Dragoncrest Cliffs fwi

the shoreline quieted. many of their young had gone to eresta or dispersed. those left behind were not old, but without numbers of youth, she heard the seabirds more clearly.
describing lazy circles in the ocean, mireille swam with erzulie's latent ease, dipping her head routinely beneath the surf as she honed her muscles more tightly.
a wave crested, and she headed into its curl.

I’m going to make some assumptions about what Pepper would or wouldn’t know about packmates given he’s been around for about a week. If I assume something he wouldn’t know, please tell me and I’ll fix it! :3

 

Val had certainly been right about one thing. Pepper did feel distant—but it was no fault of the pack’s. No fault of anyone’s, really. 

Everyone here was close, but he’d never been good at getting close. 

He’d come to the shore to nap. He liked to do that on good days, days where his body wouldn’t fight his every move. He hated having his life be dictated by some arbitrary system where days were assigned a quality level. 

He’d only just sat by the time he realized he wasn’t alone. He hardly ever was these days. Mireille, he was able to recognize, was one of the leaders, though his conversations with her had been brief. 

The way she moved in the water made it clear she’d grown up here. It was a grace Pepper knew he’d never achieve, almost as if she were an aquatic animal, akin to an otter. 

He planted himself in the sand, close enough for incoming waves to lap at the tips of his paws, and watched.

thats totally good! <3

mireille's head cut the salted foam with the smooth emergence of a seal. a shadow stood upon the bank, unrecognizable save for her knowledge of a joiner.
while the obsidian might have preferred to remain in the water, now she pulled herself from it, a nymph streaming with brinewater.
knowing emerald stare sought his detailing, his age, the strength of his body. "you be pepper, oui?" came the intrigued purl of her voice.

He hadn’t wanted her to stop on his account, but was grateful that she did. 

”Yes ma’am,” he said in reply. Admittedly, he was uncomfortable with the arrangement. He’d only ever called older females ma’am. He was also not so used to her way of speaking, which he’d figured out very quickly was common in the pack. He figured that went both ways, though. 

He didn’t know whether or not it’d be disrespectful to ask if she was Mireille. Formality would dictate he should, but she was also higher in ranking, and Pepper should already know her name. 

”And you’re Mireille?” he replied, deciding to side with formality.

"no ma'am. just mireille." her red ears slowly cupped forward. "or obsidian." flickering an arched brow over him, the crimson wolf strode further up the sand, gesturing that he was free to follow.
"have you lived near de sea before, pepper?" she asked, turning her gaze on the summerhot water, a breath of pleasantry expanding her chest.

Just Mireille, then. 

He stood, his shaky legs pulling his large body up with some resistance, and upon getting up, shook his fur free of clinging sand. 

"No," he said in reply. "Only seen it a few times," he added.

"ah." and now she lifted her paw back to the breakers now laced gently with autumn cold. "den as your obsidian, i mus' be givin' you a lesson."
her eyes let their scrutiny go; mireille became warmer, perhaps more approachable, as she waded back along the sand and glanced over her shoulder for pepper.

It took Pepper longer than he'd like to admit that she meant a lesson in swimming. He still wasn't entirely sure, but she seemed to be inviting him. 

He trailed alongside her.

"Lesson in what?" he finally asked. He wasn't thrilled at the prospect of getting in the water. Not water that seemed so..endless and aggressive. Not with his legs like they were.

"swimming." her brow arched teasingly. "if you donnae understand de sea, den you will not understand how to fish her waters." chin lifting, she went on. "in de winter, de sea gives us much of our food. fish. shelled t'ings. seals. once, a whale."
"each of us who reside here learn de sea. it is de bes' way to know you are confident enough for whatever de ocean might decide. wit' her bounty, she can bring storms. rain. waves high up de beach. we must coexist."

Whales, seals—they held no meaning for him. Given the context, he assumed they were water-dwelling creatures. 

The idea of new prey to hunt was thrilling, but looking over the horizon made his stomach feel heavy. 

He wasn’t scared. It wasn’t like him to be scared. He just didn’t understand it. But if this was going to be his new hunting grounds, he wanted to. 

”Guess I don’t really got a choice, huh?” he replied, half-joking. But only half.

"you donnae have a choice," mireille confirmed, her unsaid father's voice breaking there in her own accent. placidly she led pepper into the water, wading till the waves touched ankles, then forearms, then shoulders, and she lifted from the bottom.
"jus' float now, for now," mireille instructed, pitching her voice above the ocean's gusting lap and looking about for the man.

"Hmm," he said, looking the female up and down as she waded deeper. He followed, hesitantly, and with much less grace behind. His paws entered the water with more ferocity than hers, which seemed to glide through the surface soundlessly. 

The water was cold, taking a minute for Pepper to adjust as it seeped through his thick coat. He continued a little further, accounting for his height, then did as he was told. 

The waves, despite appearing small, did push and pull him. He fought against it for stability, not quite able to lift all of his paws. 

"Ain't easy as it looks," he commented with a grin, planting all four paws in the sand below. It was his way of asking for help.

pressing her flank to his own, mireille practiced lifting from the seafloor; she floated beside him, then dug her claws into the sand once more. "move wid de water," she instructed. "if you be like a stone, you sink as one. move wid de waves," and here she allowed the current to buffet her, rearranging her paws often as the water swirled around her chest, her limbs.
"de ocean isnae easy to learn. but once you take her teachin's, pepper, you will never forget dem."

His flank recoiled reflexively as she brushed it. His head turned to face her as she spoke. 

He was similar to a stone in a few ways. Tense, stubborn, immovable. He realized now he’d been standing his ground as they crashed, actively working against them. So he relaxed, letting the water carry him. And as she said, he was floating on their crests, no longer dipping beneath them as they crashed. 

Unsure paws tried for the sandy ground, but only after the waves passed did they reunite. 

”Might take some gettin’ used too..”

"practice an' practice," mireille said above the lap of the sea. "each day, pepper. soon de ocean will not seem so dauntin'."
but now she began to wade gently back to shore, pressing her shoulder once to him. they would walk in this manner back to shore, uplifted, buoyant. 
carefully!

Each day, up until the weather grew colder. So he’d better get pretty comfortable with it before then, otherwise he’d be rusty coming back to it in the spring. 

But it did feel nice. Cool water, waves airing out his fur. He was due for a good bath. Even the sand between his paws felt nice. Fully able to stand without his old hips complaining. That alone would be reason enough to keep up a regiment. 

He followed his Obsidian’s lead when she turned back to shore, saltwater falling freely from his fur back into the ocean as the sloping seafloor gave into dry land. 

”That uneasiness ever go away?” He let the question sit for a moment before continuing. She grew up with it, seemed more comfortable with it than the land. ”Hell, you probably don’t even know what I’m talkin’ about.” he shied off.