Wheeling Gull Isle mashallah
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Ooc — Emily
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#1
Joining 
جزیرہ

the tide was low, so rehan wandered over the land bridge that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, rising above the waves. he gaped and looked around, fascinated at the beauty around him. it was the closest thing to walking beneath the surface, passing by shells and kelp, the occasional landed fish.

and the island before him was small and stout, but gorgeous all the same. there was no way he wasn't intruding on someone's home--who would balk at claiming this place? once his paws hit the beach, he took slow, ginger steps, sniffing around. . .and catching the strong scent of wolves nearby.

yes. . .yes, he was trespassing. the primal fear of retribution warred with his natural curiosity, with the latter winning out.

rehan let out a plaintive call, wondering who would answer it. truth be told, he was tired of wandering. he needed a place to rest his bones for a bit, and this isle was more than adequate, even if it wasn't meant to be a long stay. it was vastly different from everything he had known--

--but perhaps that was best.
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151 Posts
Ooc — Rachel
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#2
The gods had been kind to Komodo as of recent. Yes, life was simply splendid at this juncture of time and place! His vixen was utterly besotted with him, and he with her; he had made his peace with Coelacanth, one that was nearly 6 months in the making; the island was happy and healthy, and the titans of earth, wind, fire and water were quiet and complacent. His body felt strong and healthy while his ceremonies became more effective. Komodo was so deep inside of Perfectenschlag right then.

A call from the beaches nearest to the strand drew him forth, though he was not far away to begin with. The man often busied himself with roving the borders of the island and marking a tree here and there, never once forgetting Axolotl’s keen advice to avoid having his scent washed out with the tide. The spit of land, being the island that it was, had the most definable [and defendable] borders he had ever seen. There was only one entrance in and one exit out — the fact that the seawolves did not have a guardian consistently posted at the strand was a great act of trust towards all the wolves of the coast… but such was the zeitgeist of Seelie’s merry band of salty dogs.

The stranger was on their land, but Komodo did not make a fuss. The brute strode cooly forward, speaking in something between a bark and a drawl. “Yer in Undersea territory,” he noted and halted facing the man. “What kin ah’ do yah fer?” Hopefully this caller did not mean to disturb the peace he had so carefully brokered with the gods.
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Ooc — Emily
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#3

a big man--oohhhh, a big man--approached, looking cross. you're in undersea territory, was his grumbling greeting. rehan bowed his head, taking a few steps back, his tail sinking as low as it could possibly get.

"sorry, sorry," he murmured, crimson eyes flashing a sincere apology. "mujhe afsos hai, sahib." he swiped his tongue nervously over his jowls, knowing that the brute would not understand his language. well. . .damn. he shifted his weight in an awkward fashion, unsure of what to say for a long, troubled moment.

"undersea?" rehan queried, tilting his head slightly. "place name hai?" or perhaps their family name. "tired," he explained, a weary sigh escaping his lips. "hungry." he felt ashamed at the admission, and looked away, a dark sort of guilt suffusing his features.
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Ooc — Rachel
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#4
 The earthstalker’s eyes narrowed as the man shuffled nervously, admitting guilt in the [albeit broken] common tongue and then again in another language, one which was foreign to him. It still was of no real matter to him, but Komodo wished to see what the man did in such a situation — he figured he was here to ask about a home, and likely food, and as always Komodo proceeded with careful analysis. 

After a hardened moment of silence between them both, the man’s hardened expression softened and he let his tail relax between his hocks in a subtle show of deference. If he meant no hard to them, then the man had nothing to worry about. Komodo, the man who had once been Vedmak, knew this dance very well and this man was a quick study. Perhaps here the mottled brute was assuming duties and a role which no longer belonged to him, but it felt right and natural, so who was he to fight it?

“No worries brotha,” he drawled, punctuating the sentiment with a bourdon-deep chuckle. “We gat plenty.” Certainly he did not expect to be understood via words, for Komodo spoke but one language and a smattering of religious prayers gleaned from across the continent, but with any hope the stranger could read energy and intention and body language. If so, this would be made easy — for Komodo was quite skilled at communicating with voiceless things and finding meaning in places that were not language. He had done so with Coelacanth and his raven, so he knew how this was done. “Yeh, un-der-sea” he over-enunciated, doing his best to stymie his thick southern accent more than he was trying to lay out the complex pronunciation to the stranger. A thickset paw turned upwards and motioned towards himself.

“Ahm’ Komodo,” he introduced. “ ‘n yew are?”  
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#5

just as the man likely struggled to understand him, rehan struggled to understand the man. his ears moved as far forward as possible, but still, meaning was lost. the lines of confusion, frustration, were surely clear on his face; he tried to shake it all off--but it had been a long, difficult journey. he was tired and hungry.

and when your body and belly had given up, your spirit was soon to follow.

"ko-mo-do," the coywolf repeated gingerly, murmuring it to himself a couple of times. undersea. komodo. undersea. komodo. realizing that the other looked, well, expectant, rehan dragged himself out of the trance with a shiver, blinking rapidly before sheepishness overcame him. "ahhh, rehan," he answered--thought he was answering correctly? "rehan qadri."

his eyes were dull and plaintive as he stared at komodo. "i can stay?" he asked, sounding less like a hopeful child and more like a man on his way to the executioner.
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Ooc — Rachel
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#6
The man looked pitiful, Komodo would admit — but he simply appeared to be a wolf tired from travel, not diseased or broken or hurt. It was nothing that a little r & r could not remedy, though it had been some time since the angakkuq had practiced his healing medicines and he was itching to use his magic on someone soon, someday soon. The stranger, Rehan Quadri, must have sensed this and was quick on the uptake.

Komodo did his best to wrangle his prickly nature. He took a deep breath as the boy asked if he could stay — if this wolf though he was going to gain admittance into Undersea with as little information as he had just given, he had severely underestimated the once-vedmak. “Oy, hold on there, Ghandi,” he burled with a critical eye. “Yuh gonna take ‘vantage of our hearth ‘n home fur how long? Uh night 'er two? Yuh plannin’ on stayin’ or leavin’?” Surely this was a lot of words for the man’s foreign ears and tongue, and for a moment the brute contemplated how to convey this question in a nonverbal manner — but he came up short, so he decidedly would allow Rehan assume the hard work of discerning and understanding his meaning.   

But that wasn’t all. “An’ whare are y’frum?” he capped off his inquiry, trying to place the man’s thick accent. Somewhere far off, that was for sure.    
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Ooc — Emily
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#7

this was worse. this was much worse. the drawl was impenetrable; where he would have normally caught one in three words, he was only (at best) seizing one of five. his brows drew together as he struggled to piece together the meaning, trying to find the most relevant sentiments in the bunch, weeded out from the figurative language. haye allah.

"mountains," rehan responded, having picked up on the last question, at least. "north. i--" his throat closed with sudden nerves, and he grew angry at himself. had he not once been a powerful man? why was he now cowering before this (admittedly strong) wolf? he firmed his jaw, lifting his head to stare the other directly in the eye.

"i want a home," he said, punctuating each word, enunciating all syllables. "hunt. fight. care. all things i can do. i can stay." now it was not a question, but a statement of fact. there had to be dead weight floating around the island somewhere, someone they permitted to stay who didn't quite contribute. rehan was not that kind of soul.
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Ooc — Rachel
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#8
Komodo’s lips pressed into a contemplative line and he nodded his head curtly as the man [brokenly] stated his peace. Rehan communicated that he was skilled in all the areas of certain importance — hunting and fighting, though the latter was a skill rarely utilized upon the peaceful isle. A cursory glance over the man’s frame led him to believe these things to be true, hungry as the road-weary traveller might be. He did not have any reason turn this man away — not that he had wanted to anyways, but the avoidance of disappointing Seelie was a far greater motivating factor than helping out a mere stranger. If she caught wind that he had turned away a supplicant away from her sanctuary without just cause, the guilt just might be too much for the brute to bear. 

“Ahm frum th’north too,” Komodo stated amenably, “but ah ain’t neva heard uh language quite lack yers.” Again, Komodo knew this level of syntax was beyond the foreigner’s comprehension, but something compelled him to continue speaking in full, complex sentences. Some might call it a power move, but Komodo figured that this was how Rehan was going to have to learn, right? 

Komodo stepped closer and raised an eyebrow at the man before brushing up alongside him, komodo’s right meeting Rehan’s left, and then he circled around to achieve the same thing with the other side. He gave the man a good sniff — yep, smelled like Komodo. If Rehan came across any of the other seawolves, he wanted them to know that the incomprehensible stranger had his veritable seal of approval.  With a nod of approval at the work that had been done, Komodo backpedaled a step or two. 

“Al’right. If’n ahm gonna vouching fer yah, don’t fuck-up. Rest n’ recover. Fall’uh that trail” he stopped to gesture to a clearing that funneled creatures from the strand to the heart of the island. “and yuh’ll fine the caches and sum food. Yeah, ‘n don’t take too long tuh introduce yerself to Coelacanth. Lil’ ’n black; she’ll have uh job fer yah, er sumthin’.”

Figuring his duties here were all but done, Komodo did not want to linger. The brute actually turned away to leave the man to his own devices, but the acknowledgement of his own inhospitableness flashed across his consciousness. He was a man grown and likely did not need his hand held — nor did Komodo wish to provide such things to him. However, Komodo did turn back to Undersea’s newest Tauhou and awkwardly inquired “Y’injured, er ‘nything?” because he was a healer, and he needed to be doing his job if his services needed rendering.
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Ooc — Emily
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#9

he held his tongue, suddenly piqued and about to snap back that there were many cultures in the north apart from the man's own--but it wouldn't do to spit in the face of the one who had just welcomed him into his home. instead, rehan nodded, listening to the rest of what komodo had to say. he was about to depart when the man offered him yet another sentence of slurred tongue. all the coywolf caught was the word injured. . .but that was enough.

nahin, rehan responded, shaking his head. only in my soul. thank you, sahib. bahut shukriya. khuda hafiz. with a dip of his slim nose, he began to pad off toward where komodo had gestured, heading for the trees. he needed a drink of fresh water and a long slumber.

would the nightmares follow him to the island, too?