Shimmering Sands Over the Rainbow

For the lovely sisters @Thea and @Estella. Appoligies for the minor pp to start us all off <3

It was a bright morning and the grains beneath her white paws shimmered beautifully in the sun. Everywhere she looked was sand. A vast flat of shimmering sand... how beautiful! The young girl had yet to come upon the devastation of the Teekon Wilds she and her sisters had just stumbled into, and perhaps that would change her mind about staying here, but for now, the crisp ocean air brought new beginnings to her. Her tail wagged as she continued to walk along, creating delicate paw prints in the soft sand below her. She squinted her eyes and far in the distance, she could see a small line of deep blue. The ocean. Other than that, she could see nothing but sand and the colossal sky that hovered above their heads.

She glanced behind her at Estella and Thea, her golden eyes gleaming with excitement. Thea, with her brown ears, and Estella with the gorgeous silver coat of hers seemed to be just as excited. Turning back ahead of them, Pai contined to walk, narrowing her eyes against a gust of cold ocean wind. This was the time when a thick coat was greatly appreciated.

She began to become impatient and picked up her pace, kicking up sand behind her, which likely flew into her sisters' faces, but that didn't register in her mind at the moment. Her tail flew behind her and her nimble paws carried her slender body over the earth at a swift pace. She enjoyed the wind against her face and flowing through her fur. It got her adrenaline up and blood flowing. It made her feel alive. She closed her eyes for a quick moment as she sailed along before opening them and skidding to a very sudden stop. "Where should we go?" She asked her sisters who were close behind her. The sand seemed to go on forever, and Paikea couldn't decide where they should go on her own.

should we roll?

The sand was never ending, it seemed to stretch on as far as Thea could see. In the childish wonder that had yet to leave the adolescent, she bounded through the sand dunes excitedly with small exuberant yips marking her passage. Thea had always been a clumsy child, more oft than not she would tumble through the dunes head first. 

The ocean was just as beautiful, Thea could have marvelled at it forever but she had a journey to make. At the very least she wasn't alone, with her travelled her two sisters: Estella and Paikea. Paikea was pure white of fur, similar to Thea though she lacked the pale brown markings, and Estella was a beautiful silver. Coming to a stop beside her siblings, Thea beamed at the desert all around them.

"I don't know, do you think it ever ends?" Thea murmured with an awestruck voice before turning to her other sister. "What do you think, 'Stella?" 

Rolling sounds good to me.

The spunky girl, trotted behind her sisters, feeling the sunlight pound down heat upon her pelt.  The sand was quite hot beneath her pads, but Estella was fine with that.  It wasn't like it was the end of the world or anything after all.  It did although seem like the end of the world when her sister Paikea began to kick sand up in her face.  Stella spat it all out and shock her coat out for extra mesures in attempt to get rid of the sand.  Couldn't Pai just try to pay a little more attention to the otheres around her?  Estella thought quietly to herself, in a bit of a sour mood.

As they eventually came to a stop though, Estella's mood slowly swinged to a brighter side as she for once actually noticed the beauty of the place.  lthough t was beautiful though, Stella would never really want to stay there... it didn't really suit her anyways after all.  Estella liked trees above her head.  She felt more comfortable that way... more safe.  So when Paikea asked the question of where they should go, Stella was quick to answer after Thea's comment.  "How about some land with... with trees... it just sounds more welcoming in my opinion."  Estella remarked with a small shrug.

I rolled!

1, 2 = North
3, 4 = East
5, 6 = South
7, 8 = West
Answer: 2 (North) -- to Oystercatcher Tide Pools. Sorry Estella, no trees. ^.^

Pai listened to her sisters' input. Thea offered little help, and the snow queen rolled her eyes playfully at her. "Of course it'll end, silly! It's got to..." Her voice began to trail off a bit at that, and her eyes were casted in front of them, searching for any signs of greenery in the distance. There was none, and her belly churned with the first sense of uncertainty she's had in their travels. Her ears swivelled to Estella as she told the two her preference, though Pai had a feeling that wouldn't be possible at the moment.

Suddenly, the girl's belly began to growl and she gazed around. Finally, she made her choice. In their situation, it was probably the most logic. "We should head North, to the ocean. It is our best bet for food right now. We have no idea how far these dunes stretch, and we could be travelling for days. We are already at risk of low amounts of water, we can't leave ourselves with no food either," She explained to her littermates, leaving no room for an argument. Out of the bunch, she had definitely asserted herself as one of the decision makers, although she wasn't allowed to control them. Right now, she didn't care. She was going to make her family follow her. "Come on," she said and began to head towards the stretch of blue in the horizon.

They walked for quite a while, but soon, the air grew saltier and the wind picked up a little. She could not hear the crashing waves, but she imagined them in her head. She squinted her eyes, trying to picture what the beaches would be like. She hoped she was right -- about the food. Maybe there would be some chances to catch fish, sea fowl, or crab. Maybe if they were lucky, they'd be able to catch some seal. Her stomach grew hungier by the minute, but they were still a very long ways from the shore.

Thea grinned sheepishly, a bit chagrined at her sister's teasing. Her answer had been unhelpful but then Thea would rather leave the decision making part of their journey up to her sisters. It gave her relief when Paikea took charge, Thea moving to follow after the snowy female quietly.

The ocean intrigued her with its distant waves. Thea hadn't ever seen the ocean and couldn't wait to, as she followed after Pai' she tried to imagine the creatures that would be living there. Every now and then, she glanced back at Estella to see that she was coming along with them and not ditching to find a land of trees.

Estella was very disapointed when it became quite obvious that there were no trees in the direction that the trio was heading.  She sighed.  One day she would go to a land of trees... one day.  For now though she would stick with her sisters Paikea and Thea though.  They were after all two of her favorite beings.  So why wouldn't she follow them anyways... even if she had to sacrifice her tree idea.

The air had begun to taste salty now and Stella actually found herself liking it much more than that sweet good old tree smell.  The saltiness just seemed to call to her somehow, it was almost like an unknown dream come true.  The saltiness was just very... salty and Estella liked that for some wierd unknown reason.

The girls continued to pad along, the sand beneath their feet shifting with every step. Seaguls screeched above their head as they neared the ocean, and the air was growing significantly more salty. Pai looked over her shoulder at Estella and Thea and was happy with their expressions. Stella was getting more and more thrilled as they moved along, and Thea just looked happy to be moving. Paikea turned towards the road once more and gazed along the shoreline.

Everywhere lay pools of water varying in size. She'd never seen anything like it! She pricked her ears and her tail began to wave with excitement. There had to be some kind of food there! Maybe that water was even good to drink! Paikea had never seen anything like it! Perhaps she was getting her hopes up too high, but that's what she does.

She picked up her pace, speeding towards the tiny dots of blue water. The ocean was still very far away, but Paikea pressed on. Finally, she could begin to hear the crashing of waves in the distance. She smiled to herself and her tail wagged. "We're almost there!!" She cried to her siblings, tail wagging with pure excitement.

As the ocean neared, Thea felt a surge of excitement and happiness --as if she weren't already excited-- and a huge grin threatened to split her face in two. The air grew heavy with salt and the scent of brine was carried on the wind to the trio, birds wheeling overhead and crying out as if to welcome the sisters. 

The small pools intrigued the girl, leaning over the natural aquarium to peer inside as they stopped. Tiny fish darted to and fro, colorful anemones waved delicate fingers at her, mollusks gripped the sides of rocks,  a colorful eel wiggled amongst a plant, and most intriguing was the small crab that waved at her with its strange hands.

Reaching out with a small paw, Thea startled most of the creatures away but the crab reached for her as well. Thea smiled in wonder but it soon slipped from her face as her paw finally reached its destination and the crab pinched down, hard.

With a yelp, Thea began to hurriedly waddle in a three legged manner back to Estella, who was the most level headed, for help with the crab dangling from her paw and snapping its free pincher angrily. "'Stella get it off!" She cried, whining softly in pain while holding her paw out for Estella to pull off the crab.

The rolling wave that Stella could hear in the distance sounded wonderful.  It wasn't trees of course, but still that sound.  That wonderful, luxorious sound of rolling waves just sounded like music to the girls ear and the small pools of water were lovely, it was all glorgeous, beautiful -- wait did Thea have a crab on her paw?  Estella yelped in surprise to see the crab dangling from her sisters paw as Thea cried out for her help and put her paw infront of Estella to take it off.

For a few seconds Estella was actually clueless on what to do with the crab and just seemed to be frozen in place.

Soon enough though Estella came back to her senses and lleaned forward, grabbed the crab in her teeth, yanked it off of her sisters paw which probably really hurt poor Thea, but who knew and then laid the crab gently into a pool of water.  Estella gave Thea a curious look.  "How did that even happen?"

Pai turned her head, startled as Thea cried out. "What? What happened?!" She shrieked, having missed the whole thing for she was too engrosed in the beautiful scenery to notice. She dashed over to her sisters and studied the paw Thea was dangling in front of Estella, and then her eyes flickered to the crab scurrying to the rocks for safety.

Slowly, the snow princess linked the two together and she let out a laugh. She smiled from ear to ear as Estella asked how it even happened. "Yeah, how did that happen Thea?" She giggled, eying her white and brown littermate with love and amusement. 

Sorry for the short post, in a hurry to get everything done! <3

Thea flinched, eyes squeezing shut as a sharp yelp escaped her throat. Estella was quick about it at least, yanking the crab off of her paw and leaving her with a throbbing sensation. Once it was off, the crab scuttled away leaving Thea only able to stick her tongue out at it spitefully.

"I thought it was waving at me.." Thea trailed off, head hanging in shame as she realized how stupid it sounded. In reality the crab had only been pinching at her in warning, Thea had of course reached out to touch it.

Paikea was over quickly and asked Thea too about how this situation had started.  Estella stood next to Pai, eyeing Thea levely.  Had the crab just latched on?  Had Thea stepped on the crab and it latched on to her in a rightful self defence against the larger brown furry wolf?  But no, none of that was right.  Thea had thoguht the crab was waving at her.  Waving at her?  Seriously?  Estella thought quietly to herself.  Is something wrong with her...?  Stella exaimed Thea, but nothing seemed to be really out of the ordinary, escept for her hurt paw.

Estella nodded very slowly.  "Why don't you let me take a look at that?"  She asked her sister, her healer side suddenly taking over.  Then without waitin for a response, Stella approached the paw and sniffed it.  It didn't seem to bad... although it would be good to put some cobwebs on it.  As a makeshift bandage.  At that thought Estella turned away nose to the ground, searching.  After a minute she found a few and shook them out before walking back to her sisters.  Then she leaned forward to try to put them on Thea's injured paw.

Paikea let her sisters converse and she plonked her bottom next to the tide pool, gazing into it. It was a beautiful sight. Soft ripples obscured her faint reflection, and she smiled at herself. Below the water's surface was tiny grains of sand sparkling in the sunlight. Sea anenomes lined the rocks and dotted the sand. One or two star fish had placed theselves on a rock, and little hermit crabs scuttled around the bottom.

Small leaved of seaweed hanging from the rocks provided shelter for the crabs and the other little critters that lived there. It was purely beautiful. "Maybe we should stay here and rest for a bit," she said thoughtfully, entranced in the beauty of the tidepool before her.

Thea wasn't stupid, of that she was sure. Perhaps young and naive but not stupid. She could see the disdain on her sister's face and pulled her paw from Estella's reach. "I'm fine," she muttered, turning away as Estella attempted to put something on her paw. 

She returned to Paikea, glancing into the pool though she made no move to touch anything this time. Thea nodded, agreeing silently to the plan.