Stavanger Bay You Win or You Die

For @Sobeille

Arrluk had at first spent his days within the deep evergreen forest of his sister. He hunted the six stout and three ermine which was requested of him. Arrluk didn't want to risk his hardwork being stolen should he hide it in a cache, so before he would continue on with his hunt he would bring these to the borders of Moonglow, howling out for his parents and @Ajei. Be it her or @Kukutux, he would make himself gone before they arrived. 

Arrluk now took to the coast and the waters just inland where he might hunt some of the others on his bride-price list: a seal, and elder otter. 

The Stavanger Bay had always been a favored place of Arrluk. It had everywhere he felt, as far as warer sources went: the sea itself, a lake, waterfalls and streams and creeks between. The open sands of the beach, a veiled forest beyond. A paradise an elder sister of his long ago called home while she tried to stabilize settlement. Maybe one day Arrluk would call it home, too. 

For now he would be fine with visiting it while he searched for scents along the cove which would offer him chance for success.

it was time to go home. yet her feet carried her elsewhere. the emotion tightening her chest was something borne of strange apprehension.

of conflict.

she'd been taken against her will, and yet as the days panned on she had willingly stayed. how could she explain this to maman? to tante?

she had never once heard either matriarch's voices; it would have darkened sobeille's days considerably to learn her aunt conspired against her in swiftcurrent.

drawn to a dark cove, sobeille kept a meandering pace until she spotted a silhouette on the strand. her steps slowed to a halt, eyes narrowing as she recognized  the figure.

a new wave of emotions overcame her, pulling with the strength of some tidal locked planet. and yet, she could not bring herself to move.

Arrluk's muzzle lifts to the salty winds. Another deep breath. He smelt seal in thr distance and with it, the scent of another wolf, one which was familiar to him. He saw her there staring back at him down the coastline. A dark cinnamon and sienna wolf, fashioned with a black mask and eyes piercing yellow toward him. The sea-green and deep blue of his own stared back. 

Sobeille.. He greets her by name and lowers his head between his limbs, tail swaying behind him softly. Sobeille was a woman who commanded respect and so he would give it to her. He only hoped that she wouldn't squander the good manners given to him. It is good to see your face. The words of his mother spoken as he draws nearer into her direction.

all manner of nameless emotions, and yet at the forefront sat ajei's swimming face.

sobeille blinked back the image, realizing arrluk had spoken. his head bowed deferentially, his tail held loose at his hocks. all this reminded her of what kukutux had once shared of arrluk and his father.

it was that knowledge nestled against her heart that reminded her that this was ajei's lover. though she very much wanted the girl for herself, she also wished for ajei to be happy.

a knifelike sinking in her heart then, to hear kukutux's greeting echoed back to her.

arrluk. sobeille's expression betrayed none of what she felt. though she believed herself better than any man, arrluk had the rarefied air of being perhaps the one man sobeille came close to respecting. her posture communicated this by the lowering of her proud head in return.

where's ajei? burned at the tip of her tongue -- but she had learned from @Mulherin what it meant to ask questions that opened herself up to vulnerability. instead, she motioned to the strand they both walked upon. what you be doin'?

The sea siren lowered her head in return, offering an equality of respect between the pair of them. Sobeille did her best to remain a locked box on her emotions, though Arrluk's eyes would always betray him. There is a softness and happiness there for her acceptance of him. It was, as with Sobeille, @Ajei who was at the forefront of his thoughts. Arrluk wished to be on good terms with the woman Ajei called a good friend and thought highly of. 

I must fullfill a bride-price. He answers with an open honesty, his head lifting as he began to speak of it. Ajei and I have known one another since we were first able to leave our ulaq... And yet I still find myself nervous. He smiles weakly, a small chuckle as he looks to the sea. 

I come here for a seal and elder otter. Another chuckle, this one more so as he then turns back to Sobeille. Two of many things. Moonwoman did not go easy on me. Alas, her son should be a staple for many future husbands.

masterfully did she hide the bladelike twist to her heart as she learned arrluk's intentions here. bride-price! to her ajei!

a smile graced her sharp face, remaining unreciprocated in her golden eyes. a smoky jealousy hung in ribbons throughout her, tempered only by the thought that her sweet ajei deserved happiness.

elder otter? a pause. an' seal? she seemed to consider this at length; how easy would it be to drown him among the sirens he hunted?

what ot'er t'ings she be askin' of you?

and, then, deciding it did not much matter, sobeille answered the subtle lift of his head and soft chuckle with resolution. i can 'elp you.

Her smile does not set in her sharp eyes, yet she offers help to him regardless. I cant think of a better partner for the task. After all, she was a woman born and raised by the sea and her home, while lovely in many ways, also was quite a daunting one. Surely the paths along the cliffside and the trails to the coast were not an easy feat to scale and being quite further north, cut a much deeper chill then his own home. 

Thought I'd look here and make my way east for the seal. Otter might be along the great river further inland. He spoke these things as he began moving again and in doing so coming closer into her direction along the way. Damn, this was a breathtaking spot. 

His ears perked as he met her gaze, pausing with question to see if she agreed or had a better take on where they could sniff the two animals out. The sea lion were loud and stinking. Seal less so and otter likely would be the trickiest of them. 

I hunted white ermine and stoat in my sister's forest of Neverwinter. I also need a wolverine pelt, fish of Moontide and roots of willow. After being in Callyope's claim and needing to go to the once lands of Moontide, speaking this allowed made hum think he would go to Moonspear for the wolverine. It only seemed right.

conflicting, this ugly feeling that spread about her in colubrid coils. in his own right arrluk was a good man, deserving of ajei. he’d never done anything untoward, and his only crime was the gender held by his body.

but sobeille struggled to put aside the hideousness blooming within her.

falling in step alongside him as he moved, she scanned the breathtaking view. once, she had sworn that it could not be family. ajei shared no blood with sapphique, but that had not stopped sobeille from thinking of her every day since their chance encounter at their first bison hunt.

de otter, i don’ know. but de seal… dere be a place east where dey sleep on de sands. sobeille agreed, raising her muzzle to drink in the strong brine on the breeze. fish, wolverine, and willow root! sobeille marveled this custom, believing it showed strong faith and value in moonpack’s daughters.
dese be very valuable t’ings. sobeille mused, wondering if arrluk felt daunted by the tasks.

but one t’ing at a time. we kill seal today.

if it were up to her, ajei’s bride price would be limned in gold.

Her confidence radiated. They would move east and hunt seal today. Arrluk is quiet mostly as he followed the steps of the sea woman. How does Sapphique fare? He asks out of a politeness. Truth be told, the only Sapphique wolf he knew personally (or even by simply name and scent) was Sobeille herself and she was quite a long trek from home. Many territories lie between yet he didn't of course know the months that had seperated this woman from her family. 

Eventually they made it from the bay to the sea lion shores. He smelt them long before anything else. Heard them then before he saw them. Great, loud, slow and stinking beasts. Yet with mucu meat, even more fat and large tusks and powerful necks to get past before being able to take one down for themselves. Luckily for them both they were not on his list.

sapphique?

sobeille’s steps slowed a half-beat, her gaze cast long and far to the resplendent shore. ‘actually i’ve been kidnapped by a caribou-killer’ just didn’t roll off the tongue.

it be fine. sobeille airily skipped past the question as they rounded upon dozens of barking sea lions darkening the shore. her mouth watered; how she missed the date of the shore! an’ you? ‘ow all de moonpacks be?

one ear turned attentively to the fisherman as she scoured between the roving bodies for any sign of seal.

Vague but, perfectly fine for Arrluk. He was not a man to press, especially when the question had come up solely as to be considerate. 

Quiet. He is vague too, at first, his attention scanning over the great sea lions scattered about the open shore. 

Moontide has fallen. A bit more honest information, though the details had been something Arrluk had not sought. For what he knew, more and more had fallen away until there was not much pack to call as such. Moonglow had become quiet too. Many coming, yet more often going. He worried for the future of the moon tribes. Especially a future that, as it were, would one day not have it's Moonwoman.

sobeille took in this troubling news of moonpack’s misfortune. even sapphique had grown quieter of late, and she wondered if the same pressures experienced in her homeland troubled moontide also. she thought of those she knew that had left for eresta, and those who disappeared without a trace.

she shared a quiet look with arrluk before her attention trailed to where he looked. a babble of sea lions, their round forms blotting the shore.

she stalked forward at a low crouch. the problem, she learned, was that on the beach there was no cover. they would see her and they would run for water.

head low and shoulders rounded, sobeille stuck to the swash-line and waited arrluk’s signal.

They were so very open. So very exposed. Their dark coats standing out on the beachside. Granted, Arrluk didn't blend in well in the forest either yet his chances of keeping hidden were far greater with cover. Here, there was none. Arrluk could only imagine he might disguise himself would be if he went swimming around in the shallows. Yet pretending like he was some baby orca waiting them to take to the sea would likely send them into a panic further. Actuallyyy... that might be an idea. For another time, perhaps. 

Arrluk moved along his hunting parents side. He remained low but also remained at a distance. His eyes would only glance to the sea lion every so often, as though he was disinterested. If he didn't appear as a threat there was a chance he could get closer and choose a target well. After all, it was not the sea lion which he sought, but the seal. 

There were some further down coast. Hidden among the horde of lions. They were faster then the sea lions and Arrluk could only hoped the much larger, slow moving beasts would equally slow the seal down, blocking their path to safety at sea. Arrluk now wished their was ocra at hunt this day. They would be trapped between death from land and sea. 

Sobeille and Arrluk would be on their own this day, so once Arrluk felt he had gotten close enough to where the sea lion began to honk and shift about with a nervousness, Arrluk would surge forth, snapping and circling, rounding about the lions which trapped a few two or three seal among them. Now, just to get to them.

as arrluk closed formation, sobeille crept from rock to crevice, using the rounded back of sea lions to obscure her approach.

milling between them were a small collection of seals. liquid eyes wide and watchful.

she was off, a scarlet bolt of lightning the second arrluk broke cover at a muscular run.

in this moment his power was raw and admirable; a stirring within her came to light, perhaps understanding why ajei had chosen so capable a suitor.

sobeille drove first for the band of sea-lions, attempting to drive them straight into the seals.

in the consternation of milling bodies, sobeille spotted a seal who had just been thrown aside by the churning of the much larger sea lions.

instinct took over as she darted for one caudal fin, knowing arrluk's shadow sped close.

Sobeille was fast. Incredibly so. Her movements fluid and ferocious. 

The herd panicked. Their honking screams loud as they bellowed and scrambled for the safety that was Sea. 

The smaller seals were met without an ounce of regard for their safety. They were trampled and tore from one another by the larger beasts and Sobeille's sharp eyes missed nothing. 

She darted. Arrluk followed the sea hunter's movements. Whenever she struck, he would await the seal to attempt to bite her back before he too went for a bite in order to capture its attention. It would be easy to go back and forth like this until the beast had no fight left to give.

around them the thrum of sea-dust and churning bodies.

sobeille's focus was singular: the torrent of noise drowned out and her entire senses in tune with the heartbeat and rhythm of her quarry.

arrluk's great shadow descended, teeth flashing in rejoinder to each of her moves.

she stepped back as the seal barked and raked teeth across the bridge of her muzzle, staining her cheek a deep red.

too slow.

as it turned back to arrluk and exposed its side sobeille dove for the rich blubber along its rib-cage, teeth sinking satisfyingly through inches of thick flesh.

rip.

tear.

subdue.

over and over until the sands were stained the handsome, forbidden color of deep scarlet.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Both predator and prey wearing down in the effort. Arrluk too would offer his own blood sacrifice, as she seal took one solid bite into the crest of his chest, staining his white fur there in red. 

As it did this, Arrluk bit down on the back of its head at its spine. It weakened. It slowed. Eventually the battle had been won by the wolves. 

Arrluk sat back, taking a sudden flop on the sands as he heavily panted, front half soaked in the blood and salt of their efforts.

she lost herself in this -- the old instinct slipping in.

as if a nictating membrane slipping over the black and soulless eyes of a shark: strike here, lash there. rip.

watch as a garland of bright red stains the hunter's chest.

and then it was over; she laid in the sand panting, sides heaving and seal-matter flecked across her auburn fur.

dat's a good color on you. she motioned to the boutonnière of vivid blood staining through ivory.

an' now you 'ave one bride price.

after they collected their breaths, sobeille rose. she walked the swashline and listened to the call of the gulls. briefly, she ran her paws over the saltwater and laughed at the spray as it braced her cheek and chest.

and then she returned to him, ready to assist in carrying his heavy trophy home.

What is black and white and red all over?

An Arrluk. 

Thanks to you. Spoken between heavy breaths. He would watch as she lifted, taking a bit of a walk along the shoreline, easing the tension in her muscles. 

A laughter too, from her. Arrluk's ears perked to the sound of happiness at their success. 

It was with her help he had done this. It was with Sólhárr's allowance that he hunted the rodents in the forest and soon it would be Treepie which assisted with the wolverine. 

This could not be done without his allies, he would remember. 

Can close here or your next post!

thank u for this thread! im grateful she gets to be part of arrluk’s story <3

community.

this is what such word meant; the measure of a man not in his own success, but in his ability to uplift his peers. sobeille looked to the ground, studying the blood on her paws. arrluk would make ajei happy — and that truly was all that mattered.

giving a rough shake to free the sand from her pelt, sobeille seized one end of his bride price while he seized the other.

together, they dragged the unwieldy carcass towards his home.

together, their lives would be enriched for the community within it.