Ankyra Sound you know i'm afraid of little girl ghosts.

She was in. She was in!! Yami was pleased as hell with herself, even though she didn't entirely grasp what that meant yet. She'd met many of her packmates, if not all of them (she wasn't totally sure) and while they had seemed a bit rough around the edges, they didn't strike her as dangerous. At least, not in the way she had imagined when Scarface -- Sorry, Firefly -- had painted them in her mind. She felt more at ease knowing this, but was well aware that she still needed to acclimate herself with this place and this pack much better.

And yet, here she was. On the beach. Again.

Yami was obsessed. She had seen the ocean from afar prior to joining Rusalka's ranks, of course. But seeing it and actually being near it didn't quite compare. She loved the smell of the salt and brine, she loved the sound of the crashing waves. She loved the feel of the sand in her toes, even this cold, harsh, frozen stuff that scraped against the pads of her feet. The Ostrega couldn't describe the feeling it gave her, but it was a good one, and she wanted to hold on tight to that feeling and never let it go.

She trotted happily along the shoreline, her hair a wild, salty mess and her eyes bright with contentment. It was absurdly cold and she knew she'd have to return to the grotto's sheltered crevices again soon, but for now, she continued her little jaunt, humming a made-up tune to herself as she went.

There was a new girl in the ranks, or so Raleska was told by her irritated mother, who brushed by her nosy daughter with all the patience of a shrew bustling her way through a crowded market. Raleska had watched dourly as her mother went from hole to hole in the Grotto, waiting patiently for the crone to expand eventually, as she was wont to do.. and expand she did, though Raleska had nearly left her company all-together before her mother informed her that the girl had been brought in by Firefly.

Curious to meet this new packmate, and maybe driven a little bit by overwhelming loneliness, Raleska rose from the Grotto and stalked out into the Strand, where in the distance Yami was trotting and humming some foreign tune to herself. Raleska did not take long to catch up to her, though she carefully matched her pace so she did not look too eager, and steeled her already-uninviting complexion with a rather cold look of interest. "You the new fish?" Raleska asked into the biting wind, attempting to make herself look casual more than curious, and instead making herself look cold and standoffish in the process.

Yami whirled to face the other girl the moment she'd heard her approaching, which was only a handful of seconds before she had neared enough to begin the conversation. She didn't recognize her, so she assumed this was one of the packmates she hadn't met. At least, she was pretty sure she hadn't. She would've remembered if someone had given her a look like this one...

"I suppose I am," Yami answered hesitantly. She wasn't sure about the whole fish title, but the pack lived by the ocean. Maybe that was a thing here. "I'm Yami. I assume you're one of my new packmates?" she said, offering a slightly tense smile. This girl seemed already to not like her, which made Yami inclined to feel the same towards her. But she was new here, and Tru had always taught her that life was way easier when everyone liked you. So, she swallowed her distaste and tried to turn things around.

Raleska slowed as the girl whirled around to face her, a smart thing to do, considering allowing a strange wolf to approach you from behind generally put you at an egregious disadvantage. Faking a thin smile to reciprocate the unsure one that Yami wore, Raleska measured the girl with the cold bite of her yellow eyes, trying to emulate the seasoned way in which she had often seen her mother scrutinize newcomers.

She knew right off of the bat that Yami was prettier than her, and it struck a feeling of immediate dislike and immediate wish to be validated in the girl. The two contrasting emotions warred within each other much in the way a tidepool often fights against its own current -- until at last the conflict briefly rose in her yellow gaze and just as quickly subsided.

"Hmm." She hummed (unwittingly just like her mother might have), as if completing her visual assessment of the girl. "I'm Raleska." She studied the girl to see if any flicker of recognition crossed Yami's features, and then in a rather insufferable way, she casually mentioned "Caiaphas' daughter," as if by being the queen's blood was somehow of great and divine import.

She let that sink in, fully expecting some sort of shock, awe, or groveling - and then, just to keep Yami on her toes and not let the girl somehow establish herself as the decider of their conversational topics, Raleska added: "Did you meet anyone else yet?"

Oddly enough, Yami's immediate thoughts upon meeting the other girl was that Raleska was way cooler than her. She had that careless, holier-than-thou air about her that Yami had tried to fake for herself most every day of her life. She shifted her posture unconsciously, trying to match her packmate's so she could better achieve that look. She didn't know if she was pulling it off or not, but she tried her darndest.

The name was in fact familiar, and instantly dropped a nice, knotted ball of anxiety into her stomach. This was their spider-y leader's daughter, a fact confirmed about .3 seconds later. Yami considered then claiming her own title as Charon and Amekaze's daughter - a princess of Moonspear and blood of the renowned Ostrega family. But she remembered quickly that she had rejected them, reminded by the uncomfortable clenching of her heart at the thought of them.

She parted her lips to let Raleska know that Caiaphas had spoken of her, but she was abruptly pointed in a different direction. "Some. Caiaphas brought me to the grotto and introduced me to a few," Yami answered because I read that on the pack page that that was a thing, I think, "But I haven't spent much time with anyone. Except Sca... Firefly." She sucked in a breath, inwardly reprimanding herself for getting his name wrong. Not that she really blamed herself, or so she decided promptly. Could she really consider their brief meeting and their trip to Rusalka as spending time together? She only knew his name because of Caiaphas, and that was after he'd skipped out on her.

Pleased to see some form of recognition flit across Yami's face, Raleska settled. As much as a prickly pear like her was capable of settling, anyway.

Efficiently the girl strode away, an ear canted back to assure herself Yami was following. Upon hearing the stuttered utterance of Firefly's name her pace slowed, and she turned a whip-thin muzzle towards the girl with abrupt interest. "What did you call him? Before Firefly?" She apprised Yami then with a sharp gaze, mcsquint-styles as she awaited an answer.

Yami hesitated uncertainly when Raleska began to walk away, but she fell in step when it passed after only a couple of seconds. She did her best not to back away when the girl turned sharply towards her and asked about what she'd almost just called the guy that had found her. She'd been hoping Raleska hadn't noticed, but now she was a teensy bit hopeful that this might actually amuse her and win her some points.

"Uh... Well, I didn't know his name until after Caiaphas accepted me even though we spent like an hour together, so I kinda started calling him Scarface in my head," she explained, keeping her expression neutral just in case this wasn't met with amusement.

Yami's expression was kept fairly neutral as she shared her endearing nickname of Firefly; Raleska had to work hard to allow only a small smile to grace her lips, as it was after all, a fairly amusing moniker. "Oh, there's lots of people with scars like him here." She imparted, giving a self-important rise of her head as she so kindly shared this knowledge with Yami, the way an educated person might briefly indulge an unread squire with some portent or grim fable.

"There's Rosalyn, she's the most bad ass of them, I think, then there's Vaati, he's big and scary, and Firefly who you met.. and we even had this little guy for a bit that looked like he'd been chewed up by a shark. Dunno where he went. Maybe he did get chewed up by a shark.." She trailed off in thought, wondering where Alarian had gone - surprised it had taken her this long to come to think of it.

Yami felt a rush of triumph at even that teensy crach of a grin, but she too played it cool and tried not to smile too much in return. She was interested to hear that she apparently had been right and that everyone was scarred around here. Maybe that really was a requirement, but Raleska wasn't and Caiaphas wasn't either, so then again, maybe not.

Her smile was short-lived for in the next moment, her companion went on to tell her more about the torn up fellows in their ranks. She started with Rosalyn, a woman Yami had met just yesterday. Rosalyn was the most bad ass? She swallowed, feeling anxiety creep up in her chest. She hadn't realized, and she'd been a bit of a smart ass with her. That might've been a mistake... Fortunately, she hadn't met "big and scary" Vaati and made an ass of herself for him yet, and she knew she'd given Firefly a good enough impression. Good enough for him to bring her here, so maybe she wasn't totally screwed.

"A shark?" she asked, partly out of curiosity and partly to distract herself from the memory of her faux pas. She had grown up on a mountain and spent most of her life inland. She'd never heard of a shark before, but presumed it must be something pretty fierce if it could maul wolves like that.

How did she not know what a shark was?

Raleska stopped, giving Yama the luxury of a full on, incredulous stare. It was a marvelous thing to behold really, because it made Raleska look a bit stupid -- but then she continued on her way, brisk and assuming of course that Yami was following her.

This was a chance for Raleska to show yet again she was superior to Yami, the poor inland wolf that didn't know what a shark was. Poor ignorant orphan Yami! Raleska would show her what she had been missing, help her find her way in this cruel, senseless world.

Actually Raleska just assumed Yami was an orphan, the same way she assumed the girl was just naive and so unclued to the world.

So she marched right to the beach, enjoying the businesslike manner in which she expediently did so. "Sharks live in the ocean." She started in a school-marm tone, but then stopped because she realized something.. "Wait, do you even know what a fish is?"

Raleska did not looked impressed, and Yami quickly found herself feeling rather embarrassed. Apparently sharks were something very commonplace that she ought to have known about, but she was at a loss as to why that would've been the case. It was as though she'd said she'd never heard of trees before, the way Raleska acted - giving her a superior look and leading her self-righteously towards the shoreline. Yami didn't know what to say to defend herself, so she just followed obediently and listened as the gaps in her knowledge of the world were filled in.

The Ostrega couldn't help but roll her eyes at the question that was shot at her. "I know what fish are," she replied, "We have fish in our lakes and rivers in mountains. There just aren't any sharks there." And she hoped that was all they were lacking, otherwise she was likely to not know about something else she ought to be aware of and have to make a fool of herself again.

Yami's eyeroll caused Raleska to come to a full stop, rather abruptly at that. With a look of self-assured haughtiness, Raleska did the wolf equivalent of a self-important boss snapping their suspenders as they talked down to an employee - she puffed her narrow chest, flicked her ears dismissively, and spoke: "well, just checking - not everyone knows what a fish is.. you don't even know what a shark is..."

Her tone was just the right amount of pitying, as if Yami was clearly some uneducated oaf to not even know what a shark was... What kind of peonic, dismal life had she lead before Rusalka! The poor babe was clearly better off now that she was here, in Raleska's very understanding and capable hands.. "So, it's a fish - but huge.  Come on, sometimes you see them over in the bay." She swung into a loose trot, guiding Yami along the beach's curve where the bay sat glittering in the distance.

Yami fumed at Raleska's treatment. She wanted to reach out and bite the girl in the ass when she turned back around to lead her towards the bay. She came very close for a second. It was right there, so tantalizingly close. If she were younger and this was Moonspear, and if the ass before her was Yama or even Vela, she would have done it. But this was not Moonspear, and she was not a child anymore. She was a near stranger in a foreign pack, trying to make her way. Yami grit her teeth and followed.

The Ostrega couldn't imagine a fish being any bigger than a fish usually was, though she tried as they walked along. In spite of her frustration with her companion, she was curious. "How big are we talking? Like wolf size or cougar size?" she asked, secretly hoping Raleska might not know what mountain lions were and then Yami could be a dick about explaining it to her. Serve her right.

Honestly, Raleska deserved to have her ass bit. She wouldn't have agreed, of course, but she was being such an insufferably princess that really, who could blame Yami for wanting to put the girl in her place?

A small smile again played across Raleska's features, one that was conniving and carried no warmth with it. Instead, it seemed sharp - smug and knowing and thin as the bent back of a reed. Poor, simple Yami... thinking a shark could be wolf sized.

Actually, they could - but Raleska didn't know that.

"Bigger." She replied, her eyes wide as she dramatically endowed upon Yami the knowledge that frankly, any self-respecting person ought to know. SMH. Poor, simple Yami indeed.

"They can eat a wolf in one bite." CLACK. Her jaws clamped shut, clicking with finality as she enunciated just how easy it was for a shark to eat a wolf. "My mom says she's seen them swallow a seal." She scanned the choppy waters, looking for any sign of a fin. "Wait.. you know what a seal is, right?"

Damn. Her ploy didn't appear to have worked. Raleska didn't miss a beat in claiming that sharks were actually bigger than wolves and cougars, which left Yami wondering again. Maybe a ram might stump her? Rams were only on the mountains right? Not on the shores?

Before Yami could make the attempt though, the girl was demonstrating how sharks could snap their jaws. Because that was somehow necessary. She flinched in spite of herself and glared at the girl, who seemed to derive pleasure from her aggravation. Somehow knowing this didn't help her calm her temper at all. She was right back to considering the ass chomp again, especially as something called a seal was brought into play now.

God fucking damnit.

"I know what a seal is," Yami said, rolling her eyes. Hopefully it was a convincing show because she actually had no idea. She wasn't about to admit it this time, though. "And how could she see it if they live in the water? Did she go underwater to watch?" she asked, now trying to make Raleska feel stupid about something and while crossing her fingers that seals were also some kind of fish and that neither were able to actually come up on land to do battle in view of wolves.

So she at least knew what a seal was. This prompted a nod of approval from the tow-headed girl, because not knowing what a seal was, well, crazy.

Raleska knew what a cougar was, but if Yami had of mentioned a ram, Raleska would have been convinced the girl was speaking plain nonsense. She smirked for the millionth time as Yami flinched, pleased to have extracted such a reaction from the girl.

As her eyes scanned the choppy waves, she considered the validity of Yami's point. Of course, she wasn't about to admit that Yami had just poked a hole in Caiaphas' retelling, but she wasn't about to call her mother a liar, either. She puffed up, squinting as she tried to detect any sign of shark in the water. "Easy," she bluffed, unaware Yami had just lied moments prior. "They're so big they look like a dark spot in the water. Plus, I don't know if it was here. There's some places that have really clear water." Raleska had seen this fact for herself, having traveled the coast with her mother before settling in Ankyra Sound, which was not in the scheme of things the prettiest nor most tropical beach the Teekons had to offer. The water was a far cry from byzantine blue - it was more of an angry slush-grey -- but hey, there was plentiful food.

"Hmm, I don't see one. So - you can usually see them where seals are. They have this fin on their back, it looks like an upside down tooth as it cuts through the water." Raleska was so absorbed in searching for a sign of a shark, that she had dropped her condescension entirely -- and was presently unaware that at the moment she seemed almost pleasant as she scanned the ocean.

Raleska's response was... not satisfying. One, it didn't actually do much to defend her ascertion that Caiaphas had actually seen a shark eat a seal (I mean... two dark spots colliding in the water? Really?), and two, she wasn't supposed to have any sort of response anyway. Yami frowned as she considered how to combat this latest round of one-upmanship, but didn't manage to come up with anything before they reached whatever spot they'd been trying to get to and Raleska turned focus back to what they'd been trying to accomplish.

Yami peered suspiciously at her companion as the girl's demeanor shifted. She didn't trust it, so her own guard remained high as she peered out over the water to search for upside down teeth. She kept a bead on Raleska out of the corner of her eye, just in case she tried anything (What a perfect ploy that would be - distract her by having her search for made up fairytale creatures and shove her off a cliff into the water when she wasn't looking). But otherwise, she actually was curious to get a glimpse of these big, carnivorous fish.

"Do they only come out at certain times of day, maybe?" Yami asked after another few seconds of scanning the water's surface.

Raleska hadn't considered they might hunt during only specific times of the day. Looking over the bay she realized it was low tide -- maybe that was why she didn't see any sharks cresting the water. Come to think of it, she wasn't seeing a lot of seals either.

She grunted, stepping down from the stony mount she had stood upon to scan the bay. "Maybe that's it," she conceded - she would allow Yami this one win. "I'm gonna go see the seals." The girl announced, turning to go towards the tidal flats where the seals often sunned in winter's weak sunlight. She assumed Yami would follow, but she didn't take the time to look back or insure that Yami was coming with.

The moment she said it, Yami expected to be ridiculed for making such a suggestion. For all she knew, it was a stupid thing to say about sharks, and she had no doubt that Raleska would have no problem pointing that out. So, she was quite surprised when the girl agreed that it could be true. She stared incredulosly at Raleska's back as she announced she was heading down to see the seals and walked off. It occurred to her that she was maybe supposed to follow. She wasn't totally sure if she wanted to though, so she stood still and waited to see if Raleska noticed she had stayed behind and what she would do if she did.

Raleska headed away from Yami, her ears stiff and nose twitching as she walked along the shore. Sometimes the seals came up along the tidal flats to escape predators of the deep, and other times she found them sunning in the mid-afternoon warmth. Today the tidal flats were occupied by only a handful of her watered-down cousins - she could see their rocklike shapes in the distance and sped up into a run.

She noticed Yami wasn't following her, but she hadn't exactly left the door open for invitation either. She shrugged; maybe Yami wasn't interested in seals, or maybe she wasn't interested in her. Either way you could be damn sure Raleska wasn't sending a gold-plated, engraved invitation to tag along - especially if Yami didn't want to.

She broke to a loose-legged trot as she came closer to the beach where the seals were. She spotted several close to a brace of rocks, and swung towards them warily. She had never worked up the courage to get very close - even from a distance they were huge, and while she couldn't understand the chatter of their language, she had caught more than once a liquid, docile looking eye following her every movement. They were clearly intelligent, as far as Raleska could tell, and while she had eaten seal before when her mother had downed pups or found them washed up dead along the shore, Raleska had never actively hunted them.

So, she hung a tentative distance back and slunk to the sand, happy to sun herself as she did a little bit of water-people-watching.

Yami waited, but it didn't appear that Raleska was going to demand she follow. She felt oddly disappointed about that, but she brought to mind the smug looks the girl had been giving her and decided she was better off. Smirking, she decided to settle in right where she was and watch the waves. Maybe she'd even see that shark she'd been told about. Or she'd fall asleep and take a nap.

...bitch was probably lying about the sharks anyway.