Cerulean Cape everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart

Tagging for visibility but welcome to cameo! @Floki.

The trio of Dragons had spent the night by the ocean before deciding to travel further down the coast. They pass by one territory on the right, but keep their distance, and eventually she finds the scent of the pack run by the two trying to claim the boulder. She motions them further away from them and eventually finding the ocean once more at a cape. The stretch of sand is longer, and unending, and while she doesn’t know how far they will travel, she continues to walk.

For the most part, @Gluskap comes and goes and @Dio remains close, before she finds herself well ahead of them. Thuringwethil glances back, able to see the outline of her guard, but the healer is beyond her sights. She doesn’t feel the urge to rush back, however, and she continues with the ocean to her right. Her mind drifts, thinking of home and the desire to go back. The ocean holds a part of her she’ll never be able to let go, connected with her birth, but she knows Drageda is where she’s meant to be.

cameo af

For the vast majority of their trek together, the flighty little creature had spent his time away from the other two. The wold Dio was something of a stoic beast. Glu did not necessarily find himself interested in the Guardian of their Alpha. The inky woman was a quiet sort of companion who seemed to find her time best spent keeping an eye on the happenings around them. For all intents and purposes, she had been an adequate guide along their path. Where they had stopped, Glu had scuttled about carrying what he could and prioritizing the supplies that were hardest to come by. While he went about his search, Dio remained the ever present eye on the back of his head. Though the golden-coated wolf was there for the safety of the Heda, Gluskap found himself drawn to the thought of trickery. Keeping it to himself, he continued his pecking for the supplies that he could not find in their own territory. The ocean waters were always a sweet relief and offered a moment to reflect on his sister. He had not spoken to her in a considerable amount of time. Surely Caiaphas was managing with the sea at her throat. 

From Stavanger Bay, Floki continued northward, allowing his paws to draw him along without much thought. The sand between his toes coupled with the gentle roaring of the waves was comforting, and even managed to soothe his hunger pains -- or at least make him forget them for a short while. He gave the sea lions a wide berth as he passed through their territory, though he did note that there were fewer of them; surely they were feeling the effects of the famine, as well.

When he came to a tributary, he paused. He glanced inland, wondering where the river originated, then began to carefully wade across. He picked his way through the current, mindful of where he stepped so as not to slip and fall. It wasn't until his feet were once more on solid ground that he looked up and took in his surroundings -- which included a sheer cliff face in the distance, and, much closer, three wolves.

It was hard to tell if they were together, as they all seemed to be moving on their own agenda; one was nearer to the sea and to Floki, while the others were just silhouettes in the distance. He moved into the shallows, feeling the waves lap against his ankles in almost a reassuring manner as he observed the others.

Every so often, Thuringwethil will glance back to see where she is in relation to the others but for the most part she's confident enough in their ability. They wouldn't move out of range of a simple gallop away should any of them need help and she'd prefer to spend some time alone with the sea. She doesn't know the next time she'll get out this way, with Gyda rounding every day and her becoming the sole leader for a short while. With already enough on her plate, adding Gyda being down on the count won't seem like much.

She turns her head back out toward the ocean and feels the wind blowing inward, the most dampening her fur and salt seeping into her skin. The closest to Seageda these lands have to offer and she knows she has to pull herself away sometime.

When she is able to shake her attention and, first glance toward her two, and then to the explored area. A figure stands closer than she'd like given how little she'd been paying attention but he hasn't advanced anymore. Curious, she shifts and moves to where the ground is a little firmer to close the distance. She dips her head and chuffs over the sea breeze in a friendly gesture.

The closest wolf took notice of Floki and turned towards him, grey eyes observing him quietly from a distance. Floki's nostrils flared, taking in the salty air and any information that the stranger's scent could provide -- it was a female, and she smelled of other wolves, but he wasn't familiar with her pack. She was large in stature and dark in color, cutting an impressive figure against the shoreline, but there was nothing menacing about her approach as she uttered a breathy, wordless greeting.

He returned the sound, coupling it with a subtle dip of his head. He took a few steps towards her, the edges of the waves still teasing his ankles. His gaze shifted past her, to her companions; they had shown no interest in him as of yet, and he felt better interacting with just one wolf as opposed to three. Floki's tail gave a gentle wave, demonstrating his good intentions, but he didn't call out to her just yet.

cameo. i'll post as i feel like it~

The scent of sea is already weaving itself into his coat by the time they make headway down the coast. The commander sets the pace and the pathway they take, meanwhile Dio is finding himself quietly content to follow along wherever she may lead. While he cannot say he has missed the seaside, necessarily, something about returning to its company is almost invigorating in a way he does not have the words for yet. This, he reasons, is probably helped by the momentary change of scenery, the relatively easy travels, and the subtle greenery returning to the landscapes they pass over.

As has become customary, he fans out to loosely patrol and scout about on his own on the edge of the shoreline. Never does he move very far from Thuringwethil, and he's always vaguely aware of Gluskap's doings -- even if the finer details are not always worth his effort. Dio just watches it all unfold as needed.

When he notices the unknown silver wolf, he is dutifully lured forward but since he does not see aggression on him so far, this approach isn't rushed. The gestures exchanged between the two seemed friendly enough, and he doesn't want to interrupt unnecessarily. Dio isn't overly concerned and comes and makes his presence a bit more clear by looming a few meters behind his commander. He stays there, silent, readied, but it's clear he doesn't see the immediate need to involve himself more than this unless it's necessary.

just dropping another little post in here. glu's just darting around in the background.

Already the cadaverous little beast had found himself ankle-deep in the waters. The cape had all the potential for bounty; his eyes glinted as he scanned the sea for an area that would be appropriate to begin collecting what he needed. Glu knew that he could never have enough seaweed. The long strands were thick and capable of holding pressure when needed; he had seen his sister use a salve that she had chewed to hold the weed in place. Open wounds would scar with the treatment, but would have a lower chance of infection if he was able to gather what was needed.
 
Gluska puttered about on his spindly legs – darting into the water and back out again so that he could place the weed on the shore. On his visits back to the sands, he could turn his skull towards the silver-coated stranger who also occupied the cape. Their shadowy leader had not yet hailed the foreign male, but the coywolf was not at all bothered by his presence. With Dio watching over, they outnumbered most loners, and Glu had not scented a pack near their location.
 
Dropping a few strands of seaweed on top of his small collection, the lean-bodied male breathed a short sigh and then continued his work.

The male doesn't make the full effort to close the distance but he does take a few steps forward. Expectant, maybe, but hesitant; just as she would be. Thuringwethil doesn't fault him for it but curious enough about the wolves on the shore, she finds her feet moving a little closer in his direction. His flagging tail of friendliness gives her a little push that he might be up for a little company and so, with one look behind her to her companions, she returns and begins to close the distance.

His scent is elusive to her nose, mixed with salty air, but there is little association to his scent. Nothing rings any bells and the three packs they passed along the way must not be his home, in addition to the direction he'd come from.

"Hello," she greets with a nod once she knows the wind won't carry her voice away. "We mean no harm. We are simply searching for medicines we can't find in-land," she informs, in case they would soon be invading his space. She isn't sure what Gluskap might find. He has seemed confident there are things the locusts wouldn't have been able to get into their destruction.

Floki shifted his attention to the other two wolves, watching as one of them closed the gap and approached the she-wolf from behind. He kept a wary eye on Floki, but made no sudden movements. The third of the group seemed to be much more preoccupied with a particular task; he appeared to be searching the wet sand and shallow water for something, occasionally plucking seaweed from the frothy waves.

The female soon explained what her companion was doing and Floki's stance softened even further. He was reminded of his mother, who had surely spent countless hours combing Stavanger Bay's beach for medicinal plants. He let his guard down even further after making this connection -- he realized that he and these strangers were not so different, that they were all just trying to survive.

"Have you found much?" he asked, once more glancing back at the wolf who seemed to be doing the majority of the scavenging.

The silver stranger remains neutral, thus continuing himself as not registering as a threat yet. Thuringwethil seems to extend a semblance of friendliness -- or at the least the gestures suggesting so, and Dio wonders what information may exchange here exactly between them. The scent he wears is one Dio cannot decipher as anything precise. It pings as.. vaguely familiar, which does confuse him initially, but he cannot yet piece it back to reminding him of the Sunspire. It's far too changed, and he's been far too removed from that piece of his history here. To him, now, all it means is he is of another pack, and not one that the Dragons have had contact with as far as he understands.

While he keeps an ear on the conversation, now and then Gluskap catches his attention from the corner of his eye. He seems to stay busy, so Dio takes that as a good sign that their trip is proving useful.

He maintains his silent watch.

Thuringwethil's limited knowledge of healing isn't something she's hidden, but she's taken the time to learn a little with Gluskap in their travels. She doubts she'll ever reach the level he or any other claimed healer would know but she can use some of the information in a pinch. Learning the values of seaweed, something she vaguely knew already only because it's been used on her, but the properties and details she doesn't know and claiming she might would be an injustice to the trade.

"Seaweed, mostly," she says, leaving the rest of the healers findings to himself. What might be valuable to them could be to someone else and with seaweed being the easiest find, not quite rare, exposing that means little. "I'm not much for the skill," she adds with an indifferent shrug, glancing behind her before she shifts so she can see both the new wolf and with a more subtle move, her own. "Are you from around here?" she asks, knowing little of the claimed lands that may line the coast.

As she replied, Floki shifted his gaze back to the apparent herbalist in the background. Even from a distance, he could see that the male had put together a small pile of seaweed, among other indistinguishable items. Floki couldn't say that he knew the use of seaweed, although he was certain that his mother would have been knowledgeable. He offered a soft hum and then shook his head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Me neither," he admitted with a roll of his shoulder.

He looked back to the dark she-wolf, taking in her shadowed countenance as she asked after his place of origin. There were a number of ways he could answer, and typically he would have provided Moonspear's name without a second thought. But there was something about the sea and the way its rolling waves and salty breeze called to him; it made him wistful and nostalgic.

"I was born down the coast," he said, gesturing over his shoulder at the beach to the south that he had already traversed. His pawprints were a visible reminder of where he had been, though the ocean was slowly washing them away. "Stavanger Bay," he added.

The flighty little creature padded around carefully nosing things around and scooping a few things up in his mouth to create a cache that he could reference to every so often. His figure moved swiftly, darting here and there, scuttling about along the shoreline in hopes that he might find something that was harder to come by. The sea was not one to offer many secrets to those who did not know her well. Glu was well versed in the language of the water, but he had not spent all of his time in her swell. There were moments that he struggled, but the other two did not seem to mind waiting for him while he scurried in his search.
 
After having compiled a small stack of things that would be useful, the skeletal little coywolf began to poke his dark nose around to see if he could break it up. If there were things that he could store and return for later, he would leave them behind and make another trip on his own. The Heda had shown him the wisest way to travel and he would be able to hide them away from the sight of others. All the while the other trio continued their chat and he remained somewhat blissfully unaware of their questions and answers.  

A smile forms on her features, for the briefest of moments, as they bond over a skill they both lack. It at least gives them a connection, occasionally looking back at something they don't understand but knowing someone else nearby related. Shifting a few feet closer, easier to speak, especially now that he has her attention. And even more when he mentions a place that she is familiar with, if only in stories.

"I know someone that had been born there," she explains. It gave her a second chance to look him over before she settles somewhere comfortable for the both of them. "Gyda is her name." Thuringwethil doesn't add anything else, any further connection, until she can gauge the reaction he has upon hearing her name.

Up until that point, the conversation had been fairly trivial -- just small talk exchanged between two strangers who were likely to go their own ways in time. But when the she-wolf mentioned a personal connection with Stavanger Bay, Floki's ears pricked with curiosity. The name that she offered drew a faint frown, a gentle creasing of his forehead. Gyda.

It was a moniker he hadn't heard spoken aloud in some time, and the wolf it belonged to was not someone he had ever met in person. But he knew of her, certainly -- Gyda, Mercury, and Gunnar, all three names were familiar. They were his older half-siblings, born to Thistle Cloud and raised by Ragnar, although their biological father had been someone else. He couldn't recall the sire's name. He was filled with curiosity, and it was obvious in the rounding of his eyes and the quirk of his lips.

"Gyda -- she's my sister," he said, then quickly elaborated. "My half-sister, I guess. I've never met her, I've just heard our mother talk about her."

Her brows come together as Floki states their relation, but his elaboration began to make more sense. Why it came as a surprise, she isn’t entirely sure—she didn’t know her own family but she’d been pulled away before memories could be made. Her family is always her pack, but Gyda didn’t come from the same lifestyle. Her personal life, before they came together, had been limited, and the time they shared together was often mostly spent to just enjoy one another’s company.

It is then she doesn’t know what to say. She can’t speak for Gyda but perhaps a message could be brought back.

“We lead a pack together north east of here, Sleeping Dragon,” she tells him though she feels her nerves rise at the confession. Where the Phoenix wolves had gone and what messages they have passed, she can’t be sure, but perhaps that’s just the paranoia taking over for a few minutes in consideration. “I can tell her about this, if you’d ever like to meet, I am sure you’d be welcome to our home. I know she’s once visited her mother before our claim had been secured. Is she well? I am sure she’d like to hear.”

Sleeping Dragon, to the northeast. Floki stored the information in his mind, already planning for a future trip to meet his estranged sister. He felt a little thrill of excitement deep within his chest. His family had been fractured from the start and it would have been easy for him to write off Gyda and his older siblings. But suddenly, there was a new door opening in front of him, and he felt the urge to step through it without a second thought.

"I would like that," he replied, his tail giving a wave behind him. "Thank you," he added quickly, before his expression darkened slightly at the mention of Thistle Cloud. It still troubled him that she had left without a word and that he didn't know where she had gone. "I think she is well -- I believe she's doing some traveling, but I'm not sure where she is or when she'll be back," he admitted.

one more reply and done? :)

The male seems interested and she offers him a quick smile. They’d gone this long without meeting that, sometimes, someone night not want to. Thuringwethil used to think about her family and wanting to meet them but it comes and goes in waves that she’d often wonder if it would make a difference. She’d gone this long without a traditional set of parents, or siblings, that the connection is likely severed. The other, at least, knows of his half-sister.

When he explains that their mother is traveling, her brows burrow but she notes it for later to inform Gyda upon her return. And of course, the mention of this with a slight worry she might not have interest in meeting her half-sibling.

“My name is Thuringwethil, by the way,” she introduces finally, glancing behind her with a flick of her nose, “Dio and Gluskap. Which I should probably get back to, it was nice to meet you. Hopefully I’ll see you soon. You may be an uncle by then.” The dark leader smiles again and dips her nose as she departs, once he’s gotten ample opportunity to introduce himself.

Yep, I'll archive! :)

The female introduced herself, as well as her companions. Floki's gaze strayed back towards the males once more; he wasn't sure which was which, but their names were not as important to him. Thuringwethil, however, he committed to memory. It was a long moniker, and sounded foreign; he found himself intrigued by her and the pack she led with his half-sister, but the time for asking questions had passed. She and her escorts were ready to move on.

He was surprised when she mentioned Gyda's apparent pregnancy, almost as an afterthought. An uncle, he mused, even as she started to move away from him. "It was nice to meet you, too," he replied, and then quickly added, "Oh! I'm Floki." As the three wolves departed, continuing their journey south, he hesitated for a moment. His mind was buzzing with new information, and while he wouldn't venture as far north as Sleeping Dragon on this trip, he was still headed in that direction; he wondered how far he was from Tevinter's Saltwinter.

Glancing over his shoulder at Thuringwethil's receding figure, he huffed contemplatively through his nostrils and then began his slow march up the beach, his paws flirting with the waves.