shoreline. soon, soon, soon; her body primed itself with a greater hunger, and it was because of her shifting self that she found a particular interest in the granite's appearance before her two-toned eyes.
"bonjour," she grinned in his direction, giving a gentle flick of her chai-tea plume along her hips. he enjoyed looking upon the sea and the skies, and so erzulie turned to join him in pondering their beloved view.

He welcomed her approach wholly.

That unknown word reached his ears and it might as well had been a beckon for his entire attention. Slowed in his pace as he turned his skull-painted face to see her. It was easier in the daylight to see how she contrasted him. Practically an inverted version with her own mask.

Sheepishly he looked away back towards the sky, a soft smile betraying the edges of his lips. He knew better than to stare.

Hello, He hummed. Deep and hoarse still. Care to join? He imagined she did, otherwise she would not be here, but it was polite to invite.

"i would." and so she stood alongside him. he was polite. there could be no other archangel as rosencrantz had been, but the silent watch that eadwulf had kept reminded erzulie always that sapphique must have its guardian.
she wondered if in time he would become that.
and she had liked the way that he had kept from looking at her, even while his mouth had become full. mobile. erzulie blooming slowly into the desirous sea-rose as she did each year.
"have you ever seen a whale?"

If she had desired silent company, he would have obliged. If she had wished to spin stories for him, he would have listened until the end of the day settled upon them and then some.

He was, perhaps, a bit too keen to leave a good impression upon her.

She provided an outlet from his thoughts and feelings though. A peculiar question with a word he could not place to any certain thing.

No. A soft shake of his head. Although he remained silent, he hoped the curiosity in his single word would beckon her to continue on.

"picture de larges' fish you have ever seen. now make it larger an' larger until de fish' head be bigger den you." she flashed eadwulf a look of exultation. "it is true. dat be a whale. dey be too big to swim in de shallow water; dey beach t'emselves an' cannot get back into de water."
"so you swim far, to where de ocean turns dark." here she gestured with her muzzle to the scintillating expanse below them. "perhaps if you can wait, and swim, you will see one."

A large fish. So large that simply the head was bigger than him. There was some uncertainty in his own imagination. Surely such a thing could not be...

Yet she assured him it was indeed. That was the thing she called whale. They could not be here in the shallows, but in the dark they churned. Way out where he doubted he could swim for long.

I am not sure if I will ever witness one unless it finds itself here. He admitted in a hushed manner, as if he was exposing a secret to her. Perhaps he was. To confess he did not trust himself in the dark depths.

How often do they beach? Was it seasonal like a herd migration?

"not so often," erzulie mused. "i have seen it twice wid my own eyes, and heard many stories more." she did not expect eadwulf to go looking for such; she would rather he did not. but it was a wondrous and awe-inspiring thing to see a whale. "luckily dere be smaller beasts who live in de water, such as de seal. large eyes. a very fat body. no feet but fins, again, like fish. and an odd fur. it is as if dey once lived upon la' an' went back to de ocean. best hunted in summertime."
erzulie felt as though she were rambling; her tail lashed gently and she held her peace for the time being, allowing her companion to mull over what she had said.

Twice but with plenty stories told. Admittedly, the stories intrigued him more than the sight. He...was not sure what he would do with such a large creature. A fish with a head bigger than his body. How many would it take to eat such a thing? Make use of every part?

However he was enlightened of a smaller, summertime counterpart.

Are they out in the dark waters, too? He asked distantly, eyes momentarily left the horizon of cloudy sky and sea to look towards Erzulie.

"dey live closer to de shore." her voice a wondering murmur that sifted into velvet silence for a time. she remembered what she had been told of the things larger than whales which lived in the deep. always, the tightly-kept belief that there were things existent int this world which she might never understand.
"i have heard stories of bodies even longer den what i have said. one lives far below, where none of us could ever swim. an' i have heard dat dis one has many arms. as long as a cliff, wid one single eye dat never blinks."
a gentle laugh; it was as fantastical as anything she had ever conjured from her own mind, and yet she believed truly, in this monster which lurked unseen inside her much--loved brine.

The silence gave him time to consider the things she spoke of. How there were large and little beasts alike in the darkwaters that bordered their home. Although it seemed there were...bigger beasts. Far larger than he could wrap his mind around.

Long as a cliff with only one eye.

An eerie thought, to say the least. While she laughed he found himself with a bubble of concern in his stomach that curiosity seemed to pool around.

Does it have a name?

"squid." such a slippery, round sound to it. she was not sure if it was enjoyable, for it certainly did not fit erzulie's vision of what such a monster might be. weight shifted to one hip as she pondered the depths of how deep the sea might fall. "what were you lookin' at, before i came to chunner in your ear, eadwulf?" she asked with a pleasant tease to her tone.
she herself conceptualized her body as something fishlike for a moment; she wondered at the rumour that seals were only wolves who had returned to the water. they certainly were not lupine to her, but she had never seen the beasts in their natural clime. what were they like beneath the waves?

For all the things he had come to learn, that was one word he did not wish to try. It was not that it sounded clunky or heavy. It was the opposite. The word sounded as slippery as the sea and he had no interest in making a fool of himself. Not now.

The sky, He informed her softly with a pointing gesture of his nose to the clouds that hung heavy. Tried to see if I could tell the coming weather.

a weatherwater. a sailor. 
perhaps a pirate?
or maybe he only studied the darkened spread for his own knowledge, a wisdom to be kept close.
"an' what it be tellin' you dis night," the obsidian wondered aloud. the makings of the sky reflected the sea beneath it. those who knew the salt knew the heavens above, for even the stars told the story of the brine, and of what things live in the brine. she breathed in, only for the goodness of it, the rightness of it.

Was that a question or a statement?

Regardless he took a chance and humored her. Perhaps a storm, if the sky fills enough. One last glimpse of winter before spring. His tones deep and calm, yellow eyes trained upon the sky still. As if it might reveal his secrets to him soon and if he looked away it would never tell.

"i did not know you had poetry beneat' dat tongue," erzulie purled in the next, enjoying how he had said this thing to her. she searched for his truth in the host of colors, but gaze was drawn forever back to the sea. "in de summertime, de rain dat blows in from de sea is warmer. de season den, vibrant."

He laughed, something deep and warm and genuine. A sound he was not sure he had made in some time. Flattered by her words as much as he was humored. I am not sure if I do. A slight shake of his head, a snaggletooth grin on his features.

I look forward to the vibrant times. The greys and rainy or flurry days were easy to wear on the soul. Perhaps I will learn more of the skies by then. Maybe intended to be an unspoken promise to be something more by then.

eadwulf's laugh provoked another grin from his leader, and she saw the glint of his tooth as he turned toward her, speaking of the time to come. "de sea be kinder in de spring. an' sometimes she brings strange t'ings ashore."
if he was willing, erzulie meant to turn away, setting a pace for them toward the water. here the reflection of whatever light in the sky would be more visible, and perhaps she could persuade the man to laugh again. his presence, pleasant.