Wheeling Gull Isle felt your heart

— he’s exploring some fishing traps on the northwestern corner of the island. attn: @Haoming, other tags are for reference.

huojin walked away from pride rock with newfound curiosity about their island, though he was careful to keep some distance between himself and the ocean. his destination today were the tidepools within sight of the den, the same place @Aiolos brought him on their first journey together.

they were farther than he’d expected, but that was okay; it gave him time to stretch his limbs and enjoy the silence of solitude away from his parents. 

he did eventually reach the pools, where he began sniffing at the strange, poorly kept holes dug into the ground around them.

Ironically, the spotted girl was looking for the red boy around the place she'd met him last. He was nice, to give her that rock, after all (she still kept it, hidden in the beginning of a little packrat stash she'd decided to make underneath a cubby hole of a tree on the west side of the island.) So, she had decided to return the favor. 

A pink shell held beneath her jaws, tiny and fragile and she was trying her best not to break it. But it was pretty, and maybe he'd like it. 

But he was not at the rock, as she'd hoped. Fortunately, he was easy to spot when she got up high enough - a splash of red out near the tide pools. Haoming wagged her tail and trotted out to him, ears angling toward the pools of water. She sat the tiny shell on top of her forepaw. 

"W-wha-what you duh-doing?" she asked, deciding on common tongue for now. It seemed to be the one most of the wolves knew, after all.

unfortunately, huojin’s common wasn’t very good, and haoming’s slight stutter didn’t help him to understand. he processed her words for a moment, then replied, fish. there weren’t any creatures in the first two traps he’d checked, much to his disappointment.

the slight reflection of sunlight onto the seashell caught his attention, prompting the question: what? huojin knew of seashells, but had never wandered close enough to examine one for himself. was haoming willing to share?

Oh, he seemed to be having a harder time with common tongue than most people did. Maybe he spoke her mother's language instead? It was worth a shot. "W-w xih-huān yú," she responded, then her attention was brought back to the seashell she'd brought. 

"Oh!" she realized, nudging it toward the boy, tail waving behind her. She wondered if he even remembered giving her the rock. "Wèile nuh-ni!"

我也是, huojin agreed, 这里有鱼. those found on this corner of the island were much smaller than the inland fish, but he thought that they were the perfect size for a snack.

for you, haoming explained. he didn’t remember giving her the rock, having been too young at the time, but he could appreciate her gift all the same. 你来自哪里?, he asked.

The boy echoed her sentiment and Haoming realized what the little tide pools were for. "Wuh-wo-men kěyi..." she began, struggling with the words for a moment before she continued, "zhuā y-yú." Maybe it would be possible for them to scoop one of them out of a tide pool.

"Zài hai-haiyáng," she explained, tail waving as she pushed the little pink object toward him. The girl tipped her head to the side. "Ni kàn... d-dào haiyángle muh-ma?" she asked, wondering if the boy had gone that far yet.

ok. huojin nodded his head in agreement, then resumed his checking of the pools. haoming’s words played on in the background, hardly acknowledged until: no.

huojin’s hackles bristled, though his expression was clearly one of fear rather than aggression. 没有海, he barked. haoming couldn’t have understood, nor could he have explained.

hesitant but determined, he turned back toward the tidepools, keeping a careful eye on haoming should she decide to force him underwater. then, 一条鱼, which he would promptly present.

No sea. Got it. Haoming wasn't one to question much - if the boy didn't want to go to the sea, then she wouldn't take him to the sea. It wasn't like it was a huge loss to her or anything. She just shrugged it off, trotting next to him so that she could look down into the tide pools.

Ah! Finally, a fish. "W... wait," she requested, crouching down near the edge. Had she ever fished before? No. Was she going to try? Yes. 

The pools were, fortunately, not deep, but the girl really couldn't tell that. She hesitated only minutely before lunging into the water, chasing the silver flash of the fish's scales. Luck was on the pup's side that the tide was out - not so much for the fish. But she would not catch it quickly at all, and ended up mostly just sliding and tumbling around in the water as she chased the thing.

haoming’s attempt to catch the fish might have been entertaining, were huojin not.. himself. instead, he watched her scramble around with furrowed brow, trying to understand which part of the process she found most difficult.

huojin circled the ring, studying haoming’s movements and the fish’s attempts to escape, but discovered that none of it made much sense because of his own lack of experience. plus, he didn't know how to fish either.

less than a minute passed before he was speaking again. no, he whispered, stepping closer and lowering himself onto the soaked stone, 硬鱼. if they could find them, the ones with shells would be slower (he hoped).

It was too slippery! Try as she might, she couldn't catch the silvery creature, and she stood up with a snort and a sneeze, shaking the water from her fur. Multicolored eyes looked up at Huojin when he spoke again, and she huffed out a purely grumpy noise, getting up out of the tide pool and shaking her fur again. Gross. 

"W-wo huì dià-o dào yīt-itiáo yú," she announced, angling her ears toward the boy and stomping along to stand beside him like a pissed off delinquent. "Da... dài ké yìng yuh-yú?" she asked, to be sure. If they were like those hermy-crabs or whatever, she could probably do that.

standing beside one another, the subtle difference in height became much more apparent. huojin craned his neck upward to make eye contact, nodding to affirm haoming’s declaration of her eventual success.

我也是, he agreed, though the statement was meant more so to convince himself than his partner. the lionet nodded again — ok. — then began his search, eyes peeled for any movement.

He was smaller than her, which was why Haoming had not wanted to fight him yet. Not like the big, mean guy on the beach. Him, she would fight without question. And she'd win. He'd regret messing with her. 

Eyes scanned around the area for anything that they could catch. As much as she would hate to admit it, she knew they were too small to catch anything big or substantial. Maybe the slow stuff would be better. 

Her attention shot over to a small, moving creature carrying a twisty shell on its back. Haoming gave the boy a nudge, trying to get him to look at it. She dropped into a crouch, attempting to get low and make herself more quiet. The girl would let the other pup go first, because she'd tried the fish already and maybe he'd have better luck.

hm? huojin looked up from the tide pools to where haoming gestured and immediately noticed the wandering hermit crab. what were they supposed to do?

she didn’t make any moves to catch the thing, which gave him the impression that it was his job. he walked unenthusiastically toward where their target was, but it skittered into hiding before he could make any big moves.

Well, now that wasn't right. Haoming wasn't sure why the boy hadn't taken initiative, but... well, apparently it was her job. Like she hadn't just nearly drowned trying to take out a fish. 

"No," she told him, stomping over to where the hermit crab had now hidden in its shell. She wasn't really sure how to get it out, but she was gonna do her best. "Xiàng zh-zhèyàng." Like what? She didn't know.

Batting at the thing with her paw didn't make it come out, so she had to try her mouth.

Stretching open her jaws, she fastened her teeth around the shell, letting out a growl as she shook it hard.

alright, well.

why wasn’t she biting? their snack was hidden inside of that shell, so breaking the shell was the most obvious solution, right? well, she wasn’t going to make progress by just shaking it.

huojin continued watching with his head tilted, waiting for that crunch, until he finally decided to say something. 咬, he told her, then stepped forward until they were directly facing one another.

he slowly extended his snout to gently grab onto one of the crab's legs, whether shelled or shell-less.. all depending on whether haoming listened.

Oh! Bite harder. That was so smart. Haoming listened and her jaws tightened down, and she felt the shell begin cracking between her teeth. Before long, it had split in her jaws, splintering around the little crab within. 

She lowered her head a little so that Huojin could take one of the legs, tail wagging furiously behind her. They'd won! Vanquished the little creature. Won their dinner.

Mom would probably be proud, she thought. 

"Good j-job!" she announced of the both of them, setting the rest of the crab down on the ground and leaning in to grab a leg of her own to chew on.

wrap?

huojin pulled away his share with a small smile, his eyes averted toward the ground where the salty thing lay. good.. job, he said to himself, then louder, good job, to haoming.

fade <3

The boy repeated her and Haoming's tail thumped on the ground as she munched her bite of the hermit crab. She swallowed and offered him a genuine smile. "Good job." That solidified it. They had done great, and she couldn't wait to tell her mom about their catch and her new friend.