Blackbeak Bluff doubloons

Dusk bathed the phantom in rich mahogany as he left the forest behind in search of the cliffs. Now was the perfect time to hunt; seabirds would be returning to roost here where navigation for a quadruped was tricky. Picking his way carefully along the rocks, his gaze fell to where the jagged stones met the sea some vast distance below. How easy it would be to slip and meet an untimely demise. Fortunately, Murk had found his sea legs long ago.

A squawk from above signalled his move. Head spinning skyward, he zeroed in on a lone gull preparing for landing and picked up speed. Using his powerful back legs to propel himself upwards, he caught the bird mid-air and landed with a clatter back on solid ground. A swift bite to the neck was all it took to still its flapping.

More would be caught and cached for later, but a subtle shift in the air made the fur on his spine prickle uneasily. He was being watched.

@Castel maybe ? not sure what character you planned to throw at this, grim! timings can be changed if needed

Emris had been watching for a while, her pale form blending into the rocky outcrops that lined the cliffs.

The gull’s squawk had drawn her gaze upward just in time to see the stranger’s precise leap, the mid-air catch, the practiced landing. Efficient, she thought, ears twitching at the sound of the bird’s lifeless thud against stone.

The air shifted, carrying the faintest trace of the other wolf’s scent.

She stood, stepping out from her vantage point with deliberate ease, her large paws finding steady purchase on the uneven ground.

Half-expecting an ambush, the seawolf spun to meet his onlooker with hackles raised. But when his molten gaze fell upon a rather meek looking wolf, he made a noise that could have been a chuckle but was muffled greatly by a mouthful of feathers. It took some talent to go unnoticed for that long; he would have assumed them to be another rock had they not made their presence known

Despite the stranger's small size, and much to Nox's surprise, they looked perfectly at home upon the clifftops. Letting the gull fall to his feet, his tongue worked between his teeth to rid them of any stray feathers before he finally broke the silence.

"It's rude to stare, yknow." Watching, waiting, to see what they would do next.

Emris tilted her head slightly, unbothered by the seawolf’s remark.

Her thick pelt caught the evening breeze, shifting faintly as she stepped closer, steady on the uneven ground. The gull at his paws was noted with a glance, but her attention lingered on him, calm and assessing.

“Is it?” she replied smoothly. Her voice was even and her eyes were flush upon his face.

She didn’t move further, content to keep her distance for now. Instead, she pulled herself into a sit upon her haunches. Content to watch.

Much to his curiosity, the stranger made no move to back off. Instead, he fixed her with a cool stare as she moved towards his place on the rocks. Her calm presence demanded his attention, and so he complied, mirroring her steps with an approach of his own.

"Some may see ye as a threat," his voice lilted, unsure if this wolf was friend or foe. It wasn't until she settled that Nox allowed himself to relax slightly, tail stirring between his hocks. 

The light wind tousled his unkempt fur. It was atop cliffs like these, buffeted by the sea breeze and toeing the line between life and death that Nox felt most alive. He wondered if she felt it too.

Emris held her ground as the seawolf approached, her lilac eyes unwavering as they met his molten stare. There was no challenge in her gaze, but neither was there submission. His words brought a faint curve to her lips, more acknowledgment than a smile.

“Aye, some might,” she replied, her voice low and even, carried by the breeze. “But you don’t seem the sort t' spook easily.”

She let her weight shift upon her legs, settling herself with ease against the jagged rock.

The wind tugged at her thick coat, carrying in the salt-tinged air that clung to the cliffs. Her gaze flickered briefly to the churning waters far below before returning to him.

"What brings y' here?"

It was a long standing habit of his to scrutinise the body language of others. Call it an obsession, but Nox believed even a subtle movement could tell you infinitely more about someone's character than words ever could. As she spoke, his gaze traced the line of her mouth, eyes crinkling slightly as her attention diverted momentarily to the water. 

"Nay," he confirmed, parting his lips in a smirk at her observation. "I'm used to far more...uncouth crowds." It was true, a life on a seafront had eroded his mind; a smile could obscure the darkest parts of someone.

She asked of his purpose and Nox considered his answer carefully. "The scenery, the birds." Rolling his shoulders, he reclined onto his haunches and looked out towards the horizon, bleeding orange from a setting sun. "Ye don't seem scared of heights."

Emris caught the faint crinkle in his eyes, the shift of his expression. He watched closely, his scrutiny as natural as breathing, but she didn’t mind.

Let him look.

"Guess we got that in common." Uncouth crowds. She met his smirk with a slight quirk of her brow, settling more comfortably onto the rock beneath her.

“I’ve found lil use for fear,” she replied simply, her gaze flicking briefly to the gull before following his out toward the horizon.

The sun's fiery descent bathed the cliffs in a warm glow, the wind tousling her thick pelt as it rose from the waves below.