Dragoncrest Cliffs Sea by and by

Hoping to meet some pack mates with Gun. Tag for ref only :)

Gunnar had quickly grown accustomed to pack life again. More so than he ever had before. Perhaps he had been to young all those years ago, for the maturity that had been thrust upon his albeit broad shoulders. His father had tasked him with the unsurmountable task of taking care of his family at such a young age, then gone and got himself killed. Though, it was the evil wolf fault of course, though his father had been fast losing his faculties before that. He had then tried to settle with Saena, but fire had torn his world asunder. When smoke was on the rise, he still felt the momentary fear of that fateful day.

It was these thoughts that drove him from the beach and further into the territory. He was searching for the tide pools. He hadn't been lying when he said he hungered for some crab. It was with careful paws, he made his way and seating himself upon the edge, he watched with careful eyes the goings on, beneath the surface of the pools.

Finally, with paws skilled with years of doing this, caught the crab and slammed it to the ground before it could latch his paws. Always stay away from teh claws and grab it from the rear. He slammed it down on a rock to stun it and quickly jammed a stick in it's claws. As it lay stunned he moved a large rock with his paw, and rolled it onto the creature until he heard the pop. With gentle paws, and sticks he pried the pieces away from each other, separating the meat. Perhaps he would bring some crab to @Erzulie and her mate, a femme he had yet to meet.

A newcomer.  Rosalyn watched him with disinterest at first, but then she noticed the way he moved and the way his pelt hung.  He was old, perhaps around her age.  For a wolf like him to be looking for a home, and for him to settle alone... she grew tense imagining it.  Perhaps I should know him.  But his face drew no recollection for her, not even an annoying hint of one.

Erzulie said that someone joined.  You weren't what I expected.  Rosalyn's mood was mercurial today.  She'd woken with aches that were determined to stay, but the sun was shining and at least the weather seemed to be holding true.  Rain would only intensify them.

She should feel a kinship, but looking at him, he was an unwelcome reminder too.  Why had he been invited to their midst?  She no longer had the position to question, but she knew there was none in this pack who would tell her to watch her tongue.  A wolf of your years I would expect to have built something by now.  Or do you have no loyalty?  She watched him closely, a hawkish gleam in her eye.

Gunnar felt the prickling of someone watching, but he didn't turn around at first. He was intent upon his task. Grab, stick, smash. It was tedious, but it dulled the world and allowed his mind to wander. Onto further things, history things.

A voice spoke to him and the sharp bite to her words, both in greeting and what followed clued him in. He would need to tread carefully. Her words gave her away, the gentle way she said Erzulie's name, self-conscious. He turned and averted his eyes, and tucked his tail. You must be her wife, Rosalyn. I'm Gunnar Ivarr Lodbruk.

Gunnar knew well the feeling of aches and pains in the mornings. The way it hurt in cold weather and wet weather. There were times he couldn't even enjoy the sea when it was frigid and cold. Her next words drew him pause and it was then he knew, she was in a cantankerous mood. He didn't sigh, but a gentle wariness grew.

I am many things, but my loyalty is tried and true. Never wavered. I just after a multitude of disasters and deaths, went my own way. As is my right. And I have never built anything, because I have never had an interest in it. I have been on the cusp of a few pack buildings, and frankly I didn't envy those in charge.

He didn't get angry, to his credit. She'd been curious to see how he would react and his answer told her a great deal. It also explained why he had joined Sapphique. The only men they seemed to attract were those with few aspirations themselves. She did not think that this was a shortcoming.

Loyalty to a place, or your past, is still loyalty. Rosalyn replied, with a small smile. But I never said it was a bad thing, not having it. She'd implied as much, of course, but she and Erzulie had built something here worth having. And, in doing so, thrown out a great deal of prior history that was not worth keeping anyway. If he saw bluer waters with them then she wouldn't question it.

Gunnar had never been swift to anger except with his brothers. There had been times of course as with all animals. But Gunnar had always been afraid to achieve more to lose the mantle of good son. There was no denying both his bio dad and parents though passionate yet tumultuous love had did more damage than was seen.

Gunnar lifted a shoulder. Perhaps a part of me has always feared ambition. For ambition ruined my father and broke my mother's heart. 

Ambition to lead, ambition for sons. Ambition to posess. His father though a good man was also a tad broken one.

 It's beautiful here. You have built a good thing. I was born on the coast here, well not here, but yes.

He answered as if he knew her thoughts. She looked at him for a moment and had the paranoid thought that he might be a ghost, or some figment of her failing mind. But it passed when he finished with a sentence so mundane, there was no way he was anything more than a wolf.

You'll do well here, if that's true. Sapphique is not kind to ambitious men. She smiled with a glint of the old bloodthirst. She and Erzulie had run off each one who sought to displace them. That would not change just because Rosalyn no longer held court.

No family, no home, and ties to the sea. You are a true sailor then. Rosalyn looked at the waves, then wondered....

She was not interested in his answer. She just wished to know if he had one. You are from a coast? What do you recall of it?

There had been no malice in his thoughts, no reading of another's. No, simply the truth. Ambition was what had ruined his family. His father's ambition to possess, his mother's ambition to please, he biological father's ambition to procreate. Ambition, is what it all came down too.

Gunnar nodded. I don't wish for much anymore. A place to lay my head, help where I am needed, before my number us up.

And when that came, well then he would gladly take his place in Valhalla. Because he had no doubt, that he was meant for there. Perhaps he was not as much a fighter as his father and his brother, but he still fought. Everyday for his existence, against adversity. Everyday.

Gunnar blinked at he question. 

I recall many places near the coast. But I was born near a ridge, that was obliterated by a rock slide, and we moved to the bay. Near the large forest, where ravens often flew. I then was with Saena when she built the rise, fire ate it though. I left soon after that. I also had family in the plateau, at least by blood.

His family in the plateau, they hadn't wanted him. He was an embarrassment, he did not belong to them. His sperm donor had burned all his bridges and left his children holding the ashes, and burning.

He remembered and, more than that, he remembered details. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. Maybe she could assume that he was lying, performing the confidence of knowing in order to hide his age. She wanted to believe that but she couldn't see any trace of falsehood in his expression. He looked like a man who was reminiscing. Rosalyn was the one who was lying to herself.

Sounds like quite the life. She replied distantly. She didn't retain any of what he said, but it was a polite way to end that course of conversation.

She must have had parents once, a home. She remembered a man, but only with the sureness that she'd killed him. A pack, but no specifics, only the sureness of betrayal. Had that been before Erzulie? Maybe. Those were the only ones she wasn't immediately present in.

I am going to go find something to eat. You're welcome to join, if you wish. She said abruptly a moment later, breaking herself from her reverie as she stood. It was useless to get bogged down in the things that didn't matter. This was her life now, and she had enough to do holding it fast.

Gunnar's memory wasn't as sound as it seemed. It was find for the formative years. But after leaving here, it grew bent and gnarled and he wasn't sure what was truth and what was fiction. Even some of his memories of the ridge and the bay, he had to think very hard to remember names and faces.


It was. was all he said in response to her. She seemed to be lost in her own memories perhaps, and he didn't wish to push her if she was happy to reminisce in her head. 


I think I will join you. thank you. No more would be said of memories and pasts, and Gunnar would past his time with the she wolf with food.