Dragoncrest Cliffs A song that's too perfect for words

While her paw was still sore, Suzu had gotten much better at limping around using only three feet. She had to hop a bit in order to skip her injured foot, but the exercise was good for her...Especially after having eaten so much whale blubber over the past few weeks. Her winter coat was plush and thick- but it wasn't simply her winter coat that was thick. Suzu's body stored the fat and nutrients, giving her a lush, round appearance. 

Having an easy feast at hand was great, though the whale's smell was really starting to get quite strong. It still tasted alright, and didn't upset her stomach, and they were beginning to wear the carcass down to bones, which were neat to see. She ate from the carcass, and then set off for the tide pools to see if there was anything new. 

With the tide being low, there was a stretch of beach where it was pebbly, and the water came up just to her ankles. Here, she could chase down crabs and search for sea urchins. Little fish flitted this way and that, and starfish crawled along slowly. With her apatite satisfied for the time being, she would rove through the rippling water, to see what prowled in the shallows.

Her hips flared more than usual today. Rosalyn thought a walk along the beach might help, though she kept to the firmer sand. The pirate couldn’t wait for winter to pass and spring to replace it. The wind seemed to have claws these days as it whipped through her thinning coat.

She spotted Suzu from a ways away, but as she drew closer, chose not to interrupt. Her granddaughter seemed particularly focused on the water and its contents.

She did pause to watch, content to take a small break as well in her circuit.

Tide pools never failed her. While she wasn't hungry, she did enjoy seeing what was left when the tides went out. Some creatures were always there- the same coven of barnacles and clams, and there were always crabs in one size or another scuttling about. She roved from one tidepool to the next, and began to spend some time at one which was fairly deep, and had a bit of algae thriving in it. It was there that she noticed the curious creature for the first time- a crab with a very, very long tail. 

She lifted her head in surprise, and uttered a soft, surprised woof. The creature was as long as her foreleg! It was narrower than a crab, but still appeared to have the same hard shell...And its claws were beyond impressive. It had long antennae. More spectacular than anything was the fact that the creature was blue.

She looked about- desperate for someone else to see what she'd found- and picked out the shape of her Grandmaman on the beach. The figure in the distance was quiet, but against the pale sands, she was easily spotted. She looked peaceful but Suzu was never one to keep her own enthusiasm from infecting others. 

And now, she had someone not only that she loved- but who she felt would know what the heck this menacing sea insect was. "GRANDMAMAMAMAMMAMAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed and hopped in place on the rough stone, careful to avoid hopping on her injured foot. "Come seeee! Come see! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!" She screamed merrily.

If any stranger's child had screamed like that, Rosalyn would have stared daggers at the parents who allowed it. She was entirely hypocritical when it came to her own grandchildren, happy to meet their enthusiasm with the patience of a doting guardian. No other children would ever measure to them - there was little they could do wrong.

What is it? She asked as she approached, slowly, over the softer sand. She had to be careful not to twist the joints that ached in a way that would worsen them. When she arrived she would look for Suzu to point out her find, though she'd surely earn an interesting description as she drew near.

MERRY CHRIMMUS! <3

She chattered her teeth together in excitement as her Grandmaman plodded carefully over the sand "You have to come seeeee!" She explained, not willing to give away the surprise. Her Grandmother did not hasten her step, but Suzu was not so impatient to urge that she speed up, nor would she be caught being so rude to her grandmother. The blue lobster would stay where it was- it really had no escape until the tide came in- so she merely fidgeted and fussed, looking at the creature in the water from many different angles, continuously impressed by its size and its colour. 

"What is it?" She asked, when her Grandmother neared.

Suzu danced with excitement as she approached. Rosalyn smiled indulgently, then looked into the water as she came closer.

She’d thought it would be a fish or a crab - maybe one of the stranger plants or mollusks of the deep washed up. She wasn’t expecting something that was rarely seen on the shore.

It’s a lobster. She peered at it a moment, then looked back at her granddaughter. They are like crabs, but larger, and they can grow even bigger than that. They pinch just the same. The final bit was a warning. If Suzu wanted to try it, she would help, but they’d need to watch their snouts.

"Lobster," She murmured appreciatively, staring at the creature, fascinated by its potential and by its colour. She wondered what it tasted like- immediately assuming if it was crab-like, it might also be edible. Her Grandmother gave her a warning, which made her wince slightly and grimace. She did not like being pinched by crabs. She hated getting her nose or her lips clipped by their claws and while she felt confident that she'd developed a safe-enough technique to catch crabs, this creature was much different. It looked as though it might be more agile, or have a better reach. 

But because it was so different, and so new to her, she did not really feel inclined to simply catch it, kill it and eat it to see how it tasted. She lay down, bringing her nose closer to the water so that she could study it more. "How much bigger do dey get? Can dey re-grow limbs like crabs can? What makes it so blue?" She asked, lifting her gaze to her Grandmother, tail waving. She enjoyed getting to ask questions about the creatures who shared their oceanside home.

Much bigger. For the other two, I’m not sure. I imagine so, and if you ask your grandmere, I’m sure she would tell you that the loa chose blue. Rosalyn knew little about her wife’s spirits aside from the name. It was a practice that she both respected and adored within her wife but also one she herself avoided. She did not trust that she wouldn’t inadvertently curse their lands or home. Pirates knew better than to tangle with spirits.

To catch it, you grip it nearer to the claws than not. It cannot turn enough to pinch. She glanced at her granddaughter fondly. I can show you, if you’d like.

Her fur prickled at the mention of the loa, something she didn't quite understand, but knew to revere. This one was special, then, if the loa had chosen to make it blue, like the ocean. It could grow much larger, she was informed, and her eyes widened. It was already so big- so she imagined it growing to be the size of a whale. What a great sight that would be!

Her eyes flew open when her Grandmother began to instruct how to catch it. "No!" She blurted. She flattened her ears, apologetic for her outburst. "No, I do not want..." She couldn't eat something so mystifying. What if it was the last of its kind? What if there was only one blue lobster? She looked out toward the ocean. "Could we...If it be touched by de loa, could we...Put 'im free? In de ocean?" 

The tidepool would be covered when the tide came in again, but she didn't want to wait for that to happen, in case a gull or another predator came along.

Hmm. Rosalyn looked at her granddaughter a moment after the outburst. She had noticed that Suzu carried a softness in her, but this instance of it was slightly concerning to her. We can. But the ocean understands survival. She gives to make us stronger, and we should never feel guilty for taking them. Her eye caught Suzy’s and held a moment, intently, despite her words being more gentle than usual.

It was a complicated thing. As a grandmother it warmed her to see kindness hadn’t been worn out of Suzu the way it had so many of the rest of them. Yet the pack would grow with the spring, and there would come a time when she would have to choose to put their needs above her own feelings. She would not always be able to turn away a meal.

You’ll grasp it here, like this. She would demonstrate, lunging into the pool and gripping with her muzzle just behind the pinching arms. She held it up a moment, showing as it flailed, before dunking back down and placing it back into the water. Try. If she wanted to set it free, she could at least learn for next time.

She wouldn’t have been able to put in words why she felt so strongly attached to the rare creature. She had once befriended a seabird, only to see it die in the jaws of one of her pack mates- and she for some reason feared the same fate for the lobster.

She gasped when Rosalyn plunged into the waters and picked it up so deftly- thinking at first that her grandmother would not allow her to coddle the wild thing. She knew she needed to eat, but surely she wouldn’t starve if she set just the one free. 

She heaved a sigh of relief when her grandmother put it back in the water. It was just a demonstration. Grateful for her grandmother’s mercy, she nodded faintly and carefully approached the water’s edge. The effort she’d put into hunting for crabs paid off- and she pulled the large lobster from the water while its claws waved fruitlessly. 

She teetered as she carried it toward the surf, pausing as it splashed against the rocks. The lobster was heavier than she had expected, and whenever it waved one of its claws around, she flinched. The lobster was dropped into the water, where it was dark with kelp, and disappeared into the surface. 

”Such a strange creature. Do you ‘ink it be related to crabs?”

She watched approvingly as Suzu picked it up and noted that she held it correctly. If her granddaughter had been in danger of a misplaced claw, especially to the eye, Rosalyn would have had her drop it immediately. Some injuries weren’t worth the lesson.

Perhaps. She looked to where it had disappeared, thinking back to the way it had looked when she appraised it in the pool. Already the details of its appearance were nearly lost… just a longer shape and two claws, blue as the sea.

Maybe it was a crab loa. If it is, you’ve earned some favor. Rosalyn smiled indulgently, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She would never trust the supernatural, and any thought of spirits disquieted her. Nothing that remained ever had a good reason for doing so.

Suzu thought quietly for a moment about shelled creatures. Her Grandmother did not seem to know for sure, but Suzu felt there had to be some connection between animals like crabs, lobsters, and perhaps even turtles. She wondered if they were related to insects as well- perhaps an underwater equivalent. 

Her brow furrowed lightly in concentration when the Loa were mentioned. Things that were not tangible were harder for her to grasp. ”What are de Loa made of?” She asked.

wrapping up some of her older threads <33 we can fade this if you like! Or go a couple more rounds, I don’t mind either way

The loa were her wife’s domain and Rosalyn had rarely asked of them. She knew they were spirits of some sort but the pirate needed no more encouragement to avoid those sorts of things. She’d known more than enough ghosts and in her opinion nothing good came of them. Rosalyn would never prevent her wife from practicing the things she knew, however, nor from sharing those things with the new generations.

Your other grandmother would be able to tell you more, but I think they are made of different things. There are loa in the sea, in the earth, and in the air. They’re spirits, so they can take any form they want. This she only imagined, but from what she knew of the type of spirits Erzulie spoke of, it made sense. Maybe they had favorite forms, but nothing spiritual was ever constant.

I don’t think it’s wise to speak with spirits at all. But if you do, always make sure you are respectful, and let your grandmere show you how. Like she shows Sobo. Their son was learning, she knew, though what specifically she wasn’t sure. There was valuable peace in not knowing.