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@Ferahgo. yo ho, a pirates life fer me. also this is a repost because I just realized I accidentally deleted it...? idk how

The decision not to return home lingers in the back of his mind, wondering how long the smell would rub off his fur. With the wind and salty air, he suspects it won’t take too long, instead leaving him with his own musk and not that of Reek or Seana or anyone else from Phoenix Maplewood. It wears at him, to an extent, but he covers up the black hole with some other distraction.

He traveled back north, wearing the name of something else, and found the rolling expanse of snow covered ground seemingly drop off the face of the earth. His chest tightens the closer he gets to the edge and he stops several yards from it, able to see the ocean in a downward slope that gives hint trying to descend wouldn’t end well. The large wolf remains back and from where he stands, listens to the distant crashing of waves.

Yo ho, it's a pirate's life for me. Arr! I'm commandeering this thread for Snitch's introduction, but we both need Mr. Ferahgo. :P

This whole adventure sucked. The boy was striding along the seaside, his nose down among the rocks, happy that this place lacked seaweed at least. Regardless, the scent of salt in the air made his face crunch up. There were no signs of any pirates around here though - nobody he had traveled with - and so Snitch let out a low groan.

He lifted his head to watch the water, seeing where the horizon met the sky, and frowned pensively at it. There were birds in the distance - gulls probably, a hungry heron coasting with its wings out - but nothing of interest. Returning to his search, Snitch turned back to the beach in time to spot a dark figure upon the buff. He let out an eager, excited bark, and charged.

In his excitement, Snitch wasn't paying much attention to where his paws landed; his long legs made quick work of the bluff. But when he reached the dark figure, he realized it wasn't one of the pirates - or at least, it wasn't someone he recognized. The sudden reveal of a stranger in his proximity made Snitch pull short with his run, and he tripped over his legs, tangled in them. He more or less went down without a sound, except for the deep thump of his body hitting the dirt. He was winded for sure, leading to an uncharacteristic silence.

I was wondering what the heck happened that you deleted it LOL. Idk how I do half the stuff I do either. I mean earlier I took out the can opener to a peel a carrot with because clearly I operate on a dead brain."

On occasion, the scoundrel was struck by a thought, a hunch, and this was just such an occasion. He did not continue down the coast, around the gunwales in the forest, no, he doubled back intent to have a closer look at something he suspected he overlooked before, but he was waylaid by the sight of two others. In most circumstances, he would not be taken off his course, but the building of his crew were as important as his other task, and so he paced toward them, hailing them with his typical, "ahoy!"

if i put a little detail of something dumb i've done in every post, i'd have a thousand posts before i started to slow down lmao

The more time he spends near the coast, the more he feels her pull. It’s a captivating sight, looking out over the water and never seeing the end. His desire to learn about the beast increases and he feels a calm over him that he isn’t able to explain. It washes away his problems, for the moment, and each time he considers leaving the sight of the crashing waves, he remembers them and he pushes them away for a little while longer.

Ukko turns his head quickly, snapping to attention at a wolf that stumbles in his direction and hits the ground. The dark wolf quickly turns and lopes a step or two to see if the other is okay but, at the same time, a foreign ahoy that makes him forget the wolf on the ground for a few seconds.

“Hey,” he says, glancing back to his first companion.

Whoops I feel like this is nonsense. I'm going to sleep now.

That didn't go so well as he'd thought it would. Instead of boldly going where no wolf had gone before striding up to the stranger like the ne'er-do-well he was, the complete opposite occurred. He sat there trying to retrieve the breath which had fled his body for a few minutes. The sound of his pulse was all he could hear, so Snitch missed the tell-tale sign of a pirate until it was too late; soon enough, the silver masked stranger was advancing on the two of them. By the point that Snitch could breath freely, he looked to the dark wolf next to him, and then noticed the shifting form beyond.

Snitch looked around Ukko's thin legs to watch the other wolf. There was something about this new face that was familiar. The way he slunk about reminded Snitch of Tortuga, and as the stranger got closer, he thought he smelled a faint trace of -- well, he had no words for what, but there was always some sort of underlying spice to the wolves of Tortuga that was unmistakable. As soon as Snitch noticed this, he sat bolt upright.

He had caught a glimpse of the gray wolf's fall, and now peered with a mix of curiosity and contempt at him as he looked out from behind the black wolf's legs. Ferahgo took no measure to conceal his intentional plying for scent as he sniffed loudly, wrinkling his muzzle in his effort to identify the others.

Tortuga. Interesting. "This yer swabbie?" He inquired, drifting his gaze from the yearling to the mature male, who didn't have the same reek as the pirates of Tortuga but may have picked himself up a swab nonetheless.

He glances between the two wolves when the new male speaks up, saying something Ukko thinks might be a different language. He furrows his brow as he shifts back with a slight tilt of his head. “Uh, what?” he questions, unsure of who he’s really asking. The scent from either wolf remains unknown to him and what the familiarity for the two he blames on the salty air of the ocean.

"Hey! I ain't no swabbie," he all but belted from his lithe frame, raising up to his full height. But the act of standing caused something in his legs to cramp, so he was back down swiftly enough. "I'm a pirate! An' if ya be talkin' like a pirate, you must be one too!" The boy's eyes widened with this realization a second after he said it, as if it hadnt completely dawned on him - a bit slow, this one. Snitch looked at the dark wolf next, his tail batting at the gravel beneath him; "What 'bout you? Ya smell like a landlubber t'me."

The black wolf seemed not to have any idea what Ferahgo was talking about, while the gray one took offense. The Captain quirked a brow and peered at this sad excuse for a pirate with an utterly bored and disinterested expression. "Sure ye are," drawled Ferahgo as he rolled his eyes. "If ye think this one's a landlubber, then what are ye doin' with him eh? Invitin' him to dinner? Havin' a conversation? Pah!" The old salt scoffed. "If'n ye fancy yerself a pirate, then prove it. Make treasure out of he."

quick work post to move it along~

The more they spoke, the more Ukko starts to understand. He's still a little lost somewhere in translation as they banter back and forth but clearly they at least come from the same general area. One takes offense and the large wolf tilts his head, tucking the association somewhere in mind. He's not addressed again and he adds another step in their distance when the first wolf's challenged into finding... treasure? He narrows his orange eyes but remains silent to listen for more clues in their wayward speech.

The pirate reacts just like all the others. His disdain is palpable, and spurs Snitch on in an attempt to prove himself. He gets up - properly this time - and boldly approaches the dark wolf. He leers at the gray pirate for a second (not that it'd be intimidating, it was more like a toddler trying to put on an 'angry face') and he turned on Ukko. "Aye, ya heard him! On yer feet, landlubber!" Ignoring the fact that he was already standing and had not done anything else, ahem. He prodded at Ukko's shoulder like his beaky face would coax him to move. "March! Yer my treasure -" that sounded too flamboyant to Snitch, and had he the ability to blush, he'd be doing so. "I mean, you - you're my prisoner! Get movin'!"

The black wolf had no idea what The Captain commanded. If he did, he probably would have took his leave of the two. Or tried, at least. But instead he stood there, trying to make sense out of it all. But he was not alone in not understanding what Ferahgo had said; even the so-called pirate was mistaken. Ferahgo dragged a paw across his snout, his eyes slying toward his brows as he shook his head.

"Ye blaggards!" snapped Ferahgo. He knew how to settle this. "A spot on me crew, aye, and a share of all the grub and riches, to the wolf that brings me the skull of the other wolf. Or not, suit yerselves." Flourishing his tail, Ferahgo made to leave.

The smokey wolf turns to him and exaggerates his commands like a toddler and Ukko takes another step back and stares at him for a moment. “I’m already… sta—?” he manages before he’s cut short and the other’s made his offer. When the first wolf ushers him a little further back, he lifts his lip and snarls, jerking his head at the persistence he’s given. He doesn’t make an effort to snap his jaws against flesh, throwing his warning head first if he doesn’t take a step back.

When the other wolf starts to walk away, he glances up and furrows his brow. Ukko steps forward, away from the smaller canine. His jaw hangs open, confused, and he looks behind him. But to no one in particular, “what the fuck is happening?”

There had been many requests made of Snitch in the past, but none as vile as this one. Nobody had ever made him kill anything - at least nothing bigger than a fish, which itself was a heinous act for the squeamish boy - so when he concluded that murder was what the pirate was after, he froze. This was around the same time that Ukko, pestered as he was, turned and flashed his teeth. The already discombobulated boy shrank back at that. He couldn't do it. He couldn't overpower someone bigger, older, and stronger than himself. 

The question  posed by the dark wolf goes unanswered simply because Snitch is too busy freaking out over himself. Mentally he's ready to walk the plank, condemning himself for his weaknesses, while physically he is slouching on the rocks and looking mighty pitiful - not like a proud pirate at all.

His question goes unanswered, the wolf far off by the time he’d gotten it out of his mouth. Did he expect him to kill the other in order to follow him? Blindly murder a wolf he doesn’t know? There’s a part of him, deep down, that wants to know what it would get him in the long run but he isn’t quite sure he’s up for it. 

The other wolf sits there, slouched over, and Ukko furrows his brow. He stares at him for a moment, it would be easy to take him down while he’s unaware, distracted with himself. Instead, Ukko pivots, and travels further inland.