Stavanger Bay There's nothing like you and me on the beach

Oh my Vellamo, Quell thought as she perched on the cliffs overlooking the lavish bay, now that's a view! "And I bet the bay's full of seafood," she said out loud to the otter currently wound tightly around her right foreleg. Frolic clutched at her and she grinned down at him, an expression that was somehow fiendish and fond all at once. "C'mon, let's go down there," Q suggested, bending to let Frolic latch onto her neck and shoulders.

Carefully, she picked her way down to the beach, dark toes sinking into the soft sand. Her pale eyes scanned to the left, toward the familiar pounding of the surf, then panned to the right, where the dunes gave way to sea grass and the land sloped further inland. This place felt very insular and Quell felt strangely comfortable and at home here. She didn't make too much of the sentiment as she trotted toward the place where sand met sea.

Frolic leaped down from her back, bouncing joyfully toward the foamy waves, and Quell smirked as she watched him dive into the water and disappear. If she looked, she would see his head pop up somewhere as he surfaced for air between dives. But she didn't keep watch, instead swiveling and loping along the water's edge. She dropped her head to skim, searching for anything of interest and ignoring the dull pressure in her temple that meant a migraine was coming.

The beach was not new to him, but it was different. Before the beach had been warm and heavily populated with people-things, and they each had their own scents, their own snacks (much more important), and they had wanted to play with him a lot. The beach here was empty of all that familiar nonsense just like everything else. He did not like the cold grey of the water, or the purple-bruise color of the clouds, and even the rolling thunder of the seaside was too different for him, so he kept well back from the edge.

The dog sniffed at a pile of seagrass as he moseyed away from the surf, all the way up to where the rocks sat gathered in bands across the frozen sand, which earned a few cursory sniffs as well. There were a lot of other scents here that did intrigue Bug quite a lot: bird shit mostly, the empty carapace of a long-dead crab, some shells which housed living things which were locked shut against his eager little teeth. Eventually it all smelled the same. The salt-smell rivaled the bird-shit-smell, and he had to raise his head and snort to clear his nose. 

As he did this he noticed something dark running among the rocks, and his attention fixed upon it. Beside the small brown noodle-thing was a dark dog-shape, and he could not stop the wag of his tail or the excited wiggle of his narrow hips. He launched himself towards both shapes - cutting through the cold sand as he pushed off, careening along until the brown thing ducked in to the water. The dog-thing was bigger the closer he got (go figure) and appeared to be distracted by something along the water's edge.

She came across a sand dollar and nosed at it, turning it over before grasping the disk between her teeth. Q spun and whipped her head, sending the test sailing toward the waves. "Sea cookie incoming!" she shouted, wondering if Frolic would hear her. Her pale eyes searched for any sign of her little friend among the choppy waters but then flicked sideways, head snapping that direction too as she noticed the wolf striding along the beach toward her.

Quell's eyes widened comically as she took in his unique appearance. "Holy shit," she blurted. Not only was he covered in contrasting spots that put her own dusting of speckles to shame, he had the most peculiar ears. They drew her toward him, so the two canines met in the middle. It would've been proper to sniff noses (the equivalent of a handshake) and introduce herself. Instead, Q plopped to her hindquarters to free her legs and reach up, batting at those irresistibly floppy ears, bouncing them as she murmured, "So sof'."

zing!

Something flew across the water, slicing as it skipped, and Bugaboo watched it. They had never seen such a small frisbee-thing; but they were immediately prompted to chase it, and had to fight the urge to leap into action. Withers quiverring, tail a whippy white blur behind them -- 

But before they could do much else, the dog-thing was right up in Bug's face. Normally quite a genial dog, they did not find it as offensive as a wolf might - just a bit surprising. It gave Bug ample time to sniff at the stranger's face, withdrawing when a paw began to bat at one flopped ear.

Bug looked like an offended filly being reigned backwards; chin tucked, shoulders squared. They shook their head to rid the tickling sensation and snorted softly, huffing in Q's face. Hey! Watchit! Bug insisted, but almost as soon as they rebuked contact a softness re-enters their expression. Hard to stay mad when you're so desperately lonely.

She wanted to grab hold of each, roll that soft fur and skin between her toes, but the peculiar-looking wolf yanked himself out of her grasp with an indignant huff. Quell immediately dropped her forelegs and backed away a few paces with a, "My b!" The youth dropped back onto her haunches and complemented her apology by spreading her forelegs, hopefully showing that she meant him no harm.

"How'd you get your ears so soft and floppy? And where'd you get all your spots?" Quell pressed, glancing sideways when Frolic gamboled up to the party of two with a crab in his mouth. "Ah! Fuck! A sea spider!" the young she-wolf exclaimed, stifling a scream when the otter dropped the damn thing right on her forepaw. "Get it away from me! AHHH!" Q instinctively punted it, without any thought to its direction, sending the clawed critter sailing right at the spotted wolf.