Wheeling Gull Isle and what is it you say to them?

@Strand! I'm a little rusty with him so please excuse this starter. || April 14th

He knew the lands still despite the obvious changes that had occurred here. His stocky form brushed through obstacles as he attempted to make his way out to the tide pools in the evening light. It was there he would find himself a meal. Hopefully. His fishing was no doubt a rusty skill by now but perhaps it wouldn't be out of the question for him to catch something small.

Of course, he had not-so-smartly given himself very little useful time to work with. The clouds seemed to attempt to block out any sunlight left for the day. Illusions on the water would certainly be something he would have to consider from the casting of shadows.

He was not exactly making this easy on himself.

Strand was patrolling around the island, something she had taken to doing once her shoulder had healed enough to allow her to walk semi-normally. In the fading light, she strained her eyes, searching the beach for anything—or anyone—that didn’t belong. She didn’t expect to find anyone. This island didn’t seem very popular. She wandered along, ignoring the ache in her shoulder from probably too much exercise too soon after her injury. Soon, she came to the tide pools—and saw an unknown male wolf walking among them. The fur on the back of her neck rose. Without realizing why, she was incredibly leery of this male, simply for the fact that he was a male. It had been a male who had attacked her—yet… With a sigh, she forced herself to relax. It had also been a male who had rescued her. No, she wouldn’t automatically assume the worst in this man. Still… he was trespassing on what she believed to be her island, and he would have to be dealt with.

“Oi!” she called, marching closer to him. “Those are my tide pools. Actually, this is my island. So what are you doing on it?”

A voice cut through the sound of waves and birds. Sharp and questioning. His head turned to catch a look at the stranger. The one who so boldly said this was their place.

I used to live here. He answered easily and honestly. I thought it was completely abandoned though. Undersea seems to be no more. It was an observation he didn’t linger further on. For the time being, he didn’t want to know what had become of the former pack. If it was tragedy he knew his heart was not prepared to hear about it. He would attempt to keep his head less frazzled for as long as possible.

Do you fish? He asked as he looked back towards her once more, silver gaze lingering respectfully. Perhaps he could make some sort of acquaintance with the one who supposedly claimed this island now.

’I used to live here.’

Strand bristled at these words, standing taller with her chin jutted out. “Well, I live here now,” she snapped, trying to assert some kind of dominance like the stupid teenager she was. It wasn’t as if she had any real claim to the island. She didn’t have the numbers for that. Not yet, anyways…

’Undersea seems to be no more.’

“Undersea?” she repeated, feeling even more uneasy. “What’s that? Your pack?” She had to assume that’s what he meant because, well, what else could he be talking about? She looked around as if she expected to see wolves pop up out of the sand and from beneath the waves to try and steal the island from her. “They’re gone now, whoever they were. It’s not my problem that they left and if they come back, they’ll take this island over my dead body.”

Now that she had gotten that out of the way, she stepped towards him. He wanted to know if she fished. “Of course I do!” she said, puffing out her chest. In truth, she was terrible at fishing and hadn’t had much chance to practice what with her wounded shoulder. But… well, there was no time like the present! Besides, she couldn’t let this male think her a fool. She’d have to get lucky and catch a fish quickly and pretend that she’d known what she was doing the whole time. This would be… interesting.

Yes. Used to be. He didn't bother getting into the logistics of how it wasn't really his. That felt like a pointless conversation. However her next string of sharp words caused a bitterness to form in his mind. He would do his best to bite it back for now. Rokig had come here in hopes of some kind of healing, not duking it out because of mixed ideas.

Fishing could soothe him though. It was a topic he was willing to discuss with everyone. Perhaps you could help me brush up my fishing skills? It's been a while. He admitted a bit sorely.

Sorry for the wait! I’ve been sick!

Mm. Well. He didn’t seem keen to argue with her about the fact that the island belonged to her now. That was good, or she’d have to get physical with him. His next words, though, made her skin prickle beneath her fur. He wanted fishing tips? From her? Oh, man. Now she was wishing she had never lied and told him she knew how to fish like she was some kind of expert. He would expect her to know what the hell she was doing now! She groaned internally, her face betraying nervousness and embarrassment, ears swiveling back against her head for a moment as she tried to regain her composure. “Uhhh…” she began, looking around as she desperately attempted to remember anything she had learned about fishing.

“Come on!” she called suddenly, turned and making her way into the water. “You won’t learn much if you’re not in the water!” She waded in so that she was knee-deep in and stared down at the water in front of her. “Um…” Think, think, think! What had she learned about this. “Well, the first thing is that you can’t move around a lot.” That was true. She remembered her first crappy attempts at fishing, flailing in the water and trying to chase the fish as the waves battered her around. “The fish are much faster so there’s no point trying to chase after them if they get away. You just have to hold still and wait for them to come to you.” She was feeling a bit more confident now, but still nervous, since she’d have to put her money where her mouth was and prove that she could actually catch something.

no problem! hope you feel better :)

Her tips were basic but true. He had to wonder how much she had fished in the past or how dull on the topic of fishing he seemed. Either way, he had asked and he had received.

With care he waded into the water. Perhaps if he didn't disrupt the water too much with his awkwardly built form they would both have good luck in catching something. I'm happy to split whatever I catch with you, if you'd like. A thank you for letting me fish on your island. He offered softly as his silver eyes focused on the water. He would have to actually catch anything in order to split anything with the blonde wolf.

Somewhere under the surface there was a quick glimmer of scales and yet he couldn't bring himself to make the move. Politeness? Nervousness? Something had rendered the former Seawolf frozen.

SORRY. It's been a busy week. Oof.

Strand’s chest swelled with pride—and ego—when the male mentioned fishing on her island. “Yeah,” she said, “that sounds good.” She was referring to them sharing whatever they caught. Strand might be egotistical but she wasn’t a complete ass. The male had done nothing to offend her and had accepted that the island was hers, so sharing food was the least she could do in return for his deference.

She stood still in the water beside him and soon enough, a fish swam close enough for her to see it. She glanced at the silvery male out of the corner of her eye but he made no move to catch it. Mentally shrugging, she lunged down at the fish near his legs—and completely missed. The fish darted away quickly, moving out of reach faster than she could blink almost. She pulled her face out of the water and said, “Fuck.”

He thought nothing of the miss that had occurred. It happened, especially with such tricky creatures. Yet the curse that rolled off his companion's tongue seemed to hint that maybe she thought more of it than he had.

He moved over some to give her move space and, hopefully, widen their fishing pool some more. It took time for the water to settle enough again for anything to feel safe this way. He was determined to not freeze up this time. So he lunged when he saw the familiar glimmer under the surface. Except he had grabbed it by the rear, most certainly not enough to kill the thing. Awkwardly he flung it back towards the land where it would probably be forced to flop until it lost air.

Mildly embarrassing for both him and the fish.

Strand felt a bit better about herself after watching the male’s embarrassing attempt. He’d still caught something, though, which was better than what she’d done. She nodded to herself and turned back to the water, focusing. He’d given her more room. She didn’t know if that would help, but it couldn’t hurt, right? It took a while for another fish to swim close enough. All the movement from before seemed to have scared them off momentarily. Just as she was getting bored, a silvery form swam close to her legs and she lunged for it without thinking. Her teeth sank into its form and she tasted blood. Euphoria rushed through her body as she pulled her head up out of the water, and she looked over at the male and wagged her tail widely before turning to drop her catch in the sand.

She made her way back to the water, her legs and paws completely numb where the cold had seeped into them. "Wanna try for one more?" she asked.

He hadn't even seen the fish, too busy tending to a softly bruised ego after his awkward catch. Needless to say, he was rusty. Time away from the ocean had dulled the skills he once honed with hard work and confidence.

Whatever though. Surely he could pick back up where he'd left off soon enough.

Silver eyes glanced between the water and his blonde companion as she asked a question. Did he want to embarrass himself again? No, but he did want some more fish to take back inland. His shoulders rolled and words followed. Yeah why not.