Ankyra Sound elf gov ray.

This was idiotic, by every definition of the word. He'd run out on them. He'd made it look like an accident--like he'd gotten lost or like something had happened to him that prevented him from coming home to them. Coming back to the Wilds now and not returning to them? How would he ever explain that? Completely idiotic.

Unfortunately, Penn Blackthorn knew himself to be an idiot. So, here he was again.

He couldn't explain even to himself just why he'd chosen to return. A smarter wolf, one more in tune with their thoughts and feelings and not in constant denial that they had such things, would've realized he was homesick. Penn didn't recognize that he even had a home, though. So, he was baffled--or he would've been had he put his mind to it. Which, he did not. Thinking just complicated things. He wanted nothing to do with that.

He at least wasn't so stupid as to go near Brecheliant. He kept along the coast as he returned to familiar territory. He was content to along the shorelines he'd frequented in his youth, chasing seagulls he'd probably chased before.

She had not forgotten Erzulie's wish of yore that she familiarize herself with the bounties of the sea. Haunt had never quite acquired the taste for fruits de mer, though she didn't mind adding some to the stockpiles for those who had. With that said, she preferred to comb the beaches rather than enter the water. Haunt didn't think she would ever get past her aversion.

Thoughts of Chacal and that fateful hunt drifted out of her mind as she headed further southeast, where the dunes were a little more open and a little less treacherous. Haunt recollected the time she'd happened upon a seal here, taking it down with the help of a perfect stranger. She didn't think she would get that lucky today.

But speaking of perfect strangers, she slowed to a stop when she saw one in the distance, chasing seagulls. Haunt huffed, glancing behind her. Her yellow eyes dropped curiously to the uneven set of pawprints she'd left in the wet sand. She then swung her head to face forward and made a hop step approach.

If there was any difference between the Penn of yore and the Penn of today, it was that he was much better at hunting. For a while, he chased the seagulls for fun. Long enough that they let their guard down thinking they were not in any danger from him--he was just toying with them. When the time seemed right, he dropped onto his forelegs before one of them with his tail wagging high in the air. Everything about his posture was playful, and so it was quite a surprise to the bird when he suddenly sprang forward with violence, snatched it by the neck and killed it with a quick jerk of his head.

The gulls were onto him then. They sprang into the air with indignant shrieks that didn't at all phase the Blackthorn. He carried his meal up the shore towards dry sand, only then noticing that he was not alone.

He blinked in surprise at the mutilated girl approaching him. His eyes swept from missing ear to missing paw, his face contorting shamelessly into an impolite mix of disgust and wtf. He dropped the gull to his paws and lifted his gaze again, quirking a brow at her. "The hell happened to you, you piss off a velociraptor or something?" Penn asked when she was near enough, ever the charming gentleman.

She stopped when the stranger managed to capture and kill a seagull with a series of swift movements. Haunt marveled, wishing she could move like that, wondering if she could learn. But she had to wonder, was there much meat on those light little bones? Could they possibly be worth the effort? She mulled this as the rest of the flock took to the air, squawking indignantly as they winged away, leaving the wolf to its meal.

He wasn't looking down at his kill but, rather, he was staring over at her. Haunt began moving again. It was impossible to miss the way he scrutinized her, his face contorting in blatant repulsion. She wasn't really surprised, though it was the first time anyone had reacted to her in such a way. She could've felt angry or hurt, though Haunt actually thought it was an entirely reasonable way to look at someone missing body parts.

She wondered if a velociraptor was some sort of bird of prey, perhaps an enormous one of it could be the culprit behind her sheared ear and paw. "Yes," she replied simply, openly eyeballing him now, "two of them." Her electric yellow eyes flitted to the dead seabird before flicking back to his face. "Is there enough meat on that thing to make it worth the trouble?"

Her response broke his less than flattering regard of her. She played along with such nonchalance--it was much like the way @Fennec would have responded, thus he was instantly at ease. And now intrigued.

Penn gave an appreciative nod, as though impressed that she had survived her supposed attack. He didn't say more on the subject, instead letting himself be distracted by the question. He gave a derisive little snort as he chuckled. "Hardly," he replied, "Not the gulls around here, anyway. You go to the shores further East of here and yes. They have seagulls as big as turkeys on those beaches. No idea why they grow so different there, but I've never seen a reason to complain of it."

He paused and glanced down at the bird before giving a shrug. "Better than nothing, though," he added. Penn looked at her then with a little more scrutiny. "You want it? I don't need it. I just like hunting them," he offered, not entirely truthfully. He was hungry, but this girl clearly couldn't catch shit on her own so he assumed she probably needed it more.

Her deadpan response shifted his expression and demeanor. Haunt made note of that. She had never put much stock into her physical appearance. She totally understood why she might draw stares now and that didn't bother her. The thought that some might write her off because of them was an unpleasant thought, though. That probably meant they weren't worth her time in the first place, though if jokes would help others see past the surface, then it was a tool she would use.

His voice broke through her thoughts as he told her about seagulls as big as turkeys. Haunt's head cocked a little. Could they still fly? She knew turkeys couldn't, which she'd thought was because of their size. Her lips parted to ask but then he cut across her, offering his kill to her. This actually surprised her so much, she forgot all about the over-sized gulls.

"Really?" she asked, oblivious to what motivated his offer. "If you don't want it, I can take it back to my pack's caches. But first I'd like to catch a few more things." Haunt glanced at their surroundings, thinking she could scrounge up at least one or two more small animals to take back to Sapphique.

Her gaze then swung back to her fellow wolf as she wondered what else to say. "I'm Haunt, by the way," she decided to formally introduce herself.

She seemed surprised, which was fair even though she didn’t actually know Penn Blackthorn well enough to realize how surprising the gesture really was. He had a thing for cripples though, especially ones with a sense of humor. He gave another shrug when she questioned the offer. He hadn’t really meant for her to give it to her pack, but not even Penn was dick enough to say oh well never mind then after she made her intentions known.

”I can help you out if you like,” he offered, since he had nothing else to do, ”I think the gulls are onto my game, though.” He glanced skyward to where a few of the angrier ones were circling, still crying for their lost companion.

Her introduction stole his attention. He looked back towards her and smiled. Haunt. That sounded right. ”I’m…” the hesitation was brief, but the thoughts that flashed through his mind were many and swift before he finished, ”Fox. Foxegrine, if you want it in full. Most prefer the short version.” It wasn’t a lie, but it covered a truth he didn’t particularly want known. Penn Blackthorn was never supposed to return to the Wilds. Fox would instead.

He offered to help, though he pointed out that gulls were likely off the menu. Haunt's head reared back in mild surprise at the offer, though she nodded, smiled and twitched her tail. She never minded a hunting partner, even one she barely knew, especially if one of the few things she did know was that they were a skilled killer.

"Well, if you can catch gulls in midair, I'm sure small game is a cinch for you," Haunt replied, still openly impressed by this feat. "Let me..." she added, trailing off as she scooped up the dead bird, yellow eyes scanning the beach before she located a piece of driftwood and hastily buried the carcass in the sand beneath it.

Wiping off her paw and her stump—which was an excellent shovel, actually—Haunt trotted back to rejoin Fox. "All right, would you like to take point?" she invited. "I'm not fussy about the type of prey, as long as it's edible."

Penn--or Fox, I suppose I should say--gave a gratified smirk at the apparent admiration in her regard. He was pretty awesome, wasn't he? Unexpectedly, Ibis flashed across his mind, spoiling that thought. His mood darkened a bit, as it always did when he thought of her and the children he'd run out on. They were always there, floating around in the back of his mind, ready to pounce the moment he started feeling somewhat good about himself, reminding him what a piece of shit he really was.

He tuned back in as she was cleaning herself up, wondering for a moment what he'd missed. He dropped the thought from his mind when she spoke again and he gave a little shrug. "Well, we could wander some and see if there are any sea otters about. I'm sure there are fish out there, but fishing in the ocean is a fuckin' shitshow. Or we could dig up some crabs, if you enjoy the challenge of hunting when there's a good shot of getting your nose snipped off?"


His grin flashed across his muzzle again, but then slid away as the memory of the day he'd met his first crab with Maia came back to him. Another friend he'd bailed on. Man, some amnesia would be great right about now.

She listened astutely as Fox outlined some options, her one ear cupped toward him. Haunt licked her lips at the mention of sea otters. They were slippery little creatures, yet well worth the reward. Their flesh was a little fishy for her tastes, though their pelts were unbeatable when it came to lining dens. Suddenly, she wondered if Erzulie had used the one Haunt had brought her in April in the whelping den. Either way, she would love to provide another. The meat would just be an added bonus.

"Do I look like I'm afraid of having my body parts snipped off?" Haunt couldn't help but quip, shaking her stumpy foreleg. "I choose the first option. My leaders have pups and I'd love to take an otter skin back to them for their den," she explained her choice. "You take point," she added, since Fox hadn't replied directly to that inquiry, "I'll be right behind you."

Fox snorted with laughter at her response and gave a shrug. "Point taken," he said with an appreciative chuckle. His mood began to lighten again as her wit drove the dark away. Humor was a great distraction, as was an activity like hunting. Maybe if he just kept filling his life with distractions, he'd never have to feel terrible again.

Trying not to think about how it made him feel to be hunting to provide for pups that weren't his own, he gestured with his muzzle and set off down the beach. "So what really happened to you? Bear? Cougar? Birth defect?" he asked conversationally, not once considering she might not want to actually discuss it.

They strode along the sands in tandem, Haunt flanking Fox rather than literally falling behind him. She turned her face toward him when he pressed her about her missing appendages, a strange expression passing over her face momentarily before it went blank.

Aliens, she deadpanned. It was the truth, in a sense.

Whether or not she intended to say anything more on the matter, Haunt glanced just beyond Penn and gasped audibly, digging her single forepaw into the sand to grind to a halt. Wordlessly, she pointed with her abbreviated forelimb.

Just beyond the surf where the waves crashed to shore, a great black fin cut through the water.

She didn't give him a real answer, at least, he didn't think she did. He gave her a skeptical sidelong glance, then rolled his eyes. "Alright, be mysterious," he replied with a smirk, not noticing right away that her attention was elsewhere until he caught sight of her eyes. They were wide and focused beyond him. Curious, he turned in the direction she was pointing to gaze out across the sea. Soon enough, his expression mirrored hers.

"The fuck is that?" Penn said aloud, watching it slice through the water. He turned away from Haunt and strode into the tide to get a closer look, completely disregarding any potential threat the creature might pose. Actually, disregarding isn't the right word. For that, he'd have needed to consider it at all in the first place. What sort of Blackthorn does that?

Fox seemed as mystified as she felt, if his question was anything to go by. I don’t know, Haunt said, still staring as the dark fin glided through the seawater just beyond the roiling surf. A fish? She paused, considering, and amended, A very large fish?

Her yellow eyes widened a bit when the fin seemed to shrink gradually before disappearing entirely beneath the water. Haunt scanned the sea for a solid minute after it had gone, yet it did not resurface.

But something else did. Haunt started when something burst out of the waves, zooming toward the shore. It took her a second to realize it was a seal, a very small one. Perhaps it was a baby. She gaped at it, realizing it must be fleeing from the mysterious finned creature in the depths.

Without looking away from the terrified seal pup, Haunt hisspered to Fox, Uh, we’re going for it, right?

Fox watched as the fin slipped under the water, only to slice its way back out further down the shore. He canted his head thoughtfully, his ears sliding towards Haunt as she came alongside him and spoke. He gave a shrug at her suggestion. It certainly could be a large fish. He wasn't going to pretend that he knew all about everything that lived in the water. Furthermore, fish were catchable, edible things. If this was a big fish, then this was a big hunt, and oh how he loved those.

Before he knew it, he was grinning. He looked sidelong at Haunt and nodded. "Oh hell yes," he answered. He hadn't even noticed the seal pup, so it never occurred to him that she might be referring to that and not the giant fish. His mind set, Fox began trudging further into the water, his mind busily formulating a plan for how to draw the big fish near enough that they could try to catch it.

She bared her teeth in a wolfish grin at his three words, then began stalking toward the terrified pup. Fox brushed past her, heading straight into the shallows, and Haunt hesitated. She would rather hang back on the beach and hope the quarry came further up the shore.

It did seem to be scrambling up the sands, though before it fully escaped the surf, a hulking black and white figure came torpedoing out of a wave, snatching the seal pup by its hind fins. Haunt let out a screaming snarl of surprise as she bounded backward, watching in fascinated horror as the great fish flung its head to and fro, swinging the shrieking seal pup, before wriggling its massive, streamlined figure back into deeper water. It soon disappeared in a burst of froth, taking the pup with it.

She was so riveted by the sight, Haunt had forgotten all about Fox. Hadn't he been quite close to the seal pup? Had he been knocked out of the way by the great black fish? Her yellow eyes frantically scanned the nearby seawater, though Haunt couldn't bring herself to go any closer, even as moments ticked by and Fox didn't resurface.

Eventually, she turned and fled, Haunt quickly burying the whole experience along with the long-forgotten seagull and her alien abduction.