Honey, don't feed it, it will come back

The hushed roar in the distance woke the slumbering beast. The rain and seawater soaked the thick fur around his neck and cheek, snaking into his nose and mouth. The salty air flooded his lungs and coated his tongue, forcing him to remember the depths he had dragged himself from. A huff left the man's lips as he slowly blinked open his eyes, his vision clarifying as he started taking in his surroundings.

"Skoros se nopāzma?" — What the hell? Killian grumbled, his soaked pelt weighing him down as he heaved himself onto unsteady paws. The black sand squished between his toes, leaving a grittiness the prince did not mind. If this was to be his home, he needed to accustom himself to the environment. Killian was no longer in his wooded homeland. No, now he was on an island as dark as the night sky. The sand, earth, even the trees were an obsidian hue. It was bizarre.

The man made his way toward the island's center, the quickening pitter-patter of the rain driving him to find shelter. He'd be damned if he had to stay out in the open.

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outrider

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It was not Saltwoods territory, but Wake walked along it as such.

She had awoken here. She had met her wife here. A whole new life had been established on the darkened island that existed across their shore. Wake was not as spirutal as her dear @Esmerelda but there was an undeniable pull here. The dark sands, the tall stones. In the limited light of night it was all the deeper too.

She had not anticipated the storm that rolled over, even if it was only light droplets now. The Captain had the right to fret that it might become worse and might strand her for the night. In preparation she too sought shelter, if the need arose and she would not make it across the sandbar before the worst of it.

Only to see a strange man. Tall and swathed in oceanic colors as if he had been churned from the deep. Her innards protested but she exhaled. Prepared to put on a more momentarily cordial act until she sussed anything out.

“You familiar with the island?”

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Killian hated how the sand squelched beneath his paws and between his toes—hated how it seemed to stick to every surface and wormed its way into his pelt. It just made him really hate the beach. He'd never know why the gods tossed him onto the isle's shores. But he will curse them every second he is here.

As Killian made his way towards the center, an unfamiliar scent reached his nares, causing the brute to groan. And when the owner spoke, his eyes narrowed as he turned to face them. His gaze traveled down his nose to look at the woman, his face twisting into a mask of indifference. He was a brute but not an idiot. Killian could tell she was a pack wolf from the way she approached him without fear and the air that surrounded her. They always walked as if they were untouchable.

"No." He replied, barely restraining the urge to offer a sarcastic reply. He didn't need problems with her pack. Not now. But perhaps in the future. Killian was the rebel, after all. "You live on this island?" He asked as he took a small step to the left. He was testing his luck now; he knew that. But he just did not care. If he died once again, well, at least he was without his brother.

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outrider

---

“You smell my piss anywhere?”

She pitched one brow high above stormy eyes. Admittedly she doubted any scent might have held long here. The island was quaint without much solid land, it felt. The Saltwoods had bluffs and trees, dirt and stone. Along with their beautiful coast, of course. Here seemed to just be dark sands, stones and the few sparse trees. It did not mean she didn't like it.

“The island across the sandbar.” She swung her head and gestured towards the other coastline. Somewhere out there across the dark waters and rain. “That one is mine.”

Her and her wife's. Their children might grow to thrones some day, but she hardly placed that upon them. The Saltwoods was not full of royal families. A Captain and a Mystic did not raise princes and princesses.

“No one lives on this one. Lest you plan on changing that?”

She fixed him a hard stare for a moment, snorted, and forged onward.

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