Oystercatcher Tide Pools bounty of the sea

Rolling 1d10 for success on finding something in the pools! Even = success.
Result: 2

She stood against the bitter winds, fierce eyes upon the landscape in the distance. If the directions murmured by the elder priestesses of Themiscrya were real, the infamous Sound lay somewhere north of the mountains. It would be some weeks before she and her little accompaniment would reach it, even if they did not stop to rest. It would be a longer mission, still, if Ankyra were unsuitable for a claim. Protomedeia had sent no scouts ahead of them, and they were making this journey blind. Exhaling, the she-wolf returned her gaze to the nearby shoreline.

The tide was low and had revealed a swath of pools— a gift from the Mother Sea, she was certain— and the small group might find some easy morsels to fill their bellies and cut the edge from their hunger. Winter made this manner of hunting more difficult and far more reliant on luck, for the sluggish-salt waters did not often lure sleepy fish close enough to the shore.

Meteora moved between them, sharp eyes scanning for any flicker of movement within their depths.

He followed behind her dutifully, but was wary all the same. It was difficult to appease someone such as a siren despite the best of efforts, even when you've spent your entire concious life devoted to their ways. The boy was nimble as he followed her path. He left wide paw-marks upon the cold sand, tracing his steps across her own as he went. When Meteora stopped, he stopped. When she looked to the pools, the boy was curious of them also. He hoped to find something before her — something of a gift, something to satiate her obvious hunger — and so Astraios let his observation of their surroundings take priority. As he looked for sustenance for the esteemed woman, he stopped guarding their periphery. A rookie mistake.

Chip hadn't been doing much of anything the past few weeks. She'd been hunting for herself (as much as a lone wolf could), meandering along the coast, and mostly keeping to herself. She hadn't seen (or felt inclined to see) her casual fling since their second encounter. Maybe she was a feast or famine kinda gal. In any case, her paws led her to the tide pools today, where she hoped to romp around in the waves like a loon, as was her usual custom.

As she grew near, however, she spotted two other wolves already there, and Chip wondered how obnoxious she would be to them (or they to her). She decided to beat them at their own game. "Sup, kiddos!" she called out, cheery as could be, "Fine day for some fish, eh?" She'd gotten decent at catching fish and found that she preferred the taste to rabbit lately.

If her companion had been performing his duties properly, Meteora never would have been taken by surprise. As she was in the process of extracting a crustacean from one of the pools, a voice cut through the air and startled her. Her muscles tensed and her jaw loosened, allowing the crab freedom to drop back into the waters— but, it being a rather dumb creature, opted to fight for its life. In the very same moment she released it, it grasped the tender fur near her ear and neck and swung to dangle there.

She turned to loose a threatening growl in the drudge's direction for his error and shook her head over the sand in an effort to dislodge the crustacean's grasp. Perhaps sensing that it could do no further damage, and neither could she, the crab loosened its grip and fell to the ground. Meteora placed a firm paw upon it, pressing it into the wet sand, and finally looked upon the stranger that had approached.

"Every day," she said slowly, her accent lilted, "is a good day to fish."

The stranger came upon them so suddenly that Astraios did not know what to do. He was most concerned with the siren of course, noticing how she grappled with a crab. He skittered closer to her in the manner of the crustacean that now attached itself to her delicate ear, but shrank back when she turned her shark-like head towards him. The boy tried to make himself small but simultaneously moved as if to aid her — reaching for the crab with his teeth to save her from the pain of it, with wide and worried eyes.

But then the crab dropped.

The sound of the creature hitting the sand made Astraios jerk himself back again, and when Meteora shoved a paw atop its shell to hold it firmly in place, he felt a bolt of sympathy pain roll through his own back. The boy remained silent and resumed his search, his ears on a constant pivot.

The female wolf wore the crab as an earring for a split second before it was dropped to the ground. Chip thought it had been a nice accessory, though she couldn't imagine that it would be terribly comfortable. The female then replied that every day was a good day to fish, to which Chip shrugged and nodded. "Ain't that the truth." She side-eyed the male, who seemed skittish and rather submissive, even though neither of them smelled of anything but each other. They didn't seem to be part of a pack of others, but perhaps they had been separated.

"I'm Chip. Been livin' the coastal life for a little while now. How 'bout you guys? From around here?" They didn't seem like a particularly cheery bunch from the get-go, but maybe they were just wary of strangers. Chip could understand that, even if she had never been that way.

Meteora paid little attention to the skittish drudge, except to sharply say, "Fool." Even that was absentminded, though the disdain behind it was clear. There were other Nereides that cared what others thought of their treatment of the lesser sex, but having grown up in the isolation of Themiscrya, her culture was far too ingrained within Meteora for her to care. It was none of their business, anyway, so long as the males remained eager to do the bidding of the sirens.

"We come from the Sea," the silver woman responded. "We have traveled far, but she is the same in all places."

Feel free to PP Astraios in the background and skip him as needed.

The boy flinched from the sound of her voice, skirting her shadow as he plunged his face in to a pool of water, then another, and another, keeping out of reach of her teeth but trying to remain nearby in case the stranger was dangerous. What could he do to help? Probably nothing. But it was his duty to protect the siren (although she was fully capable) — thus Astraios silently busied himself with finding gifts for Meteora, but was careful with his attention.

Chip blinked. From the sea? That was about as crazy as the dude who seemed to think he laid claim to the whole daggon thing. The stranger mentioned something about "she," which made Chip blink again. "She who?" asked the striped wolf, looking around as if this mysterious "she" would appear out of thin air. Chip had never before encountered somebody who referred to inanimate objects with gendered pronouns, so you might see why she was confused.

"She," Meteora repeated, fierce eyes upon the she-wolf before her. "The Sea," she continued, by way of explanation. Unless the tawny female were to join them, the Nereides would explain no further. She had learned early on that outsiders were quite thick when it concerned the Mothers, and few of them had the same respect or reverence for the deities from which their ancestors had been born. "I am Meteora Nereides," she told the other, finally. She didn't bother to introduce the male, who danced at the edges of the tidepools.

"I sea," Chip replied, all-too-amused with her hilarious, knee-slapping pun. She wore a big, dumb grin on her face, regardless of whether or not the other two found it as funny as she did. If they didn't, well... their loss! The male seemed to be minding his own business anyway, and Chip shot him another sidelong glance. He looked to be digging things up like some kind of "special" child.

"I'm Chipmunk, but pretty much everybody calls me Chip," she replied before realizing that she'd already introduced herself. "But, uh, you knew that. Because I told you." Chip shot the overly serious female a dumb smile, then shuffled her feet a little closer to the water. "I was gonna see if I couldn't do some fishing out here," she explained, "Wanna buddy up with me? We don't have to share or anything. Just keep each other company."

Meteora wasn't exactly humorless, though she and the rest of the Nereides certainly had their own brand— and the Sea was no matter to joke about. It was downright disrespectful, but the fierce woman allowed her a pass and even offered a small smile. Had Chip been a male or initiated into the ways of the Nereides, it would be an altogether different story.

That she recommended they fish was of interest to the siren, and the woman's sea green eyes appraised her. "Show me," she finally said innocently enough, before leaning down to grasp the captured crustacean in her jaws. With a sharp movement, Meteora fractured the shell and swallowed the juices that escaped the creature's body. Odd manner aside, if the stranger could fish, she would be a valuable asset to the fledgling group.

Well, Chip hadn't expected to instruct anybody in how to fish. It wasn't like she'd ever gotten any lessons. Then again, Chip never turned down an opportunity to show off, so she happily pranced into the frigid water, pretending (perhaps even convincingly) that it didn't bother her one bit to be elbow-deep in cold as fuck water. Meteora followed her (because no-consent is the bomb… when we're talking about character interactions), and Chip began to watch the water.

"The trickiest part," Chip began, "is that the fish aren't actually where they appear to be." It had taken her the better part of a day to figure that one out. She had to aim slightly away for her target in order to actually make contact with it. Something about the water gave those damn fish magical abilities. Maybe that's why Meteora worshipped the ocean. Chip glanced up at the other male who was hanging around. He seemed interested, but he didn't come closer. She considered inviting him over, but something told her Meteora wouldn't be to keen on that.

Focusing back on the water, Chip waited until a dark sliver moved toward her, then dove her whole head right into the water. Unfortunately, all she'd gotten was a mouthful of saltwater. "You wanna give it a go?" she asked, shaking her head and sending a spray of the ocean in every direction.