Sea Lion Shores seven seas, a thousand leagues

Tagging for reference. ♥ Paging @Smokestep, @Rosalyn, @Raptor, and any other Ironsea members. They are a respectful distance away from the territory borders. Please allow Faeryn to post first! Thank you very much in advance. ^^

It seemed only right that the wolves of Undersea offer an olive branch to their closest neighbors — only, the olive branch was a fermented coconut and the haunch of a black-tailed deer. Coelacanth carried the former while @Faeryn toted the latter; and with the rest of the seawolves under @Stockholm’s watchful eye, the Aralez and the Akhlut crossed the land bridge.

Under @Komodo’s resumed tutelage, Seelie began anew her elocution lessons — and although she would never be a truly proficient speaker, she trusted Faeryn to do the talking. From what she’d intimated, the sapphire-eyed female had already made the acquaintance of one of the corsairs, and perhaps that would help make the introductory period pass a little more smoothly. The Groenendael’s paws whispered across the sand with quiet confidence and drew to an elegant stop several meters north of the claimed territory that had once belonged to Skellige, Doe, and Szymon Cairn. Returning to the familiar shoreline gave the little Groenendael an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, and she brushed her nose against Faeryn’s slate-furred shoulder for reassurance.

After taking a moment to collect herself, creamy granules of sand and salt glittering like stars amongst her inkdark fur, Coelacanth turned her Neptune eyes upon Faeryn with a gentle nod.

Hope this is okay! 

The deer's haunch was grasped firmly in her jaws, cerulean gaze flicking back and forth as the pair travelled - it seemed that out of the two of them, she was the guardian. A fighter at heart, perhaps not entirely by choice, but her intentions were not to simply battle for the heck of it. She was a protector, and her duty in this moment was partly to make sure the two of them got to their neighbors safely with the gifts in tow. 

The seawolf halted a respectful distance from the borders when they finally arrived, gaze searching the area for any passers by who could be on patrol during this time. Ideally, she would have liked to see @Dakini among any strangers (a familiar face was always welcome), but for now her wandering eyes caught sight of nobody. The sylph turned to peer toward Seelie when she felt a slight touch against her shoulder, and a smile graced her features. Slowly placing the gift at her paws, Faeryn opened her maw to speak. "Let's hope they're all as friendly as the one I met, hmm?"

And with that, after recieving the nod from her companion, the Akhlut tipped her head back and called to the wolves of Ironsea.

JUMPS IN

Awinita had fully submerged herself into her new life, hunting in the waves and sand, meeting the various assortment of wolves that made up the crew, and spending some time with Engel. She hadn't had a nightmare or panic attack in almost three whole days, something that was nothing short of a miracle for her. So when the call went up for Ironsea wolves she had no fears when she began to trot off toward the borders.



Upon arrival her posture was soft and kind, tail held low and relaxed and ears flicking slightly. She looked over the small group with interest, noting that none of them looked threatening. She looked at the deer haunch and her head tilted questioningly  "Hello! How may I help you?" she greeted in a chipper voice, a kind smile forming on her maw.

sandpiper might have had the shortest leadership reign in the history of ironsea, but she had not forgotten her duty to the pack. she had largely kept to herself following rosalyn's domination over her, and it happened that as a howl fluted over the stony shore she was not so far from the borders.

the cairn girl approached at a confident lope, her gaze fastening on two unknown wolves that hung respectfully back from the borders. she assessed the two of them as she came closer -- one a soft, silvery agouti with a deer haunch carried before it -- the other a strange, angular creature hooded by black.

awinita had already approached the pair and sandpiper scoffed at her packmate's visible lack of distrust. what awinita possessed in softness, sandpiper presented by prickly wariness. she was a sea-wolf, salty as all hell -- and they were strangers close to her territory. she thought the swab's approach to them was too naive -- too trusting -- until they made clear their intentions, sandpiper would afford them no such kindness.

after all, rosalyn had been a comrade -- and look where that trust had gotten her.

she slowed to a stop before them but her posture remained authoritative, and she spoke in a cold tone that mimicked the icy lap of the shore. "you have approached ironsea. be quick and state your intentions."

((Feel free to skip her, she's lurking))

It had been a good long while since Rosalyn had seen Sandpiper; she too had elected it best to give space, though she knew eventually they would need to follow up and make amends.  Couldn't have crew up at arms with each other.  She wasn't sure when that would be, though, and wasn't entirely keen on testing those waters yet.

So when she answered the call and saw a group already gathered, Piper among them, Rosalyn hung back.  She would be there to back up, as was expected, should things go south. But she simply watched, expectantly, as those there already handled it.

Thanks for joining, everyone! ^^ ♥

Coelacanth smiled fondly at the Akhlut, her own muzzle tipping skyward instinctively and her tufted ears skimming back upon her crown as she too “howled” — a long, soft sigh.

It didn’t take long for Faeryn’s call to be answered, and the sheepdog adjusted her posture accordingly to accommodate the warhounds of Ironsea. Her already diminutive carriage carved itself into a patently unobtrusive pose and her eyes looked anywhere but directly into the faces of the neighboring seawolves. Her gaze fixed steadily upon the paws of the wolves who claimed ownership of the bay, she nevertheless keenly observed their outward appearance — searching for recognition. When she did not find any, her spirits sank a little, but she placed the coconut gently in the sand at her feet and placed one delicate paw on its roughhewn surface. She had known it from the scent markers, but it was still painful to note that none of the original Blackrock warband remained.

She mistook the brightly painted seabird for a leader given her authoritative nature and dipped her finely tapered muzzle low in respect, and an airy whuff of greeting and an eager whisk of her feathered tail was given to the first wolf who had approached, whitewater-pale with ruby eyes. Beyond them was a dark brown wolf whose fur glinted auburn, and Coelacanth adjusted her greeting to include her, just in case: a separate cant of her head was aimed toward the far watcher.

Drawing a careful breath, she let fly the few words she’d rehearsed, though she trusted Faeryn to do most of the talking. “Coelacanth Corten — Undersea Aralez, across water,” she breathed in a silky susurrus, “offer greet-gift.” Had she seen any wolves who reminded her of Skellige, Szymon, or Moorhen, she might have dropped the Cairn name — but only the aforementioned three and the tiger shark bore the coveted rib cage markings, so her natural assumption was that this was a new pack with no relation to the wolves she’d once known. She fell silent then, turning to Faeryn.

Wolves arrived quickly - first a she-wolf coated in a snowy pelage of white, marked with eyes of a ruby red and contrasting against her wintry fur like blood to stain a dove's pure feathers. Faeryn bowed her head, friendly smile causing the upward curve of her lips as she peered toward the woman. Quite to her surprise, there was no display of dominance. The wolfess held her tail low, posture relaxed and words warm and inviting - clearly, this was no alpha. But that mattered little, at least the company she and the Aralez had gained was not immediately aggressive.

The gem was preparing to answer when another wolf emerged onto the scene, demeanor a shocking shift from the pale one who had been first to approach. Quick words spoken from a clearly authoritive figure, one who could easily be distinguished as a leader (and this is what Faeryn first assumed her to be, and if not that, at least a high ranking wolf). Before she could answer the inquiries, Seelie decided to take the lead and the Ahklut peered toward her with a comforting nod - she was doing well, and Faeryn knew she was not the greatest of speakers.

After the explanation, she did however opt to elaborate. "As she mentioned, we are from Undersea - just across the water. My name is Faeryn Renoda, the Ahklut."  Eyeing the the deer's haunch at her feet, she continued to speak. "We have no ill intentions, we only thought to bring gifts of greeting." She did, however, expect further questioning and was more than prepared to answer.

Awinita had settled her haunches down to the sandy ground and returned the black furred female's friendly greeting with a silent one of her own, tail tapping against the sand. When a crewmate of hers approached she at first smiled, ears perked in friendly acknowledgement before the other female looked at her in a less than kind way and scoffed at her. 


Instantly she was hurt and offended, eyes widening and ears flattening as she looked stricken. What the hell had she done wrong? For a few seconds she sat there silently before noticing the way the dame held herself.  She wasn't above Awinita in rank, she wouldn't sit here like a coward while this nasty wench postured as something she wasn't. Standing up she moved to stand beside Sandpiper, the gesture making it obvious she was declaring being her equal though she didn't give her a single glance.


" We're Neighbors then. I am Awinita, it's a pleasure to meet you Coelacanth, Faeryn. We appreciate the gifts you have brought."She said in the same warm tone though she purposely raised her tail a bit, intent on making her disliking for Sandpiper clear. Despite her now authoritive posturing the tip of her tail wagged to and fro a few times before going still.

sandpiper's gaze moved from the silvered agouti to the thin, inkjet creature that spoke. erroneously, sandpiper simply assumed the female did not speak their language well, or perhaps, spoke another language entirely -- and she nodded in affirmation of her understanding of what a 'greet-gift' was. she looked to the grey shore and tilted her muzzle -- did across the water mean the island was now habituated?

she was just about to launch such a query, but was cut short as the grey companion of the strange not-wolf spoke, elaborating on the scant words that coelecanth had offered. she missed the glance to rosalyn behind her, and remained (blissfully) unaware of rosalyn's presence.

sandpiper's gaze then cut shortly to awinita, a sense of disapproval well in her gaze. whether or not they now occupied the same rank, they would never be equals -- sandpiper had been first mate, and was by blood a cairn -- by seniority alone, awinita should have recognized she had no authority to speak on the behalf of a leader.

but if sandpiper's fretful battle with rosalyn had taught her one thing, it was when to sheath her temper -- if only to unleash it later.

"awinita speaks out of turn." sandpiper smiled sweetly, an authoritative sweep of her tail given to match the rather bold and untoward posturing of her crew-mate. "i am sandpiper, sister of the captain," she did not need to elaborate then on the importance of her connection with smokestep -- surely it would have been conveyed by the self-importance of her tone. "i will inform him of your kind offering. when you say across the water, you are referring to the island in front of the river, no?" sandpiper tilted her muzzle, a frown vexing her features.

"is there much game on the island? or do we need to divvy out hunting grounds between us now?"

Want to close up with this round since the thread is quite outdated?

The atramentous sheepdog divvied up her attention between the Ironsea wolves as evenly as possible. When Awinita spoke, Seelie focused her sea sparkle eyes and tufted ears upon her, and she afforded the same courtesy to Sandpiper. Her dumb tongue cradled the unfamiliar names, but she was too shy to beleaguer the dissenting twain with her shoddy pronunciation; minute movements of her elegant muzzle sufficed, she hoped, in answering Sandpiper’s questions. Yes, she nodded, her Neptune eyes glancing pointedly in the direction of Wheeling Gull Isle; yes, there was adequate game on the island; and no, she saw no present need to settle any agreements regarding hunting grounds. There was a healthy population of black-tailed deer on the isle, and the sea was a great provider for the Corten family. A pointed glance asked Faeran to speak on Undersea’s behalf.

The uneasiness between Sandpiper and Awinita was painfully palpable to the aphotic empath, and her ink-feathered tail fluttered as she turned her finely-sculpted head delicately awry and yawned to help diffuse the situation before it escalated. She had detected similar subtleties between Axolotl and Komodo in the past and hoped that things would smooth out soon.

For her part, the Groenendael had prepared very few questions. The main goal had been to make nice with the new neighbors. Decisively, signifying that she had gleaned all she desired from the exchange, Coelacanth dipped her muzzle low and rolled the coconut toward the vividly-patterned female, knowing that the azure-eyed Akhlut would follow suit with the meat.

Sorry about the wait!

The pale sylph declared happily that they were neighbours, going on to mention her name (which Faeryn silently comitted to memory). The Ahklut observed with subtle interest as the tense relationship between the two pirates displayed itself before them, but no move was made to question it - she had little desire to become tangled in something that was evidently none of her business. Her gaze drifted silently toward Seelie for but a moment, returning briefly to the wolves of this land and preparing to speak.

The Aralez answered most of the other woman's inquiries with a simple nod or shake of her head, but Faeryn opted to accompany the gestures with words to match. "Yes, we come from the island - there is plenty of prey for us there, we have no need to discuss hunting grounds." Seelie decided then to nudge forward the coconut, and so the Renoda moved to present the meat that they had brought to the borders of Ironsea. "I suppose that it's time for us to depart... it was a pleasure to meet you both." She spoke after the meat had been pushed forward, tipping her head toward Coelacanth before nodding to the wolves who resided here.

Then, it seemed, the Undersea wolves would begin to journey home once more.