Wheeling Gull Isle danseuses de delphes

looking for a @Driftwood!

life was peaceful here, like it had been on the glacier. very different, in terms of scenery and climate--but the peace was the same. peace, and the souls that called this place home were kind. Tahani couldn't have asked for better for her daughter.

for herself?

the healer saw no alternative to staying here. she couldn't take Currituck back to the glacier; it was clear the girl was miserable among the ice and snow. and her knowledge of the surrounding area was incredibly deficient. even if she had a place in mind, she'd no idea how to get there. the island would have to do.

which, when put that way, it sounded like a punishment. it was not. it was peaceful here. Tahani spent her time collecting plants within the forest, and walking the beach, a novelty to her. there were little shells here and there, shiny things that she was entranced by, and were she not so choosy in what she decided to collect, she would have taken them back to her caches.

one in particular stood out--a glittering rock, half-buried in the sand, deposited by the sea. Tahani nosed at it, picking it up gingerly with her teeth. she cleaned the sand from it; it tasted of salt and metal, a trinket from the depths of the ocean. the sun bounced off its many ridges, like a tiny disco ball (not that she knew what those were). it made her smile.

she was smiling much more often, these past days.

Driftwood was wandering more aimlessly than usual, a certain glimmering of bewildered confusion in his still-half-stunned eyes. He meandered an unsteadily weaving path across the beach's face, every now and then pausing—sometimes to watch a bird disappear into the clouds, sometimes to poke distractedly at a bit or seashell or beach wrack, and sometimes for no discernable reason at all. He spotted the unfamiliar white face as he wandered around the corner and padded further from the treeline. Driftwood hesitated, and then slowly moved toward his fellow wolf, recognizing her scent but never having had a form to match with it, previously.

Hello, Tauhou, he said in a low voice, waving his tail in measured, genial arcs. He stopped some small distance away from her and took a deeper experimental sniff of the air. He was slightly disappointed but hugely relieved that this woman showed no signs of whatever strange aura it was that had attached itself to Moorhen. Driftwood figured his life was already complicated enough. His attention sharpened, however, when he spotted the small mica-and-pyrite-flecked rock clutched in her teeth. Driftwood caught his breath and took one large inadvertent step closer. Ooh, what's that? Or rather—where'd you find it, and is there any more? His tone had turned eager, with more than a hint of avariciousness. This girl's find looked so much better than anything Drift had found on the beach all day.

he startled her, slightly, and Tahani wheeled around, nearly dropping the rock in the process. Tauhou. well. . .almost. she set it down just as he began to ask about it, still stuck on the fact that he'd pronounced her name wrong. Tahani, she corrected kindly, not faulting him in the least. it wouldn't be fair, not when her common tongue was so broken.

the healer shrugged in response to his question, bending to touch the stone with her nose once more. pretty, she said simply, smiling. i like. in sand. ah. . . she trailed off, not knowing how to answer further. it had been the only one like it that she had seen, so--no? no more? how would she say that?

how did one say anything?

who are you? she asked instead, looking back up at him. like Moorhen and the dark, beautiful leader, he smelled strongly of the sea, and walked as if he knew this place well.

She reminded him of a startled bird, wheeling about and seemingly ready to take flight in alarm. Driftwood lifted up a paw and leaned back, wondering if he ought to consider removing himself some distance from the situation instead. At least until this lady pulled herself together a little more and felt a little more comfortable with his approach—though his eyes still couldn't help but intently follow the precarious teetering of the rock as she came close to losing it in her startlement. He couldn't help but think of her like a panicky deer fawn: if he pressed forward even a little too much or too quickly she'd be gone in a flash. That ought to be his priority to concern himself with here; less so if that rock (oh, it was so shiny, just look at it sparkle in the weak winter sunlight!) and whether she might be about to drop it into the dust to disappear forevermore. But it was no wonder he hadn't seen her on his trekking out and about the island; Driftwood wasn't the stealthiest of wolves at the best of times, and this bitch had probably heard him coming from miles away and made herself scarce, every time.

The lady placed her treasure down more gently, and the assertiveness in her voice startled Driftwood in turn. Tahani, he repeated, much more tentatively. Ah...it's good to meet you? She seemed like such a bizarre contrast to Moorhen still, though. Even if like his crush she too struggled to find quite the words she was looking for, it seemed. Drift cocked his head and tried to decipher the deeper layers of meaning beneath her stilted and broken choice of simple words. Ah, yes...yes it is pretty. Tell me where I can find a clone, plleeeeassse. ...Um, yeah, in the sand...of course, of course... What ever on this island wasn't found at least halfway in the sand, after all? Unless it was, like...up a tree or something. But that would be a pretty ludicrous place to find a rock. ...Drift was pulled from his increasingly rambly reveries as Tahani asked him for his own idntity.

...Oh, uh, Driftwood. I'm Driftwood. A Seawolf around here. He blinked at the girl a little muzzily, still trying to tease the rest of his attention back to the here and now. He'd always been a little scatterbrained but it had definitely gotten worse ever since he had run across Moorhen more recently. Now he had the attention span of a day-old chick, quite frequently. It's uh, good to meet you, Tauhou Tahani, he blurted after half a beat too long a pause to insert it smoothly into the conversation.

Drift-wood. she tested out the name, smiling. Driftwood. hello. seawolf, she noted vaguely, and then he used the strange word again. . .except this time, along with her name. obviously it wasn't a mispronunciation. a title, maybe? Tahani canted her head, scrunching up her nose in confusion.

what is. . .Tau-hou? she asked, probably butchering the pronunciation in the process. sorry. i, ah, not speak your. . . this is not my mother tongue, she added, lapsing smoothly into Inuttut in illustration. not that he didn't already know that, but at least now he wouldn't think she was totally and utterly communication deficient.

just, you know, in this language.

Driftwood bobbled his head in acknowledgement as she greeted him with his name this time. From the dubious wrinkling of her muzzle she seemed a little doubtful still, though. At least, Driftwood thought it was mere doubt, and nothing more—he quickly gave the rest of her the once-over to make sure he wasn't missing any other more subtle cues that her mood was changing for the worse. It had been a little while since he'd managed to ignorantly tick off another wolf, but Drift was resigned to the likelihood of it happening again at some point—maybe even here and now and today? No, he didn't think there was any other sign that Tahani might be feeling grumpy and not just dubious, but Driftwood shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to another nonetheless. It would be exceptionally easy for him to miss some important social cues in his current distracted state in particular. And no one had ever accused Driftwood of being particularly smooth in his social interactions in the first place.

She was asking him questions now though, and Driftwood again scrambled to haul his brain back on topic. Oh, uh—Tauhou! Right. That's the term we Seawolves all use for newcomers to the island or pack. So that's what you are: a tauhou. At least for right now. ...It's an Undersea thing. You'll get used to it.

Driftwood's bad ear flickered forward and then back again once or twice in confusion at the unfamiliar syllables that emerged from Tahani's mouth. He had no idea what language that was. Often enough, he had plenty enough trouble remembering words of his own native tongue, much less worrying about trying to divine what speakers of something else were trying to get at... That's all right, he said, though there was a note of uncertainty in his own voice as he did so. Tough enough to figure other wolves out when he actually knew what all they were saying...worse yet when a strange bitch was unable to communicate fluently in words he was familiar with. But it couldn't be helped, and unlike...say...Moorhen, or Komodo, at least this lady seemed inclined to be forgiving. More like Coelacanth. Driftwood's tail cocked itself higher and wagged hopefully. She didn't sound angry at least, despite the harshness of some of those strange syllables. Not everyone grew up speaking the same thing. And you certainly speak my tongue better than I ever could yours! Driftwood's smile grew both a little stronger and a little more rueful. He added curiously, What is that you grew up speaking, and where in the world does it hail from?

she wagged her tail, happy to have the explanation. okay, she said, grinning. i am tau-hou now. i see. she wondered how long it took to become a seawolf. how long did it take to get used to all of this? this was so different from anything and everything she had ever known.

now it was his turn to ask her questions, and she obliged with cheer, always enthused at the chance to talk about her birth home--even if it was bittersweet. would she ever see it again?

north, Tahani explained, dipping her nose in that direction. cold. ice and snow. my tongue is Inuttut. the word rolled out her mouth so smoothly, she wanted to cry. god, how she missed the north! and her family even more. having Currituck was a blessing, but. . .Sia, Taki, Shiv.

would she ever see them again?

where you from? here? she asked, trying to get her mind off the subject of her home and onto his instead.

There was a brightening gleam in her eye and a happy lift to her voice as the Tauhou Tahani started to expound a little on her native tongue and whence it came, cues that in turn strengthened Driftwood's smile and the gentle wagging of his tail. Yeah, he was safe from any secretly growing wrath, here, he figured—there was just a touch of relief in his mien as well for having guessed it right. Good.

Except— Driftwood peered closer, with quietly blooming concern. There was a hint of sorrow there, as well...? Or maybe more than a hint, on some level. Oh crap; now what had he blundered into? His growing worries over Tahani's state of mind were sidelined for a moment however by her asking about his past dwellings and all, which made him squirm a little, not just because it was an uncomfortable question to admit the truth to but also because it was such an obvious trap to be walking into in this conversation, in hindsight. Of course she'd ask that next.

Oh, er, well... Driftwood fumbled audibly for a moment, somewhat taken aback and scrambling to put his thoughts together and recover. Only so many different tracks this train of thought could travel on at once, okay? Nnnno, no I'm not from here, he began, first answering the question more literally, followed by a pause of hesitation as he debated internally just how socially obligated he was to follow this up with, y'know, some actual information. A small sigh then before, reluctantly and with a distinct flavor of embarassment that was all too familiar to him: I, uh, don't actually entirely remember where I came from, before. I washed up on Undersea's shores with my name and not much else—I know I came from somewhere else but not where, before that, I mean... Drift wanted to bang his head against a rock. Right, like that wasn't the most inane and blindingly obvious thing to say. Now this girl was definitely going to think he was an inept moron and probably not worth any more talking to, and without even the excuse of being unfamiliar with the language to boot. What brought you here? he asked, abruptly eager to change the subject, before he remembered that this might be a touchy area for her too, oops. He added hastily: I mean, if you wanna talk about it, that is. You don't have to. Not to me, anyway. I'm not important enough to demand that sort of thing, he added with a wry grin and a fresh cock of the tail, a bit of an attempt at levity.

she was very aware of Driftwood's distress, and whined gently under her breath, hoping to soothe him. he went on with a story about his own appearance here; her ears perked, as it sounded like the kind of tale you told under the stars. something fantastical, made-up. but she had no reason to believe he was lying, and so this nervous man was something out of a book indeed.

yes, yes, it okay, Tahani assured him, shaking her head as he began to work himself up again. she smiled. my daughter, Currituck. she come here; i find her here. i stay. for now. she let the addendum go silent; it did no good to voice it now, seeing as it would likely lower her esteem in the seasoned Seawolf's eyes.

her brows drew together. you meet Curri? she asked. Tahani thought the girl would be quite fond of him. at any rate, he seemed like he had stories to tell. . .and the capacity to weave them from thin air, if need be.

Driftwood remembered to breathe a little more deeply as she reassured him that really, it was all right. (Not that he was quite so panicky as to be full-on hyperventilating merely from this conversation, or anything, but the pacing of his lungs had gotten just a little more shallow and rapid.) Oh! he said to her explanation. Not anything he'd've expected to hear. A unique tale among all of Undersea, in fact, so far as Driftwood knew or remembered...which, er, might not actually be the best barometer of uniqueness after all, come to think. Whales could swim through some of the gaps in his memory, after all. Oh, well that makes sense, then.

Driftwood frowned thoughtfully, and with a touch of concern, racking his brains quickly for a moment before he replied again. Currituck...? No, no, I've never met her...I don't think. He looked down at the ground in embarrassment for a second as that last slipped out..."I don't think." Sheesh, Drift, really? You don't have to outright TELL her what a forgetful idiot you are... Driftwood suspected that regardless of how polite this exotic-spoken lady was being, he was not making too great of a first impression, here. Foot, meet mouth. But I'm glad that she led you to come here as well, he fumbled hastily to add. We're always glad to see new faces around here. And I hope you're able to make this island and pack a good home for yourself and Currituck both.