Cerulean Cape who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

"This isn't far from where we ran into each other, I don't think," Bat mused, squinting inland. She looked the part of a marine mammal as she stood in the surf at the point of the cape, her pelt glistening wetly beneath the June sun. She could feel salt crusting on her pale underside and in the prickly fur at her nape. It wasn't an unwelcome sensation.

Her silver eyes caught @Tristan's for a beat, a smile playing across her lips, before she turned to gaze out over the water. This was quite the seaside destination, much more welcoming than the sea cliffs where she'd been born (they'd given Drageda's former stomping grounds a wide berth). The waters here were bluer and clearer than any she'd ever seen; she could see fish darting over the sifting sands beneath the small waves.

Saltwater sloshing around her banded heels as the tide ebbed and flowed, Bat waded closer to her friend and asked, "So? Have you found any of your beloved crabs?"

With no final destination in mind, Breccan was free to wander where he pleased. This had been overwhelming at first; therefore, he had initially stuck to the familiar path his family had traversed from Lost Creek Hollow to Heron Lake Plateau. About halfway through the journey, though, he began to relax and enjoy himself, and that's when he decided to veer off his unofficial roadmap.

From the field of wildflowers where he had camped out a few days prior, he had been able to detect an unfamiliar, salty tang in the breeze. He had followed his nose and had been rewarded with his first sight of the open ocean. It was awe-inspiring and strange, from the sand to the water to the seagulls circling overhead. Slowly, he traveled up the coastline, simply taking it all in.

As he approached a river making its way out to sea, he became aware of a pair of wolves in the distance. He continued to draw nearer to them, crossing the small tributary with ease, although he didn't call out to them just yet; he was still inexperienced when it came to interacting with unfamiliar wolves, and erred on the side of caution in case these two turned out to be unfriendly.

oh yeah? said tristan as he looked around before adding, yeah -- i guess you're right. truth be told, though, tristan didn't actually recall any of that. whoops. he'd keep that to himself. 

as her eyes caught his, tristan found his own gaze darting away back towards the ocean, tail flicking as she began to ask him a question. oh -- yeah i've seen a few, but i haven't seen the right c r a b, returned tristan, looking back at her still-damp fur as it shimmered a bit in the summer sun, i'll get you a good one when i see it. and then, a question curbed it's way right into the conversation, with a big fat ASK ME as it butted it's way into tristan's intrusive thoughts. 

how do you still like-- water, he was gonna say, but as he caught sight of some fucker waltzing through the background, he was cut short. ayo, called out tristan, what's good, man? it wasn't threatening, just a little demanding of information. like, why was he just staring at them? bro?

She arched a brow in response, intrigued by these mysterious crabs and whatever they meant to Tristan. He began to ask her a question and her head tilted, though her silver eyes suddenly flicked away from his face to a point beyond his shoulder. There was a stranger approaching them. He looked like a fellow yearling, with a broad chest and fairly standard coloring, save his burnt orange eyes. There was something vaguely familiar about him. Bat was about to call out to him when Tristan beat her to the punch.

Before the newcomer could possibly answer, Bat blurted, "Are you from the hollow? Lost Creek Hollow?" She strode forward onto the sandy beach, shaking the saltwater from her coat and peering curiously at the brown wolf.

He had half a mind to keep going without stopping to acknowledge the strangers, but they were soon alerted to his presence. The larger of the two called out to him first, and he paused briefly, then moved to continue his forward motion. Breccan was very surprised when the female abruptly asked him about his place of origin, though. The male wolf's friendly-enough greeting was quickly forgotten in the wake of the girl's query.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, coming to a halt even as she closed the distance between them. Both of the strangers were grey-pelted -- he couldn't help but compare the guy to his grandma Finley, which was weird and he shook it off quickly -- and the she-wolf's coat was interestingly patterned, but he didn't recognize either of them. Who was she, and how did she know he came from Lost Creek Hollow?

He lobbed a question of his own in her direction. "Are you? From the hollow, I mean?"

tristan sort of backed off a bit when bat seemed to fly headfirst into something about the hollow. it brought up some pretty dirty thoughts... like, how she’d almost died. and how then she left him to go back there... a few things. he tried to knock em back down, but tristan would be damned it he’d ever really, truly forgive bat for doing that. was it water under the bridge? sure, he wouldn’t bring it up, but the memory still stung. 

his ear flicked when the guy said he was from the hollow... leaving tristan to wonder if bat had met him there. i’m from a plateau west of here, he commented idly with a shrug, did you leave?

He seemed a little taken aback by her question, though he quickly recovered and bounced it back to her. "I thought so! And no, though I stayed there a couple times..." Bat suddenly remembered that this might be a sore spot for Tristan and shot him a guilty glance and a quick, apologetic smile. Facing the new arrival, she added, "I think I saw you in passing, though we've never met. I'm Bat."

In that opening she left for his introduction, Tristan threw in a few words of his own. It surprised her when he mentioned the plateau, if only because she'd thought he'd more or less divorced himself from his past. Maybe she could ask him about it later (or not), though presently she looked to their new acquaintance curiously. They were a long way from Lost Creek Hollow; was he a fellow ranger?

The girl revealed that she wasn't from the hollow, exactly, but had stayed there once or twice. This statement tickled something in Breccan's memory, and he thought he vaguely remembered hearing about someone seeking shelter with them for a short while, although he wasn't sure of the circumstances. Either way, he had never interacted with her, so this was the first time he had laid eyes on her.

She introduced herself as Bat, and her companion didn't offer a name but mentioned a plateau. Breccan wondered if it was the plateau where his grandparents had lived -- where he and his family had briefly stayed before moving to the glade -- but opted not to mention it. There could be plenty of other plateaus in that direction, and besides, he really didn't think that it would be possible for there to be another connection between himself and these two travelers.

"I'm Breccan," he replied simply, then answered Bat's friend's question. "Yeah, I left. My family actually doesn't live at the hollow anymore at all, but when they moved, I decided to take off on my own," he said. It was true enough, though lacking details that didn't seem important right now.

look tristan didn't say the name of the plateau -- there could've been millions of plateaus west of here. but fine, reader/writer bias or whatever, tristan gets it. it wasn't like he could ever really leave behind his past -- he had a fuckin stripe running down his back. 

oh, and then everyone was introducing themselves. shit lol. tristan chimed in rather smoothly either way, tristan, he said with a flick of his ear, and then looked between the two as breccan described his backstory. the lonely demon that plagued tristan's day to day spoke up for him, you could travel with us if you want. i know what it's like to wanna be out on your own but... company is cool too. he was immediately quiet after that -- why would he suggest that? he had bat with him to curb his loneliness. 

ugh. you just can't keep a pack wolf from doing pack things. tristan would be a big fat liar if he claimed he didn't miss living in a pack.

His tone didn't indicate much emotion, so Bat couldn't tell if his dispersal was a happy or sad thing. But she could definitely relate. She shot him what she hoped was a companionable smile. Before Bat could say anything else, Tristan spoke up, offering his name and then an unexpected invitation.

She blinked. She was enjoying traveling alone with Tristan and was a little sad to think it might come to an end so abruptly. But Breccan seemed cool so far, so maybe having him along would be fun. He was their age, so surely they would all get along and enjoy each other's company. She wondered if he would be at all inclined to accept.

"Yeah, you could come hang," she tacked on, then added thoughtfully, "unless you had other plans?" It was totally possible Breccan wasn't just wandering for the sake of it and had some sort of destination in mind. Bat was very curious.

A moment later, the other male offered his own name and followed it with an offer for Breccan to join them. He was surprised to receive an invitation so quickly -- they didn't know him at all, but he supposed it was possibly just because they were all of a similar age. Maybe they would have more in common than that, once they became more familiar with each other.

Bat echoed Tristan's sentiment, although she made sure to mention that he didn't have to feel obligated to do so if he had something else in mind. He didn't have a plan, exactly -- just to look for Nuna, now that he had found Ibis -- and some companionship would be nice, but he realized that he wasn't quite ready to settle down with anyone. Had that been the case, he likely would have stuck around with Ibis instead of continuing his journey by himself.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," he said, flexing his toes in the sand as he spoke. "I need to head inland and look for a friend of mine, but maybe I'll come meet up with you guys in a few weeks. Are you staying around the coast, or where are you headed?" he asked.

dope, returned tristan like it made real true sense to everyone around him -- it would to bat, at least. he was really just acknowledging the dude's wishes... cause like, what did he expect? he just met this guy. ah, maybe he somehow figured bat knew him better. even though clearly they didn't know each other? look, i don't know, i'm rusty. i haven't written for this fucker for real in a few weeks. 

and then the yearling (wait he's totally not a yearling anymore whoops) nodded with a grin. i think so? we're mostly just exploring, but i think we're keep the area a home base. which was true shit.

Just as she'd suspected, Breccan had other plans, though he said he might meet up with them in the future. While Tristan handled the yearling's question, Bat's attention was caught by movement out on the water. She squinted. Was that a pod of whales? She didn't even hear Tristan's reply as her heart leaped.

"Guys, look! I think those are whales or whatever?!" She only knew about whales from her mother (may she rest in peace); she'd once asked about the meaning of her given name. What Bat didn't realize was it was actually a pod of bottle nose dolphins. "Whoa!" she practically yelped when one of the gleaming, streamlined mammals arced up out of the water, only to vanish an instant later.

Tristan confirmed that he and Bat planned to stay relatively close to the coast, and Breccan nodded as he stored that information in his mind. He would be back, surely; he didn't know what the coming weeks would hold for him, but it would be easy to return to this area if he wanted. Many things in his life were a big question mark at this point, and he couldn't say he minded it.

"Cool," Breccan replied, his vernacular less remarkable than Tristan's, although he suspected that "dope" was the equivalent of "cool." There was a sudden shout from Bat, and he looked in the direction she indicated, his gaze skimming over the waves and out to sea. In the distance, some huge, strange-looking fish leapt above the whitecaps, and Breccan sucked in his breath. "Wow," he breathed, his attention captured as he had never seen whales before -- and even though they were actually dolphins, he took Bat's word.

After watching the "whales" for a bit longer, the trio parted ways. As Breccan continued his way down the strand, he found himself hoping that he would run into Bat and Tristan again soon.