Stavanger Bay i was raised by the water, by the crippling waves
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
60 Posts
Ooc — markab
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#1
All Welcome 
7pm, 52F, light rain. all welcome!! :)

if he is to search, he should keep heading inland.

but yunxu likes routine. none of this is routine – but at least the sea has followed him all the way up from 海龙泻湖. inland – he turns his head, looks from the sweep of the bay to the mountains rising up into cloud, almost lost in the rain – he won’t even have that.

it is ridiculous. he’s an adult and he has a duty to fulfill, even if it takes him away from the water. he would be just as far from home in the forest rolling ahead.

“you are here for a reason,” yunxu says, “and you’ve wasted enough time.” his voice rises, is snatched away by the waves. it’s a surprise to hear mandarin again as more than a terse greeting, though it comes off his own tongue.

lingering in the sand, the dunegrass rustling against itself in the wind, yunxu smooths his tongue awkwardly over the wounds on his shoulder. the seaspray stings as though the teeth that drew them never left.

he thinks, briefly, of the man who put them there –

eyes green as the sea, ink and seafoam, smiling as he bit down. smiling as yunxu tore into him, smiling until he hit the ground.

sequoia coast
english | mandarin
I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#2
*Steals*


Aimi walked along the ocean's white shores, seabreeze bristling through the sandy pelt that was being dampened from soft rain. Those seaglass eyes never strayed away from the sand she walked on and it even came to a point in which the fae started counting her pawsteps. "657, 658, 659..." — in reality, it didn't really matter to her how many steps it was; she already lost count of how long its been since leaving her birth pack anyway. But bordem turned it into an occupation of sorts.......okay, now this little 'long walk on the beach' was starting to become exhausting as hell — where's a good den spot when you needed one? It would've been easier to find back at the lagoon, but these were not her shores; Aimi would've recognized her own home by now just from looks alone. 

Just as she was about to say 'screw it' and just find a comfortable spot underneath a palm tree, a noticeable figure far in the distance caught her attention. Not a situation that was too out of the ordinary — Aimi would just avoid them so no attention was brought to her. But...something was off...

"Oi! You!" The sea otter yipped out loud at the dark bystander and before she knew it, her pace was quickened to a gallop. Other than the putridly metallic scent of blood that was added into the mix, this wolf's scent held a vague farmiliarity to it that she could put her finger on. And even if the fae's guess about who this was is false, it was something Aimi wanted to find out herself.
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
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Ooc — markab
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#3
<3

but owlglass is not here. the bay is quiet and even calm, after the wind and storms of the last few days. the sky is darkening. he should find shelter – to sleep, to give his shoulder time to heal, before he can consider the journey. perhaps it might even stop raining.

a voice rises up behind him.

the young shark turns, eyes and face blank. perfectly still. except – after a moment's space to process – it is not english, but mandarin.

yunxu blinks. she comes hurtling out of the rain towards him, and recognition rises instantly at the sight of her sandy fur, her bright seaglass eyes.

his tail wags. though his wounds slow him to an awkward limp, yunxu strides eagerly towards his sister, ignoring the stinging ache that follows. “aimi,” he says, stretching to affectionately bump his muzzle against her shoulder. “it’s good to see you. i wasn't aware you’d left too.”

he isn’t surprised. she was never one for the rules. much as it pains him, she wouldn’t be his sister any other way.

sequoia coast
english | mandarin
I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#4
The sea otter's predictions about the man were right, she knew that black and white pelt looked familiar — it was none other than her brother, Yunxu. Upon finally being able to get a clearer veiw of his features through the screen of rain, her audits pinned back and her tail wagged wildly admist the excitement, brushing her crown underneath his chin to return the affection. What a coincidence that Aimi had been sulking about how she'd be permanently separated from her siblings once the time came. Life felt incomplete without them around despite leaving by her own free will. Yet here was Yunxu; the shark gracing the little otter with his presence and wrapped in her arms once more (metaphorically). Even if it was just Yunxu and not the rest, Aimi was nevertheless grateful.

"And I never thought I'd see you again after you departed, brother. To think I was walking along the same path all along. .." genuine delight oozed from the Aimi's voice. She wanted to ask him where he'd been going, what he'd been doing along his journey, what he saw — a bazillion questions that came to mind at once but were never spoken. One question that did jump to life was the one that followed after feeling warm, scarlet liquid smudging her fur. Aimi would pull her head from underneath his chin and gaze with wide-eyed horror when she trailed down Yunxu's neck.

"Yun, what...what the hell happened to you!?" Aimi barked, nearly cursing, at the sight of the horrific wound along his neck.
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
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#5
the affection feels odd. he doesn’t receive it often, and he gives it rarer still – but he has missed his siblings. he has missed aimi’s cheerfulness. he has missed having someone to converse with in more than clipped and awkward english.

“have you finally gotten tired of the rules?” there is a wry amusement in his voice, but it is still fond. the little otter was always more aggravating for their parents than he himself, but they did not have the same expectations of him.

before he can phrase further questions, she pulls away, gasping. a momentary bolt of panic goes through him at the sight of the scarlet staining her fur, but –

of course. his shoulder.

the young shark smiles sheepishly.

“oh, that was just…a disagreement?” he hopes the flimsy deflection will be enough, and doubts it will be.

海龙泻湖 had order, structure. rules to follow. rules yunxu knew well. he ran on them like a machine and (with the exclusion of aimi, perhaps) so did everyone else. when things happened, it was always away. on the borders, far up the coast, with those who did not belong in the lagoon.

he is not always…worried by it, like he should be. but he does not want to worry her.

“i’ve met some others here,” he says, an unsubtle attempt to lead the conversation elsewhere. “i hope you’re better at english than i am.”
sequoia coast
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I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#6
"Yeah, some disagreement that was. And what if you were to be killed?" Aimi's bright gaze narrowed unamusingly while lecturing her brother about his safety. She always knew there was a primal temper hidden behind that calm demenor of his, which is what Aimi assumed to be the cause of these injuries. Though the femme would be a hypocrite if she continued lecturing him about staying out of trouble, because the sea otter would've wasted no time attempting to tear apart the fuckwad who dared to draw blood from her brother; perhaps the female was just as reckless as he was.

Her sandy brown head turned left and right in order to search for something, anything, that would soothe the bleeding coming from Yunxu's neck. Would washed up seaweed help? Dried leaves? She didn't know anything about medicine or healing rituals, but there has to be a way. At Yunxu's mention of why Aimi originally left her homeland, she'd roll her eyes. "Oh, don't even get me started. If I had to stay there any longer just to get lectured for not 'Doing my duties as a female', I was going to loose my shit." The voice being used was mocking, almost as if the otter was throwing a petty hissy fit. "I'll not be made some outcast just because I refuse to confide in ridiculous traditions implemented on me, so I saw myself out." she chuffed to let it be known that she had no regrets.

Too much time was wasted there trying to prove a point that the otter was much more than what she was expected to be — and it never mattered in the end because her potential wasn't recognized. What was the point of staying any longer?

Yun mentioned him meeting other wolves here, as expected in beaches not belonging to them, then came the statement 'I hope you're better at English then I am'. Aimi didn't reply to him and could only chuckle to herself whilst searching the shores for something to clean up blood. 'Yeah, you better hope I am, because my English is shit.'
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
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#7
the little otter is smaller than he is – a feat, considering his stature – but yunxu feels unsettlingly like he’s being lectured by his parents as she stands in front of him, eyes narrowed.

“well, i. wasn’t?” it comes out a question again, but he shrinks under her unamused seaglass stare. “i’m sorry,” he says. “i’ll be more careful.”

he doesn’t want it to be a lie. he enjoys the current state of his shoulder about as much as aimi enjoys the reminder of their family, mockingly imitating their parents’ words as she trudges along the beach. if anyone else had done it, yunxu would have had things to say, but aimi is…

irrepressible. that's the word.

he isn’t the one expected to stay polite and quiet. aimi would never have lasted in an arranged marriage, and yunxu can’t blame her.

the young shark limps after her as she scans the beach, sliding his tooth over his lip until the sting mutes the ache of his shoulder. dunegrass rustles around his legs. “are you looking for something? i could help.”
sequoia coast
english | mandarin
I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#8
Aimi went to work immediately to search the sands for something that might aid in treating Yunxu's wounds, eyes vigilantly scanning the grainy surface. In her search, she furrowed her brows and thought hard on what the medical wolves back at the Lagoon used to cure wounds such as these. Bearing in mind the fact that she'd gotten into so many fights, the otter had to recall something about how those wolves treated her!

But it wasn't long until Aimi started to get impatient. The femme snorted to puff the grains that stuck to her nose and kicked the sand in frustration. Who was Aimi kidding? She didn't know what she was doing.

A side glance at her brother and the formerly distracted young girl realized that he was walking towards her. 'Are you looking for something? I could help' he'd offer, but Aimi didn't want the shark moving a muscle. She may have lacked knowledge, but she did know that the patient would need to rest for wounds to heal properly. "Yun, what are you doing!? Don't make the injury worse, you need to rest!" Aimi turned and told him, urging the boy to sit by poking his side with her muzzle. "If you really want to help, I'll need you to go off into shore and wash your shoulder off while I return with cobwebs...." She pointed towards the sea to direct him on where there were to go. Aimi could lick the wound clean but.....ew. For now that option will only serve as a last resort. "I don't know anything about medicinal herbs, but I do remember cobwebs being used to soak up blood." 
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
60 Posts
Ooc — markab
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#9
yunxu hardly has the time to rest – they are both lone wolves in a strange place, and there’s no one else to provide for them. not that his own injury isn’t his own fault, or that he shouldn't have known better.

and he does harbor what he thinks is probably a healthy doubt of aimi’s medical skills. but considering her preference for causing fights that sent her to the healers instead of following the rules she probably knows more than he does. not that it matters; at her suggestion, he is moving downshore to the sea before the thought has even finished crossing his mind.

elbow-deep, the young shark folds awkwardly into the water until it comes up to lap over his shoulder. he isn’t foolish enough to walk in to his neck with his injury and the weather. the salt stings, but it is nothing to actual teeth. he keeps his mouth shut, sucking in a sharp breath through his nose as fresh pain sears up and down his leg.

when he comes back up the beach he is still limping heavily, spots of fresh blood beading over the toothmarks, though he’s corralled his expression and his breath is back to even. he stops several feet from her and, very reluctantly, sits himself down on the wet sand, already dreading what a pain it will be to clean.

“i…know you came here to leave 海龙泻湖 behind,” he says, after a long pause spent watching the sea otter continue her search for cobwebs, only refraining from any assistance with the knowledge that she won’t welcome his intervention. “but i was told our sister is here.”
sequoia coast
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I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#10
'Our sister' Yun says. Was he possibly talking about Lifen? When did she arrive to....oh.....he must've been talking about the other one...

Her parents had mentioned the existence of their first litter of children; Huāzhen, Yìnglóng, and Meizhen. When the sea otter was initially told the news that she actually had older siblings, she was excited to see them. But mama and baba Jiang had also told them that they had gone missing (at a ridiculously young age, nonetheless), so Aimi simply assumed that they had died off and since forgot about her new found excitement.

But now Yunxu was saying that one of them were here and were, in fact, alive? Mabey the he-wolf was just saying that to find an excuse and leave despite  his injuries, yet Aimi couldn't help but want to believe him — that long lost family was right under their noses as we speak.

"If you're just finding an excuse to get up and leave, I'll kill you" The otter told him with a stern expression. She wasn't serious,  of course, because she'd never hurt family. But there was nothing that pissed her off more than a lie, and Yun wouldn't hear the end of it if he was lying. "But if you're sincere, then....I want to find her too..."
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
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#11
yunxu doesn't think of himself as particularly stubborn in most matters, but his sisters are the exception. if their parents had escaped pirates to return to the lagoon, his siblings wouldn't die so easily. and so he'd gone, and the fact that he'd stumbled into news about huāzhēn within his first handful of hours makes something prickle uneasily at the back of his mind.

he won't take the word of a stranger so easily. considering his current state, maybe he should have – though he doesn't doubt aimi will be furious if he goes anywhere now. he doesn't need a threat to know that.

"i'm not going to run off after her." not yet, but yunxu keeps that portion of the truth to himself. "the woman who told me offered to take me there, but i thought it might be wise not to completely trust the locals." his smile is a wry one. "a suspicion which was quickly borne out. nonetheless, she appears to live on the coast. they've moved inland during the storms. she said she knew huāzhēn – nothing of the others."
sequoia coast
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I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.
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#12
sorry this took so long ajdbdbdndkk

Her brother spoke of a woman who had assited him with information regarding one of their older sisters. How her brother was so easily capable of having back and forth conversations with English speaking wolves, the otter could not fathom at all. If Aimi was in such a situation, she wouldn't have a damn clue what to say or do. To the sea otter's relief Yunxu never followed the woman when she'd offer. The thought of search for Huā and perhaps the others made Aimi's heart restless, but they still had to heed caution when thinking about which locals could be trusted. 

"I am not sure who this woman is or if her words are truthful, but I trust your intuition nonetheless. Maybe next time you encounter her, I can accompany you to make sure nothing strange occurs." In her maw were cobwebs found forming on long-washed up driftwood hidden in the dunegrasses. It wasn't much (and had a bit of sand on it) but it was the only bunch she was able to find her; not surprisingly. "It's safe if the both of us camp out on these shores for a few days before we try searching inland. Risking any movement while you're in such a state will just cause more damage. Besides, maybe the rest of us will begin searching for us—" She was referring to Lifen and Taisun, of course. "—if the both of us are gone, there may be a high chance they'll show up, don't you think?"
and the gulls gave me my singing voice
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#13
no worries! <3 sorry yunxu learned more stuff than i said in his last post but only...after i posted >> <<

yunxu smiles uncomfortably. "yes, of course." 

he knows even before he agrees that he won't be waiting for her. she'll be too concerned about his health to let him move anywhere in good time, so she won't be able to come. hopefully vallkyrie had been telling the truth, and she'll be willing to forgive him when he comes back with good news. as little as he trusts strangers, she hadn't...seemed deceptive. and she'd proven a competent hunter, though as far as trust went that likely meant nothing.

"lifen, perhaps. but can you imagine taisun willingly leaving home?" yunxu glances briefly down the beach and tilts his shoulder forth, offering space for her to place the cobwebs and hoping she's removed any spiders. "you know that of all of us, he was always the...most traditional." and that is saying something. yunxu considers himself a fairly staunch adherent to the traditional ways and culture, but taisun is...taisun.

"if he does come, we'll have to keep an eye on him. i doubt he'll get along with these foreigners any better than i am." if it ever came down to that. yunxu has a suspicion that if anyone even attempted to talk to him in english, he'd simply turn his nose up and leave. that's less of a risk to him than the alternative.

sequoia coast
english | mandarin