Shimmering Sands fell in love over appalachain wine

// open to one or two others ^^

Sonder quite liked it out by the coast. The prince had needed a vacation of sorts, and the rushing waves and soft sand had been generous in their giving. And now, as the weather cooled and the sand was no longer too hot to walk on, Sonder ventured closer to the water.

He wasn't one to play much. Trained to be more proper than that, the boy simply walked over to the shoreline and let the waves crash over his paws.

It was a sunny day; the breeze was strong. Wind combed through his fur, slicking it to his body, and the waves reached almost to his chest. Uselessly, he stood there, watching the horizon. There was nothing there, of course, but it didn't make it any less intriguing. What could be lurking in those cerulean depths?

"you again." lionel's voice rolled out as if from the seas, bemused and curious. sonder, if he recalled correctly, sonder, gilded angsty boy from the ruined forest.
as the fawnskin mayfair was not at all fond of the woodland; he found the beach much more entertaining, and far more diverting when it held such characters as this.
"know where you're gonna go for the winter?" lionel asked, sidling up to stand near sonder, making the bold assumption they were on cool enough terms to do so.

Another voice was unexpected. Sonder jumped and whipped around, eyes wide as he regarded the intruder of his quiet moment. But he wiped the startled expression from his face quickly, schooling it into something more disinterested and perhaps a bit embarrassed at being caught unaware.

"You like sneaking up on people," he stated levelly, shoulders bunching up in discomfort. Why did he feel so awkward all the time? It was so opposite to what he'd been taught to be. 

Know where you're gonna go for the winter?

The boy hummed at the question, giving a shrug of his already-tense shoulders. Not that he was afraid or anything - Lionel wasn't particularly threatening, and he probably would've hurt him already if he really wanted to - but it was just... in his nature. He couldn't help it. "Haven't thought about it much," he admitted, flicking rosegold eyes toward the other teen. "...You?"

lionel grinned. "looking at a real ninja here," he chuckled, thrusting out his chest in a self-deprecating flex. his glen-gaze fastened back to sonder; he took up a thoughtful look. "well my brother and sister are here now. probably gonna camp in the forest or close."
the mayfair cleared his throat, swung his tail once, began to pad along the sand. "you could hang with us, probably." gotta ask knaven, he though to himself, deferring even inwardly to the wolverine. "if you wanted."

A ninja, huh? Sonder let out a quiet snort of badly-suppressed laughter at the dramatic boy, rolling his eyes and landing them back out onto the water. He wanted to argue, to take that pride down just a bit, but... the guy had snuck up on him twice now. So, there was that.

Staying with his brother and sister. Sonder wondered how his own were doing, back home. He missed them, but now that he had gotten out of there there was no chance he was going to go back.

The offer was unexpected, to say the least. Sonder was not the most pleasant person to be around, and he knew that, so it was surprising that Lionel seemed to be alright with him sticking around for a while. 

And... it wouldn't be a bad idea. To have people to stay with as the weather cooled down. The guys he met were weird, but tolerable.

"Sure, I guess. If you guys don't mind," the golden boy responded, and figured by context that he was supposed to follow the other. So he did, enjoying the way the sand suctioned his paws as the water rushed out. "You makin' a pack or something?" That was probably smart. Especially with winter coming up.

"something like that." he grinned, lashing his tail to and fro. "right now it is my brother knaven, who you met, and our sister, bijou. and now you." he was haughty over the stag-gold of his coat, but somehow sonder's sullen disposition and aloof nature presented no threat to lionel's prettiness.
"beats spending winter alone, and near the sea? no thanks." the islands of warsaw had been a fierce place that churned only the bravest into the drop and beyond. and while lionel did not believe it could grow half so cold here, that remained to be seen. "got a backstory?" he prodded gently, snuffling over a few cold stones.

Knaven, the bigger one that looked badger-y. Sonder supposed Lionel might be the more intimidating of the two, regardless of Knaven's musculature, but neither of them really frightened the boy. At least, not after the first few minutes of their meeting, when he realized they weren't going to kill him. 

"Is it colder near the ocean?" Sonder questioned, furrowing his brows. It felt colder, but he had figured it might just be the place, not the scenery. Perhaps it was a stupid question, but he was a forest boy through and through, and had nothing to base his thoughts off of.

Rose-tinted eyes watched Lionel as he investigated some stones laying about. A backstory? Sonder shifted awkwardly, and thought... well, he thought that maybe he could be a bit less... stuffy. "Oh, you know. The usual pampered prince life. I had it all." And he had, really, kind of... until it wasn't. "Perfect everything. I'm soooo happy." His deadpan voice livened ever so slightly with sarcasm. "Wasn't stifling or uncomfortable at all." 

He scanned the other boy over, tipping his head to the side a bit. "What about you?" he questioned then and arched a brow.

"coincidentally, it involves being cold as fuck by the sea and also dropped into it. we all were," lionel went on nonchalantly; he assumed the drop was the way of everyone, and could not conceive that weakness might not be culled, but allowed to remain. "bitty kid, you get tossed down into the fuckin' ocean. iciest thing i ever felt." and that had been true of the waters even without the touch of ice.
"well now you can do whatever you want, sonder," the stag muttered warmly, distracted by tracks in the sand, light and brushed away by the breath of the wind. "do you know what that might be?"

Dropped into the sea? Sonder couldn't imagine doing such a thing to a child. He'd been so protected and cared for back home - his parents were so doting. They would never throw him into an icy body of water. "That sounds like it fucking sucks," he remarked, arching a brow at the thought. 

Sonder had no idea what he wanted. He'd never really taken a lot of time to consider it. "I kind of want to jump in the ocean," he voiced aloud, looking out into the dark water. He could swim, yeah, but he'd never even seen that much water in his life. "Like, right now."

the pride of skellige had not skipped lionel; he rankled a moment at sonder's bluntness, but hid it with a rueful grin. goldboy was right, wasn't he? "it did. and some of us didn't make it," he added, a bit darkly though that was the way it had always been back home. the strong lived. the weak did not.
"well fuckin' go then," he laughed in the next moment. holding sonder's eyes a moment, quizzical until he decided to take the dare, lionel mayfair tossed his proud head and dashed headlong into the incoming wave, wincing not once as he trudged out into the black water with its tongues of ice.

Didn't make it? That sounded... not ideal. Didn't packs want their pups to survive? Why would they throw them into the water just for them not to survive? It made absolutely no sense. 

But Sonder wasn't one to question. 

It sounded much more fun to run out into the waves with Lionel, cringing a bit at the biting cold, but ultimately keeping pretty good pace with his companion. It was stupid and purposeless and probably a huge waste of energy, but it was also a lot of fun. A laugh pulled from his maw as he splashed into the water up to his chest, spinning around and facing Lionel. 

"It's so fucking cold!" he cried, a broad smile still caught on his maw.

lionel tittered as sonder found his voice. "yeah, dude, it sucks at first," came his hoot, "but then ..." and here his words trailed off as he ducked beneath the surface. ice bit at him, chewed through his goldcream pelt, and lionel resurfaced with a gasp.
"but then you get used to it." rivulets streaming from crown and muzzle and shoulders, the sea parting around his lithe body as he lunged for sonder, hoping to baptize him in the brine as well, a laugh echoing from his chest.

It did suck at first, but Lionel was right. As the saltwater seeped into his fur and ensconced his skin, he found that it really wasn't as bad as he had originally thought it was. Cold, yes, but certainly not the worst feeling in the entire world. In fact, he rather enjoyed the feeling.

Until Lionel leaped at him and shoved him fully under the surface.

He struggled to get up but once he did, he startled himself by laughing. No malice or upset by the surprise attack, but rather... he was having fun. The golden boy let out a playful growl and shook the water from his ears before turning to face his aggressor. "You're gonna pay for that," he rumbled, before propelling himself forward with the aim of dragging the other boy beneath the surface alongside himself.

lionel hooted, cold water blowing from his lips, as sonder leapt at him. practiced though he was in the water, he was still caught off-guard by the strike of sonder's soaked body against his own. a gulp of air and he went under, twisting like a seal in the other's grasp before he fought back up for air, bumping against the other's chin.
"love this game," he gasped. "we call it drowny-drowny back home," and he cackled to himself, eyes dancing slyly as he waited for sonder's next motion.