Wheeling Gull Isle it's a hard-knock life
61 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#1
All Welcome 
Just decided that my new inspo for all Droman's threads will be the OG Annie production. Come see!

The weather was perfect! It wasn't too cold for a swim anymore, but it wasn't too hot, either. The water had reached a perfect equilibrium between the two extremes; Droman had been waiting for this, and now that the time had come, he could hardly contain himself! The exuberant pre-teen raced off to the sandbar, taking calculated steps into the water to avoid any crabs.

Eck. Crabs.
Crabs?! Giant crabs?! That definitely sounded like a creature from his worst nightmares, ranking right up there with ponies and Bambi.
110 Posts
Ooc — Bryndel
Offline
#2
Annie!  :D  One of the few things I've seen staged in-person; in Korea, as it happens, heh.  Good choice for threadtitle inspos, though!  ^^

Driftwood had been lolling in the shade of some of the island's trees, side-eyeing the water and trying to figure out if it was worth chancing a swim. He cocked an ear at the swift smaller figure who suddenly came racing out of the trees toward the longest spit of sandy shore; the young male seemingly couldn't wait to get his legs wet, right up until the moment of truth came and his steps suddenly became much more mincing and strange, as if he perhaps wished he could walk atop the water rather than actually stepping in it. Driftwood hauled himself to his own still-dry feet and observed the actions of the other wolf for a moment in increasing puzzlement. He doubted, though, that it was a mystery that could be resolved at such a distance, so after a moment and with only a little hesitation Drift broke cover as well, loping at a more-reserved pace out to the water's edge.

His steps slowed to an easy trot and then stuttered to a stop as he approached the ganglier young red male. What are you doing? he had to ask aloud with a furrowed brow, before craning his neck out long and straight to try to peer downwards past the wavelets' deceptive reflections. Was there something there in the water that the youngster had spotted and was trying to avoid as he danced forth to catch the tide? Well, his elder sure wasn't spotting anything in there; the shallow bottoms looked as pristinely clear as the day they were first made, far as he could tell. Weird.Oh, I'm Driftwood, by the way, he added belatedly, though his eyes kept being drawn more toward the waters than the figure he was speaking to.

He didn't notice the small creature tacking slowly sideways across the sand to his rear. It was much smaller and moving a lot slower than the younger wolf, for starters, not to mention its slick shell was only a little yellower than the expanse of sand around it. It silently and contemplatively opened and shut its mouthparts and small claws, twitching one eyestalk behind it and one in the direction of the larger creatures standing in the surf before it.
112 Posts
Ooc — Sabin
Offline
#3
Stockholm tends to put his head down and become a little bit of a workaholic, but he doesn’t want to lose touch with the other seawolves. When he finishes his patrol he slows it down, checks in with @Coelacanth, who is well-tended by @Moorhen and @Hemlock, and wanders off to see what some of his packmates are up to. “Droman, Driftwood,” he says when he reaches the shoreline and spots a couple of them, a heavy chuff announcing his appearance. A friendly grin plays about the Gampr’s muzzle as he shakes out his thick fur. “I don’t think we’ve talked face-to-face; I’m Stockholm. What’re you up to?”
61 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#4
First came one stranger, and that was more than enough for Droman, but then came Stockholm, and he immediately began to feel a bit overwhelmed. It was one thing to have someone to keep him company while he lounged, but having two other wolves to entertained while he worked was another. After releasing an exasperated sigh, the boy stepped back from the water and moved to greet each male with a respectful nudge to the shoulder.

Well, I was just..., he began, noticing the creeping crab out of the corner of his eye. With one ear perked and another lax, he nodded toward it to give both packmates fair warning. I was going to go for a swim. I guess I shouldn't, though; it was a dumb idea.
Crabs?! Giant crabs?! That definitely sounded like a creature from his worst nightmares, ranking right up there with ponies and Bambi.
110 Posts
Ooc — Bryndel
Offline
#5
Driftwood spun about at the small chuff and hastily straightened up his pose upon spotting the authoritative bulk of fur wending his way toward the two of them. Oh, uh, no, I don't think so. The overseer's figure was a pretty distinct one, and one that Driftwood was certain he had seen before—not least because the male greeted everyone by name—but it took Drift's brain a moment to place him. The imposing air of authority clued him in as much as anything; Driftwood might have facepalmed if he was human, but as it was he settled for hastily changing his distracted stare into a respectful low bow of the head. He couldn't resist a quick peek in the youngster's direction to see how the smallest and most rufous member of the group was reacting, which might give Drift a little more of a clue as to how to handle this awkward meeting. He hardly knew the first thing about their alpha; perhaps the other—Droman?—might have at least heard a little more via rumors, even if the two of them hadn't spoken much either.

But Droman was already looking elsewhere. Driftwood followed the tilt of the smallest wolf's ear and jumped a little as the crab scuttled a few venturesome steps closer. Driftwood carefully moved a few steps further away, only half-hearing Droman's canceled swimming plans at first. Then: Wait, it swims? said Driftwood incredulously, peering down at the twitching eyestalks poking out from the sand-colored shell. He didn't see very many fishy parts on it, or even any paws for there to be webbing hidden in—how could such a thing possibly swim? Though it did have a lot of limbs, he had to admit; maybe one of them hid some sort of finny surprise. That's a crab, right? We didn't have them back where— Driftwood halted for a moment in confusion, having suprised himself with the sudden tidbit of knowledge that came out of his mouth. Then he picked up again in hopes of covering up the small stumble: I mean, it doesn't look big enough to be much of a threat to wolves. Is there some sort of territorial agreement the pack has with them, or something? Wolves shalt not swim whence the crabs hath claimed, right? Driftwood shot a puzzled look at Stockholm, who he'd hope ought to know. The notion that such a weird, tiny creature could determine if and where wolves could swim had him pretty baffled. He moved another half-step toward Droman and away from the small scuttling creature though just in case it revealed some sort of secret hidden power that Driftwood didn't know about, like shooting lasers from its freaky eyes or skunkscent out its butt, or summoning a sudden horde of its fellows and swarming the three innocent wolves who'd dared to unwittingly trespass. One never knew!
112 Posts
Ooc — Sabin
Offline
#6
The Gampr rumbles genially, canting his scarred muzzle to buffet Droman’s shoulder in turn; but his brow furrows in concern at the heavy exasperation that colors the boy’s tone. Golden gaze follows the nod of Droman’s chin to the crab, then flicks to settle on Driftwood’s face. The long-legged male seems ill at ease, and Stockholm’s short-cropped ears prick in interest. His large stature and place amongst the pack fall second to his generally mild-mannered nature, so he doesn’t really know why Driftwood looks like he’s seen a ghost; but to alleviate some of his stress, the Armenian merely turns his attention to Droman, giving the other guy some time to adjust.

“Why do you think it’s a dumb idea?” he asks, genuinely confused. Does it have to do with the crab? The company?

To Driftwood, “Yeah, it’s a crab,” he replies, but the second half of what the guy says is…honestly pretty baffling. “Territorial agreement?” he echoes.
61 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#7
It was stupid because Droman was sure that the older men wouldn't want to join in, and he definitely didn't want them to just watch. They probably thought that he was immature and childish, and he didn't blame them; it looked like he was using his time dilly-dallying instead of studying like a young man ought to do. The elders didn't understand that this was how he studied!; well, Dro didn't think that they did, at least. 

I dunno, he sighed, Do you think it's dumb? Then, to the goofy Driftwood, No, it's not like that, silly. They can't do much but their pinches do hurt a little, is all. They live here, too.
Crabs?! Giant crabs?! That definitely sounded like a creature from his worst nightmares, ranking right up there with ponies and Bambi.
110 Posts
Ooc — Bryndel
Offline
#8
Stockholm's bafflement confused Driftwood further, for a moment. He'd thought the one followed pretty clearly from the other... but obviously the Great Crab-and-Wolf Territorial Declarations were not in fact a thing, or at least had not yet been ratified. But if the overseer wasn't going to concern himself with the details of it, then Driftwood after a moment's careful reflection decided it probably wasn't worth worrying himself or inquiring further about either. Fortunately the overseer also didn't seem overly concerned about any missteps Drift might have made in greeting him, so Driftwood figured he was also safe from getting voted off the island or anysuch, at least for now. (Unless the crabs got a vote. Did crabs get to vote on pack matters? No, no, surely not; that notion was simply too ridiculous to consider...right? Right. Sure.)

He knew nothing about crabs, though. Except that this one, at least, still seemed to be free of fins as far as Driftwood could see, although he didn't entirely rule out the possibility that it would open a secret hatch and reveal an entire fish tail flopping out behind it, any moment now. Driftwood craned his neck up and over to try and catch a peek of where the invisible seams of a secret hatch like that might be concealed—because it would have to be somewhere in back, or at least all the fish tails he had ever seen had been, though with a creature this freakishly alien who knew—but the search was a fruitless one. No hatches, no peeps of any not-quite-hidden-well-enough extra fishy appendages... Surely it can't swim, he said, though it came out still sounding more like a question. Meantime he was reaching out an experimental paw to poke the thing, now that he was reasonably certain he wouldn't be transgressing any treaty boundaries—what was it made of?! It was so strange and shiny-looking where the sun glinted off its shell! Then Droman's words about the pinches penetrated Driftwood's consciousness and he hastily yanked the overcurious paw back out of reach. The crab clacked its claws a few times, twitching its freaky little eyeballs in their direction and then back toward the sky. Driftwood, eyes wide as he decided discretion was probably the better part of valor, hoped that his quiet step back and sidewise was too smooth and ninjalike to catch either of the others' attention as he did the first thing that crossed his mind to make himself a bit safer from these crabs and slunk back a little further into Droman's shadow. He was of course rather larger than Droman in just about every dimension, making the maneuver's helpfulness all the more questionable, but Driftwood felt the youngster had a much better handle on these aliens than Driftwood himself did. And besides, the crabs were a lot shorter than even Droman, so one had to reason that any attacks would have to go up right through the younger wolf to reach him, right? Right. ...Sure.

Um, I think maybe we'd do better hopping in the water, especially if that guy has any friends coming along... The notion of a swim sounded like the opposite of dumb to Driftwood. Downright appealing, in fact. It's a hot enough day, he added hastily, trying to make it sound like a swim was not in fact a cowardly crab-walking retreat. Driftwood moved another step closer to the gently beckoning waves as his eyes followed the vague waving of the little crab's claws. The pinchy crabs could have the beach. But he tried to keep his voice nonchalant, even if his nervous paws didn't want to stay in place on the cool wet sands. A swim sounds nice. Right...right?! ...Sure.
112 Posts
Ooc — Sabin
Offline
#9
Stockhom shakes his head, his golden gaze calm and earnest. “Not dumb at all,” he reassures the boy. He could use some brushing up on his swimming skills himself, after all. He’ll never take to the water quite as naturally as his Aralez, but after Poppy’s rescue he knows he ought to get at least a little more comfortable with it. They all should. “It’s a good idea,” he adds, “especially being that you were born to it.” He cracks a gentle grin.

It’s Driftwood’s confusion that confuses the Gampr in turn. Short-cropped ears twitch atop his head while he tries to puzzle out what kind of territorial agreement a wolf could strike with a crab. If anybody could do it, Seelie could, but she kind of just…carries them around from time to time. He doesn’t want to make fun of the other wolf’s phobia but he doesn’t exactly know what to make of it, either. “A swim does sound nice,” he rumbles genially, even though he’s fairly sure the crabs can swim.
61 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#10
The reassurance was nice and certainly appreciated, but the moment had already passed. Besides, swimmng was something that Droman preferred to do on his own; when there was no one else around, it was easier to hear the ocean and understand what it said. Other wolves made too much noise and scared the spirits away, and Dro liked them too much to purposefully put them through that. It's really okay, he laughed, hoping that their conversation would soon come to a close, You guys can go, but I think I'm gonna head back in-land.
Crabs?! Giant crabs?! That definitely sounded like a creature from his worst nightmares, ranking right up there with ponies and Bambi.
110 Posts
Ooc — Bryndel
Offline
#11
Edited this to prepare it for wrapping up and archiving a bit more easily/quickly now, I hope. Sure hope your internet and computer start behaving themselves better ASAP, @Stockholm!  ;.;  Very best of luck with them both!

Oh, um, okay, said Driftwood, trying to sound nonchalant and take this in stride. But—Droman was leaving?! Well shoot, who was going to stand between him and the crabs and warn him of their secret pinchy claws and laser eyes and hidden fishtails now? Driftwood glanced over at the gampr, but Stockholm seemed pretty intimidating to him still, really. Enough so that he couldn't quite bring himself to slink over and hide humiliatingly behind him instead where the gampr might notice, at any rate. Not quite as bad as the crabs themselves, but logically speaking Stockholm's opinion of him could at the very least easily do much more damage to his standing in the pack, which in all honesty Driftwood valued quite a bit more than his actual skin. So Driftwood straightened himself up and tried to look cool, confident, and in-control. Right, so Droman was going to abandon him here. Cool...cool. Sure, that wasn't a totally deflating and demoralizing thought, that the one who seemed to know the most about these stupid crustaceans was suddenly ready to hightail it for no reason. And it wasn't as if Driftwood could drag the kid into the water with him, or really wanted to— but the youngster's sudden changing of his mind really threw him.

All right, have fun, he said rather lamely to the youngest wolf. He arched his neck and took a high, pseudo-confident step toward the water himself, but then was unable to stop himself from swallowing once and glancing back uneasily at the crab. The Overseer had thought that a swim sounded nice, after all, and to a degree Driftwood agreed, but he was more than a little uncertain about being the first one in the water, with that thing still standing there behind him, twitching and watching and clacking and plotting who-knew-what next. He had always loved the ocean, though...he just hadn't realized that in some places that meant having untrustworthy crabs and things at your back, what the heck. Driftwood loved almost everything about this island so far, but this was definitely one unfortunate mark against it, if you asked him.

Driftwood resolutely took a deep breath and his courage in his teeth as he turned away from the little crab watching him, puffed out his chest, and took several leaping steps out into the water with a mighty, messily loud splashing of ocean and sand. There— there. With all this lovely summer-warm water all around and embracing him up to his chest, surely he was safe. He grinned and relaxed, turning back toward the beach again to see if Droman was already jogging off, or if Stockholm was going to join him (or perhaps even commend him on his bravery in the face of crabsome viciousness, a small corner of his brain proposed). He even grew so bold as to raise a paw the same color as the wet sand and launch a teeny wave in Stockholm's direction, one that had zero chance of actually reaching his superior unless the gampr went unexpectedly charging into the water toward it at near-supernatural speeds. Come on in, it's great! he invited, with his waggling tail scattering a few salty blue droplets behind him as well.

Regardless of the gampr's response, Driftwood paddled himself in first one happy little circle and then a couple more before ducking briefly underwater. He poked playfully upward with a paw and observed the ripples with fascination. It took him a distracted minute or two before he remembered to check in again with Stockholm, but really, regardless of what the big wolfdog said or did, Driftwood found himself perfectly happy to bob and sport about in the waters for most of the remainder of the day— so long as he kept well clear of those dastardly crabs, and didn't venture too far from his beloved island's shores, here.
112 Posts
Ooc — Sabin
Offline
#12
Droman’s vehement backpedaling puzzles the Gampr, but…teenagers will be teenagers. He considers the situation for a moment, but careful analysis reveals that he and Driftwood haven’t done anything to offend the boy. Droman is Hemlock’s son, and Stockholm cares for him automatically as an extension of his affection for the green-eyed healer, but they’ve never really gotten to know each other all that well. A warm chuff serves as a farewell, and then he turns his attention to Driftwood with a glad bark as he, too, wades into the water and begins to paddle around. It’s immediately easy to see why Seelie speaks so fondly of the tawny Tauhou. She loves everyone, but Driftwood is especially likeable and easy to get along with.