It was a pale, almost translucent blob with tendrils trailing from it like silvery seaweed. Pied maintained a few inches' distance between herself and the strange lump of matter, her nose wriggling curiously and her two-toned eyes flicking around the beach as if searching for someone to tell her what it was.
Kerberos had finished up a patrol, having decided that it was imperative to mix up his habitual routines a bit. He hunted for the pack first, after filling his own stomach, before he headed out on patrol. It was new, however insignificantly. Kerberos remained a predictable creature of habit, however, and found himself ghosting back towards the beach, feeling contended by the Sea's side once more. Atka had drew him to this place for a reason, though if it was to support his ...Half brother he guessed Akhlut was, or to be close to the imperial Sea where he -- a Spawn -- belonged Kerberos did not know for certain. Regardless, he was here.
There was a slightly familiar shape in the distance, Kerberos' sea green eyes found her easily, feeling relieved that her scent no longer intoxicated him as it had previously. Which brought him to realize that he had been wanton to apologize for that embarrassing ordeal. He wasn't sure what had came over him, only that he felt a nagging shame in the pit of his stomach. In the daylight, Kerberos could better make her out, and found that even without the temptation of heat she was still beautiful. He took a deep breath and loped in her direction, pausing when he saw her near what appeared to be a translucent blob of snot. Familiar with marine life, however, Kerberos knew better. "Stay clear of it. It's tentacles will sting you and they're venomous." Some of them were anyway, but Kerberos lacked the knowledge to heal jellyfish venom. As it was he knew that saltwater on the wound would help ease the pain.
Kerberos paused awkwardly a couple feet away from her. "I want to apologize for ...our first meeting." He could feel his tongue turn to lead but he was determined not to stutter. The stuttering child he had once been was no more.
He apologized and her eyes slowly shifted to him again. She flushed slightly, though she answered smoothly. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Going into heat makes everybody crazy—both those who're experiencing it first- and secondhand. I also wasn't on my best behavior, so I should apologize as well."
Determined not to dwell on these matters, however, Pied paused a moment, then tipped her head toward the blobby creature. "So, what is it?" she asked. "And what did you call these things—tentacles? You'd think I'd have seen one of these before but... nope, I've never seen anything so strange."
"Well it is," As far as he was aware they could not surive on the surface. "But it's venom and tentacles aren't dead." That made little sense, he knew but she could still be hurt by it.
Kerberos felt a weak relief that she did not hold his erratic behavior against him. Despite this, he did not forget his last thoughts before he had departed that night, though those dark and strange thoughts were quickly dismissed and tucked away. He barely knew her, so he dismissed the thoughts as the lingering memory of her scent. She was no longer in heat, and likely pregnant but still Kerberos remembered. "Don't be, it was the hormones." It was indeed crazy how something they couldn't even see had provoked them all into primitive, wild desires and instincts.
"They're called Jellyfish. They would occasionally wash up on the shore of Shearwater. It's best just to let it to the birds to pick apart," Was Kerberos' professional advice as a Mariner. "There's a lot of interesting life in the Sea." Plenty more than Kerberos had knowledge of, admittedly.
"Oh, I know all about that," she answered a touch cryptically when he mentioned the life in the sea. Her gaze swept the waters almost balefully. "An orca attacked me on this very beach," she told him. "Seems to me it's just full of hidden dangers," she mused, thinking of the killer whale even as her eyes lingered on the jellyfish, which looked innocuous enough but, according to Kerberos, most certainly wasn't.
Kerberos smiled softly to himself as he thought idly of Shearwater, and the path to the bear shrines, shrines he had kept after. Those memories felt like a lifetime away these days. In a way they were of a different lifetime. A different Kerberos. He was pulled from his thoughts as she spoke cryptically in regards to his interesting sea life comment. Easily, she had captured Kerberos' attention away from his thoughts when she spoke of a orca. Brows furrowed as he studied her intently, not in a disbelieving manner but simply with curiousity. To him, it did not sound outlandish. He had saved Silatyok from a shark once. Sometimes they got beached or stuck in the shallow waters and posed very real threats.
"That must have been terrifying," Kerberos murmured, "But I'm glad you're ok now." Kerberos was not known for panicking in terrifying situations - but he wasn't so sure he would consider himself brave. Reckless, perhaps. "I've never seen one I them attack before, but my friend was attacke by a shark once." It was different situations but similar, in a way.
"To be honest," Pied replied, "I never even saw it coming, so I didn't have time to be terrified. The really horrible part was recovering from it. I had bruised and broken bones and the like. 'S a matter of fact, I'm still technically healing, though I don't have much pain now, just some occasional soreness and whatnot. I guess I have the slightest limp in my right hind paw as well," she did admit.
"What's the difference between a shark and a blackfish?" Pied wondering, figuring that if anyone would know, it would be Kerberos. He seemed to know quite a lot about sea life.
For nearly an hour, Kerberos regaled her with descriptions of maritime beasts great and small, which led into a conversation about how and where he'd become such a seasoned mariner. Pied learned quite a bit about the pack known as Shearwater Bay, including a bit about the bear gods. It reminded her of Bon Dye, which made sense once the connection was made between Jinx and the two packs.
Eventually, the conversation drew to a close and Pied excused herself to go find Kisu, giving the sandy male a small smile before she wandered away. She would have so much to tell her mate about all the creatures of the sea.