Blackbeak Bluff Welcome to paradise

@Gavriel is with her in the background. LOCUSTS! :)

If the locusts avoided the water, it stood to reason that the coast was the place to be right about now. Thus they kept heading that way, doing their best to navigate through the cyclone of insects. By now, Wildfire had a pounding headache from all the buzzing and clicking, not to mention the constant blows against every inch of her body. Hunger pinched at her belly too. She hadn't been able to hunt since the swarm's arrival but wasn't quite famished enough to begin sampling the overgrown grasshoppers themselves.

They moved through a forest between two mountains, except that it could hardly be called that anymore. It was just a sea of naked trees and a carpet of dirt and dead locusts. Wildfire shivered, following behind Gavriel as he continued leading the way toward the distant seaside. En route, the young ranger thought she caught a familiar scent, yet it was incredibly difficult to discern anything in the throng of insects.

After what felt like years, they finally reached the edge of the wilderness. Just as they'd suspected, the swarm was significantly less present here, particularly along the rocky ledge where they wearily parked themselves. "Just," Wildfire began to say, then lost her train of thought entirely and pressed her mouth closed. They had arrived at the perfect time to observe a wildly beautiful sunset and, for a moment, she forgot about the total devastation behind her.

Where they finally emerge, Gavriel isn’t fully satisfied. The locusts are lessened, and the buzzing sound distant, and for once he could hear Wildfire without straining too much. It isn’t exactly what he hoped, but realistically he knows there isn’t going to be a place untouched. He’s already seen the damage the bugs can do and by the time they get home, he’s sure everything will be wiped out in their wake, if it isn’t considered that already. 

His gait slows as he reaches the edge of the world, looking down at a deathly fall and the ocean below. The sun has begun the settlement into the ocean and Gavriel watches quietly. He can hear the ocean waves crashing against the shore and, for a brief moment, he feels peace settle within him. For a moment, he can forget that the world is being eaten all around him and he can remember his former home. Wildfire wouldn’t be able to share in this memory and selfishly he is glad he has something of his own to hold on to.

“How much further until we’re home?” he questions, though he’s uncertain she knows, their entire course taking a wrong turn entirely. He only hopes that they just aren’t entirely lost.

Her companion's voice drew her back into the present and she turned away from the picturesque scenery, amber eyes resting on his face. They screwed up in thought momentarily as she thought out loud. "I was here at the coast, maybe a month ago. I was further northeast. But it's no more than a day's travel, I'm pretty sure." She hummed low in her throat, then cut off abruptly when the sounded reminded her of the locusts' unbearable din.

"We should rest here for the night, then set out first thing in the morning," Wildfire thought aloud a moment or two later. "But before we settle down... what do you think of trying to fish? I've never really done much of it but we'd definitely have better luck by the water than anywhere inland right now." As she spoke, she crept forward to peer over the ledge, only to sigh when she noticed the sheer drop and lack of discernible shoreline below.

Retreating, she murmured, "Or maybe not." Sighing again, she tipped her head back to peer at the sky, watching as several gulls wheeled above the cliff. They would wing out to sea, only to hook back and hover directly overhead. Wildfire's eyes pinned on one particular bird, watching as it eventually descended, disappearing below the line of the ledge. The she-wolf crept forward again, watching in curiosity as the bird banked and landed somewhere on the sheer cliff face below. She couldn't see but the young hunter suddenly wondered if there were nests hidden along the scarp.

One day. 

Just one day and they would be home.

Gavriel takes a long breath, holding it for a moment, and then exhaling. They could get through the night, wake early, and they would be home by the end of the next day. The thought alone filled him with excitement that he could barely contain. His tail wagged, and even a hint of a smile appeared, but the weariness ultimately won over. He sunk to his haunches and listened—or tried to listen—to Wildfire as she suggested their evening plans.

He turns his head and looks to the side, then down the ledge in the same direction as she. Eventually, he looks to his left and wonders how far it would go before they reached the water. It would take them further away from their destination, but a meal would do well to ease their stomach. Or they could move further inland, trying to find something on the ground. Either way, they wouldn’t have much luck.

“What now?”

She hovered there, observing, until Gavriel's voice broke through her concentration. She slithered back from the ledge, making eye contact with her companion. "There's a lot of nests on the rock wall. But it would be very dangerous to try getting at them," Wildfire admitted with a muted sigh. "Still," she added after a breath, "something to keep in mind." Here was an alternative food source if times were ever particularly desperate... and she had a bad feeling about all this damage the locusts had done.

"I guess the earlier we go to sleep, the earlier we wake up and the earlier we get back home," a slightly resigned and very hungry young ranger said, flopping down a few feet from her traveling companion. "You know, we covered a lot of ground, especially considering it was technically a failed mission. I'm pretty sure we created our very own scenic loop. Except it wasn't particularly scenic." She blinked, the setting sun casting long shadows over her face as she finally glanced inland to stare at the overwrought wilderness behind them. The sight caused a painful pang in her chest.

Gavriel frowns at the option but still peers over the ledge to see what she's talking about. The last of the sun illuminates them but soon they wouldn't have it and he isn't agile enough to try and slink down and he wouldn't let her try to risk it. The benefit doesn't outweigh the risk and he just shakes his head, taking a few steps back away from the edge before he considers the rest of their options. 

They could go without a search in food and the thought makes his stomach rumble even more, but he doesn't protest in its place. Ears droop and he lowers his rump once he's a safe distance from the ledge. 

"We could sleep," he offers with a thump of his tail, before he turns his head in the proposed direction of the Dragon. "We could move more inland, too, if you think we might find something," he adds but a shrug of his shoulder shows off his indifference. They could search in the morning, too, but his priority in that moment is simply getting home. Whatever they find in the meantime would just be an added bonus.

His voice dragged her gaze from the destruction, back to Gavriel's face. She weighed his words a moment, then sighed, "I vote sleep." In fact, Wildfire couldn't bring herself to even face inland any longer. It was just too much. Instead, she shifted to face out over the darkening ocean, amber eyes riveted to the molten orange reflection on the water as the last of the sun disappeared beyond the edge of the world.

"As soon as we wake up," she murmured, sliding forward to situate herself on her belly, her forelegs outstretched and crossed loosely at the ankles, "we can go home." She shot her companion a small smile that did not reach her eyes, then let her head float down to rest on her forelimbs. Another soft sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep despite the constant white noise of the locust swarm still haunting them.

Feel free to conclude + archive! :)

Even with a rumble in his stomach, he can’t argue with sleep. A few short hours of rest and they’d be back on their feet. A little rested, but no less hungry than they are now. He nods his head and watches as she makes herself comfortable on the ground. A frown forms on his features and he paces a few lines before he’s able to settle down himself. A few feet from the young woman, and his head on his paws, but he doesn’t quite go to sleep just yet. His eyes close but ears perk upon his head and where he intends to remain in a slight sleep, turns deeper and he drifts off into sleep.