Stavanger Bay i'm impregnable, incredible, the setting of quo

murgash had never let his duties in the cache slip, but as of late, had let his gluttony get in the way of his do-goodery. there was not one, but several scents he did not recognize traipsing across the moorlands that marked blackrock depth's coven, and the only thing that did not compell him to immediately seek them was that they were criss-crossed and interspersed with skellige's tracks.

he assumed, perhaps stupidly, that if Big Bossman had come across these scents and not sounded the alarm, that all was well. besides, one of them smelled young -- and from the pawprints, so very small.

double besides, murgash was lazy - and if he could get away with the bare minimum... well... he would.

he hadn't had plans to swing by Big Bossman's den, but when the scent of @Rannoch was tucked in it, murgash's nosiness got the better of him. boldly (and perhaps with a little too much brass) the male stuck his head into the den and bellowed: "oi! pupling!! come sey hoi t' ole murgy, yes?"

With Dierdre’s help, Rannoch was healing from the drop. Though he was not up and running as he had once been able to, the with had already helped his limp considerably. But, despite this, Rannoch stayed within the Leviathan’s home and attempted to build up his strength with the tips that Deirdre had offered.

He was in the midst of pacing slowly, attempting to regain his once-power stride. But, despite his best efforts, his current pacing didn’t seem to be doing anything to help. Just as he was giving up, an unexpected presence came into the picture.

His eyes widened and the fur along his spine spiked as he swung his head to catch sight of the head that had poked into the den. Despite his surprise, and momentary panic, Rannoch managed to speak coherently. “Ol Mur--who?” His voice wavered, showcasing just how thrown off he felt in that moment.

it seemed murgash's arrival was unanticipated - his favorite! with the mein of someone who belonged in Big Stripey Bossman's den, murgash strode confidently in and placed himself right in front of the 'was-pacing-now-stopping' youth. he gave the off-put pup a cheeky grin, followed by a wink of a filmy, uncouth eye.

it didn't really bother murgash that this pup had just appeared out of nowhere; he was not one to ask those types of questions -- especially if food remained on the table. he gave the pewter agouti a once over before speaking again: "murgy - dis man, roight 'ere. very importan bloke. lissen, 'ow abouts we go for a walk?" he hadn't really noticed that rannoch was not exactly in walking shape, and was already making his way out the den.

The other was quick to stride in with a certain sense of confidence that he hadn’t felt in quite some time. His body was quick to tense in the other’s approach and a certain sense of wildness flared inside. He wasn’t sure if he could trust this wolf-- or any other wolf in this pack for that matter. The other’s confidenced was oddly paired with a haggard appearance. He noted the irony of it all quickly, as he observed the other's appearance, that he would not be as confident and upbeat if he looked like the other.

Soon enough, as he had averted his attention for favor of something more sightly, he was invited to walk with the other. Before he could speak, Murgash was out the door again. Despite his better judgement, he hobbled after the other. He wasn’t sure just what lured him to the other’s company, but, in that moment, he did not question it.

it appeared rannoch was the quiet type - or at least, quiet in front of murgash. murgash slyly glanced behind him, noticing the pewter youth had dutifully assigned himself as murgash's newest shadow.

delightful! murgash loved it when people did exactly as they were told. it was so rare a quality, so wonderful a gem -- instantly the mangy wolf decided this pup was not so bad after all.

the scoundrel slowed to an ambling gait, having noticed that rannoch possessed a strange asymmetry to his stride that suggested lameness somewhere along a limb. gayly, and perhaps a bit too glib in his tone, murgahs inquired as to the nature of the injury in the most undiplomatic of ways: shouting. "wot de problem with ye leg, stumpy mclimper? ye trip or sumwot? break yer tongue too?"

“Stumpy Mcclimper”

His ears were fast to lower in response to the other’s name for him and he ushered out a growl in warning before correcting the other. “Rannoch,” his voice was a deep rumble, despite how swiftly the correction came. “Not stumpy.” He snapped the jaws forward, as if adding to the warning he had issued.

“But, to answer your question, the ocean did this to me,” He was bitter, to say the least. He was not all too keen on his new home and the scenery it boasted.

Oho! It seemed there was some bite to this quiet clam after all; Murgash spun around as the child growled, his tail upright. A loud and bawdy guffaw escaped his torn muzzle and he hollered: "OooOoooh, got som boite to Ye, doncha?" he accused merrily, not at all phased by the stern correction. 

While he did not doubt the veracity of the child's claim, he somehow held fast onto the idea of the grand old sea's innocence. What did Rannoch go bashing his leg in the ocean for? 


"lissen, Grumpus - got som important mishun for ye. One ye ken do without waving thet stumpy limb aroun'. Follow." With that he made straight for the cache: see, it was an important mission after all.

Murgash’s acquisition only kindled the wicked flame within Rannoch’s belly, but he did not respond. Instead he looked away with a gruff sigh, not exactly sure of how to respond. Thankfully there was not much time in between that and Murgash’s next words-- an intriguing sentence.

Her perked at the words “important mishun” and nodded, picking up the pace so that he could follow.

Despite Murgash's not so subtle instigation the boy followed -- for this, the mangy creature was most delighted. It was rare a wolf obliged anything Murgash asked; and even rarer still to do it without some sort of dissent. 

Without ado Murgash made for the cache and when the pair came upon it he fell silently to work, his claws rifling soft loam until @Doe's carefully laid cache was revealed. He nosed the remnants carefully and extracted from the soily mess some strange artifact of meat, his teeth places gingerly around the edge of the hide. 

He tossed the half rotted flesh to the boy and instructed: "eat!" The meat did not smell unusual but Murgash remembered clearly the lady's threat: he watched Rannoch carefully, half expecting the youth to drop like a stone if he ate the meat and it was indeed tainted.

(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ dis guy

 
Eventually, the pair came to their destination. As the other rummaged, Rannoch watched on without a peep, intrigued by that the other was doing. Soon enough Murgash pulled out a treat. Licking his lips, Rannoch watched on as the other tossed it in his direction. A feeling of thankfulness overcame him and he looked to the other with appreciation-- unsure how to handle himself. He had not been treated so kindly since his arrival to the bay.

“Thank you,” he offered, surprise lifting his tone for the first time in quite some time. But, despite his hunger, he looked from the ground to the mangy wolf, with a sense of hesitance. But, he was hungry.

Without another word, Rannoch bit into the prey, chewing slowly as he consumed the flesh.

gratitude -- that was certainly not the emotion murgash expected. for a split moment he felt bad about potentially poisoning the guy - but then as he saw the boy enjoying his meal, it roused his stomach to the point where he almost lunged for the grub himself. all that kept him from hungrily setting in on the cache was doe's threat - murgash might have liked the lady, but he knew the feeling was not mutual. plus, he knew from experience all women were crazy.

"don' mention it." he answered, his blithe expression suddenly serious: but no, seriously, don't mention it. he hardly envisioned the news that he had possibly poisoned a puppy would go over well with doe. typical woman,  never letting him have fun, food, or anything.

"say, ye know wot a 'red snappa' is?"

Rannoch ate until he had his fill, finding no trace of poison that Doe had promised Murgash. He ate until there was no more food to be had and licked his lips upon completion. It was as he wrapped up his meal that Murgash asked something of him and to this, he turned his attention back to Murgash. He had ignored the other in favor of his meal when he had been told not to mention it and perhaps that youth would bring it up at another time.

“No,” he answered quickly, his head tilting. “What is that?”

Perhaps if they hadn't been so very close to her den, Doe would never have known of their 'transgressions'. But, as they were very close, and as Murgash was very loud, Doe knew almost at once just exactly who was around.

She'd been having a nap, as she was often found doing, lately, and tried to keep on snoozing despite the interruptions. But as Murgash commanded the boy to eat, suphurous eyes first popped wide open, and then narrowed considerably. After a long, long moment of contemplation, the dusky woman wiggled her wide belly out of her den and silently approachd the pair, just in time to catch Rannoch's denail.

"It's a fish," she told them, looking on at the scene with a bemused air. Part of her was a little disappointed that he'd put a pup in danger to test her threat, but mostly, Doe allowed herself to see it as resourceful. It wasn't her pup, after all. "My favorite fish."

For the moment, her stomach was not begging for food. If she'd been hungry, or in slightly lower spirits, the encounter might've gone very differently. As it was, the Blackrock beta felt no particular need to assert herself once again. The cache belonged to everyone, and she'd overreacted when she'd last thought it to be pillaged.

"I might offer rewards for anyone who can bring me one," she added, hoping it would both patch up bridges and gain her a good meal or two in the future.

Like Murgash, the youth had little clue what a red snapper was. He was disappointed, but not in the pup -- he was starting to think this "red snapper" was a fib, some imaginary thing devised by Doe to torment him for his gluttony. 

Speaking of Doe (speak of the devil and he appears, amirite?), when she materialized Murgash nearly leaped out of his patchwork skin. Meep! He'd been caught! Already his mind was scrambling ways in which to assure Rannoch that he had not just knowingly fed him a possibly poisoned fish. he was about to defend his honor (or lack of, really) when Doe spoke: he fell silent, for she did not throw him under the bus. 

A fish. Gulp. Murgash stepped back, a guilty grin on his muzzle. He did not even quip or ask what type of prize Doe would give his snapper -- with meekness of a dog caught red handed the male cast Rannoch a sly look and slunk off to the beach hastily. Preferably before Doe spilled the beans.

“My favorite fish.”

As quickly as Doe had happened onto the scene, Rannoch turned to face her with widening eyes. Though he had smelt her as soon as the two had neared the cache, he wasn’t aware that she would have appeared as she had.

He lowered himself slightly to her, his head hovering parallel to his shoulders and he looked away. He knew that he had acted wrong before, but he was sure to not let that happen again. His hopes of being rescued were almost nonexistent at this point, but he still attempted to keep the hope alive.

Turning to Doe only as she offered up the challenge, the boy brightened. “How do you get one?” He asked, hopeful. He was all too wrapped up in the challenge to notice Murgash slink away.

It was partly with sheepish regret but mostly with wolfish triumph that Doe watched Murgash skitter away. She supposed she should be more worried about insulting and threatening nobility, but Doe was coming to realize that - nobility or not - she was still higher on the totem pole than Murgash.

She was not sorry to see him go, but neither did she care for the company of young Rannoch. He'd been unpleasant the first and last time Doe had beheld him, and she had little desire to interact with him now. Still, the boy's puppyish features and youthful enthusiasm called to her heightned maternal instincts.

"My husband could teach you more - he's a fisherman - but I can show you the basics," she said with a friendly twitch of her tail. "Would you like to go down to the water and try?"

Skipping with permission from @Murgash!

Still oblivious to his pack mate’s departure, Rannoch kept his focus on the pack’s Beta. Though he had not had the pleasure of meeting Syzmon at that moment, fate would soon bring Doe’s mate and Rannoch together for a fishing lesson. He smiled to what she offered with a nod.

“Yes, please,” he offered, his manners doing a complete 360 from the first time that the two had met. Since that meeting, Rannoch had been more mindful of not forgetting his mother’s lesson that she had so eagerly taught them so early on.

Doe took him to the same tidepools that Szymon soon would - but at this time, the pools were covered by water that went up past Doe's ankles. It was in these shallows that Doe often caught herself scaly snacks, though there were never quite as large as what Szymon could bring her.

"You've just eaten, so this will work especially well," Doe began, lowering herself in the frigid waters. It was probably a nasty shock to the life she sustained inside her, but they would suffer far worse when they were born. The beta supposed they'd do well to prepare themselves for it, now. "Open your mouth and put your lower jaw under the water. The fish will come to you when they taste the blood in the water. When you feel them on your tongue, bite down," she explained, going on to demonstrate the motion.

murgash's expedition to the shoals would have been hopeless, were it not for the small swarm of seagulls he spied along the beach. the mangy wolf burst into a gallop, a lone streak of dark against cheerless pale sand. in a deluge of feathers and fluttering the screaming gulls circled upward, shrieking their upset into the skies with beaks clattering in indignance. as they lifted skyward their quarry became apparent; a bloated and washed up corpse of indeterminable origin.

delighted, the male scooped up the sodden body and trotted the prize back to doe and rannoch. it was not red snapper -- hell, he couldn't even tell what it was -- but it was food. granted, it was slimy, briny food.

proudly the male deposited the soggy abomination at doe's feet. he did not even wait for an admonishment; with a delighted giggle the male scampered off, a wide grin on his face. "det be all the grumpee laydee gets!" he called behind him, churning sand in his wake.

exit murg! feel free to continue without me. ill prolly start up a new one shortly :D

Upon entering the waters, Rannoch froze momentarily as the shock of the chill overcame him. He was still not used to the ocean or the colder conditions that early Autumn brought but, soon enough, he would grow use. It was as Doe began to speak that he tiptoed to join her side. Watching carefully as she went on to explain just how to catch a fish.

Just as he was about to mimic what she did, Murgash returned to the scene with a slimy prize. Without saying much, the other wolf left the scene. Turning from whatever Murgash had given Doe to the Beta, Rannoch looked at her with a tilt of his head, as if to ask, Did he really just win?

The arrival of Murgash caught Doe off-guard. The shewolf popped out of the water at the crashing sound of his approach and lost her footing as she came back down from her little leap. Sopping wet but unharmed, the shewolf aimed a poisonous glare at Murgash's retreating backside before her eyes slid back to the boy she'd been instructing. The stricken look in his eyes caused her to crack a grin, and she went to examine the slimy creature that'd been tossed their way.

"This is not a red snapper," said Doe, displeased by the offering. Another glare was shot in the direction Murgash had gone. "Maybe you'll do better," she suggested, fighting a shiver that threatened to wrack her body. With a huffy sigh, the beta picked her way carefully out of the water and gave her pelt a ginger shake, wary of disturbing her bulging belly.

"I need to get dry," she said by way of explanation, stalking in the direction of her favorite sunning rock. It was not a particularly warm day, but the sky was relatively clear.

Successul roll for te=he hunt can be found here. Up to you on if he found a red snapper or not. :)

There was still a chance for him to win. He exhaled at this and turned from Doe to look at the prize that had been left at her paws. Now that he knew an example of what the prize did not look like, Rannoch felt slightly more confident in his abilities. He was naively unaware of the vast array of sea-bound creatures, but this sense of confidence was a needed boost for his hunt.

Nodding to Doe, as she sought drier lands, Rannoch turned towards the ocean and lowered his muzzle below the watery surface. He waited for quite some time, feeling the need to doze off. Hunting wasn’t his forte at all, but he knew that it was for benefit of his own survival that he practiced the sport.

It was as he was ready to quit that he felt a tickle on his tongue. Snapping his jaws closed quickly, a satisfying click told him that he had been successful. The metalic taste of blood sent the boy to the shore and soon enough he placed the fish before Doe and the rock she sunned upon. Once the fish had been placed, he backpedaled and looked at her expectantly, wondering if he had won.

Half-hooded eyes tracked the boy's approach. Random shivers still wracked her, but the sun was slowly doing it's job. Hopefully she would be dry by nightfall - to go to sleep cold and wet would surely be bad for the children - and for her daughter and mate, who often shared a nest with her.

When he'd drawn near enough for her to spy the silver morsel in his mouth, Doe let her tail beat against the rock with all the approval her tired body could muster.

"You're a quick learner," she commented, remembering how long it'd taken her to capture her first fish. "That's not a red snapper, but I think it deserves some kind of prize all the same." She fell silent for a beat, having not even determined what the Grand Prize would be, as of yet. "What do you think you should get?" she asked.

Praise was followed by a correction. Looking from the fish to Doe he frowned momentarily, not all that pleased that it wasn’t a red snapper. But, regardless of his own pride, there was still an opportunity for a prize. His eyes shone at this and his mind churned with the possibilities that could be his prize.

In his brief pause, he concluded that there was only one thing that his heart desired the most. “I want my brother, Cypress,” he decided suddenly, his tone certain as he looked up hopefully to the leader.

A flicker of Doe's ears was the only response Doe gave to this; it took her a moment to turn the words over in her mind, and when she had, she found that they were not to her liking. The shewolf knew what it was to miss a brother, and if she'd had the power, she'd've conjured up this 'Cypress' for Skellige's cub.

"I don't have the power to give him to you," she said gently, tail beating the rock in a show of empathy. "But tell me about him - maybe I could speak to Skellige, and a visit could be worked out - but again, it is not in my power to see this happen. I will speak to the Leviathan, but it will be his final decision. Do you understand?"