Ankyra Sound And isn't it easy

She travelled south, and away from the safety of her pack to where she saw the shoreline dissolve from the impressive, but dangerous cliffs she called home, into a soft, white-sand beach. She thought perhaps they had passed this place, when they had moved from the Moors; she recognized it as the beach that was scooped into an elbow shape, where the waves lapped gently at the shores, sheltered. Along the edge, though, were large, flat rocks still dimpled by the waves that had crashed against them for years- which meant that there were tidepools. 

She loved the shoreline- and she loved sandy beaches. Hunting was also a keen interest of hers, so she began to prowl from one area to the next, investigating the rock pools to see if anything had been left behind by the tide for her to eat.

Hope you don’t mind him <3

He had not intentionally drifted after her. It was more...subconsciously, he supposed. Padded after the scent that matched someone that belonged to his new little flock. He wondered where they planned to go. A hunt? A scouting mission? If it was the later, he’d u-turn soon enough to return to the cliffs.

Except it seemed they slowed soon enough. The wolf was distinctly familiar like this, the distance between them. Hadn’t she been at the background of his arrival? Kind and friendly until she had slipped away. So consider him intrigued by her.

A deep, heavy puff of air escaped him as his greeting.

Happy to have another thread with you!!
EDIT: WHOOPS I thought this was my other hunting thread XD

She sniffed about the tide pools, venturing from one to the next and investigating the creatures that dwelled within. There were starfish and sea urchins in a few of them, but she wasn't particularly interested in eating those. Starfish looked like they might be poisonous, and sea urchins were far too prickly. In the next tide pool she came to, she saw a crab lying defensively against the rock beneath the water, and she paused; it might make a nice meal. But before she could start figuring out the best method of grabbing it, she heard a soft 'whuff' from behind her. 

He looked as though he'd potentially been following her- or perhaps, he was just curious enough to check out the territories surrounding their claim as well.  Part of her heart twinged again, when she was reminded once again of poor Rosencrantz, who had passed away not long ago. He, like this male, had looked fairly imposing- but with the potential to be friendly as well. And This wolf, the one who had said his name was Eadwulf. She'd heard that much, but had left shortly afterwards. Fortunately for him, she hadn't let her teenage grudges extend to him. If anything, he was completely exempt from her moody ire, simply because he'd joined after the Seafoam Run had taken place. 

She chuffed softly, and worked her mouth a bit as though she meant to speak- but she wouldn't. She made a couple chewing motions with her jaws- before she gestured to the tide pools she'd been investigating, inviting him to take a look as well.

He was not shunned or turned away. Instead, he was met with an invitation. A silent one. He appreciated that greatly and so he wasted no time in closing the distance between them. Eyes spared her a good look before they turned to look at the pools.

Eadwulf was not sure if he had ever seen such a thing. Unusual, unnatural creatures laid within. Things rounded with long poky spines and some shaped almost like some of the stars he had seen with Erzulie.

Another thing seemed to be even further otherworldly from those other two. Large claws on it with an odd shaped body. It looked hard just based on looks alone. No fleshy sort of sight or fur cloaked onto it. Not even the scales of a river fish.

What is it? He asked with a scrunched look on his face.

She watched his expression as he looked at the sea creatures, trying to decide for herself if he was familiar with this sort of prey or not. He investigated a couple of the things she had already seen, but he didn't make a move to grab at them. She would have been intrigued had he taken any chance at all with the sea urchin- and he came to look at the creature she had been investigating, which remained where it was, though she thought she saw it pull its claws tighter to itself when it realized it was being watching by not one, but two predators. 

He asked her what it was, and she got the answer to the question she'd been wondering. Perhaps Eadwulf hadn't lived along the shoreline before, as he had no name for the creature. Chacal, on the other hand, had a name for it- but words...Words were far too difficult. 

She felt her cheeks flush warm and she felt herself shut down a bit when she realized that this would likely be how the majority of her interactions with new wolves went. Her family knew about her aphasia, but strangers...Well, they would either be told by her relatives, or they would find out for themselves- and she judged herself harshly enough for it already, without needing to expose her weakness to others over and over. 

But then, a memory came to mind- and with it, an idea. She recalled the one time that the words had flowed, and in a regular order. She'd sung a song once, with Erzulie- and she had had no issue forming a complete sentence so long as that line was sung. She hummed softly- working her way through the introduction of the song, until she came to the line that had the word she needed. "Krab la va Mangé" She sang, as she finished the line. She repeated the tune, humming the first bit until she came around to the same section again, and in a singsong voice, still, reiterated: "Krab" Before she stopped. She wasn't sure she could simply speak the word- but in singing it...She hoped that she was at least able to communicate the word she wanted.

He listened closely and, although he did not understand, he was deeply charmed by it. A little singsong line escaped her before she rounded back to the first word in that same sort of tone she used. A bard whimsy.

Krab.

Krab? He tired once out loud for good measure. Eyes swept from the hard-shelled sea insect to look at the young woman. Had he said it right? That was his first order to sort out before he inquired deeper about how she had introduced such a name.

When he repeated the word, it was without the melody she'd used in order to facilitate her communication. But he had spoken it correctly, and it pleased her to hear that she had not only been understood, but that he actually seemed somewhat pleased by the way in which she had answered him. She hummed again softly- the same melodic pattern she had used before, though she omitted the previous line- and simply reiterated "Krab," before finishing the melodic line at a hum. It wouldn't have made much sense for her to explain the line in the common tongue; it was derived from a lullaby, more or less meant to frighten children into going to sleep at an appropriate time. "If you do not sleep, Crab will eat you," was the threat, which Chacal had always found amusing. 

But she could use parts of the line, she thought. She hummed, and began to sing the words where she could parse them in. "Krab...Va...Manger." Three words, though she realized that he might not understand her. She began humming the line of the melody again, and did her best to translate, though it was a bit rough, being that it was her first time trying to do so. "Crab...Will...Eat," She said. Then she realized- that was the wrong order. That would make it seem as though the crab would eat something, but that wasn't specific enough. She tried again. "Will eat crab," She said. She licked her lips, thinking that that might make her point clear enough.

His ears pressed with interest as she hummed along that same tune. Only to punctuate it with the same word she had blessed him with the knowledge of.

Krab.

Again and again the word looped in his mind. Even as she carried on with another tune. Well. A familiar, albeit slightly changed tune. The crab would eat and he wondered what it would eat. Them? Surely not. Except...she fixed it up. Changed the order and suddenly it made sense in a different light.

Will eat crab. Who will? Him or her?

He figured that it must be caught for them to even dream of eating it, though. So with a foolish bravery he sought to simply pluck it from its pool. Only to be met with a firm snip to his lip. Not enough that it clung on or broke skin, but it certainly stung enough for his features to wrinkle in pain.

The skull-shape of his face dipped toward the water and Chacal watched, only realizing at the last moment that the crab had noticed him, and reached up with one of its claws. She winced when she saw the crab pinch his lip, and heard it plop back down into the water a moment later- he was lucky the crab hadn't been able to get a hold of his lip, or it could have simply held on and pinched even tighter. She hissed a breath through her teeth, empathizing with his pain. No blood was drawn, but she knew the sharp pain of a pinch. 

"Will...Hurt," She tuned softly, adding in another word to the same melody, rather than the word 'eat.' "Will...Show," She said then, a bit more assuredly, and had raised her melody by a tone. She stepped away, and scavenged along the shore until she found something she thought might help- a small stick. The bark had been worn away by the waves so that it was smoothe and round. She returned to the tide-pool with it, hesitated for a moment, and then dipped it into the water, prodding the crab with it. 

She had to poke it a couple times before it grabbed onto the stick with its bigger claw- the one she figured was the most dangerous. She tugged with it for a moment, making sure that it had securely grabbed onto the stick, before she let go of it, dipped her muzzle into the pool of water and snatched the crab in one swift movement. When she pulled her head back, she had a hold of the crab by its shell, and the alarmed creature simply clenched its claw even tighter onto the stick- until her teeth cracked through its shell. The stick dropped to the ground. 

With soft puffing noises to indicate her satisfaction, she lowered the crab to the ground, and nudged it toward Eadwulf.

She continued in her sing song and, admittedly, there was some comfort in that. A reprieve from the prickly tingle in his face of such a strong pinch. He could instead try to focus on her lulling words. The message in her music.

It would hurt.

And indeed it had. He imagined he would feel the ache for a few days with such tender skin located along his lips. Idly he licked at them as she presented her fix to his foolhardy ways.

A stick was placed within reach of the Krab and it plucked at it with quicker strength than it had his lip. Then his musical company was quick to act back. Teeth in the hardened shell of the ferocious little oceanic insect. He watched as the stick as all but forgotten in its departure from this world.

Then it was offered before him. Such kindness. Delicately he aimed to bite right off the strong limb that had attacked him. Some sort of bitter revenge and a claim upon the tiny beast. It could no longer hurt anyone.

Carefully he sought to place the big clawed limb at her paws. A gentle look of pride and protection settled upon his pale-painted facial features.

She was amused when the first part of the crab Eadwulf went for was the claw which had snipped his lip. She smiled, and figured that he might crunch through it and sup on its tender flesh- but instead, he pulled it from the crab's body, and laid it gingerly at her feet. She had not been expecting this- as she had gifted the crab to him, to take his preferred cut from it first- but his generosity touched her. She whined softly, and stepped past the crab's claw so that she might nuzzle the pale fur of his jawbone and cheek affectionately. He was quiet, calm, and thoughtful- how wonderful an addition to the pack, she thought. 

She stepped back then, nearly tripping over the remainder of the crab, and settled down onto the sand so that she could enjoy the claw that he had given to her. She sniffed it and turned it over a couple times, before she figured out how she wanted to proceed and began to crack the claw apart in her jaws, loosening the shell bit by bit until she could access the tasty food within.

It was an unexpected, but not unwelcomed, touch to him. Hesitantly he leaned into it a moment too late to truly enjoy it. The sensation of her along his jaw a phantom feeling now. One he felt inclined to hold onto tightly so that he might forever know how her kindness felt.

While she began her work on the claw, he simply watched. Her teeth made the best work of the shelled beast and so he figured he ought to give her more to work with. So much shell wrapped around the claw for such little reward.

Slowly he would break what he could of the rest of the crab that had been settled between his paws. Then, piece by piece, worked to lay some more parts of it before her.

A slow continuous offering to her kindness, as if she was a god with an altar at her paws.

She could hear the sound of him crunching through the crab's shell as she worked her way through the claw. It was tricky work, of course, getting what little meat she could out of the claw, but it was delicious nonetheless and worth the effort. She looked up when he pushed another bit of crab toward her, and she waited a moment with a questioning gaze- as though to ask are you sure? Before she accepted it, pulling it toward herself and allowing her tail t thump against the sand in gratitude. 

She would waste very little of what she was given, licking the shell thoroughly to clean all the remaining bits of meat out so that none would go to waste, and the seagulls would have little left to pick through. Once she had finished, she sniffed at the empty portions of shell, and then picked herself up off the sand. She shook her pelt out, and then stepped toward Eadwulf, pausing a moment before she lowered her head, threading her muzzle between her front legs, and tipped herself forward- so that she somersaulted over her shoulders, landing softly against his side, where she would giggle and wriggle herself against him playfully. Delicious snacks were an easy way to win her over, and bring out her puppyish side.

At first, there was worry as she tucked and seemed primed to push. He worried that she might want him to move.

Except...except she pushed enough that instead she moved. He simply an unwavering monolith in her path as she tumbled upon herself. Then landed right next to him with laughter that might as well have been the very summons of spring, songbirds in her voice.

He did not seek to dissuade her childish antics against him. Instead he sought to play along with her. Leaned some so that he might drape his head and neck (along with one front leg) over her in a poor attempt to playfully contain her movement.

There was a moment where she thought he might not reciprocate her foolishness, but with a movement deft and gentle he settled against her, reaching over her as though to gently pin her beneath his head and chest. As though to reward him for taking her up on her invitation, she nuzzled her nose into the warm, brown fur of his chest and lifted her outside foreleg to reach around his shoulders. Her wriggling stopped for a moment- but only long enough for her to pull her hind feet in close to her stomach. 

And a moment later, without any warning- she thumped them against his side, three times in rapid succession- and began to wriggle and flail like a fish caught in a net, making happy squeals as she tried to flop over onto her stomach and scramble her feet underneath her. She hoped she'd lulled him into enough of a false sense of security for a moment that she could kick and elbow her way out from beneath him.

There it was again. That kind touch that she harbored. Although the phantom feeling of it would now be placed upon his chest. A place that easily bloomed with warmth and all of it, indeed, lulled him into a false sense of security. Almost entirely positive that he had perhaps subdued her by accident with his form over hers.

All of this only to be met with a rabbit's thud of hind paws against his side. A soft whuff was all that escaped him as he set her free. Recoiled to roll over to his other side away from her repetitive attack.

He was stunned and vulnerable.

She zipped away from him, leaving deep clawmarks in the sand as she dug her toes in to propel herself into motion. She bucked and kicked up her heels like a giddy filly, looking back over her shoulder to see that she hadn't been pursued- and altered her course. Tucking her tail down low to her hocks, she sped back toward Eadwulf, ears flattened and neck stretched out like a wolfhound chasing after a lure. She zipped past him, sending sand flying behind her, before she whipped around- whirling for a moment as though to chase her own tail- before she ran back toward him again, head lowered and jaws agape in a silent, but broad smile. It was fortunate that their meal had been fairly light, as this case of the zoomies surely might have caused her some cramping if she'd eaten a belly full of food before zipping in figure eights, hoping to entice him into a chase.

For a loop or two, he simply watched through squinted eyes. Mindful of the sand she kicked in her wake. Although he was quickly enticed by her sudden movements soon enough.

Granted he was not built for speed. A slab of meat and muscle more than quick paced limbs. So his movements after her would be clumsy, heavy indents in the sand where his paws were placed.

Regardless he wished to chase after her on whatever path or shape she took. Perhaps he might be able to wear her out and succeed in a capture.

The nimble sprite dashed away from the bearlike male who was enticed into the game of chase after a few passes she'd made toward him. Over the soft pattering of her own feet in the sand she could hear the rhythm of his gallop, his feet larger and heavier than hers, but still capable of pursuing the nymph, especially when her enthusiasm and longing to be caught made her whirl and spin, zig-zagging in an uneven pattern that would allow him to gain ground should he carry on with the steady course he'd set toward her. While the goal of chase was to not get caught, there was no fun in simply dashing away off into the wilderness without looking back. No, that was something to be done out of fear- this she did simply for the fun of it. 

With a chipper cry, she veered suddenly away from the cliffs and hurtled herself into the surf so that she could splash through the shallows, leaping above the water whenever a wave rolled in toward her from the side. It cost her some ground, and also sapped at her energy to do so- but the idea of frisking with both her packmate and the ocean made her heart sing.

He followed directly, not straying from his own course as she zigged and zagged. Such a speedy little thing along the sandy shores. Easily he would have chased her onto the furthest beach if it so pleased her. Except she made a crash into the water and there was some momentary hesitation in his movements.

Then, he decided, if this was what she willed then he would follow. Where she jumped from the waves, they simply crashed against his side. Soaked him in the salty brine of seawater. It was an entirely new experience. Which likely showed in his clunky movement through the water.

Still he did his best to squint through water droplets and keep ground on her.

Her body knew the rhythm of the ocean, and with each breath it took, rising in a surge, she rose above it and moved with the wave so that she could be swept and carried along with it. It was like floating on air, and much easier than fighting against it, though it had a stubborn will to push any who entered back to shore, unless gripped by an undertow or riptide. 

She laughed to see him, his pace his own and not one with the ocean, but her merriment was due to his charming inexperience, not his failure. So she tossed her head as the waves lifted her up the moment she released her paws willingly from the sand below the surface. "Seeee!" She breathed, her voice a piper's chant. "Ride with de waves, we float with de ocean, as she breathes," She said, surging forward again with a bound when the next wave surged beneath her. It carried her up, forward, and sideways as she relinquished her momentum and allowed the sea to propel her forward.

"Seee!"

Try as he might, such a thing would not be easy. Saltwater droplets splattered and soaked his face. He wished to shield his eyes from their stinging touch.

"Ride with de waves, we float with de ocean, as she breathes,"

Ride and float. Ride and float. He grew tense before he surrendered to the motion of the ocean. Except he did not ride it. It overwhelmed him and pushed him over. So he tumbled with that wave under the shallow water before he popped back up.

If he had not looked soaked before, he certainly was now.

She watched him, but noticed the way he grew tense and stiffened, and rather than bobbing with the waves the way a sea bird might, he was instead blown sideways, as a canoe might if not turned to pierce the wake of a passing boat. He resurfaced, and she recognized the look of shock and cold on his features. Perhaps he might learn better in calmer waters, in an inlet or even a lake- but this did not seem to suit him very well. 

She paddled back toward him and nosed his shoulder, calmly striding past him and out of the ocean so that he might catch his breath, and leave wave-riding for another day. "Come wit' me," She sang, like a siren calling him to shore. "We'll find freshwater, and a place to dry," She said reassuringly. She knew it would be best to rinse the saltwater out of their pelts so that they would not itch, and would lead him to a place where they could do so, before settling down somewhere to dry.

Could likely close and maybe have something new sometime? :D

And her siren song summoned him fully. With an uneven beat against the water at his legs, he made his way out of the ocean's grasp. It left him feeling...salty. Literally, in the sense. Each lick over his lips or tongue swipe over his nose seemed to bring with it the taste of the darkwater's embrace.

Thank you. He mumbled softly, fully content to follow her somewhere that had clean waters and a dry place.

That would be my pleasure :)

She could sense the mild distaste when he licked his lips, and it made her smile. They would go somewhere to bask in cool, clear freshwaters so that they might wean the salty brine from their pelts. She enjoyed the scent of the ocean, as it made her feel as though she was home- but she certainly didn't want to be so salty that her fur got crusty and her skin irritated. So she led her new friend away from the ocean, frolicking and fraternizing as they went off in search of fresh water.