Gilded Bay you pinned me with your black sphere eyes

Any!

The ocean lapped lazily at the shore, drowning out the sound of thunder in the distance. The titan stood with his limbs buried in the sea. Each pull lured him deeper, until he stood in the water up to his belly, soaking his chest in the calm of it all. Ford knew that the waves would grow wilder with the threat of a storm, but underneath the surface of that wicked, lashing swell was a paradise that was visible only to the most skilled swimmers. He was fortunate to be one of them.

A breath fell from his lips and he pulled himself from the water to return to the shore. He would need to continue trekking. From what his father said, the bay he sought was nestled between high stone and a thick forest – his mother's forest. The bay where he stood was not what they had been destined for, but the titan still marveled at the great stretch of sea before him. In all his life, he had always been sure of where he belonged. Ford was as much a man of the water as those who had come before him. He had been tempered by it.

hope u don't mind me <3

originally, dalia had strayed from the ocean. it was too familiar, and she wanted to test her limits and push her boundaries-- as all birds leaving the nest do. but it was attractive to her, safe too, she felt comfortable along it. so, when she reached a mountain range, she turned back north and began to travel along the coast once more.

typically, her traveling brought her little. she hunted mostly crabs and, when closer inland, small game. it was more abundant and easier to catch than a deer(or something like) and dalia knew better than to be a picky eater. today, the ocean brought her everything it always did... 

and a wolf. 

she spotted him, a dark fellow around her age, his face with such peculiar markings... dalia almost couldn't help but stare. briefly, she was reminded of her encounter with drogon and his companion-- the pair that maimed her mother. her anxiety peaked, but only briefly-- dalia was not afraid. 

as he left the water, dalia took a few curious steps towards him, a foot pressed to her chest as she debated taking a final step forwards. her seafoam eyes observed him quietly, and after a few moments, she chuffed softly.

Not at all.

The call of a stranger broke him from this thoughts. Almost immediately, Ford drew his attention upward and latched his mismatched gaze on the shape of a girl. Her face shared a scattering of spots – like freckles – and her eyes glistened with the color of seafoam. There was hesitance in her posture, but he would not take advantage of that. She had approached him, after all; she must have needed something.

Leaving his prints in the sand, the inkhound closed some of the space between them with a few lengthy steps. Ford held himself at a calculated distance from her before he drew his skull upward and regarded the woman with a single quirked brow and a glistening jet black eye. “How may I help you?” the hound inquired in a tone so husky and deep that it seemed to have come from the darkest depths of the sea itself. There was a smokiness to him that didn't come from the ink in his coat. It was deeper – a smoke in the depths of his soul.

Ford lacked an air of danger, though. She was free to approach him at her own will. The titan stood far enough away that she should have known he meant no harm to her. After all, he was near to the water. There was no need for him to feel out of order in such a close proximity. It was where he belonged, after all.

he regarded her kindly-- at least, passively. his frame and demeanor suggested he was capable of something much crueler, but dalia reminded herself that appearances meant nothing, she too was capable of cruel things. his voice was gravelly-- deep but alluring. it fit him, his dark and striking figure. of course, surrounded by family her whole life dalia couldn't help but view him as any teenage girl would...

"you came from the ocean," dalia said, almost dumbly, but it wasn't all she had to say, "i haven't seen anyone along the coast in days, i just wanted to see who it was." her ears fell and then pricked, cupped forward. her paw, still held to her chest, lowered to the ground as she completed a final step towards him. "my name is dalia."

You came from the ocean...

As a youthful child, Ford would have laughed at such an obvious statement. Instead, a calculated smile curled the edges of his lips and he dipped his head into a nod for the girl. He had learned how to present himself well. The lapping of the waves had put a hunger within him. The titan turned back to peer at the waters, and for a moment there seemed to be a peculiar kind of fondness on his face. Though his eyes betrayed nothing, the body language he presented suggested that he belonged there.

“You should expect to see more along the coast soon enough,” the inkhound responded to her. It was their right to occupy the land beside the sea. They could not exist without it. They could not prosper with only their ties to the land. “My family and I will seek to settle here.” Not where they stood, of course, but he did not wish to elaborate further on that matter. Not that it needed more of an explanation; he wanted them to know his ambitions.

“I'm Ford,” he then offered, tucking her name away for later.

his family. the word was familiar, appealing, to dalia, who felt a stab of guilt for leaving her own. portia, she bet, was devastated... and she hoped dacio would be fine, she knew how he clung to her and her mother. dio, she imagined, was putting up a tough face. opalia and sequoia probably too. her gaze fell as his drifted to the ocean, but raised again when his own returned.

"you're forming a pack then," she said, implying that it was this yearling who would head it-- but who was to say it wasn't? and then, dalia did something bold, that she almost didn't expect herself to say. the coast, after all, was familiar. "is it family only?" she asked him, nose dipping gently, "i have vast knowledge of the ocean and it's wildlife-- and of healing." 

For a moment, the air had changed from one of caution into a state of interest that seemed to take hold of the titan and grip him tightly. It was in this crucial moment that he found himself latched to her, intent and unblinking. There was no emotion in the glimmer of his gaze. He was an active seeker of understanding, and so he processed her words without motion before finally breaking face.

The titan opted to crack his features into a rugged half-smile that tugged along the right side of his face and revealed a glistening white canine. So many questions, he thought to himself. As per usual, his inward reflections were not revealed. All of the chaos that ensued beneath the tepid surface was forced to remain there. Ford knew better than to reveal the beast that resided in the very same skin as he – so deep that it scraped against the marrow of his bones.

“I am,” he took the first question with a confident response and a sure nod.

“And I do not anticipate that we would be altogether successful if I limited our numbers to only family.” A lie, of course; Ford knew that the Cairn bloodline was more than enough to sustain a single pack. No, his goal was to charm the natives so that he could pull them beneath his wing. If there was one thing that his father had taught him, it was cold diplomacy. Skellige had created bonds with nearby backs, and Ford planned on perfecting that process.

There was a fleeting moment as the girl listed her strengths where the titan recognized something familiar. Without missing a beat, he reflected a fond expression and lowered his skull closer to the sands. “You remind me of my mother in that,” Ford said. “Your skills would be more than helpful, if you're certain you wish to pledge yourself.”

where so much remained below ford's surface, very little was hiding beneath dalia's skin. her own guilt for leaving her family, but that was it. and it was so shallow you could practically scratch the surface and reveal it. dalia was, as portia always was, an open book. her mother had taught her many things, but to be forward and get what you want had always been lesson number two-- right after how to be a lady. 

as a grin cracked across his features, a smile fell upon hers, ears tilting inwards gently as he spoke. "our mothers would get along well," she told him, her tail waving a few times at her ankles. "i pledged myself to the ocean the day i was born," she said, remembering so fondly early days in her childhood she spent along the coast, "you literally came up to me from the ocean." it was a joke, but after she said it dalia wondered how well this guy took jokes... so she tacked on with a gentle dip of her head, "i am certain i would like to pledge myself." after all, staying on the coast would be ideal...

It was peculiar that two creatures of such opposite mindsets would find themselves in such a situation. One as genuine as Dalia did not seem to belong under the rule of the guarded inkhound. She – so open with her thoughts – and he – so ruled by pragmatism and yet so cold. So early in the stages of his claim, Ford knew better than to turn away good candidates like herself. After all, she had pledged herself to the sea. He would find himself fortunate if he could fill his ranks with others like her.

Again, she reflected how he had come to her from the swell. The titan did not disagree, for he believed that he had been birthed by the sea itself and that he was as much a part of it as it was of him. They seemed to fit well together. Ford did smile fondly at her comment, bowing his head to her as a show of thanks. “Very well then,” he agreed in a quiet rumble. “We have a path of difficult work ahead of us, but it will be good to add you to our numbers. My brothers shouldn't be far behind,” he turned his crown to glance down the coast.

Then, the inkhound returned his gaze to her for a moment before gesturing in the opposite direction. “The land I will claim should be on the other side of those cliffs.”

All of his mother and father's stories filled his head. He had never walked along the beaches of the Teekon Wilds, but he knew them well from tales passed down. In time, he knew that he would become more familiar with them than he had been for his own home. In that, there was a modicum of sadness, but he knew that he was fated to fulfill his duty. There was no honor in a pampered life. Ford was only pleased that his siblings had followed.

if dalia had made a fatal error in her decision to so blindly trust this wolf... she did not consider it. to her, this was her perfect idea of being spontaneous and... well, making a life for herself. outside of drageda and out from underneath her mothers slender shadow. if this was not the right path to take, she could not see it.

she followed his gaze, beyond the cliffs, hoping he didn't mean too far beyond the cliffs. any further and she would have to take off-- she could not risk being too close to home. "should?" dalia asked, noting his word choice curiously. the question didn't need anymore words, what did he mean should? had someone else told him about it, or was he merely saying whatever was on the other side of those cliffs would be their home. dalia liked the idea of cliffs-- they were familiar. 

oh, but she liked the idea of anything familiar. what was the point of leaving, anyhow, if she was just going to search for drageda in every place she went?

The speckled female echoed a single word. Ford pulled his gaze from the seaside and focused back on her features, ready to read any signs she would show him. It might have seemed odd to her that he would not know the entirety of what he sought to claim. Of course, there were some things that were better known in spirit than in actuality. Ford had aimed to accomplish both; Dalia had merely stepped into his line of sight a bit early on.

The titan's features were changed to show an expression of thoughtfulness. “Should, yes,” he confirmed with a swift nod of his skull. Then, he latched his sights onto her and aimed to captivate her with his burning stare. Sentiment seemed to have weighed heavily with her, as she had associated her own mother with his. Finding common ground was imperative, he knew. So, the titan made an effort to share what he could without overwhelming her with their customs.

“My father claimed the bay some years before. He met my mother in the wood beside it. Though he had to return home, she followed after him and they made a family. Now, it is my turn to reclaim the land that was intended for us,” he offered her in explanation. Then, he wavered his tail twice and his features turned upward in a ghostly smile that never reached his eyes. “I have heard only stories of these lands, but if I know my father's word then the bay should rest just beyond those cliffs.”

and captivate her he did. his stare was, quite intensely, burning, and it was so much stronger than her sweet, cool, gaze, and so her own will to look elsewhere was easily overtaken. he held her gaze, thinking, and dalia used the time to search his eyes, his expression. how different he was from every wolf she'd ever met. perhaps, if anyone, she could compare his solemnness to that of her commander, but heda was never this intense. 

dalia quite liked the difference. 

his story was meaningful. neither portia nor dio (from her memory) had ever told her an origin story so touching. she couldn't say heartwarming, necessarily, but something about returning to your parents homeland to continue what they starting was, in fact, touching. dalia felt sour, briefly, remembering she herself could never have that sort of pull back to drageda anyhow. her time there was cut shut-- indefinitely. 

"that's quite the beckoning," dalia purled, her eyes glimmering, "i'm sure you'll find the land." mostly because the coast was not so hard to navigate. there was up and there was down, beyond cliffs and cliffs. and ford seemed so sure of his father-- who was dalia to doubt him?

That had done it, at least as well as he had hoped it would. It seemed as though she found herself pulled in by the story of his family and how they had come to be. Of course, he had purposefully left out the portions about his half siblings and the looming threat of war. She needn't know that his father had ruled as a vicious king of war. She need only know that there was purpose in his actions, and the actions of his siblings. The more of a story he crafted, the more likely it was that she would feel inclined to remain with them.

Time would give him what he wanted; more understanding of her. Ford wasn't social for the typical benefits of being social, no. The titan was a social creature simply so that he could learn the behaviors of others. Once learned, they were far easier to adjust... with the right words.

“Of course, with a little help from you,” he agreed, adjusting his tone to reflect a pleasant confidence. The ghostly smile that lingered on his dark lips was dangerous, but not obviously so. To most, it would appear that he was simply a charmer in search of some lost home that supposedly bore the mark of his father and mother. To those who were well trained in the art of roguish deception, he was a skilled brute luring in what he needed to succeed.

“Shall we?” the swarthy titan inquired with a motion of his skull. Still, his mismatched gaze remained intently upon her features.

her stomach twisted at his words, in a way much different than she'd ever felt before. it didn't feel like illness, and it was different than that horrible feeling in her gut when she'd encountered those two blackfeather males. this was... just a strange sensation, and she could've sworn it made her heart beat faster. 

"of course," she said, tilting her freckled crown forwards in a gentle dip. and then, as he motioned motioned to leave, gaze still locked upon her, dalia nodded again, this time not speaking. it went unsaid, she was following. and so they went.

She was with him.

That was all that mattered in that moment. Time would make other things more important, but he had gathered his first and they had only just begun there. How easy it was, he'd thought to himself. How could his father have made it out to be so challenging? Though, when Ford thought about the indomitable Skellige, he knew that the numbers he must have gathered were true and believed him to be a fit leader. In that, he could admire his brutish father.

They trekked down the coast for hours, sometimes in silence and other times in polite conversation. The titan never gave away too much, but always appeared perfectly intent to listen to her. It was far better to have her talk than to force her to endure what he would have to offer. The further they wandered, the better he felt about having garnered her pledge. She would be the first of many, he knew.