Dragoncrest Cliffs Can I eat this?

intended for @Val or @Sobeille! Though not exclusive to them at all :3

It smelled edible, at least. He'd managed to pull off the claw after receiving several pinches, which Pepper assumed would've caused it to slow down, but it kept on skittering away. He really wasn't sure where to go from here. The shell was hard and it would not die. 

He'd managed to pin it down with a paw, quickly diving in for nips, pulling away, then shaking his head. Yet it kept squirming.

watching pepper wrestle with one of sapphique’s most tenacious residents brought a smile to his face. he thought of his own memories with erzulie - and later, how he’d shown several generations of sapphiqians how to wrestle the pugnacious sandcrawler.

not the easiest meal, val called to pepper, coming to stand just left of the man and his meal. but i see you’ve disarmed it. smart.

He sighed, then went in for another bite. This one left his entire mouth across the top of the thing. 

Val’s appearance kept it safe for a moment, as Pepper lifted his head, taking a moment to lick the unique flavor from his lips. 

”Fucker kept grabbin’ at me. Figured pullin’ it off woulda slowed it down.”

that’s the problem with them - bite off two legs and they still have eight more. he grinned, nosing at a patch of kelp while pepper continued his lunch.

after a beat, val spoke again. they get really big sometimes. i’ve seen some washed up the span of a wolf. it makes you wonder what else is down there we don’t see.

Most things died shortly after losing a limb. Rabbit? Dead, or at least incapacitated. Deer too, though usually just hurting the leg enough would do the trick. Removing them wasn't realistic. 

But with whatever the hell this was, the legs practically fell off, yet it pressed on. 

Val's words were chilling. First of all, he did not want to think about one of these clocking in at his size. As small as it was now, it was unkillable and hurt like hell. A bigger one would be a force. Second, he didn't much care for the idea of the ocean in general, for the exact reason Val had brought up. Too big, and no way to know what was inside. 

"Ain't much here that creeps me out, but that does. Any reason ya'll decided to settle here?" 

He lifted his paw, letting the crab scuttle off, now missing a claw. He couldn't be bothered, and he really wasn't all that hungry anyway.

val sensed a shadow had crossed pepper's face - something he'd said, maybe.

his concern was short-lived, as pepper asked him a question too complex to answer simply. it required some thought, and val's expression communicated he was unpacking things carefully in that mind of his.

oh, it's a very long story. forgetting about the crab (and his dislike of the ocean) entirely, val got comfortable. the short answer is, our ancestors have always been here in some form or another. how much time you have?

These days, it seemed like all he had was time. He wasn’t off exploring, running negotiations, pillaging, setting up ceremonies. He was just kind of here, helping out with food occasionally, but for the most part, just here. 

”I got time, if yer willin’, but I won’t fault ya if you’d rather do somethin’ else.” 

He wouldn’t be rude and say he’d rather not sit through a story about how’s and why’s, especially about his new home. Besides, he might learn something useful. 

But if the wolf said he would rather do something else, Pepper would be completely ok with that.

val drew in a breath, configuring in which order to tell the bits of his story.

well... since you got the time... he started, winking good-naturedly before launching right into it. these cliffs didn't always belong to sapphique. a long time ago, before any of us were born, the sound below was run by pirates. they went up and down the coast before settling on the beach below. a bear drove them out, but when they returned, the cliffs above were claimed.

val took a breath, trying his best to be succinct without glossing over details. that pack did not take kindly to neighbors so close to their claim. one of ours -- my maman -- was kidnapped. my other maman, along with several rusalkan warriors, stormed the keep to save her. he smiled softly; the memory of erzulie's fire brought enough heat to his heart to chase the coldness of sorrow away. they regrouped in ankyra. another battle was fought, with injuries on both sides - but in the end rusalka, now sapphique was victorious. and we have cherished peace ever since.

The large wolf listened, unsure what to do with his eyes. Staring felt rude, so he didn’t. Instead, he focused on the horizon, harsh sun glinting off of the waves caused him to squint. 

He’d learned a few things. The pack dated longer than Sapphique, bears were beach dwellers sometimes, and this land had previously belonged to someone else. Or, the land nearby, rather. He didn’t know what a maman was, but given the context and similarity to mama, he figured Val was speaking of his mother. Mothers, which brought Pepper a great deal of comfort. 

”You think they’ll ever come back?” 

Essentially, he was asking if they’d all been killed. But this was a nicer way of getting the same information.

pepper traced the edge of the horizon, where the ocean fell off and the sky swallowed all. val followed his gaze, allowing a small shudder to shake his form.

now there's a question, val mused. pepper just happened to voice the one needling hypothetical that worried val at night.

i don't think they will -- or, well, i guess i hope not. their leader committed suicide. his expression fell. even if he did not love drageda, it was impossible for val to not empathize with the headspace the commander must have been in to make such a grave, irreversible decision. and the rest left. i've not heard a whisper of their pack in my travels.

"Huh." Pepper's morbid curiosity wanted to ask how, but he knew it didn't matter, and something told him Val would rather not go into detail. If they'd been safe for this long, he figured the chances of them returning were slim. 

"They ever do show back up, just tell me who to injure," he offered a grin. It might be more bark than bite though, as he hardly saw himself putting up much of a fight lately.

an unspoken question lingered - val got the sense pepper wanted to know more, but truthfully, that was all val knew. he hadn't been born yet - most of what he knew had been relayed to him by his mamans, or later raleska.

good to know. val pushed his pawprint into the sand, watching as tiny grains tumbled down into the crater left by his paw. what about you? what brings you here, how did you end up by the coast?

Pepper took a moment to consider his answer, watching the same pawprint Val was watching. 

"Just sorta happened. I knew I had to get away from my old home, but didn't have any sorta plan goin' into it. An' I was gettin' to a point where I couldn't be movin' around all day."

val wondered what forces would urge a geriatric to travel. his mind turned grimly towards the subject of bears.

it’s too bad you did not come half a season earlier. he dashed the pawprint’s impression away. you would have liked two of our wolves -kheviel and cayetano. you would have fit in well with them. he was silent for a moment, expression solemn as he recalled the circumstances surrounding their death.

i don’t like the ocean. val changed the subject. but if you are a good fisher, your contributions to the cache would be appreciated.

The large wolf wondered what Val was implying. What would've made him fit in? He assumed he meant the wolves were older. He also neglected to mention why they weren't part of the pack any longer. Could be because the conversation didn't lend to that discussion, but based on Val's expression, Pepper made assumptions. 

He didn't pry. Wasn't his business. 

"Ain't all that good myself," He wasn't bad, either. Just had a preference for food that had fur or feathers. "But I got a few tricks. Could show ya sometime if ya want." 

If he was going to be the old man of the pack, he was going to do it right.

for a moment val wondered if pepper would ask -- but he didn't, and so, val didn't supply much more. he hoped that kheviel's soul was at rest, and cayetano enjoyed the view his graveside commanded -- and as morbid as it was, could only hope for half as good a place-setting when it came time for his body to be interred. but who would bury him? his children? mireille? he quickly dashed such thoughts away.

i'm interested -- but don't expect me to go in the ocean. val's gaze rid itself of the faraway look. what tricks you got?

"Fish ain't just in the ocean. Besides, I don't know much about ocean fishin' anyway." 

This should have been evident by his earlier crab encounter. 

River fish were easy, though. 

"But it ain't much, really. More just some tips here 'n there."

relieved that pepper intended to scour freshwater climes, val loosened himself with a shake. good thing i know the perfect spot.

in yard-long strides he swept towards glintwater — arguably his favorite landmark in all of sapphique. you can tell me all about your tips and tricks on the way there.

he thought of suzu and her clever fish-net with a pang.

The large wolf trailed behind. 

"Bugs," he started as they walked. "The fish love 'em. You still gotta do the catchin' yourself, but it'll bring 'em right to the surface. Don't work too well in rivers, though." 

River currents tended to carry off whatever was thrown in, but a pond left the bug in place. He'd learned it from an old pack mate.

bugs. this was such a clever idea, val was ashamed he had not ever considered it himself. he paused midstride in disbelief, chuckling.

that’s genius. do they have a preference for bug type? do you kill the bug first or just throw it in? glintwater’s musical notes sounded in the distance, the heavenly scent of freshwater and reeds climbing into the air.

"Long as it moves, should get their attention." he responded. "So no, don't kill it. But if ya pull off a few legs it won't get away." 

If he could stomach the taste. Bugs weren't great for eating. 

He'd heard fishing was good here, but hadn't tried for himself yet. He'd been busy scouting nearby woods on the days he felt up to it. Other days were largely spent resting.

val thought of all the bugs he could use; flies and dragonflies were hard to catch. but crawlies — beetles, and centipedes, and worms…

well, good thing we’re about to test it. he parted a bundle of reeds as he passed through, ears turned to glintwater’s rippling banks. i’ll check under that log.

moments later val returned - his face crinkling as he held an agitated centipede gingerly between his teeth.

Pepper did his own searching, returning to meet Val with a cricket situated uncomfortably (for the cricket) between his incisors. He’d managed to pluck off the larger legs, making handling the bug much easier. 

Standing near the clear water now, he dropped the squirming bug on the surface. It writhed and fought, but only swam in circles. As expected, fish began swimming near to investigate. When one moved in to eat the cricket, Pepper attempted to snag it. He missed, and the cricket was gone. 

”Unfortunately, it ain’t gonna do the catchin’ bit for ya,” he said, offering Val a sheepish grin. ”Calls ‘em up at least.”

val’s nose crinkled as the centipede continued to writhe. pepper wrangled up his own bug sacrifice — from the looks of it, a cricket with one or two missing legs.

he peered down at the water as pepper threw in his offering. though the surface of the lake was dark, val saw shapes teeming beneath.

a fish more brave than the others darted for the cricket. at that moment pepper dove, but he returned sopping wet and empty-jawed.

val grinned between clenched teeth in sympathy; but at that moment the centipede writhed and wriggled right into his left nostrils. its mandibles scrounged for purchase in the sensitive skin between his septum, pinching so hard that suddenly — and without warning — val violently sneezed.

all the fish and all the bugs promptly scattered. the centipede went who knows where; flung out into orbit and beyond val’s sight as a volley of sneezes descended him — each louder than the next.

He'd only just turned to face his fishing partner when the black wolf erupted into a string of sneezes of increasing severity. 

Pepper's ears flattened at the sudden jarring sound, but the tension released shortly thereafter, instead replaced by a slowly wagging tail and a face not free of a stifled laugh. 

"Everything alright?" he asked, now noting the lack of bug in between the wolf's jaws. They tasted bad, but not that bad..