Wheeling Gull Isle Ormai troppo lontano

@Bartholomew maybe, if you want? But open for anyone else :-D

Like he promised, he found himself in search of the priest. Thinking of it in the passive made him feel less foolish:

The man was gripped by a need for fulfillment.
He was tangled with a deep sense of confusion.
The things he wanted were unknown to him.

So on and so forth. He looked at sunrises, he was brought to sudden tears. But they did not come easily; more often than not, they seemed to stagnate in the plumbing of his temples, forming thick veins. He busied himself with nothing. It occurred to him that this was the midlife crisis they all talked about, but that would require admitting to himself that he was in the middle of his life.

He had tried taking out his frustrations on prey animals but almost as soon as he'd started, he had stopped. It was far too derivative - no, it was far too deviant. His chin was soaked with blood. He needed to feel secure in the uniqueness of his decline, provided it was a decline at all.

He bowed his head so he wouldn't hit it on a tree branch. The tide was just low enough so that he could make it to the island before noon, if he hurried.

her quest to find the wheeling gull isle, the once-home of undersea, brought her to familiar shores occupied by an unfamiliar man. yakone stopped short when she caught sight of the earthen figure, going still as she studied him from a distance. the scent of blood wafted from him, and she could see the stark scarlet stain at his chin even from where she stood. thinking him a hunter, she woofed softly and wagged her tail once or twice, head tilting in inquiry. perhaps he would allow her to join him in his hunt. for now, she was oblivious to his mission to get to the same island she sought.

skippable until near enough to interact :)

he haunted the island.

a willowy man who lingered in the shade of the cross. the rising sun made the cold sea air tolerable enough for him to drift to the fringes of the island.

figures on the horizon blocked his path to the mainland, but he saw this for what it was.

opportunity.

so he would await them, heart full of the strength given to him from none other than God. these strangers would be welcomed with opened arms when they arrived.

Thank you both for joining!

A smear of white at the corner of his vision caught his attention. At first a cold shower of shame washed over him; he thought that she might've been a witness to his dreadful tantrum, but her face was open, attentive. The shame was replaced by relief, so quickly that he felt it sizzle like water on heated cast-iron.

He turned away, heart pounding. He wiped at the blood on his mouth, but only succeeded in smearing it over his hands.

Not wanting to ignore her, he turned and woofed back, now smiling.

Andiamo! he called out to her, gesturing with with a tilt of his head towards the island.

oh! he seemed to startle at the sight of her, and yakone felt her heart drop into her stomach. for a stark moment she felt terribly awkward, but she recovered herself as quickly as the stranger did. her tail began to wag uncertainly when he returned her greeting. by the time he called to her, she'd forgotten all about the moment.

andiamo? she didn't know that word, but his gesture seemed clear enough. her eyes traced the path carved by his motion and fell on the island with a bolt of shocked recognition. undersea! no - the wheeling gull island. her heart ached to think of it sitting empty. but perhaps... if he was going there, it wasn't? joy surged in kona's chest at the thought.

she flitted to his side at an effortless trot, dropping into a playful bow when she reached him. he was cute, wasn't he? only when he smiled though. she bounced in place, then sprang away in the direction of the island, making a game of their shared journey to its shores. her tail whirred behind her in a determined reach for windmill aspirations.

Pier was indeed cute when he smiled. It took years off of his face. He needed to understand that when he frowned, he did not look intellectual and fascinatingly tortured - he merely looked unhappy.

He greeted her with the same bow, feeling foolish but not foolish enough to restrain himself. On the way to the island through the sandbar, he would try to butt his head against her shoulder in a lawless game of tag.

When he saw the priest, standing at the very edge of the shore, he froze. He couldn't believe his eyes.

It was ridiculous, he thought, to be wary of a clergyman. A clergyman, and nothing more. He cast a look back to his pretty new companion in a subconscious attempt to seek solace.

how funny, that the man would find him here.

only funny in the way all things were. bartholomew was not a man of coincidences. everything was on a path and part of a plan.

this time a woman came with him. a wife, he can't help but think. especially in the way they romped and roved like spring birds courting.

a blessed welcome to you two! he would call out, warm despite the chill in the air.

he took to the game easily, as if he'd merely been waiting for her to start it. yakone laughed softly at the feeling of his head butting against her shoulder, and dove after him to retaliate with a nip at his hocks. but something stopped him, and by extension, stopped her. when the man froze, she did too, moon-silver gaze following his to the lone figure at the shore's edge. kona's hackles bristled almost imperceptibly, and she edged closer to her new companion with a touch of protective instinct.

she felt his eyes on her when he looked to her for reassurance. she turned back to him to nose his cheek gently, eyeing the newcomer all the while. perhaps if she had known the man's thoughts, she might have kept her distance from her new fun acquaintance.

Only a few moments ago he had been looking for the priest, and the fact that he stood in front of them made Pier feel giddy and nauseous - it made him think, perhaps there was something out there listening to his heart. If so, he wished that it didn't keep such a close ear on him.

Is this where you've set up your church? He said, blinking at her touch, regaining his composure for a bare second.

A lovely place. Nasal laughter, ha ha. He was nervous and doing a poor job of hiding it. Usually the nerves would be obscured by a layer of bravado, mousse-thick and gleaming, but it seemed cartoonish and silly to him now. He was caught between the two most piercing pairs of eyes he had encountered in his four years of life.

I don't think you've told me your name, passerotta.

so sorry!! i didn't realize i was up ;;

it is, and it is, isn't it? he chuckled lowly, aware of how much of a tongue twister of a speaker he sounded like right now.

he watched the pair warmly. they almost seemed engage in some sort of young love. a honeymoon, perhaps, the spring was always the time for those type of things.