Gilded Bay Oceans don’t speak to each other, they just wave

all welcome!

Gracious’ entry into Margaritaville was quite exciting for her. She now had a place to call home, along with wolves to call her packmates (and hopefully family). Tristan was clear with his run through with her about borders and duties and such, though Gracious wanted to simply explore other lands a bit. 

Walking from the grove for a little, she found herself in a bay. The crystal sand was washed with the blue water as the tide would pull in and out, though it appeared it was at its low point. Curiously, she trotted closer, noticing the spires and pools that came into viewpoint. It was a peculiar location, one that looked full of a mysterious sense of beauty.

She was only a few feet away from the spires and pools now, seeing little creatures swimming about in their traps and crevices of the small pools and rocks. Gracious gently stuck her muzzle in between one of the rock crevices, inhaling the salty scent and enjoying the sudden break from the coastal breeze.

The new generation of Blackthorns would have to wait few months, until they were old enough (and manageable enough) to be shown the ocean. Such a wonderful place, so near the Firebirds' nest. Easy to reach for a grown up wolf, yet not so much for a bunch of nearly-teenagers. Each of whom had different interests in mind. For instance, Wraen was sure that Sugar Glider would bail out on them, by finding something more exciting along the way or deciding mid-way that she did not wish to go anywhere. Pox would soon be on a mission of his own, dragging Crow and Avery with him. Elfie would try to act as an adult and cooler than everyone and thus annoy the rest of the party immensely. And if that was not bad enough, she had no idea, what would Colts offspring and Weejay (if left outside at all) would come up with. Eight puppies were a handful to manage at such a small place as copse. An excursion outside with all of them... oh, dear...

Therefore she was glad to leave the pandemonium behind and - who knew - maybe it was for the last time really that she treaded the coastal lands on her own. Gilded bay had proven to be a valuable place to stop by for a quick sea-food snack and she was not entirely surprised to find another customer there already. "Good day!" she greeted the other in passing, voice cheerful and a small nick of her muzzle. She went to explore the contents of the nearest pool and fished out a small crab.

She noted little growths between the rock crevices, mussels and such. However, Gracious did see what appeared to be a stranded fish. Flopping about on the wet sand, the monochrome woman quickly grabbed ahold of it and gave it a swift crunch.

It was slick in her grip, though she managed to find a good way to hold her fish between her jaws. A joyous voice behind her greeted her warmly, causing Gracious to turn and search for a face. The other hunter had caught herself what appeared to be a shelled creature, snippy and sharp.

“Good day to you too,” Gracious said after placing her kill down and watching the stranger with gentle eyes, “find anything tasty?”

"Tasty and feisty and not worth much of effort," Wraen explained, when the little crab had not shown adequate willigness to become her lunch and after shaking his claws angrily at her shuffled away. She let him (or her) go, watching it amble towards the shore-line and being taken away in the ocean by a wave.

"I see that you are up for a more solid catch," she pointed to the fish by the other's feet. "Let's see, what we have here," she went over to the next pool and worked through it's contents and paused briefly to look at the lady and introduce herself. "Name's Wraen from Firebirds," she said. "Who do I have pleasure of dining with?"

Gracious watched her gently, seeing the shelled creature be set down before scuttling away. When it washed itself away with the tide, Gracious let out a gentle chuckle. "Silly little things, aren't they?" she asked, though changed her attention to the lady in front of her. She nodded her head, fish seemed to be much easier to work with than the other mollusks that are laying about; how can one even intend to open such hard-shelled creatures?

Gracious would eventually understand once she adjusted to her seawater life. She nibbled at her fish, though paused at the mention of the other's name. Wraen, hailing from the Firebirds -- now that sounded pretty epic. The greyscale woman nodded her head to show she was listening, then offered her own name as a response. "Gracious, I come from Margaritaville." Her own pack name sounded silly to say, but perhaps it represented the same youthful and silly energy Tristan has. "I haven't heard of your pack before, where are you guys based?" she asked with gentle curiosity.

Margaritteville sounded just as epic on a one-sandwich-short-of-picnic scale. Wraen waited a little for "Bazinga!" to follow, but, when it did not, she smiled and said very diplomatically: "Is this a new pack? I knew that there were quite a few settlers along the coast, but you are definitely a novelty." After saying that she thought to herself that fire-and-birds was just a teeny bit better. In real life those two did not mix together.

"Ah, we are a tad bit too far away for me to point, but it is in the general direction of there," she beckoned towards the distant mountain range on the East. "There are a lot of forests there and we have claimed one small corner of it," she added.

so sorry for the late reply!

“It is, just a few members for now, but we hope to grow more. It’s a bit of a trail down the shoreline, but we’re there.” Her tone was hopeful when she spoke of Margaritaville, she wanted it to be something others knew about. And she wanted it to be something that would grow. As for the others in the near area, Gracious felt curious. “I haven’t met really any of the other packs that inhabit near the ocean yet. It may be time to introduce ourselves.”

As for Wraen’s pack, Gracious followed the other’s general point and noticed the mountain range. Then below, something she couldn’t see too well, the forests that seemingly engulfed the bottom. It looked fresh and welcoming, and a bit far. “What made you venture so far from home, Wraen?”

Wraen made a mental note to tell Colt about this new development on the coast. Not that it would matter too much, because - as Gracious had already pointed out - there was quite a bit of land stretched between one place and the other. Not much to argue about, but it was always good to know, where your potential competition or enemies resided, right?

"Oh, that's not far at all," she shook her head. "I am being resourceful. With many mouths to feed no distance can be too far to run to bring food home," she said, but there was a little tired undertone as she did this, indicating that this was neither the first, nor the last long journey she had made in the name of good of her pack. 

"Or to take those mouths here. The size of my stomach is not infinite, if you know, what I mean," she added knowingly.

The talk of having to feed others made Gracious perk an ear. Could Wraen be a mother to her own kin, or just a kind friend offering to grab more? She felt like asking, though a little bit, Gracious didn't want to seem rude and intrusive. She made an affirmative nod though during the conversation of not having a large stomach to take so much food over. It took a certain kind of wolf to harbor food only to give it all up for the young. "You're a hardworking woman," she said kindly, "I hope your family treasures you and your willingness to help." She wondered about the kind of role model Wraen would make herself out to be with these little ones.

Seemingly without a second thought, Gracious picked up her fish that she barely picked at and walked it closer to Wraen. With a gentle mouth, she drops it by the other woman's paws. "The little red devils out here won't fill up your belly, but perhaps this will." In the end, her kindness would eat away at her and get her taken advantage of, but until then, Gracious would always have her giving heart.

Wraen felt a little awkward, when Gracious kindly gave up her own lunch for children that she did not know at all. There had been no intention to pry or beg, when she had told about her home, and even though you should never turn away a gift, it still did not sit entirely well. Food was hard to come by in the wilds, she would not want the other wolf to suffer later. 

"Tell you what - you eat a half and I will bring half home. I can't guarantee that those brats won't scrunch their noses, when a fish has been presented to them. They smell funny," she winked in good-natured humour. After the fish was split evenly between them, Wraen ate her half. All was well, until something grazed uncomfortably against her teeth and she spat out a little stone. 

"Well - that's a first," she remarked, looking down at the thing then up at Gracious. "Did you get just as lucky?"

It was a generous idea to give, even more so to share what is being given. Gracious would remember this action for as long as she would remember Wraen. At the offer, the she-wolf merely nodded and ate her part of the fish. The two ate in what felt to be a peaceful lunch, though Wraen was quick to pick something out of her meal. Gracious felt befuddled, she had yet to discover anything out of the ordinary.

”I’m only having bones over here,” she replied, scrunching up here nose slightly and running her to glue over her teeth in order to remove a bone that had gotten lodged between two of her teeth, “perhaps this fish wasn’t the brightest and ate a rock on accident.”

After she finished hers, Gracious looked over the bay only for a quick moment. As she gazed, she thought about her place her right on the ocean. She hoped it would do her nicely. Though, she realized it was rude to doze off in thought and returned her gaze to Wraen. “I ought to let you go, fish goes bad the same way meat does if let out for too long. And I’m sure your little ones are begging to have you home with them.”

She’s gentle with the way she speaks, she doesn’t mean for it to sound like she wants her to leave, but Gracious doesn’t want to hold someone here if they’re on a mission of some sort.

Wraen did not think that anything would go afoul with the fish now that it was conserving itself in her belly. However, she noticed that for the second time the other wolf tried to politely excuse herself from her company (that's, what she read at least) and decided not to ignore it and push for more.

"I think I will," she got to her feet, stretched and prepared to leave. "If you happen to move to the southern parts of the hinterlands, then stop by and to say "hello"," she invited the other to visit and after hearing, what Gracious had to say, began her way back home.