Cerulean Cape Sailor's Melody

@Val if you still wanted Louis to meet up he's made it to the coast now :3

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The ocean had proven more difficult to find than Louis at first expected. Mountains blocked the strong winds that would have lent him scent of salt on the air sooner, and deep woods were not so easy to travel as the open plains. He'd done it, though, and now made his way along the coast in a state of perpetual awe.

At midday the light shone so bright off the expanse - more water than he'd ever seen! - that Louis could barely look at it. Under moonlight, it was so mystical he understood why many songs had been sung about the sea.

He danced with the waves and stuck his nose inadvisably into tide-pools, where clams squirted at him and crabs quickly became a nemesis. Great fish leapt from deeper waters, and if Louis could think of any practical way to catch such large prey he might have made the swim out to try his luck. Everything was strange and new and piqued his curiosity.

Right now, he was trying to dig a hole in the sand at the start of the beach, to see how deep he had to go to reach water. He wondered whether it would be salty, like the ocean nearby. A couple of feet down, he was already covered in sand himself. And flinging excessive quantities of it off behind him, to the general irritation of the seagulls who had no doubt expected a predator to mean scavenge for them.

the sound of sand splattering drew val in. he'd followed the scent of a wounded doe this far, but in defeat had lost her trail near the cape's marshlands. rather than return to sapphique alone, val stalked the coastal fringes.

he expected a burrowing creature, but the form hunkered down in the sand was anything but. it was hard to get a good look at the wolf, but val could ascertain he was a dark male of stature similar to his own. what are you doing? val called from the rushes, unwilling to get close without assurance the stranger was friendly.

Louis shot his head up, snorting out a faceful of sand. It kind of helped, though he still had to squint a bit to keep his eyes clear.

The only creatures in immediate view were seagulls. Ordinarily he wouldn't have believed it, but if butterflies could be bothered to speak to him, then why not birds? Louis tilted his head at the closest one, "Was that you, Feathers?"

It shrieked at him with apparent indignation, and flapped away.

"Guess not." Louis watched it, tail wagging a little as he considered a chase. Then shook his fur out again and looked around, nose tilted toward the wind. "Hello?"

a gull voiced its displeasure to the world, taking flight on a pair of sharp-cut wings. val turned to the stranger, who now bore the fruit of his work upon his face in a tan coating of sand. it seemed he had first mistaken val's voice for the bird - this elicited a slender smile that faded quick.

over here, he called from the rushes, still keeping his ground. all manner of creatures big and small had shown him that trust was to be given sparingly -- while he'd largely good interactions with those of the wilds, there were times he'd narrowly escaped with his life, too.

in his minds eye, the shadow of a hulking bear rose to the surface.

Jolting a little, Louis looked toward the voice -- easier to pinpoint with his big ears out of the sand hole -- then grinned, wagging his tail. "Oh! I'm digging." A blink. "I mean, I'm Louis, but to answer your question - I was digging. That's uh, not my name." A chuckle. "I wondered if I could reach the sea by going down. Or if the water would be clear here. Or if I'd find water at all."

Shaking his fur again, though it did little to help such a quantity of sand, Louis took a step forward to inspect the stranger. Tail lifted and wagging with curious confidence, there was no aggression in the movement, but no submission either.

Green eyes not so very different from the seafoam, and fur that would have been much harder to see in the dark. Muscled, though not with the bearlike brawn of some wolves Louis had met before. This one looked sleek and good for running. Salt seemed seeped into their fur, mixing with their scent. Maybe they lived nearby. "Nice to meet you, ah?"

Hopefully they'd offer a name. Though Louis supposed he could just make something up if not.

a few seconds into their encounter and val came to the conclusion the digger was gregarious. his manner of thought did not follow a discernible order. val struggled to keep up, though at length he caught the irony of the name 'digging'. he might have grinned, but something in the burrower's mein stayed him.

val did not expect subservience - but he trusted a wolf who wore their intentions clearly. deciding he did not know enough of louis' intentions, val readied himself to move if the situation commanded it.

the sea is right there. val pointed dryly to the pounding surf behind louis. val had no love for the ocean, and even now found the proximity jarring -- what would possess a wolf that they would dig for it? if you dig too deep, the sand will collapse and you'll drown. he remembered his own forays as a puppy; while he'd been born with an intrinsic terror of the ocean, it had wrecked his day to learn when you dug in the sand, the ocean came for you. i'm val. are you from here?

Louis looked over his shoulder at the cresting waves when reminded of their proximity, then back to Val with a resumed wag of the tail. "I know. I just wondered if the sea might be here, too," Louis answered mildly.

He glanced to his hole, again. "No, I'm from up North." He found it a little hard to believe you could drown in sand, when it was so easy to dig, and the warning was offered so dryly he wondered if it might be a joke. He knew it collapsed closer to the water, but he'd sort of imagined if you got buried you'd be like the crabs and worms that spit bubbles up between waves. Just... bigger bubbles. Maybe that was silly. "I'd never seen the ocean before a few days ago. What about you?"

Louis took a couple more steps toward Val, nose forward.

louis' mild answer perplexed the man; of what use was digging for the sea? he was too literal to understand the gem that was louis' sparkling curiosity -- may it guide him on many cheery adventures.

he looked to the ocean, digesting the snapshot of louis' life he'd just learned. the north was a cold region, that much val's travels had told him -- and he had never heard of wolves hailing from northern seas. if there was an ocean past those impossibly fanged mountains, val never knew it.

he stayed his ground, though he noticed louis approach. it's all i've known. his tone didn't quite betray his lack of love for the ocean -- at least not yet. perhaps the novelty of the ocean and louis' freshfaced naivette of it was what drew him to dig small mounds in the dark sand. what is the north like?

What Val said and the way he smelled seemed to match well enough. Louis had no reason to doubt, least of all because the dark-furred stranger showed no similar investment in the strangeness of the sea.

Louis tilted his head, thoughtful. "A lot like the ocean, I suppose. But it feels different. For one, you can walk on it." A giggle. "It's flat land mostly, with little hills dotted around. There's mountains if you walk far enough, like islands. Sometimes the wind takes the flowers in spring and it looks like waves. There's streams that look like the tide going out and cut deep into the ground. And when the snow-rabbits spawn, they gather in a big fluffle, kinda like the fish do. And, well... you can drown in the snow, too, if you fall in too deep a drift."

His earlier idea about sand seemed especially foolish now, thinking on how easy it was to be swallowed by something so much lighter and more familiar.

A blink. "Only the sea, though?" It was exciting, but Louis felt it wouldn't have been quite as much so if it was all he'd ever known. Even the North sounded more fun, now, with things to compare it to. "You haven't ever wanted to see what else is out there?"

Without any further indication the approach was unwelcome, Louis made to close the remaining distance, intending a better nose-sniff of greeting, tail still high and wagging.

it was a beautiful picture, this illustrious north. in his minds eye val envisioned an endless league of golden grass, tall ruby coneflower heads waving in the wind while hares nibbled clover and the snow from the northern summits glinted as they melted into rivers that cut their way down a glittering green valley’s face.

he remained still as louis approached; he would allow the man to sample from his pelt the stories buried there, but no more.

i’ve gone east and south. the ocean never ends, it just keeps going along the southwestern edge. to the east there are flatlands, marshes, and even mountains. he thought of the jagged teeth of the barrier mountains, their distant shoulders a haggard blue from distance. but now i have little reason to travel. i’ve seen enough to know my place is here.

"What about West and North? That's at least half the world you haven't seen!" Louis supplied with curious perplexion. His mind had always been swimming with possibilities, and not examining them all remained a baffling ideal. Where his place was, he didn't yet know, but he wondered how he possibly could with so much left to find. 

Val seemed like he must have a pack, a family - maybe they tethered him here. The same way Kvarsheim tethered Tauris. 

Still, Louis considered the size of the ocean, looking back at it with a new respect. "How do you know it never ends? Has anyone tried to cross it?" What if there was more out there, beyond what could be seen and sensed?

west is the ocean - you won't get very far. val's gaze couldn't help but turn to the sounding surf. and the north is cold.

he didn't mind cold, but he did mind bears. for a moment they were both silent as louis studied the ocean. val imagined the tide had somehow crept closer.

i suppose it ends at some point, but must be very far from here. i've never heard of anyone trying to swim across. it would be a death-wish -- one that caused his insides to curdle. there is an island down by where the river meets the sea, but careful. the ocean is not like a lake. its currents can drag you in and drown you.

images of shivering blue swirled in his mind -- the distant, barely audible gasp of bubbles.