Stavanger Bay let me down so i can fly, fly, fly

a lil backdated to when sandpaper called @Raptor a dumb mangy mutt ;-;

after the initial affront had worn off from being so hostilely received by wylla, sandpiper had reflected on her actions in front of raptor. she wished she had missed that fleeting shade of hurt and anger that had crossed raptor's muzzle -- she wished she had not looked at him in time to see it, and be haunted by it. she knew she had to make amends, and guiltily, she set about the task of reparations. 

sandpiper was not a naturally generous girl, and doing this took a great amount of magnanimity - it would surely expose a softer side of her to raptor, a side she did not wish to put so plainly in view -- and if he thought her vulnerable for it, she would immediately regret her actions.  the red-furred girl knew it was right, but hated it -- all the same she combed up and down the beach with her small prize in her muzzle, casting glances warily about her as she searched for the only non-blood wolf that could tolerate her.

He had stowed himself away to a corner of the bay following the altercation. There he perched at the rugged and sea-slicked edge of a rock and allowed the waves to ride up the stone face and crash into his snout and over his back. The ocean swell was minimal or else he might have been swept into the tides and any other wolf not born of the coast still might have been. But he was used to treading uneven and slippery surfaces — the pads of his feet were calloused and coarse for gripping them — and this was not the first time he had sulked in this fashion.

Raptor did not care to admit to nor be seen as capable of feeling such weak emotions as hurt. He and Sandpiper were not unlike in this way. The rhythmic onslaught of the sea was strangely remedial and he hoped it would cure him of his upset before it was noticed... but even through the sting and spray of the waves he could see her coming down the shore. Raptor groaned. He was not ready for company and just seeing the fire of her pelt seemed to whip the smoldering cinders of his insult into an erratic flame again.

She drew nearer, and with his attention momentarily elsewhere, a rogue wave took him by surprise. Raptor inhaled just as it smacked his face and as the wave receded he clambered to his paws coughing and spluttering... and there she was having probably seen it all. The sable pirate scowled down from his throne of righteous ire, soggy and dripping, looking just as miserable as he felt and bristling as he anticipated a barrage of ridicule and insults.

it was good then that sandpiper's mouth was presently occupied, otherwise she might have laughed to see a wave swallow raptor's form and nearly have its way with him. she swallowed the snigger back quickly and nearly dropped the supplicating present she clutched: maybe if he was closer he might have seen the conflicting expressions of mirth and guilt fight equally for traction across her ginger muzzle.

he looked miserable -- he really, truly did -- sandpiper felt a little guilt trickle in there, and looked away for a moment to collect her thoughts. she tried to remain indifferent, ambivalent even, as she slowly placed the carapace down on the sand just out of the lapping wave's reach. she knew she was likely culpable for the wretched complexion that raptor wore, and she only just barely could hold his gaze as she offered her meager truce: a sea-battered, sandpaper-chewed and definitely dead horse-shoe crab.

She was responsible for some of his grief but the rest was his own doing. He had messed up. He had done so not only by Sandpiper and Smokestep but by the soot and silver female. She was not crew, and he should not care, and he would have told anyone that he did not... but he did. Her upset had cut him worse than any fang. He had not meant to feed her false hope and genuinely believed her to be a Cairn. He was no stranger to being wrong, to making mistakes, but he did not weather his errors well, and he received withering criticism with even less fortitude.

There was a reason — many reasons — he had been a castaway.

His burnt umber eyes moved to the thing Sandpiper had brought with her. He was surprised to see it was one of the beasts they had encountered before. He wondered how she had killed it but that wonder was quickly replaced by dark suspicion. He looked from the crab to her, from her to the crab, and back again. He waited, and waited, for her face to contort into mocking, and for her barbed tongue to stick him with another spine. But none of that came, and his scowl softened into blank weariness.

Raptor shook his sea-soaked coat and scuttled down the rock. He stared sidelong at Sandpiper as he moved to sniff at the crab and inspect the marks her teeth had inflicted upon it.

"I see you found a way to kill one," he murmured.

sandpiper caught the mix of suspicion and what she interpreted as possible resentment cross raptor's face. fair, she thought -- she definitely deserved it. it did not dampen her spirits too much, as she was a particularly special brand of selfish asshole for the most part. she still felt guilty for the cross manner in which she had addressed the only wolf who tolerated her without having a burdensome blood-tie to her -- but his lack of disinterest in her was encouraging enough that she quickly shed her cowed mein for her usual abrasive demeanor.

"pysch - it's not dead." she growled suddenly, flinging it at him in the manner he had tossed it at her -- only, it was definitely dead and it clattered lifelessly in the sand. she stepped after the sorry offering, hanging back a little as she added: "thought you'd be clever enough to figure out how to eat it." she added, aware she had yet to actually apologize to him. begrudgingly sandpiper cleared her throat and threw in a pathetic: "sorry i called you a mangy, stupid cur."

Raptor swung his head to avoid the crab as it sailed over his skull and pitched into the sand, and he stepped aside as Sandpiper came forward after it. He took the reappearance of her brusque and jesting manner as a signal that the scorn was to come next, and he narrowed his eyes and dug his nails into the beach — hardening himself to withstand the blows he would be dealt. The beginning of a growl started to roll, like gravel in the waves on shore, at the back of his throat.

It cut off when she spoke.

Raptor had never been apologized to before in a way that was not sarcastic and mocking. He had never known another corsair to care whether or not they offended anybody. So though he could not detect the joke in her words he found it hard to trust there was not one lying in wait to ambush him. His eyes searched her face as he hesitantly asked, "why?"

I am a mangy, stupid cur, he thought bitterly.

sandpiper heard the growl, and for a moment paused, wondering if she had perhaps wounded him far deeper than what a horse-shoe crab could balm. a better person might have dug deeper and pressed forth a more sincere apology -- sandpiper was not that person, and felt entrenched by her vulnerability. she had already said sorry, and that's all he would get -- plus the crab, which she thought was a tremendous gesture.

that was the thing about sandpiper that was so fatally flawed - she viewed the world the way she viewed it, and not through the lens of another individual. her perspective was colored only by her, and while she had the faculties to envision or empathize, she didn't entertain either because she simply did not want to.

he still did not trust that her actions were sincere, and she gave him a long stare with ears pulled back and a somewhat stern expression over her muzzle. she cast her gaze over to the rough patches of black rock, rolled her shoulders, and casually said: "cuz i wanted to, and that's all you're gonna get out of me anyway, so don't think i've gotten soft or taken a fancy to you, or nothing." with that she flickered her tail as if dismissing the matter and turned to walk away. mostly to save face -- she didn't actually want to leave his presence, but had no other way to facilitate that she was in control.

Raptor was a young wolf who, on one paw, had not fully reined in his emotions and so could be controlled by them, and on the other paw, was also capable of moving about through life with a remarkable nonchalance and reverting to that way of being rather quickly. It was a disposition that was even more prevalent when he was liquored up and rum-happy.

Somewhere in his core he still doubted Sandpiper's sincerity. That distrust had been quite literally beaten into him time and again long before he ever met her. But for now she seemed genuine enough and he was at least willing to go along with it to see where it lead. Such was his reckless, impulsive and strangely adventurous mindset. That and she brought him food, which went a long, long way to winning him over.

"Okay then," he conceded, and in that instant his voice had become lifted to its usual blitheness, and his misery seemed to dissipate as quick as a puff of breath on a cold day. He swaggered over to the horseshoe crab and latched on to its tail. He had no real ideas yet for how to crack that shell and get at what he supposed was the edible meat within. So he resorted to noisily and crudely banging the thing against the rock he had brooded on.

He expected his acceptance of her apology would have her turning around in a jiffy.

it was hard for her to maintain composure as she walked away; she kept one ear subtly hooked back for any rejoinder as she strolled from his form. part of her regretted committing to this path, but it was too late now to alter course.

when she heard him concede she whipped around so fast she nearly got whiplash, a stupid grin slapped across her sorrel muzzle. "great." she exclaimed, glad to put the sorry business of apologizing to a friend behind her. raptor was already bent to the task of dehusking the strange crustacean, and sandpiper weaseled right up to him and started to gab away. "listen. i figure you're reasonably clever -" pause. had she just complimented him? she cleared her throat and resumed: "i mean, clever enough.. you could probably figure out how to crack that guy open in a way that's better than just bashing it like you're doing. dunno if any seagull can pick him up but i wonder if you could push a rock on him? or something. you'll figure it out." cue a winsome, sweet smile that did nothing but show her wicked teeth.

Raptor stopped banging the beast on the rocks and let it drop, turning to Sandpiper with a raised a brow and one corner of his mouth drawn back into a smile. He had a smug, knowing expression. She had just complimented his cleverness and it was not the first time. It was in fact the third time she had described him as clever. The first time had put him in a mood... but this time he was able to accept the compliment with a few shakes of his tail as he stooped to nose at the crab.

"Hrmmm..." Raptor made faces as he twisted his head and tried to see some weak spot amid the curled legs of the crab's underbelly. "I don't know," he said with a roll of his shoulders. Raptor braced one paw on either side of the crab's spade like head, sank his teeth into the mass of legs and started heaving and tugging it on. Gradually, the belly was starting to split from the domed shell.

from now on, i'm gonna keep my mouth shut, she thought internally. she caught raptor's tailwag and simmered for a moment, stewing over the fact that any time she said anything it was liable to somehow be disadvantageous to her.

she craned her thin neck as raptor wrestled the crab, vying for some sort of soft-spot in the primordially armored creature. sandpiper wouldn't have had the faintest idea how to pry open its shell -- or if it even tasted good. she was about to suggest pushing a rock over it (a terribly tedious and full-of-effort endeavor) when she noticed he was making some headway.

she rose up on all fours with her tail swaying behind her. "looking good." she growled approvingly, her ears cupped downwards as she watched raptor's progress with fascinated anticipation.

Raptor only paused in his endeavor to grin and absorb Sandpiper's approval with a wagging tail. Then he went back at it with more gusto and theatrics, and straining with a long nnnnnnnhnnnn grunt as he squeezed his eyes shut and heaved. He put so much force behind the final pry that when the legs did separate from the rest of the carapace he damn near toppled backwards.

"ah-HAH!" He exclaimed as he dropped the mass of legs and observed the...

"This looks like shit." Raptor said as squinted at the green and brown mass of squishy gunk that greeted them. But Raptor, being Raptor, a glutton that lived by the phrase food is food, quickly rolled his shoulders in a dismissive shrug and dropped his snout to swipe a taste.

Smacking the paste around his mouth, he thoughtfully declared,

"Yup. S'edible."

sandpiper felt a weird sense of revulsion hit her as raptor pulled limb from carapace. she did not like looking at that underside too long, and she turned away as the carapace pried open and the innards were revealed. nothing about the strange whitish-green membrane looked appetizing -- she was reminded of sea-gull defecation then, how parts of it were white while the rest was a sundry mix of moss-green and slime.

"i'll let you finish that." she said, wanting no part in eating it now that she had seen what decorated a horse-shoe crab's interior. not that raptor had offered (would he even have shared?). mostly she just wanted to see if he was still kicking tomorrow - she had her doubts about how edible the contents were. she flicked her tail and looked away, disgust still on her features as she scanned the rest of the beach. overhead gulls wheeled in the dull grey sky and the choppy ocean was stormy blue with white-caps cresting the shore. "there were a few down in that inlet, over there." she motioned with a paw further down the coast, where the tide sucked out and left sandbars and flats perfect for exploration.

Raptor's tastebuds had been burned off when he licked the sun.

Or at least that's what he might tell anyone who inquired about his ability to eat seemingly anything, unaffected by whatever foul and or pungent tastes it might harbor and certainly not deterred by any questionable textures. He was a carrion eater after all and had an acquired taste for the oozing, the slimy, the squishy and the raunchy — and it was all the better when it was steeped in salt.

Raptor swallowed what he did not know was roe and other assorted innards before he turned to the underside of the legs. There was meat and he tore himself off a chunk of that, chewing noisily as he lifted his head and flexed his ears toward Sandpiper. "Not having any?" He said, his voice a bit muffled as he continued to chew. He took his paw and shoved the domed shell toward her.

He looked then to the inlet she spoke about and swallowed. "Good t'know but..." Raptor rolled his shoulders. "There are easier things to eat." He did not know what it took to kill one of these things, but it had taken quite a bit of muscle to pry one open.

sandpiper's muzzle continued to wrinkle as she watched him eat it - spinach innards and all. as he moved to the legs she pulled her ears back, unwilling to listen to the sickening crunch of each armored limb. it was so not her type of meal. if pressed she might have said she'd eat dirt before she ate one of those primordial, monstrous looking things.

she shook her head in mute disgust as he asked after her intentions of eating alongside him. hell no. "no. gonna wait a bit, make sure you're still kicking in an hour. what if it's a poisonous sea spider?" she joked, her teasing grin slowly dissipating as she entertained that scenario in her head.. had she just poisoned raptor?

shit. that'd be a really hard one to explain to smokestep. 'sorry your first mate is dead because he ate a rockspider i found half dead on the beach. pls still love me'.

she imagined it would go over really well.

"Guess I'm screwed then," he answered as he swung his snout down to latch onto another hunk of meat. He faced her, grinning and chewing, not the least bit bothered by the prospect of the crab being poisonous. Certainly he would prefer his meal not to be toxic and would like to see the rise of the next sun, but Raptor had no reason to suspect the crab was poisonous and so opted to not to worry about it. Too late now anyway, if it was the least bit lethal he had eaten enough to kill him.

"You'd be sad if I kicked it," Raptor mused, lifting his brows as he smiled rakishly at her. "You'd be lost without me."

she turned her muzzle away again as he continued to masticate the remains of the nasty water-spider. she busied herself with studying the swelling clouds that sat on the brim of the horizon where water met sky in an mix of soft pastel colors. a smile played her lips as he mentioned she might miss him -- that was for her to know, and him to find out.

except he wouldn't find out, because he'd be dead and sandpiper wasn't exactly convinced that dead things still had some sort of clutch in this tenuous world.

"would i though?" she queried sardonically with a tilt of her head, one ear flopping as she did so. "you're a lot of work. it might be good to have a break for a bit." obviously the firebrand was joking, but she could not help but swallow dryly as she thought of what it would be like if raptor or smokestep were dead. she'd surely be lost -- and being a bitch to other wolves just didn't hold the same amount of appeal to her.

Raptor lowered himself and sneaked forward, grinning like a fool as he flipped his head over as much as he could, exposing the underside of his jaw, and let his long tongue loll. "I knowww," he drawled in a light tone. "But you'd miss me." He held his comical pose for a while longer, fluttering his eyelids up at Sandpiper as his tail flicked sand this way and that as it swished back and forth. Then he stepped back and meandered toward the crab.

With his back turned (and thus, his handsome bandit masked face as well), Raptor uttered a quiet,

"thank you."

she met his absurd head-positioning with a blank stare, blinking slowly as if to enunciate how taken aback she was by his ridiculous pose. inwardly she was a little amused, but the spray  of sand his tail abruptly sent towards her ended that quickly. she stepped out of range and issued a huff to announce she was done with the stupid sentimental bullshit, as if she had better things to do.

with one glance behind her sent raptor's way, sandpiper made for the inlet where she had caught the crab. she did not expect him to follow her, but in the event he did, she would slow her pace - she would not deprive him of her company.

She never asked and he was content to not have to elaborate. Like her apology, his sentiment of gratitude was not issued neither easily nor with any comfort. So the corsair gave willingly to snickers, as a way of shaking off the ew, feelings, as Sandpiper huffed and left him. He turned back to the crab and set about scarfing down what remained of the split carcass., watching after his crewmate with a toothy grin as he chewed.

sniggers rose between the crash of waves and the sound of slapping wind behind her. sandpiper furled an ear backwards, but said nothing. she continued her casual stroll, placing one foot in front of the next with what she imagined was sultry deliberation (read: it probably looked epileptic). if he did not follow her, it would not be her loss. besides, sandpiper had plans for the rest of the day (besides check back at a later date to make sure he hadn't expired due to his cuisine selection).

she made her way to the bay this time, altering her course so that she passed by the inlet where the crabs had congregated. she would spend some time harassing them, learning their defenses -- and then if she was lucky, would secure a few and cache them for a later date.